shmee

a SPECtacle of herself

2012-02-15T17:13:00.002+10:30

While I was away Kym had a State Clay Target Comp in Adelaide. While he and the kids were staying with Kym's family, Annie and Sean had their eyes tested by their Uncle Ian.

Annie's been having slightly blurred vision when reading for awhile and the eye test picked up on this. So now she is the very very proud owner of these purple framed specs.

She needs them for reading as she's a high volume reader, and when she's on the computer. It's her choice to take them to school, and for now she's very happy too!!

6 today

2012-02-13T23:03:00.003+10:30

Today he turns 6. And he feels soooo grown up now lol. He had to be meaursed first thing this morning to see how much he's grown, cause "I'm older now!!"

Bless his socks.

He got his birthday gift earlier this year so he could use it during our summer holidays.

He zooms on the track around the house now!!!!

And today he had these super cool 'spy' (his words) avaitor glasses come in the mail from our reallies in Adelaide.

And after tea tonight he was asked to blow out the singing candle to make it stop.

he's a pretty happy chap today.

grand canyon - 9.2.12

2012-02-09T21:00:00.000+10:30

The date above shows a date missing from the last post. With the time difference and the time taken to travel, Wednesday the 8th of February just didn't exist for me. It's a bit disconcerting that you can totally erase a day out of a life, because you never get that time back. Ever.

I woke up for my very last day in the USA, fluey and running a temp.I had some panadol with me and that helped take the edge off for me. I was tied up in knots again about driving on freeways and getting off them via the exits. However I had done a little bit of homework on this. Now that I've found 'On Star' in the car, I rang them yesterday to enquire about setting my GPS remotely for me, or was there something else they could offer if that wasn't available. I was reassured that they had my answer and I could breathe a sigh of relief. Otherwise I had thoughts of having to go the Hotel Concierge and asking him if he knew how to, or if he knew of someone that knew how to program the GPS.

Even with the GPS dilemma resolved I still couldn't stomach even a piece of toast for breakfast :(

By 9.30 I had checked out, had started the car to get the heater going, and had 'On Star' navigation sorted. I was ready to hit the road......... And it wasn't so bad. I didn't have any heavy traffic (one of the reason's why I left at 9.30am), I had sunshine, no snow or ice to contend with, and I didn't have to navigate my way thru Flagstaff to get to the airport, seeing that it's on the same side of city as the Grand Canyon Highway. The 'On Star' verbalized to me with plenty of time to be in the correct lane to exit each freeway, so I didn't miss a turn off this time.

The only thing I was unsure of was that if I stopped and turned off the car to refuel before returning the hire car, did that mean I lost the 'on star' directions and would I have to ring them again to reconfigure my route. This was the only question that I hadn't asked in the first place. So seeing that I had plenty of fuel to get me there, I just drove without stopping, even though I passed three (I think) fuel stops on the way.

Upon safe arrival at the Flagstaff Airport, I mentioned the 1/3 tank of fuel remaining, to which I was given two choices. One was that I could drive a couple of miles down the highway, make an exit to the 'gas stop' and pay the pump price ($3 something per gallon) or I could leave the car in their hands and they refill it and charge my credit card $5 something per gallon, for that service. I didn't hesitate. They could fill it up and with thanks. The thought of driving that car any further just chilled me. The price could have been $10/gallon, and I would still had them do it. I was done with driving on highways.

So with no more driving in front of me I could totally relax. My suitcase weighed in 5 pounds under the 50 pound limit, so no excess charges there. Mind you to achieve that I was carrying the big heavy jacket, I had the wool lined jumper on and had the other wool lined jumper tied around my waist. Those jumpers nearly weigh a kilo each. Having them out of the bag, allowed enough room for the things I had bought for the kids, Kym and friends to fit in nicely.

The flights from Flagstaff to Phoenix and Phoenix to LA were uneventful. I do wish I had the iphone camera out as we flew not that high over Chase Stadium

source

I had a number of hours to wait at LAX for my long haul flight, and as it turned out Danny and Lee-Anne of Scrap Therapy were also leaving this day and only a couple of hours after me, so we all reconnected at the baggage claim from my flight.

I was unsure of what was happening with my bags, if they were being put on the carousel or being forwarded thru to the next flight. The ticketing at Flagstaff ended up being hand written and I wanted to be reassured that they had been checked to go all the way thru.

Danny and Lee-Anne walked with me to find the Air New Zealand checkin desk where I was handed my boarding passes and I was told that yes bags had made it to LA, and yes they should be on the Air New Zealand flight, but to check in Auckland in case they were deplaned there instead of Adelaide. :-/

We wandered our way to the adjoining terminal which has the food court, and spent the hours talking shop, people watching and laughing a fair bit. I popped panadol again as I was starting to run hot with the flu. They were kind enough to walk me back again to the other terminal and made sure I made it thru the first security check.

We have to take our shoes off for this security point, and I noticed one of the staff spraying a lot of room deodairzer towards the floor. I did ask him when he was nearby, if it was for the stinky feet smell. He said 'yup sure is, it gets really awful in here'. They must go thru cans and cans of the stuff as they seem to be very liberal with it. I made it thru and just was collecting my gear and putting my boots on, when they had a security breach practise drill. Not knowing that it was a drill, it freaked me out a bit, as we were all told to 'freeze' in a very commanding voice. No mucking around with that tone. I just about crapped myself. Then, after about 10 seconds, a voice called out 'resume' and then everything starting moving along again. The security guy next to me where I was picking up my gear, smiled and thanked us for participating in the drill. So that's how I knew what was going on.

Gina - at every xray point I've kept my sharpest eye on the laptop and the camera backpack. I heard your words every time in my head when I start lining up to go thru. :O)

And speaking of words of advice that I carried with me, Gina's laptop switch story, Janice's words of ' BE CAREFUL' and Sandra's words of 'No Regrets' resonated with me with everything I did, and every choice I made. And I can't thank those women enough, for those words really moulded my trip. I don't have any regrets at all, I didn't take any unecessary risks to get THAT shot, and I still have my laptop. Words with Love are gold, and I'm a rich girl.

9pm and I was enroute from LAX to Auckland. Every passenger in our section was given a handshake welcome by the two male flight staff, and called by name. How's that for service???!!!!! I was started to feel a bit fuzzy again. More panadol, finished the delightful tea, and got myself settled for sleep. This time I made sure I used the little blowup neck cushion. And sleep I did. 8 hours of it. Bliss.

By the time we were getting ready to land at Auckland I was really getting quite hot. It felt that the first few rows of seats in the Premium Economy section were extra warm and the last few rows of seats were a bit chilly. It wasn't an even temperature at all, even the staff mentioned it. And of course I was sitting in the really warm area. I was feeling rather wilted and in need of a freshen up badly.

I made my way quietly to the loos and I peeled off all the layers of clothes except for a tee shirt and the jeans. Washed my face, brushed tea, hair, re-deodorised and that's about the best you can do.

I ran hot again in the Auckland terminal as I had to make my way quickly to the International Transfer Desk to enquire about the whereabouts of my bags. I only had about 45 mins to sort this out, which sounds like heaps, but its not. If the bags were on the carousel, they had to be located by staff (I'm not allowed out of international), and reloaded onto the correct plane for Adelaide. And it's a big airport. But all was good and their screen showed that they had been transferred to the Adelaide flight without incident.

By the time breakfast was served on this flight, I was starting to feel fuzzy again. So I pulled out the neck cushion and slept again. By the time Adelaide was near, I was bright eyed, bushy tailed and felt I could last all day without needing to sleep again. Which worked out perfectly to knock off the jet lag syndrome.

Pete met me at the airport with a couple of camera accessories that I'll need for the next trip. I had asked him while I was away if he was able to ring Photographic Wholesalers to see if they had what I needed. Pete, being the generous guy that he is, organised it all, picked them up and met me at the airport to pass them on and spend a couple of hours yakking about stuff while waiting for my next flight. The last one to get home.

Pete took my tripod, its bag, my big heavy coat, and the two woolen lined jumpers home with him as I'm back in Adelaide in a week to begin a photographic tour trip with him and 8 others. There wasn't any point in dragging those things back and forth and coping the excess weight fine (flying with REX is limiting) by taking it all home.

We were all on board and strapped in when we are advised that due to the Captain's seat belt not working, we were being deplanded and bussed back to the terminal while it was being fixed. I did ask if it was a PHD seatbelt, which lead me to say explain after the quizzical look, a Press Here Dickhead seatbelt. He laughed pretty loudly.

When we were allowed to come back via bus some 30 mins later, I discoverd my boarding pass was not in my pocket. I said to the staff that it must have on my seat in the plane, they rang forward and yes it was. And that lead them to being able to play a bit of payback for the PHD line. Upon entering the plane, I was told I needed to go back down to the ladder and wait for the remaining passengers to board so that the captain could verify me. My face must have dropped, and then the lady air hostess laughed loudly, winked and said 'gotcha' !!!!!!! :O) she got me good lol

Finally underway and landed only 30 mins late. Kym picked me up and we made our way back to School as it was about to end for the day. Kym diverted them from going on the bus and I hid behind the car in the carpark. Boy, Annie was loud in her excitement and Sean just had a cling-on hug that couldn't end.

