Budding Soccer star

 

Here's Harry's big brother Nick playing soccer at Old Bar last Saturday.
He was all over the field isn't he ?
He scored a goal on Sunday but I wasn't there with the camera.
Well done Nick!

This is what I call WET ....

My daughter Lee and I have just returned from a weekend in Taree with son Brad and his family. It was great to catch up with them all especially grandson Harry. He is growing into a big boy, full of life and mischief. He is a full time job for his Mum and Dad and big brothers. He is off like a flash when he finds a door open so the next project for Brad is to get a fence up in the backyard. Here is Harry in the bath last night. Definitely very WET. This is the first of the WET postings for the month.

My favourite, favourite ......

I took this one in Tassie - just on a dam beside the road.
I had to climb over a fence to get the shot.
I just like it.

Reflections of Canada

I think I got my best ever reflections in Canada.
The first one on the left was taken out the window of the Rocky Mountaineer on the way across from Toronto to Banff. The second one of the mountain lake is at Lake Patricia just out of Banff where we went on a 'wildlife' hike. The last one actually wasn't taken in Canada but it was in the New England of the United States on our 'Fall Foliage' tour - beaut eh? We live in a beautiful world.

Litle Blue Riding Hood

 

I forgot this one.
I had just enough tartan fabric for this poncho and lined the hood with some fleecy that I had in the stash too.
Might have been better in red but hey - I already had this and she looks so cute and snug in it.
I bought her some mittens with cut off fingers on the weekend and after I got them on her tonight, she wanted to wear them to bed.
She's sleeping over again - Mum and Dad are off to the WIN Entertainment Centre to watch the OPALS play basketball.

Harry who?

 

No it's not Potter - it's our Harry - his latest mug shots.
He looks kinda cool in Dad's glasses don't you think eh?
Actually he looks very like his big brother Nick.

 

 

What can I say?
'Don't I have a great smile Mardie?"
Of course you do darling!

Look what I found on the footpath in Bobbin Head Rd ...

I'm sure it was a give away - I hope. LOL

 

Anyway, I took it home - gave it a scrub up and tightened some screws - added a new seatbelt and some wing nuts to secure the seat.
Doesn't Zara love it???? Too right she does.
She does 'broom broom' noises to match.
Trouble is she doesn't steer too well yet and her feet don't quite reach the pedals.
Oh well she is growing...
Until then I guess I just have to push and steer all at once.
Ho hum.
What else are grandmothers for???

Sydney by night ... I can't resist it

I just have to take the camera when I go into the city.
We went to the Opera House to see 'My Fair Lady' for my birthday so here are a few shots I took that night. Note the time on the Central Station clock towe.
Why do we travel overseas when we have THIS right here at home?

Creek Reflections

Reflections have always been a favourite of mine so I have a few stored away and I'll get them out over the next couple of weeks.
I couldn't resist taking a few more when down at Bateman's Bay recently.
Early morning is a good time so with lovely light and no wind I found these great ones a couple of weeks ago.
Sometimes it's hard to work out which the actual scene and which is the reflection - usually the reflected sky is bluer in the water.

Canine Reflections .... at Corrigans Beach Bateman's Bay

Well, now that Kambrachallenge is done for another year, I have a few moments to upload some reflections.
Number one - here's Bottomley Potts covered in spots - our Bailey - only just caught. It is sure hard to manage to get her in focus, in the middle of the frame and WITH a reflection. Hence she is running OUT of the photo. LOL


Little Lulu - much quieter and easier to snap.


And, here's the pair of them on the go.
We have found a great dog friendly beach with a creek outlet which allows for some great reflections.

More creek reflections to follow .....

More Frames - city of Sydney

I've just had a lovely overnight in Sydney with a trip to the Opera House to see 'My fair lady. A lovely birthday gift - thank you Maureen.
Of course I took the camera with me and here are a few more 'frames' to share with you.



We walked through Paddy's Market on the way to breakfast at Darling Harbour.
A frame of glitzy handbags!

