A Fabulous Day!

You know, one of those days where everything falls into place the way you want it.  From the minute I awoke, the mood was right, the timing was right, my body felt good and everything went according to plan.

I awoke well before the alarm sounded and even though Adoring Husband had golf early today, I was able to access the bathroom immediately (a miracle in itself on a golf day), so I was dressed and only requiring make-up by the time he left just after 6.30am.

By the time I applied my make-up, packed my 'visiting Chicklet' bag, called the Psychotic Dogs inside, closed all the windows, blinds and doors, it was 7.10am.

This gave me enough time to comfortably pedal down to the bakery for coffee, spend ten minutes with the boys at the Seat of Knowledge and pedal home to park my trike and walk to the bus stop.

The bus arrived five minutes early and after a very pleasant drive, arrived in The Bay a couple of minutes early, which meant that I made the early connection for the bus that takes me to Chicklet!  That NEVER happens!  I usually have to wait an hour for the next bus to arrive.

When I arrived at my stop near Chicklet's house, I went to that bakery for another coffee and then walked the short distance to the pier where I took a couple of photos and just took a moment for myself.

Right at this moment, the clouds were kind, as were those little waves and the scattering of seagulls.

Next was Chicklet time!  Typically, I didn't take any photos of my little Sweetie Possum, because once again I was mesmerised by her.

I spend my time staring at her and taking every movement and every sound in.  This is such a magical time and sadly, in the very near future, they will be moving away and I am going to lose the regular contact (gosh, that just gave me a tear in the eye) :'(

So we had some lovely play time and then she had a quick nap.  Much sooner than expected, Adoring Husband was finished golf and we were all sitting on the grass in the shade near the beach eating fish and chips for lunch.

Little Chicklet is having a lovely time crawling, and with much enthusiasm, pulling herself to standing position against tables, chairs and people.  You can also see her frustration because she doesn't have as much control over her body as she wants!

We said our goodbyes and Adoring Husband and I stopped at the supermarket to get meat for the barbecue that we had been invited to for the afternoon.

He dropped me off and then found a park, which was pretty darned lucky considering he had the trailer with the golf buggy!

I walked inside and was served immediately, ran into friends and chatted for two minutes and then was back in the car, all in less than ten minutes.

We drove home and had enough time to do everything that we needed, before driving to the barbecue.

This is where all my boys from the Seat of Knowledge were already seated, drink in hand and giving cheek.  It was a really nice afternoon.  The food was delicious, the company was enjoyable, the weather was perfect and the hospitality was wonderful.

Gentleman Jim even brought along his harmonica and played a few tunes.  I was shocked and amazed at how good he was!  Such a pleasant way to end the barby.

He was sitting under a dark tarpaulin, so I had to lift my ISO which has consequently made the shot very grainy.

We said our thankyous and goodbyes and arrived home in time to catch the beginning of Lleyton Hewitt's tennis match against the young Canadian.

Best of all ... to top off a fabulous day ... Lleyton won his match!!  Unexpected and exciting!

From beginning to end ... a fabulous day!  

 

A Bit of Fun

My first photo of the day was at the Seat of Knowledge and as I was trying to set my camera ready to take a shot of the Whistling Kite (if it should appear), I took a test shot of Molly the dog.

Unfortunately, Molly was sitting in the shade with bright sunlight filtering through the branches of the tree above her, and it's very difficult to get the exposure correct when you have such extreme light conditions.  So ...

She had a bright ray of sunshine directly on top of her head, so I covered it with a cartoon hat.  The background, which was the boat ramp, in bright sunlight and with a boat backing down at the time, was very bright and harsh, so I partially covered it with a vignette and filled the space with Molly's name.

Her leash looks a little bit like a tie, so the hat and tie make her look a bit 'formal'.  I also like how she is leaning against her master's fat belly.  She almost looks comforted by it.

You may have determined, by this silliness, that I didn't have a very successful day with my camera.  You would be correct.

