Not Just a Rose

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/4000s f/1.8 50mm ISO400

I know it looks like it's "just a rose" but it's really not. About 6 weeks ago, amidst some of our hottest summer days I answered a call from a lady who wanted rose plants removed from her garden. It shouldn't have been done; for best results plants should be moved and transplanted when they are dormant, especially finicky ones like roses, ie winter. This particular rose was in the second lot of 2 that I took and it had been grown from a clipping from the original owner's Pop's garden a couple years ago.

I feel very blessed that all of the roses transplanted successfully (5 plants, one of them separated into two and both survived) living in a rental property there's no way I would've invested the money to buy roses, especially when one of them, the Honey Dijon, is still copyrighted.

So, the Pop's rose (I don't know it's name) was the first to flower and to round of the signs these roses brought to me one of the other plants is a "Blue Moon" rose. I've always loved roses in unusual colours and this one is particularly special; my Grandfather's neighbour and long time friend was part of the team that created this rose (first released in 1965.) The Blue Moon is not doing so well, it had a bad case of black spot when I adopted it, I do think it will survive though and will be at it's best for next summer.

That one, right up the back...

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/200s f/1.8 50mm ISO 400

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/200s f/1.8 50mm ISO 400

Today was my first day at the shop, well, first trading day in any case! There was still a lot of cleaning and tidying to do so I got stuck into that whilst R very ably attended to our cash till and customers. Had a chance to talk with the "neighbours" and some of our customers so that was nice.

Look forward to another couple of days in the shop this week; tidying up our second shop on Sunday and the following week we'll have TWO trading locations!

When I Grow Up...

I want to be just like my Mama!

There's my happiness! You can just see through his fringe, the sheer joy on my son's face as he looks at the "photos" he's taken, usually of his feet! He just loves to see the flash go off and the photo come up on the LCD under his control.

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/8s f/1.8 50mm ISO 400

It's a Lego Kind of Day

Djr was given this Duplo truck for Christmas and is really getting into putting the blocks together. I'm wondering if the Little People Deluxe Super Duper Everything Included Farm set I have put away for his birthday should be set aside for more Duplo.

Duplo will certainly take up less space in our small house and be much easier to pack away at the end of every day...



Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
s1/6
f/1.8
50mm
ISO 400

Flood Relief and the Levy

Over the past 24 hours debate has been raging across the country as to whether or not we should pay an additional levy to pay for the damage caused by the recent flood disasters across Regional and South East Queensland. I believe the levy would also go part of the way to rebuilding required in Victoria and Western Australia but as the bulk of the rebuilding required to be undertaken is in QLD that is where the debate is focussed.

The Government is suggesting a levy associated with income taxes, which the Opposition has labelled "just plain dumb stuff" claiming that the Government should rather cut further spending than those cuts which will be required to be made along with the proposed levy to cover the cost of the floods.

Back to Work

Of course; having our own shop again means more paper work for me. Most of the time I don't mind it, keeps the brain ticking and all.


Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
s
f/
50mm
ISO

Boy Iced Cake...

'Twas Australia Day and we didn't do much to celebrate it was WAY too hot here, in fact the hottest Australia Day in 20 years. Obviously, in those 20 years I've gotten old and soft as 20 years ago I lived in this very same area and didn't notice how hot it was!

R baked chocolate cupcakes in the morning and iced one for each of us then insisted that she could not possibly clean up or ice the other 8 or so cakes, so L did, this is one of his works of art.

Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
1/6s
f/1.8
50mm
ISO 400

A Different View...

Photo by Dawson; this is his view of our lounge room and there just happens to be an add on the television for his favourite shop in the whole world. Bunnings. Yes, he loves Bunnings, he gets excited every time we drive NEAR a Bunnings let alone when we actually turn into one of their car parks!

Another of Dawson's favourite things "Alella" (Nutella sandwiches.) He usually opens the sandwich and eats the Nutella face first, probably wearing more than he eats.

Day One...

