House of Amson

Film vs Digital

2012-01-31T07:56:00.000+10:00

Much as I love the convenience of digital, when I go back through older slides I am scanning, sometimes I wish I could replicate the colouring and overall look of slide film. My favourites were Kodachrome 64 and 25 (my current camera does not even go down to ISO25!) for the blues of mountains, oceans and rivers and Agfachrome 100 for the browns of deserts. Black and white was always shot with Ilford thanks to a friend who had an unlimited supply of this film. These were the days of conserving film and I remember on trips having to ensure I did not shoot more photos per day than my allocated daily quota.

Here is one photo recently scanned and scrapped:

I love the light in this photo of the market place in Manakha, Yemen. I was doing what I usually do when travelling. That is finding a vantage point, where I can sit with a camera and long lens and view people without being too obvious. On this occasion, I was sitting on the side of the road running just above the market place. Now if I had had a digital camera back then, I would have taken hundreds of photos instead of the full 36 film on that day.

Here is another scanned slide, this one from India.

Now onto digital.

On photography days now, it is not unusual for me to shoot hundreds of photos. My photography aim for this year is to focus more on lining up and composing photos, rather than shooting away with the hope that one is "acceptable". This seems to be working as I am rarely cropping photos now but with 600 plus "keepers" in my lightroom database for January alone, there is still some work to be done... ;-)

Some recent pages from recent photos.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Rain, rain and more rain ….

2012-01-25T15:09:00.002+10:00

My gardens appreciated the rain last week and the beans are thriving but the rain of the last 24 hours has now turned the yard into a bog. Lucky the vegetable garden drainage is OK so for the moment eggplant and beans will survive.

Between rain storms, we went down to the creek which runs parallel to our street. I always love to take photos when the water is high and flowing fast. It was still raining and quite dark so photos are not the best.

Our path is now covered in water and there is no way to get close to the river.

A log has been carried onto the bridge.

No possibility of walking down to the creek as the path is under water, but looking at the debris in the trees, the water would have been 2 metres higher last night.

More rain expected.

Luminance for depth to skies

2012-01-23T10:02:00.003+10:00

More photos yet again taken at the beach. It is summer here and the light is strong with well defined and strong shadows. I usually get an exposure setting, for my photos, on the object I am wanting to photograph, which results in correct exposure for the object I have in focus but unfortunately there is often a washed out sky. Skies have been beautiful over the last couple of weeks here as there is rain around and although sunsets have been without colour, they are truly stunning in monochrome. It is disappointing then to download photos to lightroom and find the less than impressive skies.

A trick that I use often to give depth to skies is to decrease luminance of blue and aqua in Lightroom. Sometimes I will also bump up saturation but only if required. This is what I have done in the following photos taken late Saturday afternoon.

In all cases luminance of both colours has been decreased by up to 50. (Lightroom 4 Beta version)

Have a great week everyone.

Blacked out ........... for a cause

2012-01-18T19:53:00.003+10:00

Are you wondering about blacked out sites across the internet today? Show your support.

Details here and here

Following are some of my 365 photos from the last couple of weeks.

After the rain (this morning)

Dogs and bubbles. What a mix!

Sunset in monochrome. Photos taken with a friend.

Hope your 366 is going well.

A New Year ....

2012-01-01T21:03:00.013+10:00

Last year was tumultuous. I started out with optimism but quickly moved into "back to basic coping strategies" as problems exploded. Two months later and I was treading water. Life was starting to become "manageable". A few bumps but nothing life threatening. Then came the worst day of my life. No words, just tears and back to treading water. On the good days that is.

Then came light from an unexpected corner. Darkness receded to the power of light.

This is how we ended the year. Too many changes, too many ups and downs. We start 2012 higher than a year ago, now that is an achievement!

I wanted to welcome in the New Year with "Light" so headed to the beach to catch the first sunrise of the new year. Sand, water, light - a wonderful combination. Leaving home at 3:30am, I was back before 7am. Here are some of my photos.

Pre dawn with first light:

First light:

Then full light:

What can be more beautiful than the first rays of sunshine showing you the possibilities of a new day?

I wish you all a wonderful 2012!

Free Days of December Templates

2011-12-03T13:55:00.001+10:00

Suzanne of Roadside Designs is giving away a template daily on her blog until Christmas. If you visit everyday you will end up with this wonderful album which also includes cover and back.

Suzanne is also guesting this month at the DigiChick and has released a new template set - Hip Chick Highway Maps. Here is a page I put together with one of the templates. DD2 actually wanted me to take her photo! She has however rejected all the photos as not looking anything like her etc etc. At least I got the photos ;-)

All papers and elements from Studio Ztampf!.Template by Roadside Designs. For full credits click on image.

Enjoy your first weekend in December. Our tree is up and we are starting to cook! Love this time of year.

Macro Love

2011-11-19T12:08:00.000+10:00

Easy to while away the time, photography flowers and insects on macro. Photos taken yesterday in the back garden.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Designer of the Week

2011-11-09T08:55:00.001+10:00

Fhung, of Studio Ztampf!, is designer of the week at Scrapbookgraphics. Check out details here.

Fhung's designs are individual and highly creative in a digital world often bordering on generic.

The following are some of my favourite layouts created with Ztampf! products.

Images are linked with credits.

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Meet Jess aka PJ (Princess Jessica)

2011-10-22T18:46:00.002+10:00

It started a couple of months ago. “Mum come and look at this” had me looking at yet another web page photo, one of the girls had found, of some poor sad looking dog who was in foster care and desperately needed a home. They wanted another dog and used every ploy. It worked. ;-)

We are now the official proud owners of Jess an ex racing greyhound. Jess had been in foster care for a couple of months after some critical dental work to remove diseased teeth. (Racing dogs have glucose smeared onto their teeth before races apparently). We adopted her from a wonderful organisation called Friends of the Hound. I highly recommend them. They are totally professional, well organised and have the welfare of the dogs as number 1 concern.

Jess is nearly 8 and has settled in well. She was a little thin when she came to us and we have worked on fattening her up. A diet of puppy food, organic eggs and meat and tinned sardines for the last 3 weeks and she is now 1kg heavier. This is a dog who does not mind being cuddled and kissed 24/7, perfect for us and for her. A match definitely made in heaven. Isn’t she gorgeous!

Here are a couple of layouts, the first of many.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Beach Sunrise

2011-10-17T16:00:00.000+10:00

Photos taken yesterday morning watching the sunrise at Bribie Island.

Beautiful shades of peach and grey/blue.

Watercolour Painting with Paintshop Pro

2011-10-08T22:12:00.000+10:00

For those who commented on my "painting" in the forum earlier this week, I have put together the steps I took to achieve the effect. It uses a combination of techniques from Photoshop tutorials adapted for PSP.

Here is the original image that I was working from. I took this photo in Rajasthan, India in 2006.

Method

1.       Duplicate your image and blur. (Adjust/Blur/Gaussian Blur of radius 3)
2.       Duplicate this layer and apply Artistic Effect/ Glowing Edges. (I used default 3.20)
3.       Invert this layer. (Image/Negative Image)
4.       Convert glowing lines to greyscale and desaturate to approximately 40%.
5.       Duplicate the layer from step 1 and drag this layer to the top. Invert this layer (as in 3) and set the blending mode to Dodge. The image will be mostly white and this will be the base to paint (i.e. reveal the image with colour below).
6.       Now comes the fun part. Using a variety of brushes with colour set to black and opacity at no more than 40% you start painting the brush strokes. As you are working on a dodge layer, the effect of this will be to reveal the underlying colours of the photo. Use a variety of brushes (I used dry brush and van gogh). You can build up colour by going over areas more than once. It is better to work with larger brush strokes and move down to smaller to fill in detail.
7.       Lastly you can merge the layers and add a subtle texture effect eg. Canvas fine.

Vary the parameters to achieve different effects.

Here is another one that took just 5 minutes. Al Hajjar in Yemen.

Playing with Textures

2011-09-29T21:43:00.003+10:00

Jerry of Shadowhouse Creations provided 2 raised effect textures on his blog and I could not resist playing with them. I love adding texture to photos! This is the result. The photo was taken many years ago when travelling in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. I remember stopping late afternoon for a meal in a local inn. This is the first time that a foreigner had ever stopped to eat there. We had a plate of mutton and rice. It was good! The tea was served, as is typical in this area, green with cardomon and cinnamon. This area is the most beautiful on earth. Three mountain ranges collide to provide scenery that takes your breath away.

Click on photo for texture detail and credits.
To achieve this effect I used the first texture with following layers:

1. Lightened texture and placed as Overlay 100%.
2. Original texture Colour Burn 31%
3. Original Photo

Jerry has a great collection of free textures available. They are definitely worth checking out.

Years at the Spring..