Then we walked along through this 'frame' to Darling Harbour precinct.



We had a leisurely breakfast at Zaafran's overlooking the water before wandering up to the Queen Victoria Building to meet my D Aunt for lunch.
Ho hum - life is hard eh?

Saturday Mornings ..............

It's Saturday morning and time to initiate Princess Zara to the garage sales!
Aunty Leelee is at last out of the shower and we head out. We rug up and get ready to go around 7.30am.



It's great fun 'swinging' down a driveway to discover what bargains await at the other end.





But after a couple, it all gets a bit much really and it's time for a nap.
Mum and Mardie will keep watch and I'm sure they will find lots of treasures while I have a snooze...... oh well

FRAMES

Here are my challenge frames.
I took them all on my recent holiday to the Top End.
Firstly one of Darwin town taken across the water from East Point.


This frame was taken on the path into Cutta Cutta Caves which are located between Katherine and Mataranka.
There were lots of stoney outcrops to provide a convenient 'window' of opportunity.


The final one I took while sitting on the verandah of our little cabin at Mataranka.
The paddocks around where dotted with termite mounds for that focal 'point of interest.


OK Di - what is our next challenge?

Snippets of Darwin

We had a lovely two weeks in Darwin and I managed to take 850 photo's.
Surprise, surprise.
I won't bore you with them all so here's just a few to give a very brief overview of our time.
They are fairly self explanatory really.
I just loved the wild life and risked life and limb to go out in the mozzies to photograph - they breed them big and fierce in the Top End.
The sunrises and sunsets were amazing.
AND - I caught a barra on Corroboree waterhole on the Mary River which is about an hour out of Darwin. He was just legal at 55cm and made an awesome breakfast.
Some of the lilypads were not as they seemed tho' and those crocs look pretty big as they glided along near the VERY small dingy.
Now to think about which photo's to post as my 'frames' challenge.

Morning Tea at Aunty Beryl's......

Harry is having his first birthday in a couple of days so what an excuse for a gathering.
So a couple of weeks ago, the clan got together and Harry opened his pressies.
He loves his raggy quilt, dinosaur and other toys.
Do you remember playing in fallen leaves?
I sure do and so do my children so it's fun to see them carry that love onto the next generation.
Rob used to spend hours raking up the leaves!

We're off to Darwin in a couple of days, camera's are packed and I've started considering Di's challenge to 'frame' some photo's while I'm away.

We're Back - briefly .............

Lots has happened since I last wrote.
I've lost my gall bladder and my mobile phone :-(
BUT - I have recovered from both events so that's a blessing.
I've got a new mobile and am not really missing my gall bladder.
I am enjoying my babies ......
Here is Zara - eating all by herself - clever eh?
And we went for a big walk on the reserve today - she managed really well and clumped along in her overalls and new Ebay boots.
Harry passed through just before his birthday and it was great to see them all then. Photo's later.

Bathtime at Mardies

It's a bit sad when you have to have a bath in an Esky?
Well not really, it keeps the water nice and warm!
Here is Princess Zara - one year old yesterday,
She just loves bubbles!

The late 'A's

I've had a busy weekend so I'm like the white rabbit!
After much thought these are what I came up with for the letter A.
The restaurant- a sushi place - I found on Saturday in Pitt St in Sydney when we went up to the ballet - it was lovely Swan Lake.
What you find in the dark - this lovely spider was in the dark on the front deck a couple of weeks ago - check out his hairy legs - yukko - I'm not into spiders since I was forced by DH to assist in trapping live funnel webs back in early married days when he was working in pest control. They used to set them in perspex and carry them to display and 'scare' their customers into having their property treated I'm sure. Shiver shiver. The turquiose amulet I found in the QVB on Saturday morning and managed to surreptitiously snap it with the camera held at belly level. Hope they didn't have closed circuit camera's. Oh well.

Look what I can do!

Aren't I clever?
I can blow if I see a prowler and Mumma or Dadda can come and rescue me!

X-Rated!