We arrived home and found myself wanting to start cleaning straight away. It wasn't too bad at all really, just little things, but I refrained. I didn't even bother to unpack the bag.

We ended up going to the pub for tea and on our way home the light was just amazing against a dark threatening north east horizon when this just blossomed.

Sure is good to be home.

grand canyon 6.2.12

2012-02-06T23:30:00.000+10:30

My last full day here at the Grand Canyon. I decided against going out for sunrise shoots mostly because its soooo damn cold and I don't want the knee to ache more than it already is.

So I set the alarm clock for 8am. Sunrise is at 7.30am atm. When I woke up I was very chesty and phlegmy. I had a little cough last night when I finished shooting sunset and thought then 'uh-oooo'.... So I was not surprised when I woke up less than bright eyed and bushy tailed. I popped an antihistamine to see if that would help. And I thought 'what the hell' rolled over and went back to sleep.

When I woke up later I did feel a bit better. And the knee didn't ache so much. I did elevate it for ages last night while blogging and processing shots, so that might have helped it a bit.

I wanted to visit the Grand Canyon Village to pick up a sandwich and some fruit. I haven't been to the village yet so wanted to visit that in daylight. I had to laugh to myself. Being in an American car, not only am I sitting on the other side of the car and driving on the wrong side of the road to what I'm used to, the indicator and the windscreen wiper stalks are back to front. I've lost count how many times I flicked on the wipers to indicate that I'm about to turn. Thankfully the foot pedals are still the same as ours. Phewwwww, at least they've got one thing right ;op

Saw this pink monstor in the village and I just couldn't help myself. I had to laugh when a big burly bloke got in it. Only in America huh??!!

After the village I headed east to start on from where I ended up yesterday. On the way there I saw this signpost and just had to stop to capture it. Did think of the footy club at the time.

And while I had stopped I wanted a quick pic of the pine forest and the snow just for memory's sake.

My first major point of call was Lipan Point.

From there I travelled onto Navajo Point.

I had thoughts of coming back to this spot for sunset, depending on what I found at Desert Point which was next.

The interior of the Watch Tower had wonderful curved stone staircases that made for sweeping lines photographically speaking, so I went back to the car to get the tripod as it was low light photography. On the way back to the car I stopped at the gift shop/bookshop and came across a couple of photos of that area that were for sale. I dumped the idea of the Watch Tower interior shots and grabbed the gear (tripod, extra socks on, beanie, gloves, fruit, water) and headed out in search of the spot where those photos had been taken.

Found it.

Also found a cougar paw print in the snow too. That kept me looking behind myself all the time, let me tell ya!!!!!

I decided to stay put and see what the setting sun would do to the Watch Tower and the Canyon walls. Just as well, as another fella with camera and tripod wandered up to try the same shots that I was doing. He had seen the same image in the shop.

It's a gentleman's agreement in the photog world, that if you are on the spot first, you don't have to shift for another. It's a matter of getting to the spot early enough to 'claim' it. So I waited until I had the shot I wanted and then moved. Unfortunately for him, the best of the light had gone to do the same shot that I had done. We got chatting away about different things. He would have been there for about an hour or so, before he went to his next spot to face west for the setting sun. I stayed put as the full moon had risen by the Watch Tower.

I have wondered a number of times what someone must think when they hear me say " I'm here on my own", " its a solo venture", " or that I'm living a dream". Not once have I felt uneasy with someone else around, not threatened or felt wary of. It's been quite the opposite. Lots of little things stand out in my mind that people have done or said that seemed to applaud my trip. I feel so very lucky for this and blessed too.

When I was talking to the lady in the gift/book shop, my voice was rather croaky (I hadn't spoken a lot today) and she gave me her throat lozangers to help. This kind of generosity seems to be everywhere I've been so far. This includes the fella where I had tea tonight when I asked him for a lot of small change so I could give it to my kids. He couldn't help me enough. And the fella at the Hire Car place a few days ago, calming me down when I was shitting myself about driving. I could go on and on and on.

I digress......

The winter full moon rose by the Watch Tower and as I was walking back up to the car to pack up for the day, I had an idea. So I turned around and headed back to the Tower for a shot in the very last light of the day.

It worked.

This was how cold it was according to the car when I had packed up and ready to head back

It was when I was getting back into the car I discovered that my glasses, that I had put in the top pocket of my big warm jacket, were broken. It was too dark to see what was up with them, and so I drove back to the Canyon Plaza Resort without them. I need them for driving, and doing so without them made me rather tense. To my relief when I was inside my room in good light, I found it was just the screw and come loose on the frame, and the screw was still there. All I had to do was to put the lens back in the frame, hold the frame closed and screw up the screw. Fixed. Yay.

I've packed my bags ready for the morning. The tripod bag is stuffed full of things, including boots that have things stuffed inside of them. Man, can this girl pack or what??!!!!! My suitcase feels lighter than when I got here, thanks to a bit of rearranging. I'm only allowed 50 pounds (22 kilos) and the excess per pound is really hefty, so I reckon I'll be ok in that department.

I'm driving to Flagstaff in the morning, with help from the programmed GPS (thanks STAR), flying from Flagstaff to Phoenix, Phoenix to LA X. I have a 6 hour stop over there. LA X to Auckland. This flight is mostly overnight so I should sleep on this flight. Auckland to Adelaide. Meeting Pete Dobre with some camera gear for me, and Sam for lunch at the airport. Then Adelaide to Pt Lincoln. All being well, and no delays to miss connections, I should land Pt Lincoln on Thursday.

Can't wait to hug the kids, snuff that special spot on their necks and give Kym a big cuddle.

grand canyon 5.2.12

2012-02-05T23:30:00.000+10:30

I'm a bit worried about my knee at the moment,

so I took the morning off from the camera and hiking around with a heavy backpack. I slothed it instead. And it was lovely. I've been on the go for nearly 2 weeks and I relished the sleep in. I wanted to just rest my knee and see if the swelling goes down.

It didn't.
:o(

I booked to go on the Grand Canyon Airlines today at midday. I asked the staff to put me in the best seat for photography and they were happy to do so. This also happens to be where the heating for the cabin comes from , and as I don't do heat well in the first place, I cooked. I'm so glad I had the big jacket off, I had the scarf off, the jumper zip wide open just to let the body heat out. I sweated up a storm which in turn fogged up the window. I kept wiping it down with the scarf over and over and most of the images are a bit hazy due to the fog on the window. I'm a bit sad about that.

Also note that on the best days, Grand Canyon is hazy. It's not too bad first thing in the morning and late in the afternoon as it helps to diffuse the light a bit, but during the middle of the day, it make photography difficult. A circular polariser helps a bit, but not much. The haze really limits the field of vision by quite a bit and it leeches the colours out of the rocks. I really noticed this today when I flew. But I did have the two rivers, The Colorado and the Little Colorado in the sun, so they shone. Particularly the Little Colorado. Its extremely light blue due to the minerals in the water. And that really showed in the sunlight.

After the flight I dropped off the souvenir photo at my room, grabbed a sandwich, an apple and an orange juice and headed east along the Canyon wall.

First stop was the Pipeline Vista.

Then onto a couple of random unnamed lookouts before coming to the Grandview Vista.

This is the spot that the Grand Canyon was first settled with a luxury hotel in its day!!!! When the railway came and stopped some 12 miles west of the hotel to the now Grand Canyon Village, the Hotel ceased to exist. I put on my cleats as there was ice on the trail-head that begins from here into the Canyon. I descended only a little way for my shots and admired the view. Thank goodness for those cleats or there would have been no way I would have attempted the descent.

Onwards to Moran Point. This is a stunning place with a marvellous 180 degree view of the canyon. The light was starting to turn so I stayed here for the golden hour and sunset.

Looking North East from Point Moran

The sun produced a glow on the very top edge of the North rim. It was so fleeting and it was gone in 30 seconds. I had to be quick. The threatening snow clouds stole most of the light but I did manage to capture a pano of 3 shots, each exposed for 10 seconds in length and stitched together.

Looking south west from Point Moran

I was very glad of the second pair of socks that I put on before I set up for sunset, as they wer getting cold. The rest of me was warm, just not my feet. According to the car it was 32degrees Fahrenheit which is 0 degrees Celsius. Freezing in other words.

But my knee ached something shocking. As much as I want to shoot sunrise, I am loathe to do so with this damn knee. At least when shooting sunset, I can be in a hot shower in about half an hour after I'm done. With sunrise, that's just the beginning of 3 hours of gorgeous light to take advantage of. So I'll be cold for a long time and this knee will really start to shit me off. I've got some painkillers here with me and taking double dose is not touching the side of it at all. So I think I'll shelve sunrise (7.30am) and head out about 8.30am to get at least two hours of light, before coming back to shower to warm up. Its below freezing at dawn.... eeeeep.

I would like to explore the village tomorrow and head east again, as I only got about half way yesterday. I've no idea where I'll be for sunset. Maybe at the watchtower. This will be my last sunset here.

