The Ryno Pen

Unfortunately, Herself had to fly south for a family funeral. I get to stay home and mind the animals. All the beasts and I will miss her together for a week. Cat and Dog will make the most of this and tell me they couldn’t possibly eat without Herself present, unless I hand-feed them.

Travel means an early start, and a drop-off at the airport in Brisbane. We know there’s major roadworks on the Warrego Highway, and the usual bottleneckery closer to Brizvegas itself, so we started early. Way early: I am glad my Girl has the ability to sit and read.

With the rat cunning of a Falafel Country veteran, I avoided the Western Freeway and Milton Road, opting to zip over past Toowong Cemetery, and over through Bardon, Ashgrove, Newmarket, Nundah and on to the airport.

After (what is it, five years?) all this time, we kiss goodbye like teenagers. I am a little bruised in the mouth, I miss the Girl, and we’ve only spoken twice so far today.

Then comes the drive home. I need a coffee: the rest of Brisbane doesn’t hold anything to tempt me, and anyway the parking is an expensive form of Tantalus‘s torture. I have always loved the old Felafel Country (Toowong/Auchenflower/Taringa), so the Botanic Gardens will do nicely for a spot to stop and drag out the coffee flask.

I remember, many years ago, the Gardens’ tropical dome thingy being under construction, and a couple of us sneaking in at night to marvel at the dome’s acoustics and generally do a Whole Earth Catalog sort of “Wow, man!” hippie thing. I stood in a pool of cement slurry and completely knackered one sneaker and a pair of jeans.

Tropical Display Dome of the Botanical Garden - from Wikipedia

The Wikipedia page has more interesting stuff about the garden, but they left out the Real Cool Fact.

Here in the Western Suburbs, in this small transplanted patch of mystic East…

All is serene.

And the Sheng Phooey must be right for Dragons!

Boy dragons (I presume) with high-visibilty work shirts…

and Big Momma Dragons over two feet long.

Keep your piece of grass, Momma! I wouldn’t dare, even without the keep-out rope fence.

I love Japanese gardens. Here’s a download link to a piece of music I wrote, inspired by a Japanese garden at night.

(Alternate Link)