Blogtoberfest day 29 - Some Aussie pics ...

We spent day 29 of Blogtoberfest travelling around Mandurah, Bunbury and Capel, visiting a couple of wineries and having a perfectly lovely time.  Thought you might like to see some pics not taken in Perth, rather in the beautiful South West, a bit of Australiana ...

A warm welcome received at Clifton Wines, and a few yarns shared whilst tasting ...

Couldn't leave without some mango wine :)

How much more Australian can you get?  My Holden and a water tower in thr trees ...

... now you can see the water tower

Clifton winery welcome ...

The vines at Capel Vale winery

A drop of Chardonnay with lunch anyone?

Grass Trees

Wow - was it hot today!  34 degrees, seemingly out of nowhere!  How best to cope?  Sit in the shade with a lovely cool glass of white wine, wearing a lovely cottony summery skirt and top, bare feet and good company.  I managed ...



C-Dog - he's all grown up now

This was after we'd attended a photography workshop in the city, which was very useful.  Dad had taught me very well in my youth, and everything the teacher spoke about I did know already - it needed a bit of a jog to come back to me though :)  So I was all enthused when we got back home, and when we took our dog for a walk I took a few pics of sunlight on grass trees.  Summer's nearly here ... not totally sure how I feel about it at the moment ...  but it is nice to feel warm ...

Some grass trees look like Dr Seuss characters ...

Sunlight over xanthorrea

I'm back - well rested and ready for the New Year ...

Ahhh ... feeling very rejuvenated from this last week off.  I spent last weekend taking a course in Reiki, a natural healing method, and it was beautiful.  I've always been anxious when being part of a group of women due to bad experiences from being at an all girls' school many, many years ago.  But I had no need to worry at all; the women on the course were all like-minded souls and much laughter, tears and stories were shared.  A very special time.

The rest of the week was spent sharing time with my family on a short holiday in Madora Bay before school starts again next week.  Not an X-box in sight :) and what a wonderful time was had by all.  As you can see from the photos, time spent on the beach was refreshing and uplifting.  Time spent in nature is time well spent.

Sometimes only purple can make it better ...

A grumpy day.  Spent roaming around the house, not having a clue what to do.  40+ degrees today - made worse by having to help measure up for a shed in the back garden - why do men have to do that!  Spent too much time in the full sun - I could shrivel up like the Wicked Witch you know :)

So, how to make it better? Hmm, I know ...

Gin and tonic, lemon and ice in a beautiful, French made (of course, ooh la la), purple glass ...

Feeling cooler already ...

Light at the end of the tunnel ...

I've been giving in to pre-Christmas stress, even after all my words about going with the flow and just 'being' instead of 'doing'.  Guess I've tried to do too much and have done the best thing by having a few quieter days, including not blogging!

Hope you like the picture - it's taken at Hillary's Boat Harbour - I love the way the light shines on the water, then you see the silhouettes of the people - dark and light together.

Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer - with a moral ...

My own little Rudolfs - mum bought the reindeer on the left for me when I was 18 ...

.... and after all that time his nose still lights up!!

Last night at his concert, Jack Johnson sang a gorgeous version of Rudolf the red nosed reindeer - with his own final verse.  It's gorgeous - please have a listen!  As he said, we can sing it to our kids and it has a great moral. 

Getting into the Christmas spirit!!

Enjoy xxxxx

400 posts and counting ... and other stuff ...

Ooh, it was my 400th post the other day and I didn't even notice!  Just having too much fun blogging!

Today I've been busy doing preparation work - cutting out fabric for some bags I'm making for my 'made-it' online shop, as well as cutting out for Roman blinds.  To be honest I'm not looking forward to making them as curtains and blinds are so functional and not as exciting to make as other things.  I find it really difficult to get going on these projects, but I'm always so pleased at the final result, even after thinking the whole process is boring!

And the photo of the grass tree?  It's a little hint at my next creative blog project - for some reason I find grass trees utterly fascinating and I'm hoping to capture as many on camera as I can.  I'll keep you posted!

Taking time out ...

I was busy doing mum stuff in the kitchen today when Little Man came in and asked me "could you please come and do something with me?"  He asked so nicely, how could I refuse.  And this is what we did, we placed all of his plastic soldiers on his aircraft carrier.  It made him so happy that I helped.  And I almost missed out - almost used that "I'm busy!" phrase.  Glad I didn't, it was really special just 'being' with my Little Man.

What a scorcher!

Today the temperature hit 39 degrees here in the Hills.  I've found someone who suffers from the heat as much as I do:

What you can't see is that he's actually sitting flaked out under the air-conditioning.  A dog after my own heart. xx

Sometimes ...

Sometimes I take a photo that I'm really pleased with - this is one of them.

It helps that I had a wonderful model! xx

I love my camera!

Last year I made public my hopes for an SLR camera for my 40th birthday - a dream which did indeed become true, and here is the beautiful object!  I've been practising before putting pictures taken with it on my blog, the first photo being the picture of my lovely rag doll Immogen that was posted yesterday.  I thought I'd post a picture that I took during the big storm in Perth last month - just before the rain hit us up in the Hills.  It's now my camera of choice as I'm getting more confident using it.  I'm having so much fun with the camera, and I'm not short of subjects for pictures.  As soon as I appear with my camera, my children emerge out of thin air to muck about and pose in front of the lens.  What a vain lot they are!  (Love 'em ...)