I was rushed this morning because I had an appointment with a friend to do a photo shoot at her place, but when I arrived, her plans had changed, so she gave me the props that I was to photograph, to take home with me.

Unfortunately, I had another appointment after that with another friend, so I brought the props safely home, and then headed off again.

So my photographic opportunities were scarce and I spent the afternoon glued to the television watching the tennis.

Bernard Tomic and Lleyton Hewitt are both still alive in the draw, but they are the only Australians left and Tomic has to play Roger Federer on Sunday.  I don't like his chances, but he is young, enthusiastic and has the crowd on his side, so you never know your luck on the day!

Lleyton Hewitt has an ATP ranking of 182 and he will be playing a young Canadian with a ranking of 25!  That will be an interesting match.  Lleyton has experience and the crowd on his side, but the Canadian is a shooting star and in a year has jumped more than 120 points in his rankings.

I'll be enjoying both matches anyway, and cheering the Aussies on from my couch!

Tomorrow is Vegan Chickie and Chicklet day, so I'm off to bed for some much needed beauty sleep.

Nite all

 

More Bird Surprises

After my coffee at the Seat of Knowledge this morning, there was no sign of the Whistling Kites, so I decided to pedal along the path beside the river.

My first stop was not too far along when I spotted a Tawny Frogmouth high in a tree.

There were actually two of them, but the other one was well hidden and obviously didn't want to be photographed today.

Then I went looking for the Pacific Baza.  No luck there either.  I couldn't even hear the baby calling out to be fed, and that has been a familiar sound over the last month.  So I pedalled on.

At the top of the rise, just before the next boat ramp, there are a couple of tall Eucalyptus trees on the left.  It's quite a steep drop to the beach from here.  Just out of the corner of my eye, I caught some movement and as I looked up, I saw the silhouette of a bird that I am familiar with, but rarely see.

A Collared Kingfisher.

He was very high in the tree and had the bright sky behind him, so it was difficult to get a good shot.  I stayed for about thirty minutes, hoping that he might move to a more 'photograph friendly' spot, but he wasn't even going to move from the branch.

He twirled around to face the opposite direction a couple of times, but stayed on the same high branch until I gave up and moved on.

I decided to make a stop at the Lagoon on the way home.  It was pretty quiet there but I got a nice shot of a Honeyeater and then a lovely tranquil section of the lagoon that is usually teeming with Ibis, Spoonbills, Heron and Cormorants.

Then it was time to go home.  The sun was shining and after all the rain, it was becoming very hot and steamy.  So I found my way indoors and positioned the fan directly on me so that I could go through the photographs.

Oh, I forgot about the lovely Kookaburras at the Seat of Knowledge much earlier in the morning.

There were four kookaburras, but they were far enough apart that I couldn't fit them all in frame :(

Vegan Chickie told me that she was going to rename me the Bird Lady lol.  But really, what else is there to photograph in my little town??

I could always resort to people ... but they aren't half as accommodating as birds!

Well actually, tomorrow, I will be photographing something different.  Watch this space and you might be surprised!

Nite all.

More Tawnies!

My day was great JUST because I found some new Tawnies.

I was pedalling along my usual route on my way to get coffee, when I stopped to take photos of two magpies playing under a mango tree.

One of them was trying to pick up a big stick and was running with it, so I wanted to get a shot (which, in the end, was quite disappointing).  The man who lives across the road from this action called out to me, so I pedalled over and parked myself on his front lawn to have a quick chat.

He told me stories of the King Parrots and Black Cockatoos that were once prolific in the area and we both talked about our love of birds.

Then he pointed to the Poinciana tree that I was parked beside and asked if I knew about the Owls in his tree.  I looked up into the tree but couldn't see anything, so I hopped off my bike to have a closer look and there, right in front of me were two beautiful Tawny Frogmouths.

I am developing a real love for these birds.  They are so docile and when they open their eyes to look at you, it feels like you can see right into their souls.

