The Jardiniere

In the corner of my lounge room sits a jardiniere. She is a grand old beauty however her age is beginning to show.
Once she contained ferns and other indoor house plants and lived on the top of a silky oak planter stand by the window in my grandmother’s lounge room. Before that, she belonged to my great-grandmother and lived in her family home.
I have more than likely insulted her with the plastic ivy and wooden tulips that grace her insides now however she is aging and her strength is not what it used to be. Plastic ivy it will have to be.
See that crack on her side? It is only a small part of the further damage around the back that is now disguised by the wall.

It’s the little things

As we move through life we often overlook the little things.
It’s the little things in life that are important.
They are what brings our awareness back to ‘now’ and open our eyes to the beauty of life.
Sometimes you just need to stop.

Wednesday Monochrome Madness

As it is Wednesday, Leanne Cole has once again spent a phenomenal amount of time and energy putting together Week 22 of her Monochrome Madness Challenge and once again the number and quality of photographs is amazing.
I must confess that I am so humbled to be amongst some amazing talent within the group that submit their photos. I have also found some wonderful blogs to follow through this challenge.

The trouble with food

Over the past few days I have been thinking about food a lot but it appears that I am not the only person in the world that is concerned with what I put into my mouth.
When did something as personal as eating become fodder (pardon the pun) for the masses?
Now, I am not an idiot and long ago realised that what you put into your mouth affects your body. (I cringe when I recall the things that wine and other sources of alcohol have made me do on occasion. 😳 ) What it comes down to is that I am the person who looks at myself in the mirror each day. I am the person who knows what is going on inside her own body.
Therefore, it would appear that I am the best person to make the decision about what foods are the best for me and which ones aren’t. After all, nobody else is shovelling food into my mouth for me are they?

Sunday Stills Challenge sent me down Memory Lane

This week’s challenge is ‘Faces’.
Let’s face it, photographing a face is something that we all do. I know myself that I enjoy photographing people therefore faces figure prominently in my photo archives on the computer.
This week I am going to share some of my earliest digital photography efforts from 2003 (although there is one photo in there that I didn’t take).

Back when digital photography was in its infancy, the Garden Gnome’s workplace purchased a camera for use in his department. On occasion, he would bring it home for me to ‘play’ with. I was in heaven. Here was a camera that it didn’t matter how many photos I took, I could keep going until I got the perfect shot. Admittedly, the camera only held about 16 photos before I had to begin deleting but this was something that opened a whole new world for me.

Through my Lens – Lightning Ridge

Reading the website for Lightning Ridge this morning, I literally laughed out loud at the opening words:

Have they all been touched by the sun? There’s something deliciously, refreshingly, awe-inspiringly crazy about the people of Lightning Ridge.

I would have to agree.
Driving into Lightning Ridge along a rather uninspiring bitumen road doesn’t prepare you for what you encounter within the (rather small) town that is Lightning Ridge.

Stream of Consciousness

This is the first time I have ever taken part in Linda Hill’s Stream of Consciousness Saturdays and I’m going to struggle to write and not edit. Apparently I can fix typos which is great because my fingers often run off without my mind but not being able to edit and allowing you all to see the thought processes of my mind is a little daunting.

25th July 2009

It’s often been said that a mother should never have to bury her children. It is wrong that the person who brought you into the world, should also have to see you out of it. However, it is equally sad when the oldest sibling outlives her younger brothers.
It isn’t just sad, it is tragic. And life seems so unfair.
Five years ago today we left the waiting room to say our goodbyes to one of the most gorgeous men I was privileged to share my life with.