Twi-hards

My sister informed me tonight, via facebook, that there are 68 days til the movie 'Breaking Dawn' is released!  The countdown has begun!

I only spent an hour at the 'Seat of Knowledge' this morning, then I rushed to the supermarket to get vegetables for lunch and quickly pedalled home so that I could watch Samantha Stosur play her semi-final tennis match.

She won!  She now plays Serena Williams in the final tomorrow!  Woot! Woot!

Unfortunately, I didn't get to have lunch with my little Chicklet today and now we've rescheduled to Tuesday.

Adoring Husband and I had roast lamb and veggies for lunch anyway.  It was delicious!

While he was in the garden this afternoon, doing all the outside jobs, like mowing the lawn, whipper snipping the edges, weeding and watering, he found a lovely green frog and called me out with my camera.

I got these great shots of the most beautiful and delicious frog ever!

He posed for us for about fifteen minutes and then we put him back in his safe spot.

I love frogs!

We've watched my NRL football team win their first finals game this weekend too.  Go Broncos!

Tomorrow is the big whale watching day for us.  Cameras are ready and we must be up bright and early!  I'm a bit excited!

Of course, you know that you should be prepared for a LOT of photos over the coming week!

For now, I am going to watch the end of the Twilight movie which is being shown on telly tonight, as I am sure my Twi-hard sister is also doing, and then I'll be off to bed.

Nite all.

Failing Markets

After the dreadful weather yesterday afternoon and evening, it was a relief to wake up this morning to a fine day.

I set my alarm for 5.15am so that I could get myself organised for the markets, but when the alarm went off, I lay there in the dark wondering why I had set the alarm!!

Is that a sign of age?  Or was it just that I had to wake up properly first?

I took my time getting ready, but as I left home, I had that 'feeling'.  You know?  The feeling that I'd forgotten something important, but try as I might, I couldn't work out what it was.

When I arrived at the markets and began setting up my stall, I realised that I'd left my earrings stand behind, along with my signs.  **forehead slap**

As the morning wore on, the wind got stronger and stronger, to the point where it was very uncomfortable and all of my stands kept falling over, so I took the stands down and lay the jewellery on the table.

Other stall holders were packing up more than an hour earlier than usual because their goods and their gazebos were at risk of blowing away!

For the first time ever, I sold nothing at the markets.

There were quite a few people about, but they were spending their money at the one fruit & veggie stall and the one plant stall.

Still, I got to spend a couple of hours with Aussie H, which was nice and we got to chat to lots of the local folk as they wandered around the grounds, which was also nice.

Adoring Husband appeared briefly with my coffee and then bought me breakfast from the SES stand.

However, it was a long and uncomfortable morning and I left 45 minutes early, feeling a little dejected.

I wish I'd taken my camera because there were some lovely little green bush parrots in the trees beside my stall and I'd have loved to have taken some photos!  Yes, my obsession continues!

I only have one photo to post today, of my precious little Chicklet.

She makes my heart go all aflutter :o)

We have a lunch date tomorrow (I hope) so I will try to get more photos and more cuddles then.

The markets may be failing, but the Chicklet love is still stronger than ever!

Nite all.

Market Day Arrives Again.

This morning after my coffee at the 'Seat of Knowledge', I visited a friend who has a lovely garden.

I asked her if I could come and take some photos of her flowers and plants, so when I arrived, we sat with a cup of tea and chatted for a while, then I attempted to take some photos.

Unfortunately, we had gale force conditions here today, so it was next to impossible to get perfect shots.

Out of 270 photos, I was able to salvage about ten, and edit them to a presentable state.

That was a huge disappointment, but she has offered her garden anytime for me to take photos, so when the weather calms down, I'll try again.

Still, it was a nice visit anyway and a pleasant way to pass the morning.

The rest of the day was spent inside because of strong winds and very heavy rains.

Adoring Husband slept for a couple of hours and woke up when the rains came - the bedroom windows were open so he got a little damp :o)

He cooked dinner again tonight, which was lovely, and then we watched the first football final between St George and Wests Tigers.

Number One Son will be excited that his team, Wests Tigers won easily.

Tomorrow is market day, so I'd best get a good night of sleep so that I can be fresh for what I hope to be a reasonably busy day.

Aside from that, I'm not organised, so I need to get up extra early to get it all together!

Nite all.

September Challenge

Our photography group has been set a new challenge for September.

