Dear Me ...

I was reading a women's magazine at the hairdressers yesterday and it had a regular feature where a famous person had the opportunity to write a letter to their teenage 'self' to offer advice, warnings and insights.

I thought this was an interesting concept and tried to imagine what I might tell my own teenage self in a letter.

My initial thought, and most important advice was ... "Get psychiatric help.  NOW!"

But seriously ...  here goes ...

Dear Me ...

Be brave enough to make your own decisions and thereby your own possible mistakes.  You will learn from them, and will have the satisfaction of knowing that you tried.

Don't let other people convince you that anything is a bad idea.  Do your own research and trust your own instincts and judgement.

Be brave enough to take that first scary step when you want to try something new.   Learn how to talk yourself 'into' something instead of talking yourself 'out' of it.

Being successful is not 'showing off'.  Don't be afraid to be great.

You are special and will be loved for who you really are, so don't waste your life being who you think others want you to be.

Your parents are 'people' just like everyone else.  They have flaws and issues, and have raised you the best way they could with the limited knowledge and experience that was available to them.  This means that their way was not necessarily the right way.  Create your own 'right way'.

Love and sex are two completely different things ... learn the difference.

You are a good person, with the intelligence, common sense and potential to create your own wonderful life.  Love yourself enough to take your own path and not be dragged along other people's paths.

Work your way through the bad times, they will pass, and you will be stronger for them.

Appreciate the good times and feel every moment of the happiness that comes your way.  Find joy in the smallest pleasures and try to find the positive in what may appear to be a negative.

Take control of your own health.  Don't wait til the age of 40 to decide that your health is important, because the damage will already be done.

Everything happens for a reason.  The people who come into your life will be there for an important reason.  Learn from them.

Be a good listener.

It's ok to be alone.  Really!

If you follow all of that advice, your life will be very different, and you probably won't end up where I am now ... but ... you need to know, that your children will turn out much better than you ever imagined AND the love that you feel for your first grandchild (and probably all the others who follow) will overwhelm you with it's intensity.

Lotsaluvmexx

I'm sure, if I really thought about it, I could find plenty more to say ... but really ... would a teenager focus long enough to even read it?

Would teenage ME read it without rolling her eyes and thinking "Yeh.  Whatever."

I got to spend some time with my little Chicklet today ...

**sigh**

Dear Me ... disregard everything I said above.  If you follow my advice, 'you' won't end up where 'I' am now and THIS is where you want to be now :o)

Nite all

Uncontrollable Yawning

That's what I am doing on the couch right now ... yawning uncontrollably!

After the usual start to the day, I pedalled around town for an hour (which is ALSO becoming the usual) taking photos, while Kiwi Gal pedalled down to the beach, had a swim and then lay in the sunshine for a while.

Just before I got home, I almost literally bumped into Aussie H at the final corner.  We chatted for a while and then she offered me some lettuce and capsicum from her garden so I followed her to her garden and picked some veggies.

I came home and played with my photos, as I do ...

Heron in Flight

Three kids building sand castles with serious moats.  The sand was flying!

After lunch, I needed a nap!  I'm getting old!  But then, I WAS woken in the night by the sound of Adoring Husband cursing because he woke up at 2.30am for the fifth night in a row!  Ugh!

I got a little pampering this afternoon when I went to the hairdresser for a couple of hours.  A change of colour in my foils, and a trim, makes the world of difference!  I feel like a new woman!

Arrived home just in time to get dressed,  hop on the courtesy bus and head to the bowls club for the raffles and badge draw.

No luck at all tonight for Adoring Husband, or I, but Kiwi Gal won some money on the Keno and four drinks.

We had dinner at the club tonight with some friends and I drank two glasses of wine!  Very unusual.

It was a very nice evening.

So, all of that is what has caused me to yawn uncontrollably on the couch.  I get to visit my little Chicklet tomorrow.  I have an early start,  so I'm going to stop yawning and head off to bed.

Nite all.

Jewellery Order

It's nice to know that people haven't forgotten that I make jewellery :o) even though 'I' had forgotten!

