Brief 2 complete

Here is my submission for the 'Little People/Scale' brief in the Photo5 competition.

Two down, and three to go!

My mind is completely blank tonight.  I've got nothing.  I've been sitting here with the blank blog screen in front of me for 3 hours.

So that's it from me.

Bed and sleep is my only other option, and after last night's outing, and a nana nap this afternoon, I'm still in need of recovery sleep.

Perhaps my brain will function well enough tomorrow night, to make up for tonight.

Nite all.

Mini Post

We've been out tonight to the Bowls Club to see a show called 'Davo'.  He was hilarious and had a beautiful singing voice.  I had such a good time!

Just came in to post a photo of my mini gallery.

Check out those colours!  Yellow and purple ... not colours you see on a bakery wall every day!

Nite all.

Mini Gallery

I've hung 5 photos on the wall of the local bakery.

There are only three days left of the holidays, so, due to my knack for procrastination, I've kind of missed my opportunity for the September/October holidays.

However, I now have my own mini gallery, in the busiest shop in town!

Oh!  I sold a print of the three Tawny Frogmouths too!!  A lady came to me today and told me she was waiting for the exhibit to finish so that we didn't have to pay commission to the gallery.  I like the way she thinks :)

I also sold a copy of the B&W clock photo, to the man who owns the clock.

That's a pretty successful day come to think of it!

Here are some photos that I worked on today too.

I've had a really nice relaxing day and feel quite rejuvenated for it.

We also received our ordered copy of the last series of the The Big Bang Theory - so we've had a couple of hours watching that.  A good giggle never goes a stray.

That's all for today.

Nite all.

A Little Job

Just a quick one tonight.

Adoring Husband spent the afternoon mounting five photos in some cheap frames so that I can display them on the bakery wall here in town.

He did a great job.

While he did that, I was doing another photo restoration.

Before ...

After ...

It took more than an hour to do this one.  I can understand why they charge so much to restore photos!  It's not easy and it's time consuming.

At least I'm getting paid for this one ... a token price ... but that's ok :)

Nite all.

Random Acts of Kindness

I was reading somebody else's blog today, in which she talked about random acts of kindness.

http://fatmumslim.com.au/random-acts-of-kindness/

The reason her post attracted my attention, is because the lady I told you about, whose husband just had brain surgery on a tumour, told me yesterday that I had a heart of gold.

All I did was drop in some chicken soup to her and make a couple of phone calls about some help and support from community organisations.  Such a small thing.  So small, that I felt guilty and selfish for not doing more ... there is so much more that could be done and needs to be done.

While Adoring Husband and I were in Maryborough pulling down the photography exhibit today, we called into the hospital on the way home to visit her husband.  He has been admitted and will soon commence rehabilitation to repair the damage caused by the stroke and the surgery.

She was there too and showed such gratitude that we made the effort to visit.

Again, such a small thing.

When fatmumslim talks in her blog about the 'Friends' episode where Phoebe wants to do acts of kindness that make others feel better, without feeling good about herself, but finds it impossible because she gets so much joy from those acts.

I rarely feel any joy from doing acts of kindness.  As I mentioned above, I feel guilt that I'm not doing more, and guilt that I'm not prepared to go out of my way to do more.  I know that I SHOULD do more, but I'm too selfish to step up and do it.

I make a mean chicken soup and when my friends fall ill with the flu, I'll deliver a few containers of my chicken soup.  I feel guilty and believe that I should be walking through their door and doing their housework, getting their groceries, collecting their mail, watering their plants, feeding the dog ... but I'm too selfish.

An acquaintance was going to Canberra for a week, in the middle of Winter, and didn't have a warm coat, so I lent her a red leather 3/4 length coat and a woollen scarf to take with her.

While she was away, I decided that because I now lived in Queensland and didn't need my 6 warm coats, I would offer for her to keep it.

