This is what happens ...

I couldn't get any good shots today, so I played around with some old shots and came up with these ...

... and then, Vegan Chickie emailed me some wonderful shots of my little Chicklet.

This one is my favourite :)

They make me LOL every time I look at them!

This evening, I decided to pedal down to the park to check out the sunset.  There were some fabulous cloud formations that had the potential to create an overwhelming sunset, and it almost looked like it might happen, but unfortunately it fizzled out to nothing.

This was at it's peak.

Bummer huh?

This is what happens in a day of my life, when Adoring Husband, goes off to do a night shoot in Brisbane with twelve of our flickr friends.

I hope he got some fabulous shots of the Brisbane night lights!

Nite all.

Chicklet Update Overdue

I had a most enjoyable ride in the bus into The Bay this morning with the 'Hamish and Andy' radio program on over the speaker system.  It was a giggly way to start the day.

Vegan Chickie,  Chicklet and I met at the Bare-chested Chef's restaurant, which is part of the Wetside Water Park in Hervey Bay.  It was their first day open for breakfast.

I had a Crab Omelette for breakfast and Vegan Chickie had Canadian French Toast.  Hmmmmm it was DELICIOUS!  I think we need to do that again!

Chicklet had fun sitting on the grass in the outdoor area of the restaurant, eating sticks and leaves and grass and anything else she could wrap her fingers around.

Afterwards, we caught a taxi back to Vegan Chickie's place, where we both harassed Chicklet with our cameras and took about 400 photos between us!

Chicklet has so many facial expressions, she had us laughing our butts off, which meant that some of my photos came out blurry from my shaking with laughter!

I had a lovely morning.

Thank you Vegan Chickie, Chicklet and the fabulous Bare-chested Chef!

A giggle to end our Chicklet update for today ...

Nite all.

"rQQzy's" Creations

Another order for four bracelets!  That's nine bracelets, a necklace and a pair of earrings in the last week! I could be getting that 'arty farty' feeling any minute!

Sold!

Sold!

I used the new light box to take photos of two of the bracelets.  I think they turned out quite well ... the photos AND the bracelets!

I spent the morning by the river, where I got a couple of good shots of a pelican.  He seems to be the only pelican left in the area.  There were ten of them a few weeks ago.

Thirsty work?

Runny Nose?

Took a detour on the way home and went by Cheeli Lagoon.

Chocolate Dragonfly 

Blue Dragonfly

Every time I go there, I discover something new.  I find, quite often with photography, that if you find a spot and just sit, interesting photographic opportunities appear from nowhere.

So I was very happy with my morning camera jaunt.

One more thing that made me feel all warm and fuzzy today ...

It's almost enough to get me all clucky!!  Almost :o)

It's been a great day for rQQzy Photography AND rQQzy's Creations!

Nite all.

Things That Make Me LOL

Here are some things that make me laugh out loud and some things that make me giggle.

Get well soon Vegan Chickie and Chicklet.

Nite all.

Silly Truths

Truths for Mature Humans

1. I think part of a best friends job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.
2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument, when you realise you are wrong.
3. There is a great need for a sarcasm font.
4. How the hell are you supposed to fold a fitted sheet?
5. Obituaries would be a lot more interesting if they told you how the person died.
6. I can't remember the last time I wasn't at least kind of tired.
7. Bad decisions make good stories.
8. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work, when you know that you just aren't going to do anything productive for the rest of the day.
9. I'm always slightly scared when I exit out of 'word' and it asks me if I want to save any changes to my 10 page technical report, that I swear I did not make any changes to.
10. "Do not machine wash or tumble dry" means that I will never wash this - ever.
11. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello?  Hello?  **** it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voice mail.  What did you do after I didn't answer?  Drop the phone and run away??
12. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day.  What a waste!
13. I think the freezer deserves a light as well.
14. Sometimes I'll watch a movie that I watched when I was younger, and suddenly realise I had no idea what the heck was going on when I first saw it!
15. I would rather try to carry ten over-loaded plastic bags in each hand, than take two trips to bring my groceries in.
16. I have a hard time deciphering the fine line between boredom and hunger.
17. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear or understand a single word they said?
18. Shirts get dirty.  Underpants get dirty.  Jeans?  Jeans never get dirty and you wear them forever.
19. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch three consecutive times and still not know what the time is.
20. Even under ideal conditions, people have trouble locating their keys or their mobile phone in their handbag or pinning the tail on the donkey, but you bet your butt that everyone can find and push the snooze button from three feet away, in about 1.7 seconds, eyes closed, first time, every time.

