Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies still at home with their breeder a few weeks ago.
Baby photo of Lizzie, full sister of my Teddy. Lizzie lives in New South Wales, a state of Australia.
My Teddy as a baby at 13 weeks
Rowley, a puppy from the litter in the top pic
And finally, Scout, much loved little man of Terrib and Anne from Florida!
Four Sumatran tiger cubs were born in Melbourne Zoo in February of this year to female tiger Binjai and male tiger, Ramalon.
There are two boys and two girls and they are now on display to the public in the tiger exhibit.
Binjai grooms one of her cubs
A drink from the pool
Time to pose for a photo
Young cubs at play
Young male cub Aceh waiting to receive his vaccination from the vet a few weeks ago !
Jeff Shaw was a former attorney general and industrial relations minister in the New South Wales Labor state government in Australia from 1995 to 2000.
After he left parliament, he served as a Supreme Court justice in 2003 and 2004 before a drink driving scandal effectively ended his career.
Mr Shaw became the subject of great controversy when he crashed his Alfa Romeo into a parked car in 2004. His blood alcohol content was recorded as .225. A blood sample was taken in hospital but this went missing and was later surrendered by Mr Shaw’s wife, Elizabeth.
A Police Integrity Commission inquiry examined the matter.
Mr Shaw resigned from the bench and went into rehabilitation for his alcoholism. Following this, he moved into private practice in the law, often doing cases pro bono.
He died from complications of pneumonia and other conditions two days ago at the age of 60 years.
There have been several comments regarding the life of Jeff Shaw published in newspapers this week:
Paul Tatnell writes in the Sydney Morning Herald:
“Former Labor Council Secretary Michael Easson told ABC Radio this morning that Mr Shaw had “one of the finest minds of anyone I ever met and he was a great man, a person who stirred people into action, his approach to civil liberties was incredibly impressive”.
But Mr Easson said “he felt sad” that he did not do more to help Mr Shaw with his alcoholism, telling the ABC “many of us must feel today that we let him down”.
“I think for all of us listening, if there is a friend or relative who is doing effectively slow self harm, think about what you can do to help … it’s easy to say it’s an addiction, that he drank himself to death, but some of us could have done a bit more at the time when we could have perhaps helped to turn around that life.”
Dr Gordon Moyes, NSW parliamentarian and retired Minister of Religion writes on Twitter:
“Jeff Shaw, former Attorney General, brilliant mind, judge, advocate for the poor like Marcus Einfeld. Also liar, cheat and hopeless alcoholic.
2:41 PM May 10th via web”
Finally Emeritus Professor Ross Fitzgerald, a member of the government’s expert advisory group on alcohol and drugs commented at the time of Justice Shaw’s driving offences:
“Well, alcoholism is a health problem, not a moral problem and it’s a health problem that affects 1 in 8 — 1 in 9 people who drink in Anglo-Celtic societies anyway.”
” …….. alcoholism’s a very insidious illness.”
“…. denial is one of the great characteristics of alcoholism as an illness and alcoholism, of course, is a family illness as well.
It’s the one illness that I know where you can love people to death, because husbands and wives and friends and fathers and employers with the best of intentions cover up and make excuses and that really just keeps the whole merry-go-round going and there needs to be some way that those who are close to alcoholics can somehow detach and to realise that protecting one’s spouse or one’s employee isn’t helping at all.”
“…… it’s often very difficult to get an alcoholic to understand that he or she has a problem, but there are all sorts of very effective support groups for parents, lovers, husbands, wives of alcoholics — Al-Anon for example, or Alateen, for the children of alcoholics — it can be enormously effective because often, when the so-called protection of the alcoholic is taken away — the rug is pulled from underneath an alcoholic — then he or she for the first time is made to realise the consequences of their action.”
Jeff Shaw’s untimely death can prompt us to think about people we know who run into a lot of difficulty with alcohol.
Do we judge them and walk away? Do we consider how we can help ? Do we stop enabling them to bring their illness into focus?