She loved the coat and agreed to keep it, which made me feel good.  The following week, she handed me a sealed envelope.  Inside was a thank you card with $40 inside.  She wrote "This probably doesn't come close to what you paid for it, but please accept this as my way of saying thank you".

Even though I didn't want to accept it, I knew that she (being a pensioner) felt good to be able to offer that money.  It was about her pride and self respect and her generation not wanting to accept charity.

I felt that me accepting that $40 was a bigger act of kindness than giving her the coat in the first place.

Making a phone call, sending a text, sending an email just to acknowledge somebody's sadness or excitement is an act of kindness that people appreciate.  It just takes a second, but I know how warm and fuzzy it makes me feel when somebody does that for me and I know that someone is thinking about me and sharing just a little of my sadness or good fortune.

If someone you know is having a lonely, quiet birthday, buy a little cupcake, stick a candle in the middle of it and visit them singing happy birthday, then share it over a cuppa.  It's a small thing, but meaningful.

So if such a small thing means so much to me, I should understand that my small things mean the same to others.

Gosh I beat myself up over a lot of things don't I?  I've really gotta get over myself!!

Ok, on a lighter note, I've got some cute dog photos to share with you.

The October flickr challenges were set to day.  I will share them with you tomorrow.

Nite all.

Magic and Thoughts

Two things that grabbed my attention on facebook this week.

That is all.

Nite all.

Repeat: Funny how life happens

On the 20th July this year, some of you may remember that I posted about a man I met.  To trigger your memory ...

http://agechallengedrqqzy.blogspot.com.au/2012/07/funny-how-life-happens.html

He phoned me last night.  He told me, in slightly blurred speech, that he'd had a stroke on 8th September and when hospitalised, they'd found a brain tumour.  He seemed a little vague and our conversations ended abruptly, which was unusual for him, so as I hung up, I promised to visit him this morning.

I was shocked to see the state he was in.  One side of his face was drooping, his walk was a slow shuffle, he had no strength in either of his hands and his speech was much worse today than it had been on the phone last night.  He had to drink his coffee with a straw.

He had no co-ordination and was unable to judge where the tissue was to grab it out of the box.  He tried to pick up a plastic lid but his fingers were aiming about 2 inches to the side.  He was dribbling.  His eyes would glaze over every so often as if he wasn't with us.

He was a mess.

His head had been shaved and he had a large semi circle scar across the front of his head with 34 staples.  The tumour was 35 mm across and only 65% of it could be removed.  Between the 8th Sept when he had the scan and the 18th Sept when he had the surgery, the tumour had grown.  It was wedge shaped and it is, apparently, growing in the part of the brain that causes aggression.

His prognosis is 6 - 18 months.  His wife's prognosis was the same ... 4 yrs ago.  His attitude leads his wife to believe that he won't last until his next Drs appointment in a month.  She says his condition is deteriorating rapidly, along with his attitude.

Understandably, she is concerned.  For him and for herself.

She is barely able to care for herself, yet she was valiantly attempting to care for him as well.  He was wandering off and she had to watch him every minute.

They have no family and few friends in town.

When they left the hospital, they were given no instructions and no help or advice.

So, I did some research today and found some phone numbers for various departments who could provide financial help, help with caring, help with cleaning, help with food etc.

Not one of those departments were available today to help.  Even the emergency number could not help.  The best advice that lady could give me was to call an ambulance to take him back into hospital for care until other help could be provided.

Luckily, another male friend had arrived as I was leaving this morning and he was calling the ambulance as I left, to ask for advice.

I went back to see his wife this afternoon, taking with me some of my famous chicken soup, and she was alone at home.  The ambulance had taken him into The Bay, but she hadn't heard yet, how long he would be in hospital.

She looked relieved and relaxed - still worried, but much less stressed.

The photo I took of him within 2 minutes of meeting him - giving me cheek out the window.

It's the only photo I have of him, but then I've only known him since July.  He had asked me to get a photo of he and his wife together and I agreed to do it after September because it was going to be busy month for me.

Not so funny how life happens.