“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” ~ Rabindranath Tagore.
Summer has made a very late appearance in my part of the world this season. It is only over the last few days the temperatures have risen to the expected thirty degree mark. Not that I’m complaining, mind you. Just noting.
This is the summer in which I have declared that I will appreciate the summer season for what it is and summer has cooperated brilliantly. Firstly with lower temperatures than the usual. Secondly, with this magnificent sunset over Mount Warning last night.
How can I possibly not appreciate such a glorious sky-show?
“Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no delay, no procrastination; never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”~Lord Chesterfield.
The above quote sums up an important lesson I have learned during 2011.
Web of diamonds and pearls.
With my camera at the ready, as I see a magical moment unfolding, I photograph it. It’s no use in thinking we can go back to the moment later. If we fail to seize the moment, it will be lost to us, forever.
During the year I have captured many moments in time with my camera. We are fortunate enough to live in a generation when we can click away to our hearts content, transfer the photos to our computer and edit later. No more messy and expensive film processing for us!
Most of my captured moments didn’t make it to my blog page, for no other reason than there were so many of them! What better time to share some of my year as it draws to a close.
Memories of my childhood home.
During my visit to the Blue Mountains in April this year with my youngest son, I captured days which will live in my heart forever. There are those who say you can’t return to your past. Well, I didn’t do that; I re-discovered my past surroundings, through the eyes of an adult. The home where I grew up is obviously loved by its present owner, with both the building and garden being well maintained.
A Generation Later
Watching my son ride his skate-board along the same street where I had played as a child was one of those special moments, in need of capturing in the instant of the time.
School Days
My old school, the one where I began kindergarten at the age of four, seemed to me to be captured in a time-warp. A well maintained time-warp I might add!
Echo Point, Katoomba.
The award for the most surreal moment of the year, when time literally stood still for me, happened when my boy and I visited the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains. As we headed towards the lookout, the sounds of a didgeridoo echoed throughout the expanse of the valley. If you are not familiar with the sound, I have found a sample on You Tube, which you can listen to here…
The man responsible for the Magical Sounds kindly allowed me to photograph him, then complimented my son on his choice of cap he was wearing, a glossy, purple, checkered number he had found a few days earlier!
Making memories with loved ones is really something special; seizing the moment and recognising it for what it is embeds the moment in your heart.
Treasuring the moment, and moving right along in the direction of the next memory is absolutely priceless.
“‘Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house,   Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”~ Clement Clark Moore.
As I hung the Christmas wreath on my front door this year, I tallied up the number of years I have done so. This will be our seventeenth Christmas in our homeand we have continued our families Christmas traditionsthroughout the years.
Some may find family traditions boring; I find them comforting and familiar and I look forward to repeating our old traditions each year and adding new ideas into our mix of celebrations when the fancy hits us.
One tradition that my mother repeated annually was to make her famous and much-loved-by-her-family Mince Pies every year.
I have continued making mince pies myself every Christmas myself, although I have always made the pastry using butter; Mum used lard.
This year I opted for a change and made my mince pies “justa lika Mumma use to make”, (as they say in the spaghetti sauce advert, however, my Mum wasn’t Italian, so perhaps that line isn’t appropriately used in this case!)
My Mum was a Cheshire born girl, with a Manchester born Mum whose entire family were Yorkshire born and bred. Mum’s very broad northern English accent was hard to understand at times (even for me, her own daughter!)I’m uncertain whether it is my maternal families trait, or a Yorkshire family trait, to religiously follow family traditions the way we do. Either way, it’s traditional, so we do it!
Being true to old tradition, this year I made my mince pies using lard, just as Mum always had. It’s such a simple recipe – 2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 125 grams (4 oz) lard and 1/4 pint of water.
Mince Pies
In previous years I have been known to make my own fruit mince, (Mum called it “mince meat”) although this year, as time did not permit, I bought a very reliable, traditionally English brand of mince, which is almost a good as home-made.
There’s nothing like a mince pie made with pastry using lard to bring back memories of Christmases long gone, but not forgotten. And the best part of it all is that the new (old) version of lard pastry seems to be a hit with my family too!
Christmas Eve
Now, with food for tomorrow prepared, kitchen tidied, decorations hung and everyone in bed, in the words of Clement Clark Moore, I will bid you a “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.”
I’ve been parousing my photos this afternoon, looking for a particular series taken in May of this year, to add to Facebook.
Feathers or leaves?
However…I’m easily distracted!
Instead, I have come across another series of photos, taken not so long ago, which I think are really good. Not that I’m any kind of photographic expert, but I do believe that if you see something special in a photo, chances are, someone else out there may also appreciate it.
Norfolk Pine
So, why not share?
Down the lane
My husband and son were still hard at it, killing weeds and mowing the lawn; my contribution to their efforts was to take their photo!
Silhouettes
Don’t the leaves of the trees looks beautiful against the sky? One of my favourite photos to take is at the time of day when the sun decides to peer through the branches and leaves of the trees foliage, so sparkly and pretty.
Back now to the original task…Facebook awaits. 🙂
This is the question I have asked, since the official first day of summer here in Australia, and the first day of December, when the summer season took on a very realistic impersonation of winter!
As odd as it sounds to me, with the summer months actually being my least favoured time of the year, I have to admit to a feeling of being conned.
I’ve literally spent hours, yes, hours, preparing myself for the heat. Light, cottony clothing hangs centre front in my wardrobe, jumpers and jeans now taking their rightful place in the less convenient and harder to reach areas. Quilts are neatly folded and packed away, along with heavier blankets, in the linen cupboard. Ceiling fans have been installed. The pool is clean and all ship-shape for the hottest of hot days.
Whilst I can readily admit to not feeling as poetic as Shakespeare, when asking summer as to its whereabouts, surely there must be some people who feel downright cheated out of their “fun in the sun”?
The patter of rain...
Here I live, right on the doorstep of the fabulously sunny and world-famous Gold Coast of Queensland, Australia, playground of the rich and famous. Even the not so rich and famous have been known to choose the Gold Coast as their preferred holiday destination at this time of the year.
And where, pray tell, is the warm weather? I’m sure the knowledgeable folk at the Bureau of Meteorology have all the answers. Being not so scientifically minded myself, I haven’t bothered to check. Please check out the website, if you feel so inclined yourself.
Pressure systems come and go; we can’t control them. Looking out of the window each morning is my preferred predictor of the upcoming weather.
And look out the window I have been. The above photos show what-I-have-been-seeing.
Even our usually shiny and dry, black and white magpie friends have had a problem with the cold and rain. I found three rather bedraggled magpies, wet feathers fluffed up, sitting on our back veranda.
A family of wet magpies.
And no, our veranda isn’t usually as messy as the photo shows, with paint cans, buckets, electric saws and pieces of wood everywhere. We have been renovating a room in the house, the veranda being our work area. The magpies are forgiven for thinking this area a free-for-all!
This summer I have plans. I intend teaching myself how to cope with the heat. Summer is to become my friend!
And when summer finally arrives in this part of the world, I’ll let you know how I’m doing! 🙂
In My World 