Inside looking out

Today is Day Sixteen of the November Photo A Day Challenge.  The prompt for today is The view from your window (You can read here about my self imposed twist to this month's challenge).

The two photos in today's diptych composition were each taken through very different windows at very different views.  The top part was taken through the windscreen of my car looking up at the tree I was parked under today and is a perfect example of our wonderful natural environment.  The bottom part is quite the opposite.  It was taken through a house window and is of the concrete jungle that is Sydney.  Just to clarify, the house window was not our house, it was taken whilst visiting my sister and brother-in-law.  Suffice to say, in both photos I was on the inside looking out!

G. xx

The birthday boy

Today is Day Fourteen of the November Photo A Day Challenge and it's also my birthday!  The prompt for today is Man made (You can read here about my self imposed twist to this month's challenge).

 

 

Let me get to the photo first then I'll fill you in on my birthday.  Today's diptych composition consists of a large wall clock which I bought from a fabbo little boutique in Leura in the Blue Mountains, and a chocolate bouquet.  Both are man made and both are loved by yours truly!

 

Okay enough about the photos, lets talk about my birthday (coz it's all about me today, right?!).  Lets start at the beginning.  A few weeks ago I mentioned a routine visit to my doctor and how he wanted me to have all manner of tests undertaken.  Well due to my procrastination with the barrage of blood tests, I needed to have them done TODAY, my birthday!  So this morning we (yes I made the lovely Wayne accompany me) toddled off to the pathologist so they could take what seemed like 90% of the blood out of my body - happy bloody birthday!  At least the pathology nurse wished me happy birthday.  Speaking of said nurse, it turns out that we worked together 25 years ago so had a great little catch-up chat whilst I was drained of almost all my blood (I am sooo not a drama queen).

 

Following this, the lovely Wayne took me out for breakfast to a fave cafe with gorgeous lake views not far from home.  Whilst there, the cafe proprietor advised us that it was the cafe's first birthday today and as such, all patrons could have a free slice of celebratory birthday cake, so we did!  What made this extra special was that unbeknownst to me, the lovely Wayne had advised the proprietor that it was also my birthday.  My slice of cake arrived with a candle on it ;-)

 

 

We didn't do lunch as we were both still too full from our breakfast grazing.  Dinner however necessitated food, and of course wine.  As a starter we enjoyed large juicy pacific ocean oysters naturale with a glass or two of champagne.  This was followed by a large amount of king prawns enjoyed with a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc.  The evening feast concluded with a serve of cookies and cream ice cream - yummmm.

 

 

 

Presents.  Yes I know that's what you really want to know about.  Let me just say CD's, clothes, champagne, chocolates and a washing machine!  Yes, a washing machine.  No, the lovely Wayne isn't an unromantic man, it was all about timing.  A new washing machine was required and just happened to be purchased on my birthday!

 

As I sit here this evening enjoying (another) glass of wine, I'm very thankful that I've again had a wonderful birthday and have received lots of wonderful birthday wishes from lots of lovely people.  Thank you.

 

G. xx

 

 

Night time

Today is Day Eleven of the November Photo A Day Challenge - the prompt for which is Night (Read here about my self imposed twist to this month's challenge).

I've waited all day to take the photos for today's diptych composition.  The planned shots were to be a distant shot of the moon and a zoomed shot - both edited to black and white.  What happened you say?  There's no blasted moon visible here at the moment!  Ok, time to improvise.  I've utilised a previous shot of the night sky and a shot of my fave tea-light holder.

 

And with that, I'm going to toddle off to bed.  Good night!

G. xx

On the shore

It's Day Six of the November Photo A Day Challenge - the prompt for which is A Favourite Thing. Read here about my self imposed twist to this month's challenge.

Where do you start with this one?  I mean I have all sorts of favourite things - there's material things, human things, animal things, and life or lifestyle things.  In the end I decided that besides the lovely Wayne, my fave thing is where I live - a five minute walk from the shore of beautiful Lake Macquarie.  I always feel at peace when I'm at the lake.  So there you have my diptych composition for today - the shore of Lake Macquarie.

 

Do you have a fave or special place where you feel at peace?  I'd love to hear about it.

