and now the right photo!

Just for Alikat!!

Hey Ali! Black and white - just for you! :) I love it and Michael Marriott the photographer and two other people said they would like to see it in B& W too!

More pictures!!

This little sweetie is my friend Ruth's 16mo daughter Breanna. She is the closest thing I have to a grandchild right now and I adore her. I love this picture which I took on Tuesday at our local park. Unfortunately I didn't see the water bottle at the time!

Ducks at the same park.

The Taylor street bridge with the ruins of the original bridge in the foreground.

Another Holly

Because I took a picture of Lawson and his Oma, I had to do the same for his big sister Holly!

More landscapes

The guy in the picture is Murray. He is a student too and is often used as a model when we need one!

Once again I spent Saturday learning how to use my SLR camera. Last week it was portraits and this week it was landscapes. I am very happy with what I acheived traipsing about in 37'c sunshine on a farm just out of town. Homework is to take a couple more landscapes for our final class next Saturday.

Learning, Learning, Learning

on with Learning, learning, learning....

The pictures are my homework from the short photography course I started last week. As you can see we covered portraiture. I also discovered that I can up load the pictures directly from Picasa to Blogger but haven't figured out how to add the text. I am going to up load the favourite one I took of Jeff in black and white. I forgot to select it when I added the others. I can't believe he allowed me to take his photo! He is usually so anti the camera. When I came home on Saturday I asked if I could take some pictures of him for my homework and he said YES! And though I couldn't convince him to smile, I like the mood of the photo of him leaning on the pool fence.

The pretty girl is Holly Brennan who models regularly for Michael Marriott who is the guy who is running the course, the little boy is Lawson who is my darling friend Hetty's 4yo grand son and I even got Hetty into the picture with some help from Lawson. I now have to take pictures of his sister Holly on Friday! I am pretty happy with my results so far!

Learning, Learning, Learning

Well, I still have trouble keeping up!

Life has been pretty normal for the last couple of months.

My baby Michael turned 21 on August 6, Matt turned 23 in October and my darling friend Gail got married on my birthday on November 1 for which she asked my blessing.

My darling hubby Jeff who is also my boss has given me quite a bit of time off in the last few months as we have been very quiet at work. Nothing to do with the economy - just the time of year. Other than that life has just been plodding along as normal.

I went and saw an orthopedic surgeon last week about my shoulder which has been giving me a lot of grief over the last five years. I now am scheduled for surgery on the 8th December to have the bursitis in my right shoulder released. I will be overnight in hospital - maybe two depending on whether the ligament is torn too. I am having an MRI for that in a week or so. I will be 6 weeks in a sling and as it is my right arm and I am right handed, I will probably be off work for most of that. The down side is that I won't be able to sew for that time either and that will kill me!!

I have been busy for the last few weeks sewing my heart out. I have been making a new quilt for our bed after falling in love with a new range of fabrics while on retreat at Collingully Cottage at the end of June. I just had to have them and the result is a huge quilt for our bed. All I need to do before quilting it is to put on the final border. This quilt will measure 112 x 112 inches when finished!!

Frosty Mornings

We have been having a few rather chilly mornings here in Northam. While the official temperatures have been -2'C, it was -7'C down by the river which I know for you in the upper northern hemisphere isn't that cold but it is for here. Frost has been thick on the ground. This picture was last Monday morning at 7am. By the time I left for work at 8 it was solid white. Very chilly!!!

Sooo Cute!

On Wednesday I went to the big city of Goomalling (Population approx 500) for lunch with Ruth and to get some serious cuddle time with my proxy grand daughter Breanna. I can't believe she is nearly 10 months old already! She is the sweetest thing. Ruth is so great with her but I always knew Ruth would be a great mum.

Ruth has to decide whether to come back to work or not by the end of this month. She says she still doesn't know! One day she thinks she will and the next she has changed her mind. We would really like her back but know that the decision is hers! I have even offered to have Breanna on my day off if she needs a babysitter!
On the way home from Ruth's I spotted this neat windmill in the paddock so stopped to take a picture. It ended up taking me over an hour to get home because I stopped a couple of times to take photos. I also stopped at St David's Church at Jennapullin and took a heap of shots. The church gates here is my favourite and I think it will be my choice for a pictorial quilt challenge that I will be starting in the next couple of weeks.

Bali

In May Jeff and I spent 8 wonderful days relaxing in Bali for a much needed rest. I can't recount our adventures because there weren't any as we spent most of the time lazing by the pool and only really ventured out to eat! I did try to take some interesting photos though.....

The one of the motorbikes was typical of the side of the road just about anywhere you went.











We did make a point to visit the Bali Memorial for those lost in the bombings in 2002 and did tend to visit the area most nights. It was always crowded with tourists and locals. It was very moving and is a beautiful structure.

Other than that we probably experienced the best Italian food we had eaten in a long while at a little restaurant called Sasa's in Semiyak. It was a very restful holiday!


The Pictures of the Frangipannis were taken from the balcony of our room. They were everywhere and just beautiful!

Catching up again!

I thought I would be really consistent with this blog thing but it looks like it wasn't to be! here it is! 6 Months since I last posted - how slack is that!!

Anyway - after much nagging I am posting pics of our finished family room make over. Needless to say I love it! I am really happy with the way it all came together in the end and am so glad to be rid of those awful heavy drapes. Jeff even likes it!:)

My New Hair Cut

Wednesday week ago I decided it was time for the long locks to go. After much deliberation and "permission" from Jeff (it was going to happen anyway!) I bit the bullet. Here is not the most flattering picture of me and yes it is supposed to look unbrushed - that is why I like it so much!

We have been busy having our family room and kitchen area painted in the last week or so. The change is wonderful. I am so happy with it. We wanted to have the painting done before the new furniture arrives next week. So here it is - still with the old furniture and no pictures on the walls because of course we want to wait until the new furniture is here. I can't wait to get the new blinds measured. i want to have what are called 'Sheerfold' blinds which are a cross between a vertical blind and a sheer curtain. As you can see the room is huge and is mostly windows so the new blinds will look so much better than the heavy drapes we have now.