*******************

Adoring Husband and I are keen to get a photo of a bee in flight and have it's wings look completely still.  This is as close as I could get today.

I am a woman on a mission, so keep watching this space!

I completed three of my jewellery orders today.  Three bracelets and a pair of earrings.  I still have a necklace and two bracelets to make yet.  

It felt good to be productive in my craft area while Adoring Husband worked hard in the garden.

Truth is ... it has been a good day :o)

Nite all.

Stopping the Nation

Have you heard of the Melbourne Cup?  The race that stops the nation?

It's Australia's major thoroughbred horse race and was first held in 1861.  It's conducted by the Victorian Racing Club on the Flemington Race Course in Melbourne on the first Tuesday of every November.

There are Melbourne Cup functions held all over Australia, where people dress up in beautiful clothes and hats, play games, eat, drink and be merry leading up to watching the race at 3pm.

Every year, Adoring Husband and I attend some kind of Melbourne Cup function and we had every intention of doing the same thing this year.

As the day wore on, and we were sitting comfortably on our couch watching tv shows that we had recorded while in Rockhampton, I suggested to Adoring Husband that I might leave our function early today, because I wasn't really in the mood for a day at the pub.

He said "Well, stay at home then!"

... and that's exactly what we did.

We put $20 each into an on-line betting account and we bet on the horses from home.

I think it was the nicest Melbourne Cup day that I've had and I really enjoyed spending it quietly with Adoring Husband on our couch with our laptops in front of us and wearing our slobberdog 'around the house' clothes.

We spent much less money ... in fact, we both came out in front with our betting money and we were both sober at the end of the day ... and happy.

I wonder how everybody else's Melbourne Cup day went.

Pretty sure there were winners and losers and I'm pretty sure that the nation stopped for approximately three and a half minutes, to watch the big race.

This little family were perched in a tree in the park by the river.  Mum, Dad and two little babies.  Dad was in a branch much higher in the tree, so I couldn't get them all in one shot.

They didn't stop the nation, but they stopped quite a few people who were strolling in the park.

Nite all

Isn't it Funny?

Today would have been my first son's 33rd birthday, if he had lived.

Jamie died of 'cotdeath' or 'sudden infant death syndrome' (SIDS) at 17 weeks of age.  It's funny that I am sitting on my couch thinking about him while watching an old episode of ER and one of the characters is talking about his first son dying of SIDS.

Weird co-incidence!

I was only 18 yrs old when I lost Jamie.

It's very strange and I am about to write down something that never occurred to me until tonight ... well, I partly realised it while at Bunya Mountains, but it only became really clear in my mind tonight.

I have always felt like his death was not allowed to be important to me.

I was told that I was too young to have Jamie.  I was told that I was too young to be married.  I believed that any choices I made back then, were stupid choices because I was 'too young'.

When I was talking about Jamie with one of my flickr friends while in the Bunya Mountains, I actually said out loud "It doesn't matter, I was only 18 at the time".

She responded with "Of course it matters!  It doesn't matter how old you were, your baby died!  It matters!"

I thought it strange at the time that I had even uttered those words!

The older I become, the more often I think about Jamie.

There were many of his birthdays, or anniversaries of his death, when I only afforded him a fleeting thought.

Today, I am giving myself permission to feel sad about losing my baby.

It DOES matter that my baby died.

It doesn't matter whether I was 18 or 28 or 48 and it doesn't matter whether he was 17 weeks, 17 months or 17 years old.

His death was significant in my life and it was tragic and traumatic and heart breaking.

I am allowed to be sad.  I am allowed to cry, even after 33 years.  I am allowed to feel emotional when I talk about him or think about him.

He was my son.  I gave birth to him.  I was his mother and I loved him.

I am no longer going to brush his death aside as something that deserved to happen to a stupid 18 yr old who was too young to make all those important decisions.

Isn't it funny how it has taken me 33 years to get to this point?

Nite all.

Bird Watching

I was determined this morning, while on my trike ride, to get a couple of good photos.

If I go for too long without getting a good shot, I start to have withdrawals and then all I can think about is where I can go to take some good photos.

While we were at Bunya Mountains, Adoring Husband and I were telling people how prolific the Bee Eater birds were in our area, and one of our flickr friends showed a keen interest.

We told him that I had a couple of pics on my flickr photo stream to look at, but then I realised that those pics weren't so good, and had been taken many months ago when my skills were a bit less mature.

So my goal today, was to get a good Bee Eater shot.

I pedalled to the street that runs parallel to the national park, where I have seen and heard lots of bee eaters recently.