I head back homewards on Tuesday (local time) and actually land home on Thursday (Aust time). I've 5 flights to catch to get home. Starting from driving from here to Flagstaff, flying from Flagstaff to Phoenix, Phoenix to LA (6 hour stopover) LAx to Auckland, Auckland to Adelaide, Adelaide to Pt Lincoln. I'm going to have the flattest, sorest bum by the time I land. ;op

I've been wondering how to program the GPS to get myself to Flagstaff when I discovered STAR in the hire car. It must work by sattalite. I push the button, it rings a real person who can program my GPS from her end and off I go. I pushed the STAR button today just to confirm that this can happen, otherwise I was going have to ask someone here who is GPS savvy to have a go. I had an attempt and totally stuffed it up. You have no idea the relief when I discovered that STAR button. I actually pushed it in error in the dark trying to find the interior light button and was startled when I heard a ringing sound and even more so when a lady said 'good evening, how can I help you'. I had to laugh and say sorry I pushed the wrong button trying to find the light and now I didn't know how to hang up. I wondered how many times they've heard this lol.

I'm sitting here with my knee up on a pillow while blogging, contemplating getting a towel of snow to put on it to help reduce the swelling.

Its painful to walk, it crunches with every step and I'm limping. I must look like a gimp that way I'm moving at the moment. This might help lol

I so hope it comes good on its own (it did last time) as I've another photography trip coming up mid month for 2 weeks. Then I'm chained to the sink for the rest of the year lol.

Time for bed me thinks
nitey nite.

grand canyon 4.2.12

2012-02-04T23:30:00.000+10:30

I booked an hour long helicopter ride over the canyons this morning for 8.30am. There was just 3 of us on board and I was lucky enough to sit up with the pilot in the front seat. Prime viewing area indeed. I could shoot straight in front of the chopper, on the pilots side via his window at full zoom on the 70mm end of the lens, I could shoot between my feet (plexiglass window at my feet, and over on my left side. Talk about spoilt for choice.

The cloud was low over the North Rim which is 1000 feet higher than the South Rim, so we turned into a different part of the canyon which is little seen my most people. Lucky us.

281 shots later (all in RAW file) we landed. I so highly recommend this trip. I would suggest a bit later flying time, say late morning so the canyon shadows are not over the Colorado River and the Little Colorado River, but still enough shadow to give the canyon texture and depth.

I was so impressed with this way of viewing the canyon that I've booked a plane flight over it tomorrow at a different time of day (midday was the earliest I could get, and it tends to snow late in the afternoon).

On the way back to the hotel to drop stuff off I stopped at the IMAX theatre to view the 20 minute video of the Grand Canyon. That certainly was eye popping to see on the HUGE screen. I stocked up on a sandwich and fruit for later in the day and shopped in the National Geographic shop. Good stuff in there.

After this full morning I was feeling a bit overwhelmed by all that I had seen, and slightly headachy (happens often at 8000 feet altitude apparently) and higher again with the chopper ride. I needed a power nap.

Feeling much refreshed and raring to get out there I bypassed the Visitors Info Centre and headed west to the Bright Angel Trailhead. At the IMAX theatre a lovely lady told me this trail that takes all day to get to Phantom Ranch at the very bottom of the Canyon. At the beginning of the trail there is a stone arch with Indian Paintings on a nearby wall of the Canyon.

On my way there I came across this. I had no idea that trains were here. Silly me. Trains are everywhere in USA. The beginning of the train transport here is what really opened up the tourism to this area.

I started heading down the Bright Angel Trail with the backpack on and tripod in hand, to discover treacherous ice underfoot. I walked about 50 metres and decided to head back up to the Kolb Bros Studio Lodge at the head of the trail to see if they sold any strap on ice cleats. Thankfully they did.

Seeing as the sun was shining and I was already hot in my big wool lined jacket I asked if I may park it there behind the counter for me to collect when I came back up from the trail. The gentleman was so kind. He worked out my shoe size (different to our Aussie shoe size), showed me how to attach, told me he goes running with confidence with these cleats on and stowed my jacket.

I watched a lady slip and land on her bum in the same spot that I nearly did, and quietly had a laugh to myself at some of the footwear people were wearing on the snow and ice. They ranged from thongs (I can't quite believe it either) to heeled boots (still more disbelief), to Ug Boots. All Japanese people who are being driven around in coach buses. And some of the clothes they were wearing...... sheeesh. It's not shorts weather people.

After collecting my jacket I had a quick look at the Klob Bros studio. These two men were notorious for their antics and deifying danger to capture a photo of the Grand Canyon. Imagine climbing up with ropes and dragging up a big bellows camera on a heavy wooden tripod where ever you went. Unbelievable stuff.

The road to the west is open to cars this time of year in the low season, for the rest of the year, its shuttle bus only. My next stop was the Trailview Outlook. From here you can see the countless switchbacks that make up a portion of the Bright Angel Trail. This is also one of the few passes that have mules travel on it too. Mule trains have right of way and the person on foot must stay as close to the canyon inner wall as possible to give the mules as much room for head clearance, for some of the paths have low overhanging rock ceilings. There was fresh mule poo on the trial this morning.

From the Trailview Overlook I went to an un named lookout point on Hermit Road.

Then to Maricopa Point

on to Powell Point where I met two ladies and started chatting. I noticed one of them had the same camera and lens set-up as I had, so asked if she'd mind taking a pic of me with the GC in the background. And I took one of those two together!!!

I went passed Hopi Point as I wanted to be back there in time for the golden hour before sunset and checked out Mohave Point.

Back to Hopi. There would have been about 50 people scattered about to watch the setting sun. I did wonder that if this was the number of people in the low season, just how many would there be during the peak. As a photographer I'd hate to think of how early you'd need to get there to 'claim' your spot of choice.

I cracked a PO shot of the setting sun and waited awhile to see if the remaining cloud would fire up.

At this point everyone had left and I was on my own. As soon as the sun was down, everyone cleared out. On occasion this is when the sky really lits up, you just need to be patient to see it. Quite often it doesn't, and tonight was one of those nights that it didn't. But when it does, ohhh la al.... its worth all the waiting.

By now my feet were cold and I was wishing I wore 2 pairs of socks. And my knee (that one that gave me bother at Christmas time) really started to ache. It's been sore all day and it feels really like I'm walking with bone rubbing on bone. After seeing the last lot of xrays this is a distinct possibility. :( By this time and with the cold, it's really giving me grief. I'm walking with a limp and taking pain killers to take the edge off. I just need it to hang together for a couple more days before I can give it a weeks rest. It needs to be better before my next trip which is later on this month on the Great Ocean Road.

I discovered that getting out of the park in the dark when I'm still unfamiliar with it from the western end, was reason to get slightly lost. I ended up following a car and hoping it would be heading out of the park. The signage in the park is really poor and it wasn't until I stumbled upon the Visitor Info Centre by accident that I knew how to get out (the car had turned off into a lodge within the village in the park). I still needed to check the map to be sure.

Back in Tusayan I pulled into the local Pizza/Pasta place for tea. There I found the two ladies that I took their photo of at Powell Point. We ended up having tea together and talked camera speak for a while. It was really nice to sit with someone to have a meal. That's one of the things I've really missed at meal times is conversation.

Party of one can be quiet sometimes. I generally read my photography guide book and check FB via WiFi while I'm eating. Not the habits I condone at home, but I can get away with it here.

A long hot shower and time for the cameras to warm up slightly. If I bring the cold gear (and the metal casings feels really cold) into the middle of a warm room I might get condensation in the camera or in the lenses. I need to leave them by the inside door for a bit and then bring them partway into the room for a bit, before downloading the days images on the laptop. Better to be safe than sorry.

I'll post the images that I've done for this post tomorrow. Its late, and I need to got to bed.

nity nite.

grand canyon 3.2.12

2012-02-03T22:30:00.000+10:30

Had the alarm clock set for an 8oclock start. Today was my day to familiarise myself with what was where. As I arrived after dark the night before there was no way I was heading out in the dark before sunrise not knowing where I was going or landmarks to look for.

I stopped at the little local store to stock up on muesli bars, Mocha Frappacino's (for the fridge in my room), sandwiches and fruit for the day. My first port of call was at the Grand Canyon Visitors Centre after buying my 7 day Park Pass on the way in. I had a yarn to the ranger for some local tips and headed into the small movie theatre there to get a general feel for the place.

I headed out east of Mather's Point heading towards Mather's Amphitheatre, taking shot after shot. It took me 3 hours to walk 500 metres lol.

This is why.

This is a pano of 44 stitched images. Took Photoshop a long time to grind thru all of the RAW files but I'm really pleased with the result. The TIFF file is huge and some of the detail is lost on this www res jpg, but you get the idea. (click on it and then control/command + for a bigger image)

I was pleasantly surprised to notice how happy people are to be here. Everyone is smiling and laughing. All enjoying the day.

All the people I spoke to are so friendly and again I was surprised how many people are so willing to take photos upon request for another party so they could be in the shot with the GC in the background. I reckon I took shots on at least a dozen different cameras for different people and in return they took shots of me on my iPhone.