2011-09-23T16:31:00.002+10:00

Well it was until this week as we now have a foretaste of the heat of Summer. The girls and I took avantage of the earlier milder spring weather to really put some effort into our long neglected garden. Nothing like garden therapy to lift your spirits. We now have 3/4 of the back yard gardens complete and even Harry is enjoying exploring now that the jungle of weeds has been cleared. My vegetable garden for Summer is starting. Coriander which had been flowering for weeks, has been cleared and I have planted cucumber, egg plant, beans, squash, chillies, tomatoes, kale and herbs. I'll see how they go before adding some more.

There are no distinct seasons here and you have to look very closely to find the presence of Spring. It is there just hidden....

Mulberries are the first fruit to ripen. There is always enough on the tree for the birds and ourselves. The Koel birds are late this year in their migration. At this time of the year we usually have a pair take up residence in this tree.

I love the soft green of new leaves. We have pruned trees heavily for the first time in years so watching new leaves emerge from hard old wood is wonderful.

Our garden is full of the perfume of citrus. Intoxicating!

This is the first year I have tried growing sweet peas. They have thrived growing with the coriander.

Here are a couple of layouts from the photos:

Have a wonderful weekend.

Ztampf! 6th Birthday

2011-09-13T17:43:00.000+10:00

This is an exciting week at Scrapbook Graphics! Ztampf! celebrates its 6th birthday with a layout challenge, chat and sale.

You can check out the store here.

Here are some recent layouts using products from Ztampf!

Click on layouts for Credits.

Happy Birthday Ztampf!

10 things you may not know about me

2011-09-12T13:18:00.004+10:00

Thanks Esther for tagging me. I've been sitting on this for a few days not knowing what to write so here is what I have come up with:

1. I was born in Malaysia to Australian parents and have always loved being able to write this as my place of birth on forms etc. It always seemed so exotic to me as a child.

2. I have been reading continuously since around the age of 5. I usually have 2 books on the go and although we try to live as "green" as possible, this is one area I cannot compromise. A kindle? Never! I just love everything about a printed book from the artwork, typeface and even the smell. I collect antique books.

3. My heritage is basically Scottish with a little English and one Norwegian sailor who jumped ship just after the Crimean war. Looking into our family history has been interesting.

4. I love spicy food and especially Thai.

5. I graduated with degrees in Chinese and Economics but majoring in Maths and Computer Science (as it was called at that time).

6. Growing up, I always wanted to be a Geologist but when finishing high school, changed my mind at the last minute and ended up after University in Banking then China trade. No regrets or not too many....

7. I am a qualified Gemmologist and love studying gemstone inclusions under the microscope. So easy to immerse onself in the magic of 80x.

8. I love mountains and especially the Karakorums. They are new, rugged and totally untamed.

9. Camels are my favourite animals. They are independent and have a mind of their own.

10. I lived in Asia (China, Taiwan and Hongkong) for many years.

Now my turn to tag and I am selecting Carin and Tracy fellow team members of Studio Ztampf!

Thanks and have a great week.

Here are some of my camels:

Credits here.

Sound

2011-08-23T20:35:00.000+10:00

Fhung of Studio Ztampf has just released a wonderful paper pack called "Sound". The graphics on the pages remind me of Leonardo da Vinci sketches. I love them!

I have been wanting to do a simple page for my All About Me album of my current playlist so started with this.

I bought my first ipod, a little green ipod shuffle, last year when sick in bed. It kept me up to date with news and at that stage was mostly full of podcasts. The girls used to joke that I must have been the only person who didn't have music on their ipod. Which wasn't exactly true as it did contain a few of my favourite symphonies. I remember listening to Mahlers 5th Symphony just a few hours after coming out of the anaesthetic in hospital. A great choice. Mahler was a total Drama Queen so any of my moans at that time were pale in comparison.

The shuffle has now progressed and contains lectures from the Teaching Company. I love the music lectures and shop when they are on special, juggling between buying direct from the US or from Australia. It all depends on exchange rate that day.

Shostakovich is a composer that I have only discovered in the last few months. In the past the snippets of his music that I heard seemed just noise with no purpose or theme. His Cello Concerto No. 1 was then covered in a 45 minute lecture on History of Concertos and I was hooked. I could not believe that after listening primarily to classical music for more than 40 years, I had not discovered his genius. It was as if you are standing in darkness in a room and all of a sudden the light is turned on and you find you are standing in a gallery of magnificent pieces of art.

There is such joy in discovery.

Have a wonderful week.

Recent layouts

2011-08-19T20:49:00.004+10:00

When times get difficult, I always find that it helps to escape and look back through travel photos which is what I have been doing recently. Mum and Dad, you will certainly recognize some of these places.

Have a great weekend everyone.

Credit details can be found in the following galleries:
Designer Digitals
MScraps

Chat tomorrow with Fhung of Studio Ztampf!

2011-06-16T20:41:00.000+10:00

This is a great opportunity to get to know Fhung!

Designer of The Week Chat

2011-04-11T09:44:00.000+10:00

Designer of The Week Chat

Fhung is designer of the week at Scrapbookgraphics this week. There will be a chat this tuesday 12/4 at 9pm EST ie Wednesday here in Australia. Fhung has a wonderful gift to participants who join in the chat.

This is a layout I created for this weeks Digidare (#223) using the gift elements. These are photos of my daughter taken from 1993 to 2011. I don't think her face has really changed. So recognizable no matter what age and still a beautiful smile.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Life gets in the way...

2011-04-08T18:00:00.001+10:00

Just when you think you are on top of things, life gets in the way. The last 3 weeks have been challenging to say the least but we are now once again rising to the surface. My project 365 (in monthly pages) this year is flexible enought to take a week (or more...) with no photos so no problem. I'll finalise March pages this weekend and post. I have 8 again.

Digital scrapbooking is my R & R from the curved balls of life. I am excited to have been accepted as a member of the creative team at Roadside Designs this last month. From one who "never" used templates, over the last year I have become a total convert. They are the best starting point for a page and can be modified as required. I always resize or change but that is the fun.

Here are some recent layouts using Roadside Designs Templates. Click on any layout for credits.

Roadside Designs templates are sold here and at the new site Digital Dandelions (I'll post the link later).

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Myanmar Album

2011-03-18T16:20:00.001+10:00

I have been sitting on around 4,000 photos from our trip to Myanmar in November/December 2009 wondering how to scrap them for an album. We all absolutely love the India album I had made earlier and this was the problem. Set a precident and then there are fixed ideas of what the travel album should look like. For the Indian album, I had a theme for each location which really worked well and Sonia thought this should also be done for Myanmar. I did not want to restrict myself to one or two colours for each location and was favouring a more eclectic album with each double page different. ( ie I had no idea what to do...) Amber was happy with whatever was decided ie the teenage "whatever" which can be wonderful at times but not this time.

I have scrapped some of the photos in layouts but just wasn't inspired to follow through with that style for an entire album. Then along came a free template from Katie Pertiet at Designer Digitals last Saturday and suddenly inspiration. I knew what I wanted to do. Photos large and bordering pages with overlayed small pics with white borders. A strip across page for journalling. And that is it. I might add some elements but probably not. Lynn Grieveson has some wonderful double page templates that I can use/modify so now I am set and oh so inspired.

So here is the first double page. What do you think?

Now I am set to start working on the album. And just in time as we are heading out for a quick holiday in a month. Here we are waiting in anticipation:

Click on photos for details of kits used.

Pages with no Photos

2011-03-16T09:21:00.000+10:00

For someone who loves photos and for the most part a page begins and ends with a photo, the challenge to create pages without a photo has been interesting. Yes it can be done!

Just 2 of my loves - the garden and patterned papers.

Have a great week everyone.

February Pages

2011-03-10T19:23:00.002+10:00

This relaxed style for photo a day is going really well and I am easily able to complete the pages with details of activities and events for the month. The last week of the month is the busiest as I close off all pages, check for typos and resize for printing. I also then select a colour scheme for the following month and prepare a few pages with the colour scheme to start the following week. For March now, I already have 6 pages open. This month is lime green, my favourite colour.

The 8 pages I completed for February were uploaded to Inkubook on 2/3 so as long as I can keep on track I will be able to finish a photo book for this year.

Here are some of the pages for last month. The major highlight was the 18th Birthday of my eldest DD. We celebrated all month.

This page contains photos taken on my daughter's birthday.

I have a theme for each month for photo a day and this month's theme was "Around the world, around our home", with items from our home collected from around the world.

World events and some of the daily photos.

Main photo is of a wonderful bunch of flowers sent to me after a very difficult week. From friends I have never met but talk to nearly every day. So thank you from the bottom of my heart Ztampfilicious friends!

Details of our vegetable garden and the war we are waging against pests.

Birthday celebrations yet again.

Chinese New Year celebrations and fun out with my adult daughter.

I think that this book will be a wonderful memory for the girls. I am still so enthusiastic. Hope all other 365's are doing well.

Once again templates are by Biograffitti.

Valentine Day Sale at Studio Ztampf!