There were quite a few of them flying around and landing on branches, so I got off my trike and aimed my lens in their direction, snapping away and hoping for something interesting.

I spotted one sitting on a weeping willow sapling, so I turned my camera toward it and moved slowly, one step at a time, to get closer for a better shot.

Just as I felt I was close enough, I thought I had spooked him and he began to fly, so I snapped away hoping to get a good 'in flight' shot.  He flew alright, but came back to the same branch immediately, which I thought was strange.

I took a few more shots and then pedalled on to see what else I could find.

There were some Lorikeets and a Brown Honeyeater and as I rounded the corner to come home, I noticed a Bee Eater at it's nest opening.  I got a photo of the opening and sat quietly, hoping to catch one entering or exiting the nest, but had no luck.  That will be my next goal!

Anyway, here are my shots for the day.

The Bee Eater that I thought had been spooked, had actually flown up to catch a bee!!  I didn't see this til I uploaded the photos!

Pretty birds, but they eat the bees that we need for our veggie gardens

Brown Honey Eater - only about 3 inches long.

The opening of the Bee Eater nest.  They burrow into the sand.  We have at least 3 nests in the block next door.

Tomorrow, I must concentrate on my jewellery orders!  Enough with the bird watching!

Nite all.

No Place Like Home

I am sitting in my lounge room with Adoring Husband watching 'Gone With the Wind'.  An oldie but a goodie.

It's so nice to be home.

I started my day at the 'Seat of Knowledge' by the boat ramp.  Always a great way to start the day.

I bumped into lots of locals during the morning and it was nice to catch up with people.

Today would normally be my Saturday in The Bay with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet, but I found it difficult to get motivated enough to make the trek into town on the bus.

I would have made a bigger effort if I hadn't just spent the week with them, and they will be here on Tuesday for family lunch, so I don't feel so bad about missing our day.

While we were away this week, our Lillypilly trees flowered and this afternoon, Adoring Husband discovered it alive with bees.

We took our cameras out to the garden to try to get shots of the bees.

Adoring Husband got much better shots than I did.  He set up his tripod and put a bit more effort into the whole exercise.  His shots are very good.

The other thing I discovered on facebook today, that I want to share is this ...

And now, Gone With the Wind has a whole hour left to watch and I just don't have the stamina, so I am off to bed ... in my own bed.  There is no place like home :)

Nite all.

It's Good to be Home.

Five and a half hours to do a four hour trip!  Roadworks, roadworks, roadworks and more roadworks!

Gryphonn came over to our cottage just before 10am to say goodbye.  It was hard to leave him.  Until this week, I hadn't seen him for five years, probably closer to six.  That's a long time.

We parted company with no promises about seeing each other in the future, but with open invitations for either of us to visit each other.

Who knows what the future will bring.

It's been a while since I posted some photos of Chicklet, so here are a few that Vegan Chickie emailed me this evening, which were taken during the week.

She was a such a happy little vegemite all week, bringing smiles and laughter into our lives during such a sad time.

Vegan Chickie, the Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet all arrived home safe n sound this evening too.

It's been a long week.  It's good to be home.

RIP Phoenix

My brother was brave and strong when he stood up today and spoke of his partner, friend, lover, soul mate and rock.

While the little chapel was wracked with the sobs of friends and family who gathered to say goodbye, he held it together, spoke from the heart and tried valiantly to be the rock to Phoenix's family, that she had been to him in their years together.

His words were heartfelt and true and comforting to those who cared deeply.

Each time his voice began to quiver, I don't know where he found the strength to keep talking, but somehow he did, and he was wonderful.

Her funeral was exactly as she had wanted it.  A short and simple celebration of her life.

Friends and family gathered at another friend's house for her wake and that's where people shared their Phoenix experiences and declared their love for her.

She would have been pleased with everybody "being excellent to each other", one of her favourite quotes from a Bill and Ted movie.

I didn't know Phoenix very well at all, but I do know that she made my brother very happy - the happiest I have ever seen him, and I hope that he will carry that happiness and love with him through the challenging weeks and months ahead as he goes through his grieving process.

So I have two photos to dedicate to Phoenix.

A Coastal Sunset.

A Rain Forest Path.

I know that she loved the rain forests and the beaches (all things in nature really).

Rest in Peace Phoenix

Nite all.      

Free the Mind

I had a rough night last night and slept very poorly, so we needed to do something to free the mind today.

I fell asleep at around 3am and tossed and turned thinking and worrying about my brother.  I know that worrying about him is not doing either of us any good, and normally I have a system to free my mind of such thoughts, but last night, I forgot to use the system!

So today was a day to free my mind and focus on other things for a little while.

