day 42 {play} 365

some days it is impossible for me to pick
up my camera, let alone post a photo
yesterday was one of those days

so, i'm posting one from
earlier in the year
that i love

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{stages}

I was outside playing with my camera the other day and shot this.

I love the different stages on the one plant.

Reminds me of life.

And people.

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Alia's Op Shop Find

Alia found this fairy dress when we were at the op shop the other day.

She put it on as soon as we got home !

The kids loved shopping

at the op shop !

I am

glad they did

because we were in there

for almost and hour. It was a big one

and there was just so much to look at ~ and so many

great bargains. I was after plates and bowls and pretty things for

my food photography. I took photos to show you what I found ! I'm hoping

to have those posted for you tomorrow !! Anyway ... as we were leaving the shop ... one

of the kids said "that was the best shop EVER !"

Like I said ... they loved it !

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Ch {A} lk

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Life is Like A Box of Roller Blades

She's six.
She wants to roller blade.
She gets her bother's blades on and off she goes.

She falls.

She gets up.



She falls again.



She gets up again.



Over and over.
Until finally,



she gets it !

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precious gems ...

jono and i have been having an ongoing discussion about opals
at the museum the other day we saw a display on precious gems
this furthered our discussion but this time i was able to point to the display as i explained
and then on the way to the train station we saw an opal dealer
and we talked again about the stones in the window

this morning he came running in from the back patio
asking if i thought this could be an opal

he found it in the back yard ...

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School Holidays ~ Day Four

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School Holidays ~ Day Three

to answer a couple of questions from yesterday ... 1.) we are eating churros. no i did not make them. we found a restaurant called 'chocolateria san churro' that makes them. the churros themselves are pretty close to authentic ... but they come with chocolate ... not hot chocolate ... to dip them in. but guess what ? my sister has previously posted a recipe to my cooking blog for churros. none of us have tried it out but if you all are keen ... here's the link !! 2.) ice age 3 was goooooooood ! it is my favorite of all three. i laughed throughout the ENTIRE movie. i'm serious ! 3.) it is the dead of winter here ... i know ! i love it !

my friend khrista sent us the most amazing package !! i cannot get green chiles here ... CAN NOT get them ... it's a crime really. but look at how many cans she sent me ! i can't wait to try this recipe. i've said it once, in fact i think i've said it twice but i'll say it again ... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU !!!!! can you see the other goodies she sent ? things i love but can't get here. bugles. corn nuts. bazooka gum !! and needle protectors for my knitting needles !

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School Holidays ~ Day One

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{cherish}

a small reminder


my baby girl loves her daddy
pictured here holding his hand on a fishing expedition
with him and uncle eddie

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{the same but different}

the kids had a day off from school yesterday. we spent a lazy morning at home doing laundry, planning the menu and doing the shopping on line ! our groceries arrived this morning and i've put them away already ! it's 7:38 am (love it) i couldn't do all the shopping on line though because i needed stuff for dinner last night. but that's a whole nother story.

getting back to this story ...

about lunch time, we finished hanging the last load of laundry and got ourselves packed up for an afternoon at the beach.

welcome to winter in queensland !!!

the kids actually wanted to swim but the best i'd go them is walking in the water, and dodging the spray of the waves on the rocks. i took my camera, of course, and many many photos were taken. last night, after the kids were in bed, and while rory watched the footy, i sat and played in GIMP.

i did this photo with many different effects and can't decide which one i like best. what do you think ??

this is the straight out of camera photo ...

if you are here visiting from melody's SOOC Saturday, you may want to stop reading here as the photo above is my submission for this week ... the photos below are anything BUT sooc !!! :)

here's my basic formatting ... what i usually do to most of my photos. i played with the curves, brightness and saturation just slightly and added a vignette to the edges and a black border around the outside.

here, i used 'apply threshold' and it changed to this lovely black and white. i used a white paintbrush to get rid of everything but the kids and their shadows ... added a black border too.

for this next one, i used the colorize feature and then messed with the hue, saturation and lightness to get this blue overall tone. i also rounded the corners.

after i'd done a few of these, i decided to do a few more. i really was just liking all of the effects that were happening and thought i'd just try some stuff that i'd never tried before. the next one was an accident. i was playing with the brightness and saturation to make it vibrant enough to change to a nice sepia or black and white but i liked what it did so left it.

what i did was make it quite bright and then pulled the saturation up as well. this made the background pretty much disappear. i used the clone tool to get rid of the little rocks in the sand as i wanted just the kids and their reflection left. i did a vignette and rounded the edges. i love vignettes !! do ya'll know how to do them ? i can do a little tutorial if any of you are interested. it's easy peasy ! just let me know in the comments ..

this last one might be my favorite. i don't know. i just can't choose. but i love what happened to the color of the sand and water !! i was messing with the 'auto' features on this one, where the program just does automatic adjustments. i used the auto equalize, auto white balance, auto color enhance and auto normalize. a little tweek with the brightness and contrast and here's what resulted ...

oh yeah, i rounded the corners on that one too !

so, tell me ... do you have a favorite ? and what is it about that particular one that makes it your favorite ??