Mr Hobbs, a sun bear, having his teeth cleaned by a keeper. His teeth are cleaned every second day at Taronga Zoo to avoid the need for him to have a dental and general anaesthetic every six months. Some of his teeth are about one inch long. His keepers say Mr Hobbs becomes ‘very excited’ on teeth cleaning days. Mr Hobbs and his sister Victoria had been living in a cage in a restaurant in Cambodia.
Three of the Asian elephant girls on their first day in the Zoo. The elephants had been employed in the tourist industry and some were working in the streets performing rides. Some had been tethered on 3 metre long chains for lengthy periods of time begging for money and food from tourists. They settled quickly into their $45 million enclosure complete with pools and waterfall. Elephants love water and like to swim. It is believed they are descended from marine mammals with the adaptation of their trunk acting as a snorkel when they swim and dive.
Gung (male elephant) and Pak Boon; she is now expecting a calf who will be a sibling to Luk Chai.
Mr Shuffles talks to Mum, Porntip. Mr Shuffles’ Dad is in Melbourne and Porntip conceived her calf through artificial insemination. Porntip is a tall elephant and proved too difficult for Gung to negotiate !
Porntip guiding her baby, Mr Shuffles
Sabine, Antarctic Leopard seal. Sabine and another seal were found washed up on a Sydney beach, debilitated and injured; a very long way from Antarctica. 
Sabine being trained by a senior keeper to accept having an ultrasound:
African lion cubs at the Zoo.
Two elephants swimming and caressing one another …..
This image was shown this week in Melbourne in a television program called ‘Inside Nature’s Giants: The Elephant’.
The photo above shows the two male calves at Taronga Zoo; Luk Chai born in July 2009 and Mr Shuffles, now called Pathi Harn, born in March 2010.
In the pic, Mum (on the left) and Auntie Tang Mo closely watch the interaction between the two young calves; Luk Chai is a boisterous young boy but has been very good and gentle around the younger calf.
Luk Chai as a baby. He is now about 10 months old.
Luk Chai exploring.
Luk Chai’s Dad, Gung, showing the dexterity of his trunk by threading coits onto a rod. Gung means ‘prawn’ in Thai!
Gung threading coits for a keeper.
Here are a series of photos taken during the first three weeks in the life of this ‘miracle’ baby elephant:
Mr Shuffles, baby elephant born at Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia on March 10 2010 being tended by specialists, vets and keepers shortly after his birth. It was thought that he had died in his mother’s tummy as the birthing process had commenced some nine days beforehand.
The vets and keepers are ready with a sling to support Mr Shuffles to stand. His left side was badly weakened by the delay in his birth.
Vets and keepers kept a 24 hour vigil on the newborn calf, moving him and massaging him and making every attempt to keep his circulation going after his prolonged time in his mother’s birth canal.
Calf suckling mum.
Mr Shuffles at 2 days old rolling in the wood chips in the elephant barn at Taronga Zoo.
Mr Shuffles is weighed on his second day once he could stand and move around on his own.
Mr Shuffles at 4 days old is introduced by his proud mum to the public at the zoo.
Mr Shuffles’ first day out with his protective mum, Porntip.
Mr Shuffles waves to the crowds on his first day out
Meanwhile back in the barn, Mr Shuffles sees the camera !
Mr Shuffles now known as Pathi Harn (‘miracle’ in Thai) is currently learning to have a bath.
He is now 3 weeks old. Just under 10,000 people voted online to choose his Thai name, Pathi Harn , in respect of his Asian heritage.
His mother Porntip, was previously working as a street elephant in Bangkok giving tourists rides on her back.
The elephant herd at Taronga Zoo is intelligent and social by nature. They are very strongly bonded to their dedicated keepers.
Pathi playing with his cousin Luk Chai
Update 12 April: Pathi Harn enjoying his bath:
This pic gives a good indication of the size of the heaviest hailstones on Saturday.
