Australia · authenticity · friends · In My World · new beginnings

In My World…..

November 17, 2014 Joanne8 Comments

I’ve had an idea floating around in the ole grey matter over the weekend, and wondered if it would be possible to change the name of my blog….

I just checked….and I could….it took but a second of time to do so….and I did it, then realised the confusion that could occur when my regular blogging friends dropped by!

Of course, the www. address remains the same, the only way to change that is to forget this blog and start up a new one. I didn’t want to do that though, I have become quite attached to my little place on the World Wide Web, our association goes back many years now, so will remain.

There is a magazine in Australia, called “Country Style”. I love this mag and have been a reader for over twenty years. I subscribe to the magazine….I really love it! However, about three or four years ago, they decided to begin a blog, and called the blog (can anyone guess…..?)…..Homelife!

As lovely as the magazine, the “other” blog, and the name of the other blog are, I have felt a tad overshadowed by this immense media power ever since. This is my tiny (in the perspective of the Web) little blog, mostly set within the realms of my home and garden. I also include nearby towns, and write about holidays I have taken. The posts are written from my personal perspective, are perhaps not always politically correct and certainly do not express the opinions of the multitudes. I am not up to the minute with the latest and greatest in fashion, neither around the home or otherwise, and I do not even have a particular word than even defines my style…..I’m just little old me, sharing my world with friends.

I like the title “In My World”. It’s personal. It’s authentic. It’s My world, and no one else’s. Home life can encompass many a person’s life at home, My World is all about me, and the people, creatures and things I wish to include in my world, just the way it should be.

And, dear blogging friends, you are all a part of my world and I enjoy sharing your world too. 🙂

Now, onwards….2015, here we come. (2015? Wow, I still can’t get over how fast 2014 has gone!)

Australia · photography · rain · spring · The Week That Was

The Heat is Back!

November 16, 2014 Joanne19 Comments

What an array of weather we have had this week, all the way from cool rains, right through to the extreme humidity of our sub-tropical climate.

I think that if you compare the two photos above, you will see what I mean ~ the first photo shows a kookaburra on a bright sunny day, feathers fluffed up, and looking very handsome indeed.

The second photo shows a bedraggled kookaburra on a dull day, with feather weighted down by the drenching rain.

All of these photos were taken during the last week…….

In the next photo you can see a placid kookaburra enjoying a quiet moment in the morning mist. The purple tree beside him is a Jacaranda, a beautiful tree which puts on a brilliant show in the late spring in our area.

For a couple of months now I have seen very few rainbow lorikeets, even though most days until recently I have had thirty to forty of them in my garden at a time. Their numbers seem to have decreased, and I have no idea why. This week though, they have started to visit again, first just two, then four, and today I had six lorikeets here, enjoying breakfast at the bird feeding table.

Without the rainbow lorikeets in the garden to take photos of, photography loses some of its appeal to me. I think I would feel the same if any of my regulars stopped visiting though, they are like my own little wildlife family, right outside my back door, and I miss them when they are gone.

With summer making its way back during the last few days, Christmas being just around the corner is becoming a harsh reality……but how did the year vanish so quickly?

Australia · Pacific Ocean · photography

Last Night : The Lunar Eclipse.

April 16, 2014 Joanne12 Comments

The moon caught my eye a few days ago. Every night, the sky looked so bright and I would look up to see the moon dancing with the clouds. I took the photo above on Saturday night. And it looks very clear, very moon-ish, all cratery and rickety around the edges.

Last night when I took myself just a tad east of home, towards the Pacific Ocean, for a view of the Lunar Eclipse, when I first spotted the moon it looked like a red ball in the sky. Moments later though, the red had diminished. And the photos I took didn’t turn out as clear as the one taken on Saturday night either.

Here is what I saw last night. Actually, it’s what my camera saw, I saw the moon through a much clearer lens ~ my eyes. Perhaps the darkness of the eclipse didn’t agree with the eye of my camera, but it shows you a few stages of the eclipse and for that I am grateful.

By 7:00 PM, the moon looked like its usual self. The fun of the eclipse was over.

For future reference, I have made a note to myself to set an alarm to remind me to get outside to see the eclipse earlier, as apparently most of the Blood Moon effect showed up earlier than my photos began.

