Post Of The Day

Today's joint winners are Kimberly with The Wonderfulness That Is Emma; Allan Cook with Just Wider and Mary with On June 29 2008. The other top contenders were Beachy’s Cape Cod Cupboard with Even Better Than The Beach; Shabby In The City with Wish You Were Here; Holly with Celebrating Thirteen Years; Camikaos with Panic; Old Tom Wigley with Cow And Calf; Charles Gramlich with How Today’s World Does Humble; Jo Beaufoix with Yes, I Really Did Go Out Like This; Daryl with Bridezilla Saga Continues; Mother’s Pride with Green Fingers Take Two; Crazy Cath with Sky Watch Friday; Sandi McBride with And Speaking Of Cats and Classy Chaos with Lost In Translation. Do pay them a visit and leave a comment if you have time.

You can nominate a post too. Just leave a comment here with the URL or link - and tell us the name of the blogger you are nominating. Righty-o, then, it's over to you ....

Plea From A Missing Teenager's Mother

I've just had an email from a good friend and fellow blogger, Allan Cook, who lives in Gravenhurst, Canada. As a parent, I cannot begin to imagine the trauma of a child going missing, and Allan has asked me to link to a post on his blog about a missing 16-year-old Canadian girl, Liz Hague. All the information is on Allan's site, including the original email from Tammy Daub, the missing teenager's mother. Tammy's email address is tdaublec@hotmail.com and you can find all the details, including photographs, at Missing Teenager.

Post Of The Day

Today's gleaming gold trophy made from 22-karat gold goes to Allan Cook, for a post that says so much about the indomitable human spirit - A Room For Memories. And the other posts that caught my eye today were Thoughts From Miller Manor with Mini Retreat, The Egel Nest with Mysterious Land of Kitchen, Jo Beaufoix with How Big Are Your Feet? and Anglophile Football Fanatic with How I Leashed My Puppy.

Post Of The Day

I grew up in Calcutta, where the sound of bagpipes was one of the most evocative sounds. So it's no surprise that today's winner is Allan Cook, with The Pipes Are Calling. Also in the mix are Dan Mega with Moving - It's For The Birds, Diva T with I Will Not Wait, Cuckoo with Twenty20 World Cup, Craver with Jai Hind, Pijush with Who Was My best Childhood Friend and Melissa with Apples And Autumn Go Hand In Hand.

Post Of The Day

The best writers are those who paint a word-picture for us, and I have to say that Allan Cook does it wonderfully in his recent post The Smell of the Past - and he has a great picture to go with it as well. Among the other posts that caught my eye today are Kai Blue's Such is Life, Singleton's Something Always Gives Me Away, Mrs Nesbitt's Toy Story and Old Man Lincoln's shot of a nuthatch at precisely the moment it takes flight - White-Breasted Nuthatch.

To nominate a post, just leave me the url as a comment.

Nutcracker Suite

Perfect Reading Material For A Squirrel

Photograph copyright: ALLAN COOK

This candid shot was sent to me by Allan Cook, a Canadian blogger who lives in Gravenhurst, Ontario. Unlike the adventurous squirrel in Finland that recently made the news for raiding a grocery shop at least twice a day to steal Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs, this critter is merely catching up on his reading. And what better way to do so than to peruse Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book. If you’re wondering why the shot is under-exposed, it’s simply because Allan chose not to fire the flash into the eyes of his little visitor.

It’s the perfect day to post this shot, with the announcement a few hours ago that a new $50 million (£24.8 million) film version of The Jungle Book will be made using wildlife footage. According to a BBC report, the joint venture between BBC Films and distributors Pathe, will mix action footage shot in Ranthambore, India. The film will be ready for release in 2009.

Six Of The Best

They Get My Vote Every Time

Maybe it was nostalgia, maybe it was just my attention to detail (I’m a journalist, remember!) but a few hours ago I went back to the very first instalment of Aussiejourno’s Weekly Blog Awards. It was back on 24 February and the list then comprised only the Top Ten, as opposed to the Top 50 now. It is my very great pleasure to congratulate six bloggers who have featured on the Awards roll of honour every single week since their inception.