The most wonderful thing about them is that they love Burrum Heads.  I have seen more than twenty of them in the last 6 months.  That is six different families.  Each family has Mum and Dad and up to three chicks.

The worst thing about them is that they are nocturnal and will often sit in the middle of the roads.  If a driver is not familiar with the Tawny's nature, they will accidentally hit them with the car because they expect the bird to fly away.

Thankfully, I haven't come across any squished Tawnies on the road, but I've been on the Club Booze Bus when it's had to swerve to miss them a few times and I've heard some horrible stories from the locals.

Anyway, I hope to get hours of enjoyment out of these new Tawnies!

I missed a photographic opportunity this morning.  A mature Whistling Kite was teaching a Juvenile Whistling Kite how to catch fish in the river.

These are very tightly cropped, poor quality copies of the originals.  You can see that there was wonderful potential there, if only I was prepared!

I had enough time to point and shoot, but I had the wrong focal length on my lens and ended up with tiny little specs in frame.  It was so disappointing, but I'm sure I will have another opportunity, so I will sit by the river tomorrow morning with my camera at hand and on the correct settings for the perfect shot!

The birthday luncheon was fun.  The food was good, the company was enjoyable and it was a pleasant afternoon.

The sky seems to be clear tonight, so hopefully the rain has gone for a little while and I might get a few hours out with my camera tomorrow.

In the meantime, as usual, it's time for bed.

Nite all.

Oops! It's Raining Again!

********

Another rainy day.

I played with some old photos from last year.

A visitor on my back fence.

I love this goose standing on his tiptoes.

A Kingfisher poking around in the muddy river bank.

Two birds together shaped like a love heart :o)

Chaos down in Noosa with the kite surfers en masse.

A croc up near Rockhampton at the croc farm.

I was able to go for a quick ride this morning, but there was nothing of interest to photograph, and then the rain came... again!

I have thought of 70 photographs for my list of '100 things to photograph in 1001 days'.

The list needs to be challenging, but not too difficult and not too easy.  I also want the list complete by the end of the month so that I can start the challenge.

Today has not been the best of days for me.  I shed a few tears for my friend Di, who passed away in November.  I don't know why I'm thinking about her so much lately.

I'm feeling a bit upset with some people in my flickr group at the moment too, so that's playing on my mind.  Sometimes people are difficult to understand.  I'm sure it will all blow over soon and things will go back to normal.

Meanwhile, on these rainy days, I am enjoying both Grey's Anatomy AND the Australian Open Tennis.

My favourite, Lleyton Hewitt won his first round match tonight, and even though Samantha Stosur is out, there are a few Aussies still in with a chance.  I will follow them with interest over the next few days.

I have a birthday luncheon tomorrow, so I need to get some beauty sleep.

Nite all.

Rained Out at Home

Our trip to the Reptile Park was postponed today because of rain.  It was pouring all morning, so we decided to postpone our field trip until we get a dry day.

Adoring Husband also had to postpone his Bundaberg golf trip which he had planned for tomorrow.

So no ride to the Seat of Knowledge.  No lap around town with the camera for photos.

Luckily, Adoring Husband suggested that we drive to the bakery to get our morning coffee.

We spent the day watching our Grey's Anatomy dvds.  We are already halfway through Season Six!  I am loving every second of the show, but will be eternally grateful that I won't ever have to attend this imaginary hospital as a patient!

Also luckily, I had some shots from Sunday morning left over to play with, so I have a couple to share on here today.

This is how our rainy weather started.  Sunday morning storm clouds building in the north.

Rain and storms are forecast for the next three days, so Adoring Husband and I might have to make another movie date.

There are three movies that I'm itching to see.

"The Descendant" with George Clooney.

"We Bought a Zoo" with Matt Damon.

"The Muppets" with the muppets!

There are no new ones in the next couple of weeks that I'm particularly interested in though.

I have morning tea with the girls tomorrow and then a birthday luncheon on Wednesday, so at least those things can't be ruined by the rain.

