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so prettylicious. I hate winter. You never get to see any pretty flowers during the winter.

i’m pretty sure the gumnut flower is an alien.
most definitly sure

me likey!!!! me want!!!!

Aww they’re so pretty! and.. exotic? We don’t have anything like those here.
I want to go there!

Ooh, the gumnut flower! brilliant. i used to think my mum & dad were such dorks for photographing flowers all the time, but i have been reconsidering this position for a while now.

eucalyptus flowers are incredibly beautiful things. Thanks Justine, have a good Christmas and good luck with YKN.

Sorry, y-k-w.

no school todya!!!

SOOOOOOOOOOo pretty. Too bad everything in MN is covered with snow. Or even in the summer time, we don’t have things as pretty as that.

school is out!!!!!!! :0

or as my english teacher would say…..First day of winter break 2007, sophmores gone wild!!!!!

Good luck with your deadline. I miss your regular blogging.

Hope your (at least) in TX, not NYC. Latter is a truly dreary place in winter. As you’ve noticed….

Cheers — Pete Tillman
–
“S. Koreans Clone Cats That Glow in the Dark”–headline, Agence France-Presse, Dec. 12
http://tinyurl.com/32sf7m

is your deadline over?

*gasp* Pretty!!!!!

Its like a alien. pretty!!!

Anonymous: Alas no. But as it’s 6:30 on a Saturday night I decided I could down tools for a bit.

Kadie-wa & Jelly-wa: Isn’t it gorgeous?!

That looks like it eats children. Very pretty!!!

Holy crap. It is mind-boggling.
Passionfruit = yum!

“that looks like it eats children. very pretty!!!”

Um. yeah, i guess if you’re into that sort of thing. that flower kind of makes me feel alone in a world of incomprehensible strangeness. but beautiful strangeness. i think.

Shloopy, ohhh, those flowers make passion fruit.

I think I have a new favourite flower!

that is beautiful. never seen a flower like that before.

well, uh, I’m not saying I find things that eat children pretty.

Kadie-wa: Any type of flower is mind-boggling if you are isolated in a foot of snow and cloudy weather for an extended amount of time. I love passionfruit!

Actually we have 3 inches of ice pellets (not snow) on the ground. All night I thought there was a mouse eating my caramel chocolate kisses because it sounded like the wrappers were scratching together. But, no, it was (and still is) merely the sound of ice pellets striking the side of the house.

And the passionfruit flower made me smile. I will try to schedule for the sun to make an appearance today, but I think it is having a sick day. : (

This scares me…
but that purple is very pretty.

i just recently bought a venus fly trap!
it kinda scares me too…

maybe i’m just scared of plants?

that flower is uber pretty, and the definition of super special awesomeness. also, it looks like a very cool alien. i want one!

oh wow. a triffid.

i love passion flowers. they remind me of my oma; she had a pressed one at her house when i was little. quite pretty colors and a strange little tenticle-type center.

Pretty flower, excellent fruit, but I also have to agree, it looks like it wants to reach out and eat me.

Pavlovas? pavlovas? are you kidding me? black and white cookies are by FAR the best! You can keep your pavlova. I’m a black and white cookie guy all the way.

although, we do not need to do a poll about this one. I’d hate to embarrass you.

which gives me an idea for a great and original children’s book:

if you give a jerboa a black and white cookie.

it’ll sell millions!

come on when was the last time you had pavolva ?? even when you were in aus!

I think eric is fishing for another poll…

people don’t have ovens in new york?

mmm. pavlova. much niceer than quokkas, which are kinda ugly in the flesh, should you ever got to rottnest island where they live. the dutch didn’t call it ‘rat’s nest island’ for nothing. still. mmm. pavlova.

what *is* a passionfruit?
it sounds sooo mysterious.
oooooh!
and while i’m on the topic of unknown things…
what the hell is a pavlova?
^-^

ooh .. pavlova, with passionfruits and everything. That’s a good idea. You should run this “Justine suggests a recipe” section more often. Now I know what I’m making tomorrow night.