No not really altho I did think about it but didn't want to shock you all too much.
It's a thought tho' what about a naked COW calendar for 2009?
I'm sure we could be as discreet as the CWA ladies. LOL
Now to the actual X's.
Here are some XRAYS - taken of my eldest DS in 1981 when he ran out from in front of the school bus and whamo - fractured femur - that's the thigh bone. The first two were taken a week after the accident - as you can see NO bone union so I fought to have him transferred out from Narrabri, where we were living then, to Tamworth which was the closest Base hospital with orthopaedic specialists. The last xray was four months later after spending all that time in traction - lots of nice new bone growth - a wee bit of misalignment but he ended up with lest than 1/8th of an inch of shortening which is pretty good for a growing long bone.
Then more bones - I thought of the xiphoid process - this is the little bit of cartilege at the base of the sternum (breast bone) that ossifies as we get older and is also called the xiphisternum - another X word - pronounced as a Z tho. We learn about it as we learn our CPR and measure up from it to know where to do our compressions for cardiac massage. It is also the bit that breaks off sometimes when we do it - YUK - I have done that and it felt nasty! Poor bloke died anyway.
Anyhow when looking for an illustration as I had no xiphoid processes to photograph, I found that there is a band called Xiphoid Process - weird eh? and hence the inclusion of thier CD cover as part of my mosaic. This is what it says about them ....formed in 1994 from the ashes of an experimental / Noise Duo, Xiphoid Process evolved to create intriguing soundscapes that transcend the borders of gothic, industrial, experimental, and synth music. Led by the solitary Michael Potts, and featuring an ever-diminishing, revolving array of guests, XP has garnered a cult following among dark music's intelligentsia
So there - you learn something everyday eh?
And lastly on a brighter note here is Zara's crocodile xylophone!
Posting early as we are off to the van for the w/e.

Snippits of the Royal Easter Show 2008

We decided to head off to the show on Easter Monday.
Showers were forecast so into the backpack went the raincoat and umbrella.
The raincoat came in handy as a picnic rug at lunchtime and to keep off the chill when going from the train to the car at 11pm!
It was a lovely day - a bit too hot at times but we managed to find either an airconditioned pavillion or a breezy spot to have a rest thru' the day.
There were lots of people but not too crowded but then we also didn't line up to get into the samplebag hall or to go to sideshow alley!
Got on the train at 7.45am at Oak Flats and arrived at Olympic Park at 11 - left the show at 7.45pm and got home at 11.30pm - so a BIG day out.
We wandered about and saw lots of stuff. I loved watching the working dogs and obedience trials where we won a Dr Harry show bag which meant I carried around an extra 1 1/2kg of Supercoat dog food in the back pack all day - was it worth it? Bailey says YES! I have yet to check out the Supercoat website were there should be a photo of us with Dr Harry!
We found some seats in the shade to have a rest and watch some show jumping, polo, camp drafting, tent pegging and the mass dog obedience in the main arena.
All in all a good day. Took lots of photo's and had the usual problem of extra cropping on mosaic maker but hope you get an overview of our day at the Royal 2008.

Scatterday for N

Well here we are - Happy Easter everyone!
Had a bit of a think and came up with these photo's.
Little things - thankfully have no 'nits' at the moment so how about Native Violets - they are very cute in our fairy garden with just a few dew drops left on the petals.
Speaking of 'dew drops' - luckily there aren't any of these on Maureen's - Human NOSE - or could be nares or nose hairs really - LOL - NOT nice up close and personal.
And, for mineral here is some Na Cl - salt in the salt pig.
Heading off to the Royal Easter Show tomorrow so will take the camera along - who knows what I will find to photograph there. I took some nice ones of show jumping a couple of years ago.

Now you see it - now you don't!

Do you like palms?

I always did - until I had one - well three actually.
These are Cocus Palms - probably planted around when the house was built say 30 years ago. They drop rotting dates everywhere which are like 'marbles' underfoot and that becomes quite a danger to old ladies who are prone to falling! Anyhow, we still have two smaller ones and we'll see about hanging onto them as they are further away from the house and not directly above the walkways.