I do like to hear the sound of rain as I wake in the mornings and I also like to fall asleep to the sound of rain, so perhaps if I go climb into bed right now, that is exactly what will happen.

Nite all.

Australian Open Tennis

It starts tomorrow!

Anybody who reads my blog regularly (I think there are about a dozen of you out there), know that I really really LOVE my tennis.

When I was a working girl, I always took a week off work for the second half of Wimbledon every year so that I could sit up all night watching the tennis.

I especially love the Grand Slams, because that's where you get to see the best of the best competing against each other.

I enjoy seeing the young ones playing in their first tournaments and then watching them improve and work their way up the rankings.

Of course I love to see the Aussies doing well in any sport, but especially in the tennis, because we have such a wonderful and successful history.

So tomorrow is the big day and our highest ranking Aussie male, Bernard Tomic (who was actually born in Germany and moved to Australia at age 3), is playing early tomorrow against a much higher ranked player from Spain, FernandoVerdasco.

On paper, Verdasco should win, but with the home ground advantage, Tomic is set to gain 'favourite' status.

I won't get to see the match tomorrow because Adoring Husband and I are heading to Childers to check out the Reptile Park and take some photos.

They have snakes, crocodiles, lizards and frogs with shows and guided tours throughout the day.  I'm looking forward to it and hoping to get some good shots to share on here.

This morning I got a few bird shots, but it was quite difficult because there were light showers every so often, which meant packing my camera away to keep it safe from dampness.

The baby Pacific Baza growing bigger and stronger every day.

What a Galah!  Very Aussie sitting in the gum tree.

Rainbow Lorikeet checking me out.

Noisy Miner was eating ants off the gum tree trunk.  If you look closely, you can see two ants on the trunk!

I haven't been back for the Wrens yet.  I should probably do it this week while we have the overcast conditions.  It's much easier to take the shots in the even light than when the sun is streaming through in different patches.

Sleep time for me now.  I am yawning uncontrollably!

Nite all.

Photo-free Day

In lieu of photographs ... 

I was going to use the title 'Camera-free Day', but I actually carried my camera with me all day today.  I didn't use it, but I carried it with me.

I didn't take any photos with my camera at all.

There were a couple of sneaky happy snaps taken with my iphone, but they didn't turn out so good and can't really be counted.

I took my first bus ride into The Bay since the dreaded Maryborough incident.

You'll be pleased to know that I reached my desired destination without taking any unnecessary detours!

Of course, my desired destination was Vegan Chickie's 'Island of Calm' with Chicklet on my lap.

We played for a while and then we both had a short nap and then we met Adoring Husband after he finished golf and we got some fish and chips and sat in the shade on the grass near the beach, for lunch.

The weather was mild and we played catchy with the new red ball and she ate sticks and leaves and lemon (one of her favourites!).

She's still as cute as a button and when Vegan Chickie blew bubbles, she said the word 'bubble'!  That was pretty exciting!  She's growing up so fast!

There has been a soft steady rain falling all night and the temperature has dropped considerably, so it's a lovely mild night, and tomorrow should be cool and comfortable.

It'd be great if the rain stopped by tomorrow morning though, because I have some catching up to do with my camera!

I think there may be some Wrens with my name on them, waiting for me in the scrub :D

Nite all.

Goblins and Fairies

What a pleasant surprise to have Adoring Husband turn up at the Seat of Knowledge this morning on his bicycle and wearing his camera backpack on his back!

I took him to the tree where the Pacific Baza chick sits waiting for food from his mother.  Unfortunately, feeding time was over, but Adoring Husband got a couple of photographs, even though the chick was not in the best position for good shots.

Then we pedalled across town to the dirt track that leads to where the Fairy Wrens and other interesting birds frolick.

I stood in the bush for over an hour with my long lens while little Fairy Wrens fluttered back and forth teasing me by not being still for longer than a few seconds at a time.

Too fast and too far away!

Still too fast and too far away.

