A Fabulous Day!

You know, one of those days where everything falls into place the way you want it.  From the minute I awoke, the mood was right, the timing was right, my body felt good and everything went according to plan.

I awoke well before the alarm sounded and even though Adoring Husband had golf early today, I was able to access the bathroom immediately (a miracle in itself on a golf day), so I was dressed and only requiring make-up by the time he left just after 6.30am.

By the time I applied my make-up, packed my 'visiting Chicklet' bag, called the Psychotic Dogs inside, closed all the windows, blinds and doors, it was 7.10am.

This gave me enough time to comfortably pedal down to the bakery for coffee, spend ten minutes with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and pedal home to park my trike and walk to the bus stop.

The bus arrived five minutes early and after a very pleasant drive, arrived in The Bay a couple of minutes early, which meant that I made the early connection for the bus that takes me to Chicklet!  That NEVER happens!  I usually have to wait an hour for the next bus to arrive.

When I arrived at my stop near Chicklet's house, I went to that bakery for another coffee and then walked the short distance to the pier where I took a couple of photos and just took a moment for myself.

Right at this moment, the clouds were kind, as were those little waves and the scattering of seagulls.

Next was Chicklet time!  Typically, I didn't take any photos of my little Sweetie Possum, because once again I was mesmerised by her.

I spend my time staring at her and taking every movement and every sound in.  This is such a magical time and sadly, in the very near future, they will be moving away and I am going to lose the regular contact (gosh, that just gave me a tear in the eye) :'(

So we had some lovely play time and then she had a quick nap.  Much sooner than expected, Adoring Husband was finished golf and we were all sitting on the grass in the shade near the beach eating fish and chips for lunch.

Little Chicklet is having a lovely time crawling, and with much enthusiasm, pulling herself to standing position against tables, chairs and people.  You can also see her frustration because she doesn't have as much control over her body as she wants!

We said our goodbyes and Adoring Husband and I stopped at the supermarket to get meat for the barbecue that we had been invited to for the afternoon.

He dropped me off and then found a park, which was pretty darned lucky considering he had the trailer with the golf buggy!

I walked inside and was served immediately, ran into friends and chatted for two minutes and then was back in the car, all in less than ten minutes.

We drove home and had enough time to do everything that we needed, before driving to the barbecue.

This is where all my boys from the Seat of Knowledge were already seated, drink in hand and giving cheek.  It was a really nice afternoon.  The food was delicious, the company was enjoyable, the weather was perfect and the hospitality was wonderful.

Gentleman Jim even brought along his harmonica and played a few tunes.  I was shocked and amazed at how good he was!  Such a pleasant way to end the barby.

He was sitting under a dark tarpaulin, so I had to lift my ISO which has consequently made the shot very grainy.

We said our thankyous and goodbyes and arrived home in time to catch the beginning of Lleyton Hewitt's tennis match against the young Canadian.

Best of all ... to top off a fabulous day ... Lleyton won his match!!  Unexpected and exciting!

From beginning to end ... a fabulous day!  

 

A Bit of Fun

My first photo of the day was at the Seat of Knowledge and as I was trying to set my camera ready to take a shot of the Whistling Kite (if it should appear), I took a test shot of Molly the dog.

Unfortunately, Molly was sitting in the shade with bright sunlight filtering through the branches of the tree above her, and it's very difficult to get the exposure correct when you have such extreme light conditions.  So ...

She had a bright ray of sunshine directly on top of her head, so I covered it with a cartoon hat.  The background, which was the boat ramp, in bright sunlight and with a boat backing down at the time, was very bright and harsh, so I partially covered it with a vignette and filled the space with Molly's name.

Her leash looks a little bit like a tie, so the hat and tie make her look a bit 'formal'.  I also like how she is leaning against her master's fat belly.  She almost looks comforted by it.

You may have determined, by this silliness, that I didn't have a very successful day with my camera.  You would be correct.

I was rushed this morning because I had an appointment with a friend to do a photo shoot at her place, but when I arrived, her plans had changed, so she gave me the props that I was to photograph, to take home with me.

Unfortunately, I had another appointment after that with another friend, so I brought the props safely home, and then headed off again.

So my photographic opportunities were scarce and I spent the afternoon glued to the television watching the tennis.

Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt are both still alive in the draw, but they are the only Australians left and Tomic has to play Roger Federer on Sunday.  I don't like his chances, but he is young, enthusiastic and has the crowd on his side, so you never know your luck on the day!