While at indoor bowls this morning, one of the new ladies asked me if I would take an order for a bracelet and matching earrings!  I'm so pleased, and now that Christmas is just around the corner, I might get more orders.

I think I will carry the jewellery box to bowls each Thursday, and see if I can sell some for Christmas.

It appears to be quite still at the moment, but we have had gale force winds most of the day, which made it difficult to lurk around town for the usual photographic opportunities on my trike.

Instead, I took the macro lens into the back garden to satisfy my overwhelming desire to use my camera today, and under difficult conditions, took 'heaps' of photos.

The results were surprisingly satisfying!

I have no idea what this is, but considering the state of our veggie garden, I figure it can't be good!

You would never know, looking at this, that conditions were cyclonic!

These Wattlebirds have, for the second year running, built a nest in our alfresco area in a pot plant.

Kiwi Gal has settled in nicely and has found her favourite place on the couch in the family room with the dogs.  She is more than happy to do nothing, after leaving Sydney and her very stressful work and family life behind her for ten days.  She has turned off her mobile phone and is quietly de-stressing.

We've planned a whale watching trip next week and we might all drive down to the Sunshine Coast on another day.  Tuesday has just got to be movie day!  We both have hair appointments tomorrow.  Not too much happening, but just enough to make it a holiday.

Just so long as I have enough spare time to design and create my jewellery order.  After all, business is business.

Nite all.

Good start ... lousy finish.

It all started with some flashes of luck with the camera and the local birdlife this morning!

Baby Plover looking a little the worse for wear in the wet grass.

A young Butcher Bird.

Green Parrot.

Adult Plover.

Dolphin - which I was sure was a Kookaburra, but obviously I was wrong!

Luckily, for me, I have an Adoring Husband who thinks logically, when I can't!

Three occasions in a row, I went out with my camera and the 400mm lens taking photos.  I probably took more than 200 photos each time, but when I got home and looked at them on the computer screen, they were all blurry and I had to delete them all.

I got so cranky!!

I swore and told him that we had to return the stupid lens because it wasn't working properly!

So he tried it with and without the tripod and had the same problem.

Then he wondered if it was the filter on the lens and tried to remove it.  It was stuck fast and we both tried to unscrew it without luck.

After about twenty minutes, Adoring Husband walked into the lounge room and had successfully removed the lens filter.

He cleaned the lens AND the lens filter and tried it again.

SUCCESS!!

So the lens and filter obviously has so much crap on them, that the camera was focussing on THAT instead of the subject that I wanted to photograph!

**rolls eyes**

Adoring Husband seems to find his secret drawer of common sense when I can't find my usually abundant supply!  Thank goodness for that!

We picked up Kiwi Gal from the airport today and on the way home, we stopped at Toogoom and had lunch at Goodies restaurant on the water.

Kiwi Gal and I shared a bottle of bubbly and the food was good.  It was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Psychotic Dogs were very happy to see her and have been getting lots of cuddles since she walked in the door.

Late this afternoon, Adoring Husband and I rushed down to the river for what looked like being a fabulous sunset.

Unfortunately it fizzled out to nothing.

I took an incredibly under-exposed photo which captured the red sun beautifully, but that's all it captured.

Red Sun

None of the correctly exposed photos had a sun like this!

Maybe next time :o)

Photographically speaking, it was a good start to the day, but a lousy finish.

Nite all.

Early to Rise

It was a bright and early start to the day!

As I heard the garage roller door open and Adoring Husband drive out, I looked across at the clock and saw that it was 5.15am.  I had set my alarm for 5.30, so I turned it off before it rang out and jumped out of bed ready to start the day.

Because it was 'family lunch' day, we had to leave bright and early for Maryborough so that we'd be home before lunch.

There is a lake behind the golf course in Maryborough that is home to many different types of birds including ibis, ducks, geese, swans, lorikeets, bush parrots etc etc.

Adoring Husband noticed all of this birdlife when he played golf nearby a couple of months ago.

Unfortunately, some of the birds must have gone into hibernation, because we didn't see a lot, other than ibis, ducks and lorikeets, however we did get some good shots.