G. xx

Shoes, shanks and sun

Today's post is a bit of a catch-up kinda post as I haven't posted my photos for a few days - no excuse other than I've been a slacker!  ;-)   Ok, here goes...

June Photo A Day - Day 22:  From a high angle

I had planned on a spectacular shot for day 22's prompt of from a high angle.  It was going to be a shot from the roof of the 9 story building where I work (I have connections!) however the day got away on me and I sadly missed the opportunity.  Instead, I took a photo looking down at my feet!  Well it is from a high-ish angle as I'm almost 6 feet 2 inches tall!

June Photo A Day - Day 23:  Movement

The photo prompt for day 23 was movement.  This was easy.  Yesterday was a gorgeous sunny day and so I went for a leisurely walk along the shore of the lake to soak up some of the winter sun.  While I was gazing at the water a group of people paddled past standing up in canoe thingys (technical term, trust me) offering up a perfect photo opportunity, so I clicked!  Here's the result.

June Photo A Day - Day 24:  On your mind

Today's photo prompt was on your mind.  Well now what was on my mind when I realised I hadn't taken today's photo was what to prepare for dinner this evening.  You'll be pleased to know that whilst I'm sitting here typing away, Lamb shanks are cooking away and will be served on mashed potato and accompanied by steamed greens.  Anyhoo, here's some of the ingredients that were on my mind!

Breakfast view

June Photo A Day - Day 9:  Your view today

The photo prompt for today was your view today.  This morning I took myself out for breakfast at a fave local cafe.  Yes you read that correctly, I went on my own.  The lovely Wayne headed off to work early today and as it was such a beautiful sunny morning I took myself out for breakfast.  It was lovely - I sat in the morning sun reading the paper whilst enjoying a delish breakfast and a coffee and admiring the gorgeous view of the park and the lake.  The only thing missing was the lovely Wayne - we'll both go there on Monday for breakfast if the weather is good.  Anyhoo here's my photo, my view at breakfast this morning!

Pink!

April Photo a Day - Day 16:  Flower

Yesterday's photo prompt for the April Photo A Day Challenge was flower.  You're probably wondering dear reader, why I didn't post it as part of my catch up last night.  Well, I was tired and went to bed - simple as that.  And now as is the life of an insomniac, I've been up and about for an hour so thought I might as well post about it now!

Anyhoo, back to the photo.  Here's a photo of a pink flower in our garden - botanic name, Pink Flower!  I actually have no idea what it is - I'll never be a florist, that's for sure!  It was here when we moved here and looks pretty so hasn't been dug out.

Fabulous sunset

Here's the third and final instalment of this week's catch up posts for the April Photo A Day Challenge.

April Photo a Day - Day 14:  How you feel today

Saturday's photo prompt was how you feel today.  Now I wasn't sure how I was going to take a photo which would depict how I felt or my state of mind.  I was feeling great and during the day came across a magazine article, the title of which summed up how I was feeling.  So here is how I was feeling on Saturday - Fabulous!

April Photo a Day - Day 15:  Sunset

The photo prompt for yesterday was sunset.  Now I had grand plans of taking a wonderful sunset photo however it was overcast and cloudy so there wasn't a sunset as such.  What to do?  Well I delved into my photo folder on my laptop and dug out a sunset photo that I took last year and re-edited it a little to enhance the orange glow.  Anyhoo, here it is - my re-edited sunset.

Stairs and rogue socks

Ok, here I go with part 2 of the April Photo A Day Challenge catch up.

April Photo a Day - Day 12:  Stairs

Last Thursday's photo prompt was stairs.  This photo is a shot of the elaborate timber stairs that lead down to the beach from the carpark.  Not much else I can say, so here it is.

April Photo a Day - Day 13:  Something you found

Friday's photo prompt was something you found.  Now I did keep an eye on the ground when walking to and from the car on my way to and from work, just in case I found some money or something.  Alas, not a cent!  So once home I began the weekend routine of doing the laundry, and that's when I found something.  As I was about to load the washing machine, I noticed something stuck to the drum - it was a solitary rogue sock!  At least now I know what is happening to all those odd socks!  Anyhoo, here's something I found - a sock!