Our first trading day; we've had some stock issues, ie things ordered and not delivered so it's been a bit hard to have nice, full displays. We do however, have nice signs and fresh produce.

 The fridge with stock and signs! Eek - those stickers need to go, we don't stock that juice for starters...

The displays across the front of the shop; I think these need to move, I'm not liking this stock being in the window...

More display bins...

Today's photos courtesy of R on her first day as a "check-out chick".

Look What We Got...

We just took over the management of this shop; tomorrow is our first trading day so today R and I went with D to see the shop for the first time and give it a bit of a clean up.

 This is what the shop has looked like when closed for at least the last couple of years. Nice display isn't it? It's been changed; those display bins now face out of the shop when the shop is closed, a revolution in merchandising! (Or just common sense?) The stickers and signs from the windows have all been removed too, people can see in unimpeded.

 The shell of a shop; there is a lot of potential here. There has been no signage whatsoever in the fridges, infact, D told me there was 6 months worth of out of date dairy stock in the bottom of the fridge. Who does that?!

The price signs in the picture were put in place by D last week, there were none before that. Apparently there were also some dubious pricing practices in place. Look at all those walnuts (on the left of the shelf above the bins) so many walnuts! They were on sale from the wholesaler... so quick, buy up, don't worry about it you will sell them or not! Oh dear...

I love unusual little details like this. This mail delivery slot is in the bottom of the door, literally 10cm or so off the ground. I'd bet that really bugs the mail deliverer!

This was how we left the shop; display bind facing out, we didn't have any stock to put in place this afternoon. The bread crates were not ours to remove (unfortunately).

There is a lot of potential here; I want to put blackboard signs along the front of the display bins, that's a start.

Feathered and Friends

There are a couple of pairs of Crimson Rosellas that have been visiting the pine trees in the front of our yard the past few days.

Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
1/400s
f/5.6
300.0mm
ISO 400


We also had a visit from some wonderful friends and all had a great time...

Secrets and Hugs

Giggling Girls

Messy Treats...

Pretty Wings

An early morning visitor to our garden...

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/320s f/4.0 18.0mm ISO400

You Make Me Vomit In My Mouth...

Miranda Devine; your "hard hitting" journalism is little more than trash talk of the over opinionated, under informed minority... The rest of us just can't drag ourselves away from witnessing such an amazing train wreck as your columns inevitably turn out to be.

Do You See What I See?

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/25s f/5.6 300.0mm ISO400

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/10s f/5.6 300.0mm ISO400

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/8s f/11 300.0mm ISO400



Oh how I love me a camera that can see the moon! I only wish I could've gotten a photo of the moon properly framed by the leaves, to the eye it was so beautiful. A tripod probably would've been helpful...

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/1320s f/5.6 300.0mm ISO400

Roly Poly

Djr's latest party trick - the almost made it but I fell sideways roly poly!

Everything Old is New Again

We always try to buy new board games for the kids for Christmas, sometimes for birthdays and sometimes just because one we like the look of is on sale. R's Christmas game this year was Cluedo, Discover the Secrets. I had fond memories of Cluedo and was really looking forward to playing it with my family. We've played Cluedo many times (at least three times a week) since Christmas, you're got to love a game that truly is different every time you play it.

This Christmas though; Cluedo was really different. Professor Plum is not a Professor anymore! Nor is Mrs White a Chef.  :o Where does it end I hear you calling, well, it doesn't it seems all the Cluedo characters have taken on different careers and even, shockingly, different pasts! Tell me, how is that even possible?

Riding Buddy

Clearly motion is not my forte, that said however I will make the excuse that it was late (after 7pm) on a cloudy evening so the light wasn't great, I abetted that by standing under a tree and the photos were taken on fully auto "sports" mode because it was starting to rain, I needed to hurry! Surely then, I cant be held responsible for their quality?