I blogged about pavlova today too! How odd is that?

Niki: Last time I had pav was in May; last time I was back home.

Jonathan: Oh, hush your mouth. I have seen quokkas in the flesh. They’re fabulous.

Liset: Is your google broken?

Diana: You know what pav is? That’s very odd!

pavlova should always have peppermint crisp chocolate on top, or a similar item. ALWAYS. fruit is for the weak!

Justine, of course I do! I spent a Xmas in NZ, where all anyone would talk about was the great “is it aussie or is it kiwi” Pavlova debate. I ate SO MUCH pavlova… it’s the most delicious holiday dessert of all time!

goggled-shamed…
-_-
wiki wiki wikipedia!

apparently pavlova is named after a ballerina,
thats kinda cool,
and it looks yummy,
kinda like a flan thingy.
but the passionfruit looks gross…

If I had an oven,
I’d bake in the evening,
I’d bake in the morning
all over this land!
I’d bake Pavlovas…
I’d bake black and white cookies…
I’d bake looove between my brothers and my sisters
all over this la-a-and (oooh-woo-ooh-ooh).

yay wikipedia! pavlovas look really yummy. i want one.
and i’ve tried passion fruit once. it’s pretty awesome.
but i have to say, straight-from-the-oven hot chocalate chip cookies beat pavlovas and black-and-white cookies.

they might be one of the most adorable species i’ve ever seen.

i love their name. ah, native floridians. who have no cool native animals. okay, that’s not true. but none as cute and unscale-y as those little poofballs.

i want one…. do they hop?

i just have to say that it’s really cool to see your comments on scott’s blog. You are just so much more fiesty than he is. I like it… haha!

also, what’s it like being married to a fellow writer? (you must be asked this a lot). I’m a writer, and usually date musicians… it must be said, that they are moody and way too sensitive (as a writer, i think i MUST be very sarcastic) and even though they’re really cute, they always bug the hell out of me, and then never think that writers are artists… NOT COOL. I think I want to try out a painter next… drummers just always have the best hair! ahh

to the point… I like winter clothes, especially scarfs! (I was just knitting one, but i ran out of yarn -_-) but yes, the cold is not very fun.

-Liset (who is sorry for this VERY long comment)

Okay, the poll didn’t have an answer for me. I’m in Brisbane, and it’s summer now, but the worst thing about winter was that it was way too hot. The worst thing about summer is that it’s way too hot. Also, it is way too humid but at some point there will be a thunderstorm, so I guess it’s alright.
Also, quokkas kinda creep me out. Possums do too, actually.

Also, liset - I make it a rule never to date writers or songwriters anymore, because they are always cute, always say the perfect thing and i always end up kicking them in the shins.

oh, i can say “you’re insane” because i’m in california.

it was sunny an’ gorgeous today - a little cold, like 55 degrees f. - so i bundled up in scarf and coat - but still brilliantly blue, and perfect.

you sound like me! the cold is so miserable. Is there somewhere on this earth that isn’t scourged by it at some time of the year, or do we just have to keep hopping continents to run from it?

Yeah, I put that you’re insane, too, because it’s 80 in FL and my orange tree is giving me fresh homegrown oranges, which is comforting, because if it was giving me watermellons, I’d be a little concerned.

Better to envy this summer from a distance: it’s a stinker. More humid than any summer since 1984. I would hang my t-shirt out to dry with me still in it if I thought it would help. And I’m up in Canberra - I believe Sydney is worse. The storms are worse, too, in Sydney.

Did that cheer you up? Knowing that you could be here and complaining about the weather instead of there and complaining about the weather?

Gillian: You don’t understand! I love humidity! I love summer storms! Once the temperature gets above 20C I’m happy. Unbearably hot for me is over 45C.