There was a White Throated Tree Creeper.  A bird that I've never seen before and I am intrigued by his strange looking feet that help him climb vertical tree trunks.

White Throated Tree Creeper.

And then there were these guys.  They are about as big as my thumb.

Red-backed Fairy Wren

These are the ones that I want to capture more than any other bird, at this moment in time.  That may change in the future, but right now, I so want the perfect shot of the Red-backed Fairy Wren.

This will require setting myself up in the bush, on my little folding stool, coated in insect spray,  being very very still and waiting for the birds to come to me.  I am determined!

So the little birds in the bush are almost as elusive as goblins and fairies (Yes!  Of course I believe in goblins and fairies!) but while I will leave goblins and fairies alone to be magical, I will not leave the little birds alone!

I might need a bit of luck ... so ... wish me luck!

Tomorrow, I have decided to NOT set up my stall at the local market, and instead will spend the morning with Vegan Chickie and Chicklet.  I am excited!

Nite all.

Cameras and Accessories

This is how I started my day ...

A glorious Summer morning :D

It started out very warm, developed into bloody hot and then changed mid afternoon to cooler and mild.

Thank goodness!!

I found an interesting article that I wanted to share.  It's only short.

http://www.petapixel.com/2012/01/10/this-photograph-is-not-free/

I've been asked by people if I sell my photographs.  As soon as the question is asked, I withdraw.

I withdraw into my head, pulling the big black curtain across it, and I feel guilt about the thought of charging money for my photographs.  Why?

I've often discussed digital photography and how great it is that the results are instant and we don't have to wait for film to be developed or discover, after paying the high costs of developing, that the photographs are duds.

I've often ended the discussions with the fact that the price of cameras have increased dramatically with the digital age, which makes up for the cost of developing, but I didn't take into consideration all the other accessories like filters, flashes, tripods, editing software, the computer etc etc etc.

So this article not only appealed to me, but helped open that big black curtain in my head and now I can seriously consider the idea of selling my photographs without feeling the guilt.

I created a new album on facebook and posted a dozen or so photos over the last couple of days.  My ego has been suitably massaged by some friends and family, so I'm feeling good.

I'm feeling especially pleased that my little brother has acknowledged my stuff.  It's nice.

Almost midnight again!

Nite all.

Summer is well and truly upon us!

Holy crapoli it's hot!  The temperature in our lounge room at 7.30pm was 30C.  Not long after that I suggested to Adoring Husband that we turn on the air conditioner.

Adoring Husband bought a new column fan today, to replace the pedestal fan that we've been using.

Personally, I prefer a fan to the air conditioning and I was pleasantly surprised by how effective the new fan is.

It looks like a storage unit for CDs, so I was not expecting such a strong airflow and it also feels cooler than the other fan.

I do like the room temperature in our bedroom to be comfortable when I go to bed, or I struggle to go to sleep, so turning on the air conditioner for a couple of hours before bed time works well for me.

I got a couple of nice shots of one of the juvenile Pacific Bazas this morning...

Staring me down!

Airing out the wings.

Feeding on a stick insect.

I missed good shots of the adults feeding them, because people kept stopping to discuss the birds with me, which took my attention away from the job at hand.  I'll try again tomorrow.

It's been an uneventful day ... due to the heat.  Tomorrow will probably be similar.  Luckily the forecast is for cooler weather by the weekend.

I really don't like the heat.  Don't get me wrong.  I adore the sunshine, but not the heat that accompanies it in Summer.  Sunshine gives me positive energy, but too much heat drains it away.

Anyway, now that the house has cooled, I'm off to bed.

Nite all

First off the Mark

I was first off the mark and lodged my entry into the 'Black and White' challenge last night before I went to bed.

A foggy morning on the river

No other entries yet, but I'm sure that there will be some spectacular ones.

I had another movie day today with Kaz and Lady Lynn.  We saw 'Tower Heist'.  It was funny and required no brainwork at all.  It was nice to have some girl time.  It's been a while.