I just had to get that little bit higher in this shot so I could see into the Liveview screen. I could hear Janice's words of 'be careful' resonate in my head all day, so I was careful. Unlike some who I saw jump different fences or rock barriers to stand right on the very edge on the ice covered snow in sneakers. Bloody mad!!

So very glad I brought Kym's big heavy wool lined waterproof jacket that nearly reaches my knees. And for Lee-Anne's thermal leggings on under my jeans.

***Strong tip*** wear jeans one size too big so you have plenty of room to wear leggings. I'm wearing 5 layers of clothes and have yet to feel cold. But having all those layers means going to the loo takes a while untuck and retuck all the clothing so there's no chance of a icy draught going up my back. Don't leave going to the loo until last minute.

My Hiking Boots. Purple of course. I also have my purple Hunt Club beanie, my red wool lined gloves and my long scarf wrapped twice around.

I walked around all day with my 10kg camera backpack, my tripod, my umbrella and a little red bag with some things that didn't fit in my pockets. I'm going have to find a way to carry the contents of the red bag on my person so I'm not carrying around so much crap.

After Mather's Point I went into the Bookstore/Souvenir shop to pick up some keepsakes for scrapping later.

I took the shuttle bus up to Yavapai Point to have a look and discovered the light had gone for the day in this area. It was still shining in the east towards Yaki Point, which is shuttle bus access only. I wanted to be there in time for the fast disappearing light at the end of the day.

I started at the Yaki lookout but wasn't happy there so I wandered east up the trail to a spot that looked likely. And found another photographer there. We got chatting away and he kindly shared the rocky outcrop to shoot the last light in the canyon, before heading back to the carpark for the sunset. I was 5 mins too late to catch an amazing pink beam of light that shot straight up from the setting sun. It reminded me of 'beam me up Scotty' lol

I caught the shuttle bus back to the general carpark and made my way on the 'right' side of the road, out of the park and back into the township of Tusayan, just outside of the park gate.

Nice hot shower to warm up, hot tea, flannel pyjamas, blog and bed.

nity nite.

grand canyon 2.2.12

2012-02-02T16:19:00.000+10:30

Last night was my last night in LA before heading to the Grand Canyon to photograph it over a few days, during its winter.

So last night I tossed everything out of the suitcase to repack it making sure the two super warm jumpers were in there, as well as a pair of thermal leggings on lend from Lee-Anne. And made double sure I had set the alarm clock for the morning.

I had the shuttle bus booked at 9.50 to pick me up and it was with regret I had to say goodbye to Lee-Anne and Danny. I can't thank them enough for providing me the chance to visit CHA, take part in the classes/seminars and for letting me stay with them for 6 days. They were probably glad to see the back of me as they both were feeling fluey the morning I left, and I've since heard from them that they are crook. :O(

Arrived at the airport without any dramas and picked up my boarding passes. I nearly had a fright when I couldnt locate my passport. I got all hot and sweaty and slightly in a tizz. Then I stopped. And thought. And found it. Phewwwww.

Walked thru security without any dramas (Gina- I've been keeping a beady eye on my laptop since you told me that story!!!!) and made my way up to the gate.

I had a little laugh to myself. I had a couple of sneezes (no, its not flu, its the smog) and 4 random people said 'bless you'. Just like that. I later had another couple of sneezes and 'bless you' was said again. I've been pleasantly suprized over and over with the politeness of people so far. From holding doors, to giving way in traffic, 'bless you', from stepping aside, saying excuse me or pardon me, thank you's. It's a lot more socially polite here than home. We are a bunch of rude people compared to the people of LA. I have no idea if this is the same the whole States over. Wouldn't it be wonderful if it was.

We had a 1 hour 20 min flight to Phoenix ( I sneezed a couple of times and 'bless you' was heard) and I took so photos with the iphone on the way. The lady next to me in the window seat fell asleep, so I just carefully lent in front of her to take the shots.

30 min turn around and I was on my way to Flagstaff.

35 min flight and I went from perspiring warm to snow!!! I haven't seen snow since my Year 9 school trip to Victoria, so that's a long time ago (you do the maths!!)

I walked into the airport building after taking a couple of shots with the iphone. The staff must have thought I was nuts lol.

Then I started having a panic attack. My heart was racing, I was hot, I was bothered. From this point I had to drive up to the Grand Canyon. I've purposely not given this leg any thought at all, as I'm terrified of it. You see I'm claustrophobic and I can't handle driving Adelaide, let alone in a strange place, on snowy/icy roads, in the dark, on the wrong side of the road to what I'm used to, with foot pedals back to front and sitting on the wrong side of the car. You see now the reason for my panic attack.

I had the nicest fella about my age reassure me so much. I didn't need to drive thru Flagstaff (which was much bigger than I thought), suggested I upsize vehicle to have 'all wheel drive' instead of a little 4 door sedan, set up the GPS to get me to the door of the Canyon Plaza Resort. I only rented the GPS as a last minute thought before I left. In fact he went back inside the airport building to get it for me and set it up. I've never used one (never needed to), but thank goodness I did. I still managed to miss a turn off from a freeway and it took me round a few streets and hey presto I was back going in the correct direction. Without it, I would have been a big blubbering mess. That's how damn scared I was.

The sun set as I drove and as much as I wanted to stop to photograph it, there was no way I going to. Hell no. I had a vice like grip on the steering wheel and my concentration fixed on the road for ice or wildlife. And my mind was saying stay right, stay right, stay right, stay right............

I made it in one piece. I passed a number of trucks and had a few pass me. But I made it. In time for late tea, unpack, plan my day weather pending for the first one here, took a few night shots of the heated atrium, and blog the previous day experiences.

And I had the deepest sleep. Relief I think.

nitey nite.

Los Angeles 1.2.12

2012-02-01T23:30:00.000+10:30

The last day of CHA. And it was nice to not have to set the alarm clock to get up early for a seminar or class. Woke up bang on 9am. With the very full days and getting to bed around midnightish most nights, I've been sleeping really well, except the night that I drank 3 mouthfuls of Mocha Frappachino before I went to bed. That was a fatal mistake.

Danny and Lee-anne had a full day for confirming orders and checking out yet still more new product for the Scrap Therapy shop. There is so much to come into the shop, that' its gonna be an online frenzy when Lee-anne announces it's on the floor ready to go.

I did a last little load of washing before I headed out to CHA. My goal for the day was to revisit Teresa Collins and ask her nicely if she'd resign the Signature release of Scrapbook Trends. I picked up a permanent marker from Marvy on my way round instead of using the ratshit Sharpie marker.

She recognised me straight away :OD and said in her best aussie "g'day"... what a crack up. And her eyes light up at the sight of the Tim Tams I offered her. When I asked her about resigning the book, she was a bit upset that no one had mentioned the problem before, seeing that all the books she's signed was with the Sharpie Pen. So all of them would be marked and etched too. I asked her to keep the Marvy Pen for anyone else's books. And she was kind enough to have another photo done with me with the Canon. That started another conversation about cameras and more talk of the Grand Canyon. I'm impressed she remembered so much considering just how many people would have spoken with her in the four days of CHA. She's certainly got a fan for life!!!!! She's A-SUM!!!

I wandered around taking lots of photos of LO's that I liked, products that caught my eye to have a yarn with Lee-Anne and Danny about and soaked up the atmosphere.

Today is the day of product giveaways and some women go absolutely nuts with no shame what so ever, crawling for product. I was also dumbfounded that in one the classes I took the day before, a number of scrappers didn't have a trimmer to use, so that company sourced half a dozen from a different company on the floor with the privso that they to be returned. 4 of the 6 trimmers walked. These are retailers and designers that are stealing product. What if a customer stole from them. Wouldn't they scream blue bloody murder, so what gives them the right to do the exact same thing and think its ok to do so. Like I said, I was disgusted.

There was a general murmur from the booth owners about how many people who were there that weren't retailers or distributors. CHA had allowed Scrapbooking blog owners in the door this year to bolster the numbers and so many of these people just freeloaded themselves with product giveaways and wasted much time with salespeople, when they had no intention whatsoever of buying it in the first place.

CHA finished at 2pm today to give booths time to packup and ship stock out. I sat in a cafe area out of the way and watched just how quickly the exhibition was dismantled. I haven't mentioned how the different craft areas were defined by a different colour of carpet in the aisles. The scrapping section was red carpet. And that red carpet was pulled up and rolled up out the way in no time flat to allow for the mini forklifts to come in with pallets to be loaded up.

On my way back to the Ramada I stopped to take a shot of the newspaper dispensers that I've seen in the movies, and the price of 'gas' for for record's sake.

When we all got back to our motel room I had to do a bit of a clean out of stuff that I wanted to post home. My luggage was borderline maximum weight before I arrived and I was definitely over it now. So I packed up a couple of bags with gifts for the kids, keepsakes that I've bought or collected for scrapbooking, and a few other odds and ends to post home. After finding out just how far away the Post Office was we caught a bus which dropped us right outside the PO. And $112 US later I have 8 kilos on its way home. Cheaper than paying excess luggage on 2 flights to Grand Canyon, 2 flights from Grand Canyon back to LA, and 3 flights to get home.

