Black & White

Ali,

I did this for you!!

Bali....

Jeff and I have just spent the week from March 16 to March 25 at Sanur in Bali. It was a much needed break and also a celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary. Most of our time was spent just lazing by the pool and going for long leisurely walks. We did catch up with some friends from Koorda here in WA and spent the day and evening with them. Frog and Ros picked us up from our hotel and we went to Denpasar for the day shopping and then back to Kuta where we had a tepenyaki style dinner in one of the Japanese restuarants on Legian Street.

Jeff booked me on a Photography tour on the Sunday before we came home. I secretly think he wanted a day to himself but jumped at the chance to be able to go to places that tourists don't get to see.


Norman, Me and Joe, in the volcano crater at Batur This flower was across the road from where the other picture was taken

The photographer and tutor I went with is Joe. Joe is an Irishman who has been living in Bali for about 30 years. His off sider's name was Norman and he was very quiet. Probably because he couldn't get word in edgewise with Joe and me around!



The children we came in contact with were wonderful and very happy to have a picture taken!




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Boy fishing on Gungung (Lake) Batur Canoes - Gungung Batur
These photos were taken at the bottom of the volcano crater of Mt Batur - more commonly and incorrectly known as Kintamani which is the village at the top of the crater. In the crater there are several villages with the one at the end of the road called Songan which is where these pictures were taken. The boy in the boat is about 10 or 11 years old and was fishing with his mother who waited on the bank. He didn't look too happy about having his picture taken but he put up with us!


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I took this picture on the way home and I think it would have to be my favourite. We were waiting for a parade (yeah - I know! I didn't get pictures - not in the right place!) to go by and I spotted this out the car window, so just rolled down the window and snapped the shot with out much thought. Thankfully it turned out wonderfully! I just love this one!


What trip to Indonesia would be complete without some Rice Terraces! These were just beautiful. The old man was very comical. He pretends to be working but poses for pictures just below the road for a coin! The baskets are full of weeds.

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.