A Slow Month Blogging-wise.

I realise it has been almost a month since my last blog post.  I reread it to see where I was then and I noticed that I did say I might be slowing down until Christmas. I hope to get back to it before then.

I had that silly virus that has been going around Australia where you cough and cough, every time you talk too much or get too much activity going. I thought it was gone, did a lot yesterday and back it has come. Sleeping a lot trying to get rid of that. It also presents with a good dose of fatigue.

Then there is the spring activity where a beautiful day comes up, you race to the garden store, buy lots of potting mix and plants and haul large planted pots around the yard. I woke up the next day and couldn't walk due to the strained back.  I seem to do this every year, you'd think I'd learn.

I have been reading though. A lot. Every book, magazine article and blog post about Photoshop and Photography. Our Photographic Society has these wonderful challenges each month. I have the creative ideas in my head but don't have the skills to implement them.

The six month photoshop course I signed up for is going well and I am learning but my goodness, that program has so many complex variations to it.  I promised myself I would prioritise all things photography until Christmas. I did manage to finish the de-cluttering of the house project in July and August and the tip and op shops benefitted hugely. My husband also completely de-cluttered the garage too. This really has been a year of down sizing possessions and study. But it feels great to clean up the rubbish, make so much of it disappear and learn new skills that take us into new directions.

I am also in a writing group that is new to me. That has been great fun and it also comes with its own challenges. Next week a 200 word (exactly) piece is due that has a sting in the tail.  I have a few ideas but have not put it on paper yet.

Really enjoying this book. One
gutsy lady.

The book I am reading is All the Gear, No Idea by Michele Harrison. I love travel writing and this one is a really interesting one.   Michele is a 31 year old English woman who has worked in banking for 10 years and is now tired of it. She is in a relationship that she doesn't know where it is going.

She decides to take a course in riding a geared bike as to date she rode a Vespa scooter. She goes to India for one year. She buys a 500 cc Enfield motorcycle and spends the time dodging trucks, animals in the road and the heat.  It is a wonderfully gutsy story told by an interesting young woman. I am enjoying it very much.

If only I was 40 years younger.

I have also discovered Zinio for Libraries app on my Samsung tablet and that allows me to download quite a few different magazines from the library.  I have been reading up on photography and have a course scheduled to begin in November for 6 weeks that is supposed to teach me how to use all the buttons on my Canon 700D.

I am trying to get things organised in the yard and I am really loving being able to play frisbee in the front yard with my dog Odie and watch the plants I have planted in the last few years begin to bloom. I am looking forward to getting a good knowledge of Photoshop and camera usage under my belt and get the garden organised a bit. Then Christmas will be here that for us is quite low-key.

Our beautiful Odie with his beloved frisbee.  

I am thinking ahead to 2016 already where my reading plan is to get stuck into some Penguin books on my shelf that I really want to read. I also want to read some good classics with audible.com books paired up for the narration and follow along in the book. I find when I read a harder book, having the sound with it as I follow on the page really brings the characters to life. I did that with Moby Dick and Middlemarch and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Summer will be here at Christmas time and the bike riding season should also be in full swing. I want to pack up some camera equipment and head to the countryside for some photos and maybe a bit of camping on my big scooter. I would like to learn the new 600mm lens I have which ways a ton and is on a tripod, to look up into the air without falling backwards out of the chair I am in.

Lots of plans. Bear with me while I take a bit of a break from recording everything in my blog. I will leave you with some photos while I continue to be in study mode at the moment.


I hope you enjoy them.

One of the natives I planted last year to encourage
bees, butterflies and birds. I only plant
animal/insect friendly plants
anymore.

I forget the name of this plant in my front yard but it
is now full of flowers. The colours are beautiful.
The bees seem to fly around it a bit too. We need
more bees.

                                   

Click on any photo to enlarge it.