We had a tree guy come in to quote on lopping the trees which overhung driveway next door after the neighbour complained about them (you can see them in the background). While he was here yesterday, we finally 'bit the bullet' and had the tallest palm removed.

It was quite a process with the guy harnessing up and climbing the tree like a monkey using 'spikes' attached to a brance onhis ankles - he made it look easy but then I guess he was fit and had had heaps of experience. He said that he is thoroughly sick of Cocus palms - they were a fad when they were planted years ago and now people, like us, are wanting them removed!. He systematically removed the lower fronds and then cut down the palm in sections from the top down.

So, our morning was filled with the sounds of chain saw and chipper! A job well done and our resident Wattle birds have returned to their 'thinned out' eucalypt foliage but, we didn't hear and flying foxes (noisey blighters) last night - food source removed. I'm sure they'll be back when the other palms flower and fruit.

Other Stuff .....

I took this photo today of my DF Maureen holding her great niece Anna. Anna was born on the 10th of Feb and is a real little doll. She was handed around a family gathering today in Mittagong, without even stirring. When you see a babe sleeping so soundly and peacefully you can see how Annes Geddes gets her amazing photo's.
Her Mum Sarah is holding the quilt that I made for her - her Dad Dave's comment when he saw the quilt was something like - "Gee it's homemade!" - that made me smile.

Garage Sale finds ....

I like to collect old things. Yesterday I found this cool bamboo rug beater - it kind of reminds me of the Miss Marple era. Who remembers those? It is in really good condition - I really don't think I'll 'beat' our rugs tho, I'll stick with the vacuum cleaner to remove the copious amounts of and white dalmation doggy hairs!
Do you know what the round ply thing is with the Christmas Bells burnt into it?
I didn't at first but was told by the seller ( I found this one a few years ago at Old Bar)that it is for storing doilies - it is two pieces of ply joined by a cord and it keeps the doilies flat. The decoration technique is called 'Poker Work'- the design is made by heating up a piece of wire and burning the design into the wood. And the box is an old ply wood Henri Wintermans Cigar box - it is stamped Holland underneath. It has some shirt studs and cuff links in it - I have another one that I lined with polystyrene and I keep my earings in it. Of course I couldn't resist the little washboard - it is so cute! I can remember my Grandmother letting me wash the hankies on one like this - I rember the big men's hankies - yukko - I think I prefer tissues! I have found some interesting stuff over the years from a brass railway lantern with revolving red and green lenses to a Griffith Tea tin - guess who has that now? Who knows what I might find next week - I have just had a request to look out for a sewing machine, that will be fun - but I am really looking for a high chair at the moment - well that's my excuse.

Lost a day - Scatterday Sunday - L's

Well I have an excuse this week.
Yesterday was wiped out with a migraine! I missed my ScqIllawarra meeting too - boo hoo. I had done my photo's but didn't make it to the computer to upload but here they are a day late.
Firstly the household items - our old lamp ( not sure what it might be worth but the flu / shade cost a motza after the cat knocked it down a couple of years ago) - some ladles and my lazy Susan - I bought it in Fiji 30 odd years ago and it still looks like new - it's made from Raintree timber and specially treated so that it didn't shrink which we came home to a drier climate.
The round things - Loot - some of the round coins in my coin collections.
Some of my collection of round Lenses - oh I forgot the binoculars and the magnifying glass - oh well. And some round tin Lids for Michelle - I was going to add the 'Man and Beast' (good old Rawleighs - fixes everything) tin but it is elusive at the moment - I used it last on Bailey's tummy.
The 'L' tools are a ladder - kinda vintage, some spirit Levels - one kinda vintage and the Landing net - is that a tool? OH well it was in the tool department.

Scatterday for the "V's" .....................