We picked this bike up for R from a lovely freecycler who had bought the bike for her daughter years ago. Long story short, it's a bit rusted from being laying around but it's barely been used (the little spikes are still on the original tyres,) the gears were a little stiff but a bit of oil and it was off! We'll have to work at getting  the rust off both our frames and get them polished up to look pretty but other than that great FREE bikes!

So, I went for a short ride with R this evening, having to take my husband, D's, bike as mine has a flat tyre (again, I'm not getting far in a hurry but it will soon be all sorted.) O>M>G>>> His seat is HARD! Surely the difference between mens and ladies bike seats can't be that great? I think I'll have to get him one of those air cushion seat covers, I guess it wouldn't hurt for me to have one too, whilst I'm there you know?

Here's R trying not to run me over!

Don't Spend the Money (PINT)

The Bandaid

For your viewing pleasure; a dodgy phone photo! It's an important one though, Djr's first bandaid. :) He didn't NEED a bandaid as such but when R got a cat scratch and needed a bandaid Gran only had Wiggles bandaids (bought for Djr.) So, when Djr saw R's Wiggles bandaid he very much wanted one, what Djr wants, Djr gets! A Dorothy bandaid, four Dorothy's dancing across the sticker on his hand.

Too cute.

Fear not...

Healthy children will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death. ~Erik H. Erikson

Pay It Forward - 2011

EEP! Pay what forward? What am I going to pay forward?

The most recent Pay It Forward I'd seen was at A Peek Over the Fence and I held onto that post in my browser and let it sit in the background of my web usage over the past couple of days and this (very early) morning I finally came to a realisation that the old saying "you get what you give" is spot on, I can't expect to get much from blogging nor from the blogging community if I'm not blogging consistently and not participating in the community. So I'm going to do it, straight in at the deep end, head first...

"I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here.

To be eligible, you must repost this message (and comment here to let me know you have), offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 giftees sometime in 2011. Ready, set, GO! (C'mon, you KNOW you want to!)

My Pay it Forward gifts are likely to be of the paper/card kind; perhaps a set of gifts cards, thank you cards or note cards or maybe I'll stitch something, 'though that is an art that requires a lot of time and dedication on my part (I'm easily distracted) and yields little in the results department.Let's wait and see what the year brings...

(Fingers crossed now surely someone would like to have something made by me?)

I Want to Ride My Bicycle

Not much to be proud of here as far as photography goes but proud of myself for dragging my butt of the lounge to get out on another bike ride. Dad brought my bike back with the new cranks and pedals on Saturday but I don't deal well with neither heat nor humidity and I wasn't even going to ride this evening until my friend Jaime (check out her blog, She Will Have Her Way) asked how I was going with Map My Run's 30 miles in 30 days challenge.

As the site name suggests it's a runner's challenge but Map My Run is also great for planning and mapping walks and bike rides. (For the purpose of the 30miles in 30 days Challenge, Jaime recalled the correlation for a marathon to bike riding is 42:130km. 30miles = 48.28km so I figure the equivalent of 30miles running would be 149.44km, or 4.98km per day. Disclaimer: my maths is TERRIBLE so I could be completely WRONG, if so please do let me know!)

Today's ride was 11.39km so that leaves me 138.05km to pedal between now and 30 days from now (end date: 14 February. (Four weeks at 34.5125km per week = 3 rides per week of 11.5km, so I will have to revise my route a little, take more frequent shorter rides or maybe a couple of longer rides.)

Jaime introduced me to Map My Run on 8 January and I thought I could easily walk the 30miles in 30 days. I'd kind of put it out of my mind but have done two walks to a total of 14.52km, leaving 33.76km to walk before 6 February.

Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
10.0s
f/5.6
39mm
ISO 400


PS: Remember how I said today's photo was nothing to be proud of, far from ideal shooting conditions under our carport (flouro light) in the dark and let's just say my hands were not very stable, here are the first two shots I took by comparison (the photo I used for this post was taken with the camera balanced on bricks with my still very unsteady hand stablising it.)

