The Lair of the Emerald Serpent

The local library have been sending the serpent nasty letters demanding the return of a certain book sooner rather than later.
I had half the thing covered in little post it note tags because of course it is bad bad manners to use highlighting markers in other people's books. Of course there would be plenty of time to take notes and lots of them as future evidence in the case for the prosecution because one little click and the book would be renewed.

But it looks like there is a queue of cheap and nasty folk out there who want to borrow Crippled America - How to Make America Great Again rather than hand over their fist full of fivers to a worthy cause since the Great and Glorious Leader is donating all the proceeds to charities


Of course there's been a veritable feast of fun in Twitterland. The Big Donald does not do irony at all and obviously believes that rules are for lesser mortals. No leading by example here

It has become quite apparent that dearest Donald accuses his opponents of precisely the behaviour that he himself indulges in and seemingly completely shamelessly. He even bandies about accusations of hypocrisy.



It his hard to know if he believes all his own publicity, if it is just tactics and unpredictability to outwit the opposition or if he is living in an alternative reality where he truly is the centre of the universe second only to God in status.

But it looks like the latest tweet storm concerning Russian hackers, leaked emails and FAKE weapons of mass distraction will not so quickly fade away. It's been the lead story on the news in Oz for the last five hours.
It's kind of sweet in a way that George W Bush has finally got a mention. At the rate Trumplethinskin is going, Old George will soon begin to look most decent and reasonable indeed. It took him a couple of years before he started making up his own facts and reality and gave us the wonderful concept of truthiness before sending his minions to invade Iraq on trumped up charges and then leaving the rest of the world to clean up the mess while sending the US half broke to pay for it all.
This lot have not even clocked in yet and they are already in cloud cuckoo land up in that gaudy golden Tower of Babble.


Mirror mirror on the wall. Who is the wackiest of them all?

After Dry July it was finally time to celebrate with a glass of red sitting outside in the garden. But it seems some one has been spiking the serpent's drink with lucky potion.

Been on the lookout for a list of things as part of a fun magical experiment and all of them had turned up so far.

Yesterday's simple mission to spot a yellow butterfly seemed a certain fail until an inexplicable urge to pay a visit to Manna Wholefoods. It's a shop devoted to all sorts of organic and green goodness. Not just munchies but makeup, soap, potions and lotions.
On the shelf opposite the main door were a selection of beeswax candles. Long skinny ones, short fat ones and also candles shaped like bees and butterflies. They were beige rather than buttercup in colour but undeniably a shade of yellow even if a little muddy.

Yellow butterfly box ticked and Mission accomplished ;)





Just happened to slink into the state library today and the beady serpent eye spotted a postcard promoting an event with Michael Leunig as the main guest speaker. There were still tickets left and I got one!
Been wanting to see Michael Leunig for decades now and always missed out. Until now.


How much more magic can a serpent manage?


So there's no point in nuking such a run of good luck with my original intention of commemorating a certain gloomy doomy anniversary of historical significance.

I will save all that misery for the next tine the Dementors come knocking.

It's been a good start to the bright shiny new year so far. The weather has been beautiful and unusually mild.
Most of the mob in Canberra are on their holidays so we don't have to listen to their pompous preaching and stuttering

Having two new library books to start the year is also a good sign. Went to collect one of them today and managed to walk past the shelf with all the discards for sale without being tempted.
Buying some book shelves has been on the Izzie wish list for a long time and it is finally time to do something about it.
Of course there's still too many books in the Lair but it would get them off bench the tops and bedside tables and make a huge improvement of order in the present chaos

Took this precious bounty along with a bottle and some nibblies for an afternoon picnic in the grounds of a certain old lunatic asylum that is now an arts centre
Did intend to look at the art exhibitions but never got around to it.

( Books and bits )

Yesterday was a glorious sunny day and a perfect excuse for some serpent adventures.

