Latest Music

I picked up some cds on the weekend. Here's the haul:

I have all of Radiohead's albums. But this version of OK Computer includes a second disc of extra material. I haven't listened to it yet.

Beethoven. I have these piano sonatas in many other versions, of course, but Radu Lupu is one of my favourite musicians. I couldn't leave this cd in the shop.

It's shameful I know, but until now I had no Funkadelic (or Parliament, for that matter). This music is very... well... funky.

Brilliant. No more to be said.

Crash Pics

Ok, I'm back at work. After 5 months of pain, boredom and daytime television, I'm back teaching. Which means I have access to fast computers, and access to my photos. Look at the photos below (click on each photo for a zoom). The first is taken minutes after my accident, roll-over damage obvious. The second pic is the car in the scrap yard, weeks later. Looking back, I'm wondering how I survived this crash completely unharmed.

Still Kicking

Hello all,

I haven't been able to post pics of my car crash. This blogging site seems to have switched posting protocols, so I will just have to keep trying.

Anyway... March 3 was the three month anniversary of my heart operation. I'm on half a dozen medications - mainly for either sustaining a low blood pressure and/or preventing blood clots forming around my artificial heart valve. And I'm exercising regularly. I fact I've lost quite a lot of weight, at least 20 kilos, which is substantial. I'm trying to get to around 90 kilos; an ideal weight for my BMI.

I don't know when I'll be back at work - waiting for my cardiologist's all clear. But whatever happens, I'm not going back to a high stress environment. Nothing at work is going to stress me out - of this I'm determined. If my boss' aren't happy about this then I'll either quit or they can fire me. I've learned one thing over the last couple of months - "Life is too short. Live and love every day."

Anyway, I hope to post some pics soon.

ALIVE AND STILL KICKING!

Crisis

Hello all. It's been a couple of months since my last post. I've had a major health crisis. If you want to know about my heart problems, I have written an account of what happened to me.

Look here: http://aorticdissection.com/2013/02/03/steven-riley-49/

I hope this sheds some light on why I've been so quiet, and so lucky.

What's in my Curry?

I have two chilli plants in the garden, growing into small shrubs. The chillies themselves are still green, eventually to turn to red. But of course they can be picked while still green (the flavour is slightly different). Keen to try them in my curry, I picked three big beauties.

The picked chillies next to garlic, also from the garden. I'm glad I deseeded them before throwing them into the curry. I had a small bite of one of the chillies - it was unbelievably HOT (and I love spicy hot food). Much hotter than I expected.

You Know You're Old When...

These ideas have been floating around in my head for months.

You know you're old when the last music you bought was a CD. Neil Diamond. Greatest Hits. Five years ago.  



You know you're old when you stand around the water cooler at work and instead of talking about last night's TV or football, you talk about arthritis. (click on pic above)



You know you're old when you watch reruns of Happy Days and think that Ritchie Cunningham's mum is HOT.



More Garden Pics

See, I told you this trellis would soon be covered. The runner bean tendrils are coiling up and up. And the cucumbers are also thriving. These pics were taken this morning before work, and it's raining! Which is good news.  

In this pic can be seen tomatoes on the right, pots on the left, and a new box bed of French Marigold seeds in the centre. Some have germinated.

In my main tomato bed the plants have been planted in the standard way, but the two tomato plants above have been planted using a different method. When I bought the plants, which were tall, I laid them on the lawn on their sides, with the stems parallel to the ground. Over the course of a few days, the foliage on these plants turned at right angles, growing towards the sun. I then dug a trench and planted the entire stem and root ball in the ground, leaving the foliage exposed. Roots will then grow out of the entire stem length. The results can be seen above. I must say they look healthier than the standard plantings. In the foreground are capsicum (sweet peppers). I have never had much luck growing capsicum (for whatever reason) but am determined this year to get a decent crop.

My potting table. In the seed tray are basil seeds. Foreground are cucumbers. Behind these are more capsicum. At the back are squash. I mean to plant out the squash this weekend. I only have to find somewhere to plant them (they will need training up a trellis of some kind).

Hope you like my pics. Remember to click on each one for an enlargement.