Random tangent (blog)
Ameel Khan's personal blog. This is a blog about life, technology, photography, typography, the internet, science, feminism, books, film, music, and whatever other random stuff I come across or happen to be interested in today.
Another year, another COVID-19 booster. Which, coincidentally, I got exactly one year after my last booster :)
Selfie of a bald man wearing glasses and a grey t-shirt sitting in a car. The man is grinning at the camera as he has his left sleeve rolled up to show the adhesive plaster on his upper arm, indicating that he has just been vaccinated.
After not posting anything here for three months, I’m back!
Why was I away for so long? I got a cold and, shortly after that, caught some viral infection or the other. (It wasn’t COVID, Influenza, or RSV; I checked and was also independently tested.)
The time I was absent from here is the time I spent recovering from those illnesses and the post-viral fatigue that followed.
Photo of a medical centre waiting room with comfortable chairs, side tables, and inspirational/advertorial posters about the medical practice hung on the wall.
I’ve had COVID-19 only once (at the start of 2024) and that infection seriously messed up my immune system. [1] Now when I get even a mild cold or viral infection, instead of feeling unwell for a few days, I get knocked down hard for, like, six to eight weeks. [2]
During those weeks I tire easily and I get a massive headache every time I concentrate on something for more than an hour or so. That means the most I can do is sit on the sofa, take frequent naps, listen to music, read a book, or watch TV. [3] Anything more than those simple activities requires concentration. I can’t check my emails or browse my RSS feeds, I can’t drive for too long in heavy traffic, I can’t even cook anything more complicated that a fried egg. It is not a fun time.
This was the second bout of post-viral fatigue I’ve been through, so at least this time I knew what was happening. Last time (back in May/June 2024) I kept trying to live my life as normal and almost collapsed from exhaustion while walking the dog! [4]
Sadly, all you can do when you’re suffering through this type of fatigue is rest, so that’s what I did.
Once you’re a little better, you start gentle physical and mental exercise, ramping this up as you get stronger. I did that too. [5]
Happily, this approach worked – like it did last year as well – and now I’m pretty much back to normal.
I still have some stuff to organise from my end – which I am very much looking forward to blogging about, by the way – but that shouldn’t take too long, so posting will resume here shortly.
Yay!
[1] Regular influenza infections also mess with my immune system, but those effects last only a few months. The effects of the ‘spicy flu’ infection have lasted for a year and half so far. *sigh*
[2] Because my immune system is weak these days, I also catch colds and various types of viruses much more easily. Wearing a high-quality, well-fitted, 5-ply, medical face mask helps – and I do wear one whenever I’m in a medium risk situation – but that’s just a single line of defence against infection. And it doesn’t help that I’m often the only person in a room who is wearing such a mask.
[3] On the up side, I used this time to read a lot of books; catch up on a lot of movies and TV shows; and listen to a lot of music on my new audiophile-grade sound system :)
[4] When this happened I called Nurse-on-Call to get some immediate advice and then I went to see my GP the next morning. My GP got me to do a battery of tests (just in case) but those all came out normal and so post-viral fatigue was declared the cause. Turns out this type of fatigue has become much more common in the “post-COVID” era. Most people who suffer through this fully recover in about six weeks, but if the symptoms last for more than six months, then you might be looking at long COVID or chronic fatigue.
[5] Frustrated by doing nothing but consuming media all day, I figured the way I should gently exercise my brain is by creating media instead. For me that meant finally learning how to play bass guitar :) I’m now halfway through the Beginner to Badass course from BassBuzz. That is an excellent course. 10/10 would recommend.
Photo of the body of an all-black electric bass guitar resting on a guitar stand in a living room in front of a shelf of books.
Nadia and I are laughing all the way to our 21st wedding anniversary :)
Selfie of a man and a woman laughing while trying to take a selfie. The man is bald, with a salt-and-pepper beard. He is wearing eyeglasses and a while linen button-down shirt. The woman has long hair. She is wearing glasses, large gold earrings, a gold necklace, and a dark-and-light green printed dress.
Less than an hour into day one at the 2025 Australian Open tennis tournament and a big thunderstorm rolled across Melbourne.
And the intermittent heavy rain stuck around till late in the afternoon.
Screenshot of a weather app showing a severe thunderstorm warning with heavy rainfall expected for most of Melbourne city and surrounds.
Fortunately, Nadia and I got there just as the gates opened, so we managed to watch at least a little bit of tennis on the outside courts before the rain came.
