Day 271 in a Year of my Life

I woke up early enough for a sunrise this morning, but when I looked out the window, there was not a cloud in the sky, so I climbed into bed for a little while longer, knowing that there would be no colour for anything interesting.

I did get up early enough to catch some nice morning light on that lovely boat on the beach, but when I arrived, there was no sign of the boat!

They were either out sailing in it (I hope), or their holiday is over and they've gone home *sad face*.

So I hung around on the beach and got quite a few shots, which I will share here in the coming days.

Because it was low tide, I decided to pedal out to the end of town where the mangroves grow, with hopes of seeing a Kingfisher.

The beach there is quite badly eroded, so to get down to it, there are 'cliff-like' walls that are just a little bit too big for my old body to climb down or slide down.

So, I decided to follow a path through the scrub along the edge of the cliff, to see if there was easier access further up the beach.

I was feeling a little nervous because the path is a little overgrown and I was worried about snakes.

I had just reached the beginning of the path, when behind me, I heard a Whistling Kite.  It was close.

If you know me, the sound of a raptor will immediately grab my attention.

If I am talking with you and I hear a Kite whistling, I will stop talking and search for the bird in the sky or in the trees.  I will head in the direction of the sound every time, til I find the bird.  I am just a little obsessed.

So today, I turned around and walked away from the path to search for the bird.

There he was sitting way out in the open, on the dead branch of a tree, whistling his heart out!

So I found the best spot I could and took a couple of shots.

Right in the middle of the shoot, a female appeared, landed on the branch below him and in an instant, he jumped on top of her and they began mating!!  Right in front of my lens!!

It lasted all of 15 seconds and it was over.  They sat beside each other on the branches for about a minute, preening themselves and then flew off over the scrub.

Right place.  Right time.

So then I found the path again and followed it a short way to discover easy access to the beach and the mangroves.

I found a Grey Fantail but didn't get a shot.  I found 2 Pale Faced Rosellas mating, but they were way too quick for me to get a shot!  I also found a Striated Pardalote and got a poor shot of it.

Certainly nothing that I can share.

Then I had a little accident.  I wasn't watching where I was going and hit a mangrove branch with my shin.  It snapped the branch and gouged skin out of my shin.  It bled quite a bit and stung like billyoh!

I decided that it was time to come home and Adoring Husband played nurse, cleaned my wound and put disinfectant and 2 bandaids on it.

Today I am grateful for 'right place, right time' shots and for Adoring Husband's excellent first aid skills that I'm sure will prevent my leg from having to be amputated!

Nite all.

Day 270 in a Year of my Life

Nothing much to report.

Spent a good portion of the morning at the lagoon and got quite a few shots, but I only have one to share for now ...

Nothing spectacular, but pretty cool for a Spoonbill.

It's just after 10pm and I am now going to sign off immediately and climb into bed.

If I sleep well, I will head out early for a sunrise.  Wish me luck.

Today, I am grateful that my football team won by two points, against the odds.  Wahoo!!

Nite all.

Day 269 in a Year of my Life

Another beautiful morning.

I attempted to pedal around town again, but seemed to bump into all sorts of people for long chats, so I got nowhere fast.

It was nice to catch up with those people, but I ran out of time for photography as the light changed after mid morning.

A photo from yesterday.

I'm pretty sure that this boat is here on holidays.  It was here last year at the same time and then disappeared.

It's beautifully made and I'm a bit besotted, so I expect to get a few photos over the next few days.  The tide will be very low tomorrow morning, so if I get up early enough for some nice light, I could get something special.

I've got a funny feeling that the weather might work against me .. if the weather forecasters are correct!  I know .. they are rarely correct these days.

Today I am grateful to finish updating this blog before midnight .. I'm off to bed!

Nite all.

Day 268 in a Year of my Life

Well, it's BEFORE midnight .. in fact, it's not even 11.30pm yet .. it will be, by the time I finish writing this post though.

I didn't wake up til almost 8am today, after a very late night.  I think it was close to 2am when I finally fell asleep.  I'm creating a bad habit of waking late in the morning and missing what I consider to the be the best part of the day.

In the past, I always liked to be out of the house before 7am, but now that I don't visit the Seat of Knowledge, I'm not so motivated to get moving.