What a saga it turned out to be to get a bus back to the hotel room. Basically there wasn't a stop to be found and we walked about 3 kms back to near the hotel. It was late, cold and dark and Bubba's Shrimp and Grill was right in front of us, so we had tea there again. Then we found a bus stop with the bus that would take us back to the Ramada. The other bus that we went on originally was a ring route bus (now that we know that lol)

Showered, blogged. bed.

nitey nite.

Los Angeles 31.1.12

2012-01-31T23:30:00.000+10:30

Up with the alarm clock again this morning. 2 classes and 1 seminar on today.

I had an 8 o'clock class to which I was about 10 mins late for :(. I had a lovely lady from Canada sitting next to me that fast tracked me up to speed. This was a stamping class with products from Spirit Stamps and Ranger. We made 5 cards to try different stamping techniques. This class finished at just before 10 o'clock, which gave me time to head up the stairs to get a shot of the crowd waiting for the 10am opening of the doors onto the exhibition floor.

I had to laugh to myself a bit. I had noticed a lady that had put herself first in line when I headed upstairs at 8.10am. When I took the shot at 9.50ish she was still at the head of the line. By the time 10.10am came round everyone was in and there was no queue at all and I walked straight in. Silly woman :-/

I wandered past the Northridge Publishing booth and had a yarn to the people there. (they publish Scrapbook Trends). I noticed a special edition of Scrapbook Trends with Teresa Collins on the front. They kindly said I could keep it, so I strolled around to Teresa's booth. What a pleasure it was to talk to her. Not at all like I expected. She, her staff, and I talked about how American's say a-sum and we say awesome and by the time I left, they had our way of saying it down pat. We talked about her time at the Grand Canyon, her time in Australia, her scrapbooking, my scrapbooking, our kids and just chit chatted. She signed my magazine and had a photo with my iphone. It's a crap shot, so I'll think I'll head back there tomorrow with the Canon and ask again. As it turned out the Sharpie pen etched off the magazine which is unfortunate so I'll ask nicely with a packet of Tim Tams if she'd mind signing it again.

12pm was a class with Little Yellow Bicycle in which we made a 12x12 LO and a book. Nice product lines, but not one I would run out for. I was a bit disappointed with this class. There wasn't actually any techniques to learn other than speed scrapping. In their kits was the precut and scored paper to make the rosette flowers, but that as a possible new technique was ignored. I had to ask someone at the end how to make them so I could finish the book.

That class finished at 2pm and I had an hour before my seminar on Blog Management - tips and tools to streamline and maximise, so I wandered around to the October Afternoon booth for a make and take. Got talking there to two of the staff (guy and girl) about their times in Australia.

Met the lovely Dyan Reaverey who has her own line with Ranger. She's a very freestyle user of mists, stamps and embellies. Her style is whimsy spooky, not dark spooky, if that makes sense. She kindly signed a tag and I had a shot with her.

I also found the Creating Keepsake's booth and had an 'a-sum' yarn with Megan Hoeppner. She totally flattered me by saying she knew my name from my Layouts in the Aussie Section. (she seemed really genuine about that) and how 'a-sum' it is to put a name together with a face. She further amazed me by asking to take a pic of us on her phone after having a pic done on mine. How cool is that.

It seems that being Australian is still the flavour of the month. And saying the word "g'day" is a passport that opens up a conversation so easily. It seemed like so many Americans have been, about to go, or want to go to Australia. It's the desirable destination of choice.

Another thing that really surprised me is how many men are in the booths, either as demonstrating the make and takes, or as the sales personal. Some in suits, some in jeans. And the women loved them. They flock around Tim Holtz like seagulls around a chip. (Yes, I'm just as guilty, but I didn't hang watching him for hours or go back to visit his booth.)

After the Blog Seminar I had 2 hours to fill in so I wandered around taking photos of differnet products that attracted me, different LO's that I liked and dropped a business card into different product draws here and there. I was back at the Cricut booth in time for their 5.30pm draw and was lucky enough to have my name drawn out the barrel for a Cricut Cartridge.

Just as I was about to wander out the hall, when Lou snuck up on me. We got chatting away as we headed out to find her people and me to find mine. From all of the people pouring out of the hall at 6pm we found Danny and Lee-anne and Louise found her contact. Introductions were done all round. I've mentioned Lou's name to Danny and Lee-Anne enough times over the last year or so that I've known them, so it was nice to be able to introduce them irl.

Lee-Anne managed to snag the entire team of G45 for a shot. Scrap Therapy will be importing direct from them as of this year and everyone seems pretty happy about that.

Us three (D,L and me) wandered up the road in search of tea. It's dark by 6pm to people tend to eat earlier than we do. We made our way into Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. What an amazing concept. Based on the movie of Forrest Gump, its full of memorabilia, nostalgia and top food. It was delish. The staff are so upbeat and the place was packed out and rocking. There's even a Souvenir shop attached that was doing a roaring trade. I'm really keen to watch that movie again. :O)

Discovered that Yank beer is crap. Tastes watery and its flat. Not a bubble to be seen. Same with their soft drinks. No bubbles at all. But their lemonade is delish. Tastes like fresh squeezed lemons in cold water, (too much sugar tho).

We walked back the 1km or so back to the Ramada, spread out the products from the day and talked about stuff for their shop, what's hot down our way, what's not and what seemed to be the in things at the CHA.

Tried for about 10 mins to Skype home. I've got it set up at home to answer my video call automatically so the kids /Kym don't need to do anything to have a conversation. This also means I can call and I see the office chair when no one is there. I can hear them in the kitchen, and in other rooms of the house. It seems a bit voyeuristic listening in to the sounds of the kids and Kym without their knowing. I call out their name until one of them hears me and rushes in front of the computer. Sean tends to jump around and be a bit of a pain when Annie's wanting to talk. The Wifi here is really crap so often the video feed jams and the conversation is delayed. But I can see them and them me and that's so cool.

Time to get to bed.

nite nite.

Los Angeles 30.1.12

2012-01-30T23:30:00.000+10:30

Had to set the alarm clock this morning for a rather rude 6.45am.Lee-Anne and I both had the same class at 8am. With a 15 minute walk there andtime to get breakfast down without rushing it too much it called for an earlierrising than the last few days.

The class was Mixed Media Album with May Arts and more! whichproved to be a mostly 7Gypsies class with a token May Arts Ribbon. Thething I've learnt the most from doing all these classes is to scrap with speed.If you are a scrapper that like precise placement and time to do so, then thesefast paced classes are not for you.

This class lasted 2 hours and we finished on time with a book allbut done.

Pics to come later.

My next class was at 12p so that gave me time to walk back to theRamada and do a load of washing and hang it on the ironing board by the windowto dry. It also gave me time for a rather quick 10 minute power nap. Sureneeded it.

12pm. Wescott Tools Tester. This company was most generous intheir products. I've a 13inch trimmer/scorer to bring home as well as a pair ofnifty scissors and a craft knife. We made a little book to take home with us.

That class finished at 2pm and I had a mission that I wanted tocomplete.

Gina ~~told~~ ~~enquired~~ asked me ages ago to get a photo of uswith Liz Kratchner if at all possible, while I was here. So I did. Liz was verytickled with the idea of Gina on my phone to be in the photograph. She gave usa gift each to say thank you.

And I loved her kicks. Without her heels she would nearly be the same height as me.

Pic to come.

After farewelling Liz I wandered around to some make and taketables. October Afternoon, Martha Stewart

pic

Cosmo Cricket, Marvy, and a few others.

The main reason why I'm here is as a fresh set of eyes for Dannyand Lee-Anne for product searching, to bounce ideas from and while they are occuppiedselecting/ordering products for Scrap Therapy, I can do the make and takes toshow them some of what's new season.

Lots of yellow, mint, orange, plank/timber, heaps of washi liketape, banners everywhere. Two products that stood out for me where bothsimilar. One is the Little Yellow Bicycle Confetti and Liz Kratchner's DearLizzy Banners. Both are presewn to make them so quick to use. ( theinternet is soooo slow here that I can't have more than one page open andit drops out very regularly, so I can't open a secondry page to link theproducts atm.... sorry. Try google images for them)

I saw Mel Forbes's LO's at the Graphic 45 booth. They had the bestbooth by far!!!! All the staff dressed to suit the black them. The whole effectwas dramatic.

pic to come.

I tagged Mel on FB and she asked me to take a pic of them. So Iasked a couple of the G45's to help me out :O)

By the time 6pm came round all 3 of us were foot sore. But thatdidn't stop us from walking back to the Ramada to drop off all the gear, andwalk a km or so (probably longer as we inadvertently went round the block) to aMall to have dinner at the Cheesecake Restaurant. I was hankering forsomething with meat and three veg. I ended up with a very nice Sheppardspie for tea. We all selected a piece of cheese cake to go in a doggy bag (anormal custom in the USAand frowned upon at home). After walking the 1km back to the room we tuckedinto the cheesecakes.

pic to come

Nom. Nom. Nom.