Importantly, we managed to take our annual Australia Open selfie :)
Here are my photos (and selfies!) from the day.
Photo looking down from the stands at a video camera operator sitting on the side of a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. The operator is wearing a cap and a bulky pair of headphones, and there is a small, blue umbrella over his head. The camera has a waterproof cover on it.
Photo looking down at the net of a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. Two ball kids are standing on either end of the net, and a tennis umpire is sitting on a raised chair at the far end of the net.
Photo of tennis player Tatjana Maria who has just tossed a tennis ball into the air as part of her serve.
This photo was entirely accidental! I was trying to get a photo of the player framed between the out-of-focus heads of the people sitting in front of me (which I managed to do in the next photo). But when taking this photo, I’d mistakenly left my camera on its ‘zone focus’ setting and it picked the wrong subject to focus on. Oh well. Even though this photo was an accident, it was a happy one because I quite like how the photo turned out :)
Photo of the back and side of a woman and her young daughter watching a women’s singles tennis match.
Photo of tennis player Tatjana Maria at full stretch as she serves the ball on a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court.
Photo looking down from the stands at a blue-coloured, hard-surface tennis court. One of the ball kids is running up to retrieve a ball from the middle of the left-side court.
Photo looking down between the spectator chairs at a tennis arena. The subject of the photo is the foot of a person wearing grey-and-white New Balance sneakers with bright orange highlights. Next to this shoe are two orange corn kernels that have been dropped on the concrete.
Photo of a small jet engine aircraft flying above some tall buildings on an overcast day. The aircraft is climbing and is about to disappear into the cloud cover.
Photo of the outside of a tennis arena with large photo banners set along its side showing past championship winners. The outside area is almost completely empty of spectators because it is raining heavily. Despite the heavy rain, ushers wearing black pants and yellow shirts are standing under red umbrellas that have been affixed next to each area entrance. A supervisor wearing a black skirt and blue polo shirt is walking between two of these umbrellas with a blue folder over her head to minimise the amount of rain she gets on her eyeglasses.
Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while they sit on blue coloured seats at a tennis court. Both are wearing straw hats and sunglasses. The woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top and the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt.
Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while standing outside the entrance to Margaret Court Arena, a tennis arena in Melbourne, Australia. Both are wearing straw hats and glasses. The the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt and the woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top.
Selfie of a man and woman smiling at the camera while standing outside the steps that lead to the entrance of Rod Laver Arena, a large tennis arena in Melbourne, Australia. Both are wearing straw hats, glasses, and black face masks. The the man is wearing a printed black t-shirt and the woman is wearing a white, sleeveless top.
Today would have been our eighth Maggie-versay because we adopted Maggie – our red heeler/kelpie mix – on 30 December 2016.
Photo looking down at a red/brown with big ears looking up at the photographer.
Sadly Maggie didn’t make it to this milestone, passing away at home with the help of the lovely folks at Goodbye Good Boy on the night of 27 December.
Maggie loved food. So it was a bit of a surprise when, around the middle of October, she refused to eat her monthly flea and tick medication, and then didn’t finish her dinner that night. When she kept refusing food, we took her to our vet. A couple of tests later we confirmed that she had chronic kidney disease, likely brought on by old age.
When she continued to feel unwell, she was referred to a specialist vet. After some more tests we learned that she also had a urinary tract infection. Fortunately, this infection was quickly treated with antibiotics and she bounced back from feeling miserable in just a day or two.
Chronic kidney disease, however, is incurable. And, depending on what stage the disease is at, you really just have a few weeks to a few months left. You can slow its progress, of course. But, as we discovered, hers was quite advanced.
(She also had a small tumour next to one of her kidneys, which a biopsy showed contained a slow-moving cancer. But given the rest of her diagnosis, that ended up being a non-issue – just like her arthritis, which we kept treating even though we knew it wasn’t going to be an ongoing concern.)
Photo of a Patient Discharge Information folder from Advanced Vetcare, a veterinary specialist centre and 24 hour emergency hospital. Handwritten on the folder in black marker is the name ‘Maggie’ with a little love heart icon drawn after her name.
Once your pet has received a chronic kidney disease diagnosis, all you can do is take care of them till it’s time for them to go. The HHHHHMM quality of life scale developed by veterinary oncologist Dr Alice Villalobos helps you decide when that time has come.
