Lost Aussie on the loose

Urban Views

It does not seem to matter whether you are in New York City, London or - even Perth - there's a delicious amount of urban grunge to be found, photographed and admired.  Be it for simplicity of form, colour or style.

Pic One was taken in and old side street off Murray and Wellington, as was Pic Two.  The third image was snapped on Australia Day and is a large (20ft hight) dancing puppet made from recyled cans and other flotsam.

Otherwise I am busy in "Mom" mode.  The boys start school on Monday and there is lots to do to get them ready before I leave in a few days.  I can't believe how time had flown this trip.

If you have not had time to check out the OWOH giveaway on the blog, I highly recommend that you do so as well as hitting the link to all the other great giveaways that are floating around the blogosphere at the moment!

Happy Australia Day

Bright blue skies and a balmy breeze have made for the perfect Australia Day Holdiay and having our apartment right in the heart of the City meant I had easy access to all the great events on the Foreshore this afternoon - and the people watching was awesome too!

There will be more fun and games later on tonight when the City hosts it's spectacular Skyworks - so I need to figure out the night settings on the camera, in the hopes of capturing some great sparkly shots!

And for lighthearted beach entertainment, Perth can proudly say that they won the great Aussie Thong Challenge!  on this auspicious day - And no - it's not quite what you might be thinking :-)

One World One Heart Giveaway - 2010

Yes folks, it's that time of year again when the blogging community comes together to offer all manner of goodness in exchange for a teensy comment and some blog love under the guise of the One World, One Heart Giveaway!

In the past few years that I have participated in this wonderful event I have made and MET quite a number of new friends and cherish the opportunity to surf new blogs, read new stories and discover all manner of wonderful goodness.

This year I am offering FIVE 8x10" prints of my digital artwork.  In order to be eligible to win one of the prints all you need to do is leave me a comment to THIS POST ONLY!!!  Please, please leave either a blog link or an email address so that I can find you, should you be a lucky winner.  It's hard to track down winners if they are "annonymous"!

The contest on this blog will close on Feb,15th at 12 Noon, EST (US) and winners will be posted that afternoon

So, check out the pictures...and COMMENT AWAY!!! and above all, HAVE FUN and GOOD LUCK!!

Warm and Wonderful

The weather, the weather - why do we always talk about the weather???

Is it perhaps because it's balmy warm outside and I am not freezing my buns off, which I clearly would be if I was back in New York?

There's no doubt that there is a certain freedom associated with applying minimal (but modest) clothing to the body to move out and about in public without causing distress, and here in Perth I do not need to own a coat, let alone multiple pairs of gloves,hats or scarves!

Oddly enough that does not stop me from considering every ball of wool in the craft store today as a potential candidate to be knitted up into something warm! 

Yep you can tell that I suffer badly from Bi_Continental, weather induced, schizophrenia!

Our Big Wheel

I drive by Perth's Big Wheel almost every day at the moment, but since I am the one at "my" wheel, there's often no opportunity to stop and take pics.  So today I thrust the camera into David's hands and said - 'here, take the picture"! - which he did, and I then processed it in Camera RAW and Photoshop to give it a bit of ZING!  Nice combo effort don't you think?

Here is the official blurb about the Wheel off some Perth Tourist site: - 'Sort of copied, ok copied from the successful London Eye and many other modern day ferries wheels around the World it stands 50m high, can carry 284 passengers in 36 capsules and is sitting on the Perth foreshore. It's Perth newest biggest toy the 'Perth Wheel'.

oh So Connected

At 10:30pm tonight I was so fed up with the lack of internet connection that I decided to turn on the ready and waiting router - just to SEE if there was any life in the beast and lo and behold, the lovely blinking blue lights told me that yes, there was a connection available.  So without further ado, #1 son and I completed the software installation - all by ourselves - and with nary a phone call to the dreaded Telstra people!  Yowza baby!

It's not working 100% -  performing way below the guaranteed speeds that were promised, but for now, and since it's 12hrs earlier than promised, I am NOT complaining!  And I am just glad some 'lightbulb' went on and I even bothered to try!

