Author: Wander Lou

House sitting – meet the animals 🐾

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Currently reading: Something Wicked This Way Comes – Ray Bradbury

I have been back in Tasmania for almost two months now. I am loving this island and all it has to offer. It appears I may have found work, with what looks like a great company. I had my medical today and commence employment on May 1.

As I may have mentioned in my last post, I’m currently house sitting for my cousin Leith while she tours Vietnam with her family. In my care are 1 dog (Pepper), 2 cats (Molly and Henry) and 27 budgerigar (1 of whom is tame & is named Cinnamon). They form a very loving little menagerie and never cease to entertain. Here are a few candid snaps of them in various states of play:

Pepper

Henry

Pepper

Molly

Pepper

Cinnamon nibbling my ear

Molly having a snooze

Henry of the beautiful eyes

Cinnamon helping me study…

​​
I’ve been trying to find different places to take Pepper on her daily walks. The greater Launceston area has some fantastic trails. We took a stroll at Paper Beach, just out of Exeter one afternoon.

Off-lead and loving it

Paper Beach

I let her off the lead for a spell and she had a great time chasing wallabies and rabbits, but when she returned to me after one mad romp, completely covered in mud, I decided that freedom might have to be a ‘one time’ thing 😉.

We also visited the Tailrace, a track along the Tamar which takes you from Riverside into Launceston, and which links to a whole network of trails along the North Esk, some of which I referred to in my posts from my Tas visit last May/June, which you can find here.

Pepper at the Tailrace

Tailrace to water’s edge

Tailrace boardwalk

I returned to the Tailrace with (aunty) Trish M a couple of days ago, who’d brought along (cousin) Kate’s dog Griff, and we meandered along to Stillwater, where we stopped for a coffee and a bite to eat.

Trish with the puppies in the Stillwater carpark

The Mill Providore and Gallery at Stillwater

Stillwater Restaurant – fantastic food & super dog friendly

The view from the gallery


Over the easter weekend, (other aunty) Trish A and I caught a flick together at the Star Theatre, a beautiful old art deco establishment which originally opened in 1937, falling into disrepair after changing hands in the early 70s following a three decade run. Three young gents have purchased the building with the intent to restore it to its former glory (you can read the Examiner article about the project here), and with most of its original fittings and fixtures still in place (if not fully intact), it’s going to be a beautiful example of architecture from the period.

Star Theatre – a glimpse of the building prior to renovation

They opened their doors to the public over the easter weekend with a number of screenings in the building as it currently stands, ahead of their planned refurbishment (we saw The Big Lebowski, a Coen Brothers cult classic), and will be officially opening the fully renovated premises as an independent cinema in November. For more information about the theatre, its history and its reappropriation, check out their website, here. It is going to be wonderful having an independent theatre as complement to the existing cinema here in Launceston.

In other adventures, I met my folks for lunch one afternoon at JJs, their favourite Longford bakery/cafe/restaurant. I went for a wander around town after the meal and came across a couple of lovely parks. 

Church park and gardens, Longford

Not sure which denomination this was, but a lovely sandstone building

Loved these heritage plaques, detailing the original function of the buildings in Longford’s main street

A couple of quick snaps of downtown Launceston:

The old Gasworks near City Park (now a restaurant)

The Quadrant Mall

Quadrant

The Design Centre on Tamar St

 

The Conservatory – City Park

City Park

Sunrise is pretty spectacular from where I’m currently staying…

Pepper pensively takes in the view

Some pictorial highlights from my first month back in Tasmania

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Cataract Gorge

Duck Reach and First Basin

The view from the First Basin suspension bridge

  Wine tasting

Pinot shadow

Dalrymple Vineyard

Lunch at Piper’s Brook Vineyard

Harvest market

Every Saturday in Launceston’s Cimitiere St carpark (opposite Albert Hall)

Cradle Mountain

View from far side of Dove Lake

More Cradle

Cradle with boathouse

Trish A photographing on Dove Lake circuit

 Not blood

Berry eating birds

Visiting parents – in Legana and Miena

Grindlewald Swiss Village

Daily walk with Mum

Oddly manicured little outpost

Ben Lomond

Ben Lomond – Tassie’s second highest mountain

Mum and I went summit scrambling – choose your own adventure

House sitting for cousin Leith & fam

Cinnamon!