I spent some time trying to Skype the kids but the internet wasnot being very user friendly at the time. But they did see me (on occasion) andme them (on occasion)

Bless you Paige for being there after school for them while I'mnot home. You are so very thoughtful to offer.

xxx

nitey nite

Los Angeles 29.1.12

2012-01-29T23:30:00.000+10:30

Up by 8am for the day. Plan A was to head to CHA by walking the 15 mins to get there. At the last minute Danny and Lee-Anne went ahead, and I went with their friends to a Disney Warehouse where they keep excess stock and merchandise that's for sale at least 50% off. You need to be a guest of a 'cast member' to have access to get in. 5 of us girls perused the warehouse for an hour or so. I found a few things for the kids, and Captain Jack Sparrows dreadlocks and bandanna for me. Love that man!!!!

Off to CHA. Because we got there at 10.30 (opens at10am), we didn't have to queue to get in. What a massive set up. Inside looks to be about 800m long by about 500m wide (at least) and that's just the part the CHA setup is in. The actual building is longer and wider than that.

There's several different craft groups there, Scrapbooking being the largest by far. Other areas are Fabric, Quilting, Needlecrafts. General Crafts. Art Materials and Framing. International Pavilion New Exhibitors. I located Danny and Lee-Anne inside via a phone call to let them know I was inside, and then I wandered around, taking in the atmosphere and getting an idea of where everything is.

I took my camera with me and a pack of Tim Tams to visit Tim Holtz. I wanted to say hello to Heidi Swapp and Teresa Collins. I wanted to see the new MME range that looks so good on the internet. I was keen to get to OA, Cosmo Cricket, Tattered Angels, EK Success, Prima, and the Ranger booths. Using the map of the booths I managed to find everyone so far.

Tim Holtz

Tim doing 'The Huff' for me.

Shot taken by Mr Swapp after he took my camera off a woman who had no idea how to focus. Bless him. Not the best one of me as I was starting to feel embarrassed that I was taking up Heidi's time.

With Jen Starr at the Tattered Angels booth. She's a dag!!!!

I went around and photographed different products or ways of using products that caught my eye. I photographed LO's, booths and ornaments within those booths. Will post pics of all later.

6pm is closing time. The PA announced at 5.50pm that the day was closing at 6pm, and half the lights went out dead on 6. Classes start promptly on time and finish on time.

Lee-Anne and I had a Sizzix class last night that started at 6 and finished at 8pm. Danny made his way back to the hotel. By the time we got back it was late and we nearly beyond the point of needing something to eat for tea.

By the time she and I got back from the takeaway next door, all I wanted to do was dump the photos, charge up the phone and head to bed. But my mind was whizzing around a bit, so it took me a while to go to sleep. I think I did drop off somewhere around 1am.

nite nite.

Los Angeles 28.1.12

2012-01-28T23:30:00.000+10:30

First day of Winter CHA 2012. And we nearly all overslept. lol. We all woke around 6.30am and all fell back to sleep until 9am. Jeepers Creepers. It opened for Registrations by 10am and Lee-Anne had her first class at 10am. So it was a quick-get-dressed, brush the teeth, slap on the sunscreen (they have such warm mild winters here at CHA), drag a comb thru the mop and out the door.

The Anaheim Convention Centre is only a 15 minute walk away so off with a brisk pace we went. Lee-Anne had us all registered online so checking in, getting the passes, the CHA book and map didn't take long at all.

While Lee-Anne was in class for the next two hours and my first of 3 seminars didn't start until 12pm, Danny and I headed to the local Target for a fresh fruit salad (its like a combination of Woolies, Coles and Target at home) and to sort out my bloody phone. With time restraints on walking the extra 2 miles round trip just for a SIM card, I ended up buying a disposable phone that only operates for a month, with a bit of extra credit for international calls.

By the time we made it back to the motel, plugged in the phone, grabbed what I needed for the seminars, it was time to head back to CHA to start getting in the line. The first one I went to was 'Lights Camera Action... Projects that Sell Products. That was basically about how to set up a 'stage' for video taping demonstration of product and how to manipulate that video for interest, ie music, take outs, fast forward, captions etc. It was interesting.

Something I really noticed in this seminar was just how many people had ipads and were using them with an apple wireless keyboard to take notes. Nearly every 3rd person was quietly tapping away.

Second seminar straight after the first one was very informative. Build Community and Brand Distinction with your Blog. Lots of notes written on this one.

Third seminar was Protecting your Creativity in the Digital Age. I was really keen to get to this one as this covers both the scrapbooking side and the photography side of me. Much of it was based on the American Law System, but is still relevant taken in context with Australian Law. Lots of food for thought there!!!!!

By the end of the third seminar, I was brain fogged. The exhibiton wasnt due to open until tomorrow and Lee-Anne and Danny were back at the hotel after her class. She spent the time making her Prima Crazy hat and Danny was setting up her phone that he bought for her to use here for the week instead of them using the one phone. Getting it set up proved to be a frustrating time for him.

By this time Danny and Lee-Anne's friends from Utah had arrived and off to Disney LA Adventure Tour. One of the ladies was a 'cast' member so she had wonderful local knowledge and how to navigate the parking, how to 'fast track' the rides, or go as 'single rider'.

First stop was the 'Soarin over California' . We sat in a row of seats that was lifted off the round and suspened high in the air before a curved 180 big screen and we 'flew' over California. The seats moved to the right and left as the plane banked and turned, there was the scent of the orange groves as we flew over them, and the really great sound. Recommend this one for sure.

Next was the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. If you don't like heights or the sudden dropping motion, dont do this one. You go up in a lift, seated and belted and the door opens to the big wide world before it suddenly drops a few floors. and then you zoom up, down, up, shake, down, up a bit and then down. Scary. I had my hand over my mouth to stifle my screaming.

While on a high we took on the 'Screamer' RollerCoaster. Yep. I screamed. We had made a dinner reservation at one of the resturants there which also gave us front row best view in the house of the new 'World in colour, light and Water show.' That is a masterpiece of how to manipulate water, watching amination on a 'screen' of water, and awesome displays of water ballet. A must see. Doing the resturant thing was $30US which included the food, a drink and the boardwalk. Better than cuing up with the other 600 odd people for a spot. Especially for kids.

Once that was done, the California Park closes, and since its Saturday night, DisneyLand which is right there as well, is open until Midnight. We Fast Tracked the Indina Jones ride and while waiting for our time slot, we went to the Pirates of the Carriebian. So much detail into all of these things. Love Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow!!!!!

We also visited Disney City Hall to get my, Danny's and Lee-anne's first timer badge, and went to the Haunted Mansion. Creepy.

Back to the Indiana Jones ride. It's like a tamish small rollercoaster in jeeps, but its all underground. Defienly fast track this ride. It's quite a walk down there, and it was still warm even tho is was nearly midnight. I'd hate to be in the normal queue during daylight hours. Its a very popular ride and wait times for up to an hour and a half are not uncommon.

Points to take note.

Buy a 2 day pass to see the fireworks over the castle on another night.
Go on a Saturday night. Once one is closed most of the crowd goes home. Go over to Disney Land. Most of them are going home after the fire works. Very little wait time in the queues this hour of night.
Night time is much cooler. The winters are warmer than ours and the summers are bloody hot. But still bring the jacket.
fast track the popular ride and then come back to it in the alloted time frame.
single pass allows your party to go individually as filler for spare seats. (obviously not for families with children)
comfortable shoes. there's a lot of walking.
be a kid and enjoy it.
swap pins/badges
park in the carpark near the esculater. (6 story carpark was massive)
keep a head count. we had a party of 7 adults and that was hard enough let alone involving kids.
cast (staff) always smile and are very courteous. After all it is the happiest place on earth.

By the time we got back to the hotel it was about 1am. It was then I made a fatal error. I had the last three swallows of my Starbuck Frappacino - forgetting that's caffine unlike the Farmer's union Feel Good at home. I think my eyes eventually closed around 4.30am.... until then I read my book on Photographing the South West. Won't be making that mistake again.

nite nite.

los angeles 27.1.12

2012-01-27T22:00:00.000+10:30

Friday LA time.

Pls excuse the lack of images. The days are so crammed full, that I'm just finding time to blog the details on occasion, let alone process the images. And the wifi internet signal is really crappy slow. :( So for now its just the details.

Woke up to find a smoggy LA. The sky did clear as the day wore on, thank goodness.

Danni, Lee-Anne and I headed down to the Prima warehouse in Chino, California. I thought it would be a bit ritzy, glossy and appealing as a building and with the whole demeanour of the place. Instead its a tiny reception, a tiny workshop room, narrow corridors and a rabbit warren. They had advertised a wholesale sale which was part of the reason for us going. Apparently last time they had a sale it was a carpark sale and it was massive. This was part of the reason for us going there. Instead it was a trestle and a couple of display boards of very old stock. Disappointing to say the least. The warehouse itself is chock a block full of boxes on pallets from floor to the high ceiling. To the point of being overstocked. This is where all the Prima products are shipped from world wide.

Pics posted later.

I met the business owner and the staff. All very nice people.

While we were there, we were encouraged to alter/decorate a very large floppy brim hat to be a 'crazy hat' which it is to be worn at CHA. If the Prima Patrol select your hat there's a $500 winning voucher.

