A prickly little visitor.

Taylah

Seamus looking a little unsure
Feeling a bit more comfortable.

A friend of our bought home an echidna for the kids to have a look at. Seamus was really keen to see it as he had never been up close to one before. They are quite cute with their little noses and beady eyes, it's no wonder they are the subjects of several children's books. Tonight it will go back to where it came from.

Lazy Sunday afternoon.

Joseph looking very tired and pale. A couple of shots of the two youngest boys lazing around late Sunday afternoon. We were all feeling tired and me too lazy to get off the lounge floor to take some decent shots. Our eldest son had his 16th birthday last Thursday and decided instead of a proper party he and a few mates would do a movieathon on the Saturday night, they watched 7 movies in a row, wow, I don't think my eyes would even handle that many let alone staying awake that long. They did it with lots of caffiene (coke) and sugar(chocolate) As a result we were all a little tired the next day even though all the rest of us went of to bed, a little later than usual, we did at least sleep. I was amazed at how good they all were, with 8 teenage boys in the house and two younger ones who knows what could have happened, guess the movies must have been too good.

Her Ladyship reclining on the lounge

Another shot of Daisy or David as our 13 year old has named her, he thinks Daisy is too embarrassing a name to call out in public, trouble is that it seems like it is going to stick..

Daisy.

She is so hard to get a photo of, every time I get down on the ground to take a shot of her she thinks is either time to play or time for a cuddle, either way it doesn't make for easy photos. I managed to get this one while she was sitting on the couch being distracted by Joseph. I love the little tongue poking out. Shame she has such chopped hair on her ears, she ran through a horrible burr patch and had to have most of her coat cut almost back to the skin.

Aren't they so pretty...

And so deliciously yummy, peanut M&Ms, mmmmmmm. So anyone know how long they have been in such cute colours?

Footy today and a little visitor.

Paddy with the ball, check out the icy patches of grass, glad it wasn't me out there with shorts on.

A little bird that kept hopping around the car, not a very sharp photo but he would not stay still long enough to get a sharp shot with the slow lens I had on the camera, thought he was cute anyway.

Just a quick shot from the boys footy game today and a little bird that kept hopping around our car. The boys won the junior colts game by only two points against the top side, they were two points down with less than a minute to go when one of the team popped in a quick goal, straight after the final siren sounded, I don't think I have ever seen such an excited bunch of kids, they were running and jumping around, I think my pulse rate was up a bit too, lol.

Funky Friday, signs

Taken at the camping area near where we were fishing on Sunday And one on the way home, taken using the on board flash, gotta watch those roos.
This is one on my lounge room wall, it's not really crooked, just the angle I had to shoot this from.
This was taken a few months back but thought I'd include it anyway.

Not too many signs this week, it's been a bit too wet and I've been flat strapped so nothing too exciting, not much photo playing time. Not that I'm complaining about the amount of rain, after too long without it it's a delight, our tanks are running over, haven't had that happen for a long time.

Nice news

I'm to be an Aunty again, woo hoo, had a call from Rachel (SIL) last night saying that she and husband Jim are to be parents in December, around the 17th. My nieces and nephews will now range in ages between 34 down to not even born yet, and that doesn't include the great nieces and nephews, boy does that make me feel old. Fingers and toes crossed, prayers and touching wood that the rest of the pregnancy goes well for her.

Just a B&W conversion of my cheeky little monkey...

The same shot as below only in black and white, the lack of colour seems to accentuate his personality more, don't you think?
This is one of my favourites of Seamus at the moment, that's why you are seeing it again. A lot of people think Seamus is a fairly quiet, shy kid, and he can be, but this is the side to him that they don't often see, the cute cheeky side that he shows when he is totally comfortable with people, the side we see of him at home and amongst those he knows well. It still amazes me how my four boys can all have such completely different personalities and how those personalities have changed and grown over the years and as the family dynamics change.

For the 26 things challenge-new

When I went shopping...I bought...

They say a picture says a thousand words, no need to guess this ones story, lol
I raced into the supermarket in my lunch break today, the young guy who served me just grinned, don't think he was game to say anything to a hungry, menstruating woman with a sore throat, head ache and a chocolate craving. Even bought myself a magazine something I rarely do, unless they are scrapbook or photography related. Don't know why I bothered with the sugar free throat lozenges though, not with that enormous block of sugar laden chocolate, guess I had to make myself feel a little better somehow.