Cinnamon and Pepper, taking in the view

Henry getting some couch love

Tamar Wetlands

Wetlands Interpretation Centre

Glover Prize

Glover Prize held in Evandale over March long weekend

Lifesize sculpture of Glover

Checking out the artworks

Ben Lomond’s lunar landscape

The Blueys, Bondi and the coast road south

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Current read: The High Mountains of Portugal – Yann Martel.

With peach season over, no work on offer at the uni, and my Dad’s white cell count running amok, I decided to head south to Tassie to spend time with the fam. I couldn’t leave NSW, of course, without visiting the Murphy/Davies clan in the Blue Mountains. While there, Frank, her eldest son Dylan, and I, took a day out in Bondi to visit her sister Katie, and catch up with another friend Cathy, from her uni days. I find Bondi a bit overcrowded for swimming, but the setting’s so beautiful, you can’t help but appreciate it’s iconic status. Let’s face it, when it comes to picturesque, Bondi always delivers:

Bondi scenes

Approaching Tamarama

Frank and Cathy were some mixture of perplexed, amused and inspired by Dylan’s gansta turn

Tamarama Beach – lovely spot for a quick dip

Frank and I also managed to both health-kick, and drink a sizeable quantity of alcohol during my visit. Life is good 👍.

Top left: Peach pet rock, artwork courtesy of Miss Rubie. Top right: Frank and I made a batch of my Gran’s famous tomato relish. Bottom left: Homemade pesto, relish and hommus, as part of our raw food (apart from the relish) health kick. Bottom right: Peter coined the term beerpaigne in anticipation of the headaches we thought we’d have consuming champagne followed by beer.

Frank and I have been friends for well over a decade, yet have never really had a chance to do much travelling together. Her kids have grown up a little now though, so we left them with Peter and hit the coast for a three day roadtrip to Melbourne, from which point I took my car to Tassie on the ferry, and Frank caught the train back to the Blue Mountains. We decided to take the coast road rather than the Hume Hwy because I’d never driven the Victorian coastline, and the NSW south coast is stunning. 

On day one, we drove from Lawson to Batemans Bay, via Rubie’s new digs in Wollongong and a fleeting visit to the farm.

Morning walk at Surfside

This little dude’s seen better days

Day two saw us stopping at every conceivable south coast town for coffee, cheese, yoghurt, fudge, lunch… all the goodies 👍.

View from Tilba.

After a massive twelve hours, we arrived in Yarram, where the chef at the hotel cooked us up a delicious veggie curry (recommended) and we shared a pretty ordinary bottle of bubbles (not so highly recommended), chased by a better tasting beer from the other hotel down the road.

Our accoms in Yarram

That’s right, we did a pub crawl of Yarram’s two (countem!) pubs, but by 10pm both establishments had called last drinks and closed their doors for the evening, so we had to resort to drinking our BYO Baileys in the hotel lounge.

We popped into Seaspray (Mum’s childhood playground) near Sale, a sweet little coastal community set somewhere along a 90km stretch of beach. The rips were hectic so I decided not to risk a swim on this rugged stretch of coast.

  On day three we drove to St Kilda via Port Albert, the windmill farm at Toora and Wilsons Prom.

Port Albert

The windmill farm at Toora, comprised of 12 turbines, has the combined capacity to power 6000 houses. Pretty impressive stuff…

Classy ladies getting their yoghurt on at Wilsons Prom

We parted ways at dawn and I am now making the most of the mild conditions that constitute a Tasmanian autumn. Looking out at the serene countryside it’s hard to believe that Cyclone Debbie has just wreaked havoc in so many other parts of the country. These here are crazy times.

Next up – some pics of Tas…

Farewell to Peach & Beach Life: The Farm Edition 

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My three months of working on the peach farm and living with Rubie and her family at Narrawallee Beach on the NSW South Coast has come to an end. Working six day weeks made it virtually impossible to find time to blog (and in the end, even to hike), but I thought I’d give you a glimpse of what farm life was like during my summer of peaches.

The first glimpse of the farm on the drive in.

The property consists of beautiful flats surrounded by ridges of lush Australian bush. The creek running through the property provides irrigation for the fruit and sustenance for the cows.

Loads of structures around the property from the farm’s various incarnations offer fantastic potential for possible farmstay accoms – though the owners have no plans for this kind of development in the immediate future.

