Day 210 in a Year of my Life

The Nikonian was generous enough to allow 'Boot Scoot' and I to share a newborn baby photo shoot with her this morning.

The young couple were family and they brought 14 day old Ayla to the house.  She was a little slice of heaven and it was so much fun taking the photos.

The Nikonian had all the props - blankets, shawls, backdrops, head bands, baskets and bowls.

I enjoyed the shoot so much more than I expected.  They were a beautiful loving family and little Ayla was a perfect subject who did just about everything we asked of her - and added a bit of extra dampness here and there just to challenge us!

A great experience!

Tonight, about 14 of us from the JPEG flickr group met at Lake Baroon to try some 'star trail' photography.  Alas the cloud cover kind of spoiled that idea, so we opted to do some other fun stuff with light ...

After all that silliness in the cold night air, we met at Montville for pizza, where I had the most delicious gluten free garlic pesto bread and a nice garden salad ... mustn't forget the wine too!

So it's been a long eventful day ... most satisfying on the photography front.

Today I am grateful for a great group of photography friends to share our love of cameras and all things photography related.

A good time was had by all.

Nite all.

Day 209 in a Year of my Life

Soooooo tired.

I didn't get to bed til midnight and the alarm woke me at 4.10am.

At least this time, the train arrived on time and there was hardly anybody on it, so I had two seats to myself.

I kicked back and relaxed, dozing on and off between announcements.

The Nikonian was there at the station to pick me up, but first we headed to McCafe for a good hot coffee.

She took me to the most AMAZING organic market place and I've already advised Adoring Husband that we have to move down here and build a house right next door to the market place!

Full of healthy deliciousness and I had a lovely time buying some organic, gluten free products to enjoy while I'm here.

We came back to The Nikonian's place while she prepared dinner in the slow cooker - Osso Buco - more heavenly deliciousness!

I'm sorry to continue in the food vein, but then we drove to Maloolaba for lunch and shared two healthy tasty salads.

It was a beautiful day, and we ate overlooking the water, which was bluer than blue and glistening in the sunlight.

Of course, some shopping was to be had and I bought three lovely tops.

The Nikonian's daughter joined us for dinner tonight.  I haven't decided on a name for her yet.  It has to be the perfect name ... so for now she will be known as TN's daughter.

She was delightful, just like her Mum and we had a lot of fun over dinner and wine.

Now, I am utterly exhausted and ready for a good solid sleep.

So that was my day in a nutshell.

Having a wonderful time!  Wish you were here!  Please send money!  :D

Today I am grateful for my lovely friend who always makes me feel so welcome.  I am so looking forward to watching her do a newborn baby shoot tomorrow and then our night shoot tomorrow night with the flickr group.

Photos to share tomorrow, hopefully!

Nite all.  

Day 208 in a Year of my Life

That is tonight's sunset.

Had a lovely lunch for 'Woman of many talents' birthday today.  Good food, good wine, good friends.

A short post tonight because I am packing.

Today, I am grateful for fluffy winter dressing gowns and fluffy slippers to take the chill out of the Autumn air ... yes even 'I' am feeling the cold!

Nite all.

Day 207 in a Year of my Life

How's this for a sunrise?????

All in the space of 45 minutes.

So, I've had two hours less sleep than normal and I'm feeling it!

Today, I am grateful to Mother Nature for showing me her beautiful side.

That is all.

Nite all.

Day 206 in a Year of my Life

Terrible, terrible tornados in Oklahoma, USA in the past couple of days.

Last I heard, 91 people were confirmed dead and the devastation is just heart breaking to see.

Even though, for me, it was difficult to watch, I was doing ok.  Vegan Chickie called me to see if I was ok, which I was.

Then I watched the news tonight.  I struggled.

Re-living the fear was difficult, but what felt like a war zone to us, and a disaster beyond compare ... now seems so minimal, and trivial, compared to what they have endured in Oklahoma.

Worst of all, for these poor people, is that there are still storms in the area and the strong and real possibility of any number of tornados touching down on their already decimated town.

The fear they must be feeling is palpable.

In January, the morning after the tornado hit our town, the police were walking our streets and  warning us that there was a danger we could be hit by more tornados in the next few hours.

I can't describe to you, the sick feeling in the pit of my stomach, and how, with every sound, my eyes darted in all directions expecting to see something forming and heading in our direction.

I feel so helpless for those people.  I feel my throat getting tight whenever I try to put myself in their shoes.

My sister, Squirt, phoned me tonight as well, to make sure I was ok.

I'm ok.  I'm scared for the people of Oklahoma.

Isn't it funny, how after we've experienced a disaster ourselves, other people's disasters touch us so much more deeply?

Today, I'm grateful for family who love me.

A sunset photo to bring an air of peace.

Nite all.
 

Day 205 in a Year of my Life

Adoring Husband and I pushed our marriage to it's limits today.

We put a decal on our bedroom wall.

Has anybody out there in my blog world EVER attempted to put a decal on a wall?

Who invented decals?

I certainly hope that they were punished severely.

The only thing that I can compare it to, is hanging wallpaper ... and I haven't done that for almost 40 years, so I imagine they've made great improvements in that time!

The other question I would like to ask, is why 'I' decided to buy a decal to put on 'our' wall!

Generally speaking, I think long and hard about these things before I make a decision .. in this case I made an impulse buy, and half way through the process of attaching it to the wall, I regretted that impulse buy, more than you can know.

It's taken a year for us to find the courage to take on the challenge!

I think I need a little red robin to perch on one of the branches and a bright yellow sun to put up in one corner.

What am I saying????  Somebody slap me!!

So now, with the new doona cover, pillow cases and the wall, our bedroom has become a forest!

When Adoring Husband went to bed tonight, I told him to check to see if bears really do &%$# in the woods.

Shame on me.

Today, I am grateful that the decal job is over and that another life lesson has been learned.  No more decals are allowed in this house. (I still have another one to put up yet - photos will come later)

Nite all.

Day 204 in a Year of my Life

Sad news.

When I was about 8 yrs old, I was introduced, through the movies, to the delightful singing voice of an actress by the name of Deanna Durbin ...

If you'd like to hear some snippets of her singing, go to this link and there are a number of tracks that you can hear a small selection of...

http://www.last.fm/music/Deanna+Durbin

... even when I was 8, her voice brought tears to my eyes.  I have a few of her old movies on dvd and when I watch them, I'm taken back in time to my childhood, and I am totally mesmerised by Deanna.

She lived to the ripe old age of 91.

I think that I might watch one of her movies tomorrow, to pay my last respects.

Today I'm grateful for happy childhood memories that gave me dreams of becoming Deanna Durbin.

 Alas, by my teens, and thanks to good old fashioned tape recorders, I played back a self recorded version of me singing Olivia Newton John's "I Honestly Love You" and was horrified to discover that Deanna Durbin, I would NEVER be.

Nite all.