Wednesday 31 July 2013

FMS Photo a Day Challenge - July

I've been playing along with the Photo a Day Challenge set by
since August last year.

It's so much fun I'm at it again.
I add to this post daily
and also post the photos to
Fat Mum Slim's Photo A Day Facebook group.



1. Happiness is...knitting a poncho for a friend. Yes, a poncho!!



2. Shoes - My favourite shoes. I wish I could wear them all year round. They make my feet happy!!



3. Cold - Last week on the farm we had a few frosty mornings. I hadn't seen frost for ages, it doesn't get cold enough here.



4. Red, White or Blue - I choose blue! Our beautiful blue winter sky, with a few puffy white clouds thrown in for good measure.



5. Love - I still love my rings after almost 11 years. They're a beautiful symbol that I love my husband truly, madly, deeply. Yes, I'm a Savage Garden fan! Their Affirmation CD reminds me of when we met.



6. Fave Smell - I love the smell of jasmine, but it's not blooming right now. I love the smell of rain, but it's not raining right now. I love the smell of the beach, and we just happened to go to the coast today. Sand, salt, surf...can you smell it? The beach + Queensland + Winter = Perfection!



7. Where You Are - At my favourite place (the block), with my favourite girl (Miss 5), doing a favourite thing (having a picnic).



8. Path - A sandy path to the beach at Noosa.



9. 3 Things - Three pretty prints on our kitchen wall.



10. Smooth -  I love the feel of my smooth rose quartz crystal. Rose quartz is supposed to bring loving energy into your heart chakra. Every now and then I give it a rub just in case this stuff really works!



11. I Wore This!  One of my favourites.



12. A Bad Habit - Turning lights on in the day time. Well, I don't have a problem with it, obviously, but my husband begs to differ!



13. 4 O'Clock - At 4 o'clock today I was out taking photos for my other photo challenge, 365 Days In Nature when I spied an ogre in the clouds!!



14. Edible - This one is from the archives (my boy is now almost 9!). Edible rocks on Bob's building site.



15. Outside The Window - Outside the window of my little girl's bedroom, the orange trumpet creeper blooms.



16. Bottle - I used this photo last month but I have to use it again today because there is no better bottle than a glass one for milk! (PS The background in my photo is the same background on the label).



17. Inspirational - Last year I participated in the Relay for Life to raise funds for cancer research. It was both emotional and inspirational. I'm about to sign on again for this year's relay, which happens to be on my birthday!



18. Number - My husband and I both had the day off today, so after we dropped the kids at school, guess what we did?



19. Building - It's just a vacant block at the moment, but if all goes to plan, we'll be building a house on it next year!



20. Hot - This is the best kind of 'hot' at an outdoor winter party. But you do have to keep turning, like you're on a rotisserie, to keep warm!!



21. Fave Food - I was tossing up whether to go with this or sushi, but I decided on oysters because they are the ultimate luxury food for me. If they're served with an exquisite champagne, followed by a cheese platter (including a beautiful piquant blue cheese) I will have died and gone to foodie heaven!!



22. Grey - Oh, seriously...I have to point them out!? OK, the things I do for FMS Photo a Day!!



23. I Drew This! And 127 more in my "wish-I-was-a-bridal-designer" phase about ten years ago (pre-children).



24. D is for...Dad...mine!



25. Ground - After school we had our regular Mum's group at the play ground. And the kids think we get together so they can play...



26. The Everyday - Washing uniforms!



27. Black + White - I haven't converted a photo to black & white for ages. Quite happy with this one.



28. This Is New! Miss 5 had her best friend over for a play date for the very first time today. They have secrets already!



29. Perspective - The good old Aussie back yard icon, from a slightly different perspective!



30. Friendship - I'm using a photo that's a few months old because one of the things I hold most dear is the friendship I have with these girls. We met at teacher's college 26 years ago and now I only see them once a year, when we get together for our annual girls' weekend.



31. Workplace - It's only part time (relief teaching) the moment, but in 7 weeks I'll be working here full time...for the first time in 10 years!!