I need to change that, because I'm also missing the best light of the day for my photography.

Despite that, I went for a long ride on my trike this morning, because it was the most beautiful morning we've had for weeks.

The sun was shining, the air was clear, the water was a deep blue and twinkling in the sunlight, it was high tide and people lined the river banks with their fishing lines dangling in the water.

With not a cloud in the sky, I sat on my trike on the riverbank and just soaked up the beauty of the day and felt the warmth of the sun on my skin.

Then I rode to the other end of town to the lake, hoping to see some birds.  The flickr challenge this month is 'birds' so I really hoped for something special.  Unfortunately it wasn't to be, but I did stumble across this ...

I've posted the photos on facebook hoping that someone can identify this lovely little fellow.  So far, we've got Keelback, Brown Snake and Brown Tree Snake on the list.

Today, I am grateful that this snake was a long way from me and that I had a long lens to get the shots!

Nite all.

Day 267 in a Year of my Life

Firstly, because I know she will read this tomorrow (well, I guess, since it's after midnight, officially it's today) HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBLES.  I hope your day is amazing!

All I have to share with you tonight is a couple of photos of our delicious dinner, the recipe for which, I found on facebook!  Who knew facebook could be so useful for something other than wasting time and procrastinating!

I added a layer of eggplant as well.  I also added chilli to the tomato sauce mix.

Adoring Husband and I weren't keen on the top layer of Ricotta cheese and egg.  It was a bit bland.  I would probably add some feta cheese to the mix next time and maybe even toss in some of the chopped toasted walnuts that I keep in the cupboard.

As you can tell by the caption in one of the photos, we served it with roasted duck breast and roasted red capsicum.  It was quite delicious!  We'll have it again.  Apparently, the vegetables used, are good to boost the immune system.

It's heading close to 1am again.  I really should work on this blog during the day, instead of stupid o'clock at night!

Today I am grateful for cold wet Winter days that are good for curling up on the couch and watching dvds with Adoring Husband.

Nite all.

Day 266 in a Year of my Life

Way after midnight again and I have been engrossed in a movie with Michelle Williams and Seth Rogan in it, called 'Take This Waltz'.  I really enjoyed it ... but I was so mesmerised, I didn't touch this blog til now!  Ugh!

So briefly, here are a couple of photos ...

Nice morning with the camera.  Nice day on the computer.

Today I'm grateful for 'nice' days.

Nite all.

Day 265 in a Year of my Life

It's very late, and I almost decided not to post tonight, but knew I would take longer to fall asleep if I didn't post SOMETHING.

My jewellery party was very successful today.  I had a nice time, although I almost felt like it was an 'out of body' experience.

One lady, whom I had never met before, came as a +friend, because she wanted to meet me!

She admires my photography and even attended my exhibit in Maryborough last year!

So we had a long conversation about photography - she is an enthusiast, and a member of the Maryborough camera club, but she lives locally.

I had set my new large screen monitor up so that my flickr photos ran as a slide show, so she got to see some more of my work.

She was lovely and was very good for my ego - which needs a boost every so often.

So it was a nice crowd and I got to have a chat with most people individually, but like I said, it felt a little surreal and 'out of body'.

I had enough sales that I could buy three items at 50% off, so I bought some lovely shiny, sparkly bling.

Tomorrow's big task, that will require some focus on my behalf, is to write up a quote for a number of my photos.  If this person accepts my quotes, it will be my second international sale!!  Sounds good doesn't it?  "International sale"?

I haven't taken any photos for almost a week, so I'm hanging to get out tomorrow morning with my camera.

Meanwhile, it's almost 1am ... I must go to bed.

Today, I am grateful to have so many lovely people attend my party and spend up!  They were all happy smiley faces ... naturally ... retail therapy, good for the soul.

Nite all.

Day 264 in a Year of my Life

I would like to introduce to you, the newest member of my Apple family ...

With a 27" screen, bad photos look REALLY REALLY bad, however, the good photos look A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

It's a bit of a learning curve, because this one is slightly different to navigate around, compared to the laptop, but I'll get there.

I certainly don't need to wear my glasses while working on this one!

Tomorrow, I'm having a Fifth Avenue Jewellery party.  I expect there will be somewhere between ten and twenty ladies here, so right now, I should be doing a little tidying up, so that I don't have too much to do tomorrow!

