First day back, pots and an unusual sky

The evening sky And then it turned to this
My little herb and veggie pot patch, tomatoes, strawberries, sage(yum), basil and a very sad looking fennel (it has gone to seed but will mean more later)

The boys had their first day back at school today and so far so good, they all seem to like their teachers, always a big relief, and are happy with the MOST of the kids in their classes. Each class seems to have a few of what the boys call ferals, you know the ones who's sole purpose in life seems to be to distract the rest of the group and stop the flow of the class room, but fortunately they seem to be able to block these kids out a bit and get on with things. I always hate the first day the boys are gone, the house is too quiet and I have to readjust to not be called on for anything, how to handle the silent house, I didn't, jumped in the car and went and had a cuppa with friends. Nothing like good pals to golly things up.
You should of seen the sky tonight, or maybe you did, the younger boys called me out to check out the light and I was greeted with the most weird looking sky and light, it was like that beautiful evening glow but much, much deeper, almost but not quite like when there is a fire. Photos never do things like this justice. all I did with the shots was adjust the levels a little and resize and sharpen for the web.
The last photo is of my little herb pot patch. Inspired by kathryn I have been getting out into the garden more of late and must admit I have really enjoyed going outside and pottering. A lot of stuff is in pots at the moment as I still need to extend the current sad little veggie patch out by several feet and add some soil improver. We are on a sand belt and the current soil is not overly productive, probably the reason I have been off gardening the last few years. We had always lived in areas where there was good volcanic soil and a moderate climate and so it came as quite a shock when we moved here and dug a hole only to discover sand, more sandy than when we lived right next to the beach. We used to be able to put anything in the ground and it would go crazy now we have to work on everything except succulents and some natives. Never say I'm not up for a challenge.

Some more shots from robe.

Joseph the beach babe No, he didn't fall over.

Sprung getting changed, no one is safe from the camera.

Paddy agrees wholeheartedly A slightly blurry(the car was bumping on a back road) but still lovable photo of Paddy.
Check out the face on this kid.

seamus playing in the sand

Bren doing the big slog
This gorgeous glass windmill lamp was made by a family friend of Brendans. It was on display in the art gallery in robe
The limestone back road we took to Robe.
Nothing to do with Robe at all, this old car was on display at the Orford vintage engine display that Brendan took the boys to a few weeks back

Happy Australia Day weekend

How typically Australian does this look, lol? We all decided (except Jackson) to jump in the car and make the hours trip down to Robe for a very typically (well for anyone near the coast anyway) Aussie outing, a picnic on the beach, hours in the surf, beach cricket and for me a stretch out on the sand and read a scrapbook mag. The weather was lovely, a bit overcast at first but then it turned out just lovely, not too hot. After our day on the beach we went up to our favourite ice cream shop for smoothies and milkshakes followed by a walk along the main street of Robe and a visit to one of the art galleries. Before heading home we grabbed a feed of hot chips and sat and ate them in the late afternoon sunshine On the way home we missed the perfect photo op, an enormous wedge tail eagle was perched on a cattle trough. We pulled over, it sat there, we got the camera out, still it sat there, just as Bren was about to take the photo a ute came roaring by and it flew off, darn, darn, darn. This was the only semibad thing that happened on our otherwise lovely day.

Just back

From a long weekend at the beach and I still have sand on my toes.
Went to a girlfriends 40th on Saturday night, happy birthday Faye. Was surprised I made it though, went fishing with my big brother on Saturday morning and disgraced myself by getting seasick, it's only ever happened twice in my life, yuck, yuck, yuck. All the plans I had made for Saturday went astray because all I was capable of was sleep. Had a great night out though and loved catching up with old mates. Sunday got to cuddle my gorgeous little nephew Xavier, just can't get enough of that beautiful new baby.
Best go and unpack, settle the boys and kick back.
Seeya.

Why I had to wait to make the bed this morning

Beacause this fat furry thing was lying splat bang in the middle of it, what a life hey? cocky bums, they made me laugh (and move the spot i was sitting in, lol)
Seamus
Joseph

And a couple of the two younger boys at the swimming lake. Hope they are no too dark like the last lot. It's really hard to tell on here, I have tiltled my screen back a fair way to make things look a little darker so hopefull that helps compenste for the difference and doesn't go too far the other way and make things look too light on everyone elses monitors, please let me know what you see( and yes Joseph does look a little orangey, that's just his colouring in the water especially when you get a bit of warm evening light on him).

Playing with my stuff

I love this photo of Paddy, at his happiest by the ocean. The sand look was done using krylon's make it suede. the can had been sitting on my shelf for years because I had to have it once to use on something, possibly four years ago. Woohoo another used product.
this truly defines simple, done in ten minutes, using rubons, hero arts stamps and a black pen to scribble my frames, all put on a piece of hemp/papery/fabricy stuff.
Did this one a little while ago, used paint, cardstock, distress ink and some stickers.
This was a total scraplift, not something I normally do but I had not scrapped for ages and had lost confidence that I could. weird isn't it that something you love doing can just 'go' for a while. The whole process of putting it together even though it was someone elses design helped me to get that creative flow back again.

