Day 203 in a Year of my Life

My work space/studio has gone from this ...

to this (thank you Cyclone Oswald) ...

to this ...

I love this space.  I spend more time sitting and feeling the love, than I do actually working!

I pedalled like crazy, up and down the road along the beach this morning.

There were Brahminy Kites, Whistling Kites and the White Breasted Sea Eagle taking advantage of the very low tide, but every time I stopped and scrambled down to the beach, they would fly further up or down the shore line and I would have to jump back on the trike and pedal harder and faster!

On one of my scrambles, there was a group of six mature men and women pumping the sand for bait and I was walking quite a distance from them, scouring the sky for the raptors.

The wind was blowing in my direction and I heard one of them say "That's her!  That's that woman!"

I looked over and they called out "We were admiring your beautiful photos in the bakery!"

My head and chest swelled just a little and I smiled widely and thanked them as I walked back towards my trike ... feeling pretty chuffed!

Finally I gave up on the birds and stopped my trike just to enjoy the water and sunshine for a moment.

I lifted my face towards the sun and closed my eyes for a moment (such a nice feeling) and when I opened my eyes, this is what I saw ...

So obviously, my lesson learned, is to sit in one place and wait for the birds to come to me.  This is how I've been successful with my last three bird shots!

Today, I am grateful for perfect, cloudless Autumn days, when the air is clean and the light is sparkling and vibrant.  Days when I can lift my face towards the sun and feel the warmth emanate from top to toe.

Nite all.

Day 202 in a Year of my Life

A long trip to Bundaberg through numerous roadworks, took almost twice as long as usual to get there and then ended with a truck throwing a stone up and cracking our windscreen!

Luckily it was repairable (just) and we didn't have to pay a fortune to replace it!

We watched the new Star Trek movie at the cinema and really enjoyed it.

We had a nice hot coffee in a little cafe by the river, and then, finally, we picked up the camper van from the dealer where they repaired it, after tornado damage 3 months ago.

It's been a long day and I have no photos to share.

I chose not to take my camera today and before we'd driven ten kilometres out of town, we spotted a beautiful Brahminy Kite, sitting on a fence post, chewing on his prey.

Ugh!

Note to self "The choice should ALWAYS be to TAKE THE CAMERA WITH YOU!"

Today, I appreciate the little life lesson that I learned about my camera.

Nite all.

Day 201 in a Year of my Life

I woke up at 6am, jumped out of bed and looked out the window.

A sunrise to die for!!  The sky was awash with ripples of pink, yellow, orange, purple and red.  Beautiful clouds spreading their fingers right across the sky, the edges of them glistening in the sunlight.

I gasped, and in a flurry, threw off my pyjamas and threw on my dirty clothes from yesterday that were lying on the floor next to the bed.  No time to lose!!

I rushed out to my work area and shoved my camera and lenses into my camera bag, grabbed my hat of the rack, my glasses off the table, slid my thongs on my feet and opened the door into the garage.

There was Adoring Husband getting himself organised for his first day back at golf since the tornado hit in January.

I rushed past him, dumped my camera bag into the basket, jumped on the trike and began to pedal, calling out "See ya!"

"Where are you going?" he asked (he knows that the only reason I leave the house at stupid o'clock is for sunrise shots) so I give him a short and obvious answer, and he says "But I'm leaving soon!"

Now .. anybody with photography experience (which Adoring Husband has), KNOWS that a sunrise or sunset lasts just a few minutes.  TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE!  There is no time to stop and have a conversation.

So, I get to the bottom of the driveway and do a quick u-turn calling out "Well come here and kiss me goodbye!"  He stops halfway down the driveway and says "Don't worry about it!"

UGH!  More precious seconds wasted!

I pedal another 100 metres, the colour is fading fast and I know that by the time I reach the beach, it will be completely gone from the sky.

UGH!  (again)

So I do a quick detour into the lane that takes me to the lagoon.

By now, I could feel a very light sprinkle of rain.  I take a couple of quick shots of the lagoon in it's morning stillness.

Then I see a little duck on the water - and the rain has stopped.  I quickly change lenses and take half a dozen shots of the little duck and his reflection in the still water.

I feel the rain begin to softly fall - not enough for me to be worried about the camera, but I look up at the sky and see half a rainbow forming.

I change my lens, yet again, and begin shooting.  As I shoot, the rainbow slowly grows into a giant arch stretching right across the width of the lagoon.

The sun's rays are gently touching the trees and as the rain falls, the colours of the rainbow gradually brighten ... and then ... a very faint second rainbow appears above it.

WOW

In the space of about 7 minutes, the light has changed so much!

All of this happened in just 20 minutes and I pedalled back home in time to say goodbye to Adoring Husband, who was still trying to get himself organised for golf!

Originally, I thought that this was my consolation prize for missing the lovely sunrise - and for this I'm grateful - I think I would have been more disappointed if I had missed this, so really, it's a winner for me!