I'm having too much fun on my new toy though.

Adoring Husband is on SES duty tonight.  The annual 'Christmas in July' bash is on at the local hall and he is doing his share of setting up, cooking, cleaning, clearing and other such chores.

So I've had a very pleasant evening with some nice background music, no TV and an easy meal of home made soup for dinner.

I made two soups tonight.

Creamy pumpkin and cauliflower with a little chilli and sprinkling of roasted walnuts on top.

Creamy cauliflower, potato and leek with cayenne pepper, also with a sprinkling of roasted walnuts on top.

Both of them are delicious and I've got four single serve containers of each in the freezer for my enjoyment at a later date.  Adoring Husband is not a fan of my creamy cauliflower based soups.  That's ok because it means more for ME!  Yum!

Today, I am grateful for new toys that will ultimately improve my ability to edit photos.  I hope that others will notice the difference in my work!

Nite all.

Day 263 in a Year of my Life

I love being with my family in the Sunny Coast.

I love spending time with my little Chicklet.

I love being able to go on photo shoots with my photography friends.

I love the energy.

I love the beaches.

I love the shopping.

I love how accessible everything is, including Brisbane city.

I love how close it is to the mountains and rain forests.

I love the markets.

I love the availability of organic produce.

I love the cafes and restaurants and the gluten free options available.

I love so much about the Sunny Coast, that when I am there, I imagine living there and changing our lives.

Then I come home.

As soon as I step inside the door, I know where I'm meant to be.

I love my home.  I love my town.  I love my life.

I think I'll just have to love visiting the Sunny Coast on a regular basis.

Today I'm grateful for a safe trip home to a waiting Adoring Husband with a smile on his face and three psychotic dogs, all psychotically happy to see me.

Nite all.

Day 262 in a Year of my Life

This is my last night in the Sunny Coast with my Chicklet family.

I had a great day with my little Chicklet today, while her Mama and Dadu went to the movies.  We had lots of walks and played at the park and watched Playschool and played with all the new toys.

She asked if she could come home with me tomorrow, which was nice, but I suspect it was more about riding the 'train' than actually being with me lol.

I will miss her, but I'll be back in the not too distant future of course.

I have no photos from today .. too busy being a grandmother.

No other news.

Today, I am grateful for time.  Time spent with my family and feeling the love.

Nite all.

Day 261 in a Year of my Life

GO QUEENSLAND!!

Winning 8pts to 4 right now.

I had a pleasant wander around Noosaville this morning.  Found a lovely gift for Vegan Chickie's work area ... three beautiful silk sunflowers ...

... and also found some great little gift shops to browse.  Time passes faster than you think when you're browsing.

It was a nice way to spend the morning while little Chicklet was at the library with Dadu.

The Bare-chested Chef cooked up a storm this afternoon and we had the most delicious meal for dinner.  It was a Malaysian lamb curry that I can't remember the name of, with coconut rice, roasted peanuts, cucumber, pickled cauliflower, boiled egg and dried anchovies.

Everything was placed in separate plates spread over the table so that we could help ourselves and it was AMAZING.  I should have taken a photo!

Today, I am grateful to have a very good chef for a son-in-law and I'd like to add that his cheffing ability is just one of his many assets.

Nite all.

Day 260 in a Year of my Life

Four hours with my little sweetie possum, Chicklet, today.

We went to the shopping centre and bought some toys to play in the sand, then we went to the park where we made crab castles and then we came home and did some reading and I impressed with my juggling skills.

The day started out very rainy, but turned into a beautiful sunshiny day.

Today, I am grateful to have the most amazing and wonderful grand daughter EVER!

Nite all.

Day 259 in a Year of my Life

Chicklet time is wonderful and fun and joyful and educational and silly and exhausting!

We read stories and jumped over string and watched movies and played catch with Mike the Monster.

I was a horse while Chicklet climbed on my back for a ride around the lounge room.  I was a tiger with a tiger tail and mask, while Chicklet wore a dinosaur tail ever so briefly.

The dinosaurs didn't get much of a look in today.  Bunny rabbits and monsters were the choice of toys.

Games on the ipad filled in time while Bozzy Wozzy rested.

We've got another big day planned for tomorrow and I hope that I can get some nice happy photos of her.