2011-02-12T18:30:00.002+10:00

Holiday and valentine products are on sale at Studio Ztampf!

Subscribers to Ztampfever will get an extra 20% OFF coupon to be used toward the sale items or anything else in her shop. This is a great chance to purchase the crafty calendars at a discounted price.

Become a Facebook Fan of Ztampf! to get the wonderful kit Socialite for free. This is a layout I put together with the kit.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Welcoming Year of the Rabbit

2011-02-03T21:48:00.001+10:00

Today is the start of a New Year for the Chinese Calendar. Goodbye year of the tiger and welcome year of the rabbit. The general concensus is that this will be a year of rest and peace after last year.

We celebrated today with a meal cooked together. I love home cooked chinese meals, which taste so different to restaurant food. The only issue is the preparation time which for us was a few hours. The food however was wonderful.

For this layout I used the newly released "Year of the Rabbit" by Studio Fhung.

Happy New Year!

January Roundup

2011-01-31T22:46:00.002+10:00

I have just completed uploading my 11 pages of photos for January to Inkubook, where my year book will be printed. It is so exciting to see it all formated and in book format on the screen. Using templates with no embellishing and mostly graphic format has been a lifesaver and has simplified the task no end. I have included a lot of journalling including current affairs, weather and also a calendar of what we have done on a day to day basis. Sounds complicated but it is simple as I am journalling whatever interests me at the time.

This works out much better for me than photo a day with a week of photos to a page. I started out well in 2010 but when we had week after week at doctors and major medical problems, I really did not want to look back on so many of my weeks. Some things are better ignored. This year, I am scrapping months and I am aiming for anything from 3 to 10 pages of photos a month.

To give an outline of January:

Page 1: Contains a page of photos taken on 1/1/1. I will also do this randomly throughout the year for special days.

Pages 2-5 were photos from our visit to see my parents.
(These pages were posted earlier)

Pages 6 and 7 are photos taken over the month with a world news/current affairs summary. (We are news junkies here!)

Page 8: Photos with random summaries of the month including weather etc.
Page 9: Photos and journalling about my garden. (Yes there is a lot of journalling this month but it is Summer and I am planting seeds.)

Page 10: To keep me inspired with Photo a day, I am selecting a different topic each month as a focus. For January this was flowers and these photos are all cropped onto the page.

Page 11: Our monthly calendar.

To try and tie the individual months together somewhat, I will be using a different colour theme for each month and selecting one coordinating paper. That is it. No embellishments or elements. Not a staple or stitch in sight!

Now lets see if I am as enthusiastic at the end of February or for that matter later in the year.

And if anyone is interested, the templates that I am using/modifying are from Biograffiti at Oscraps.

Have a great week everyone!

Reminiscing

2011-01-29T21:17:00.001+10:00

My eldest daughter turns 18 at the end of this week and I am wondering where all the time has gone. Looking through some old albums for photos to scrap, I found a precious photo of my chubby little bub sleeping. Just so hard to believe that this was 17 years ago.

I remember she used to sleep in the middle of our double bed with pillows all round to stop her rolling off. The cute little dress was in pink and white cotton and perfect for Shanghai summers. What a darling!

I spent the morning outside taking more photos of our garden as I am down with a virus and have no energy to go for a walk. Now I have a record of the herbs we are currently growing. I have always been one for lists. LOL!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Canberra Visit

2011-01-17T09:05:00.001+10:00

We missed the worst of the floods with our quick break to visit Mum and Dad in Canberra. DD2 however has school this week and they are operating without electricity. This will be interesting. The creek was very high below our house but in this area the council showed some sense and has not allocated land in low lying areas. The sunshine is helping with the cleanup work which is extensive where flood damage has been significant. So sad for many families. Eastern Australia has certainly had a difficult start to the year. Dorothea Mackellar certainly got it right with "drought and flooding rains".

Project 365 is going well this year and much easier with my relaxed format. I usually take photos everyday but this will be a better record of the year than my best "daily" photo. I put these pages together quickly this morning.

So wonderful to see trees laden with plums, apples, pears and figs.

Welcoming a new year

2011-01-01T20:19:00.001+10:00

I love New Years day. How can this one day which arbitarily happens to define the start of our calendar give us such hope. For me it is the thought that I can start over. Last year may have been difficult but the slate is wiped clean and I can start again. Today all things seem possible.

It reminds me of one of my favourite bible quotes: "Behold, I make all things new" from Revelation.

Today I am back taking daily photos and have completed my first page for the 2011 album. I am making it really easy for myself by using templates (Biograffiti - Life Story templates) and focusing on photos and journalling.

I'll post pages as they are completed.

Once again everyone have a wonderful and blessed year.

Last photos of 2010

2010-12-31T18:54:00.000+10:00

It is now 6:30pm and dusk has descended on my small corner of the world. I have just taken my last photos for 2010. The stats in Lightroom show that I took 2486 photos. It seems a lot until you look at the distribution. July to November is sparse to say the least. I am looking forward to 2011. I am not going to select a word for the year as my word last year was "health". What irony.

This coming year will be good!! We are certainly due for some good luck all round. I will continue the photo a day and hope to post more photos. I have modified templates, selected fonts and styles for my 2011 Photobook and hope that by focusing on months, I will not be too focused on difficult weeks. This was the problem in 2010. I hit a few weeks of just one doctor's appointment after another and thought that if I recorded actual events, this would not be a photobook any of us would really want to look at. If I ignored the challenges, then it would be totally false.

So this year I am looking at the world at large and will record more than just our life. I want this to be a book to look back on for a taste of life in the year 2011. We will see how it goes....

Anyhway here are 2 of my last photos of the year.

The snake bean seeds planted 3 days ago have just sprouted.

Guess what Harry got for Christmas? Yes this wonderful squeaky toy is his pride and joy. He even sleeps with it. Just so cute!

And as a closing note, I would like to wish you blessings and joy for 2011.

I love the rain ....

2010-12-28T21:23:00.000+10:00

Australia is a dry country and after years of drought and trying to maintain gardens with buckets of water from the shower, we finally have rain. And plenty of it. It has been raining for close on 2 weeks. The colours of Summer have changed to a brilliant lime green and the air is clean. It is wonderful!

The temperature is also lower and for the first time ever here, I do not have to sleep in airconditioning. Imagine!

I have spent the last couple of days preparing our vegetable garden. Yes I know I am terribly late but with health issues it just has not been possible to do anything until now. What joy to stand out in the warm rain, feet in mud, planting seeds. Let's hope they germinate...

I hope all my Australian friends are safe from the floods.

I'm back ....

2010-12-26T20:30:00.001+10:00

There is not much that can keep me away from my computer except sickness. I was unable to sit for longer than half an hour for a few months due to back pain which turned out to be gall bladder issues. I ended up having my gall bladder removed at the end of November and am finally starting to feel much better. It has taken a while for me to be able to vary my basic boring diet but I am much better and have even been able to eat some treats this Christmas along with ham and pork etc. I am so happy!

Over this time the girls have also been sick and especially Amber. It seems that her problem is also allergy related and she reacts badly to any grains or dairy. We do not eat any processed food and cook from scratch so luckily it is not difficult to avoid problematic food.

We have had a wonderful quiet Christmas. The weather has been continuous rain which we love as it keeps the temperature down. What a change not to have the aircon on all day every day.

My best wishes to all for a wonderful end to the year and may 2011 bring you health and happiness.

Ztampf! Birthday Surprises

2010-09-15T21:29:00.000+10:00

There are some wonderful prizes to be won. Don's miss out!

A new week

2010-09-13T09:22:00.000+10:00

And hoping that this one is better than last.

For scrapbookers, be sure to watch out later this week for a Ztampf! event.

To subscribe to the newsletter click here.

Cheetah

2010-09-09T08:41:00.000+10:00

We had to put down our darling Kelpie yesterday. So terribly sad.

Cheetah was 14 and had suffered from Cushings disease for 4 years. In the last year, artritis also set in and she required medication for the pain. Over the last week, she started to refuse all medication no matter how I tried to disguise them in delicious home cooked meals. I think she was telling us that this was enough. We took her to the vet last Friday and then again on Sunday where she was given an injection for the pain. This gave her 2 days to enjoy life relatively pain free just as she used to. Chasing Harry a little, barking at the Brush Turkeys and enjoying a sniff around the garden.

Here is one of our last photos. She is missed terribly.

Creations by Tinamarie

2010-08-16T21:19:00.000+10:00

I just realise that I have not yet posted a note about my friend Tina who has now started designing. After braving the rounds of the apprentice competition at Little Dreamer, she was finally selected as one of the new designers. So exciting! You can find her designs here.

Here are a few layouts I have created with Tina's designs:

Credits can be found at my gallery here.

Photo Find

2010-07-31T13:05:00.001+10:00

I love looking through photos. This is always the inspiration I need when stuck for ideas for a layout. I found this photo just recently and the colours were not too bad as it had been sitting in a box for years. My favourite prints which had been on display are the ones that are fades and unfortunately in some cases irreparably damaged.