Been spending lots of time at the State Library’s new outdoor reading cafe where you don’t even have to buy a coffee to lurk there. But even better, they provide three trolleys of tasty morsels to peruse. One filled with novels, another with children’s picture books and the third with recent non fiction books. All bright and shiny with that delicious crisp new book fragrance

The inner goblin immediately cast her beady eye on an offering by the delightfully snarky Sartjinder Das. This guy is an ex goblin who is now revealing some of their darkest and dirtiest secrets. This latest revelation is called “Extreme Money” and all about the doings of the swinging dicks and Masters of the Universe playing pokies with other people’s money, losing it all and still claiming their big fat goblin bonuses

Even the chapter titles are little gold nuggets and well worthy of inclusion in the little brown book of nano muses. And this book would make the perfect birthday present for old Uncle Vernon

Returned the next day for another fix of this goblin gossip and the book was nowhere to be found. But no loss. Had already been eying up another fat and juicy tome by Peter Fitzsimmons. Had this book on the wish list ever since listening to an interview about it on Late Night Live at least a year ago. But the horrendous fifty dollar price tag was a complete turn off. Could always borrow it from the library but it is the sort of book that you cannot cart around due to the risk of loss or damage but also because of its size and weight. Pity because it is the sort of book best read by the beach overlooking the Indian Ocean or by the light of the moon in some spooky haunted ancient ruin

And here it was sitting on this trolley just waiting to be read and returned obligation free. A story of spices, shipwrecks, mutiny, murder most foul, assorted perversions and goblin galleons galore. A sort of X rated adult version of “Lord of the Flies”. The outdoor library is open for two months so should be able to bite off a big chunk of this sick spicy saga.

Then the serpent had the idea that if November’s nanowrimo novel is going to be about some seriously evil corporation with tentacles everywhere, then a saga where the first modern corporation plays a central role would be an excellent place to look for inspiration.

Had already paid a visit to the site that used to be the Headquarters of this monstrous Cthulhu Corporation way back in September 2006. What should have been the Holiest of Holiest temple of the first and greatest Elder God of capitalism was a shabby nondescript outpost of the University of Amsterdam with no indication whatsoever of its former glory some 400 years ago. All that remained was an engraving above a door post that simply stated “VOC 1599” (The company logo and date of establishment)

In his house at Amsterdam dead Cthulhu waits dreaming

It’s time to go monster hunting again. It just so happens that some of its most sacred relics are little more than 40 minutes away from the serpent’s Lair. They are located at a shipwrecks museum which is also running a “Fabulous sea monsters” feature for the school holidays. Its sister maritime museum has animated dinosaurs but they can wait a day or so.

Due to other temptations, ended up with just over one hour to visit the ship wrecks museum. The building itself is more than a century old and is a museum piece in itself.

Downstairs is its star attractions - a large chunk of the hull of the ship Batavia that was wrecked off the western Australian coast way back in 1629 and some of the ballast in the form of large blocks to be made into an enormous gate at some Dutch colonial outpost in Indonesia that was its intended destination There is another maritime museum much nearer the site of the actual shipwreck and there is a bit of rivalry between them. The compromise was that one would get the fake gate and the real hull and the other would get the fake bit of ship and the real gate.
But the cannons and the skeleton lying in a makeshift grave were most definitely real as was some of the silver ware and bullion upstairs

The upstairs gallery is also a sort of shrine dedicated to the history of that company. Its banners were hanging from the ceiling, the VOC logo was plastered everywhere looking rather like a very peckish bird with a pointy beak and big beady eyes

There were even pictures of their board of directors’ meetings. The only thing missing were actual shares and receipts for dividends.

The monster tour turned out to be little signs with notices to look out for relics, images on maps, coins, banners and assorted paraphernalia. They did not bring in cute and cuddly Cthulhu, rubber sharks or jellyfish or any other monstrosities. It was all so very subtle not like the screaming marauding dinosaurs up the road. But they neglected to mention that the biggest monster in the museum was the Dutch East India company itself or that its spawn still live on some 200 years after its dissolution on 31st December 1799.

Izzie’s own little monster Megatherion Money Management is a mere tadpole in the presence of such a magnificent and long lived Corporate Giant. But unlike its infamous ancestor, it is at least still in existence and growing. And in November it can be as monolithic, megamaniacal, murderous and monstrous as only this serpent mind can make it. Its evilness and greed is limited only by our imagination.

Izzie is so going to steal Jan Pieterszoon Coen one of the VOC board directors. He was apparently a bit of a head hunter himself and notched up quite a body count in the pursuit of profit for his shareholders