Meanwhile, tonight, I played with some photos from the weekend.

Today I am grateful to have found a coffee shop nearby that sells delicious coffee and I am grateful that my body is holding out while Chicklet pushes me to my physical limits - which admittedly aren't that strong to begin with!  Perhaps I will leave here stronger and fitter!

Nite all.

Day 258 in a Year of my Life

After only 4 hours of sleep, we got an early start this morning to attempt to capture a nice sunrise at Mooloolaba.

Before sunrise

Three minutes of colour 

Stormy coastline.

After a little light rain, a brief wave of colour, the sky cleared and we three girls sat in glorious sunshine to eat a hearty breakfast to help us continue through the day.

And let me tell you, I needed a hearty breakfast to get through the afternoon with my little Chicklet!

I've been a dog, on all fours, chasing her around the couch.

I've been a dinosaur (Triceratops to be exact) stomping around the lounge room floor with her in the role of Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I've been a dancing dinosaur!

I was even a hurdling dinosaur!

I was also a snapping crocodile and a back flipping frog.

A grandmother of many talents I feel.

Today I am grateful to know the names of, and recognise the bodies of, many more dinosaurs than I ever imagined possible.  Who'da thunk that a two and a half year old could provide me with such knowledge?

Best get some sleep in preparation for more dinosaur action tomorrow!

Nite all.

Day 257 in a Year of my Life

Another fizzer sunset BUT we'll try for a sunrise tomorrow!

Cooloolabin Dam is a really peaceful and lovely place for a sunset - one day soon, I hope to see something spectacular from The Nikonian or one of the other JPEGGERS.

I've had a really great day, from beginning to end, and it was nice to meet some more of The Nikonian's lovely family too.

Today, I am grateful for warm Winter sunshine and relaxing days with friends.

Nite all.

Day 256 in a Year of my Life.

I keep losing my internet connection, so I'm going to make this a short post and share some quotes from facebook.

Having a great time with The Nikonian and her amazing family at the moment.

Today, I am grateful for the really genuine people in my life whose purpose in life is to make the world a better place and put a smile on the faces of those they love.

Desperately need a solid night of sleep.  Wish me luck!

Nite all.

Day 255 in a Year of my Life

A quick post before bed.

We spent a couple of hours at The Ginger Factory today.  Guess who forgot to take her camera?

I know!!  First of all ... when the hell do I EVER forget my camera????  It's always an anguished decision about whether I should leave it at home!

Being around my Chicklet makes me all fuzzy with love and I just don't think straight.

Therefore ... no photos of our day out.  *sad face*

I made up for it this afternoon and got lots of photos in the lounge room.  I'm only sharing two of them tonight though.

She's growing up so fast isn't she!?  

I didn't do too much to these.  Changed them to black and white in iphoto,  added the circles of light to the top one and a rose glow to the bottom one.  I'll play with them both in photoshop sometime in the future and do a better job, but I quite like how these have turned out.

I can't believe it's almost midnight.  I was falling asleep on the couch while Chicklet climbed on me this afternoon, then I got my second wind and here I am 7 hours later!

Today, I am grateful for family outings that include boats and trains and purchases of fudge!

Nite all.

Day 254 in a Year of my Life

Well after 3 hours sleep last night, a 2 hour train trip, a short bus ride to the Chicklet family home, much play time with Chicklet, a half hour visit with a very old friend, and a delicious dinner cooked by the Bare-chested Chef, I am now in bed (since 7pm) and ready for sleeeeeeeeeep.

It has been raining all day - a very grey day and I even felt cold today.  Since I didn't pack for cold weather, I might have to make a quick trip across to the shopping centre and get myself some track pants and a sloppy joe!

So, no photos today.  I've been too busy enjoying the company of my family and catching up.

My precious little Chicklet is as wonderful as ever and already working hard at wearing me out!

Let's hope the weather clears a bit tomorrow, so that we can get out and about.

Today, I am grateful for a stress free travel day, where all the plans fell into place beautifully to start off my little holiday in the best way possible.

Nite all.

Day 253 in a Year of my Life

Saw the movie The Lone Ranger today.

LOVED IT!!

Now I'm packing for a trip down to the Sunny Coast to see my Chicklet family.

It feels like FOREVER since I've seen them and I'm a bit excited!

