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This is my photo for the group 52 in 2015 - #31, Fill the frame with colour. This is a macro of some of my colourful crackle beads that I have in my stash.
This is my photo for the group 52 in 2014 0 #12 Fruity. I have been trying to diet and when I see such a tasty delight, my resolve goes out the window LOL.
When we were driving around Kruger, we came across a man peering into the bushes taking photographs. We looked but couldn't see anything. When we asked, he pointed to this little head peering out from the long grass. We turned the car around so I could get a better shot through my window and as we came back to the spot, I spotted this other Hyena laying on the grass on the other side of the road. The other man had already left, so he missed out on that sighting. It shows how luck plays a big part when you drive around the game parks.
It is a really cold day in Sydney today - the temp is supposed to reach 16C, but with the wind chill factor it feels so much colder. I think it must be snowing in the mountains. I am not complaining as I still prefer the cold to the extreme heat of Summer, although I think the heater will be going on soon. This is a photo from the archives.
Some of the beautiful scenery that we saw on our way to the Isle of Skye in Scotland - spectacular scenery.
I have decided to join Nina on her challenge to take a flower photo a day for 365 days.
www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/
Something a little different for today. We have this magpie who visits us numerous times a day for meat to feed it's young.
Today it landed on the lavender plant, so I grabbed the camera and snapped off a few photos.
A selection of photos taken as we were leaving Kruger - the afternoon light was so beautiful at that time of day.
This is my photo for the 52 in 2014 group - #50, Equine. These are Playmobil horses that I have amongst some vintage Playmobil from when my children were little. My grandchildren love playing with them and it has lasted through three children and so far eight grandchildren. It shows how entertaining some toys can be for many generations.
I have decided to join Nina on her challenge to add a flower photo a day for 365 days.
www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/
This photo is of a larvae of a black and yellow ladybird (Fungus-eating Ladybird (Illeis galbula)) that lives on our squash leaves which I spotted on an African Daisy in my garden. I have seen many adult, but not many larvae.
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument in Wiltshire, England, about 2 miles west of Amesbury and 8 miles north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is the remains of a ring of standing stones set within earthworks.
We visited Stonehenge twice - once it was an overcast day and the next day it was sunny so I thought I would try for some photos in sunshine, but the weather had other ideas LOL.
I found this information for people who said that they used to walk among the stones. You still can on special access passes.
Special Access Visits
During normal opening hours you cannot walk up to the stones themselves.
The nearest you will get to the stones is about 10 yards, the monument being roped off by a low barrier, (see picture below).
However it is possible to walk up to and among the stones at Stonehenge outside public opening hours. These are called Special Access visits. During these sessions of one hour duration, only 26 people are allowed onto Stonehenge going beyond the barriers and walking amongst the stones.
The fact that these Stonehenge Special Access visits are outside public opening hours mean that they are at dawn or evening. Given that London is 2 hours drive from London this obviously provides logistical issues in getting there.
The Special Access Visits are also immensely popular, demand far outstrips supply and they are often sold out months in advance.
A neighbour gave me a cutting of this plant three years ago just before our trip to South Africa. Sadly he died during the trip and although the plant continued to thrive, it never flowered. I was surprised to walk into the garden a week or so back and spotted a flower had emerged.
I just found this amongst my archives and after my dreamy dandelion upload yesterday, I decided this would be a good shot for today. I didn't notice the bug until today.
This is a photo for the 52 in 2015 group - #45, something beginning with "D". I have some beautiful Dahlias that have come up in my wheelbarrow garden. I planted them last year, but didn't expect them to flower again this year - what a surprise.
I haven't been out in the garden much lately as it has been too hot and I don't really function in the heat, so I tend to stay indoors in the airconditioning.
Merry Christmas everyone. Santa has already been here as some of my friends are still in bed. May you all have a wonderful Christmas surrounded by family and friends.
This is my Christmas tree laden with ornaments - I love each and everyone. They all have a special meaning to me.
Australia has a lot of big attractions such as The Big Prawn, The Big Banana, The Big Pineapple. I remember visiting The Big Banana when I was young and it seemed huge, but as we drove by on the way to Hervey Bay, we both said "is that all" LOL. The Big Prawn stands 9 metres high and weighs 35 tonne.
I took this photo through Peter's window. It was sometimes difficult to take photos of the baboons as they don't normally stay still for long, but this one was sitting in the middle of the road and looked up at the camera just as I took the photo.
As you can see, we had lovely weather during our trip to Hervey Bay - the temps were around 22-24C most days. I have come back to reality now that I am home in Sydney, but still not bad compared to those of my Northern Hemisphere friends.
