Popping in to say "Hello"! I hope you all had a good Christmas time. I'm taking a few days to spend with the Family and do a little skiing.
The snow has been rather thin on the ground this year, even in the mountains and we have been having to make do with mostly man made stuff - but hey, a good downhill buzz is just fab in my books, whether the snow is courtesy of nature or not.
... z o o m ... z o o m ...
...see you in a bit .....
We were in the big Apple the other day touring the Christmas sights and looking at the lovely windows, scoping out the Christmas markets while #2 son caught up with friends from Australia.
It seems that half his class mates are over in the US at the moment! We even had two of them sleep over last night - treated them to the sights of Long Island, a little Ten Pin Bowling and then had to bring home Pizza from Victor's.
(You've not "done" Long Island until you have eaten a slice of "their" pie!)
It's nice to have the house full. The cats are even getting used to it.
I messed with these lovely Nutcrackers today while I was waiting for something to dry, bake or wash - you can download the STARRY CLIPPING MASK to use if you'd like.... a little holiday freebie!
(And don't worry, it looks weird on the download link, but it's a PNG file and will be just fine when you open it.)
I hope you are having as much fun getting ready for Christmas as I am!
I'm off down in the wilds of South Western Australia again, spending at bit more time with my Mum.
It's been a wet and rainy Spring, and the land is lush and lovely. There was no rush to get here, so I made quite a few stops along the way to snap the local landscape. There is always something interesting to see.
18 Years ago I was blessed with a second bundle of JOY! Born at 2159 Hrs on the 22nd of September, 1993!
Weighing in at 3535Grms and 50cm in length. Can you believe I still have the crib header from the Nursery all that time ago?
It's hard to believe what was once a tiny speck in my arms is getting ready to leave school, sitting final exams and looking more and more grown up by the minute.
As has become our Family tradition, here is your Blog Birthday card my Honey! I love you and miss you and will see you soon!
Happy 18th Birthday!
May all your dreams and wishes come true
and
May all your pictures be good ones!
We love you Sweetie Pie!
xoxoxoxoox
My garden is changing. The squirrels are afoot, collecting acorns at a rapid pace.
I wore woolly slippers today and am thinking of finding my warm pajamas.
I like the cool clean air but don't really relish the forthcoming cold. That 30 day place that drops in between having windows open and having the heater blasting away. It's always savoured.
I'm thinking about going "home" - where they will be waking from a subtle Winter and emerging into Summer, full blast.
I can do with some more sunshine.
Sons and sunshine.
Yes, I can deal with that.
The UPS Guy came today and I missed him. I was left with a sticky note to say he would come back tomorrow.
It's one of those thing that changes when your Sensory Mentor is gone.
No bark at the door, no sniff and whiffle when there is some thing awry.
No sense of complacency in your own space because you know there is "someone else" watching.
DH has been gone a lot lately and I have taken to locking the back door. Something that I never did when DAWG was with us.
I don't want to replace HER, but I MISS her, a LOT!
I know I took care of her, but she took better care of me, for sure.
The weather on Long Island was just "perfect" today so DH and I decided to go off exploring. We had not got much further than the access road to the interstate than I realised I still had my Macro lens on the camera and not the usual "outdoor, grabitall lens".
There was the usual back and forth - "do you want to turn around and go back home to get the other lens?" ... "no, I will be fine, just keep going."
And we did.
And there was me, the first moment I went to snap a picture, cussing under my breath at a fixed focal length and no-where to go, except walk backwards.
The biggest hurdle was in my brain and if I had been a bit less frustrated then I would have made some better opportunities with the lens that I had. Oh well. "Tant Pis" as the French say.
We wended our way down the Island, throught the Hamptons, checked out an art fair in Westhampton and then onto Sag Harbour where we stopped at our usual spot for a beer and a plate of yummy Calamari.
The beer, food and sunshine seemed to marry well with the Macro lens obstacle and in the late afternoon I was far less stubborn with what I could "see" and captured some neat shots of the people and odd things along the way.
This was my favourite image of the day though. A boy and his Dad, doing what they do. Spending time together with nothing other particular in mind, other than a little bit of fishin'.
I would not have caught this moment quite like this if I'd had my other lens on the camera. So perhaps things happen for a reason sometimes.
What do you think?
The last 18 hours have been less than fun I must confess, but thank fully apart from a shredded garden and a good layer of leaves in our pool we have escaped the wrath of the hurricane unscathed.
It was not in the top #10 of life experiences. DH was away and I chose to hunker down on a makeshift bed in the basement for a good 12 hours or so and it's really only in the last bit of this evening that the winds have calmed enough for me to head back upstairs and start to restore the house to it's usual place.
We'd taken lots of precautions, putting things away, moving furniture and vulnerable knick knacks out of harms way. Boxed papers and documents into storm proof containers. And whilst the repair of all those efforts will take time I don't regret the preparations for a minute.
It was scary! And I spare many a thought for those on Long Island (and elsewhere) who have been much less fortunate.
Living a'top a hill is apparently a good thing.
Whilst managing the Hurricane I was also dealing with life enfolding dramas down in Australia...
#1 Son had a terrible bicycle accident on Friday night and ended up breaking his hand and incurring some nasty cuts and abrasions and was ambulanced off to Hospital.
His first time dealing with this sort of thing with no "next of kin" available and I was scrambling to find people to check on him in a proper fashion.
Thank God for Skype and internet connections that keep you in constant contact - hurricanes or hospitals, it is indispensible.
(Image courtesy http://www.thedailybeast.com/)
Happy Anniversary Honey!
xoxo
The house is quiet. #2 son has trekked his way back to Australia and I spent part of the night and then the morning glued to Flight Stats, watching his progress around the globe. An email sent from Dubai, a text from Perth. I don't know how I would manage without technology. The "connected-ness" (is that a word?) is a blessing.
I talk to #1 son on Skype for 2 hours. He is upset about the dog too. No-one to hold his head as he sobs and I feel rather helpless. I gently steer the topic away and we focus on other things - eventually he seems calmer.
But all day I hear the chink of "her" collar as she walks up the hall and the 'humphf' as she sits down. I know it's only in my imagination. A sound that I expect to hear. Pattern, habit. It will take time to understand this new and emptier house and the part of us that is no longer here.
In the meantime I have cleaned and sorted my desk and rid the kitchen table of mounds of accumulated flotsam. Catharsis I suppose - and then some Photoshop to soothe the soul.
And .... so that I can close on a brighter note - I have my first posting up as a Collaborator over at Vision and Verb. Their photography, thoughts and perspective are so diverse and interesting and I am thrilled to have been invited to join this talented group of women.