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oh i love a rainy night

Quick ! Quick ! Come inside !
That rain is crazy and the wind ... sheesh, it's so strong !



Have a seat.
Alia's made you some raisin toast.

It was clear for a bit this morning.
Overcast but not raining.
The kids got to play outside for a little while.

And I did a bit of painting.

But then, the sky opened up.
Just like yesterday.

Rain.

Rain.

Rain.

Just look at my laundry basket.
I washed and hung about four loads of washing (two days ago) before I knew it was going to rain.
Of course it wasn't dry before the down pour started ...



I'm not complaining.
I don't mind a rainy day or two.
But I would have like to take the kids to the beach today.
They were home from school because
the teachers were all on
STRIKE !!

I won't tell you what I think of that nonsense ...

They go back to school tomorrow.
I wonder if the teachers achieved what they wanted to achieve ?

As for us, we found ways to amuse ourselves indoors.



Alia built a cubby house for her and her dolls.
They watched Strawberry Shortcake from inside it.



Jono spent a lot of the day on the couch, reading.
Our kitty cat could be found on the chair beside him.

And me ?
What did I get up to on this fine rainy day ?



I think I taught myself how to embroider !
Don't know if I'm doing it right.
I have a book that my sister in law loaned me and I tried to follow the stitches.
Here's my practice pieces.
I just made up the patterns using the stitches I was learning ...

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mothers day 2009

we spread blankets on our 'tuscan' patio



opened the umbrella

enjoyed a meal



prepared by Rory



watched the very few clouds in the sky



marveled at the quietness of our neighborhood



and enjoyed being together

***

happy happy happy mothers day !!!

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Sharing Tiny Teapots

A few days ago I mentioned feeling like I needed to make some changes.
I've been doing lots of thinking.
Processing.
Planning.
Yesterday I got the kids involved.
I'll post about that later in the week ...

One of the things I've really been feeling is the need to SLOW DOWN.

Life is busy.
That probably won't change.
But do I need to be running around at a hectic pace ?
Constantly frantic ?
I don't think so.

In the midst of the busyness, I'm scheduling in slow times.

One of the things I have decided is that I will walk the children to and from school everyday.
They ride their bikes. I walk.
The weather will be cooling soon so it will become quite pleasant.

It's not a long walk.
Probably takes us 10/15 minutes to get there.
That makes a 30 minute walk for me ... twice a day.
And half of that walk, I'm on my own.

This morning, I just looked at all the flowers

and birds

and clouds

and blue sky ...

It was nice.
Cleared my head.
Got my blood pumpin'.
A perfect way to start the morning.
Slowly ...

I've got more to share but it's time to head out to the school !
We'll talk more tomorrow.

For now though, why don't you tell me how you handle the busyness ?
Do you have intentionally slow times during your day or do you just go go go ?

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Sharing A Special Afternoon

~

I don't know about you but sometimes routine starts to get on my nerves.
Having both kids in school has set in motion a routine that I'm not used to.
Picking them both up, fixing a snack, helping with homework, cooking dinner, starting showers, reading stories, lights out ... it's the same. Day after day after day.
Sometimes I just need something different !!!!!!

Yesterday was that day.

After school, we came home, got changed, packed a bag and headed out on an 'outing'. We found a lovely little spot, halfway down a flight of stairs to one of our favorite beaches. We spread out a picnic blanket, shared a packet of salt and vinegar rice crackers and spent an hour or so sketching and taking photos before making out way down to the rocks to explore.

Jono said to me, while we were sitting, eating our snack.
"This is great. I love the water. The sound ...." and he let his thoughts drift off as we listened.
I was so proud of him.
He's such a perceptive and appreciate seven year old.
At one point in the afternoon, he called the ocean magnificent !

Alia decided that she couldn't draw and refused to even try for a while. Never one to let them say they can't do something, I kept encouraging her to give it a go and (to my surprise) she ended up changing her mind and doing some great little sketches !

It was such a nice change from our normal routine. I was thinking as we were leaving that I need to be more diligent in doing this sort of stuff with the kids on a regular basis.

Exploring.



Wondering. Marveling. Admiring.



Getting lost in the beauty. The serenity.



Feeling the cool breezes. Splashing in the water. Finding treasures.



Just being us. Together.

Peacefully.

I enjoyed it.

They enjoyed it.

We can't wait to do it again ...

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