This morning I left bright and early to go looking for my Red-backed Fairy Wren.  I was successful in my mission, but I didn't capture a good shot because while I was sitting in wait, I was attacked by march flies!

I had covered myself in 'Off' to ward off midges and other insects, but apparently, march flies are not deterred by these chemicals!  So I spent the time 'shoo-ing' or 'slapping' march flies, which kept the little Wrens at a distance.  This was the best I could do ...

... it's very noisy, taken from a long distance, and then cropped very tightly but my goal is to get the perfect Wren shot eventually!

A disappointing piece of information that I received today was about the Pacific Baza that I have been observing in and around the caravan park.

I can't believe that I didn't know this, but there are two of them nesting in the caravan park in a tall Melaleuca Tree!  They have two babies in the nest.  Two babies who are already flying out of the nest!  How did I not know this???

Here is one of the babies ...

I will be observing more closely now and I hope to get some good shots over the coming weeks.  This baby is about 10 days out of the nest and is still being fed by the parents.

One of the men who live in a house near the caravan park, showed me some photos that he took of one of the babies, which landed on his front verandah while learning to fly!  How amazing is that?  I am so envious.

Apparently the adults bring frogs, lizards and grasshoppers to the chicks (or are they juveniles now?) and feed them, which has provided good entertainment to the park visitors.

I am disappointed that it took so long for this information to filter through to me because I would have loved photos of the chicks when they first hatched.  It was the busiest time of the year in the caravan park, so I imagine it would have caused quite a bit of excitement at the time.

Bugger!

Ah well.  Everything happens for a reason!

It was hot today.  Very hot.  It will be just as hot, or hotter tomorrow.  Ugh!  So it will be an early start for me, so that I can get some photos before it gets too hot.

So I was first off the mark with my challenge photo and I'll be first off the mark tomorrow morning.  I think I'll be first into bed tonight too!

Nite all.

The Next Challenge is ....

Adoring Husband and I went to the movies today and thankfully,  we remembered our movie passes this time :D

We saw 'Sherlock Holmes:  A Game of Shadows'.  I enjoyed the movie, only because Robert Downey Jnr was in it.  Some of the effects were pretty impressive, but I wouldn't recommend it unless you are a fan.  It was long - 2 hours and 25 mins - and dark.

The best part of today was was having a visit with Chicklet and having coffee with Vegan Chickie before the movie.

I received a Christmas parcel from BGWLBH today.  It was full of blingy jewellery and we all know how I lurve blingy jewellery!!  Lots of fabulous dress rings and a beautiful turquoise cross pendant, bigger than an egg, with silver wrapped around it.  A photo shows it better than I can describe it...

She also sent me the Masterchef recipe book, which I can't wait to try, although, some of the recipes are a bit complicated and time consuming and I think Adoring Husband is better with those types of recipes, so I might mark a couple of them and have him take up the Masterchef position in the kitchen :D

BGWLBH also had a BRILLIANT idea for her birthday this year, which I am very excited about!  Just let me say that it involves photography **insert smiley face here** and my brain is working overtime making plans.

 The new photography group challenge has been set for January.  The theme is 'Black & White'.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet for that one.

A couple of random people shots from the beach yesterday afternoon ...

I plan on heading out bright and early tomorrow morning to try to find that little Red-backed Fairy Wren again, so I'd best get to bed .. it's after midnight already!

Nite all.

Rituals

I have many rituals in my life.

Every morning, I have a ritual.

I get out of bed, make myself presentable to the world, let the dogs out to pee, kiss Adoring Husband goodbye and then I pedal off to get my coffee and meet my boys at the Seat of Knowledge.

Every night, I follow a ritual.

The last thing I do is update this blog.  Then I close the windows and doors, pull the blinds closed, let the dogs out for one last pee, fill the water bottles and put them in the fridge, turn off the TV, put the dogs to bed and then turn out the lights before changing into my pyjamas and climbing into bed.