This layout was created from a scanned photo of Myself and Mum. I love this photo. Me with a spade and Mum with one of our Chinese army bags probably containing some rocks we have found. I love fossicking out in the Australian bush. Nothing like the smell of eucalyptus. So distinctly Australian.

Note to Mum: HELP!!! Mum do you remember this holiday? I think this was on our holiday to Bairnsdale where Ross and I met you, Dad and Jetty Boy. All morning I have been trying to think of the name of the wonderful red rocks we found that were full of fossils. My mind is blank..... Help! I'd love to polish the faces of one of my stones.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Change of scene

2010-07-24T10:39:00.001+10:00

Life is chaotic at the moment and the more chaotic and unpredictable my everyday life the more I crave peace and simplicity. Translated into real, (digital "real") life this means that my blog now has a makeover and my recent digital scrapbooking layouts are also simpler and cleaner. If my life ever really became less stressful I'd probably start scrapping like one of those amazing Brazilian scrappers.

Anyway back to my new blog photo which is immediately identifiable if you have ever travelled to this country. It was taken in Myanmar last December. For those who don't know where I am talking about, Myanmar is also known in the west as Burma. But please do not use the name Burma, although this is what our leaders like to use to refer to the country. I think they do this as they believe using the official term Myanmar gives some sort of acknowledgement to the corrupt military regime. This is wrong!

Burma is the name that was given to the country by Britain when they were the rulers and it refers to the largest ethnic group the Burmans. This group however is only one of many ethnic groups so the name effectively disenfranchises everyone else. The people in Myanmar always refer to their country as Myanmar. It may not be perfect but that is the name.

The photo was taken in the backwaters behind Sittwe travelling to Mrau Oo. The boat trip can take anything from 3 to 7 hours depending on tides but it is no difficulty as the scenery is just wonderful with glimpses into the daily life of the local people. Our boat on the way up had a roof deck with a few deck chairs where we lounged. Here are some more photos.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Travel memories

2010-07-15T14:02:00.000+10:00

I'm slowly scanning in the boxes of slides from my travels. Sometimes it really does seem so long ago especially when I look at photos taken in the late 70's and 80's. It is wonderful at times to make a discovery of a photo that really stirs the memories or evokes the time and place. A few I have picked out to scrap in layouts. These will not be co-ordinated travel books as I did for one of our trips to India but more a collection of pages with notes from my travel diaries. I am thoroughly enjoying the trips down memory lane.

Orissa in Eastern India

Beidai He in China

Swat Valley in Pakistan

Central Highlands of Yemen

Bali (as if you couldn't tell)

Photos are linked if you are interested in seeing the credits or a larger size.

Love beyond measure...

2010-07-06T17:53:00.000+10:00

There has always been a special bond between my eldest daughter and our Kelpie. It started when Amber was 3 and we had just purchased our little puppy. We were struggling to try and find a name when suddenly Amber came out with "Cheetah". If you know anything about kelpies you would know just how perfect this name was. Cheetah has just turned 14 and is not as fast as a Cheetah now but still has the tenacity of her namesake, Cushings disease and all.

Here are some recent layouts:

Credits for all layouts can be found here. All by Studio Ztampf!

July Guild Kit and Weekend Sale

2010-07-04T09:18:00.001+10:00

There is a weekend special on Guild kits and membership. Details are available here.

There is also a wonderful deal on the Artisan Notebook. Definitely worth picking up these recent issues. Details here.

Here is a layout created with this months kit. My experiment with a different style of blended image.

Enjoy your weekend!

One Month Down …

2010-06-29T17:19:00.000+10:00

Happy that we have made it this far on our low carb Gaps diet. The first week was frantic for me but now that I am into the schedule of cooking and have a few trusted recipes up my sleeve it is a little easier. We are on this diet for health so I am monitoring what we eat and any reactions. I am also trying to write down everything we consume which is not easy at the end of the day when I am tired. There have not been any major changes in health problems since commencing (and days where our bodies have been detoxing have been pretty miserable) but I am still hopeful.

So what are we eating?

Firstly the no’s: No grains, no unfermented dairy, no high starch vegetables eg potato, parsnip etc, no processed foods at all so no soy sauce etc, no sugars but little honey occasionally.
Now what do we eat: Eggs, non-processed meats, vegetables, a little fruit and nuts. And a basic for all is home fermented sauerkraut.

So what are the major impressions of our first month:

I am spending hours in the kitchen now. Cooking 3 meals a day from scratch means that I need to spend 3 hours a day in food prep etc just to get by. I am trying to get ahead but have not yet been able to do so.
Carbs are filling, we miss them and we still crave rice. You need much more food to satisfy hunger. I am struggling to fill growing teens.
There is always a pot going on the stove or otherwise my slow cooker is cooking up a bone stock or soup. In everything I cook I make as much as the saucepan will hold.
Only one of us has lost weight and then just a kilo. I cannot believe that people go low carb to lose weight. I gained 1kg my first week and one of the girls has gained 2kg. Supposedly the carb cravings should start to disappear soon. I hope so.
I am learning to be more creative in cooking. With limited ingredients, I am really trying to make meals taste different. But how many ways can one cook cauliflower?
Home made ferments are fun to make and taste great. I especially love my pseudo kim chee, carrot and ginger and cabbage/garlic/onion sauerkraut. Yum.

Here are some photos of a recent meal. Middle Eastern flavoured lamb stuffed capsicums. These were good.

Enjoy your week!

Needlepoint

2010-06-14T12:37:00.001+10:00

It is such a joy to be able to stitch again after laser surgery on one of my eyes. First reading and now Needlepoint. My photos for today are included in the following layout which uses products from Studio Ztampf! at Scrapbook Graphics. Click on image for credits.

When I decided to go back to stitching, I found that I had already bought all the wools for this design years ago. I love the design by Candace Bahouth. In her book she explains the meaning of all the flowers selected which makes the tea cosy extra special.

2010-06-10T19:42:00.002+10:00

Paislee Press is the featured designer for this months Artisan Notebook. She has generously given everybody who purchases the June issue this BEAUTIFUL kit!

Liz is also be sponsoring a challenge to create a 2 page layout using at least 2 items from this kit. She has some ideas on how to create 2 page layouts easily. Please check out this thread at the Guild for full details.

This is my layout:

For details on Guild membership and how to pick up copies of the Artisan Notebook follow this link.
Be sure to also mark the following date in your calendar for the chat with Liz at the Guild. And please bring some virtual cake as this will be my birthday! Actually apple struedel would be better...

Enjoy the rest of your week everyone. I’ll be posting tomorrow with an update on our diet as this will be the completion of 2 weeks.

June Guild Kit

2010-06-03T14:31:00.000+10:00

This months Guild Kit “Treasures in the Attic” is a beautiful kit just perfect for scrapping heritage and childhood pages. It contains some wonderful toy elements with both shadowed and unshadowed versions. I am not good with shadows for solid objects so this is a bonus. Here are some previews and my layout:

Details of Guild membership can be found here.

Lesson Learnt!

2010-05-25T15:14:00.002+10:00

Do not ever talk about sickness in blog posts unless you want to be totally inundated with spam. I am so tired of rejecting comments from the usual internet spammers who obviously have no idea that this blog is not written from the States. Note to anybody reading this post – we have a government funded health system in this country and I am not in the market for cheap medications.

Now that issue is off my chest the obvious question is where have I been and how are my 365 photos going? Simple answer is that I have now jumped back into 365 photo taking as from today. I just do not know how some people manage to keep up with everything. Super woman I am not!

We are all s*** with colds at the moment. The usual nausea, dizziness etc has hit everyone. I have been preparing over the last couple of weeks to start on a new diet for all of us with the aim of both trying to identify allergies and rebuild all to healthy guts. We have been gluten free for well over a year now but this is not enough as we still manage to succumb to every virus doing the rounds and a few others as well. Combined with other symptoms which are worsening, we are going to try the most restrictive of diets to date. In the past we have tried low salicilate/amine/glutamate and also the dairy free and while this seemed to help, in time I just gave up as it all seemed too difficult. I guess it depends how large you perceive the problem as we are now starting the GAPS diet which seems to be modified carbohydrate diet.

A link to the Australian support site is here.

So we are off all grain, dairy, sugars, beans/lentils and starchy vegetables like potato etc. Also no dairy (fermented dairy introduced later down the track). In preparation, I have been cooking up pots of organic meat/bone stock and the house is really starting to smell like a soup kitchen. I have my cabbage fermenting in salt and have even tried to put together a pseudo kim chee. It smells pungent so I must be on the right track. Supposed to be full of good probiotics but all I remember is that when living in China the high rates of stomach and oesophageal cancers were directly tied to fermented cabbage. A case of too much knowledge is not necessarily a good thing. Anyway we will give it a try. So if you would like to join us for dinner over the next few days you are welcome. The menu is meat broth of 3 varieties: chicken, lamb and beef. Is your mouth watering?