 

And Hope Remains

To close out the week a photo taken by someone else of a terrible event that will mar the history of our great nation, that has equally enthralled and horrified us as the news on all of our televisions and radios was filled with disaster and devastation. This is the railway bridge at Grantham where up to 30 cars were crushed in show of the violent strength of flash flooding, many bodies were expected to have been found in the metal graveyard the waters left behind yet today's news tells us that none were found. The numbers of missing people are dropping, thankfully much more quickly than the numbers of bodies found is rising.

This week I have been all at once thankful that I didn't live in an area likely to be affected by these floods and regretful that I didn't live close enough to be able to personally help someone who does. Many people have lost everything they own, some have lost even more; family, friends, loved ones.

Today the cleanup began in earnest in Brisbane, the Aussie Spirit shines on, strong and bright as strangers become friends and lifelong bonds are no doubt built amongst rubble and sludge that will be remembered long after it is gone. Meanwhile in Central Queensland and Northern NSW many roads are still closed by flood waters and in Tasmania and Victoria further incidences of flooding are seeing more people evacuated from their homes.

I'm grateful that in times of need Australian's band together; I hope that we can remember that even in times of relative safety and surety there is always someone in need, always someone who needs a helping hand, a real genuine hug or just a smile from a stranger across a busy room.

Not Yet Autumn

It's not yet Autumn but there's no telling the Autumn Crocus that; their first flowers bloomed earlier this week.

I wonder if I should continue to garden by the calender or realign the seasons I follow to those that my garden follows?

Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
1/100s
f/5.6
55.0mm
ISO 400

I can see a Rainbow...

Today I bought Dawson's first "own" sets of crayons and pencils. Beautiful bright colours but a strange range; deep blue, red, peach, orange, light green, deep green, deep blue, brown, yellow, violet, light carmine (that's pink for those not in the colour know). I've never seen a set of children's crayons before with neither black nor white and with two shades of green.

In any case he loves them and that's the main motivation for buying them.

Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
1/8s
f/5.6
49.0mm
ISO 400

How to Enjoy Ice Cream

In this family a love of ice cream is almost a prerequisite; little Djr has fitted in nicely!

You know you haven't ever really enjoyed ice cream unless you've worn it! lol

Specs:
Canon EOS 400D
1/8s
f/2.8
50.0mm (prime lens)
ISO 400

Let's Play!

After a rough day in our household the children have cleaned up their bedrooms to property inspection standards; what a nice change!

Of course, immediately after cleaning up they started building okay spaces within their rooms again. Liam's room (on the left) is almost completely covered in sheets and Rhiannan built a "changing room" under her loft bed. We're going to redesign the "changing room" space tomorrow so it is a little more functional.

Tonight, they have just informed me, Rhiannan is having a sleepover in Liam's room.

Specs: Canon EOS 400D; no other specs as it's two photos in one. These were tricky photos to take though; our hall light is out so I had to shoot into the light in their rooms from the dark hallway. All in all, well, you can see what the photos are of!

Little Birdy

Birds are one of my favourite things; as long as I can remember I've been fascinated by them. I have a collection of these little blingy feathered birds, this one is special, as well as being one of my favourite things, it reminds me of one of my favourite people. ♥

11:40pm tonight I thought "oh crap! I haven't taken any photos today!" So, with no further ado here is a craptacular fully auto photo. How crappy is full auto though, the focus is on the clip rather than the bird... Oh well, a lesson learnt in any case; take the time to use your own settings!


Specs: Canon EOS 400D (full auto.)

Solitary Guard

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/640s f/9.0 160.0mm ISO 400

South Steyne

What do ferries do when they retire? Why, they become restaurants of course!

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/200s f/8.0 55.0mm ISO 100

Disco Garden...

How cool to have disco balls hanging from your trees? These balls are part of the decorations for Sydney Festival. They look so amazing all strung up in the massive figs.
Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/125s f/8.0 55.0mm ISO 400

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/100s f/6.3 55.0mm ISO 400

Specs: Canon EOS 400D 1/200s f/5.6 55.0mm ISO 400