A Day In The A Blue Mountains.

Thanks for visiting my blog. I welcome you to take your time and browse , visiting my bush garden and discovering the wonders of my city within a national park; Blue Mountains National Park. Via my blog you will travel with me through the successes, trials and tribulations of gardening on a bush block. I share with you my patchwork & quilting, knitting, paper crafts, cooking and life in general.

Tuesday 31 January 2012

Day 31/366

This morning, this little fellow found a sunny spot on our front deck and sat and waited for the ants to walk across his path.
When they did, zap, he swallowed them up!
Two of these dragons live in our front garden, the other is much larger than this one.
Both of them have become quite tolerant of Mr Honey Pie and I and have become so relaxed with our presence that more than once, the sole of my shoe has scraped one of the little critters, sending it scurrying away and giving me a mini-heart attack.

Monday 30 January 2012

Day 30/366


Once more, I set my camera to shutter priority and used the tripod.
I set the timer on two seconds and the difference in operation of the camera was amazing.
Sharpness still needs to be worked on though.

Sunday 29 January 2012

Saturday 28 January 2012

Day 28/366


I took seventy five photographs today. 
For the above photograph the camera was set on shutter priority and I used a tripod.
Using a tripod doesn't solve every problem, so I found.
I experienced lots of movement because I was taking the photograph manually.  What I need is a remote so that the camera doesn't move every time I press the shutter. *
I'm sure there's a remote somewhere but it's not my camera and it's nowhere to be found.
Must wait for Mr Honey Pie to show me where it is and how to use it.
The reason I chose this photograph is because the slower shutter speed has given the subject much more depth, richer colour, and more life to the photograph, even though this was the only inanimate object photographed today.
Everything else was blurry because outdoors the tripod was on a timber deck that moved every time the shutter was clicked.  I tried to overcome the problem by taking three or four photos in quick succession but except for one or two the photos weren't crisp enough.
So much to learn.

*Okay, I can use a timer to prevent camera shake!  (The power of research).

Friday 27 January 2012

Day 27/366


Life Scraps.

Repainting the entire house means I need to rationalize my belongings.
Then, I find stuff like this - and I'm left wondering if I could have made more of my life.
I think about the novel Tess of the d'urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and remembering how in my final years of high school my peers and I discussed Tess and the theme of destiny. 
Could I have changed my destiny?
Could I have made more of my artistic abilities?  At what cost?
Something to ponder as I plan my life for 2012.

Thursday 26 January 2012

Day 26/366

Australia Day 2012

There's something somber about listening to a pipe band performing Auld Lang Syne in the misty, drizzling, rain of the lower Blue Mountains on Australia Day. 
These gnomes weren't bothered with a bit of rain.

Australia Day Celebrations, Glenbrook Gnome Convention.

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Day 25/366


Holiday Over.

I created a collage in Picasa from nine different photographs.
I used aperture priority, different ISO and changed the picture mode to get the different tones.
I used a tripod for the first time since starting the challenge!
This meant that each photograph is taken from exactly the same angle (as long as I didn't move the tripod of course).

The weather outside, by the way, is as grey as some of the above photographs - hence the ironing!

Friday 20 January 2012

Day 20/366

They're not the prettiest looking feet in the world but this morning I treated them to a mini-pedicure.
Then I let them take  me on my first walk in over six weeks.
Tomorrow I'm going to spoil them some more and allow them some splash time in the waters of the Tasman Sea.
I'll expect that they will also want to wriggle their way into some of the whitest sands in the world and take in some sun.
But in the meantime, my feet will need some beauty  sleep.


Thursday 19 January 2012

Day 19/366


Last year I started a sort-of-a-smash-book.
It's been handy to collect all my bits and pieces that I don't want to give up.

I'm just starting to get back on my feet after a long bout of flu come bronchitis.
I thought I was over it, and I guess I am, but as usual, after a bout of anything I'm left suffering from acute fatigue.

My sense of direction seems to be the biggest victim in all of this.

Today's smash book page is an attempt to find my way again before too much of 2012 has flown the coup.

This page is just a start before I begin to scrawl my brainstorming responses to help me sort myself out.

Wednesday 18 January 2012

Day 18/366


Dianella caerulea buds. (Blue Flax Lily.)
Flowering a bit late in the season?
This is an untidy little native plant which I photographed as the sun is beginning to lower itself in the sky.

Sunday 15 January 2012

Day 15/366

This is not what I originally intended to post for my day's photograph.
I started out photographing the beautifully soft and furry leaves of oh-so-green banksias, resulting from all the rain we're having this summer (even as I post!).
My photographs were all washed out and I was not happy with them at all.
Then this beautiful diary caught my eye. 
It's a gift from our son's girlfriend to my Mr Honey Pie...a belated Christmas present.
It's has a very ornate cover in a mottled brick red colour and so I photographed that.
I'm feeling very much in the mood to play around with Picasa's editing program today and this is the outcome.
I realized that a beautifully hued item has resulted in a reflection of today's weather...grey.
I hope you like it!

Wednesday 11 January 2012

Day11/366


Green

Blue
Yellow. 
Three views taken from the family lounge-room.
Untouched photographs except for cropping.
Playing around with settings on the camera.

Link to last night's sunset: My photograph on facebook

Friday 6 January 2012

Day 6/366

6th January.
The Feast of the Epiphany.
The arrival of the Magi.
The end of the Twelve Days of Christmas (the 5th of January being the twelfth day) .
Women's Christmas (Ireland).
Traditionally the day to take down the Christmas tree.

So this morning I turned on the Christmas Tree lights for the last time this season and photographed the fold-out Nativity Scene in readiness to store all away once more.
As a child, the Magi would not arrive on the Nativity Scene until the 6th of January.
As a child my family did not have a Christmas Tree.
I was about thirteen years old when I begged my father to cut down a casurina tree from along the creek that bordered our acreage.
I decorated it with cotton wool.
*
An Irish Toast For You for 2012
May you live as long as you want
and never want as long as you live.

Thursday 5 January 2012

Day 5/366

Silkworms have dominated my life for the past eight weeks.
Today I counted the cocoons...699.
What you see above, on my dining table, only amounts to about a quarter of them!

Wednesday 4 January 2012

Day 4/366

Today I listed my old electric fry-pan for sale.
Not asking much but wow, so much extra space in my pantry.

Tuesday 3 January 2012

Day 3/366

Sometimes we acquire things simply because we love the way they look.
These beautiful pieces of pottery came into my life in October 2011.
They left my life today, to a better home I'm sure.
I'm de-cluttering.

Sunday 1 January 2012

Day 1/366


New Year's Day.
Sun...not much of it around this summer but this was a great way to start 2012.
This is my favourite colour, drying in the sun.
Very domestic I know but lack of sun has had a big impact on my life this season.

New Year's Day 2012

So, who starts up a lawn mower on new year's morning that also happens to be a Sunday morning at 9.15 a.m.?
You may well ask!
Some people are totally inconsiderate!

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