The theme is 'A photo taken in my front or back yard'

The first thought that comes to mind is a flower or vegetable photo, but really, it's about being original and different, so once again, I am racking my brain for a unique idea.

I have a couple of ideas that I will try out tomorrow.

A morning stroll along the sand flats at low tide.

Not much to share today because I went to indoor bowls this morning and then afterwards I visited Mrs Bucket, whom I hadn't seen for a few weeks.

After I got home, I picked some fruit and veggies out of the garden.  A tub of snow peas, one asparagus stick, two ripe tomatoes, a peach and some mulberries.  Delicious.

Adoring Husband and I watched a couple of old movies during the afternoon and then he cooked dinner...

Crispy skinned salmon fillet with a delicious pillow of mashed potato and a green salad with avocado, cucumber, tomato and snow peas with a light french dressing.  Then for dessert, slivers of fresh strawberry with dollops of fresh thickened cream and a strawberry coulis.

I really should have taken photos of both courses, because Adoring Husband always presents meals as a work of art, unlike me, who just throws everything on a plate!

I can't begin to describe how delicious both courses were.  I ate really slowly because I wanted it to last longer.

One last photo to end with tonight because it's time to obsess over garden photos for the challenge and time to get some sleep because the tennis was postponed last night and I'm pretty sure it will be another 'no-go' tonight due to more rain from the hurricane.

White Dove

Calling out for any ideas for the September challenge!

Nite all.

The Witching Hour

I started my day by waking up, going to the kitchen and making myself a cup of tea and then going back to bed.  I turned the tv on for the news and drank my tea.  It felt self indulgent and fabulous!

Adoring Husband and I spent the morning browsing furniture shops for hall cupboards and garden swings, but had no success finding what we wanted.

Then we had lunch at the Bayswater Bar and Bistro, which is part of the Peppers Pier Resort.  Lunch was delicious and the view over the bay was an added bonus.

I then got to spend about five hours with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet.

Chicklet has grown and changed in the four days since I saw her last!  She is growing up so fast!

The adorable Chicklet with her loving Dad.

A freaky photo to share.  All to do with the light and slow shutter speed.  I call it the 'whoosh' photo

Their new home is lovely and the view from their lounge room is 'to die for'.

They call it their 'island of calm' and it's the perfect place to relax and regenerate for a few hours.

Chicklet's giggles and happy sounds make you feel all warm and fuzzy too.

At the end of the day, 'Woman of Many Talents' picked me up after she finished work and we drove home, which was a lovely way to catch up.  She has been working so hard lately that we haven't been able to play golf or do lunch or any of the usual girlie things.

The big bonus at the end of the day was the beautiful dinner that Adoring Husband had prepared.  Beef fillet, snow peas, cabbage with bacon and baby potatoes boiled in their jackets.  Very very nice!

Last night I went to bed before the tennis started and this morning Adoring Husband informs me that it had been cancelled due to rain ... so now I have a second chance tonight, but already, my eyelids are feeling very heavy.

I can hear Adoring Husband's snoring through the wall, so I need to wait about twenty minutes for him to settle into his comfortable 'snoreless' sleep before I turn in.

It's almost midnight **yawn** the witching hour.

Nite all.

Empty Nest

Echo .. echo ... echo .... echo ..... echo

That's the sound I hear in my empty nest.

I listen for Chicklet's happy noises when she wakes up.

I wait for Vegan Chickie to appear in the lounge room doorway with Chicklet in her arms.

I miss our late night chats after everybody else has gone to bed.

**sigh**

Tomorrow, I get to see them for the afternoon which will be lovely **happy dance**

In the meantime, my obsession continues ...

I was in the right place at the right time to catch this guy just before landing!

Another shot from the Mary Cairncross walk.  Just magic.

Bee Eater

Just about to fly up into that branch.

One Two Three ... Jump!

Today, we booked our whale watching trip for next Monday.  Another photographic opportunity.  Five hours of whale photography!

Tonight, I'm hoping to stay awake to watch the Australian, Samantha Stosur, play her next match in the US Open Tennis Championship, but I think her match is on at 1am our time ... that is still over two hours away and I am feeling decidedly weary!

I don't have the same stamina that I had even ten years ago!

Oh and if you are interested, Canon finally got their site up and running for their competition and I submitted my entry this morning.  Whew!

