Dog's breakfast

Somehow, my blog settings have been totally muddled up! I can live with it at the moment, but it's not ideal. I need to reset the template settings somehow, but not sure how to do that. Anyway, it taught me not to fiddle with these things. It didn't help when the whole background went black for a few days. I wish I understood more about computers, and how to fix things. Maybe I should do a quick IT degree.... ooops, no forget that...

Week 10 challenge: STAR

A friend and I played around with night shots a while ago. We set up our tripods and took different shots of the stars. Then we set our cameras for looooong exposures and went and had a cuppa. When we came back, this is what I got. I tweaked the photo minimally with autofocus and saturation, and while it shows the progression of stars across the sky, there was an unexpected 'shadow' of a human form (if you want to be fanciful) among the stars! Is somebody watching us???

Weekly challenge: SIZE

This week's word stumped me somewhat. I tried to think of something that was impressive in its size (big or small). I remembered this old black bear at Parc Omega in Canada; he was surely the biggest, baddest bear in the valley! He was HUGE, could have done with a stint on "Biggest Loser". I guess they have to eat themselves silly for hibernation, but this was the height of summer! Still, an impressive sight - and size!

Facebook magic

Some years ago, I noticed that people were posting their quilts on quilt group pages, complete with kitty! I thought that was a neat idea, and thought other might also like to look at quilts and kittehs. And so, "Quilting Cats" was founded. I thought we'd maybe have a couple of dozen members at most, but the page took off and yesterday we hit the 500 members mark! Not only have we gained so many new, interesting cat lovers and quilt addicts, but most of them have actually stayed with us over the years! As these things do, interest has waxed and waned, but currently the group is really going strong and bringing lots of people lots of fun.We've seen fantastic quilts, met interesting people, magnificent cats (and the occasional d-o-g), laughed out loud at some of these felines' antics, and cried when they went over the Rainbow Bridge. The group is always the first thing I look at every morning, to see if anybody has posted anything. I love looking at all the photos on Sunday mornings and choosing the banner kitteh of the week. We keep the group closed, friendly, safe (we have young members), and free of advertising (although the posting of gorgeous cat fabrics is ok). I often curse Facebook for one thing or another, but I wouldn't want to lose this group, it's brought me so much joy and contact with nice people. We make everybody welcome, if you have an interest in kittehs and quilts and are happy to share stories and photos. Now looking forward to 1000 members - as one member said "Think big!". Indeed!

Weekly Challenge: Happy

This week's challenge is 'Happy'. There never was a happier dog than Raff, our Samoyed. He always greeted us with a big smile, a wet nose and a swish of his feathery tail. He seemed to have a twinkle in his eye, that seemed to say: "What mischief can we get up to today?". Tummyrubs would make him smile even more. He made us very happy. Went over the Rainbow Bridge many years ago.

Perception

I was in town yesterday, just out for a lunch with Wayne (Maha Restaurant - highly recommended!).
We were in Bond Street, just off Flinders Lane, and had this excellent view of the Eureka Tower. It's not often one gets an unobstructed view of the city's tallest building.

 In keeping with the architectural theme, I like patterns on buildings (must be the quilter thing!), and this one looked pretty good to me. I liked the way the light played on the glass and reflected the blue sky.

Closeup of the windows. I wonder what it looks like from the inside.

City art. Conversation :
Me: "Oh, look at the bird!"
DH (looks up): "What bird?"
Me (points): "That bird!"
DH (confused): "Can't see it!"
Me (rolls eyes): "That big, white, bird across the road!"
DH: "Ah! I was looking for a real bird."

Perception is everything.

Weekly Challenge: FAST

This one was another tricky one! Then I thought of these little guys, and they're the fastest thing on four legs around here! This one's just skipping, but in full flight they're a streak in the landscape. Mr. Fox would have his work cut out to catch Mr. Hare on the hoof...or the paw!

Weekly CHallenge: FLOW

I always wanted to know how to photograph flowing water with a 'soft' focus. Finally, on a hike in Alaska, our photographer guide showed us. First, adjust your ISO level if necessary. Ours was a fairly overcast day, and this was in the murky forest, so we adjusted the light to about 400 ISO. Then you set your camera on 'Tv', then set the time to approx 1/13th of a second (or slower). Use a tripod or make sure your camera is held very still while shooting. Et voila! Soft flow.

Weekly challenge: OPEN

In Greek mythology, Zeus gave Pandora (the first woman) a box with the instructions never to open it. Naturally, Pandora opened it and unleashed evil into the world. The only thing left in the box was Hope.
Sometimes, things are better left unopened.
"Open" immediately reminded me of this old tale, and I remembered a recent gift, which I opened with great anticipation. This Pandora's box contained only delightful things. Choose your boxes wisely!

Knit one, drop one.....ooops!