Well it has been a bit of an effort this week to find or discover enough relevant piccies. Finally I decided on a mosaic x9 of both new and old photo's.
Firstly the pinks ............I had to get our Zara into it so here she is in her pink VEST, then we have a pink VOLUME in the bookcase and Zara again with a pink VISOR on my Priscilla cap.
The girls and I did a 'drive by' shoot for the V SIGNS - these were all taken as we drove around the garage sales yesterday.
Then the huge - well I thought a lot about it from viaduct to vehicle and I couldn't be bothered to go out especially to source them. So I thought about other big V's and aha came up with these really huge V's from our European trip in 2004.
Firstly inside the VATICAN with it's huge ceilings - well worth getting up at 6am to be first in line to get in before the HUGE crowds.
Then VENICE - St Marks Cathedral with it's HUGE numbers of pidgeons and HUGE queues to get inside - I just stayed outside and photographed the pidgeons!
Then lastly the HUGE skyline of VIENNA, taken from the top of the HUGE Prater Wheel that we went on before we went off to dinner and a HUGE Viennese concert.
Phew - that's it for anoother week.
The kids have been here and I haven't been able to get to the computer - all gone home now and silence reigns.

All the "O's" ..............

Early entry for me this week.
Sweet thing - Oreo biccies in the supermarket.
The Oxford collection from my academic friend is what you would find in a library.
AND for Hawaiian - who remembers okinuis???
Mine are down at the van so can't photograph them but here are some modern ones.
I never did have the board to match them but did have the peroxided hair when I was a surfie chick down at Freshie beach.

The letter 'H' .............

Here are my offerings for Scatterdays this week.
The game is Hopscotch. I drew one on the driveway with the only chalk I could find which was a piece of tailers chalk - very poor effort so this photo is a Net one.
Then colour - a Hot Pink Hat from my lovely hat quilt made for me by my SCQIllawarra mates for my 6oth. And, the sharp pointy things - all sorts of Hooks - from crochet to fishing with an old button hook thrown in.

Off babysitting .....

No Scatterdays for me this week.
I'm off to watch Harry have his swimming lessons and to babysit while the kids (parents)go to a wedding.
I thought of scabies - but (thank goodness) non around at the moment and then stinging nettles - know where there are some but no time to go there.
S for strawberries of course!
And gold - well I have lots of that ...... NOT.
CU soon. Steph

Visitors to M&M's

We spent a couple of restful if not soggy days at North Durras this weekend.
Here are some of our new visitors who came to feed on the deck.
A lady satin bower bird - my story is that she was SO hungry because she was sitting on eggs. Well her feathers are a bit disturbed on her front and even tho usually they are really shy birds, she can right up onto the deck to feed. I love the 'pigeon - toes' and bright blue eyes!
The brown doves don't come often so it was nice to see one again.
Galahs we don't have often at all - this was a young one. We have noticed quite a few immature parrots over the last couple of visits - they are just beginning to head out in the big world.
The cheeky lorrikeets we always have with us. They hang from the roof to see what is happening - they are the big bosses and hunt everyone else away with a great fluttering of wings and lots of noise!
These handsome pigeons are known as "Baldies" - lovely aqua tipped feathers on their shoulders and rumps - they all push into the feeders one on top of the other.
They keep us amused with their antics.

Scatterday for the letter "I"

I had a bit of a thunk about this one and came up with these photos.
For yellow starting with "I" I have a yellow ICYPOLE - Zara's first one! of course made with natural pineapple juice - no sugar or preservatives for this one. How did our kids survive on the stuff we fed them? Lemonade icy poles were great - no stains!
Then something Australian. I thought for a bit and someone at morning tea at work came up with - Aussie ICONS - so here we have 3 Aussie icons - no explanation required.
Then of course something you would find in there air - INSECTS. Don't you love the fly? Took it last week as my aunt and I walked thru the bush at Durras to go fishing - it had a motza buzz I can tell you.
Posting early this week as I'm off to M&M's for some R&R - I am SOOOOOO relaxed these days only working two days a week. Well mostly. Cheers all, Steph

All the Z's

I'm late again. Oh well better than never as the saying goes.
Here are my Z's - I feel that I have an advantage with Princess Zara!
So we have, Zara, Zinnia's and Zucchini's!