This is also my photo for the group 52 in 2014 - #35 Water.
I had put these pretty Cosmos flowers in the watering can so I could take some photos as it was quite breezy and after I had finished taking photos, my little granddaughter had fun with them for quite a while (they did survive and are in a vase on my bench LOL). She loves being in the garden with me when I water the plants and I have to keep filling up her little watering can so she can help. Most of the water ends up on her though LOL. The other day she watered her shoes and socks.
We fly out later today for Hong Kong. In some way, I wish we coulld just stop on the plane and fly straight home to Australia. I know it will be fun once we get there, but the thought of lugging heavy bags around is making me so tired LOL.
This is my photo for the 52 in 2015 challenge - #19 - Elegant or elegance. My daughter was wearing this bracelet yesterday and I thought it looked so elegant that I decided to photograph it for the challenge.
Hong Kong is such a bustling place to wander around - so many sights to see, and everything is OTT but very interesting to see.
We called in to an Ostrich Farm for a tour of how they breed ostriches on the farm - a very interesting tour which finished with an ostrich race. I had the chance to sit on an ostrich, but declined LOL, but did pat a friendly one.
We haven't had much internet during our travels so far.
This is my entry for the 52 in 2014 challenge - #29, unfinished or incomplete. When I travel overseas I always take applique squares to blanket stitch while I am away and when I come home, I sew them into a quilt. These are some of the applique squares waiting to be sewn together into a quilt top.
We saw quite a few birds when driving around Kruger. Some stayed for photos, most didn't. I am not sure what type of eagle this is, but someone may help me with an ID. I did see a photo of one that looks similar - African Hawk-Eagle (Aquila spilogaster) Afrikaans: Grootjagarend
I suppose if one is a Crow, then a ruined Castle really is a desirable residence, especially one with a view.
Out of the three fog images, this one is my fave because the sun had got low enough that everything had a golden hue - except the Castle that is!
I was looking through my past uploads and I have only ever posted one other photo of the Castle so I will have to rectify that now that I have my Canon and shooting in Camera Raw.
I find this Castle so fascinating that I would love to write a book about it, and who knows, perhaps one day I will get around to doing it!!
EXPLORED NO.304
Bit of a surreal image as the reflection of Ballinameen Bridge over the River Agivey (in Garvagh) is mirrored so perfectly.
It was one of those rare days when there wasn't a breath of wind and if it wasn't for the couple of fish breaking the surface and leaving those ripples it really would be like looking at a mirror.
Garvagh is a Plantation Village, settled in the mid 1600's so I am assuming that the bridge dates from around the same date as they would have needed the access into the forest.
And don't let that calm surface fool you because its very deep here and the river runs very fast especially as there is a weir just out of shot (where the wretched Heron sits and cackles at me because I can't sneak up to get a close shot).
This river also forms part of the Atlantic Salmon Run and is very popular with anglers. Back in 2001 a chap broke the record and caught a 22lb salmon here, took him several hours to bring him to the bank, this salmon was a MONSTER!!
AND its reason no.1003 why I don't swim in the sea as I would be definitely walking on water if I saw a 22lb salmon swimming underneath me!!!
I watched this bird for quite a while - it was splashing around in the bird bath near Lower Sabie Rest Camp in Kruger.
I have had visitors for a couple of days - catch up with everyone later.
I am adding this photo for another challenge that I have undertaken. 52 weeks of photos:
www.flickr.com/groups/2091381@N22/
This weeks theme is "water". As I can't go out and take a photo due to my surgery, I am adding this beautiful view of the beach at Forster that I took a while ago.
Sometimes, I just have to look outside our front door to see a photo opportunity.
The fields have had their hay bales collected, some fields have been tilled and those tilled are now getting their dose of lime.
That's what Farmer Hezlett was doing tonight as I walked past the door and everything was just golden from the sun going down and the lime dust looked like mist.
We've had Anne and Peter (Crafty1tutu) stay with us for the last couple of days and I have been catching up on all the gossip from Oz.
Mind I am the World's worst hostess as I had one of my attacks and slept for 24 hours.
One day we will have guests staying and I will manage to keep awake for their whole visit!!
This is my photo for the challenge 52 in 2015 - #42 Star. This is a Swarovski star with some little Swarovski beads.
We are staying in Johannesburg for the night in a lovely hotel near the airport as it is too late to begin the 5 hour drive to Marloth Park, so one more night of internet. I have a couple of puzzle books to keep me occupied whilst in Marloth Park so imagine how much more brainy I will be at the end of the week LOL.
I have decided to join Nina on her challenge to take a flower photo a day for 365 days.
www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/
My hand is a bit sore today. I have found I have a couple of good days and then a couple of bad days to bring me down to earth LOL. I am still trying to take it easy, but it is so boring. Thanks to Brian @ Bury St Edmunds (UK) I now have an ID - "Peruvian Lily".
While we were staying in Bexhill, East Sussex, we did day drives to surrounding areas. We drove to Dover to see the castle and the white cliffs. We walked around the edge of the cliffs along a little pathway (a bit scary due to the wind), but I heard worse news a few weeks ago - some of the cliff face had fallen into the sea. I suppose they have closed off the pathway now and I wonder if it was anywhere near the path we walked along. I caught Peter scratching his initials into some of the chalk - bad boy Peter!!!..
This is my photo for the 52 in 2015 challenge - #8 - I bought this today. I received these beautiful Swarovski beads today in the mail. I have so many beads, but couldn't resist buying more LOL. Nothing sparkles quite like Swarovski beads.
As we were driving to Warwick in Queensland to spend the night we were driving into what looked like a massive storm. The clouds were impressive, but apart from some rain, it was a bit of a fizzer LOL. Taken through the windscreen.
We are sitting here waiting for the shuttle bus to take us to the airport where our long journey begins. We have a three hour wait before we board the plane and then around 23 hours in the air. This is the part that I do not really enjoy, but I know the end result will be amazing. I can't wait to touch down at Heathrow and begin our travels around the UK.
#233 on Explore on 19th August, 2015
On the weekend I wandered around our garden with the 70-200 and the 2 x extender on the camera to see how I would handle carrying the heavy equipment while we are away. I found it quite painful, but as a lot of my photos will be taken from the car in safari parks, I think it will be fine. I plan to take a monopod and a bean bag (which will fit over the door/window jamb which will help, I am sure.
I went to see the surgeon today after having x-rays and an ultrasound on my wrist on Friday. He showed me on the x-ray a spot near my wrist which could be a tumour or ganglion and he now wants me to have an MRI. I had one on my right wrist and I would say that it was the most horrible test that I have ever had to endure, so he suggested that it be done under sedation. I am booked in for next Thursday - this seems to be a neverending saga. It seems unlikely that anything can be done to ease the pain before we leave for our trip on the 16th July.
When we went on a game drive around the camp that we stayed near Ellisras, we came across a few giraffe. I was surprised to see one sitting under a tree, as all the giraffes we had seen before were standing tall.
This is a Banksia flower that is growing in the front garden. The flowers are very interesting to wacth the different stages of growth - I will add some other photos later.
We are going up to see Peter's Dad today. He was in hospital overnight for an operation and he has been a little cranky this morning to say the least LOL. We were told he would be ready for release at around 11 am but he is ringing everyone wanting to know what is happening at 8.30 as he is dressed and sitting in a chair in his hospital room - he is ready now.
We are back - Peter's Dad is quite out of it due to the effects of the anaesthetic, but we have been told this should wear off in a day or two. When we left, he was resting comfortably.
This is a tiny mouse that I made for my sister in law. I vowed I would never make something so small again, but she saw my little white mouse and requested one to go with her lilac kitty cat I made for her birthday a few years ago. It was as fiddly as the first one LOL.
I will be away for a few days visiting my brother and his wife and I am not sure whether I will be able to spend time on the internet, so I will be in touch when I can.
I wasn't going to call him Boy George as I think Squirrel is prettier than he is, with or without make up!!
The other squirrel who appeared on our fence last year (and never returned at least when I am around) I think is Boy Cutie's mother.
Squirrel's like most animals are territorial and if there is a gourmet food source on their door step, even more so.
In fact last month, I had another squirrel appear on the fence that was tiny but bub disappeared when I went for my camera and sigh, haven't seen that one back either!!
I so wish I could have a relationship with the Squirrels like I did with my Australian Possums as I truly, truly miss them and the experience I had with them, I will probably never experience again.
Do feel a tad guilty about loving grey squirrels as they are an introduced species from America and they have decimated the red squirrel population which are native to the UK.
The greys carry a virus, harmless to their genus but deadly to the reds as it attacks their brain.
That was why I was so excited at the thought of seeing red squirrels in Muff Forest as they really are very rare in Northern Ireland.
I'm not giving up on Muff though!!
I have decided to join Nina on her challenge to add a flower photo a day for 365 days.
www.flickr.com/photos/21560098@N06/
A repost of a ladybird on a cactus - I have added an action called Little Miss Muffet.