I'm in the mood for knitting. I've found some beautiful wool (Lincraft and our supermarket, believe it or not), and am looking for easy patterns. I've been knitting a few of these so-called 'potato-chip' scarves. I guess they do look a little like Pringles, and they are quite addictive. The one in the photo is made with some wool I found at Rose Cottage in Ballan.
Just found a pattern for a 'squiggly scarf', so I'll try that next. Perhaps I can make a few and sell them on Etsy.
Lincraft has some gorgeous wool, I like the textured wool, especially with alternating colours. I'm looking forward to our local quilt shop getting in some yarns. I also like to use the scarf pins. Found some really nice ones on ebay, made from bone, wood, and other materials such as paua shell (Javacentric).
YouTube has some good instructions for different knitted articles. What did we do without YouTube??

Week 4: Instantaneous!

Mmm, that WAS a tricky one! Took me a while to come up with something.
In the end, it was one of my favourite pastimes that inspired me - photography! A photograph is an instantaneous thing, especially since digital photography has arrived. It captures an instant in time - often less than fractions of a second. Before and after the shutter clicks, everything is different again.
That instant can last for generations, in a dusty photo album or appear and disappear in seconds, on the web, in the cloud. It can be history, evidence, proof, memory, art, conversation starter...whatever the need. The instant will never come again.

Cool clouds

Once again one of my favourite subjects - clouds.

Week 3: BRIGHT

This week's challenge is BRIGHT. The first thought that popped into my head was the old Van Morrison song "Bright side of the road", which always makes me smile.
Then I remembered this day in New York, where the sunset lit up one side of the street, while the other was in darkness. The reflections off the buildings were bright and beautiful, all shining gold and copper.

Inspiration

I'm joining a 52 Week Blog Photo Challenge on Alsha's Space, and the word of the week is INSPIRATION.

I chose this photograph to represent Inspiration, because what inspires me as a photographer, quilter, artist, and person is nature. There is infinite variety in nature, and no matter how often you look at the same thing, it is always different and new, no matter if it is a leaf or a tree or an animal. Nature is there for us to be interpreted in whatever ways we choose. Which is why it is so important to respect and preserve nature in all its forms, from pond slime to an elephant.

I look forward to all the other challenge entries each week - they, too will inspire me!

The heat is on!

The new year is already flying by, and summer has well and truly arrived with a bang! According to research, southeastern Australia is getting twice as many hot spells these days than in previous decades. Three days already over 40C this month, and there are at least 6 weeks of summer to go!
Thankfully we've had a new cooling system installed earlier, so Pretzel, DH, and yours truly are living in cool comfort.
Visitors to the paddock are all looking for shelter and water. White cheeked honey eaters have been visiting, and the local roos love the green grass along the sewer line, and the shade beneath the trees. Rosellas are hoping for more fruit from the apple trees, and the hares lie low in the high grass, trying to catch a breeze.
I've put a few water containers out for the animals, but I think they're avoiding them at the moment. Still, some animals might use them at night.

 This kangaroo mum and youngster have been visiting for a while. They belong to a mob of about a dozen that hang out a few paddocks across amid a stand of pines. Now that we haven't any dogs to scare them off, they come closer to the house.
It's nice to see the hares around too. I was worried one of them had lost its mate, as there was some roadkill a couple of weeks ago. But the other day there were 3 hares in their usual spot, a female and two males vying for her attention. There was quite a bit of rumpy-pumpy going on right in front of my kitchen window! When the female had enough, she turned on the male and boxed him around the - very long - ears! Quite funny.
Must save for a really long lens to capture the visitors in more detail.

Christmas again

Didn't want to let the old year pass without a final blog. Haven't been here for a while, beavering away at my PhD, finally submitted just before Christmas. Now I can have my life back. Just scratching my head about what that life will look like!
When I started this study, I was still working. That's kind of over, at least in terms of Speech Pathology. It was interesting and rewarding while it lasted, but now I just want a day or two a week for pocket money. I guess we all move on.
I shall relax and enjoy the Christmas holidays, and then slowly start getting the house in shape again; lots to do! And I'm going to sort my 'stash'. I can see the top of my sewing table any more, there are layers upon layers of accumulated projects and fabrics! There are quite a number of UFOs awaiting completion, and all sorts of new projects flitting about in my mind.
I also want to create at least one photobook; first of all, one about our last trip to the USA and Canada. That'll take a while, there are hundreds of photographs to sort out. We never do albums any more, so I also wanted a small softbound photobook of 2013.
Once all that's done, I really want to paint again; might have to go back to Helen and get some refresher lessons. I am definitely going to get myself a studio. Not sure when and how, but it's on my list!
If I don't find a job, I might volunteer a bit, I'd like to help with 'Computers for Seniors', might be fun.
We're also planning a few things for the new year, two friends are coming from overseas for a visit, we're thinking of a cruise later in the year, and we'll probably have a few days in the Flinders Ranges, which I haven't seen yet. So, I don't think I'll get bored....
Have a wonderful Christmas everybody and be safe and happy!

Vale Claude!