We had thought we were going to be there all day and so asked our driver to return to pick us up at 5pm. As it turned out we were there only for about 30mins by the time Lee-Anne rang the driver and asked him to come back. This was no small trip. It was about 40 mins to get out there and he had just got to LA when we rang him. I'm surprised that he was still smiling and happy to see us.

By the time we got back to the Ramada we had half a day up our sleeves. So we walked around our area to see the sights, to find the 2 heavy weight jumpers I was looking for (found em) and strolled our way thru other shops.

On the spur of the moment we decided to head to Newport Beach. So on the two connecting buses we got. And it was a bit further than we thought. It was about half an hour after sunset by the time we got there. I"m amazed at how long the last light of the day lingers for here. It was still reasonably orange on the horizon which reflected so nicely in the sea. And what lovely clean beaches Newport have. Long clean white sand with gentle slope into the sea.

We had tea at a Mexican bar

pic

and took the buses back home. By the time we got back into the room it would have been past 10 oclock. And from all the walking of the day, much of it in the sun, we were all stuffed.

I haven't mentioned how warm there winter is here. It's like our spring at home and the nights cool off just as quickly as ours. It's very pleasant to be here this time of year and that's why now is the peak season. Apparently this is the place to come to get away from the cold snowy winters elsewhere.

I also haven't mentioned the hassles I've had with the SIM card that I bought at home for this trip. From not letting me make any calls at all, to being able to connect to some numbers and not others (Kym's mobile) to only occasionally let me get online. It's pissed me off to the max. With all the stuffing around with it, trying to ring home and still being charged for it, its chewed up $75. So I'm taking the SIM back when I get back home and I'll be making complaint about it. I've not spoken to the kids or Kym yet, and that really hurts. So I am investing either in a SIM card from here or a disposable phone that is only good for one month. That's on tomorrows agenda.

So its good night from me

los angeles - LA time - 26.1.12

2012-01-26T23:30:00.000+10:30

26th Jan 2012 aussie time

Had a very pleasant trip from Adelaideto Auckland. 4 hour flight. Ineconomy during this stretch and that ended up being really lovely with a spareseat between me and the lady by the window. Was able to plug in my iphone to charge in the usb slot.

The ‘ditch’ was very blue today. (pic)

In flight reading (pic)

We had a very French and very gay flight attendant. He evenpursed his lips and looked so down his nose.

Connected to the next flight from Auckland to LA inside 30mins.

I'm travelling on a brand spanking new plane only 1 weekold. Very flash shiny paint job. (pic)

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I’m sitting in Premium Economy. If you have the chance tofly PE I would very thoroughly recommend it. The seats are very very comfortable, private with oodles of leg, elbowand shoulder room. There’s a USB hub tocharge the iphone and listen to your own playlists, a universal power point forthe laptops, ipads etc.

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Hot towels, chandelier painted on the toilet wall,

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Linen napkins and the best service I’ve ever experiencedduring flight.

(pic)

The entertainment system is impressive. Touch screeneverything with a very large assortment of Utube selections, music, movies,games, news.

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Comfort packs (eye cover, eye cream, lip balm, moisturiser,toothbrush, toothpaste, ear plugs, socks, and a pen) and large warm blankets areprovided along with bottled water, and as much wine as you’d like. I reallycan’t recommend Premium Economy enough. I’ve heard it described as the 90’sstandard of business class.

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As we boarded the plane, Business and Premium Economy get to load before the Economy class. Those in Economy walk through our area to get to theirs and I heard a lot of ooohhhhhs and ahhhhhhhs and wishful thoughts outloud about our seats.

Did I mention the service? Now that is first class. And I’m impressed with the airline meals.

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I watched the evening colours rise even tho we are headingeast. Lovely clouds.

I’ve been up since 5.20am local time and I’m not sure whichtime zone I’m in atm, but suffice to say I hope to sleep well. I am weary,comfortable and warm.

Nite nite.

Ps. In-flight tip for return trip – pack spare hankies andanti histamines. L

26th Jan LA time.

There was a double space seat spare in the centre of the plane that was empty. These are designed for the couples in flight. I stretched out on them to sleep without much luck. Despite the eye mask and ear plugs I didn't sleep much. About 2 hours I reckon, and only lightly as that. I think I am just too excited and my mind just won't switch off.

So I got up, got the laptop out, plugged it in (yes, there's a universal power point in the Space Seats, and worked on some images for awhile. While in flight I didn't have any internet service, so I put my blog notes in Word to copy paste later on.

Before the rush of others waking up and going to the loos, I decided to have a wash, teeth, hair. Afer sitting back down and working on a few more images, others were beginning to stir. My eyes were beginning to feel a bit gritty and I was starting to feel a bit tired so I thought I'd have another go at sleep. I think I managed an hours power nap, which is better than none. So for the total flying time of of the LA leg where I hoped to get to sleep, I really only managed 3 hours out of the 13 hour flight.

I can very thoroughly recommend anyone to fly Air New Zealand. Service is spot on and the flight really was so pleasant. I would really really really encourage to fly Premium Economy. It was just the best way, not cattle class and without the expense of flying business class.

Glimpsed the Hollywood sign upon descent.

10.30am

Customs/Border Security was a bit tedious. It was very warm in the aged airless room where we shuffled through. Very antiquated building with non smiling staff. All dressed in black and intimidating as hell. Especially the Negro ladies. They looked so stern. I think watching the odd snippet of Border Security on TV put the wind up me. The actual process didn't take long at all.

Once thru there, picking up my suitcase and tripod bags (very glad to see they both made it all the way thru from Lincoln without me seeing them at all) I headed outside to catch the shuttle bus to the Ramanda Hotel, Anaheim. (so close to Disney Land). It was all very noisy outside waiting for the bus pickup and the cars travel so fast. I must admit to feeling a little bit intimated by the thought of just me by myself mostly because I discovered that my Travel Sim Card that I bought at home and set up wasn't working. Up until Auckland I was working on WiFi wherever I could find it, but now I couldn't even find that.

I was a bit concerned as I wasn't able to contact Lee-Anne and Danni, couldnt txt, skype or ring home. Couldn't Facebook msg. It was useless as a house brick in my hand. I was fairly pissed off with it as it was all set to just work when I landed!!!!!! Despite much fiddling and playing with a few settings that I could think of (instruction booklet that came with the SIM was in my suitcase and I didn't really get the chance to unlock the strap and padlocks to open that up. So I just shoved it in my pocket and thought dark thoughts about it.

It was with the greatest of relief to see them in the carpark outside reception when the bus pulled up. Lee-anne guessed I must have been having phone issues and had rung the shuttle bus company to find out the drop off time so she and Danni could be there to meet me.. Bless her for her thoughtfulness.

I was tired, wilted and my eyes felt like sandpaper. But I was also so damn excited to meet Lee-Anne and Danni in real life, to be on the other side of the world and just to think that I did it on my own. When they suggested a late afternoon exploring and seeing the sights of Hollywood with our personal driver, well hey, sleep could wait. I could do that later!!!! After dumping off the bags, rearranging the gear back into the camera back pack and a much enjoyed shower, we were off.

The cars whizz along so fast. 140km on the freeways and you take off so quick and rev the engine heaps to get up to speed fast when merging or moving into lanes. Mind you if you need to change lanes the car behind seems to always allow room to do that. More so than they do at home. And it felt just damn wrong to be on the right side of the road. And when it was my turn to sit in the front of the car, I went to get in on the wrong side. whoops.

Lots of ribbons of concrete for all the exits of the freeways. I'll try to get a pick of them tomorrow to explain what I mean.

First stop. Photographing the Hollywood sign and the vista of LA. There apparently was very little smog today so it was the best day to see across the valley to the sign. On some days you can't see it at all. Blrrrrgh.

We headed into Hollywood Boulevard to see the sights. Near the Chinese Temple I jumped out of the car that was held up in traffic to photograph it. The car was next to the curb and the driver was looking for a place to park. I said to Danni and Lee-Anne that Id stay by the temple to find me when they had found a park round the corner. They agreed as I was moving out of the car. After I got out, and the car moved on, and I took the shots I wanted. I then thought, oh dear, that was a bit stupid. My phone is still out of action and I had no way of contacting them, or them me.

And then of all things, I had some Negro fella try to flog me a Sony Digi Cam. He asked do you speak English. And I replied Nup, He said where you from, I replied Australia. He laughed and said, ahhhh you do speak English. I just smiled and moved on. I just about shat myself thinking about it after.

After waiting and looking around where I was for about 10 mins Lee-Anne found me. Phew. We walked the Star of Fame pavements, I had photos with the Transformers and Jack Sparrow (he was a bit yummy too) and came across the place that had Michael Jackson's family do his shoe impressions in the concrete only that day. It had been all roped off, with carpet on the ground and seating and all the cabling and equipment you could think of. The whole block had been shut off to traffic. When we got there it was all being packed up. The event had been at 11am that morning.

We got back into the car and drove along Sunset Boulevard, stopped at the Beverly Hill sign post so I could climb it for a photo, past the Bel Air entrance to the Estate, and high tailed it down to Santa Monica Beach to catch the sunset.

We got to Santa Monica Pier just in time to catch the colours of the clouds and the tide was out which gave fantastic wet sand to reflect the hues. I got my Rossi boots wet in the ripples to catch the photo I wanted. (Nailed it!!!!!)