Lleyton Hewitt has an ATP ranking of 182 and he will be playing a young Canadian with a ranking of 25!  That will be an interesting match.  Lleyton has experience and the crowd on his side, but the Canadian is a shooting star and in a year has jumped more than 120 points in his rankings.

I'll be enjoying both matches anyway, and cheering the Aussies on from my couch!

Tomorrow is Vegan Chickie and Chicklet day, so I'm off to bed for some much needed beauty sleep.

Nite all

 

More Bird Surprises

After my coffee at the Seat of Knowledge this morning, there was no sign of the Whistling Kites, so I decided to pedal along the path beside the river.

My first stop was not too far along when I spotted a Tawny Frogmouth high in a tree.

There were actually two of them, but the other one was well hidden and obviously didn't want to be photographed today.

Then I went looking for the Pacific Baza.  No luck there either.  I couldn't even hear the baby calling out to be fed, and that has been a familiar sound over the last month.  So I pedalled on.

At the top of the rise, just before the next boat ramp, there are a couple of tall Eucalyptus trees on the left.  It's quite a steep drop to the beach from here.  Just out of the corner of my eye, I caught some movement and as I looked up, I saw the silhouette of a bird that I am familiar with, but rarely see.

A Collared Kingfisher.

He was very high in the tree and had the bright sky behind him, so it was difficult to get a good shot.  I stayed for about thirty minutes, hoping that he might move to a more 'photograph friendly' spot, but he wasn't even going to move from the branch.

He twirled around to face the opposite direction a couple of times, but stayed on the same high branch until I gave up and moved on.

I decided to make a stop at the Lagoon on the way home.  It was pretty quiet there but I got a nice shot of a Honeyeater and then a lovely tranquil section of the lagoon that is usually teeming with Ibis, Spoonbills, Heron and Cormorants.

Then it was time to go home.  The sun was shining and after all the rain, it was becoming very hot and steamy.  So I found my way indoors and positioned the fan directly on me so that I could go through the photographs.

Oh, I forgot about the lovely Kookaburras at the Seat of Knowledge much earlier in the morning.

There were four kookaburras, but they were far enough apart that I couldn't fit them all in frame :(

Vegan Chickie told me that she was going to rename me the Bird Lady lol.  But really, what else is there to photograph in my little town??

I could always resort to people ... but they aren't half as accommodating as birds!

Well actually, tomorrow, I will be photographing something different.  Watch this space and you might be surprised!

Nite all.

More Tawnies!

My day was great JUST because I found some new Tawnies.

I was pedalling along my usual route on my way to get coffee, when I stopped to take photos of two magpies playing under a mango tree.

One of them was trying to pick up a big stick and was running with it, so I wanted to get a shot (which, in the end, was quite disappointing).  The man who lives across the road from this action called out to me, so I pedalled over and parked myself on his front lawn to have a quick chat.

He told me stories of the King Parrots and Black Cockatoos that were once prolific in the area and we both talked about our love of birds.

Then he pointed to the Poinciana tree that I was parked beside and asked if I knew about the Owls in his tree.  I looked up into the tree but couldn't see anything, so I hopped off my bike to have a closer look and there, right in front of me were two beautiful Tawny Frogmouths.

I am developing a real love for these birds.  They are so docile and when they open their eyes to look at you, it feels like you can see right into their souls.

The most wonderful thing about them is that they love Burrum Heads.  I have seen more than twenty of them in the last 6 months.  That is six different families.  Each family has Mum and Dad and up to three chicks.

The worst thing about them is that they are nocturnal and will often sit in the middle of the roads.  If a driver is not familiar with the Tawny's nature, they will accidentally hit them with the car because they expect the bird to fly away.

Thankfully, I haven't come across any squished Tawnies on the road, but I've been on the Club Booze Bus when it's had to swerve to miss them a few times and I've heard some horrible stories from the locals.

Anyway, I hope to get hours of enjoyment out of these new Tawnies!

I missed a photographic opportunity this morning.  A mature Whistling Kite was teaching a Juvenile Whistling Kite how to catch fish in the river.

These are very tightly cropped, poor quality copies of the originals.  You can see that there was wonderful potential there, if only I was prepared!

I had enough time to point and shoot, but I had the wrong focal length on my lens and ended up with tiny little specs in frame.  It was so disappointing, but I'm sure I will have another opportunity, so I will sit by the river tomorrow morning with my camera at hand and on the correct settings for the perfect shot!

The birthday luncheon was fun.  The food was good, the company was enjoyable and it was a pleasant afternoon.

The sky seems to be clear tonight, so hopefully the rain has gone for a little while and I might get a few hours out with my camera tomorrow.

