Lord of a Ring

Sterling Silver Ring with Pink Gold 'blossom' feature.

September 2008

Sometimes I have these grand ideas for new projects that I plan out on paper and in my head, but after the saw blades bite into the metal and I stand back and look at what I've sawn, soldered and smacked with a hammer, I'm left wondering where I went wrong.

Not so today. Granted, the execution of this idea was not well thought out.... it was a general sort of "maybe if I..... and then I could...." I knew what I wanted in my head, and had attempted to sketch it, but in the end, it's often experimenting with the materials that will tell you the best way to get from Vague Vision A to Actual Reality B.

It's so satisfying when it just works. No dramas about things not fitting, or the silver melting into a pool of metal before the solder even heats. It just all came together and the few minor hitches were easily solved.

The Extra Awesome Bonus is that I now have a pretty new ring.

Attack from Above

Australia is known for it's warm sunny beaches, the deadly jellyfish, blue ringed octopus, sharks and crocodiles that lurk beneath the waves, the red deserts and the poisonous snakes, the misty grey bushland and the host of spiders lurking and waiting to bite an offending body.

What you may not realise is that danger lurks above between August and October.

Other than Dropbears, possibly the most frightening experience I've encountered in areas with trees (suburban, rural or bushland) is the sudden clack of a pointy beak right behind my head and then the sudden Fwhop-fwhop-fwhop of wings beating the air to give the creature enough height to take another swoop at my uncovered head.

I can face a baby red-belly black snake (from ontop a chair, but I still faced it, and moved it with a stick!) but that sound and feeling of attack from above is terrifying.

Magpies are nesting in a tree across the road from the bus stop. One went after me three times today, and followed me halfway to the next bus stop. I'm not ashamed to admit that I ran like a girl till I was out of its range.

Tomorrow's plan of retreat: I take an umbrella and cringe under it. If that doesn't work I'm taking a long cut through some back streets and praying there aren't any feisty Mama & Papa birds hanging out in other trees along that route.