 

Shenanigans in the shed – Rubie and Rob have a great working relationship – always up for a laugh. We’re loading the van here, as part of the morning routine.

More packing shed shenanigans – Rubie creates her own entertainment between sets with Willie, and Waylan and the boys 😜.

Best fed cows in Australia 👍.

Riding around the farm on the back of this truck invoked memories of childhood.

One of the many beautiful trees on the property. The south coast gets such great rainfall that everything grows abundant and green all summer long. Note the fruit bat in the centre of the shot. The peach farmer’s nemesis…

Gals digging the farm life.

“Millions of peaches, peaches for me…” Extensive netting protects the yield from birds, bats and other bandits.

Don’t mind if I do!

Some final scenes from the farm. Can you spot the tree with the barbed wire growing through it?

Not a bad place to spend a summer. Doesn’t get much better than this…

Murramarang National Park & Narrawallee Surrounds, South Coast NSW

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I’ve been exploring as much of the local area as I can in my time away from the orchard. There’s so much to see; it’s a truly beautiful part of the world.

The bush track leading to Narrawallee beach

Shells at Narrawallee Inlet

Conjola Inlet

Conjola beach

Rubie and Bronwyn joined me on my latest adventure, hiking from Merry Beach to Pebbly Beach via Pretty Beach in the Murramarang National Park. We left a car at each end and hiked south with the receding tide, covering about 12 kms + swims over a leisurely five hour period.

Bronwyn and Rubie strolling Island beach


The sound of wave on stone at this beach was mesmerising

 

​​​​​Spent Christmas in the Blue Mountains & Ryde with Frank, Peter and the extended fam:

Christmas shenanigans with Frank & Pete

 

Flatrock beach, Bendalong

The Jillett Juniors (my bro and his fam) were down Sydney way for the New Year & drove down to Huskisson to join me for lunch on the NY public holiday.

The Jillett Juniors: Ollie, Steve, Sharon and Sam

Here’s to 2017! 🍾🎉

Narrawallee – Summer of Peaches!

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It’s been over a month since my last post. I drove south to Narrawallee at the end of November to spend the summer working on a peach farm with my mate Rubie (aka Mountain Goat) who I met on the Appalachian Trail.

This is Narrawallee Beach, which is literally 5 minute walk from where I’m living for the summer. Bliss

The sky on the day I arrived…

We’ve been working six day weeks at the orchard (I’m packing, Rubie’s splitting her time between packing and selling), the fruit is delicious & the work is wonderfully physical, but it’s a challenge fitting in all those other aspects that make up a life. On my one day off, when faced with a choice between hiking or blogging about the last hike, I, of course, choose to get out there and discover new trails, but the thought is always in the back of my mind that I will find time to blog this week. Well, better late than never!

Beautiful sea-moss clad stones at Narrawallee headland

On my first full day in Narrawallee, Bronwyn (Rubie’s mum) took me here, to The Bommie, a stunning little hidden gem located south of the harbour, accessed via the backstreets of Ulladulla. We swam and soaked up the sun for a spell before I returned to my thesis-related Ulysses summary and Bronwyn to her jewellery-making silvercraft. 

The Bommie, Ulladulla

I did a couple of short walks in Morton National Park on my first day off. 

Rainforest loop, Morton NP

Granite cliff face, rainforest loop, Morton NP

Rainforest loop below George Boyd Lookout, Morton NP

More of the path wending its way below the granite outcroppings

Picnic area adjacent to George Boyd Lookout parking area, and starting point to the 1.5km rainforest loop walk

The first and last set of stairs on the short loop walk

The view from George Boyd lookout is pretty awe-inspiring, even on a cloudy day

This sign is provided after you’ve already completed the loop if you happen to set off in a clockwise direction from the carpark, but I guess they probably wouldn’t get many takers if people encountered this sign at the beginning of their intended walk…

So many great rock formations to clamber over, under, through and around

Granite Falls is located down an easy 10-15 min approach trail, with the parking lot a short 5 minute drive down Twelve Mile Road from the George Boyd Lookout carpark, as you’re heading back toward the highway. The falls weren’t flowing when I visited but nevertheless, this natural bowl, seemingly carved out of the valley’s combination of granite and sandstone, and once home to an extensive inland sea, was nothing short of spectacular.