Maggie was a happy, energetic, stubborn, no-nonsense dog with an insatiable appetite who led a really good life with us, so she made the best of her last few weeks as well. She wasn’t eating much, so she didn’t have as much energy as before. But we stayed home to spend as much time with her as we could, so she hung out with us all the time. We took her for her daily walks, which were the highlight of her day. Even on her last day, we went for a short walk on our street, which she would have happily extended if she hadn’t been feeling so worn out.
But worn out she was. Over a two week period in December her quality of life score dropped from the 50s to the 40s. A score of 35 or more is considered an acceptable quality of life, but it’s best to let your pet go just before they start to get miserable. So on 27 December we made the call.
Maggie had had her daily walk; she’d spent time in the garden, getting pats and cuddles from all of us; and she’d even eaten a bite of beef-steak fat, which was her favourite.
She passed away in her favourite orange, fuzzy bed, asleep and snoring like a champ.
To remember the fabulous years we had with Maggie, here are some photos of her that I haven’t uploaded before.
Photo of a woman walking a dog in a large public park.
Photo of a woman in a living room, sitting and leaning back on the right-side arm of a black leather sofa. She is holding a red/brown dog in her lap, with the dog stretching-out and raising her head so she can lick the woman’s cheek.
Photo of a half-asleep red/brown dog lying in a large bed. The dog is sleeping between the two humans in the bed, with its head on a pillow, while facing the photographer.
(I have uploaded a version of this collage before, but this one is better.)
Collage of two photos that have a passing similarity. The one on the left is of a red/brown dog with a yellow bed cover over its head that is covering both its ears. The dog is looking over its left shoulder at the photographer. On the right is a photo of the painting ‘Girl with a Pearl Earring’ by Johannes Vermeer. The painting is of a woman wearing a yellow-and-blue turban looking who is looking over her left shoulder at the painter. The woman is wearing what appears to be a very large pearl as an earring.
Photo of a woman in gym gear cuddling a resigned looking red/brown dog on a sofa.
You can find all my published photos of Maggie in the ‘Maggie’ category on this blog (or in the ‘Maggie’ album on my Flickr profile).
Maggie’s passing is the end of an era for me and Nadia. We’ve both acquired, raised, and lost dogs before, but that was always with our families. Maggie was our family in Australia, and now we’re one family member short. *sigh*
Photo of a red/brown dog waiting in anticipation at the top of a flight of steps. The photo is taken from near ground level, behind the dog’s bum.
I was checking something on my camera while at my desk when I saw a couple of photo opportunities.
Photo looking through a window from inside the house. The scene through the window shows the roof of a neighbouring house, the tops of some trees, and some power lines.
Photo of a red/brown dog sleeping in a round fuzzy bed with her face pressed up against the side of the bed.
It’s been eight months since I got COVID-19, and with some travel planned for the end of the year, it was time to get a booster.
Selfie of a man sitting in a car with his t-shirt sleeve rolled up to show the band-aid placed on his upper arm.
And like I said when I got my flu shot a couple of months ago, does a vaccine even work these days if you don’t take a selfie and post about it? :)
In August 2021 Nadia and I bought tickets to go see Belinda Carlisle in concert in February 2022.
Screenshot of a ticket purchase confirmation email that reads, “Ameel, You’re In!”. The ticket is for a Belinda Carlisle concert at the Palais Theatre in St Kilda for 8pm on Friday, 11 February 2022.
Unfortunately, the concert got rescheduled thrice: twice because of pandemic lockdowns and once because Belinda was having knee-replacement surgery.
But three years later it all finally worked out :)
Photo of a man and woman standing in front of a massive poster for Belinda Carlisle’s ‘Decades’ tour at the Palais Theatre.
And the concert was great!
Photo of an indoor concert stage on which Belinda Carlisle and her band are performing.
I thought I’d come out of this with one of her mega hits stuck in my head, but instead it was In Too Deep and Big Scary Animal – both of which I love. So yay!
I wanted to watch Twisters at the drive-in cinema, but it had just stopped playing there. Oh well. Our alternative film was Deadpool & Wolverine and that was a really fun watch too :)
Photo of a large outdoor projection screen at a drive-in cinema. The screen shows the Village Cinemas logo. There are few cars parked between the photographer and the screen.
I’m on leave this week so I picked Nadia up from her office at the University of Melbourne. While I was there, I took a couple of photos.
Photo taken from the outside of a nearly-empty cafe. A barista is making coffee behind the counter and there are two people sitting at the only occupied table.
