Blog – Page 2 – Stilgherrian

05 May 202505 May 2025

Weekly Wrap 779: What a great big ship (and podcasts)!

A grey and drizzly day on Sydney Harbour. On the left is a warship, which we’re seeing from slightly off its starboard bow. It’s a modern landing [ship] helicopter dock (LHD), and the ski ramp on its bow looms over us. To its left towers a crane. On the right, however, we can see the Sydney CBD in the background, its skyscrapers and the distinctive Sydney Tower blurred out in the mists.

My week of Monday 28 April to Sunday 4 May 2025 was remarkably productive, with one podcast produced and a second recorded, and even some billable hours for clients. So I’m having to illustrate this post wth a photo from last week’s ferry trip to Manly.

27 April 202528 April 2025

Weekly Wrap 778: I take the ferry to Manly during an inside-out week, for some reason

It’s a beach scene, looking out onto the ocean with small, gently-rolling waves washing up on a yellow sand beach. The water is turquoise in the shallows, grading to a deep blue on the horizon. Overhead, threatening clouds billow and brood, although for the moment the beach itself is in sunlight. In the right-hand foreground, an older man in dark green t-shirt and brown shorts carries a red and yellow surfboard toward the water’s edge. Never change, Manly. Minutes after this photo was taken, the entire scene disappeared into a grey blur of drizzle and cloud.

My week of Monday 21 to Sunday 27 April 2025, like the one before it, was inside out. It’s the public holidays and the weekend days which have been busy, with fatigue hitting during the week. So it was a trip to Manly on Tuesday, and podcast work on the holidays.

20 April 202523 April 2025

Weekly Wrap 777: The music podcast has finally appeared so let’s look at an old railway station

The view from a bridge looking down over Mount Victoria station, a classic Victorian-era sandstone building with, for the most part, a slate roof. On the platform nearest the viewer stands a NSW TrainLink V-set train, with fluted stainless steel sides, and its distinctive two-deck layout. The fluter silver texture of the train’s roof contrasts nicely with the fluted and relatively new corrugated iron roof of the opposite platform.

Yes, in my week of Monday 14 to Sunday 20 April 2025 the first pilot episode of Another Untitled Music Podcast was finally posted, and people seem to be liking it? And this season’s crowdfunder hit its first target, thank you. I am a happy little boy.

13 April 202520 April 2025

Weekly Wrap 776: Check that grass and check that podcast, if you can

Viewed from below and seen against a bright blue sky are the upper parts of tall grasses with fluffy cream-coloured flower remnants, ready for the wind to carry away their seeds. They sparkle in the backlighting. *Miscanthus sinensis*, or Chinese silver grass, is native to East Asia and South-East Asia, but it’s escaped from gardens in the Blue Mountains and here we are.

I am pleased to report that my week of Monday 7 to Sunday 13 April 2025 saw me return to more normal levels of productivity — although that’s still relatively low by most people’s standards. And a certain podcast nearly appeared, finally.

06 April 202516 April 2025

Weekly Wrap 775: The pollen turns their poo yellow!

Close-up of a banksia flower, probably a variety of Banksia spinulosa, or hairpin banksia. The tall cylindrical inflorescences (flower spikes) have hundreds or even thousands of individual little flowers arranged along its length like a bottle brush. Each one is yellow, ending in a dark red hook. Sitting on this flower is a small bee.

My week of Monday 31 March to Sunday 6 April 2025 wasn’t very productive, but I’m feeling much, much better after a too-long period of fatigue. Have a flower. Have a bonus bee.

30 March 202506 April 2025

Weekly Wrap 774: Magpies are so talonted, yeah?

Close-up photo of the feet of an Australian magpie perched on a wooden doorframe. On each foot, there are three curved toes with claws in front of the wooden frame and one behind. All is shiny and black. Slightly out of focus in the upper background is the lower part of the bird’s body, white feathers below and black chest and wing feathers above.

During my week of Monday 24 to Sunday 30 March 2025 the numbers of my magnificent Magpie Army started to swell again, with 18 of them visiting the other morning. I took a photo. I also produced a podcast, launched a crowdfunder, and squeezed out a newsletter.