Nite all.

Day 200 in a Year of my Life

Well, I've had my life flash before my eyes today.

One particular bag of goodies that has been shoved away in a cupboard for the last 5 yrs, and before that, it was packed in a box for even longer.

It was like opening a treasure chest and finding some lovely, and not so lovely, treasures to ponder.

Starting with some old school reports.

Second year of high school and the Principal commented "A poor student.  Rozlyn will achieve little until her behaviour and her attitude improve.  At present her behaviour is hardly tolerable".

Other comments from teachers include "Inattentive and talkative" and "If Rozlyn put as much effort into her work as she does into 'showing off' and distracting others, she could do well.  She frequently refuses to participate".

Wow, I don't remember being that bad!

I found a 'farewell' card signed by all of my classmates when I left that school.

A photo of 15 yr old me riding a horse!

I found an envelope full of letters from my Korean and Japanese penpals with whom I regularly corresponded when I was 16 and 17 yrs of age.

A pile of congratulatory telegrams from my first wedding.

Photos of little Jamie's baptism and later, his funeral.

Numerous letters that I had written but never sent (those that know me will be nodding their heads  and rolling their eyes) to my father, my x-husband, friends.

Notes on storylines for books that I wanted to write.  Chapters written for some of those stories!

An old Tax Assessement Notice from 1992 showing that my taxable income was $18501.

A couple of my kids' school reports.

Emails from my mother, as well as jokes that she faxed to me at work.

Long emails from Vegan Chickie when she was living in Melbourne all those years ago.

A disc with photos that Bubbles and I had taken of each other so that we could make an "MSN" profile back in 2003 - the year my mother updated her computer and gave me her old one.  That computer changed our lives!

A cartoon drawing in pencil, that Number One Son drew about 20 yrs ago.

Numerous photos that made me feel both happy and sad.

What an interesting ride it was, reliving all those memories.

So I cleared my mind with a ride down to the river for a sunset shot.

Today, I am grateful for little bags of treasures that remind me where I came from and how much I've learned, how much I've grown and how happy I am now.  Exhausting!  But fun :)

Nite all.

Day 199 in a Year of my LIfe

A short break in the rain this morning and I got these ...

... but the break didn't last long, so by the time I got home, I was almost drenched through!

I had to blow dry my hair before I went to the hairdressers!  There's nothing nicer than a couple of hours spent at the hairdressers being pampered.  The only other pampering I prefer, is a full pedicure with foot massage included - delicious!

This afternoon I missed a beautiful sunset, but prior to that I was playing with my camera, some weeds and the lovely afternoon light in the back yard.  (No sign of Jake the snake, thank goodness!)

So today, I am grateful to my regular hairdresser, who knows how to make my visit a pleasure and who supported me by attending my photography exhibit last year.  She's a lovely lady and (not that she reads this blog) I dub her 'Snips'!

Nite all.  

Day 198 in a Year of my Life

I didn't tell you all about my snake visitor on Saturday!

Meet Jake ...

Of course, if you had spoken to me on Saturday at the time of sighting ... there was no 'Jake' ... there was a &^%@^* red bellied black %$#@&^ snake in the chook pen!!

I actually went to get the egg that I knew was waiting in the egg box.  I lifted the lid and spotted the egg and within a split second, I noticed the snake on the other side of the box (the egg box is about 4 feet long).

I yelled quite loudly and dropped the lid of the box as I stepped backwards.

Facebook was the first to know.

My facebook world gave me some good advice and some bad advice and some useless advice.

Then I remembered Helen (the chook) was still in the pen, so I went to let her out and took my camera (just in case) - THAT'S when I saw Jake's little head peeking around the corner!

I helped Helen escape and then locked myself and the dogs INSIDE the house.

By the time I was convinced, by my facebook world, to call someone to come and relocate the snake, Jake had disappeared.

So, if I remember correctly, Jake is the third snake visitor in our yard ... well, the third that we've witnessed ... who knows how many have actually entered our yard!

It's that time of the year when snakes are looking for warm, dry, comfortable places to hibernate.

Pleeeeeeeease don't let Jake think that our house, shed or garden is warm enough, dry enough or comfortable enough for any hibernation period!

We've emptied the container in our back yard and now wait for the company to come pick it up.

The new fridge is delivered tomorrow.

Once again, it's all happening at our house!

Today I am grateful to have Adoring Husband home with a new burst of enthusiasm, energy and motivation.

I think I need to leave home until he runs out of all that stuff.  :D  He's wearing me out!

Nite all.

Day 197 in a Year of my Life

It's Mother's Day.

To all the mothers out there, who come visit my blog regularly, I hope that you had a fabulous mother's day and that those who love you made the day as special as it should be.

This is for you ...

Today I am grateful to my kids for their texts, phone calls and skype calls to make me feel like a Mum who is loved.  I love you xxx.

Nite all.