Photo of a smiling woman walking towards the photographer. The woman is wearing loose pants with pink and yellow butterfly designs on it, a red top, and a gold necklace with a sunflower pendant.
Photo of several items on a shelf in a large wooden bookcase. The items are an intersectional pride flag set in transparent resin, a large blue-and-yellow mug, a crochet potato, a Newton’s cradle, and several books. The crochet potato has an eyes and a mouth, and it is holding up a sign that reads: “Positive potato. I might be a tiny potato, but I believe in you. Go do your thing!”
Photo of the back of a large university building with floor-to-ceiling windows through which you can see a series of walkways, balconies, and office doors.
Do vaccines even work if you don’t take a selfie afterwards? :)
Selfie of a man sitting in a car outside a Chemist Warehouse branch. The man has his t-shirt sleeve rolled up to show a piece of cotton wool stuck to his upper arm using a strip of medical paper tape.
Nadia and I took three weeks off to go visit friends and family in Pakistan. Naturally I took several photos as we travelled from one place to the next :)
We had an almost-10pm flight out of Melbourne, so we had dinner at Melbourne Airport right after we checked-in.
Selfie of a man and woman, both wearing black t-shirts, backpacks, and face masks, standing in an airport terminal.
Neither of us minds having seats near the bathroom and neither of us minds sitting right at the back of the plane, so we picked seats in the second-last row of this Boeing 777 since that row has just two seats on the window side :)
Selfie of a man and woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, seated in an aircraft. The two are giving a thumbs-up to the camera.
Abu Dhabi Airport’s brand new Terminal A is quite roomy (having been built for future growth) and is a surprisingly comfortable place to hang out for a ten-hour layover.
Selfie of a man wearing a bright orange jacket standing in the middle of a long terminal corridor, between gates C28 and C29.
Yay Karachi!
Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, standing next to their luggage at the international arrivals gate of an airport.
It took us almost forty hours to get back from Islamabad to Melbourne (via Karachi and Abu Dhabi). This was the start of our first leg.
Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, seated inside an aircraft cabin during boarding.
This was the start of our second leg, waiting in the international departure lounge.
Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, seated in a departure lounge at an airport.
This is towards the end of our twelve hour layover in Abu Dhabi.
Photo of a woman, wearing a black hoodie and face mask, leaning on a restaurant table in an airport. Behind her is a floor-to-ceiling window that looks out onto and airport terminal apron.
We’re making sure to stretch our legs and stand as much as we can before our non-stop, thirteen hour flight to Melbourne.
Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black tops and face masks, standing in a departure lounge at an airport.
All aboard and ready to boogie (aka sleep) on this lovely Boeing 787 (yay!).
Selfie of a man and a woman, both wearing black t-shirts and face masks, seated inside an aircraft cabin during boarding.
We hadn’t been back to Pakistan since late 2019, so this trip was very much overdue and it was a great way to start the year.
On 1 February 2004, Nadia and I got married at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Twenty years later we went back there to take a couple of selfies :)
Selfie of a man and a woman in their forties standing in a nook in a hotel lobby.
Selfie of a man and a woman in their forties standing outside a large hotel.
Later that day we celebrated with food and, importantly, with cake.
Photo of a man and woman in their forties standing in a dining room along one corner of a large, rectangular dining table. In front of them is a caramel cake with “Happy Anniversary Nadia & Ameel” written on it. The woman is holding up the large knife with which she is going to cut the cake.
That cake, while delicious, wasn’t quite as fancy as the one we cut at our actual reception.
Photo of a man and a woman in South Asian wedding attire surrounded by their families on their wedding day. The couple are in the process of cutting a large, fancy cake that’s been placed on a table in front of them.
Nor did we make a meme out of the cake-cutting, like we did for our tenth anniversary :)
Photo of a man and a woman in South Asian wedding attire surrounded by their families on their wedding day. The couple are in the process of cutting a large, fancy cake that’s been placed on a table in front of them. The couple and several of their family members are laughing at a joke that’s just been told by someone off-camera. Written in Comic Sans font across the photo in a seemingly haphazard fashion are several phrases in broken English that represent a kind of inner monologue. This type of internet meme, known as Doge, was popular in 2013 and 2014. These phrases are “so marriage”, “much decade”, “giggle”. “wow”, “many love”, “very bliss”, “caaaaake”, “10/10 would marry”, and (bizarrely) “once even flow alive why go black jeremy oceans porch garden deep release” (which is the song list from Pearl Jam’s debut album, ‘Ten’, in case you’re wondering).