I might just sit quietly in my empty nest and see how long I can stay awake ... I'm thinkin' it won't be that long :o)

Nite all.

Highlights

The highlights of my weekend were ...

... being gently woken up by Adoring Husband at 4.45am Saturday and realising that I had set my alarm for 5.45am.  Luckily we were not relying on me to get us to Alma Park Zoo on time!

... seeing Alma Park Zoo for the first time since I was about eleven years of age.

... meeting the other people doing the workshop, including Barry Beckham who I had chatted with in flickr but never met face to face.  Catching up again, with our teacher Andrew Goodall.

... spending the whole day wandering around taking photos of the different animals.  Seven hours of photography ... my idea of heaven!

... seeing Bribie Island again and driving by Mum's old house, remembering happy times.

... catching a beautiful sunset across the passage from Banksia Beach.

... wandering through the local markets at the jetty.

... having breakfast at Scoopies on Bribie Island.

... finding the Arts Centre where I was hoping to buy a pottery bowl to replace mine that got broken a few years ago.  I couldn't replace it but got some lovely gifts there.

... visiting Glasshouse Mountains for the first time.

... doing the Mary Cairncross walk and taking more photos.

... going to Montville for lunch.

... hearing from Andrew that he had made positive comments about one of my photos (the joey in the albino pouch) on flickr.  My goal, after doing is original workshop, was to have him make a good comment about one of my photos on flickr.  It's like a badge of honour!

... seeing Vegan Chickie, The Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet in their new beautiful home.

... arriving home safe and sound from a wonderful weekend.

Here are some of the highlights ...

Alpaca

Emu

Lace Monitor (goanna)

Water Buffalo

Glasshouse Mountains

Now I am waiting for the Canon EOS Photo5 competition to open.  Canon are having trouble preparing their site for uploads and the competition was supposed to open today.  A little frustrating.

So they are my highlights of the weekend.  The highlight of today would be Canon getting their act together so that I can submit my entry before I go to bed tonight!!

Nite all.

Done for the Weekend

Our wonderful weekend of photography is over!

... and now I have over a thousand photographs to sort through.

I've spent a couple of hours tonight going through some of them and here are a couple of my favourites, so far.

The forest canopy at Mary Cairncross

A yawning koala, but I think he's saying "All I can hear is blah blah blah"

Three lovely lemurs

Today we did the Mary Cairncross walk which was lovely http://www.mary-cairncross.com.au/

It's a nice walk for those of us who aren't as fit as we should be.  Not too steep and only something like 1.7 kms long.  There are also a number of bench seats along the way for anyone who needs to rest.  I highly recommend it.

When you finish the walk there is a lovely cafe where you can sit and have a cold drink or a coffee.  As an added bonus, the cafe has a wonderful view of the Glasshouse Mountains.

We drove on to Montville and saw Andrew (our photography teacher) in his shop, where we bought one of his 2012 calendars and he showed us some of his photographs from the workshop at Alma Park Zoo.

After that, we were homeward bound so that we could drop in and see Vegan Chickie, The Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet in their new apartment, on the way.

I must say that our house feels very empty now :o(

So, another short 'ish' post for today.  Time to sleep.  Perhaps I will have time to tell you all about it tomorrow, but for now I am done for the weekend.

Zoo Day

My goodness, it's been a long and tiring day ... but also very enjoyable!!

Another quick post tonight because we are hoping to wake nice and early to catch the sunrise tomorrow morning, which means we need to get a good night's sleep.

Just a little taste of what I did at the zoo ...

The albino kangaroo with a joey in her pouch

Spring is in the air and the peacocks were all show

"Ouch Mum!  You're squishing me!"

We are in a resort apartment tonight, with noisy neighbours, so it could be tricky trying to get to sleep.

Anyway, we had a great day.  Met some new people, including some friends from flickr who we'd not met face to face before, which was nice.

It was great to catch up with Andrew again and he imparted some of his knowledge on us again, which was very helpful.

I will try to post more about zoo day in the near future, but I have a bit of editing to do on my photos first.

Adoring Husband has fallen asleep on the couch, so I'd best wake him up and get him into bed.

Nite all.

A Quickie

We are off to a photography workshop at Alma Park Zoo tomorrow.

Then we are staying on Bribie Island Saturday night, so that we can explore some more of the Maleny, Montville, Glasshouse Mountains area on Sunday.