I am a much happier camper than I was a few hours ago and will turn in to bed knowing that I can garner my email in the morning without any fuss, bother or credit card fandango!

oxox

Pretty and Green

Much of the landscape here in Australia is toasty brown to the point of being crisp!  but I snagged a bunch of these beautiful banksia baxteri at a weekend market while I was down South and they are now gracing my dining room table in the apartment (which is slowly coming together)!

Sadly I am STILL waiting for a proper internet connection - I dont think I am going to put Telstra on my list of Better Businesses for 2010 - very frustrating indeed!
Just as well that I am very occupied with "getting ready for school chores" - sorting uniforms, procuring books and the like as well as running boys hither and thither to appointments, sports matches and whatnot.

Today's good news is that its only 88F (29C) and quite tolerable after three days of raging heat!

Hot, Hotter, Hottest

I've been off and away, cruising down from Perth to Manjimup, then further south to Albany and then back up to Perth again.
For a gal who barely drives 50miles a week in New York, I managed to clock up nearly 1000kms between here and there which was quite a strain on the driving brain!  At least I was on the 'right' (er left) side of the road!

Still it was a great weekend and I got to attend my nephew's engagement party which was nice, as I usually miss out on most of the "family" events conducted on this side of the world!

Since being back in Perth the thermometer has steadily crept upwards, with the last two days cracking nearly 43C - which in northern lingo is about 109F - toasty to say the least.  There has been little relief at night as the sea breeze has been notably absent and as I type it's still 81F!

I'm looking forward to a cooler day tomorrow (ahem) - just 37C (99F)  HA!

The blessing is of course, that we have shelter, food and cool water to drink - our thoughts and prayers go out to all those souls in Haiti who are not so fortunate.

Transformations

 

The day has been sunny, lap swimming has been done and progress made on getting the apartment set to rights - sadly though, no progress made in the internet department!  I have no idea why Telstra cannot push the data downstream to me to connect my (ready and waiting) modem - seems we have to hang around for some mythical 'disk' to arrive in the mail.  Talk about the &^(^^%%%*) dark ages!  Don't get me wrong, I do love coming "home" but there are some things about the place that drive me mad to the point of distraction!  We are very spoiled in the US with our techno geeky connectedness and I confess that I have come to take it as being a given AND very much like it that way!

While waiting for pages to load via some far flung satellite that feeds my dubious attachment to the ether I fiddled with some old photos taken on my last trip back.  For better or for worse, Photoshop soothes my soul and calms the frazzled edges to the nerves.  And while the boys watch Prime time episodes on TV (that I have already seen), I retreat to the balcony and it's balmy 74F - laptop perched on the outdoor table and just have at it!

And for the growing cadre of folk who are now inquiring about online PS and PSE classes - yes, yes and yes!  I am beavering away, behind the scenes, as time, kids, cops (Don't ASK) and furniture permit!

Hugs from DownUnder

Keeping Busy

The boys and I have been busy tying to get settled in a new apartment that we have organised in Perth.  Although it's meant to be making life easier, right now that's not quite the case and getting everything sorted out is proving to be quite the "hassle"!

At times I feel like I have stepped back into the dark ages - its going to take 20 Business days to get internet service (without a phone) or 3-5 business days to get internet WITH a phone - hamstrung by Telstra's mighty monopoly over the telecommunications in this country - disgusting!

Then there is furniture that does not fit in a lift and fellows that refuse to take it up the stairwell - resulting in second and third trips to the furniture stores to acquire more miniscule items (because there are no service lifts in these apartments) - I tell you these folk would NOT survive in Manhattan!

I am currently connected to the net via a prepaid service that bounces off towers in the inner city and charges exorbitant rates - so if you don't see too much of me until the Teltra wheel grinds itself into place - then don't be surprised!

Upside - yes, there is always an upside - I dont have to trek up and down the freeway three times a day anymore and there is a fabulous pool and gym in the complex - so no points for guessing what I am doing while I WAIT WAIT WAIT for everything to get done/connected and or delivered for the third and fourth times.

Oh and it IS very sun shinny and WARM!  That's good too!

:-))