There is also a photo shoot organised for the weekend with a bunch of us from the JPEG group, which should also be fun.

And of course, some girlie time with The Nikonian.  Woot!

No photos today because we were too busy all day AND I didn't take my camera with me.  So I've used an old photo for day 9 of July Photo a Day...

Tomorrow, day 10, I need to find something 'smooth' - that should be interesting between here and the Sunny Coast!

Today I am grateful for dates with Adoring Husband.  Nice relaxing together time.

Nite all.

Day 252 in a Year of my Life

Our house is very quiet.

No photos taken today, but I have one to share from last week.

and my 8th July Photo of the day ...

I have a hot date with Johnny Depp tomorrow, so I'm off to bed at a reasonable hour ... comparatively speaking.

Today, I am grateful that Wimbledon is over and my sleeping pattern can get back to normal.  Congratulations to Andy Murray for his win last night (I'm sure he is a regular reader of mine!).

Nite all.

Day 251 in a Year of my Life

I don't think I have the stamina to even last out the first set of the Men's Wimbledon final with Djokovic and Murray tonight.  It's being telecast on TV as I write this and it's already taken 34 minutes to play 6 games and they are three games each.  I think it will be a long match .. as finals should be!

I have three photos to share.  One from my morning trike ride ...

One from July Photo a Day ...

... one from this evening's sunset.

I went to the Lions Park with my visiting family.

The kids and The Birdman played touch footy on the beach (like they hadn't already had enough touch footy this weekend lol) and Nellie Noo and I took photos of the sunset from the tip of the Lions Park.

It's been a great five days with Nellie Noo and her family here.  We love having them come to stay.  Low maintenance visitors who are a lot of fun and full of enthusiasm and a terrific zest for life.

I've been on such a 'low' just lately, it's nice to feel a different energy surging through the house, which in turn affects my energy levels in a more positive way.

So thanks for coming guys.  You know you are welcome ANY time .. next time, we'll ALL go go-carting and we photographers will get some amazing shots of you drivers in action!

The psychotic dogs will miss you all ... especially Roxy!

Today, I am grateful to have you as my family.  Please come again :)

Nite all.

Day 250 in a Year of my Life

I seriously believe that I may have lost count along the way.  I notice that I have doubled up on some of my days in my year!!  Ah well.

Today has been a pretty full day.

I didn't wake up til about 7.30am and there on my bedside table was a take-away coffee from the bakery, that Adoring Husband kindly placed there a little earlier.  It was still hot.  So I lay in bed and checked my emails on my ipad while I drank my coffee.

I thought that Nellie Noo and the fam had already left, because they were supposed to be at the grounds at 8am, but then I heard them leave at 7.45am so they were running late.

It was an easy decision to have a leisurely shower and take my time getting ready to head into town to watch the kids play their games.

On the way to the grounds, we stopped to get some water and a gluten free chocolate mud cake from the Cheesecake Shop.  I later bought some fresh strawberries and double cream to accompany that delicious dessert!

We arrived at the grounds with plenty of time to spare and caught up with Nellie Noo and The Birdman as they made their way to the field where Sporty Spice was to play her second game for the day.

I attached my long lens to the camera and got some shots while she played.

Next up was Chunky's game, and I got a few shots there too.

We left straight after that, to get some groceries for our home made pizza night.

So we all made our own pizzas for dinner (except me, who had dessert only for dinner!) and then there was chocolate mud cake with strawberries and cream for dessert.

Of course we had to work all that food off, so it was time for some fun in the back yard, playing with glow sticks, torches and the camera with some long exposures.

These are just a few of the photos taken over a two hour period.  Such fun!  I think we were all exhausted after that.  Lots of experimenting and a bit of brain storming.

So today, I am grateful that I'm old enough to choose to have dessert for dinner AND to have enthusiastic extended family to help create a fun evening that was even educational for me!

Nite all.

Day 249 in a Year of my Life

Before the family left for the big sports carnival this morning, I took a quick couple of snaps of Sporty Spice with her cockatiel and then had a play with the editing ...

The final product turned out much better than I expected and it printed beautifully.  I used it for the July Photo a Day for day 5 ... Love.

Another colourful sunset this afternoon and the misty rain stopped for the occasion!