One of my scrapping resolutions this year was to use the things I have, not necessarily not to buy new stuff but to use what is there already as well. I am a terror for saving things for that special project and so the items just sit there because i always think it is going to be the next layout I use them on, plus I have a huge amount of rubber stamps which I love but don't use the entire lot of them. So, so far this year I have pulled out a few of my unused stamps, bling that has sat in a jar for a while, papers I was saving for goodness knows what, stickers, embossing templates, charms, button and even my anywhere hole punch. I've dusted off these and other things and actually made yourself use them. You know what, It feels kinda good, the layouts might not be brilliant but the satisfaction sure is.

The start of my album

I still need to add the title but htis is the cover so far. It has been modpoged for protection.


My lss are doing a "me right now" challenge where you complete pages in various categories such as place I go, people I love, the world right now, etc. so when you are done you should have an album, journal or whatever with what your life is like at the current moment. This is the start I've made so far, very girly and unlike the stuff I normally do but I must admit I am loving it, it's good to do something a little different from the norm.

Wow, dark sorry

I just had a look at the photos below on another computer and realised how dark they are. I use a laptop and the light I see is not always accurate depending on how I tilt the screen. Yuck.

My men and some more coastal shots

Paddy playing around with Bren's camera, doesn't that water look inviting, almost looks like the tropics instead of Port FairyBrendan captured some yachts heading out into the bay, he's really enjoying having his own camera to play with. The three younger boys went down with Bren to Port for a few days to catch up with his Dad. Jackson and I stayed home, he vegged out on the computer most of the time and I scrapbooked (and cleaned the lounge, sorted out old mags and did some general cleaning, not all fun ), four layouts done in the past few days, woo hoo. Will share later today when I get a chance to take photos of them.

I threw Brendan's camera in last night when we went down swimming at the lake, well the boys swam, I laid on a towel and read, a bit chilly at that time of night for me when it has only been in the high twenties, not that I'm complaining the relief from the heat has been devine. I love the milder weather, still warm enought to swim but not that hot that you can't do anything else outdoors without frazzling. Check out how blue those eyes look, did not touch the colour at all. He was looking at the galahs by the way.
Jackson with yet another hair do.
Jacko looking a bit chilled, it was around 8.30 at night

A few random shots from Christmas day.

The cousins including baby Xavier who was not happy about being photographed but actually looks like he is sleeping peacfully in this shot Having a go at backlighting
Guess what Santa bought? Yep guitar hero 3, the boys have certainly had their monies worth already.
Sneak peak
I love, love, love the ocean and never tire of this view

Blogger or my computer

Is not letting me upload photos so I'll just say "hello". Haven't done anything hugely exciting since a lovely day scrapshopping with Kathryn and Maria on Saturday in Mount Gambier. Lots of goodies purchased and then I have had to rearange things in my nook to fit them all in but at least now it all looks good, for the moment, I even have spare shelves and a little cupboard space(more room for more goodies, lol)although one of my resolutions for this year was to use what I've got. I have enough rubber to retread several trucks, I'm sure stamp collecting is an illness. I have made a good start though with an album I am making for a "me right now" challenge being run at my lss, having pulled out a set of as yet unused stamps, paper pack and also a bit of bling that I was sure I needed but never used, not getting the opportunity to do many girlie projects. I will post some pictures when this darn thing decides to behave itself.

Friends

Don't you love friendships that last despite not seeing each other often? These kids are lucky to see each other once or twice a year and yet when they get together it seems like they never parted, despite it being five and a half years since we moved to SA. Bridie and Joseph have known each other since well before kindergarten, they spent a lot of time together as her Mum Marcia and I have been friends for just as long. The two of them laugh nearly the whole time they are together, whatever it is they are doing. I think it helps that they are both the third child in a family of four, perhaps they can sympathise with each other, lol. Although most of these photos are quite crappy in quality with lots of cut off limbs I love them for the unique bond they show between these two kids.

So why haven't I been blogging????

fishing at the moyne river, facing over on to griffith island Some of the catch the boys hauled up off my brothers boat
Paddy body boarding
Paddy cuddling baby Xavier
The Moyne river on dusk.

No excuses really, just being bone lazy, and I must say it's making a nice change after the hectic pace of Christmas and new year. We've spent lazy days swimming and generally just daggin' around home. But I have been inspired by my friend kathryn (as she inspires me in many ways) to get off my backside and put something to paper, well computer screen anyway. Christmas this year was lovely, the best one possibly in quite a few years, the family had been plagued by sickness the previous few years but this year every one was well and ready to enjoy themselves. Lunch was done at the Uebergangs quaint little rented cottage, which was devine, both the cottage and the lunch, and as always the boys really enjoyed catching up with their cousins, especially the new baby Xavier. After this we popped over to my sisters house were lots of my side of the family gathered for a final gorge and gabble fest, thanks sis. The rest of the days we had in Port Fairy were spent either catching up with family and friends or down at the beach swimming or at the river fishing. It was very hard to come home to 44 degree heat after the fresh ocean air. I've popped in a few photos, mostyPaddy's shots he wanted me to resize for the web to put on his myspace, but as you can imagine have heaps more, a lot of them were taken on the camera I bought for Brendan for Christmas, the Fuji s5800, it's been a handy little addition to the family especially for the beach and such were I do not have to worry about changing lenses etc. (whoops, did I say I, I meant to say we, it's not my camera after all LOL)