The last time we were at the Serena Hotel in Islamabad we were dressed, well, a little differently :)
Collage of two photos, on above the other. The first photo, dated 1 Feb 2004, is of a man and a woman seated on stage and dressed in traditional Pakistani wedding outfits. The second photo, dated 1 Feb 2024, is of the same man and woman taking a selfie in a hotel lobby.
Happy 20th wedding anniversary Nadia!
Here’s what I’ve learned after owning a mirrorless, interchangeable-lens camera for just over one year. (I got my camera on Boxing Day 2022 but didn’t start taking any decent photos will it till at least the middle of January 2023.)
This is based on the 438 share-worthy photos I uploaded to Flickr in 2023.
Aside from typical life and event/travel photos, I seem to like taking photos that tell micro stories of people and places. I do this mainly through three types of photos…
These are photos looking up, down, and around at things you stop noticing when you live somewhere for a long time. These are architectural photos, photos of objects, or photos of people going about their lives doing things I find interesting.
Looking up along light tower 5 at Melbourne Cricket Ground. Photo looking straight up along the side of a large, white, stadium light tower on a partly cloudy day.
These are photos that make you wonder what the person/people in the photo are doing, thinking, or talking about.
Tourists checking out Melbourne’s office-building architecture. Photo of a couple standing on the other side of the road from the photographer. They have their arms around each other and are looking up at the top of a building across the street from them. A green-and-white tram is about to cross in front of them.
These are photos that (hopefully) communicate the vibe of the place in which I took the photo or maybe what I was feeling when I took it.
I want to touch the nose again! (Avalon Airshow 2023). Photo of a man at an airshow carrying a little boy in his lap (presumably his son). The man is standing next to the nose of a military transport aircraft. Next to the man is a little girl (presumably his daughter) who wants to be picked up so she can touch the nose of the aircraft again.
When I wasn’t doing my ‘one focal length at a time exercise’, my favourite focal lengths were 27mm, 85mm, and 345mm. These represent both extremes of my two zoom lenses: 27-85mm for my main lens and 80-345mm for my second lens. The 85mm bar in the chart below covers the 80-85mm range where my two lenses overlap, and so that’s why this bar is the longest.
Graphic titled ‘Focal length usage 2023 (full-frame equivalent)’. Below this is a chart titled ‘Normal zoom-lens usage’ that shows a bar chart with bars ranging from 27mm to 300-345mm. The three longest bars in this chart are for 85mm (28% of all photos), 27mm (23%), and 300-345mm (11%).
What have I learned from this?
27mm end: I like taking architectural photos (the wide angle helps you capture more of the building/location) and I often like taking photos that capture the context around my primary subject (eg their location or where they’re headed). Also, in the early days I was still getting used to composing good shots with my new camera, so I would do a looser composition while taking the photo and then crop-in later during editing.
The other ends: I like to zoom in on specific parts of architecture (like the tops of buildings) and I like to simplify my photographs by isolating my subjects within the frame (so it’s easier to focus on the specific object or the person I’m photographing).
Part of the point of the ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise I did over October-December 2023 was to force me to get away from these extremes and try the most popular intermediate focal lengths instead.
Graphic titled ‘Focal length usage 2023 (full-frame equivalent)’. Below this is a chart titled “‘One focal length at a time’ exercise” that shows a bar chart with bars ranging from 27mm to 85mm. The two longest bars in this chart are for 27mm and 40mm (both at 27%). This is followed by 50mm (19%), 85mm (18%), and 35mm (9%).
Aside from all the creative learning I did during my ‘one focal length at a time’ exercise, I learned that 27mm and 40mm are the focal lengths at which I am the most successful (and comfortable shooting). That’s why, when I do buy an everyday-carry prime lens, those are the two I’ll get first (starting with 40mm).
The end of the year is a good time for reflection and learning, and it’s been fun going through all the photos I’ve taken this year. Importantly, I noted how I improved as a photographer over the last twelve months and what I still need to get better at.
In 2024 I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing right now: taking regular photo walks in and around Melbourne and photographing life, events, and travel. I have a lot of experience to gain and still plenty of incremental improvement to do before I start to plateau both creatively and skill-wise.
So here’s to another fun year of photography!