After the sunset, I dropped the print off to the girl whose photo I took yesterday.  She was so excited, she came bounding to the front door and all three girls told me that they had been looking out for me all day and they had to go out in the morning, but checked the letterbox just in case I'd left it there.

They were all very grateful and thanked me profusely ... along with their grandparents who were very bemused.

It was a nice feeling.

I arrived home just before dark and was in the middle of preparing dinner when the family arrived home from their first day of competition touch footy.  They were very wet and tired.

A nice easy meal of home made hamburgers that everybody put together themselves, a glass or two of vino and then a big bowl of ice cream kept the masses happy!

I ordered a new camera bag today which should arrive next week.  I'm very excited about it.  I got Nellie Noo to unpack her camera bag so that I could pack all of my gear into it and take photos, to show the Nikonian, who is also considering buying one.

Everything fits beautifully with room to spare.

Well, I'm off to catch a bit of Wimbledon action before I head off to bed.

Today I am grateful for fun family giggles that come from a silly sense of humour that only family can truly understand.

Nite all.  

Day 248 in a Year of my Life

I pedalled over to the lagoon this afternoon, because the sunset was looking promising.

Once again the cloud banked over at the very last minute and blocked the beautiful colour that was trying desperately to spread across the sky.

There were three young girls playing in the park beside the lagoon and one of them climbed up onto a sign beside the water.

Just as I decided to give up on the sunset, she called out to me "Take my photo!"

So I swivelled the camera around on the tripod and took a quick shot through the almost darkness.  I didn't even change the settings on the camera, so when I looked at the image 'in camera', I could barely see her through the darkness.

Thank goodness for Photoshop!!

These girls obviously weren't afraid of 'stranger danger' because when I asked which house they were in so that I could bring the photo around to them tomorrow, they happily gave me their address lol.

I might even ask them if they want to participate in a photoshoot for me tomorrow, so that I can get some practise doing portrait shots.

I'll see how my day pans out.

Our three psychotic dogs are exhausted from chasing the kids around all day.

The men are exhausted from putting together a big garden swing, that converts to a day bed with flyscreens all around it.

The kids are exhausted from playing football in the back yard for most of the day.

I haven't done much except catch up with all the family news and organize a quick lunch today, so I might even try to catch some Wimbledon tonight.

Today I'm grateful for low maintenance visitors that just seem to fit right in.

Nite all.

Day 247 in a Year of my Life

I have family here for the next 4-5 days, so my posts will probably be short and posted late, which, come to think of it, is no different to how my posts have been for a while now!

It's really lovely to have them here anyway :)

I can't believe that the time is already after 12.30am.  I have to be awake reasonably early in the morning and there will be no watching Wimbledon tonight!

For day 3 of the July Photo a Day challenge, the theme is 'Cold' ...

Tomorrow's theme is Red, White OR Blue.  Hmmm nothing jumps into my head straight away.  Might have to sleep on that one.

Today I am grateful for happy, energetic extended family who breeze into my life every so often and help me feel the love.

Nite all.

Day 246 in a Year of my Life

I would like to start by first thanking Grannymus for my email hug this morning.  It was a lovely way to start the day.

Second of all, thanks to my friend, The Nikonian, for providing a pretty neat quote today, that eased my anxiety over some questionable exchanges I've had with people recently...

I think Vegan Chickie hit the nail on the head the other day on the phone, when she reminded me that the trauma of the tornado is just beginning to make it's mark on me.

In highly emotional situations, I  tend to stay reasonably strong for everybody else and then when it's all done and dusted and everything is fixed and people are back to normal, that's when I fall apart.

So I think I might be a little emotionally unstable at the moment.  Small things affect me quite badly, and big things knock the wind out of me and when you put them all together in a small period of time, I teeter precariously on the brink of a break down.

Sounds dramatic doesn't it!

Day Two of July Photo a Day ... Shoes

I was disappointed last night, (or should I say this morning) when the last Aussie, Bernard Tomic, was knocked out of Wimbledon.  I sat up til 6am to watch him lose!

At least now, I'll be able to get some more solid sleep, and considering that it's almost midnight, I think I will sign off now and head in the direction of my pillow.

Today, I am grateful for the loving people in my life who are helping me to heal.  Slowly but surely, this too shall pass.

Nite all.