Well, it's been two months since our old boy went over the Rainbow Bridge, and we miss him every day! So a little blogging about him is in order.
Claude was 6 years old when I met him. He was one of several Goldens at a rescue volunteer's house in Williamstown. Claude, formerly 'Jed', had lost his owner through illness, so he needed a furever home. He was a big goof, very sweet, and happily came home, sitting in the back of the car and very well mannered. The idea was to have a pal for Bonnie, our German Shepherd girl, who was pining a little after losing her Samoyed friend, Raff.
Bonnie and Claude quickly became the best of friends, and spent another six years together, until Bonnie died. Claude was also very nice to our cats. He never chased or bothered them, even accepting new cats whenever they appeared.He was very good at keeping the peace between the cats, too. Claude was different from our other dogs, more 'in your face', very much an extrovert! He eventually settled a little, but he was always interested in what we were doing, and wanting to be with us. And we were happy to have him with us. He was a big sook in storms, would have happily sat on me, quivering, all 40kg of him! He loved people, sliding onto the floor, belly up, hoping for a tummyrub or ten. His focus was firmly on food, so he loved his doggie treats, and shared my popcorn and grapes and crackers and was a very good hoover where leftovers were concerned! He loved his 'perimeter patrol' of our garden, checking out all the different smells, and adored rolling in the grass, making contented snuffling noises. As he aged, his vision and hearing weren't too good, and he could walk straight past a rabbit and not see it. Claude was always a healthy dog, but he got cancer late in 2012, and survived another 6 months. He passed away at home, surrounded by his family, in his favourite sleeping spot, after one last, slow perimeter patrol. RIP Claude!

Two old men of music

My ears are still ringing from last night's concert at Rod Laver Arena! Steve Miller Band and Santana gave it their all, and what a great evening of entertainment they served up! Steve Miller Band started the night off, belting out long forgotten numbers such as 'Abracadabra', 'Wild Mountain Honey', 'Jet Airliner', and many more. We had great seats, about 10 rows from the stage, and had a close-up view of Steve and his crew. The backdrop was a swirl of guitars, with fairy lights changing colour and strobes flicking everywhere. All around me, other baby boomers were reliving their youth, singing and swaying along to the beat of the late 60s. One hippie chick was swaying away in her own little world a row in front of us, and I was powerfully reminded of the concerts I attended way back when. Steve is a master of guitar, and like other 'elders' of the music business, (Eric Clapton, Joe Walsh, and of course, Santana), has kept his amazing guitar skills - and also his voice. His band are all skilled musicians, and a fairly recent addition to the group, Sonny Charles, has a brilliant blues voice, and hey! some cool moves for an old dude! They played solidly for just over an hour, and left with a standing ovation and cheers of enthusiasm from the sell-out audience.

Next up was Santana, and during the break one could see already that a different calibre of band was going to perform. Three sets of drum kits, for a start! The stage took half an hour to set up, and expectations were running high! Then the lights went out, and the band launched into a loud, funky beat, with Mr. Santana in cool white from hat to toe, torturing his guitar and our ears! Only in a good way! Carlos proceeded to "re-arrange our molecular structure (sic)", which he managed to to with a bass set to dissolving bones and jiggling stomachs! The decibel range was off the chart. Everybody was out of their seats pretty quick smart and gyrating away to "Black Magic Woman", "Oye como va", "Maria Maria", "Evil Ways", "Samba pa ti" and so on. Santana is arguably the best guitar player alive (I dare you to argue with me!), and just a joy to watch and listen to. Each of his band members is an accomplished musician in their own right. Santana doesn't sing much any more, these days he has two energetic young singers for the vocals, and they do a great job, while the Master can concentrate on his guitar. Steve Miller came out again and played some cool tunes, soon joined by Santana, and what a treat it was to see the two Masters giving it their all! There's absolutely no way anybody can stay off their toes while all this is going on, and even my ears got used to the racket, that is, until I stepped out into the balmy Melbourne night and felt my head was wrapped in cotton wool! Thanks for a wonderful evening, Steve and Carlos! I'll be hearing "oye como va" for a while longer in my dreams....

A little Emerson to inspire

The day, immeasurably long, sleeps over the broad hills and warm wide fields. To have lived through all its sunny hours, seems longevity enough. The solitary places do not seem quite lonely. At the gates of the forest, the surprised man of the world is forced to leave his city estimates of great and small, wise and foolish. The knapsack of custom falls off his back with the first step he makes into these precincts. Here is sanctity which shames our religions, and reality which discredits our heroes. Here we find nature to be the circumstance which dwarfs every other circumstance, and judges like a god all men that come to her. We have crept out of our close and crowded houses into the night and morning, and we see what majestic beauties daily wrap us in their bosom.

(From: Emerson for the day [blog])

Good News!

Ok,so I looked up 'The Age', and the one bit of good news was that some Australian researchers have found a 'switch' molecule that could be manipulated to enhance the effectiveness of breast cancer medications. Now that has to be good news! Read about it here -
http://www.theage.com.au/national/breast-cancer-switch-discovered-20130101-2c481.html

It took a while to find good news in all the information, so much was bad news or trivial, but I shall persist with this and try to blog about good news when  find it.
Happy New Year!