So mark your calendars, the next Lunar Eclipse is on October the 8th this year!

Australia · Pacific Ocean · photography · son · South West Rocks · winter

White on White : The journey continues around South West Rocks.

April 7, 2014 Joanne7 Comments

When Adam told me I would find an abundance of subjects to photograph at South West Rocks, he wasn’t exaggerating. It was the most beautiful area to visit, but the highlight for me was the lighthouse area in the early morning light.

As our visit to the area was during July of last year, the sun rose quite late, being winter here, so we enjoyed not only the crisp morning air and the beautiful white lighthouse against the backdrop of white clouds, but also the sun rising over the ocean.

Everywhere I looked, pristine white surrounded us ~ the clouds, the lighthouse, even the white wooden fence along the way….

….the quaint white house on the right can be leased to holiday makers. Can you imagine waking in the morning and beginning the day with this view? I’d think I had died and gone to heaven!

As the sun began to rise, we caught an occasional glimpse of it as it tried to peek its way through the clouds, forming a white sun-spot on the ocean.

A western glimpse.... — A western glimpse….

Even as we walked along the path towards the lighthouse, glimpses of the ocean could be seen behind the rental accommodation, looking towards the west. I’m sure that every window in these houses must have a view of the ocean.

Even the flora here was magical. I could have taken photos all day!

The waves below looked surreal. How could so much beauty be real? Surely it was all an illusion!

These Australian natives are known as Bottlebrush trees, for obvious reasons. Again though, the colour seemed almost angelic.

I think these are a kind of gumnut, or a hard seed cone. There is so much wild beauty here, and so close to the ocean too. Incredible.

Do you ever get the feeling you are being watched? I did, and I was! These two magpies didn’t seem to be bothered by Adam and I visiting their territory though. Perhaps they are used to humans losing all sense of time when they are visiting their home. 🙂

Australia · photography · remembering · respect

Trial Bay Gaol.

April 3, 2014 Joanne10 Comments

You may recall a post I wrote in September of last year. It’s an easy story to remember if you visited around that time, as I showed you photos of a pair of adult kangaroos, hopping around behind the bars of the entry to the disused Trial Bay Gaol, along with their joey.

It might be an idea to take a moment to look back at these beautiful animals, to either jog your memory, or take a first look, so here’s the link ~

If you look very carefully at the photo above, up towards the building on the right hand side patch of grass, you will see how I first saw this adorable family. They eyed me for a moment or two before approaching, although little joey wasn’t too keen on coming face to face with a fur-less, two-legged creature holding a black box that made clicking sounds, and quickly scurried into its mama’s pouch! I did manage to take a few photos of him though, before he disappeared into her pouch, head first!

Work began on the building of the gaol in 1876, although it wasn’t completed until 1886, due to “difficulties in working the hard stone, inconsistent funding and contractual problems”. A southern wing was added to the gaol in 1900, yet three years later the building was closed.

I prefer to see the gaol as a lovely, historic building. Even though I realise there is a need for prisons, as not all folk in society deserve to be integrated in our day to day life due to their own bad judgement in their actions, it bothers me to think of the way men were treated in the early days of Australia. Many men, and women as well, were judged as criminals for the slightest misdemeanor. I can imagine the number of tormented souls who continue to walk the halls of this ruin. It’s not a part of history that Australia should be proud of. But I suppose all countries have parts of their history that they wish to be not spoken of.

In an article I read, Trial Bay Gaol is described as “an experiment with humane prison reform”, so I would take that as a positive sign that the powers that be of the time were questioning the old ways of treating prisoners. On the other hand though, the gaol only remained in use for twenty-six years ~ perhaps the experiment wasn’t a success!

The view from the building is amazing though, looking out across the ocean from the top of a hill, from what is now regarded as a “Heritage Listed Building”.

Trial Bay Gaol is located at South West Rocks, and while I was visiting the area with my son Adam last year, he guided the way to a lighthouse there that he knew of, telling me that I would love taking photos of the area. He wasn’t wrong. And I will show you those photos next time. 🙂

M	T	W	T	F	S	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this:

Rate this: