Thank Goodness for Xmas Orders!

I arrived at the markets wondering whether my stall spot would still be available, because I missed last month and hadn't made contact with the organisers.

It was a relief to see that nobody had taken my position and pleasing to see that the SES (State Emergency Services) had set up their barbecue/food stall beside me.

That would bring more people near my stall surely??

Across the way was a young man busking.  He played guitar and sang.  He wasn't bad, but he sang the same three songs over and over and over.  He only stayed til 10am and made a bit of money because it took a while for him to pick up the coins from his guitar case, one by one.

The music student who has been busking at the markets for over a year wasn't there today.  He has been trying to raise money for a special event that was coming up (I'm a bit embarrassed to say that I can't remember what that event was), so perhaps the special event is happening as we speak?

I do know that if I sold tricycles, I would make a killing.  Every month at the markets, we have at least six people making enquiries about our trikes - how much they cost, where they can be purchased, how easy/difficult they are to ride etc etc.

Perhaps I should do some research into second had trikes and expand my business!

It seems that every month the number of stalls is decreasing at our little markets.  I don't hold much hope for the future of our market.

Today, there were stalls selling second hand toys, hand-made ironing board covers, wind chimes, leather hats and belts, plants, 4 jewellery stalls, garden wall plaques, home-made cakes and slices, fresh fruit n veggies and the other usual odds n ends.

The only stall that sold anything was the SES barbecue stall.  The other stall holders, like me, were looking very sad and forlorn at the end of the morning.

It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining, the birds were singing and there was a lovely cool breeze making the wind chimes on the stall behind me sing, and it carried the delicious aroma of bacon and eggs across from the SES stall.

There were quite a few people walking through the markets today, and I had more people than usual stopping to look, but nobody wanted to buy.

I will do one more market day, next month (the final one before Christmas),  but after that, I will withdraw from the markets.

I do enough business through my facebook page, my relatives and my friends, to keep me busy enough.

We did discuss, today, the idea of selling my framed photographs on the stall WITH the jewellery.  I guess that's an option.

Anyway, a new neighbour from my street, stopped at my stall and asked me to drop by her house and take a photo of a flowering plant in her garden.  She wasn't sure what it was called, but it was so lovely, she wanted a record of it and a photo to send to friends and family.

I think it's from the 'ginger' family.

So I did that, and got to know her a little better and met her dog, two cats and four birds.  They seem like a nice couple.

In a nutshell, I missed out on a morning with my little Chicklet, to sit at the markets and watch people NOT buy anything.  I DID catch up with some locals, who I hadn't seen for a while and I DID make a new friend.  I DID get to spend some time with Aussie H.

Apart from a day of nil sales, it was a happy, friendly day.  Thank goodness for Christmas orders!

Nite all.

A Bit of Family History

Oh my goodness, I can relate to that!

A cousin whom I met once, about 40 years ago, has made contact through facebook, and we have been inboxing each other.

She has been doing genealogy and researching the history of our family, on my father's side.  Apparently we have Doctors and Pharmacologists in our recent history!  Kind of a surprise!

Anyway, she is going to scan some family documents and email them to me and, in return, I have found a few family photos and emailed them to her.

From the left is my Uncle Jimmy, my Dad and then my Mum.  This was taken in the very early 60s at a work function.

My Dad - 14th Aug 1940  -  24th Nov 1997

My Dad (standing) and my Uncle Brian

I have another photo of my Dad with all of his brothers and both of his parents, but I have put it in a safe place, and can't remember where that safe place is!!  Don't you hate that!?  

His father died in 1964 of cancer and his mother, in 1971, of a heart attack.  He has five brothers who are all still living, as far as I'm aware.

So that's a little lesson in my family history.  I'm looking forward to learning more about by father's family.

Adoring Husband returned home today safe n sound.  He disliked being in Sydney and is very happy to be home.

Psychotic dogs, Lovely Laying Chooks and I are happy that he is home too :o)

I have markets tomorrow, so it's now time for me to sleep.

Nite all.

A New Day

This is where I spent the first hour of my day ....

... and I finished my day with Tootsie and the Scotsman, who invited me for dinner, and then had to improvise because I was allergic to what they had prepared!

I spent a lovely three hours at their place chatting about everything and anything.  They are a lovely couple.

Adoring Husband returns home tomorrow, a day earlier than planned.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my 'alone' time, but it'll be nice to have him home again.

For now, it's time for bed, ready for another new day.  Who knows what tomorrow will bring.

Nite all.

It was the best of times. It was the Worst of times.

After spending a bit over an hour at the 'Seat of Knowledge' this morning, I went searching along the river for a turtle that Gentleman Jim, and a couple of walkers, had seen earlier in the morning.

On my first search, I found nothing, so I selected a seat in the shade, right on the river bank and sat with my camera at the ready.

Within ten minutes, I saw a large shadow in the water, just up from me, so I stood up and watched and waited ...

I had also noticed during the morning, that sting rays were jumping out of the river.  They jump a couple of feet out of the water, and have been known to jump INTO boats in the past.

So I decided to ride along the river and attempt, with a lot of luck, to capture a shot of one in flight.

No such luck, but found these instead ...