The water lilies were lovely 

I have no idea what these birds are.  I looked up and there they were!

I think I shall name it 'Ibis Island'

After we left, Adoring Husband suggested that we stop in at Lenthalls Dam

http://www.widebaywater.qld.gov.au/quicklinks/lakelenthall

A great camping and picnic area with a boat ramp for boating and fishing.  Beautifully landscaped and quite a large area.

The drive in, wasn't too much fun, because the dirt road had obviously been damaged during the floods earlier in the year and there were still some large muddy puddles that we had to drive around, but it was still drivable without a 4WD.

Photographically speaking, there was not a lot going for it, although, as Adoring Husband suggested, it would be a great sunset location, given the water and tree-lined banks.

The gates close at 8pm so we could get a sunset or two in before Summer.

We had a lovely family lunch.

Tomorrow will be a trip into the airport to pick up Kiwi Gal, who will be with us for ten days, so I'd best get to bed so that I can be ready for another early rise tomorrow!

Nite all.

PS  I promised to show you Adoring Husband's third place photo for the group challenge and here it is

Nite again.

photo5 Box

It's here!  It's here!  My photo5 box arrived in the mail today!

I've been popping into the website a few times a day to look at the new submissions and there are very few unique ideas.

I seem to be looking at repeat photos.  Same composition, different colours.

This seems strange to me.  If we can all go to the website to see the entries so far, why would we submit photos exactly the same as the ones that are on there?

Yes I know how difficult it is to think of something new and different, but we still have three weeks to work on it!

I may end up submitting something similar myself, but I certainly plan on thinking long and hard about it and practising different ideas leading up the closing dates.

Anyway, in the mean time, I have a couple of macro shots to share.

Star Bee

Star Flower (Hoya)

Tomorrow morning, Adoring Husband and I are driving to Maryborough, on a photographic mission, so hopefully, I will have more to share in my next update.

Adoring Husband came third in our group challenge this month with a photo that I am unable to show you in this post, but I hope to tomorrow!  He is on a roll!

These things happen in threes, so I wonder what brilliance he will come up with next!

Sadly, he has decided to not enter the photo5 competition.  I think he should.  I can still talk him into it between now and the closing date.

Finally, our Chicklet photo update ...

Perfectly gorgeous.

I will take a photo of my photo5 box and it's contents to post here tomorrow.

Nite all.

A Lazy Sunday Afternoon

I can't believe that I have no photos to show for it, but we attended the Pier Festival in The Bay today!

After starting the day in the usual manner, at the 'Seat of Knowledge', then having a short ride on the trike with Aussie H,  then chatting with her while sitting on our trikes in the middle of the road outside my house, I finally came inside and Adoring Husband suggested that we go into The Bay and check out the Pier Festival.

I did, however, take a photo of Ross Street Trader sitting on my trike this morning.

77 years of age last birthday

They call him the Ross Street Trader, because he buys used lawn mowers, boats/trailers, cars and other various tools and vehicles, does them up and then parks them on his front lawn and sells them.  He has a pretty good reputation in town for selling good quality stuff... but I'm pretty sure I've told you that before, in another post.

He was checking my trike out to see if he could bend his knee enough to pedal one.  He couldn't.

So Adoring Husband and I drove into The Bay and wandered around the festival, sampled the coconut prawns, bought some home-made dog biscuits, enjoyed a coffee, walked part way along the pier in gale force conditions, decided that there were no stalls selling anything else that we were interested in and then we made the decision to leave.

As we got closer to the car, we decided to have some lunch at the resort where Vegan Chickie is living, so I sent her a text to let her know where we were.

Chicklet was napping, but as soon as she woke up, they came downstairs and joined us.

I had a lovely couple of hours cuddling with Chicklet, while Adoring Husband wandered across the road and began photographing some kite surfers who were taking advantage of the wind.  He got a couple of good shots too!

Lunch was delicious and the Chicklet time was great ... I could watch her for hours ... my conversation skills go right out the window when she is around.

It was a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon.  Let's do it again some time!

Nite all.