Friday Proverb - chosen with holidays in mind

As a door turns on its hinges, so a sluggard turns on his bed. (Proverbs 26:14)

Launceston holiday pics

The Launceston Gorge from the chairlift

I did not get on the chairlift, having a bit of a thing about heights, but Andrew did and he obliged with some stunning pictures. Meanwhile I was sitting with my feet up at the kiosk sipping ginger ale.

Peacock

One of the peacocks that hangs out around the park near the gorge.

Church on the Tamar River

I've forgotten the name of it, but the tourist brochures say that it was built as a wedding present!

Echidnas

They are eating a protein mix. Their keeper is in the background.

Daffodils at the Hilldale Strawberry farm

penguin pause

We're off to Tassie for a week for holidays, so I'll be having a brief break from blogging.

Here's a picture taken on our last holiday there:

Sunday bunny: from cute overload

Click here for the original post "OK, so I might have a problem"

I have resolved to ration myself to one rabbit related post per week from here on in...

Friday Proverb

On Thursday evenings Andrew and I lead a small group for people who've recently graduated from uni, and in the last few weeks we've been learning from the Bible about work together. The last two weeks we've been looking at Proverbs about the world of work together. Here's a Proverb that got us talking:

“It’s no good, it’s no good!” says the buyer— then goes off and boasts about the purchase. (Proverbs 20:14)

This is no moral guideline for living, rather an astute observation about how the world of buying and selling works. The application for a person in retail business is obvious - don't be duped into reducing a price because of unreasonable complaints. I think that for the rest of us it's a warning about considering and weighing up the negative feedback that others give us. How serious are they? Realistically speaking, how much of a problem is it? Are they playing us for more than they can reasonably expect?

There are plenty of balancing Proverbs that warn us to listen to advice and feedback so this can't be telling us to just ignore any and every negative evaluation. Just give some thought to the motivations of the evaluator.

discovered on the free postcard stand today

Only it's a shame it wasn't a postcard that can be sent, rather the front cover of a brochure:

a happy moment of provision

The RSPCA has sold out. We had been purchasing RSPCA endorsed food for our rabbits which we discovered is "enriched with molasses". Feeding it to them meant that we were giving them a sugar hit twice a day. Figuring that this could be the cause of their cranky behaviour and expanding waistlines, we've weaned them off it. This has meant increasing their vegie intake, which can add unnecessary $ to the grocery bill.

So I decided to weed out the clover from our vegie patch and plant some rabbit friendly vegetables. However, it's hard to get seedlings established in our garden. They are either dug up by the neighbourhood cats who like to use the patch for a litter box, or snacked on by the local bird population who seem to prefer the tenderness of new seedlings over older established plants.

It occurred to me that what I needed was something that would let light and rain through, but keep the wildlife out. Until a few hours ago I thought that I would solve the problem by going to Bunnings tomorrow and making a purchase. The "cheap" solution to our rabbits' dietary requirements was getting more and more expensive. However, as I was driving home, I noticed that people from a house round the corner from us were putting out plastic bakery trays for the hard rubbish collection. These trays have holes wide enough to let light and sun through, but small enough to keep the birds out.

Having checked that they were definitely up for grabs - there was plenty of other hard rubbish out on the street, but I'd hate to make a mistake - I picked them up, took them home and positioned them over the seedlings.

It made me very happy.

Don't get me wrong though, I'm not pretending for an instant that the dietary needs of our rabbits are of earth shattering importance. They are just bunnies. However it did remind me of God's generous provision for us in so many ways every day - even in little things.

fennel

It seems that fennel is an acquired taste - it was missing this morning when I checked the rabbits' hutch. I'm amazed at what they can manage to chew down. They also enjoy "neat" coriander, thyme and twigs from lemon trees. Tangy!

meme: random facts

Apologies to anyone who has looked at my blog in the last three weeks only to be greeted by the same picture of my rabbit's behind. Finally, I have been stirred from my blog slumber by Jean who has tagged me to do this meme.

Here are the rules:

1. Link to the person who ‘tagged’ you!
2. Post the rules on your blog!
3. List 6 random facts about yourself!
4. Tag 6 people at the end of your post!
5. Let each person know they have been tagged by commenting on their blog!
6. Let the tagger know the entry is posted on your blog!

1. My favourite composer is Beethoven. I'd like it if I could name someone more obscure and clever sounding, but it just wouldn't be true.

2. I recently made healthy muffins from a recipe in a pregnancy book. They are terrible! Beware any cake or muffin recipe with no added sugar or sweetener.

3. I purchased fennel which was on special at the supermarket today because I had read on a website that it's suitable for rabbits to eat. They don't like it, but I'll keep serving it to them 'til it's gone. It could be an acquired taste...

4. When I went to Tasmania last year I saw penguins in three different places on four separate occasions, only one of which I had to pay for.

5. The most comfortable pants that I can wear at the moment are an old pair of fluffy grey trackky daks. My husband thinks that I should throw them out, but I can't bear to. In all of this I have been shown to be a hypocrite, for there are many items of clothing that I've urged him to throw out over the last few years. Apparently the arguments I present in favour of hanging on to them are duplicates of those that he has presented to me in the past.

6. In spite of (or perhaps because of?) years of tertiary training in western art music I am really enjoying watching Australian Idol at the moment.

Just like Jean, I don't actually know six people with suitable blogs well enough to link to them (and she's already linked to two that I know) so I'm linking to Random Alex, UltraViolet and the Idle Introvert.