They were quite a way out, so I couldn't get great shots of them.  A mother and baby and another three dolphins in the pod, but sadly, at no time did all of them come to the surface at the same time.

As I pedalled away from the beach and towards the Post Office to check my mail, I came across this little fellow ...

He was too big to fit through the grid, but appeared to be sunning himself in this position.

I then ran into Aussie H on the way to the Post Office, so after we checked our mail and did a little shopping, we pedalled home together.

I left her at her driveway and as I got to my street, instead of turning the corner towards my house, I looked up the street ahead and noticed a large tree.

Over the past couple of years, I had heard stories of owls nesting in this tree, and I had never gone to investigate.  Today, I decided that I should.

This is what greeted me ...

Father Owl

Mother and one baby

Three adorable little babies!

I was positively beside myself with excitement when I saw these three babies!!

After all of that excitement, when I got home, I discovered a message in my facebook inbox from a friend in my old town.

My old boss and dear friend, had a major stroke at work this morning and is currently in hospital on life support.  They suspect a brain tumour.

After her mother and three sons arrive and are gathered together, the Drs will be turning off the life support.

She is only 47 years of age.  She is a happy, loving, caring, supportive and loyal friend to so many of us.  As a boss, she was fair and just, as well as empathetic and sympathetic and she felt more like family, than a friend.

She has been a part of my life for almost twenty years and she is one of the most amazing women I have ever known.  I am praying for a miracle, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.

My day has been the best of times and the worst of times.

Nite all.

New Challenge

The new photography challenge has been set for November.  The theme is 'Symmetry'.

As an example, our tutor posted a photo of a tiger's face.  He took the photo when he was at Australia Zoo last week with his daughter.

It's a fabulous photo and it provides an example of symmetry in nature.

The closing date is 23rd November.

In the meantime ...

I had morning tea with the girls this morning.  Aussie H, Lady Lynne, Kaz, Maid Marion and Michelle Mabelle.

There was a lovely moment as we were saying our goodbyes, when Lady Lynne and Kaz, both with a tear in their eye, acknowledged my blog post from 1st November, Age Challenged rQQzy: Isn't it Funny? about my son, Jamie.

I was touched by their kind words and felt very loved.  Thank you girls :o)

... and today was family lunch day, so Vegan Chickie, the Bare-chested Chef and Chicklet came over for a few hours and we ate and played and napped and played with electronic devices lol.

I love family lunch day :o)

I skyped with Adoring Husband tonight after the power was restored.

Sydney had a massive storm and the power was lost in a few suburbs for a couple of hours.  People were stuck in electric trains for two hours and shops and restaurants had to close their doors.

Adoring Husband and our flickr friends have posted all of their fabulous photos from Sunday's night shoot in Brisbane and I am feeling very jealous to have missed out.

I'm not a fan of the city, but they have all made the city and the beautiful lights look warm and inviting and oozing with wonderful energy.

I hope I have the chance, sometime in the future, to take such great shots.

Night shoots also pose a cool challenge.

Nite all.

Rocket Rod

Three years ago, after Adoring Husband and I moved here, the daily bus would travel past our house at what seemed like the speed of light.  I nicknamed it the 'Bathurst Bus'.

http://www.bathurst1000.com.au/

After a few months, the bus slowed down.  I have since learned that the original speeding bus driver had moved to Brisbane.

Well, guess what?  He's baaaa-aaaack!

A few weeks ago, after Vegan Chickie & fam moved into The Bay, I began catching the bus on a Saturday morning to spend some time with them at their new unit.

The very first Saturday was harrowing!  The bus driver sped like a maniac and I felt very unsafe.

The following few weeks were fine because it was a different driver.

Today, Aussie H and I caught the bus into town for a girlie day and we had the maniac bus driver.

His nickname, apparently, is Rocket Rod, and he has been reprimanded in the past for his driving abilities.

After today's trip, I am emailing the bus company to lodge a complaint about his speeding, his cutting corners (a car coming in the opposite direction had to brake quickly to avoid a collision with our bus), and his missing passengers' stops.

A man with a prosthetic leg had to walk 30 metres to get to the bus, after the driver overran the stop on the main road and was unable to reverse in the traffic.

Then, on the return trip, the driver had to reverse 20 metres because he overran a lady's stop.

I will stop using the bus service if he continues to drive like that.  Apparently, he was removed from this route once previously because of his speeding.  Crazy man!

ANYWAY ... aside from the crazy driver, Aussie H and I had a lovely day in The Bay.

Aussie H bought some new darts.  She has been playing competition/social darts at the local club and really enjoying it, but she has been using some cheap darts that she won as a lucky door prize.

Now she has some fabulous new weighty darts, so she should tear her opponents apart this week!!

GO Aussie H!!!!  Oi! Oi! Oi!

Then we did some girlie shopping and bought clothes and shoes and dvds and hats.  We had lunch together and then made our way home.

It really was most enjoyable and I hope we get to do it more often :o)

I did a couple more silly picture quotes this afternoon ...

... had a Skype call with Adoring Husband ... and now it's time to sleep.

I imagine I'll be having nightmares about Rocket Rod!  Wish me luck!

Nite all.

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.