Irish Luck and English Friends

The Irish

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!  In keeping with the theme of Saint Patrick's Day, I thought I'd share a photo that encompasses both the origins of the day and today's photo prompt for the March Photo A Day Challenge (which I'm not technically participating in!) which is Green.  So here you have a photo of a 4 leaf clover that I found quite by accident a few weeks back.  The lovely Wayne and I were at the park and I happened to glance down at a patch of clover and this little gem was right there in front of me - no searching involved!

According to tradition, such leaves bring good luck to their finders, especially if found accidentally.  According to legend, each leaf represents something: the first is for faith, the second is for hope, the third is for love, and the fourth is for luck.  I hope that this 4 leaf clover (or shamrock) is lucky for me!

The English

Today I caught up with my dear friend Tracy who lives in England.  It's been a couple of months since we had a good chin-wag but as always, it's like we spoke yesterday.  As well as catching up, today we tried something new (to each of us).  We downloaded Skype and chatted via video on Skype.  Well how cool is Skype!  Neither of us can believe that we have taken so long to embrace this wonderment of modern communication.  Now I'm sounding like someone's nanna!!  Oh dear.  Anyhoo, I just had to share today's discovery with you dear reader.  Tracy and I are hooked, that's for sure.

Back in business!

I'm finally back in business as the saying goes.  Technology almost beat me this week, but I won out in the end!  My laptop decided to get attitude at the start of the week - the clasp thingys (technical term, trust me!) that lock it shut when you close it decided to fail whilst it was shut.  The result was that I was unable to open my laptop - hmmm, not happy Jan!  Anyhoo, it is all sorted now and I'm back in the land of the online again.

All this mucking about meant that I didn't post my final photos for the February Photo A Day Challenge - this was an annoyance to say the least.  So despite being 3 days into March, I'll finally post the remainder of last month's photos...

#FebPhotoADay - Day 26: Night

This seems like an eternity ago!  Last Sunday's theme was night.  Unfortunately it was a very overcast evening here so my intended photo of the moon and the stars wasn't possible.  Now the lovely Wayne did offer to drop 'em, but I politely declined his offer as that wasn't quite the kind of moon I was looking for!  I settled on a photo of the cloudy night sky.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 27: Something you ate

Monday's photo prompt was something you ate.  I took this photo at work of my lunch.  I wanted to capture a before and after shot so that you could indeed see that I ate the food.  I also wanted this pic to show not just ate but also the number 8 (something I 8), hence the arrangement of the plate (pl-8!!).

#FebPhotoADay - Day 28: Money

The photo prompt for Tuesday was money.  I have to confess that I was having an incredibly lazy day on Tuesday and simply re-edited a photo taken for a photo challenge I particpated in last August.  Yes I know, dreadful.  I'm hanging my head in shame as I type this (well I'm not really, how would I see the screen and be able to type if I was?!).  Here you go, the grand sum of 4 dollars - the extent of my wealth is truly amazing!  LOL.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 29: Something you're listening to

The photo prompt for the final day of the February Photo A Day Challenge was something you're listening to.  This was a no-brainier.  Back in January I mentioned a new music discovery I had made (see here).  Well the singer mentioned (Lana Del Ray) has recently released an album which is receiving a lot of air time in our home at the moment.  So here you have a screen shot from my iPhone of the cover of Lana Del Rey's new album, Born To Die.

That brings me to the end of the February Photo A Day Challenge and I must say that I've enjoyed it.  I'd like to say thanks to Chantelle over at Fat Mum Slim for this great idea.  I again found (and started following) some wonderful blogs as a result of this challenge.  Chantelle has also come up with another challenge for March, the March Photo A Day Challenge.  Now I'm going to have a break from the challenge this month but will randomly participate some days via Instagram.  To see what I'm up to, you can view my Instagram feed online or if you're an Instagram addict like myself, follow me.  Search for @gawee.

#FebPhotoADay - Day 25

Today's theme for the February Photo A Day Challenge is Green.  My photo for today is a collage of new and old photos all of something (& someone) green.  Here you have (clockwise from left) trees and grass at the local park, my dear friend Leah dressed as a witch, a tennis ball, and the leaf canopy of a large tree.