Funky photo Friday

I've joined in on the Funky Friday challenge, this weeks theme is flowers, info can be found here FunkyPhotoFriday if you are interested in joining in. Flowers are bit few and far between in my garden at the moment with the time of year (6 days till winter is officially here) and having suffered through one of the worst droughts in many years, but these little wild sunflowers were nestled in the corner of the park which is only a house away, the council lawnmower must have missed them or maybe they like them too. They had not fully opened yet because even though the sun was shining there was no real warmth in it but if I left it any longer then to get the shots then Friday would have passed. I think the neighbours have become used to seeing me doing odd things with my camera in hand, (on my tummy in the grass, on top of play ground equipment etc)

OMG, what is done in the search of so called perfection.

No wonder there are so many young women(and boys) out there with such bad body image. Not many can compete with photo shop.

Not quite as I expected.

I tried doing the fruit in the soda water thing but it didn't quite turn out as I hoped, because I had left it later in the day to do and it was very overcast I needed to use a very shallow DOF to compenste for the lower light so I could set my shutter speed reasonably fast to catch the bubbles. I also used my extension tubes which lessen the DOF even more, as a result I have only been able to catch the focus on the bubbles on the outer edge of the rind. I quite like them though they are quite cute. It's my own unique version. for the 'fizz' section of the BB 26 things challenge.

Another vintage bee.

With the vintage actionOriginal

Playing with another photo, I am really loving this new action.

Vintage action...

Tried a new vintage action I picked up from http://www.vindaugagallery.com/?p=209 , I just love it and the fact that you can play with it once it's done. The more I am learning about PS the more I am disliking actions that you have no control over, having said that the bee has not been adjusted after running the action, the photo of my friends daughter Taylah was adjusted a fair bit, I didn't want it quite so heavy a result. I love it when people are kind enough to share their creations with others. Thanks for the tip off Kaz.

The creek has water in it, yay...

And the geese are happy Thought I'd use this one for the 'missing' category for the BB 26 things challenge.



After the bit of rain we have had lately the creek finally has a bit of water in it again, not full to capacity yet but at least it's not just a bit of stinky mud at the bottom. And where there is water Paddy, Jessie and Seamus will be, fishing rods in hand.

Dancing on a Saturday night....

Tan and I out groovin' around on Saturday night after Bronwyn's 40th. We had a fun night and didn't get home until 2 in the morning, it does you good to get out and have a bit of fun at times, not that I do it that often, takes too long to recover from a late night now.

For Bronwyn

A few shots for you from Saturday night Bron, hope you enjoyed the night and had a happy mothers day.

hey there Delilah

Picked this up off Tara Whitney's blog http://http://tarawhitney.typepad.com/, another one to add to the favourites list.

Night skies

With the rain we have been having comes beautiful cloud formations and stunning colours, the

first one was taken on the outskirts of town and the other one was over the neighbours roofs. Taken one night apart.

A few more totem poles

The bat caves
The very hungry catterpillar
Finding Nemo


These are just a few totem poles that the other junior primary classes have done.

It's finished.

Seamus painting his hand.



It's hard to tell by this but the totem pole is actually around 8 foot high.

For the last few weeks I have been helping Seamus' class to make a large totem pole representing a story they have read through out the first term. There were several books to choose from but as soon as I heard that they had read the rainbow serpent my mind went into overdrive, with images of a large paper mache python curled around the totem pole, surrounded by all the hands of the kids impressed in clay and painted in bright colours. As you can see by the last photo it went mostly as I wanted it to. Seamus' teacher was great, giving Bronwyn (another Mum)and I a free hand and supplying us with whatever materials we needed without question, he even supplied us with chocies. Every class up to year four made a pole with varying themes such as the ocean and the bat caves, I can't wait to see all of them together, must remember to take the camera to school on Monday morning to get some shots of them all together.

I'm sad...

One of my favourite landscape photographers, Kaz from two peas CanWeBeFrank is closing her blog, so pop over quickly and have a look at her fabulous work before it goes, most of her landscape work is a few pages back so click on the older posts link at the bottom of her page.

I kinda like this song...very catchy

And girls, check out this guys lips.