Psychotic dogs know this ritual very well, and when I turn off the TV, they come to the door ready to be ushered into their beds.

When I turn off the TV, after about 5 seconds, it makes this very soft clicking sound.

Tonight, I changed the order of my ritual and I turned off the TV before I started doing everything else.

Immediately after that very soft clicking sound that the 'off' TV makes, I heard the shuffling sound of claws upon tiled floor and looked up to see all three dogs standing at the doorway, wagging their tails, waiting for me to usher them into bed.

So now, they are waiting very impatiently for me to finish my blog post and THEN I will confuse them further by filling the water bottles and THEN taking them outside to pee before bed.

I do have a touch of evil in me :D

When I lived in Griffith, my last partner had two Ridgeback X Bull Mastiff hunting dogs, which I inappropriately named Fatty and Splodge.

Butch (my partner) would always park his ute nose first in the driveway, and for ten years, when he opened the gate to the back yard, Fatty and Splodge would hurtle through the gates, run around to the back of the car, where he had opened the tail gate and they would jump enthusiastically into the back of the ute ready to go hunting.

One morning, Butch, uncharacteristically, backed his ute into the driveway so that it was tail end first.

When he opened the gates to the back yard, Fatty and Splodge came hurtling through them, ran around the car and dived enthusiastically onto the bonnet of the ute!

In their state of panic and confusion, their feet couldn't get a grip on the paintwork of the bonnet and they slid onto the windscreen, their legs flailing about madly until they slid or fell off the ute onto the ground.

It was the funniest thing I'd seen in a long time and I laughed until I had tears!

They jumped up onto their feet and shook their heads looking at the front of the ute with dumbfounded expressions on their faces, when Butch called to them from the back of the ute and they bounded back to where they SHOULD have jumped in the first place.

This is a very good lesson on dog training ... it's how dogs learn ... by doing something over and over and over again until it becomes second nature to them.

In this case, it wasn't necessarily a good training strategy, but the method can be put to use for other training situations.

That was such a funny day!

Anyway, I'm glad that I thought of that story, because I couldn't think of anything to write tonight and now I am done!!

Time for the nightly ritual.

Nite all.

    

January Chicklet Update

It's been a while since I put some up-to-date photos of Chicklet on here.

She's growing up so fast and getting cuter by the day!  I love her so much!

I'm still working on my 101 list - the last 30 are tough going.

These are the things on tomorrow's 'to-do' list ...

1. Pull down the Christmas tree and pack it away (Yes!  It's 7th January and our tree is still up!).
2. Take down the Christmas decorations and pack them away. 
3. Drink coffee.
4. Take photos.
5. Eat food.

It'll be a tough Sunday hey :D

I hope you enjoyed the Chicklet update.

Nite all.

Summer is here.

I headed off earlier than usual this morning, because the weather forecast was for a hot day, and I wanted to get home before the heat  

The lagoon was calling my name and I was hoping to catch the early morning happenings of the local birdlife.

I got a nice shot of a blue faced dove, just before the midges began eating me alive, so I high-tailed it out of there as fast as my legs could pedal!

Blue faced dove (Adoring Husband told me the real name, but I forgot it)

Even the Seat of Knowledge didn't hold my attention for long, but it seems that the hot weather has scared off all the interesting birdlife around town.

Pretty butterflies fluttering and dancing.

This one looked like a mating ritual!

I did find three beautiful butterflies fluttering about.  It was unusual to see three together and their colours were also unusual.

Red dragonfly at the nature reserve.

Finally, as I triked my way around the nature reserve, I came across some dragonflies.   I haven't seen these red ones around here before.

Adoring Husband and I have been working our way through series one - seven of 'Grey's Anatomy' on dvd.  After that, we have the complete boxed set of 'ER' to watch!  Talk about couch potatoes!

I'm still working on my 101 list too.

Now that Summer is well and truly here, I am going to have to change my routine I think.  It's too hot for pedalling after 9am.  Perhaps late afternoon outings will work for a while.

Nite all.