Sandy Horne

Airbnb major PR fail 🤣 Defensive hosts getting owned on social media. Very entertaining. A suggestion: Get rid of the mandatory 'cleaning fee'. Include cleaning costs in the base rate (like hotels do). Stop expecting your guests to pay for the privilege of cleaning your properties.

Arno Bay. A beautiful little spot on the Eyre Peninsula and it has a very good cafe. There's nothing better than eating fish and chips while looking out over the gulf.

Wally wishes you a happy Tongue-out-Tuesday! 🤣 @callissclan.bsky.social

Galahs fighting over pole position. Amyton, South Australia.

More wild budgerigars. Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Sad news this morning with the news that my cousin, George, has passed away. Not unexpected. He's been unwell for some time. But a significant and much-loved family member (and a keen and very well known numismatist).

So, I'll be flight tracking for the next 10 hours. Just ignore me.

My son and daughter-in-law had a couple of days in Canberra and Sydney and they are due to fly out of Sydney very soon. This makes me very sad. I mean, I was sad when they left Adelaide ... and now I'm sad again. We had such a good time together!

The Government™ has made an ad about all these protests happening around the world, and it’s surprisingly honest and informative.

I had a request to repost this photo (a purple swamphen at Mount Gambier from years ago). This is me when I see the aggressive driver that sped past me pulled over by the cops up the road 😂 (Actually - this hasn't happened - but I keep wishing it would.)

Remember the early days of the internet where platforms had moderators? Yeah. Those were the days. Sigh.

A female galah at Amyton, South Australia. You can tell the sex of a galah by their eye colour. Light/reddish coloured eyes for females and dark/brown/black eyes for males. #birdsseenin2026

A black kite near Hammond, South Australia.

My (former) mother-in-law passed away a week ago and there are so many mixed feelings. She was such a force in my life for a couple of decades. The relationship between us completely ended with the divorce. Sadly, the divorce also ended contact between her and my kids. As I said - mixed feelings.

Turning the temperature down means prosecuting people who say terrible things on social media. A guy who emailed abused to me was convicted recently and got a prison sentence. (Bouquets to the WA Police for following through. Brickbats to SAPOL who didn't want to know.) More of this, please.

On this rainy weekend, the gorgeous weather of last weekend is but a memory. I took this pic while tripping around on the Eyre Peninsula. This is the lovely view that Jo and Shayne enjoy every time they drive into Port Lincoln. Just stunning. @callissclan.bsky.social

Looking like Christmas tree ornaments, budgies (budgerigars) festoon a small tree. Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Some more nice scenery - and a ruin - near Hammond, South Australia.

We saw a few bluebonnet parrots in our travels last weekend. They are super timid and it's challenging to get good photos of them. This is a juvenile - looking at me with suspicion - at Amyton, South Australia. #birdsseenin2026

Storms incoming! ⛈️ I guess my yard work will have to wait. I am tempted to jump in the car and go to the beach to get photos - but I'll take the safer option and stay indoors. I'm sure that my mad storm-chasing friends will be out there, though.

A Horsfield's bronze cuckoo. Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Sheep-polisher Shayne lifting up the fence so that Wally can take a shortcut 😄 @callissclan.bsky.social

A ruin near Quorn.

Success! I used my oven for the very first time. Managed to cook some crispy, delicious chicken schnitzels using the air fryer setting.

The southern Flinders Ranges is very scenic. I love being out on the plains, looking back at the hills. Beautiful sunsets out there too (though this was taken in the middle of the day).

This Airbnb news is just shocking to me. While I aim to leave things tidy and do the dishes before I leave, stripping beds seems outrageous. I had no idea that some require that, even when paying a cleaning fee. One of the good things about paying for accommodation is not doing the housework 🤷‍♀️

I had lunch with a friend on Wed. I hadn't seen her for some time so told her about my breast cancer experience. She then told me she had *just* been diagnosed with BC herself. I offered her my support. A friend did the same for me when I was first diagnosed. It makes a big difference.

remember kids we drove that shit Starbucks coffee place out of the country because we're not fucking idiots and we have taste...

My son kindly set up the shelves in my new oven for me (he is an engineer, after all). I haven't had much time to play with it yet but I'm going to try out the air fryer function tonight. Small steps until I'm confident with it. Ovens all have different personalities. I hope we get along 😄

The ruddy turnstones that I saw at Port Neill would have recently returned from the Arctic Circle. They normally breed north of 60 degrees latitude, making them one of the most northerly breeding shorebirds. These birds still displayed some breeding plumage, which they will lose. #birdsseenin2026

Some Friday cuteness ... a Pacific black duckling at Adelaide Botanic Garden. #birdsseenin2026

This time of year, as you drive around the dirt roads in the country, you will see plenty of bearded dragons sitting up in the tops of trees - soaking up the rays - standing sentinel. Southern Flinders Ranges, South Australia.

Late in the day, cormorants fly in to roost for the night underneath Arno Bay jetty. Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.

An Australian pipit near Quorn, South Australia. #birdsseenin2026

For those wondering how Shayne is, he's doing fine 🙂 Here I am with Jo and Shayne on Saturday. It was great to catch up again. @callissclan.bsky.social

Just dropped L&J at the airport. Cried all the way home 😭 They are such good human beings. Kind, caring, fun, generous. I enjoy their company so much. We did some stuff. We saw some stuff. We ate (too much) good food. I miss them so much. No idea when I'll get to hug them again.

Lone tree. Willowie, South Australia.

A family of red kangaroos wondering what I'm doing on their (normally peaceful) little laneway. Amyton, South Australia.

A black kite near Quorn. #birdsseenin2026

Happy Wrensday Wednesday! A splendid fairywren at Gluepot Reserve, South Australia. #wrensday

Pelicans, just chillin', at Whyalla, South Australia. #birdsseenin2026

My son and daughter-in-law taking photos of the pair of cockatiels (circled in red) 😄

While we were at Tickle Belly Hill (between Quorn and Port Augusta) a white-necked heron flew over. #birdsseenin2026

Some quick thoughts on Helen Haines —

Machi wishes you a happy Tongue-out-Tuesday! 😄 [Photo by my daughter.]

One of my favourite ruins in the southern Flinders Ranges and one that I'm able to access as I have permission from the owners. I have taken night shots here in the past - with the Milky Way above. Beautiful little ruin.

The pressure was on! My daughter-in-law wanted to see wild cockatiels and I promised her that I'd do my best. We had just a few hours for this heroic attempt and I'm very pleased to report success! Thanks to @boyfrombruce.bsky.social pointing this pair out as we arrived at Tickle Belly Hill 🙂

Many people just drive through Whyalla - not considering it worthy of a stop. But the foreshore and jetty areas are lovely. Saturday was a spectacular day. I love the layers of colours.

This is such a typical scene - me wandering along a dirt road with my camera 😄 There were budgies in that tree on the left. 22 actually. My daughter-in-law counted them. My son took this pic from the car.