Granite Falls, Morton NP

The following week, I embarked upon a slightly more challenging route on my day off, journeying along the Meroo NP Coastal Track from Termeil Beach to Bawley Pt and back, around (and sometimes over) the rocky shoreline with the receding tide, stopping for occasional swims along the way.

Termeil Beach

Secluded beach

Secluded beach – site of first swim

Rockpool: inverted map of Australia

Meroo Headland

Meroo Headland, Meroo NP

Another echidna sighting – this one tried hard to disguise himself – very sweet

Meroo NP rock art

I got this dead crab to pose for me

Met some local folk making beach art: sand sculptures courtesy of MC, Violet, Austin and Emily

Headland between Meroo and Shelly beach

Beautiful patterns formed in the sandstone from wind and water erosion


Lichen of all shades

More wonderful patterns

Looking back toward Meroo beach

Nuggan Headland

Rough track traversing Nuggan headland

Fab campground at Nuggan head

In between working and hiking, I’ve been trying to find time for the bullet journal…

Some days are more productive than others 😉🎄

A few snaps of the farm:

The original farmhouse

Farm art – the slasher came off a little worse for wear after this encounter..:

The cows have a great diet. I go out each afternoon and call them in. I am developing a pretty solid moo. Small victories a source of pride 😉😇

I camped out a couple of nights in Huskisson. Was aiming for Green Patch at Jervis Bay but their online booking system is ridiculous.

Swam at Hyam’s beach before work while I was down that way. Life is good 🌊

Could have sat watching these seagulls with the sound of the surf in the background all day…
​​Popped up to Nowra to do some chrissy shopping one afternoon after work. It’s quite an arty little town.

Shoalhaven Arts Centre, Nowra

Main st mural (pity about the NAB advertising)

I apply this sentiment to life more broadly

Blast from the past…

Found this great hopscotch mosaic at Milton’s Settlement courtyard – located behind the shops on the main drag

Am currently home in the Blue Mountains for chrissy with the Murphy/Davies clan. Back to Narrawallee and my summer of peaches on Tuesday.

Love and Christmas wishes to all – be safe and have fun xoxo 🎄🎄🎄

Fairy Bower to Cox’s Cave & Linden Creek via Grose Rd helipad

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I did a short walk in Mt Vic this week with my hiking pal Lorraine (who is also one of my thesis supervisors). We started off at Mt Piddington, with views over the Kanimbla Valley.The Fairy Bower circuit departs from this vantage point, descending through a narrow ravine, with beautiful escarpments rising on both sides.The vegetation is lush, and magical mossy staircases, footbridges and ladders make for ease of passage through some pretty wild terrain.Cox’s Cave itself is reached via this ladder:It is a fantastic little walk and workout if you want those stunning mountains views but are limited for time.Later in the week Peter and I did a short walk down a side trail from Grose Rd in Faulconbridge to Linden Creek. It was hot, humid and steep, but beautiful flora and one lonely lizard made the tough going totally worthwhile.I depart tomorrow for south coast NSW where I am spending the summer working on a peach farm with Mountain Goat, who I met earlier this year while hiking the Appalachian Trail. 

My phone camera failed to capture the beauty of the super moon earlier this week, but we did see this lovely sunset from Linda Rock in Woodford while we waited for Tuesday’s moonrise. Farewell my Blue Mountains playground. I’ll see you again in a couple of months!More soon from Narrawallee!

Booknboot 👣📚

Sassafras Ridge + Wollangambe Crater via the Centre of the Universe: Blue Mountains NP, NSW

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It was another great week for hiking in the Blue Mountains. I also managed a flying visit to the city to catch up with friends before this week’s departure for the summer to work on a peach farm on the south coast of NSW.

Sydney University Quadrangle

Glebe Point Road and surrounds

On Tuesday, Peter L and I hiked out to Sassafras Ridge in hopes of better weather than our earlier attempt from last summer.

Remains of once grand sandstone building by the railway line in Faulconbridge

Stormclouds gathering

The weather turned out to be remarkably similar, but the wildflowers were in bloom and the trees looked pretty spectacular in the growing gloom. We also saw this little guy, who hid his head under a log as we drew near in the hope that his denial of our presence would deter our approach.

