PicooZ

A while ago, a friend of mine brought a tiny remote controlled helicopter called a PiccoZ to the office. I was really impressed with it and hoped that I would one day be able to get one. I searched online and found that they were quite reasonably priced, but the shipping costs, which would have been more than the cost of the helicopter, made it too expensive.

We were in Toys 'R Us on Saturday shopping for a birthday gift when to my delight, I found that they have them in stock. I bought one and have had great fun flying it in the house over the weekend. It is quite easy to fly and I'm hoping to teach the boys to fly it.

Here is a picture of it flying in our lounge. Great fun on a rainy day!

Flickr Toys

This is probably old news for Flickr veterans, but I thought I would share it for the benefit of other Flickr newbies.

There are some really neat free tools available on the Big Huge Labs web site. These tools enable you to create calendars, posters, cool photo widgets and a whole host of other fun things using your Flickr photos. The example above was created using the "Framer" tool, and the one below using the "Hockneyizer" tool.

Ode to the Thunderbird

There is no freedom to be found,
Like that I find in clear blue skies,
Rising up above the clouds,
Soaring where the eagle flies.



There is no thrill like that I feel,
Turning tight and flying low,
Seeing things that can't be seen,
Going where men cannot go.



There's nothing that relaxes more,
Than floating on a gentle breeze,
Trees and mountains dwarfed below,
Flying high with graceful ease.



Oh Thunderbird you set me free,
You liberate my weary soul,
I dream of flying you once more,
When the world around me takes its toll.

Quicksand

We took advantage of the great weather today and went riding our bikes. I took James for a ride on Dump's bike and what looked like hard pack turned out to be quicksand.



It took six of us to pull her out using a rope. That quicksand really sucks (literally)!