We shake our heads in bewilderment and wonder where the year has gone.
Thoughts drift to the warm days ahead of us.
Excitement and anticipation builds as the trees begin to flower and present their new leaves to the world.
Thoughts of possible summer holidays begin to creep into our brains.
Fear and anxiety rise as we realise that we will begin to expose our imperfect bodies as the temperature rises.
The knowledge that there are State and National public holidays to look forward to make the working week bearable.
Knowing that as the weather improves, so do the chances of getting out and about with like-minded people. People who want to explore what the world has to offer.
Getting excited about another photography adventure that I will be heading off to in the morning.
After yesterday’s burnt offerings I thought I should lighten things up with a pretty flower.
I have a magnificent Azalea bush that grows outside my kitchen window. Fortunately for the Azalea, it had been planted by the previous owner of this house or else it may never have stood a chance of surviving. I’m not saying that I would have killed the Azalea, but I did have to send a lovely Fuchsia to my mum and dad’s house to live because it’s very existence was under threat by my lack of gardening skills.
I love plants and flowers and trees, but if they need fertilising or pruning or maintenance of any kind ………. they’re in trouble. When it comes to me and gardening it’s low-maintenance all the way. The plants have to be tough around here because there is a very good chance that they will face a fair amount of neglect.
I do prune my standard rose though. Every year. Probably late. But I give it a good ol’ military-style haircut and it comes back smiling every time. My dad comes over every so often and gives the Azalea a good hacking which it seems to appreciate.
But back to the amazing Azalea……….. I love this plant. When it is in flower, like it is right now, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. It brings a gentle smile to my face every morning when I’m standing at the kitchen sink squeezing my lemon. And ‘squeezing my lemon’ is not code for something naughty. I am squeezing a lemon.
This Azalea also has a special little quirk. Most of the flowers are a delicate pale pink but there are some sections every year that throw flowers that are almost a solid dark pink. I will grab a photo of the dark pink ones soon. They’re in an awkward spot on the plant that I can’t reach easily. I may just have to pick them and photograph them indoors.
Today though, is a shot I took after I had given the plants a bit of a drink. The photo was taken with my el-cheapo macro attachment that I love.
Me bad. I have been out all day and haven’t been able to take a photo.
That’s not quite correct. I did take a photo. As a matter of fact, I took LOTS of photos, but they were not with my camera, nor were they with my phone. I took photos using the camera of a friend, at her 40th birthday lunch. (I sort of became the official photographer)
I also left the house today WITHOUT my own camera.
*Audible intake of breath* I know!!! I can hear the gasps from here.
I left home without my camera!! I felt like I had left home without my child. I reallytruly thought that I would not need it. I was going to be inside at a restaurant. Why on earth would I need my camera?
Well………… I would have needed my own camera…………
Because the cloud formations I saw on the drive up the Calder Freeway towards Sunbury were so amazing. Cumulus clouds scattered in front of horizontal lines of clouds that got incrementally thicker the closer to the horizon they were. So hard to describe in words. A picture would have been easier. *sigh*
Because Leah’s 40th birthday cake was a minor work of art. Leah is a cake decorator of immense skill and her good friend and fellow cake decorator made and decorated the birthday cake for her. (Though she did use Leah’s cake recipe, Leah’s cake tins, Leah’s’ butter-cream recipe and the topper that Leah had ordered) *another sigh*
Because it was a magnificent spring day and I should have taken myself for a drive to find a canola field or something anything , but I was too tired and I knew I had a heap of stuff to do at home. (Photo stuff!! Housework and washing is not for a day like today)
Me bad. Me regretful. Me not going to leave home without my camera ever again. So I’m going to share a photo I took the other day.
On the up side, lunch was delectable, the cake was gorgeous and delicious and Leah had a wonderful time celebrating her birthday.
Now I’m going to bed.
The Melbourne Star from the Bolte Bridge while stopped in heavy traffic
“Blue skies; smilin’ at me. Nothin’ but blue skies; do I see…………..”
Irving Berlin composed this wee dittie in 1926 for a stage musical called “Betsy”, but the only version of the song ‘Blue Skies’ that I know is the 1978 rendition from the great Willie Nelson from his album “Stardust”. Great album that. Great voice, Willie Nelson.
My mum used to play that album a lot when I was young. Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Anne Murray, Neil Diamond. These were some of the artists I grew up listening to. Real albums, with real voices on real turntables. No auto-tune with these guys. These singers were/are the real deal. They had to be able to sing well live or they could never have survived. Lip-syncing was not even a passing thought. True artistry.
But why the hell am I even writing about the music industry?? Today was going to be a nice easy one marvelling at the picture perfect spring day we enjoyed in my marvellous Melbourne. The skies were blue, the clouds were non-threatening and the kids were feral.
Did I say that out loud?? Yes I did. The…………….. kids…………. were………………. feral.
I can only put their behaviour down to the sunshine. I can’t blame the moon as it is in the waning phase right now. I can’t blame the wind because there wasn’t much. I can’t blame too much sugar because it was too early in the morning for any credible sugar highs. It had to be the sun.
We haven’t seen an awful lot of it for the past few months and the weather on the 1st of September seemed to be but a spring tease. Today and the next few days are going to be manna from heaven. And the kids are going to be feral. They will want to run screaming through parks and gardens. They will not tolerate being kept indoors for any reason. Their little systems are craving sunlight. They NEED their Vitamin D!!!!
And here I go again, off on another tangent. I wanted to write about the lovely crisp blue skies that smiled upon me as I walked out of work at lunchtime today. I saw the blue skies and the brilliant white clouds above and thought they would make a lovely blog post. I took the photos, I have tweaked them in Lightroom 5 and all that was left was to gush moronically about them. Instead I have written about music and feral kids.
I can only blame the sunshine.
Oooo……there’s a brilliant segue.
“Don’t blame it on the sunshine; Don’t blame it on the moonlight. Don’t blame it on the good times; Blame it on the boogie……….”
September 1, the first day of spring in the southern hemisphere and a truly beautiful day here in my marvellous Melbourne.
I’m going to hit you will all the clichés. The sun is shining. The birds are singing, The flowers are blooming and the bees are buzzing. I’m sure if I ventured into the city and her parks and gardens that I would be able to add to the list of clichés. There would be lovers holding hands. There will be people walking barefoot on the lush grass. And I have no doubt that there are lambs cavorting somewhere.
I’m not going to get too excited though. I know my city and her weather too well. Winter has only loosened her grip, she hasn’t let go. She is simply allowing us to bask in her promises before she slaps us with her honesty.
But for now, I am happy to delight in the cool, spring sunshine and take my macro lens attachment (attached to my trusty Nikon D5100) outside to the blossoming apricot tree. The bees are also enjoying this glorious sunshine and are busy collecting and pollinating.
Hahahaha. If I thought taking photographs of fireworks was tricky, I had underestimated the level of difficulty involved in getting a sharply focused macro shot of a busy, working bee.
A photo a day for 365 days.........and beyond 