Tuesday 30 July 2013

365 Days In Nature - July



31/7 Day 212 - The moon through the mango tree.



30/7 Day 211 - The grevilleas are so beautiful at the moment. And they come in so many gorgeous colours. This is my favourite.



29/7 Day 210 - Our back yard blue tongue lizard, catching some warm winter sun.



28/7 Day 209 - Clover is so pretty up close.



27/7 Day 208 - Saturday Theme: Foliage  Well, my eyes were opened today! I wasn't expecting it to be difficult to find a foliage photo. But I didn't expect to find so much!! I kept snapping to the point of ridiculous. I took 124 photos in my mother-in-law's garden and neighbouring park! I'm always looking at flowers, bees, butterflies, birds...and have forgotten foliage...not today!



A collage of foliage from my archives



26/7 Day 207 - A dewy dandelion.



25/7 Day 206 - Poinciana leaves in the afternoon light.



24/7 Day 205 - I love red flowers against the blue sky, like these grevilleas.



23/7 Day 204 - The kids found this frog under my husband's paint tray on the back decking. It's an odd colour, don't you think?



22/7 Day 203 - A "wild flower" in our garden.



21/7 Day 202 - I took the kids to the duck pond to ride their bike & scooter this morning and look what I found! What a treat!!



20/7 Day 201 - Saturday Theme: Fauna...from the beach.



A collage of fauna from my archives...



19/7 Day 200 - Today's weather is brought to you by raindrops and grey skies.



18/7 Day 199 - An ibis in the afternoon sun at the duck pond.



17/7 Day 198 - Sincere apologies to arachnophobes...look away NOW...but look what I just found hiding under our front steps. Yep, a redback spider!!



16/7 Day 197 - The Canna in our back garden. One of the flowers that is helping me warm to red.



15/7 Day 196 - I love the delicate little pink flowers on the Indian Hawthorn shrub.



14/7 Day 195 - We often see stingrays in the canal at Caloundra. But we've never seen a leopard print one before!!



13/7 Day 194 - Saturday Theme: White flowers...We walk past this lovely bush every day on our walk to school. I think it's called a Snow Flake Bush. It's the closest thing we'll ever get to snow around here!!



A collage of white flowers from my archives...

  

12/7 Day 193 - Clover, growing out of the pot.



11/7 Day 192 - The orange trumpet creeper again...looking up into a cloudy sky.



10/7 Day 191 - There were some lovely pink clouds this morning...before it rained.



9/7 Day 190 - My zygocactus is in full bloom with still more buds. Happy happy happy...



8/7 Day 189 - Finally, two days later, I get to see some sunrise colour!!



7/7 Day 188 - Yesterday at the beach. Winter is the most perfect time to be there!



6/7 Day 187 - Saturday Theme: The colours of sunrise/sunset... I got myself up earlyish for sunrise at 6:37 this morning but there was nothing but a heavy fog! At almost 8:30am there was still no sign of the sun. We were covered in a thick blanket of fog!! So no sunrise colours...but it was a perfect morning for capturing the dewy cobwebs in the garden. I have my fingers crossed for some colours at sunset today!!


Take two - I almost missed the sunset!! After being out all day, I was cooking the kids' dinner and realized the sun had just gone down. So, of course, I grabbed the camera and ran up into the backyard to capture this. It's not spectacular...but it's the best I could do today.



5/7 Day 186 - From the duck pond today.



4/7 Day 185 - I love taking my camera with me when I hang out the washing...I never know what I'll find. Today it was a Little Friarbird, a Blue-faced Honeyeater and this one, my favourite, a Common Eggfly Butterfly.



3/7 Day 184 - My Zygocactus is finally starting to bloom...and it looks like it's mocking me!



2/7 Day 183 - Three tiny little mushrooms in the cactus pot.



1/7 Day 182 - Yesterday my Miss 5 went shopping with her daddy and she came home with this, "For you, Mummy!"