I'm a bit excited about the weekend, so I have to get a good night's sleep to be ready for a pretty big day tomorrow.

I got two good shots today, both of birds.

This little fella is just about ready to 'fly and be free!'

Brahminy Kite - beautiful creatures

When we arrive home on Sunday, my little family will be already moved into their new home in the Bay.  So we will meet them there on Sunday evening for dinner.

A big weekend for us all!

Anyway, as I said, this is just a quickie.  Sleep time now.

Nite all.

Another Chicklet Update

Sadly, my little family are moving into their own place this weekend.

Luckily, instead of being in another country or another state, they will only be 30 minutes away.

So it's Chicklet update day today ...

Big blue eyes and two fabulous teeth!

Got the giggles :o)

I can be coy too.

I can hypnotise you with my big blue eyes.

Or I can be pink and cute and chubbeeeeee!

There are grandmothers all over the world who aren't as lucky as I have been for the last four months.  

I've been able to watch her change and grow and develop.  I've listened to her baby chatter every day and her happy little giggles.  I've had long cuddles, walks in the garden, outings in the stroller and I've watched Vegan Chickie and The Bare-chested Chef enjoying their roles as parents.

Not every grandparent gets to share such precious time and memories at such a vital time in their grandchildren's lives and I feel very privileged and very grateful for this wonderful experience.

So now I have to be content with weekly visits and I have to remind myself that it could be so much worse ... as I stated earlier ... they could be going to another country or another state ... THAT would be too difficult!  Ugh!

I'm going to 'man up' and I'm going to deal with it ... but don't try to discuss it with me just yet, because I'm not ready!

That's the Chicklet update for the month.  Isn't she lovely?

Nite all.

Ego Boost

I had set today aside as housework day, but instead, I had my ego boosted.

Adoring Husband caught up with me in the bakery where I was buying my morning coffee before I pedalled to the 'Seat of Knowledge', and he told me that he was going beach walking with his camera.

Well, do you know where that put housework day?  On the back burner!

I went to the 'Seat of Knowledge' for an hour and then triked to where I knew Adoring Husband had parked the car, followed the pathway to the beach and turned right, where I knew he was headed.

I hadn't gone very far when I saw him in the distance heading back in my direction.

Along the way, I found this old tree stump embedded in the sand and I found a good angle to take a shot.

One of those shadows in the distance is Adoring Husband :o)

Earlier in the morning, on the way to the bakery, I heard what I thought was a baby bird peeping like crazy and when I followed the sound, my eyes landed on this little nest with the baby bird sitting in it.

Baby bird looks like he has a branch growing out of his head, but I couldn't get a good angle.

I was surprised at how unprotected the nest was and I wonder if the baby will survive, considering the number of other carnivorous birds around, like the kookaburras, hawks and osprey.

Later in the morning, after I arrived home and took Chicklet outside for some vitamin D and a chook visit, we found this cute little guy in the mulberry tree.

Isn't he lovely?

It's difficult to take photos with a macro lens in the wind because the subject keeps blowing in and out of focus, so it took a lot of shots to get two good ones!  This, obviously, was one of them.

2nd Prize goes to .....

Remember last week when I submitted the candle/sparkler photo in the group challenge?  I'm happy to announce that I came 2nd :o)  I'm pretty chuffed with that result!

A special thank you goes to Vegan Chickie who gave me the sparkler idea :o)

There was no prize, just a big ego boost!

Nite all.

Movie Day

Today, Adoring Husband and I saw the movie 'Larry Crowne' starring Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts.

It was a nice, 'feel good' movie and I enjoyed it very much.

As I write this post, there are storms all around us and I can hear the thunder rolling in the distance.

We have lived here for three years and there have been many, many storms that have threatened to land on us, but we have been very lucky and they always seem to skirt around us or we'll just catch the edge of one every so often.

Fraser Island, off the coast from here, seems to afford us some protection from most wild weather, including cyclones.

The advantage is that we get to listen to loud rolling thunder and watch fabulous lightning shows on the near horizon without having to deal with dangerous winds, damaging hail or devastating flooding rains.

I almost set up my camera with the tripod to attempt photographing lightning, but I'm a bit of a scaredy cat with lightning and it seemed to be getting really close really fast.

I'm not sure which I was more afraid of ... ME being hit by lightning or my CAMERA being hit by lightning!

I have no photos to share with you this time.