We went for a drive out to Yeppoon, which I felt didn't have a lot of personality, so we had morning tea there and drove on to Emu Park, which I liked very much.

At the Information Centre, we asked the lady where she might recommend we would get some good shots, as photographers.  She suggested that we try the crocodile farm which was situated about half way between Emu Park and Rockhampton.

So off we went hoping to catch the 1pm tour of the farm.

After quite a long drive, because detours sent us off in strange directions that took a bit longer than we expected, we arrived right on the dot of 1pm and JUST made it in time for the tour.

Feeding Time

I'm watching you.

It was very very interesting and I'm really glad that we made the effort to go there.

After we arrived home, we contacted a couple of our new 'flickr' friends and the four of us decided to meet at one of their houses and then head off to Lake Mary for a chance of some sunset photos.

It was a long and bumpy road, but it was certainly worth the effort!   It was great to catch up with the boys again too.

It's very very late and I have a funeral to attend tomorrow, which, I'm sure, is going to be pretty harrowing, so I need to be well rested.

Today, I freed the mind, now I must rest the body.

Nite all

A Cruisey Kind of Day

I actually slept in til after 8am today!!

I slept for five hours straight!  It has been at least six years since I did that ... since before my Mum died. I probably would have slept even longer except Adoring Husband accidentally woke me while attempting to turn the air conditioner off!

So I started the day with a lazy breakfast on the front verandah, surrounded by the people I love .. namely Adoring Husband, Vegan Chickie, the Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet.

We all decided to go to Stocklands for a spot of shopping before lunch.  When we arrived there, we went our separate ways and Adoring Husband and I headed straight for the camera shop (as we do), where we purchased a light box, for photographing jewellery,  and we looked at some Canon lenses to compare prices.

We had arranged to meet my brother, Gryphonn, for lunch, at our cottage at 1pm.

So Vegan Chickie and Co took the key and left before us to come home at about 12.20pm.  Adoring Husband and I went grocery shopping to get some extra stuff for lunch and arrived home at 1pm to discover ... NO Vegan Chickie and Co!!

Just as I began texting them to find out where they were, they suddenly appeared around the corner and drove up the road towards us!  They had been lost!  They were panicking because they knew we didn't have the key to get in AND Gryphonn was arriving at 1pm for lunch!!  Argh!

As they pulled up, Gryphonn drove around the corner and up the road towards us.  Whew!

We all arrived together and bustled inside with our shopping and groceries trying to hug hello and talking over the top of each other ... and so began a great lunch all sitting or standing around the island bench in the kitchen, chatting away and laughing and reaching over each other for bits and pieces to put on our bread rolls.

When it was time for Gryphonn to leave, we hugged each other tightly and he whispered to me "I loved her so much".  My heart almost broke and I replied "I know you did".  We hugged for a long time.

I want one of those universal remote controls that Adam Sandler had in the movie 'Click', so that I can fast forward to a time in the future when my brother will be happy again.

Life is so unfair sometimes.

After he left our cottage, the rest of us had a quiet couple of hours under the air conditioner and we played with happy little Chicklet, who has been an absolute joy, with her bubbly happiness.

When the Bare-chested Chef began preparing our Satay Chicken and Rice for dinner, Adoring Husband and I decided to head up to Mount Archer to hopefully catch a nice sunset with our cameras.

Unfortunately, the smog and smoke and dust smothered the sunset somewhat and we got up there too late to find the ideal location for photographs.

This is the best of a bad bunch ..

We arrived home to the aroma of our delicious dinner being prepared by the Bare-chested Chef .. and let me say IT WAS YUMMO!

Tomorrow, we hope to drive out to Yeppoon to see what it has to offer in the way of photographs.

One more cruisey kind of day I reckon.

Nite all.

It's bloody hot!

Rockhampton is bloody hot!

While waiting for my brother, Gryphonn, to finish some business this morning, Adoring Husband and I visited Kershaw Gardens.  It has waterfalls and fountains and winding paths through parkland, a mini train station, barbecue areas and picnic tables.

We had a lovely time there, but crikey, it got bloody hot!  We were pretty silly wandering around in the sunshine during the hottest part of the day, so we really only have ourselves to blame.

Now we are sitting inside with all the doors closed and two air conditioners running at 11pm.

We got a couple of nice photos in the gardens today though, so it was worth it.

Tomorrow is also the final day for our 'Splash' challenge, so we spent a bit of time on that project today too.  Here is my submission.

We hope to catch up with one of our photographer Flickr friends while we are here too.