Photos to follow.....

Creative weekend

2010-03-22T09:49:00.004+10:00

How was your weekend?

We started to clean out the garage which has been accumulating junk for years. It feels so good to toss. Now the garbage bin is full and old TV's and computers were collected on Friday by a rubbish removal company, so no more tossing until tuesday. We will get there.

Digital dirt and elements from Studio Ztampf! Click on layouts for credits.

Here are another couple of layouts recently completed with items from Studio Ztampf! Yes you can see I am really enjoying being on this team.

Have a great week everyone.

Away for a break

2010-03-19T14:42:00.006+10:00

We had a wonderful break away, flying down to see Mum and Dad and of course their wonderful dog Coco. The weather was a real relief with temperatures well down on what we are still experiencing here. Autumn was just commencing but it was pure joy to sleep under a doona and without full aircon. To wear a sweater and walk without pouring sweat at the slightest exertion. Well you get the picture.
We were lucky to spend a day at the National Sheep Dog trial championships where you see clever dogs trying to force stubborn sheep to walk across bridges and through gates etc. The key seemed to be keeping the sheep together. On 2 occasions the sheep ran amuck around the field and even jumped fences. I didn’t even know this was possible. Great fun!

Here are some layouts. Just too much fun not to record.

Credits for layouts in my Designer Digitals Gallery.

I took a few photos of Coco so here these are for you Mum and Dad. Just look at that face. Isn’t he a darling?

And here are the sheep:

Storm clouds earlier this week just before sunset.

The hairs on this seed are so soft and just like silk.

Thanks everyone for your comments. They are greatly appreciated.

Photos of the week

2010-03-07T10:03:00.002+10:00

It has been a busy week with doctor’s appointments etc but pleased to say that all tests have given normal results. My fingers are also healing well. Now every time I go to cook in the kitchen, Amber tells me to be careful. She had a suggestion today that I should just bandage my hand first. LOL! Well I guess that 2 accidents in 1 month is too many.
Photos for this part of the week are centred around my garden again. Doctors waiting rooms and hospitals are not my choice of topic!

These are some orchids in my garden that thrive on neglect! How easy!

And these are my favourite well worn shoes. They have been worn constantly. In fact I am wearing them now.

And I am still managing to plonk a photo into the template for a week of photos layout. I modify to suit the photo and add no elements. So easy!

Enjoy your weekend and time with the family.

I am the newest Z!Girl

2010-03-03T13:39:00.001+10:00

Still can't quite believe it but I am now on the creative team of Studio Ztampf! of Scrapbook Graphics.

Fhung has been my favourite designer since I started digital scrapping a couple of years ago. For those who are not familiar with her work, Fhung is number one an artist whose works have been displayed in highly successful exhibitions. You can read more about this at the Ztampf site.

And for anyone who is interested there is an interview with me on the blog today: http://ztampf.com/blog/2010/03/03/introducing-the-newest-zgirl

There is a very large collection that has just been released. It is available as one collection or individual components. Fhung says that the idea started with Wings. Some of the wings are from her original ceramic art.

Here are some layouts from the kit. Once my fingers have healed, I'll be able to play some more.

Thanks everyone for your well wishes over the last week.

How can we still be sick?

2010-03-02T17:54:00.002+10:00

Well this title explains my absence for the last week. DD2 is still sick and will go to hospital for small procedure tomorrow. DD1 is OK. And as for me, I burnt middle fingers of my right hand (i.e. computer mouse fingers and camera click fingers) so have been out of action for a few days. I am not even going to try and explain this one…
Photos have been taken on some days so here is the catch-up:
Portraits of sunflowers then some rain, then more rain, then even more, then floods…

Waterlilies planted in a pot are starting to flower. I hope to add gold fish next weekend.

This is our local creek today in flood. The path is way more than 1 metres below this water line.

And just one last photo. No this is not a good photo but I love it. This is an Australian green tree frog and we found this baby last night on the back patio on a chair. He is handsome.

Have a good week!

Sickness

2010-02-23T21:54:00.001+10:00

It is hot and humid still. We have had some rain but it is hot. Everyone is feeling tired and DD2 has now been home from school for a week. We have 3 more doctors appointments to go this week. Ugh…..

I have not had as much time for photos but am still taking at least one photo every day.

Sunrise on palms next door.

I had to use a rake to move this lizard on when trying to move the car out of the garage yesterday afternoon.

This is my baby boy – Harry. He is a sweetie even though a little feisty. Not a lap dog at all.

These are our first beans from the garden. They grew from a flower to over 30 cm in 10 days! We will have beans now for the next 2 months.

I love the pattern in this dragon flies wings. Nature is so wonderful.

Have a good week everyone and keep up the photo a day. I really love visiting all your blogs for inspiration.

Faith and Sunflowers

2010-02-20T06:43:00.006+10:00

I planted some sunflower seeds on Boxing Day, which to non Australians and English is the day immediately after Christmas. They are now opening and starting to flower. My eldest daughter has always loved yellow so these photos are for her.

If you look closely at the photo above, you will see a grasshopper hidden in the sepals. Can you see him?
And here he is the day before. These hoppers can locate an organic garden so easily it seems but there is food for all of us.

And sitting at the computer last night, I put together a layout with one of my favourite quotes from Tagore:
Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark.

Link for credits.

I hope you enjoy the colour.

Beastly weather

2010-02-17T07:57:00.001+10:00

If you know me at all you know how much I hate humidity and hot weather. When the temperature hits 30 C with humidity hovering in the 90’s, I just wither. The girls wither and even the dogs just lay on the tiles downstairs looking drained and pathetic.

Yesterday started with me hanging clothes outside at 5:15am just before sunrise. By 10am the kitchen temperature was just under 30 C and this is downstairs. Upstairs is an oven and even with aircon in the study it was still hot. Certainly makes it difficult to move outside to take a daily photo. Thankfully the weather has now broken with rain. My fingers are crossed that it stays overcast and raining all day.

Sunday was Chinese New Year and we celebrated in welcoming in the year of the Tiger with a wonderful meal. And how do you start preparing a Chinese meal? By soaking the mushrooms, lotus blossoms etc. These are Shitake mushrooms nearly ready for cooking.

These are the books that I’ve read in the 2 weeks since the laser eye surgery. I am in heaven and have so much to catch up on. Yes there are piles of books beside my bed!

This wonderful grasshopper even turned his head when I raised my camera to take his photos. I wish my 2 daughters were so obliging!

Have a great week everyone!

Big Catch up….

2010-02-13T20:48:00.001+10:00

I can’t believe that it has been so long since I posted. I am still taking photos every day. There are days where it is a quick shot but anyway… Here are last weeks photos.

I spent Sunday cooking for the week. This is the start of a date/lemon slice that I make.

Some welcome rain.

Here are 2 photos of DD1 who turned 17 this week.

And another 2 of beans in our garden:

I went to the fruit market this morning and found beetroot was $3 for as many as you can fit into a bag.

Now this afternoon I have about 3 kg of pickled beetroot in the fridge, beetroot in the oven roasting with our dinner and the leftover we made into a Turkish dip. This is just before stirring the dip as I am walking around the house asking my 2 teens for a photo backdrop. DD2 suggested the lounge carpet and actually this was perfect as it came from Western Turkmen China. And the dip is very tasty. It contains yoghurt, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil and cummin. Yum!

Enjoy the weekend and Valentines. For us though tomorrow is Chinese New Year and welcoming year of the Tiger.

Eyes improving but brain needs help

2010-02-04T20:45:00.000+10:00

I went back to the eye clinic today as it is now one week since surgery. They are very happy with results and my eye is healing well. My problems in focusing are better but still a problem although I can see a computer screen now. It seems that because I had such a dominant right eye before surgery, it will take time for my brain to realise that the left eye is also now working. This sounds reasonable so it is now just perseverance and time.

I am still taking photos so here is the catch-up.

This is my new chopping board. I saw it in our organic store yesterday and fell in love. Each board was a different shape and wood grain. This was definitely the most distinctive. And where better to take the photo than in my vegetable garden. I love the different wood grains.

And this is our geriatric Kelpie, Cheetah chasing flies. She really wants to keep everything out of the yard.

This was a Church but is now a nightclub. It was here that relatives of mine preached in the mid 1800's. So sad.

I have been wanting to take a photo of this church for heritage pages for a long time but today is the first day that I have passed here with my camera.

Hanging the clothes out on the line and I spotted this butterfly in the lychee tree. So I rushed inside, up the stairs, grabbed the camera and out again not expecting the butterfly to still be there. But it was! Not long enough to play with camera settings but just long enough to take this photo!

And finally thanks everyone for your wonderful wishes over the last week. They are really appreciated.