Since moving to Australia in 2006, this is only the second time that Pakistan has played Australia in the Boxing Day Test at the MCG.
Nadia and I attended day three of the last test match, back in 2016.
Photo of the grounds at a massive cricket stadium, taken from an under-cover seat some distance away from the field.
This year I attended day one of the match with a bunch of family friends.
Selfie of four people seated in a row at a cricket match, three of whom are wearing Pakistan cricket team gear.
Here are some of the photos I took while I was there.
Photo of a sign post at the Melbourne Cricket ground showing the walking time and distance (in kilometres) from this post to Jolimont Railway Station, tram routes 48 and 75 along Wellington Parade, Flinders Street Railway Station, tram route 70 along Swan Street, and Richmond Railway Station.
Photo taken through a wire mesh fence of half a dozen train tracks running between where the photographer is standing and several buildings and sports centres on the other side. A blue-and-yellow Metro train is running along one of these tracks. A covered, elevated walkway runs above the tracks.
Photo of an entry gate at Melbourne Cricket Ground, which about two dozen people waiting in short queues to get through security and ticketing. A large digital sign above the gate reads, in all capital letters, “Welcome to the boxing day test”.
Photo of three rows of young women, all wearing an identical uniform of black shoes, black pants, and cream coloured tops, standing in choir formation inside a massive cricket stadium.
Photo of three rows of young women, all wearing an identical uniform of black shoes, black pants, and cream coloured tops, standing in choir formation inside a massive cricket stadium. On the other side of the large ground are the cricket players standing next to their respective country flags.
Photo of a male cricket player, wearing an all-white kit, jumping in the air as part of his warm-up routine.
Photo of a male cricket player, wearing an all-white kit, standing at the crease and ready to face ball that is being bowled to him.
Photo of a young boy in a while t-shirt and a green coloured Pakistan team hat watching a cricket match.
Photo of a male cricket player, wearing an all-white kit, about to release the ball he is bowling.
Photo of four tiers of cricket stands, each with a café, bar, or corporate suites behind them. A large sign on one of these seating tiers reads, ‘Melbourne Cricket Club’.
Photo of a male music DJ standing at his console while he chats to a man dressed in a bright, multi-coloured ‘Squad Pakistan’ shirt with a large dhol slung across his back.
Photo of an outdoor food stall set up in a large garden. A sign above the stall reads, in all capital letters, ‘Karachi street food’. There are several people milling around the food stand, and a line to the food stand extends off-camera.
Photo of an outdoor food stall set up in a large garden with picnic tables placed around it. A sign above the stall reads, in all capital letters, ‘Karachi street food’. A stall in the background has a sign that reads, ‘Sugarcane Juice’. There are several people standing in the garden, and a long line of people queuing at the food stand extends off-camera.
Maggie is enjoying the return of summer. She has arthritis so she needs to be warm, and she she’s always loved soaking up the sun. I think her bones also appreciate the memory-foam dog bed we have for her our living room.
Photo, taken through a window pane, of a red/brown dog in a residential garden. The dog is twisting around in the garden, all four legs up in the air, while she scratches her back on the dirt and grass.
Photo of a red/brown dog fast asleep in a large grey coloured dog bed on the floor of a living room. The dog's face is smushed into a blanket lying on one side of the dog bed.
Photo of a red/brown dog in a large grey coloured dog bed on the floor of a living room. The dog is looking blearily into the camera because she has just been woken by her photo being taken.
Photo of a red/brown dog lying on her side, with her head right in front of an open bathroom door. The photo is taken from inside the bathroom.
When we got Maggie all those years ago, we’d take her for hour-long walks every day and she’d still have an endless supply of energy afterwards.
As she got older, she’d start to get tired after forty-five minutes of walking, so we dropped her walk time down to thirty-ish minutes.
These days she still has the mental enthusiasm for half-hour walks, but if we walk for too long in one go, her body pays for it the next day. So we’re now down to fifteen-ish minute walks every morning; with maybe a five or ten minute walk in the evening if she’s up for it.
Not that she minds. She still loves walking through our neighbourhood and foraging for whatever she can eat. But she’s become a lot more chill as she’s gotten older, with fewer fucks to give about the world. And, as long as she knows where we are, she’s no longer in a mad rush to follow us from room-to-room as we move around the house. Unless it’s nearing her walk time or dinner time, of course, in which case she’ll make her presence know no matter where we are and what we’re up to! But otherwise she’s content with her slower pace of life.