We had a nice couple of hours with my brother this afternoon, sitting on the verandah.  He is struggling a bit, but holding it together pretty well, all things considered.  It was nice to catch up and to have a warm hug.

Not long after he left, Vegan Chickie, the Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet arrived, after a long drive from home.

The funeral for Phoenix will be held on Thursday afternoon, but hopefully, Gryphonn will catch up with us all again tomorrow.

So now I'm off to  bed.  Today was bloody hot.  Tonight is bloody hot.  Tomorrow is predicted to be bloody hot as well.

Nite all

What a Day

We had a much later start this morning than originally planned, but we finally drove away from our house at 9am and headed north to Rockhampton.

The sign outside Howard stated 356 kms to Rocky, which equates to about four hours if you take it easy and have a short break or two along the way.

Well!!  It was almost 3pm when we finally drove into our cottage driveway and began unpacking the car.

It must be one of the worst stretches of road in Australia!

For most of the drive, there were no overtaking lanes.

We followed three 'oversized' trucks carrying what looked to be portable offices.  I would guess they were being transported to a mining site, considering the hundreds of mines established in Queensland, and the 'hundreds' more that have been approved for development in the coming months and years.

These offices were much wider than the usual 'Coates Hire' jobs and they were balanced over the back of the trucks and took up a lot more space than a single lane of the highway.

Their pilot cars were driving with their yellow flashing lights and one of the drivers even had a glowing wand that he was waving out the car window to alert on-coming traffic to move over.

So we were,  on a few occasions, stuck behind slow wide loads, slow elderly gentlemen wearing hats, slow caravans and a slow or 'fluctuating' (as I like to call them) female driver who appeared to be more engrossed in her conversation with the passenger, than the road.

By 'fluctuating', I mean that their speed fluctuates between 70kph and 100kph.  Very annoying.

There were minimal safe places to overtake, although there were a number of 'P' platers who seemed to think that overtaking on a hill was safe AND overtaking a truck and two cars at a time on a hill was also safe.  **rolls eyes**

There was lots of roadworks, so we had to stop for those two or three times.

I have a condition that requires frequent urgent bathroom stops.  There were LONG distances without any rest areas or service stations with bathrooms.  VERY frustrating, and scary at times, especially when there would be a sign stating a bathroom was ahead 12 kms, but we were stuck behind a truck travelling at 80kmh or slower!!

We finally found a stop after travelling quite a long distance, and as we came around the corner, there were about 200 motor bikes parked along the road next to the bathrooms!!  I thought for sure, I would have to stand in a long queue and I didn't think I was capable of doing that!

Poor Adoring Husband copped a mouthful for that one ... not his fault of course ... but my frustration and desperation took control of me.  Sorry darling.

Finally, we arrived in Rocky, and at our destination, unpacked the car and settled into our charming little cottage.  It's a small two bedroom high set Queenslander with a lovely front verandah overlooking a pleasant little garden with trees and flowers and the usual north QLD vines and succulents and lush greenery.

Unfortunately, it is quite close to a main road, so even though the traffic noise is not extreme, for people like us who hear nothing but the soft twittering of Willy Wagtails during the night, this will possibly disturb our sleep.

We also seem to be in the airport flight path.  The noise doesn't rattle the window panes, but is enough to make us look up when the plane flies overhead.

Last, but by no means least, there is a rail line very close by.  I haven't heard a train yet, but we haven't been at the cottage for the whole time .. we left for some grocery necessities and then to the local club for dinner, but Adoring Husband seems to be quite excited about the prospect of seeing/hearing a train so close!

Despite all of this, there is a lovely whicker lounge suite on the front verandah, and I made my way out there this afternoon.

The birds were singing and there was a lovely breeze that made the palm fronds rustle as it blew through the trees.

It reminded me of times, long ago, when I was a child, at my grandparents house in Queensland.  The same style house, with the same kind of verandah, same high ceiling and the same smell .. I can't describe the smell .. but it's very distinct for these houses.

It was just lovely and I sat there and enjoyed the feeling.  No books, no computer, no phone, just the peace and tranquility and I soaked up the ambience.  Reliving some long ago memories.

It didn't matter about the traffic or the planes or the trains.  I was in my own little world.

So the day has been long and drawn out.  We are so happy to finally arrive safe n sound.  So far it feels like a little patch of paradise away from our little patch of paradise.

I will, however, make myself perfectly clear ... I am not a fan of the city of Rockhampton (sorry Rockhampton) so my description is a hell of a compliment to Goldston House and neighbouring Goldston Cottage.

http://www.goldstonhouse.com.au/

If ya gotta be here ... then this just might be the place to try.

Nite all