I think I’m going to have to ban everyone who lives somewhere without actual winter: ie Brisbane, Sydney, California, Florida etc. Those places do not have winter. If it doesn’t hurt to breathe, if you don’t have to wear hat, gloves, scarf, and michelin man coat from head to toe to go outside for more than a few seconds you are not living in real winter.

I hereby bequeath you every future humid day for the next 20 years. (I’m a kind person )

I hate snowpants. I hate them I hate them I hate them. Actually, they are better than snowoveralls.

I think winter should only be cold on snow-days.

I’m in the loves winter category, real winter too, Minnesota/Wisconsin we’ve got two feet of snow and it was 0 degrees Fahrenheit here last night winter. Skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, hooray. BTW, we’ve met at WisCon. I mostly lurk but felt the need to defend true winter just this once.

I’m in Arizona and we are having a typical arizona winter here. It has been 60F and a little rainy. But this week is supposed to clear up and be in the mid 60’s (f). You’d like it here!

You should move to Georgia…our high today is supposed to be 76 and its been hot all weekend and the likelyhood of snow is slim and none for this winter…

I hate the getting dark so early, but I kind of like my winter clothes. I live in Dallas, TX, so it doesn’t get particularly cold here. I think last year it got down to 19 once, and that was about it. Right now I just wish it would pick one. It has been going:
Monday - 79
Tuesday - 80
Wednesday - 43
Thursday - 45
Friday - 81
Agg. 43 isn’t *that* cold, but it sure feels cold when it was 80 the day before!

the dark is getting me down a bit at the moment. I’ve started buying insane amounts of candles and even (gasp) a little wooden plate to put my candles on, to huge laughs from my boyfriend who accuses me of ‘decorating’.

Justine: “Sydney winters are lovely.”

But also: “I think I’m going to have to ban everyone who lives somewhere without actual winter: ie Brisbane, Sydney, California, Florida etc. Those places do not have winter.”

Hmmm…..

Growing up in Northern California has spoiled me for any other climate, I’m afraid. I don’t like cold weather, which means anything that makes my ears cold. I don’t like hot weather, especially when it’s humid, which means anything other than bone dry. If it rains for more than about two days in a row, I start to feel sulky.

winters are the times that let us know that living is not easy or a given. That’s the beauty of snow and ice, the beauty of life in all its hard won glory glistening right outside your window, your shelter, the original cave redecorated. real seasons remind us of the world turning and those times where the veil between worlds is it thinest.

Steve: real seasons remind us of the world turning and those times where the veil between worlds is it thinest.

So does sickness and death and I ain’t loving them either.

you are bad.

Wow, I am 100% of the votes!

nno your not!

I feel for you Justine! I’ve lived the last 6 years in SoCal, so when it hits 70 degrees I’m DYING of cold. And the rational part of my brain tells me my cousins in Illinois would think 70 is just heavenly. BUT IT IS NOT WHEN YOU ARE USED 100 DEGREES!

steve: philosofical answers are not happy. i don’t like having to justify my answers for why i hate winter.

also, justine, i am totally with you on the banning people who don’t have real winter on blogs about coldness. if i read one more comment on how it is gorgeous with sunny blue skies and 60s/70s/80s in places that i don’t live in i will scream. seriously. people who are experiencing good weather cannot comment on this post.

Hilary!: That’s right. It’s all relative. And relative to what I’m used the current temperatures in NYC are killing me!

Calliope: You tell them! Smug bastards. We don’t care that they’re warm, do we? I hope surf boards fall on every single one of them. Even if they live inland.

justine: “I think I’m going to have to ban everyone who lives somewhere without actual winter: ie Brisbane, Sydney, California, Florida etc. Those places do not have winter. If it doesn’t hurt to breathe, if you don’t have to wear hat, gloves, scarf, and michelin man coat from head to toe to go outside for more than a few seconds you are not living in real winter.”

even the ones who try to send you sunshine?

My sweetheart lives in England and he is all NOT enjoying winter either. I frequently tease him by telling him “oh yes, I played cricket on the beach today (true) in a purple bikini (not true, everyone knows the proper cricket bikini colour is white….)” but I would not do that to you justine! I just do it to him because he is a guy and it is fun to watch his eyes roll up in his head when his brain short circuits via webcam.