Other pics include two cars in a store car park in Shepparton in country Victoria:
Melbourne CBD:
Taken from an article published in Australia’s ‘ The Sunday Age ‘
March 7, 2010
Belinda Phillips: “I guess I probably saved about $100 a weekend.” Photo: Ken Irwin
A beer at a barbie, a glass of red before bed, cocktails with the girls – alcohol is the cornerstone of a typical social calendar. But as part of Febfast, a month-long initiative aimed at redefining Australia’s drinking culture, about 7200 people swore off the booze, trading the obligatory chardonnay for a humble ginger beer.
The Sunday Age followed three Febfasters: Victorian parliamentary secretary for public transport Brian Tee, ”Oarsome Foursome” rower James Tomkins, and PR manager Belinda Phillips.
Ms Phillips was the only one of the three to remain alcohol-free for the month. Not an easy feat for a woman whose working life revolves around wining and dining clients.
”I do think there is a kind of undisclosed pressure on people to be leading the way [by drinking], especially if you’re hosting. But I don’t think it really mattered at all that I wasn’t having a glass of champagne at an opening, and just a mineral water.”
After hours, Ms Phillips has found that giving up the grog hasn’t slowed her fast-paced social life. Whether it’s meeting with girlfriends for a catch-up dinner or going to parties, she says she has learnt ”that I can continue to be a social person without always needing to have a drink in my hand”.
But the month wasn’t without its challenges, and she concedes that ”breaking the habit of having a beer with my boyfriend” and turning down Friday night drinks was ”tricky”.
She relished the opportunity to seek out alternative ways to de-stress, such as early morning yoga and jogging.
She has even saved some extra cash from her self-imposed sabbatical, and plans to go overseas with her partner with the money saved. ”We’re thinking Thailand … I guess I probably saved about $100 a weekend, when you think about it, being able to drive and not drinking as much.”
Particularly resilient during Febfast – she didn’t take a single leave pass for the month – Ms Phillips admits there was a slightly bitter aftertaste to her first drink come March. ”It was a bit anti-climactic, and I even felt a bit naughty,” she says.
For Tomkins, the prospect of abstaining from alcohol for a month seemed like a walk in the park – in his rowing days, he would stay clear of alcohol for up to three months. But Febfast demanded an Olympic effort just to resist the daily temptation of a quick beer with a mate.
”It’s been a real eye-opener – in a social setting, you just drink without even thinking about it,” says Tomkins.
Although he admits to taking his second time-out pass during a conference for work – he is a senior account manager for an investment management firm – going dry, or at least, damp, has taught him some valuable lessons. ”I’ve learnt that you don’t actually have to have a drink.”
Labor state politician Brian Tee isn’t the only one who benefited from his alcohol-free February – with recharged energy stores, the 41-year-old parliamentary secretary, says that keeping up with the kids has never been easier.
Outside of the family home, Tee is confident that the Febfast message is also having a positive effect on the broader public, crediting the initiative with a newfound consciousness of our drinking culture.
”[Febfast] has just really raised awareness of how pervasive alcohol is. It is something we take for granted, out of habit rather than really thinking about it,” he says.
This month, Tee has been taking the lessons of Febfast one step further, making time for gym sessions, and maintaining Sunday to Friday as a weekly dry zone.
Febfast founder Fiona Healy says the response this year was overwhelming and more than $500,000 was raised for substance-abuse charities.
She attributes the rise in participation and donations to a heightened awareness of the effect of alcohol on people’s lives.
Melbourne is in the process of recovering from a freak storm, yesterday, Saturday 6 March.
There were hail stones as big as golf balls in different parts of the city
Damage has been done to cars and roofs and fences.
A champion racehorse at Flemington racecourse was ’spooked’ by the force of the storm and took fright. He broke his neck and had to be destroyed.
This hapless racegoer managed to still clutch onto his tinnie as he took shelter from the driving hail.
Working horses in the city plowed through floods of water as tourists scattered for cover
Commuters ran for cover as tram tracks were flooded and cars ground to a halt
Major arterial roads welled with torrents of water
A man out for a picnic with his two kids covers their faces as the storm strikes
Melbourne has had a short reprieve this morning. It is time to go out and do what needs to be done in the way of repairs or cleaning up debris of leaves or trees.
We have storms predicted again this afternoon.