In the meantime, as usual, it's time for bed.

Nite all.

Oops! It's Raining Again!

********

Another rainy day.

I played with some old photos from last year.

A visitor on my back fence.

I love this goose standing on his tiptoes.

A Kingfisher poking around in the muddy river bank.

Two birds together shaped like a love heart :o)

Chaos down in Noosa with the kite surfers en masse.

A croc up near Rockhampton at the croc farm.

I was able to go for a quick ride this morning, but there was nothing of interest to photograph, and then the rain came... again!

I have thought of 70 photographs for my list of '100 things to photograph in 1001 days'.

The list needs to be challenging, but not too difficult and not too easy.  I also want the list complete by the end of the month so that I can start the challenge.

Today has not been the best of days for me.  I shed a few tears for my friend Di, who passed away in November.  I don't know why I'm thinking about her so much lately.

I'm feeling a bit upset with some people in my flickr group at the moment too, so that's playing on my mind.  Sometimes people are difficult to understand.  I'm sure it will all blow over soon and things will go back to normal.

Meanwhile, on these rainy days, I am enjoying both Grey's Anatomy AND the Australian Open Tennis.

My favourite, Lleyton Hewitt won his first round match tonight, and even though Samantha Stosur is out, there are a few Aussies still in with a chance.  I will follow them with interest over the next few days.

I have a birthday luncheon tomorrow, so I need to get some beauty sleep.

Nite all.

Rained Out at Home

Our trip to the Reptile Park was postponed today because of rain.  It was pouring all morning, so we decided to postpone our field trip until we get a dry day.

Adoring Husband also had to postpone his Bundaberg golf trip which he had planned for tomorrow.

So no ride to the Seat of Knowledge.  No lap around town with the camera for photos.

Luckily, Adoring Husband suggested that we drive to the bakery to get our morning coffee.

We spent the day watching our Grey's Anatomy dvds.  We are already halfway through Season Six!  I am loving every second of the show, but will be eternally grateful that I won't ever have to attend this imaginary hospital as a patient!

Also luckily, I had some shots from Sunday morning left over to play with, so I have a couple to share on here today.

This is how our rainy weather started.  Sunday morning storm clouds building in the north.

Rain and storms are forecast for the next three days, so Adoring Husband and I might have to make another movie date.

There are three movies that I'm itching to see.

"The Descendant" with George Clooney.

"We Bought a Zoo" with Matt Damon.

"The Muppets" with the muppets!

There are no new ones in the next couple of weeks that I'm particularly interested in though.

I have morning tea with the girls tomorrow and then a birthday luncheon on Wednesday, so at least those things can't be ruined by the rain.

I do like to hear the sound of rain as I wake in the mornings and I also like to fall asleep to the sound of rain, so perhaps if I go climb into bed right now, that is exactly what will happen.

Nite all.

Australian Open Tennis

It starts tomorrow!

Anybody who reads my blog regularly (I think there are about a dozen of you out there), know that I really really LOVE my tennis.

When I was a working girl, I always took a week off work for the second half of Wimbledon every year so that I could sit up all night watching the tennis.

I especially love the Grand Slams, because that's where you get to see the best of the best competing against each other.

I enjoy seeing the young ones playing in their first tournaments and then watching them improve and work their way up the rankings.

Of course I love to see the Aussies doing well in any sport, but especially in the tennis, because we have such a wonderful and successful history.

So tomorrow is the big day and our highest ranking Aussie male, Bernard Tomic (who was actually born in Germany and moved to Australia at age 3), is playing early tomorrow against a much higher ranked player from Spain, FernandoVerdasco.

On paper, Verdasco should win, but with the home ground advantage, Tomic is set to gain 'favourite' status.

I won't get to see the match tomorrow because Adoring Husband and I are heading to Childers to check out the Reptile Park and take some photos.

They have snakes, crocodiles, lizards and frogs with shows and guided tours throughout the day.  I'm looking forward to it and hoping to get some good shots to share on here.

This morning I got a few bird shots, but it was quite difficult because there were light showers every so often, which meant packing my camera away to keep it safe from dampness.

The baby Pacific Baza growing bigger and stronger every day.

What a Galah!  Very Aussie sitting in the gum tree.

Rainbow Lorikeet checking me out.

Noisy Miner was eating ants off the gum tree trunk.  If you look closely, you can see two ants on the trunk!

I haven't been back for the Wrens yet.  I should probably do it this week while we have the overcast conditions.  It's much easier to take the shots in the even light than when the sun is streaming through in different patches.

Sleep time for me now.  I am yawning uncontrollably!

Nite all.