Laser Eye Surgery

2010-02-01T14:01:00.002+10:00

I have been absent but the reason is surgery on my left eye. It is healing well and I can now read from this eye. All I have to do is convince my brain to sort out the balance between my eyes.
The computer screen has waves in it and is fuzzy but I am hoping that it will sort itself out over the next week.
I only missed one day of photos but have not had the patience to spend time focusing with the camera. In a few days….

That image was pre surgery and these are the ones after.

Have a wonderful February!

365 Photo a day layouts

2010-01-27T08:40:00.000+10:00

I really enjoy the challenge of taking a photo a day. Challenge is probably the wrong word as this is something I love. The template I selected at the start is working well as I am getting into the habit of putting the photo into the page just after I upload to flickr. The pages are simple but easy for me.

Week 1 and 2 are the same template, just mirrored as are weeks 3 and 4. I'll continue to change template and background paper each 2 weeks.

Template is from Little Dreamer Designs, Designs by Leora.

Food Photography

2010-01-26T10:43:00.001+10:00

(And a little of the garden too!)

I have some food blogs that I visit regularly for both the inspiring recipes and also the amazing photography. There is nothing more likely to get me away from the computer and into the kitchen than close-ups of food. I love cooking but have never attempted this style of photography. These bloggers kitchens look so clean and well outfitted while my kitchen is over 20 years old, in a colour that I have never liked and with areas that can never be scrubbed perfectly clean. How can you take photos with pans, chopping boards and dishes all over the place? To find a clear space to set up for a photo seems near impossible. Anyway I am going to try.....

Last night I made a start and took a photo of the seafood that I was about to cook. Mm I definitely need a lot of practice. But it was dark and I needed to use a flash. That is my excuse anyway. The food did taste great.

Euphorbias in the garden. So easy to grow. Just pluck a leaf and within a month you have a new plant.

Well camouflaged grasshopper.

And if you would like some digital eye candy try these links:

Cannelle-vanille

Tartelette

Desertfirst

Enjoy the rest of your week!

PS To those who have asked over the last couple of weeks what camera I use, the answer is it varies. My usual DSLR is a Nikon D300 with a zoom lens attached. But I also use a small point and shoot. The photos from the city in my previous post were taken with a small Sony Cybershot.

Our city

2010-01-23T19:35:00.001+10:00

I am not an admirer of our city at all. In fact I would love to move ….. anywhere!!!!. Actually I do have a few places in mind but it is basically dependent on winning the lottery. Which is my way of saying that this is where I will stay for the immediate future.

Today DD1 and myself set off early to go into the city. (i.e. centre of town) We had an appointment to get haircuts so it was drive and park on city edge, train into city (one stop) then walk to salon. Total of 1 hour (which included a stop at a chocolate shop).

Although I think our city is ugly (hard to pick a more appropriate word) there are a few places I love and one of these is where I took some photos today. Just across the road from the Central Railway station is a small park. The reflections of buildings within buildings is beautiful.

This is not some sort of strange artistic building but merely the reflection of another building in the glass panelled exterior. The above photo was taken looking to the side and this next one is straight ahead.

Yes even this city has its hidden beauty.

Ikebana …. not!

2010-01-22T12:08:00.002+10:00

I mentioned a few posts ago that I would try to arrange the Heliconia Rostrata flowers that I had shot in a vase. Well my feeble attempts will not win a flower arranging prize but for what it is worth, these are my photos today.

This is definitely not an easy flower to display inside as the flowers hang down and the long branches supporting the flower extend up more than a metre. By the time the flowers appear the long leaves are ratty and tattered so I have used some mock orange for the foliage. Anyway for me it is better than only seeing the flowers when I put something in the bins as this is where these plants are located. Now who would have made the decision to plant this flower there?
Me.

And here are some photos from the last few days.
Passion fruit vine from our neighbours yard strays over our side of the fence each year. I am very happy that it has started to flower. I can just taste passionfruit ice-cream.

I have finally found a plant that I hope will not mind sitting in wet soil from the runoff of my air conditioner. It is mint which for me is difficult to grow. We will see.

A bugs life

2010-01-20T12:08:00.003+10:00

There is nothing quite like an organic garden to provide nourishing food for bugs. We have fat healthy caterpillars of every colour and size and the variety of grasshoppers needs to be seen to be believed. Green, yellow, black – you name the colour and we have it. I used to kill caterpillars eating my plants but then Sonia made the comment that I was killing butterflies. Now I am no butterfly killer so our caterpillars are now free to grow fat and mature into their much more interesting butterfly incarnation.

But there are some bugs that really test my limits. The stink bug definitely fits into this category. Not only do they eat the leaves of my citrus trees but they squirt out a horrible foul smelling liquid when they feel threatened (which can be as little as me walking past). The smell is disgusting especially when we have trees full of these pests. The organic solution is to knock them off the trees into a bucket of detergent but the thought of how I would smell after this option has left me procrastinating.

Well this last week, I have found a family (well more like a city) of these bugs in my small struggling grapefruit tree and they have provided an interesting study for daily photos. So here we have baby to adult.

I even put together a quick layout.

Have a great day!

Back in the Garden

2010-01-16T09:15:00.001+10:00

Work has been busy but still keeping up with photo a day. We have had no rain so it is a wonderful excuse to stand in the garden at dusk with a hose in my hand watering the vegetables. We have very strict water restrictions here and are only allowed to water from our own tanks. So if we can get a few storms a week or even 1, I should be able to collect enough runoff from the roof to have enough water.

Our rain lilies have seeded.

I want a photo each week to track my vegetable garden so decided to add my shadow.

I came back from overseas so fit but after 3 weeks it has gone. It is just so hot and humid here there is little fun in walking but I need to do something. So I got out of bed at 6am this morning and went for a walk. With of course my camera (and Harry the terrier).

I **** work!

2010-01-14T05:50:00.002+10:00

Here is today’s photo.

Yes I love work and after stressful meetings I just love driving home in this sort of traffic for over an hour.

So much for today!

But for those asking about the flower yesterday, it is a Heliconia Rostrata (aka Crabs Claw). It is very easy to grow here in the sub tropics. The flowers are stunning but difficult to display in a vase as the flowers hang down so you need to cut off the main branch. I’ll take another photo tomorrow to show you what I mean.

And the dogs are OK. Sigh of relief!! No snake bite......

Another Snake Encounter…..

2010-01-13T05:40:00.000+10:00

Our grass is long with recent rain and I know that there are snakes around.

See this recent post of mine.

I had just taken the photo below when the dogs started barking next to me.

There were Harry and Cheetah on both sides of (and mm from) a metre long snake that was coiled with head reared up and tail thrashing. I screamed out for my daughters to take the camera and managed to grab Harry and deposit him inside. Cheetah, our near blind 14 year old Kelpie, was not paying any attention to me as usual. She just wanted to catch the snake but had forgotten that she was a geriatric. What to do?

I rushed inside to our laundry, grabbed the bucket of soaking clothes and threw contents of bucket over dog and snake. While dog is shaking herself off, I manage to grab her collar and deposit her inside. Snake has meanwhile slithered off behind garbage bin below this flower.

And of course I have been without shoes all along….

I checked our snake identification book (thanks Dad) and believe it was probably only a type of whip snake which would only have harmed the dogs so we are keeping an eye on both of them to see if they show any sickness. We have had many whip snakes in the yard in the past but they have all been smaller.

This snake was too long and angry for my liking!

And no I don’t have a photo.

January 10 and 11

2010-01-12T06:00:00.002+10:00

And still in my garden for the daily photo. How long will it be before I have photographed every single bush and tree? Lets wait and see ....

Our neighbours have planted a rainforest tree on a small ledge in their yard and right on our fence. Yes it is crazy! The only consolation is that when it flowers it attracts the rainbow lorikeets. And if I hang out of my study window upstairs, I am able to take photos of birds like this.

Photo of the sole mango that has survived on our tree. So sad.... Drought then torrential rain just does not suit this variety and fruit splits and drops to the ground. I check every morning just waiting until it ripens.

Photo was taken late afternoon and was another needing Lightroom assistance...

It's Monday and I would prefer to be in .....

2010-01-11T01:00:00.057+10:00

I would definitely prefer to be somewhere cooler and am entranced by the snow scenes in Europe, America and China over the last week. It reminds me just how much I miss seasons. We have Winters here that would be the envy of most of Europe as a Summer. Yet I don't want Summer all year round and a view from my window that varies little from month to month. I really miss seasons!

So where would I prefer to be today. Rural Shanxi in North China.

I spent many years living in China and this is my favourite area of the whole country. There was a time when it was the most familiar place to me in all the world. It is poor and the people are hardy. Winters were usually dry but very cold with temperatures dropping to -20C. Even when it snows the snow is dry and I remember my amazement at not being able to form a snowball. Snow was just white dust in my hands. In winter the countryside is grey/brown with no colour until Chinese New Year when doors and windows are pasted with cutouts of red characters welcoming spring or bright poster drawings of peaches and chubby babies.