Echidna – one of Australia’s two monotremes

On Sunday, Kevin, Lee and I did a full day hike out to Wollangambe Crater and return, via the aptly named Centre of the Universe, a pogoda affording 360• views of the surrounding countryside.

Kevin climbs straight up the Centre of the Universe, while Lee and I circle the rock seeking out a gentler ascent

 It’s wild country north of Bell’s Line of Road, with a poorly marked, unmapped trail from the pogoda to the crater, but the payoff is pretty spectacular.After navigating our way along the rocky ridgeline, with its fantastic rock formations, the ‘path’ (cough) took a sharp turn with steep descent to the Wollangambe River and beyond to the crater. We swam in this beautiful waterhole before making tea at the campsite. My shots of the crater don’t really do it justice. All of a sudden, the rocky scree gives way to a massive open meadow, with wombat and kangaroo poo everywhere. Marsupial paradise! Apparently the night sky is pretty spectacular too, due in part to the remoteness from Sydney’s light pollution and the absence of overhanging trees which obscure your view in most other Blue Mountains campsites.The wildflowers continue to amaze, flourishing in this harsh environment.

One of these flowers has been featured here twice because I couldn’t decide whether it belonged in the yellow palette or the white…

Kevin says that we are to hiking what glampers are to camping. He coined a new term to describe us: glikers 👍. We figure we balance out our fancy fare with hardcore hiking routes, and thereby earn every mouthful of delicious blueberry and white chocolate scone we consume on these hikes! 

Nature’s many seats (including a sun lounge)! In the top right image, the lads have just realised that the tree has been completely hollowed out underneath by fire.

We scrambled up some more rocky ledges and stopped for afternoon tea and scones on the return to the car.

Such cool patterns

One last warratah for the road:

Paradise Pool and Hanging Rock – Blue Mountains NP

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It was a perfect day for our Saturday hike to Paradise Pool. It used to be something of a secret spot, requiring local knowledge to locate its whereabouts, but the Blue Mountains City Council have actually put up several signs now. My guess is that local residents grew tired of intrepid hikers finding routes through their properties in search of the rumoured swimming hole. It’s now much easier to find but has lost some of it’s mystery as a result. Of course, that doesn’t make it any less beautiful.

Paradise Pool – you can jump from a rocky ledge above the pool or sit on a shelf of rock directly beneath the waterfall. It’s a pretty special spot.

Abbey and Betty getting their swim on

Hanging Rock was likewise spectacular. There was more evidence of this season’s abundant warratah bloom on the five km firetrail which leads you out to the viewing point. I could see splashes of red dotting the landscape everywhere I looked.This really has been a bumper year for wildflowers.Saw some sweet graffiti and some slightly doctored signs:

There are two of these signs now: one at the second gate, 4km back along the track, and one at the final approach to the lookout

People actually do all of these things: rope swinging, slack lining and base jumping (as though rock climbing and abseiling aren’t adrenalin inducing enough)! You can watch videos of some of these shenanigans here (warning: not for the faint hearted). 

Hanging Rock itself never ceases to inspire and amaze. It is one of my favourite lookouts in the Blue Mountains. I can’t believe people risk their lives swinging off this ledge and penduluming into the valley below. It’s terrifying enough clambering down to a point where you are level with the rock from Baltzer Lookout above.

There used to be a tree growing right up on top, just before the final jutting section of stone (you can still just discern the stump if you look closely). The ledge narrowed so much that you actually had to climb through that tree if you wanted to get to the end

Hanging Rock as viewed from above. You can see how much it narrows from this angle. To get out to Hanging Rock itself, you have to jump over a metre wide crevasse. I think my days of climbing onto the rock itself are over but when I first visited in 2001, I did the jump, climbed through the tree of faith and sat right out on the end with a leg dangling over each side of the ledge and hanging onto the climbing peg for dear life! A friend convinced me to leap the crevasse again in 2009, but it took about 15 minutes of coaxing and I stayed behind what was left of the tree on that occasion 😊

Looking back up to the point from which I photographed Hanging Rock below

Baltzer Lookout (with views across to Pierce’s Pass and Mount Banks) – we were hiking way down in the valley below a couple of weeks ago, along the banks of the Grose River (see my last blog post for pics), with views back up to these amazing escarpments

One last shot of Hanging Rock – you can see the remains of the tree stump more clearly in this shot. It’s a shame it’s been worn away (I’m guessing from overuse).