I attempted to photograph an Osprey this morning, but he was too high in the tree to capture with my lens.  I waited for him to take off so that I could capture him in flight, but I reckon he was watching me and he waited me out.  He won and I left.

Just because I didn't take any photos, doesn't mean that I didn't THINK about taking photos!

I guess my biggest achievement for the day, was making GGma's trifle for dessert :o)  I have had the ingredients sitting in the fridge for six days, and finally, with the Bare-chested Chef's assistance, I slapped it together tonight and Vegan Chickie and I enjoyed large bowls full of it!

It has been MANY years since I made GGma's trifle and it was just as I remember it.  Yummo.

Since Vegan Chickie and I are the only ones in the house who will eat it, our future is looking very sweet indeed!!  Well ... maybe just tomorrow ... I think we can clean it up in no time flat!!

On that note, as I listen to the sound of the soft gentle rain on our roof at the end of movie day, I am heading off to bed so that I can fall asleep to that soothing sound.

Nite all.

Obsessively Obsessive

I find myself constantly thinking about taking photographs!

To the detriment of everything else in my life ... I am obsessing.

It's like a drug that I can't get enough of, and I feel high while I'm taking the photos, then I feel high editing them and once that's done, I'm imagining where and what I'll be photographing next.

I'm wondering if there is a twelve step program out there somewhere to help me recover from this obsession or at the very least help me get it under control!

I have spent all day in front of my laptop editing the photos that I took yesterday and this morning.  I have posted them on 'flickr' and 'facebook' and '500px' and anywhere else I can think of ... and now here ...

Bleeding Heart Pigeon - one of nature's cruel tricks!

I'm too sexy for my skirt :o)

Oops, I disturbed his nap.

Lovely Green Parrot

Jekyl, the blue parrot in 'courting'

Share!!

Sunbeams over Burrum

Luring us away from her nest.  

So with that, I am off to discover some more treasures somewhere in my world to photograph.

... and the obsession continues :o)

Nite all.  

Sunday Drive

The weather improved enough today, that Adoring Husband and I decided to go for a drive.

We left home around 9am and headed north.  We had no idea where we were going, but thought we would play it by ear.

Firstly we took a quick turn right to find a little place called Buxton, right on the river.  We had driven past the turn off many times in the past and had often thought about dropping in there on the way home from other activities, but it was always too late or we were too tired and just wanted to get home.

So today we did it.  Nice place to visit, briefly, but I wouldn't want to live there.  Adoring Husband firmly stated that he couldn't think of a reason to ever return to Buxton.

We drove on to Childers, where we considered stopping for breakfast, but the cafe was very busy, and I didn't want to sit in a busy, noisy place, so we kept driving.

The next town was Apple Tree Creek.  It has a bird sanctuary, so we decided to stop in there and practise our photography - in preparation for our zoo workshop next weekend.

I haven't worked on the photos yet, but here is a sneak preview ...

Love Birds - or - Birds in Love

The sanctuary was pretty busy with birds preparing for spring.  Building nests seemed to be the order of the day.

We spent a couple of hours there taking hundreds of photos and the only reason we left when we did, was because we were starving!

We had skipped breakfast and it was now 1pm, so we left the sanctuary and drove about 50 metres up the road to 'Sticky Beaks' wood fire pizza restaurant and shared a pizza.  Delicious!!

From there, we returned to Childers and decided to explore the back roads, until we were stopped by a flooded causeway.

We got out of the car and walked around taking photos of the running water which fed into a lovely stream surrounded by rainforest.  We got some good shots there.

We continued to drive towards home and then took the turn off to the other end of our town.  We took some more happy snaps of the foot bridge and surrounding waterways and then onto the beach for about fifteen minutes.

By now it was 4.30pm so we drove to our local shops and sat outside eating hamburgers for dinner (not a very healthy day at all today!).

The sun was beginning to set behind the clouds, so we drove to the park and set up our tripods in a good position to catch the sunset behind the moored yachts and the water.

In theory, this was a good idea.  We forgot about the sandflies.  We usually have bug spray to protect us but today, we didn't, and within ten minutes, Adoring Husband was being bitten all over, so he packed up and sat in the car waiting for me.

Unfortunately, after he left, the sandflies decided that I was the next best thing, so I only lasted another ten minutes myself.

No sunset shots today.

We arrived home at about 5.30pm.

A long and enjoyable Sunday drive, doing what we love best.

Nite all.