In the years 1982-1989, I travelled in this area often and extensively.The local long distance buses were irregular and scarce so we often just walked for miles and miles knowing we were never far from a village.

This photo was taken late afternoon in the area of Hengshan in the Winter of 1983. We had visited a monastery and as there were no buses had to walk back down the hill to the local town where we were spending the night. I seem to recall that for the last part we managed to get a lift on a tractor but perhaps that was another time. The houses in the village all faced south, both to take advantage of the sunlight and to escape the full force of wind and dust storms which came down from Mongolia in the Spring. But this was Winter and the temperature is dropping rapidly as the sun sets. Smoke rises from chimneys. It is beautiful. Yes I would love to go back both in time and place.

Another 2 days of my garden

2010-01-09T19:37:00.000+10:00

Nothing like rain and sunshine to bring a garden to life. And of course the caterpillars and grasshoppers are also enjoying the new fresh foliage. Here are photos of the last 2 days.

I did not have the heart to kill this grasshopper eating the fresh rose leaves. Just look at those eyes.

I love green and sunlight through my pot of lemon grass gives wonderful colour.

We are now on to week 2 of 2010

2010-01-08T18:00:00.000+10:00

I wasn't planning to do a layout for each week but found some very basic templates and decided to take the plunge. Here is week 1:

Credits: Designs by Leora at Little Dreamer Designs. I am really happy with the result! Each day after selecting my photo, I just plonk it into the template, write a line of notes and that is it. Easy peasy!

Lunch out today

2010-01-06T18:01:00.001+10:00

The girls are still on Summer holidays and we decided today to eat out for lunch. I got home from work at lunchtime and needed a break so what better than dragons, ducks and gluten free food.

Isn't he handsome? I love Eastern Water Dragons and this male (yes colour equals male) was really in prime plumage and showing off. He was sitting just next to our table. How wonderful to integrate nature into a restaurant! This is my photo for today and so easy to scrap.

I used this month's Guild Kit; credits here .

Only 360 more days to go

2010-01-05T17:45:00.000+10:00

Well it sounds better than day 4 and day 5 of "photo a day" when I am struggling to find a photo. The sky is overcaste so I think it is the greyness of colours. So much easier to be inspired with light and shadow.

So here are my photos which introduce our 2 dogs who feature in the blog header. Cheetah is getting on for 14 years old and is an Australian Kelpie. She is bossy and has always been a leader. She has us all organised and lets us know if any bird dares to land in a tree in the garden. She loves chasing snakes and lizards and will bark continuously at the possums in the trees at night who of course totally ignore her.

Harry is the only male in the house and the youngest at 7 years old. He will always be my baby boy. His major responsibility is to look after my youngest daughter (who thinks this is a total joke). But he takes his job seriously and stays at the front door each afternoon until she arrives home from school.

He is cute though isn't he!

It's Monday and I would prefer to be in .....

2010-01-04T00:01:00.024+10:00

I don't like Monday's. I love the weekend of indulgence. Digging in my garden, reading, scrapbooking, art journal pondering and then brutally Monday morning is back to WORK. And work to me is stress which I hope will change if I can change jobs this year. Fingers crossed XXXXX.

Anyway to assist me I am going to post a photo on Monday morning of a place where I would rather be. Well this is easy given that I would rather be anywhere than work. So where would I like to be today?

I would like to turn back the clock 2 weeks. Sitting on a beach Ngapali, in Myanmar. Sun setting over the Bay of Bengal, dinner for 3 of the freshest seafood costing USD8 which of course includes a can of Myanmar Beer. No sound of traffic, just the sound of waves on the rocks and beach. Looking out to the sea, the lights of the cuttlefish fishermen on the horizon. And the most amazing sunset ....

Hard to imagine why I would want to be here, isn't it?

Day 3 and playing with Lightroom Beta 3

2010-01-03T16:41:00.001+10:00

I downloaded the beta version and have spent an hour playing around with photos taken for PAD 2010. I don't want to import too many photos into this version as the blurb says that the program needs to be deleted and then reinstalled if upgrading. I am assuming that sidecar files are deleted???

Anyway here is today photo. I darkened the dark areas and added a dark vignette. I love the effect.

The white is not so overexposed. Perhaps I should just learn how to not overexpose bright colours. This was never a problem with film just digital. Still so much to learn... Sometimes I wish for the good old days of Kodachrome 64.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Garden rain

2010-01-02T20:57:00.001+10:00

Recent rain has been timely for my late planting of the Summer garden. I spent Boxing Day putting in Snake and Winged Beans, Sunflowers, Rockmelon and Cucumbers. All seeds but now they are sprouting. Back now to daily watering as clouds dissipate into humidity.

We lost some plants while away so I went out this morning and bought a blueberry bush, rosella, tumeric, parsley, red papaya (thinking of fresh papaya juice with a dash of lime), chillis and ornamentals for front door basket.

Happy New Year

2010-01-01T08:04:00.002+10:00

Happy New Year everyone. I hope the year brings you joy and the fullfillment of all your wishes. For ourselves we are hoping for a year free of sickness. Focus word for this year is health.

Coming back to a daily ordinary life after travelling is never easy. While we were away we had an unexpected guest who decided that a vacant yard with plenty to eat and covered comfortable accommodation would be ideal. Here he is - Son of Slither.

On the first day, he decided that the barbecue would make a good home but with dogs barking and circling he moved.

On day 2 he decided to move into the empty China pot next to our back door but with a day of me taking photographs he decided to move on. Even he is trying to evade the camera! I suspect he has moved to our garden shed but I will wait a while to check this out.

And if you are wondering about the name, he is called Son of Slither as we had another Carpet Python a couple of years back in our yard but that one was nearly 3 metres long and she was nicknamed slither. The son (maybe??) is only a baby and probably not much more than a metre.

And if anyone is wondering these snakes are not poisonous although can give a bite but do eat small animals and birds etc. This is the reason our little Aussie Terrier sleeps inside at night.

Have a wonderful year everyone.

We are home

2009-12-28T11:28:00.000+10:00

And after a few days at home with Christmas it seems as if we have never been away...

I have just finished downloading photos onto my computer. I shot raw photos this time but took far less photos than planned. I was wondering why until on one of the last days of our trip when sitting in the back of an open jeep on dirt roads ravaged by monsoons (so holding on with both arms locked onto seat and railing) I realised that for a large part of this trip I had not actually been able to hold a camera with even one hand. It was the experience and memory. And there are so many memories.

Here is one photo to complement my previous post and photo from 2004.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Just another 10 days and we will be here....

2009-11-22T07:03:00.000+10:00

It is so hard to believe that it was the end of 2004 when these photos were taken. Sonia especially looks so young.

Visit to see Co-Co (and Grandma and Grandad)

2009-11-20T16:20:00.001+10:00

It was only a long weekend but a wonderful long weekend. So much fun for everyone. Co-Co may not have liked being chased with the Girls new camera but the walks more than made up for it. Here Mum and Dad are some photos straight out of the camera. When I get a chance, I'll edit the flash/eye colour.

Happy Birthday to Grandma, Grandad, Sonia and everyone else.

And here is Co-Co trying to avoid the camera rather unsuccessfully.

One very happy girl.

And a little maintenance of that beautiful coat.

Thanks Mum and Dad (and Co-Co) for such a great weekend!

Some recent travel layouts

2009-10-07T17:41:00.000+10:00

Well not necessarily recent, as in today, but they were completed in the last couple of months. This is what brought me to scrapbooking and will always be central. The photo to me is the most important and then the adornment with papers and elements but only for the creation of atmosphere. I am definitely not a "kit" scrapper.

This layout shows the ancient city of Old Marib in Yemen. We arrived just as the sun was setting. What a sight.

I love this photo of the 2 girls in the doorway of their home in a town in Yemen.

And here is one of the back lakes of the imperial palace in Beijing. I have spent many hours here.

Hunza has been romantisiced as ShangriLa and you can understand why. Scenery that cannot be matched anywhere in the world.

And just across the border in Tashkurgan, now China but ethnically moslem and diverse.

Bagan, Myanmar. Just 2 more months and we will return.

And here is the layout

2009-10-06T20:16:00.009+10:00

Well I just could not resist playing around with this photo.

For credits please click on layout.

A Day at the Beach

2009-10-03T07:58:00.001+10:00

We spent a few hours at the beach yesterday. It was warm but the full force of Summer has not yet hit us. We never go to the beach in Summer as the thought of frying in the glare and hot sand just does not appeal. It is school holidays but we managed to get away from the crowds and find some rocks to clamber on.

It is still fun to write your name in the sand.

Relaxing in the rock pools.

Fun to stand on rocks as the waves come in.

And you wanted to go out to this furthest rock. Next time we should bring swimmers.

It was a wonderful day out to end the holidays.