In all of 2023 I think Nadia and I went out to brunch maybe just three or four times. The last time we went, I took a couple of photos :)
Selfie of a man and a woman standing by the side of the road. Both are wearing wide-brimmed hats and both are smiling at the camera. The woman is wearing sunglasses and a blue dress. The man is wearing a black t-shirt with blue lettering on it.
Photo of a woman seated at a café, looking down at a menu that is lying on the table in front of her. The woman is wearing a blue dress and has her sunglasses pushed back onto the top of her head.
Photo of a woman seated at a café, with a menu lying on the table in front of her. The woman is wearing a blue dress and has her sunglasses pushed back onto the top of her head. She is looking up at the photographer because she has just noticed that he had his phone up to take her photo.
Here’s to more bunches in 2024!
When we adopted Maggie in 2016 we were told she was probably two-and-a-half to three years old. And since we needed to nominate a date of birth for her registration, we ended up picking 5 December 2013.
So, at least according to that guesstimate, our now-not-so-little Maggie is ten years old today. Happy birthday!
Here she is making the most of her middle-agedness:
Photo of a red/brown dog fast asleep on her side in a round, fuzzy, orange dog bed. One back paw and one front paw is sticking out over the edge, and the dog’s head is also resting on the edge. The bed is lying in the corner of a carpeted room.
Red heelers like Maggie tend to have a 12-15 year lifespan, though healthy, well cared for, non-working heelers can easily live for 18-20 years. So we have many, many years with her yet.
That said, here’s a side-by-side comparison of how much greyer her muzzle has gotten over the years. ❤️
Nadia and I have gotten greyer over the last decade too, of course, so we’re all a happily middle aged family now :)
We celebrated a friend’s birthday with a picnic at Kingsford Smith Ulm Reserve in Glenroy.
I haven’t looked up the history of this place, but given it is located just north of Essendon Fields Airport in Melbourne, I’m guessing they named it after pioneering Australian aviators Charles Kingsford Smith and Charles Ulm.
Here are some of the photos I took while I was there.
Photo of the top of an airport control tower peeking out from behind a low hill, in the background of the photo. In the foreground is the rise of a grassy hill, which is part of a reserve, with a road running through it.
Photo of the top of an large water tower above a series of industrial buildings at the top of a low hill. In the foreground of this photo is the rise of a grassy hill, which is part of a reserve.
Photo of a railway viaduct built across a creek’s valley and flood plain. The viaduct comprises steel girders supported by steel-framed towers. Behind the viaduct is the residential suburb of Gowanbrae.
Photo of a railway viaduct built across a creek’s valley and flood plain. The viaduct comprises steel girders supported by steel-framed towers. Behind the viaduct is the residential suburb of Gowanbrae, and you can see several blue paint and red brick houses behind the rail line.
Photo of a brown park bench in the shade of a few large trees in a park.
Photo of a low, wooden, green-and-brown frog sculpture in a play area at park. In the foreground of the photo are two park benches and several vertical logs that little children can climb over and walk on. A nearby tree is providing shade to this area.
Photo of a low, wooden, green-and-brown frog sculpture in a play area at park.
Black-and-white photo of a drinking fountain, with some blurry shrubs visible in the background.
Close-up photo of a tree stump embedded vertically into the ground. There are visible tree rings and several large cracks running through the cross-section of the stump. On the ground around the tree stump are wood chips, placed to soften the fall of children when they’re climbing on or over these stumps.
Close-up photo of a tree stump embedded vertically into the ground. There are visible tree rings and several large cracks running through the cross-section of the stump. On the ground around the tree stump are wood chips, placed to soften the fall of children when they’re climbing on or over these stumps.
Photo of a magpie on the ground next to a picnic table that has a few food bags placed next to it. The bird has a bit of fallen food in its mouth.
Photo of a two magpies on the ground next to a picnic table.
Photo of a two magpies on the ground next to a picnic table. The magpies have their mouths open, mid-song.
I guess it’s particularly appropriate to be publishing a photo of two singing magpies, given the Collingwood Magpies won the 2023 AFL Grand Final today :)
Selfie of a man and a woman at a park/reserve. The man has a mostly-white beard, and is wearing glasses and a straw hat. The woman is wearing a small necklace and sunglasses. Both are smiling at the camera.
This is personal website of Nadia Niaz and Ameel Zia Khan. Here we document our lives in Melbourne, Australia.
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia