A photo a day: Week 13

With a migraine this week I kind of didn't feel inspired to take photo's but they still happened, even if some of them were last minute "What am I going to take of photo of" kind of moment.  I spent last Saturday in bed sleeping, so Donald took my mum and the boys for a trip into the city.  On their return home Donald surprised me with a new lens for my camera and it was a biggie too.  He got me a new zoom lens 75-300mm, specially for the start of the soccer season.  Now I can take even closer action shots of the boys playing soccer.

March 25

I practiced with my new lens while the boys had trial games.  It works really well providing there is good light and you have a steady hand.    I managed to get some good shots too!  I didn't even have to crop this one much at all.  I love this one of Ethan with his hair flying as he goes in for a tackle.

March 26

As I've been under the weather this week, my mum has stepped in and has been cooking dinner, doing the washing and has defrosted both our fridge and our little freezer, they were getting very icy.  What a blessing it is to just be able to rest and not to have to worry about anything.

March 27

My mum made Apple roly poly for dessert.  It's just a home made pastry with apple rolled inside and baked in an apple sauce.  It's delicious warm with ice cream.

March 28

My self portrait for the week.  I was trying to take a photo of my new woolen jumper that I bought in the city, at least you can see the lovely Autumny colours of it.

March 29

A lovely long leisurely walk with Amelia.  I took my camera this time as it was such a beautiful morning.

March 30

It would have been my mum and dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary, so we had a lovely dinner with candles and our silver goblets full of lemon fizzy drink to help celebrate.

March 31

My how March has flown by, I can't believe it's the last day already.  The boys all had trial games today, at least they were all in the one place, so my mum, Amelia and I parked ourselves in the shade and watched the games.  Here Toby is on the sidelines waiting for a turn, I really like how Donald and Toby are holding hands, a sweet moment.

I'm linking up with Sarah in Catch Your Self again this week with my self portrait.

And I'm also linking up with Kris at Busy Nothings Photography Club with my photo of the month.

Another day out with the girls

Wednesday saw the girls getting together again, just for a short time though as it was a working day for Gabby, so Jan and I ventured into the city by train to meet with her for lunch.  We spent a bit of time admiring the beautiful (and some not so beautiful) clothes at Myers before dragging Gabby, kicking and screaming mind you, away from work.  We had lunch in a cafe somewhere not far from the Myer centre, I do not know it's name nor could I describe it's wearabouts, but it had a great view with a lovely big metal clock that kept tellling me it was a quarter to one.

We ordered our hot drinks and they came in a most unusual form.  Jan's latte came in a big soup bowl, Gabby's espresso came in a smaller bowl, and my hot chocolate came with a large bowl, a jug of melted chocolate and a jug of hot frothed milk for me to make my own.  It was rather delicious.

After lunch we went back to Myers for another look at some of the lovely clothes, I even bought something too!  Have a look at my next photo a day week 13 for a sneak peek.  We also spent lots of time perusing the shelves of the Dymocks in George St, where Gabby works.  I must say we didn't come out of the book store empty handed.  Just across the road is a most wonderful wool store with shelves and shelves of beautiful yarn.  When you walk into Morris and Sons your mind just starts ticking away at all of the wonderful possibilities of new projects with yarn.

My mind thought it could start crocheting a lovely long cardigan with the wool below, a gorgeous rust twist Australian merino, that is delightfully soft.  So I started to look for patterns and I found a really nice one, only it needed at least 25 balls of wool, and at $10.90 a ball, I had to rethink my plan.  So I did the only thing that was best for my wallet, I walked away empty handed.  However my mind is still dwelling on that luscious rusty coloured wool and I think a more manageable project like a scarf would be more suitable for my budget.  I just can't get it's loveliness out of my head.  It looks like another trip into the city next week.

Today Jan and I went into Gabby's and spent some time at Broadway shopping centre in Ultimo, more eating and more shopping.  You see it would be my Mum and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary today if my dad was still alive.  So it was nice to have a day together.  We will be having a big family dinner tomorrow night to celebrate.

The Apple trail

It was a beautiful Autumn day, the sun was shining, the air was crisp, cool and breezy, Jan, Gabby and Lisha set off in the car to follow the Apple trail.  Unfortunately not long after leaving home for the mountains I nudged somebody at the lights whose car stalled.  Ooops!  No damage to our car, but the number plate, but the other car may need a new bumper.  Anyway details exchanged, apologies made and everyone was ok so we headed off to the mountains.  Our first stop was the lookout at Kurrajong.

Then we followed the Apple trail to Bilpin and stopped at a few fruit shops to buy some fresh new season apples and some home made apple pie.

The weather was just perfect, my kind of day, with the sky so blue and with that cool breeze blowing, I felt really happy and relaxed (yes even after dinging someone else's car).  Apples were growing everywhere and the Autumn leaves were starting to show, so we sat outside at the Apple Bar to enjoy our most delicious wood fired Swiss brown mushroom pizza.

The pizza's were so scrumptious, we just wanted to keep eating them, but then we also wanted to leave a little room for dessert.  We chose three different desserts, mine was a caramelized upside down apple cake with vanilla bean ice cream and custard, Gabby chose a flourless Belgian chocolate cake with cream and Jan chose the wood fired white peach with vanilla bean ice cream and praline.  The desserts were shared and gobbled all up, but we declared the wood fired peach dessert to be the best, it had this amazing sweet, woody smoky taste.

It was such a marvelous day, I would do it all again (except for the bumper cars bit).

Catch yourself

I'm linking up with Sarah and a few other portrait takers over at The Salad Days for:

Often as photographers and bloggers we are so busy taking photo's of everyone and everything else that we often forget ourselves.  I must admit I don't really like splashing my face across my blog that much (unless it's a reasonable photo and it's flattering) but it is important to capture images of ourselves as points of reference in time.  As I am keeping up with a 'photo a day' I thought trying out a self portrait photography club might try and help me capture myself in a different light to what I see myself as. 

So here is my selection for the month, rather appropriate as I am feeling this way again, feeling the need to curl up on the bed to sleep away another migraine.

A photo a day: Week 12

March 18

Sunday night Sam had some most excruciating stomach cramps.  I'm thinking it was some gas trying to escape, so a heat pack, gentle stomach massage (like I used to give him when he was a baby) and some Buscopan soon helped relieve his pain.

March 19

Sam went off to camp and that lovely blue shirt that he is wearing . . . came back brown.  They had their water (mud) activity on their first day. 

March 20

Another crochet bag almost finished.  This one's for Joan.  My mum and I went to Spotlight again where I bought the floral material for the lining of the bag and some more wool for a crochet bag for my mum in blues and brown.

March 21

A cool, cloudy day at my cleaning job turned into a warm and sunny day with wispy clouds and Autumn leaves, just how I like it.  Sam came home from camp today, yay!  He was very, very tired.

March 22

Harmony day at school.  The boys went to school representing their country, Australian Akubra hats, Blundstone boots, a plate of lamingtons to share and also wearing their Canadian shirts.  They are after all half Australian and half Canadian.

March 23

A glorious Autumn day in the Blue Mountains at Bilpin, buying apples and eating wood fired pizza with my mum and sister (photo's and blog post to come).

March 24

Every good day must have it's consequences.  Mine being migraine time again.  I tried eating a mangy banana that wouldn't ripen and it left my mouth feeling furry.  So it was a vegemite and honey english muffin for breakfast accompanied by a Berocca and some codeine pain relief.

My boy's off to camp again today

His third school camp.  I'm pretty alright with the fact that my eldest is growing up and going away again.  

I do miss him already and wonder what he is up to.  Did he get to sit next to someone nice on the bus, will he make some new friends.  I know he's ok and can look after himself and have some fun too.

I really want him to relax and have some fun and not get too caught up in camp rules.  He gets a little concerned about himself and others breaking rules and doing the wrong thing.  He's good like that and I know I can trust him,  I worry that he worries too much.  What can I say . . . I am his mother!

A photo a day: Week 11

March 10

This is our Halloween pumpkin from last year.  We ran out of time to carve it, now it just gets moved around the house.  I really like it as a door stop though.

March 12

The blackhawk helicopters have been doing their training exercises over Sydney again, they spent several hours Monday afternoon and evening flying back and forth.  I always get very excited when they fly so close to the house.  They got even closer than this once or twice but I always missed getting outside with my camera.

March 13

Reading groups with Toby's class of a Tuesday morning.

March 14

I've been seeing a few more of these colours on my walks lately.

March 15

A bit of retail therapy with my mum.  We only went to 4 individual shops at the shopping centre and we found something in each shop either for my mum or for me.  I am in love with my new boots.  Now all we need is some cool weather so I can start wearing them.

March 16

A little quiet time for Jan and Amelia.

March 17

A yummy lunch at Gabby and Neils.  Dessert was an absolutely scrumptious strawberry tart with ice cream and cream and a little later, rose flavoured madeleines all made by Gabby.  We rolled home after our feast.

A day out with the girls

My mum is down visiting from Queensland for a few weeks and my sister Gabby had the day off work, so we got together and did a few of my favourite things.  We went for a drive out to the egg farm and stopped for some farm fresh veggies along the way.  Then we continued onto Berowra Waters for a fish and chips lunch at the Fish Cafe.

They were soooo good and even though it was a pretty hot day and the cliffs around us were radiating the suns sizzling rays, we managed to find a little breeze blowing from the river at our table.

Not only did we eat fish and chips but we also went to a flower nursery, another of my favourite stops.

Where I managed to find a few more of my favourite things, Crepe Myrtles . . .

. . . and the changing leaves on a few Maple trees.

Now if only I had that bit of land to start planning my garden full of Crepe Myrtles, Maple trees and any other ornamental Autumn trees.  I'm still dreaming . . .