Favourite Photos

2009-10-02T07:55:00.000+10:00

Work has been so busy that I have not had time to work on scanning in my colleciton of slides but looking through those that I have scanned is always a wonderful way to bring back memories. One of my favourite photos was one I took of a monk in Tibet over 20 years ago. He invited us in and allowed photos. The room (which was his bedroom and kitchen) was dark with sunlight streaming in the windows. The sun is so strong in Tibet in the rarefied air and always gives so much contrast in photos. I took 3 photos and they were all reasonable even though I remember leaning against a wall as I was probably shooting at less than 1/30.

Here is a double page layout of these photos.

Don't you just love the kitchen and Butter tea churner in the corner all in brass and wood.

What have I been doing today?

2009-10-01T17:06:00.001+10:00

Counting pixels!

The blog has not had a makeover for quite a while so I thought I would quickly update the elements. The trouble was I had forgotten all about padding and margins and whether padding is on the inside or out etc etc. Anyway it is now complete and I am happy with the result.

Here is an altered art layout created from the October kit at the Artisan Guild. Amber loves it as yellow is her favourite colour.

Can you believe that today is the first of October!

Ouch

2009-09-21T10:18:00.003+10:00

This one is for you Mum and Dad. Does this bring back memories??

Poor boy!

Catching up

2009-09-20T20:34:00.004+10:00

The last couple of months have just slipped by with memories of too many visits to the doctors. We all caught a couple of flu viruses but are now finally getting on top of the tiredness. I have missed many days of photos but want to get back into it as I somehow reset all my settings on my camera and need to spend some time reading through the manual again.

I have completed a few layouts recently but the big exercise has been a travel book of our last trip overseas.

And as I have been stressing about all the work I need to catch up on due to days off sick, I created this layout to hang above the desk. Have a great week everyone!

Start of the Month and another Guild Kit

2009-09-02T19:29:00.005+10:00

I always love the start of the month with the surprise of a new Guild Kit. This months kit is called Best Laid Plans and is available to Guild members here.

Recent Layouts

2009-08-19T20:08:00.002+10:00

I just love these photos of Mum and I taken in Penang. And Mum here are some of the comments:

"That is one of the most beautiful mother with new baby photographs I've ever seen. Your mother is so lovely and what a precious baby you were. "

"Your mother could be in Vogue today and look perfect!!"
etc etc

So Dad, from now officially I take after Mum.

What a dog! Spoilt??? Of course not.

Well maybe a little....

August Guild Kit - Lyrical Romance

2009-08-12T07:48:00.003+10:00

I especially love the colours in this months Guild kit. And Debb has outdone herself in creating the beautiful clusters which really make putting a layout together very easy. You can find details on purchasing the kit here: http://www.digitalscrapbookartisanguild.com/guild/index.shtml

These are the kit previews and my first layout:

Remember

2009-06-04T21:09:00.001+10:00

June 4 1989 Tian An Men Square

Some photos I took a few days before the tanks moved in.

One Kit Call

2009-06-04T15:40:00.007+10:00

I love the opportunity on some of the forums to be able to respond to one kit calls. It certainly gives you the opportunity to try different styles and meet some interesting people. Oksana has just released a new kit "Beautiful Life" which is packed with floral elements which are just gorgeous. But what I loved most were the masks and blending elements. Here is the kit and my layout:

For those who are interested in looking at the kit, you can find it here:

http://digitalpixelpixies.com/index.php?main_page=index&manufacturers_id=16&zenid=e046a44947faead27b7b1614866a2bfe

Tom Boy Papers

2009-05-24T11:35:00.006+10:00

The papers of this collection by Raspberry Road, I absolutely love. Not sure if it is the colours or the retro designs but they definitley have my name on them.... They can be found here:

http://raspberryroaddesigns.net/shoppe/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=2&products_id=709&zenid=62c6afcf716f2fa64567c9f28390aa70

Have a great weekend!

Flood layouts...

2009-05-21T17:26:00.004+10:00

Well playing last night and these are 2 layouts that I came up with. The water was wild! I always love seeing the power of nature.

If you have been wondering about the absence from this blog - my excuse is life and computer problems got in the way. I now have a new computer but believe it or not it has some problems and has a habit of booting into power down mode. The last time I managed to get it to boot into Windows (from windows vista disk) took 2 days!! So to complete these layouts and finish some documents for work, I have had my computer on for the last week. As long as I don't crash it, I am OK. When I finish work tomorrow, I'll take it in for repairs. Wish me luck!

Rain and more rain ......

2009-05-21T07:05:00.003+10:00

We received over a third of our expected annual rainfall yesterday with extensive flash flooding. These photos are of the creek where we walk most days with the dogs. Our usual path is under at least 3 m of water but I couldn't resist taking some photos as the rain eased. I really needed a tripod as it was quite dark but it was difficult enough trying to take some quick shots in the rain.

Sonia was happy as her school had to close for the afternoon and she was hoping it would also be raining today but alas we have an absolutely gorgeous morning with that beautiful clarity that comes when everything has been well washed.

Dog Wash

2009-03-06T13:30:00.003+10:00

This is DD2 heading off to the bus stop yesterday morning. She has not let me take a photo of her in the wonderful new school uniform so I took this without her knowing from behind. The chinese writing is just her chinese name.

And here is one miserable boy. Harry hates water and won't even go outside when it rains. This to him is the height of torture - his once a month bath.

You can just see what he is thinking!

Flowers Quiz

2009-03-06T13:23:00.003+10:00

From the quiz here: http://www.blogthings.com/whatdotheflowersyoupicksayaboutyouquiz/

Roses Say You're Very Affectionate

You are a classic romantic who believes in true love.You often experience deep emotions and feel warmth toward almost everyone.You are a bundle of positive feelings and sweetness.You can are easily hurt, and people should be careful with your heart. .....

Yes I definitely love roses but only where there is fragrance and beauty. They are so hard to grow in our climate that there seems no point if you cannot grow them for the vase and also cook with them.

Best friends

2009-03-05T05:18:00.003+10:00

We have 2 dogs in our home and our old kelpie adores DD1. They share many cuddles each day. DD2 on the other hand is looked after by our little Aussie Terrier.

Credits to Vinnie Pearce with details in DST gallery.

A new week

2009-03-04T08:51:00.002+10:00

This dragonfly actually stood still while I rushed upstairs to grab my camera then spent forever manually focusing.

I always love the shades of clouds at sunset.

This is not a good photo at all but this is the first time we have had a king parrot in the yard. There were a pair of them. This is the male with the bright orange head and green body. The female is green.

Enjoy your week everyone!

I'm back....

2009-02-28T13:05:00.006+10:00

Well all my ideas of maintaining the photo a day evaporated when issues in real life intruded... So I have missed a few days. Here are the photos that were taken on the days I remembered and had a moment to think.

Here is Harry this morning enjoying tug with Sonia.

Glorious sunset.

Sonia has a new bed and mattress! It is exciting for her.

Harry sleeps on his pillow with one of his toys in my bathroom at night. We have too many snakes outside and I would hate trouble with a python so this is where he ends up tired and grumpy every night.

I loved the early morning shadow of this magpie on the pole outside our house.

Sonia often plays with the dogs on the floor. I love the faces in this photo!

We rarely get Summer storms now but this one was wonderful.

Not sure what type of bulb this is but it flowers a couple of days after each rain.

Enjoy your weekend!

Another busy week...

2009-02-15T13:13:00.003+10:00

This morning Amber and I decided to walk the dogs before the full force of the heat and humidity hit. It was wonderful down by the creek behind our home which is full of water after the last weeks rain. The weather was just so good for a couple of days. I actually slept without airconditioning! The ducks are enjoying the fresh water.

This is a typical photo of Harry waiting at the back door to come in. He is a very timid dog and always wants to be around family.

No this is not just any grass - this is my pot of lemon grass which is perfect for Thai cooking. I keep it in a pot as it needs buckets of water so the pot is placed under the overflow of my water tanks. And yes we had rain this week!!

This dove I found out is an introduced species to Australia (from Asia) but I think they are sweet. This one was picking twigs out of my gutters (what a selection) to build a nest. Yes I know I have to clean out the gutters..

This one was a last minute photo of a shelf of the bookcase behind me. I love collecting old books or more specifically old travel books. And no guessing my favourite - Sven Hedin. Now there is a man I would love to have met.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone and thanks for your comments! As to the fires in Southern Australia there are some still raging but at the moment are not a threat to property and seem to be contained.

Fires still burning ....

2009-02-10T19:15:00.003+10:00

Our news is dominated by the fires still burning. There are over 180 people dead and the toll rises as the ruins of burnt out homes are discovered.

Looking at today's photo you could think it was Winter. But no, this is a dead tree (from the drought) and a grey sky with temperatures high and humidity close to 100%. Just to walk outside is to sweat or as Sonia says "Boys sweat but girls perspire".

Every morning I am woken pre dawn at around 4:40am by a chorus of birds. At that time it is the kookaburras and koels but later once the sun is up it is the wonderful chorus of magpies as they are here on the wires at the front of our house.Have a great week everyone!