I remember when I was living in the US, in a southern place where snow was unusual. I had just gotten my driver’s licence and drove to work one night. It was bitterly cold, which was weird for that area. I came out of the hospital where I worked at 4 am to 6 inches of SNOW! I watched one of the residents come slip-sliding into the parking lot, went inside and called a cab! I picked up my car that afternoon when the snow had melted.

Sorry for the long-winded postage!

you’re right of course. it’s hard to stay unhappy when there’s a pool and sunshine outside the back door… even if sweat does drip off you just after you’ve got out of the shower.

i officially ban myself. i’ll be floating in the pool, sipping a mai tai while i wait for you all to finish.

oh, is that a quokka running by? No, just that damn possum that keeps me awake all night. grrr.

I probably can’t be one to complain compared to northern hemisphere weather, but Sydney’s summer weather has hardly been a treat so far.

There’s been six heavy storms in the space of a week — and I don’t mean nice summer storms either. Torrential downpours … inches of rain in 10 minutes, with multiple hail storms that have seriously damaged property and even lead to one death …

It still hasn’t been cold here in Sydney, but damn it’s miserable weather for summer — grey and dark for most of December.

Again, I know it’s still paradise compared to a northern winter, but it’s meant to be summer here!

Ah, well, does it feel better when you get well or skate by death (I’m one of those weird people that death doesn’t scare, not to be confused with idiots that casually tempt it)? calliope, sorry for the philosophical sounding answer.

Okay, so which is better, sweating on the bed for no good reason or snuggling in the warmth of blankets?

I did a stint of work in Dallas, one morning the temps were actually a comfortable 70, I was driving to work with the windows rolled down and my arm out the side. Everybody else had their heaters on.

we had a cold front recently and the low was 54. felt kinda chilly!!

I don’t think we have read winter here in WA (by, you know, snow standards), but my school is all outside. They lock all the rooms at lunch! We are forced to eat out in the cold and rain and slush! Or, you know, in the bathrooms. >.> OUR TOES FREEZE!

Actually, I just eat outside anyway because the rooms smell funny, but if they didn’t smell funny it would be even worse. But the smelly rooms are not the point here. The point is the frozen toes that then have to kick balls around for PE. And everyone who has ever kicked a ball with numb toes knows that it hurts. It’s all rather horrible, really.

quokkas can just wander freely?!? Cool.

You know justine, there are some sites that you can make polls like that and put it on your blog.

Wow, this is the first I have heard of this species, though in the back of my mind I knew that there are plenty of animals, and particularly marsupials, I am still unaware of.

As for winter: As you know, I live within a mile of you, and I think this weather sucks. I walk around wrapped in layer after layer of garments, and at home I huddle wrapped in blankets. Not wild about all the dark either. Spring can come anytime.

your quokkas are not nearly as cute as these little buggers, just discovered in Mongolia. They are called long-eared jerboas and they hop around like teeny tiny kangaroos.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7130484.stm

You can keep your quokkas; I’m a jerboa man all the way!

Eric: You can keep ‘em. Jerboas ain’t marsupials. I don’t hold with anything but marsupials as pets.

justine i am with you all the way. dark, depressing ice storm freezing my cute bootie off is NOT my ideal way of life.

AND THEN DO YOU KNOW WHAT THAT NASTY WEATHER DOES?

it makes you sick.
like a dog.
*sniffle*
*cough*
*gag*
*cries*

and i wanted all caps for that one line, why you eat my caps justine? it was just for emphasis! heehee

[…] Eric Luper had the temerity to suggest that quokkas are not the cutest animals on the planet I have devised a new poll. It goes up exactly a day after the last one which I successfully managed […]

Here is my tribute to the long-eared jerboa on my blog:

http://eluper.livejournal.com/53301.html

Of particular interest to children’s writers…