Day 245 in a Year of my Life

Day One.

Happiness is ...

I confess, I forgot that it was the first of the month and didn't think of taking a photo for the challenge until about 4pm, which kind of limited me with time and location.

Also, my brain doesn't work so well after 2pm, so this will do for now.

I've eaten my Wimbledon tradition of strawberries and cream and am now waiting up for Bernard Tomic's match.

I don't think he'll be playing til about 3am our time, so once again, it's going to be a long night!

Adoring Husband and I drove to the plant nursery in Torbanlea this afternoon.

We got some plants for the hanging baskets in our outdoor area (the others got blown away in the tornado) and we also got male and female kiwi fruit plants.  I've never had kiwi fruit fresh from the plant and I can't wait to see how they taste!  Everything tastes better straight from the plant :)

A friend, 'Phar Lap', (that is also his nickname outside of this blog, because of his big heart) visited us this afternoon and asked me to create a community page in facebook for his remote control boating group.

So I spent the evening doing just that, and when it was all done, I got a private message from a woman, whose husband is also part of this boating group, abusing me because as far as she was concerned SHE was supposed to be in charge of creating the page on facebook.  (she had created the wrong type of page and had been reluctant to to change it, which is why I was asked to do this.)

I apologised and explained how it had come about and promised her that we didn't intend to upset her, but she kept telling me off and eventually said that she refused to upload any more photos or videos for the group and would no longer maintain the account.

My last message told her that I was happy to hand this account over to her, that I had only created it as a favour and that I was a lover not a fighter!  I put a big smiley face there, so that she would know I wasn't feeding off her anger.

So far, she has ignored my final message.

There are many members of the human race who have disappointed me in the last month and I'm feeling just a little disillusioned.  Sometimes people suck!

I think it's time to hibernate for a while.

Today I am grateful for the horrible people in my life ... because they make my lovely friends seem so much lovelier.  I love you all!  You know who you are!

Nite all.

Day 244 in a Year of my Life

We've got some crap weather forecast over the next few days.

A low has formed over Fraser Island, which means heavy rain and gale force winds.

I must admit I'm feeling a little nervous.

I'm ok with wind, until I see a warning by the weather bureau.  That always makes my heart skip a beat, and then I stalk the Bureau of Meteorology website, Willy Weather website, Elders Weather website and any other website I can find!

So, to take my mind off the weather, I've decided to focus on a July Photo a Day challenge.

The weather hasn't been too conducive to outside photography, so I hope this will give me new inspiration.

Today I am grateful to have photography as therapy!

Nite all.

Day 243 in a Year of my Life

It's well after midnight and I'm watching Wimbledon.

The Australian, Bernard Tomic, is playing the Frenchman, Richard Gasquet.

They are one set each and five games each.  I think I'm in for a long night!

When this match is over, the Australian, Samantha Stosur plays her match.

Pretty sure I'll be having a nap fairly soon.  Pretty sure it's going to happen without me even knowing it :)

Having sorted through three days worth of photographs, I was disappointed with most of them and really only have this one to share ... and I'm even reluctant to share it.

I think I need some inspiration!

Or I think I need to create some opportunities for myself.

A lady, who is a regular holiday maker here, stopped me today and asked "have you ever done classes?"

I thought she was asking if I'd ever attended photography classes, so I began telling her my education history with photography.

She was giving me a strange look when I realised she was actually asking me if I ever 'conduct' classes here in town!

Then she proceeded to tell me that she had been to my exhibit last year and absolutely loved my photography and that she would love to be my first student, if I ran a class!

Well it's a thought!

She said she'll be back in 11 weeks, so that should be plenty of time to get a class organised.  That made me LOL.

Highly unlikely that I can be organised enough or motivated enough to make this happen, but it's nice to know that somebody out there thinks I'm good enough to do that.

A little later on, I had another slight boost to the ego, when a local lady told me "You really have the WOW factor with your dress sense.  When there is an occasion, I look for you, to see what you're wearing.  I really love your style."

Nobody has ever said that to me before, so I was a bit surprised and bemused.

Today I am grateful, for the times that I'm not feeling on top of my game, and people step forward with interesting questions and statements, to slightly change the ebb and flow of my life and raise my awareness.  So, today, I am more aware that I'm ok.  Really!

Nite all