They are Rambling Traveler who started at No.2; The Back of my Headboard who started at No.3; Dance With the Sun who started at No.4; Bartraeke who started at No.6; Colorado Bob who started at No.7 and Allan Cook who started at No.8.

If you'd like to nominate a blog for the Weekly Awards, just leave the url here as a comment.

Breaking Through The Paint Barrier

Brushing Up On Australian Artistry

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Remember how my Canadian friend Allan Cook recently came up with the concept of tag-team blogging? He suggested that he and I post simultaneously on our respective blogs and that I would pose a question on my blog and include a link so that readers could go to his blog for the answer. To see how we did this, just go to Deck Cheney and follow the link.

Now I'm borrowing Allan's great concept and extending it to a regular visitor to this site. Marianne Plumridge is an expatriate Aussie who is based in New England, US. She has a couple of sites, but you can see some of her wonderful art, updated regularly, at Daub du Jour.

Marianne mentioned to me a couple of days ago that she was missing the Australian weather, so I took this shot for her. It shows the incredible green tones of the native bottlebrush, still thriving and healthy despite the fierce drought. There you go, Marianne. It'd be great if you would consider painting this and putting it on your site.

Deck, Cheney

Tag-Team Blogging Is A Cook's Tour

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON

This great concept, ``tag-team blogging'', is the brainchild of Allan Cook, a progressive Canadian blogger. He suggested that I pose a question on my blog in Australia - and invite readers to go to his blog in Canada for the immediate answer.
So simple, yet so effective. I wish I'd thought of it.
Okay, so this is how it works. Have a look at the capstan (that's the black object that looks like a chess piece) in this photograph. I shot this about 18 months ago during a cruise on the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) Segwun at Gravenhurst, Ontario. About a week ago, Allan emailed me to see if I knew the specific purpose of the capstan. Duh, I said, not a clue.
Now comes the fun part. Just go to http://web.mac.com/allancook to check Allan's memorable explanation. I hope you enjoy his laudable concept and I'm sure you'll like his site as well.

And if you want to read my entire feature article on the Segwun, along with photographs, go to Old King Coal's Soul at Terry Fletcher's excellent Anglo-Indian Portal.

FOOTNOTE: Do leave us a comment to let us know what you think. And if anyone else would like to tag-team with Allan, you now know where to find this man of ideas.

He's The Chief Cook

Canadian Introduces Tag-Team Blogging

I have a lot of time (and professional respect) for Allan Cook, a blogger from Gravenhurst, Canada. He and I have never actually met, but we keep in touch regularly - and he gave me a great idea recently. His concept is so simple. He suggested that he and I post simultaneously on the same subject, with me posing a question on my blog while he provides the answer on his. I reckon it sounds like an internet version of a tag-team approach. We'll be doing this on Friday (that'll be Saturday here in Australia) so stand by for details.

The Amazing Rays

Sorry To Say, You're The Last Team To Arise

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON

Early at work this morning, I walked over to an area I don't normally go to - and spent several seconds staring at this sight. From my eleventh-floor window, I could see the sunrise reflected flawlessly in the IBM building alongside. Let me stress this. The reflection is NOT in the windows; it is actually shining off the side of the office tower. So I grabbed my camera and took the first shot. Then, a little while later, I took the second frame and this time you can see the sun in the window and that stretch of blue between the two buildings is of course Port Philip Bay. I guess it pays to be an early riser.

My friend Terry Fletcher always tells me that no one should be up this early, but then think of all the photo opportunities I'd be missing! And, while we swelter in the Australian summer, have a look at this great picture and blogpost from the other side of the world, in Gravenhurst, Canada. The post is titled Looking Out Back and it's by my fellow blogger, Allan Cook.