Hanging Rock, like Paradise Pool, never used to be signposted, in an attempt to minimise access (hence the addition of the two gates preventing visitors from driving directly to the site), but it’s so frequently visited now that it is deemed safer to warn about the dangers of extreme adventure sports than try to keep the location a secret. Not all rope swinging adventures at the rock have gone smoothly, as can be seen here, and there are yet sadder stories than this, but climbers know the risks they’re taking when they step off that ledge. And what an amazing way to see the valley!Happy to have my feet planted firmly on the ground… 😉👣

Summit to Sea: Hiking Mount Victoria Falls to Pierce’s Pass & strolling Bondi’s 20th annual Sculpture by the Sea exhibition

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I’ve been continuing to hike these beautiful Blue Mountains trails since my return to Australia. I’ve been enjoying the waterfall circuit across the road from where I live almost daily.  

Betty and Abbey explore Cataract Falls

I have also revisited some of my favourite walks in Wentworth Falls including the National Pass and the Charles Darwin track, and I did another Grose Valley hike a couple of weeks ago with my friends Kevin and Lee.We descended into the valley at Mount Victoria, timing our hike with a magnificent season of warratah bloom.

Warratah bloom shot from different angles

As we made our way down to the falls we passed interesting sandstone formations, some of which resembled faces.

This rock is sleepy

Lee and Kevin making their way around the escarpment

We found several other wildflowers along the way and the smell of a sage-like plant filled the valley as we walked (though from what I’ve read, bush sage isn’t native to these parts; you’d be more likely to find it on the south coast of NSW than in the Blue Mountains region).

Several examples of the as yet unnamed wildflower samples

The first falls we encountered were the Silver Cascades, followed by the long drop to the base of Victoria Falls.

Kevin and Lee enjoying lunch from the Vietnamese bakery in Hazelbrook, swimming hole at the base of the Silver Cascades, ideal stealth camping site and hanging swamp surrounding the falls

Victoria Falls spill over a large flat sheet of rock which is gradually being eroded away from beneath and which will eventually collapse under the weight of a heavier season of rain than this…

After arriving at the falls, you wind your way along the variable valley floor, sometimes surrounded by towering eucalypts, at other times in moist, fern-filled rainforested pockets, and at other times in grass tree groves, with towering escarpments occasionally coming into view on either side.There is only one official campground between the Mt Vic entrance and Acacia Flats (where we camped on our last visit to the valley). Burra Korain Flats is located alongside the confluence of Victoria Creek and the Grose River and would be a stunning spot to pitch a tent, then rest your weary feet in the shallows. 

Confluence of Victoria Creek and Grose River

Shortly before crossing the Grose River for the last time (which proved an ideal place for tea and scones courtesy of the gents), we passed through a stretch of trail abundant with grass trees and Sydney Rock lilies (sadly not in flower), with views up to Hanging Rock (not that hanging rock).

Sydney Rock Lily

Hanging Rock from below (and at a distance)

The Grose River

Check out the size of this grass tree!

The final ascent is considered the easiest pass out of the valley, and it was definitely a gentler climb than Du Faur Head or Rodriguez Pass to either Govetts Leap or Evans Lookout. I am yet to hike the Horse Track (alternative entry to/from Evans lookout), Perry’s Lookdown (the quickest and steepest route) or Orangutan Pass (a more technically hazardous and unmapped entry point to the valley), but now have 5 of the 8 passes into the Grose Valley under my belt. It’s a remote wilderness, but handily close to home. These are the advantages of living in a World Heritage listed National Park.

Last weekend, Frances, Peter and I took the kids to Bondi for ‘Sculpture By the Sea’ to celebrate Dylan’s 18th (!) birthday. It was a gorgeous spring day and some of the art was pretty spectacular.Bondi is stunning. The kids swam and played in the sand while we relaxed on the beach:I did a circuit around the Nepean River at the base of the mountains called the Two Bridges walk a couple of days ago, in search of mulberries so I could make mulberry pie!Received a visit from this monkey this morning after she spent the evening playing fisticuffs over territory with the local possum population:

How could a creature with such a cute paw print be so naughty?!🐾

We’re off to Paradise beach this afternoon, and I’m hoping to get out to Hanging Rock tomorrow, so I shall endeavour to update the blog next week some time.👣