Thursday 1 October 2015

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.

13 comments:

  1. i envy your energy and creativity; just too bad illness and pain have to go along with it sometimes. my better half and i are trying to downsize also, but it's like walking uphill against niagara falls. i guess we're making a little progress, but at this rate we'll be breaking 100 before we're ever done. the book about the enfield sounds intriguing; i didn't know they still made that brand of cycle. her exploits sound a bit chancy to me. anyway, keep fighting the good fight and enjoy every bit of it.

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    1. I don't really have as much energy as you think. I pretty much went through Marie Kondo book on De cluttering and followed each chapter. I gave myself 2 months . It didn't seem that hard except for the ,are book cull. They were everywhere. Most of the touring bikes in Asia are all Enfield. They are easy to fix and good basic bikes I hear.

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  2. Decluttering the garage made me laugh. My husband has done this twice in the last 6 or so years, and once again it is chock a block and he is talking about decluttering again. I don't know where all the stuff comes from!

    Love your photos. Is the native a leucadendron? I've just had two die suddenly - different varieties, both going really well, and then within a few months they died. My husband did some work in that garden bed on drainage/irrigation a few months before. Everything else is fine but I can't help thinking that something he did they didn't like. So sad - one was a retirement gift, and one a memorial gift from a neighbour.

    Excuse the ramble but your post set me off!

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    1. I know what you mean re culling the garage. We did it not too many years ago. It does tend to fill again quite fast. A good thing to store things you aren't ready to let go yet. Haha. I don't know the name of any of my plants. I just plant them and see what comes up but you may be right about this n one.

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  3. I'm sorry you haven't been feeling well. Everything is worse or harder to do when you're not up to par. I love the photo of Odie. What a handsome dog!

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    1. Thank you Joan. I am finally getting on top of this bug I think. Odie is a handsome dog but he is also quite the blonde bimbo at times. He is a very silly but loving animal. We love him to bits. I

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  4. Lovely to see your post pop up in my reader! I'm sorry too that you've been sick. I'm in awe of your creativity and concentration with the photos - thanks for sharing some of them.

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    1. I am feeling better Lisa. I am more scatter brained than you think but thanks for the comment. ☺☺

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    2. I am feeling better Lisa. I am more scatter brained than you think but thanks for the comment. ☺☺

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  5. I visited Highgate Cemetery recently. Coming near the end of our tour on the East side (post will come soon) I ran into a "Penguin" grave stone. I though about you and want to send you the pictures. However, I am not able to find your e-mail. The 'follow me' buttons don't seem to work. Contact me at thecontentreader@gmail.com. Many thanks. Lisbeth

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    1. Thank you Lizbeth, I would love to see it. You can email me at. Pamparks1949 at gmail dot com

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  6. Very glad to catch up with you. Your photograph of Odie is priceless. I had to laugh, knowing the familiar doggie facial expression, "Yikes! I'm being photographed!" That's wonderful you're pursuing your passion for photography.

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  7. Thanks Judith. Odie is a funny one. Glad you stopped by. I will be writing a bit more in the days to come. All the best. ☺

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