I took long exposure pics of the Cirque Tent and the Ferris Wheel on the Pier.

I do believe we might head back to the Pier another night to enjoy it and have tea there. As it was, the driver was asked to have us for 5 hours and we were near the end of our booking time. He does drive a shuttle bus of his, so Lee-Anne had the thought of gathering a few of her contacts and having an evening there while we are here. Shit hot idea.

On the 2 hour trip back to the Ramanda (traffic was snailpace for most of it) I was just soooo tired. I was feeling lightheaded, and my head was nodding around a fair bit. I hadn't expected that it would take 2 hours to get back and I didn't go to the loo before leaving the Pier. There is no way you can stop on the Freeway and even thou I was getting a bit desperate I just had to wait until we cleared the snail pace freeways and got onto the road back to Anaheim. We did stop eventually at a Starbucks and I just ran in, and went straight into the empty mens loo as the ladies was being used. Ohhhh the relief.

I had my first Java chip Frappcino while I was there. I think that's my ice coffee substitute. By the time we got back to the Ramanda, the caffeine had hit, and I was awake enough to download the photos off both cameras, sync the clocks on both cameras for ease of working images later, ring Backchat in Australia to sort out the phone (yahhhhoooooooo buckaroo) and have a bit of a yarn with Lee-Anne about things.

and then bed. Blissful bed.

sidenote- I probably wont be loading up a lot of images at this point. The wifi is dreadfully slow and as I shoot every shot in RAW it needs to be processed before I can load it up. For now, I am blogging when I can. (all the above was done on the 27th in the morning while waiting for the other two to rise and shine)

I am taking pics with my phone and will be uploaded them onto Facebook when I can, into the Los Angeles Album.

los angeles 26.1.12

2012-01-26T09:51:00.001+10:30

Happy Australia Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stayed at my Grandpa's last night to get to the airport before dawn this morning without an excessilvely early start for everyone.
up at 5.15a to gather gear and catch the booked taxi at 5.40a at the gate.

Lincoln Airport by 6am. Boarded the first flight of the day at 6.30am.

Dawn on the first day of the trip.

Landed Adelaide Airport and had breakfast with Pete Dobre. Always fun when he's around.

Just about to head thru customs in a tick. Auckland next stop in 4.5hrs time on this aircraft.

los angeles 25.1.12

2012-01-25T23:20:00.000+10:30

Crunch time today. Pack the bag day.

Managed to prune the camera backpack down to 8 kilos. 2 bodies, 3 lenses, filters, timer, 4 x batteries. In the little shoulder day bag I have the 2 different battery charges, the USA adapter, the cleaning kit, another lens, the speedlight, the Alphine butterfly brush and loupe for the delicate sensor clean. That bag is in the luggage.

Shoes. I'm not a shoe person. I like my footwear to be functional hence the boots. Rossi's, Dress boots, Hiking Boots. I don't intend to buy any shoes over there.

Cash for tips, bus/train/taxi fares. And a Starbucks Espresso Frappuccino. Play money really.

Packed.

Tripod bag =7.5kgs. Tripod, umbrella, Rossi boots, 4xsocks. Thick lambswool lined heavy weight waterproof jacket that comes to my knees.
Camera Backpack - as above with empty waterbottle to fill on flight.
Laptop bag. 7kgs. Using it as my little overnight bag as such besides the laptop. Has the plastic ziplock bag of 100ml containers. ie toothpaste, cleanser, moisteruiser, eyecream, lipbalm. foundation. toothbrush. puffer. Contains my documents needed for boarding and customs. Powercords for laptop, USB lead for iphone, (will be charging during flight in the fangdangle chair I'll be in), my reading for the flight with associated maps and info. other bits and pieces.
suitcase. clothing for up to -6.0C. I did find it a bit hard to think of cold weather clothes when the last few days have been over 35C. I damn near forgot to pack the 2 jumpers I own. I'm going to find a couple more over there as there is nothing here in a winter weight fabric in the middle of summer.

I did manage to squeeze in 8 packets of Tim Tams on Lee-Anne's request. Tim Tam are akin to bribery offers over there ;op

Staying in Lincoln tonight with my Grandfather as the airport to leave in the morning at 6.40am is sooooo much closer to him than to us at home. We (us 4 Firths) had tea with my Grandfather and a couple of mutual friends before the kids and Kym bade me goodbye. I had a lump in my throat as watched them leave and a pretty exciting feeling inside as well.

All I can say is thank goodness for Skype. Can't Viber as Kym doesn't have an Iphone, can't Facebook with him and the kids as he doesn't Facebook, so it's good ol ringing up the phone or seeing if he remembers what I showed him about Skype. I did show the kids too, so I think Sean will remind him of what to do.

cheers.

grand canyon weather

2012-01-24T21:35:00.000+10:30

Winter Weather & Temperatures.

Winter weather conditions on the South Rim can be harsh. The North Rim can be worse. Keep in mind that visitor services and facilities inside the park on the North Rim are closed from mid-October until mid-May and although visitors can still visit the North Rim, the road from Jacob Lake to the North Rim (Highway 67) is subject to closure due to snow.

Services and some facilities at the South Rim are open all year, but be prepared for cold temperatures, snow, icy roads and possible road closures. However, the Ground Canyon is beautiful covered with winter snow.

Upper South Rim Averages


Month January February March April May June July August September October November December	High (F) 41 45 51 60 70 81 84 82 76 65 52 43	Low (F) 18 21 25 32 39 47 54 53 47 36 27 20	High (C) 5 7 10 15 21 27 29 28 24 18 11 6	Low (C) -8 -6 -4 0 4 8 12 12 8 2 -3 7	Precipitation 1.3” 1.5” 1.4” 0.9” 0.7” 0.4” 1.8” 2.2” 1.6” 1.1” 0.9” 1.6”

Lower Inner Canyon Averages


Month January February March April May June July August September October November December	High (F) 56 62 71 82 92 101 106 103 97 84 68 57	Low (F) 36 42 48 56 63 72 78 75 69 58 46 37	High (C) 13 17 22 28 33 38 41 39 36 29 20 14	Low (C) 2 6 9 13 17 22 26 24 21 14 8 2	Precipitation 0.7” 0.8” 0.8” 0.5” 0.4” 0.3” 0.8” 1.4” 1.0” 0.6” 0.4” 0.9”

source

to sum up its going to be cold. Bloody cold. It could be as 'warm' as 7 degrees C or as cold as -6 degrees C. with the monthly rainfall/snow around 1.5 inches. At the time of blogging this its currently -3.2c.....

I'm flying from LA to Phonex then onto Flagstaff, where I pick up the hire car and drive on the wrong side of the potentially icy roads up to Grand Canyon Village.

I'm staying at the Grand Plaza Resort as of the 1st of Feb for 5 nights.

Am I excited. ???Hell yes.

Am I nervous about going on my own. No. Meeting Lee-Anne and Danni in LA will be wonderful and by the time CHA is over I'll be needing some 'quiet time'. I've heard a whisper that a night at Disney Land is on the cards and a day touring Hollywood is defiently on.

Am I uncertain about driving over there. YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I'll take it steady and I've all the time in the world to get there. And it looks so straight forward to get there. Left turn at Flagstaff, Right turn at Williams and drive straight ahead till the road stops at the village. About 90 miles all up. I drive more than that on some days as it is.

directions for my reference

To South Rim From Flagstaff, Arizona.

1. Take I 40 West about 30 miles to Highway 64 (Exit 165) as you near Williams. Go North on Highway 64 for about 60 miles directly to the South Rim.

2. In downtown Flagstaff, travel North on Humphreys Street to Columbus Avenue which becomes Highway 180. Take Highway 180 West about 55 miles to Highway 64. Head North on Highway 64 directly to Tusayan and the South Rim.

3. Take Route 66 Northeast which will turn into Highway 89. Take Highway 89 North about 65 miles, then turn left (west) onto Highway 64 and continue directly to the East Entrance on the South Rim. The East Entrance is referred to as "Desert View". Desert View is on Desert View Drive which hugs the edge of the canyon for about 26 scenic miles to Grand Canyon Village at the South Rim.

From Williams. Take I 40 to towards Williams, Arizona which is about 33 miles east of Flagstaff. Take Highway 64 (Exit 165) North for about 60 miles directly to the South Rim. A great way to see the Grand Canyon is catching the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams.

I'm packing the suitcase when I paused to check the GC weather to pack my warm things for that part of the trip. Hence the weather details here, just to give you an idea of what I'm to expect.

Might even have to make the real deal s'mores!!!!!!!!

more info on the South Rim for my reference here. and images here

LA leadup

2012-01-23T03:05:00.002+10:30

I can't sleep. I'm just too wound up thinking about the next few days, especially flying on a long haul flight.

I've not been further than New Zealand (for our honeymoon) and certainly not really anywhere on my own. That in itself is a tiny bit scary but a lot exciting.

After duplicating all the documents today, setting up Skype on all devices and tying up small details, I just cant sleep.

All of a sudden this pipe dream that I've been having is suddenly very real.

I've been checking out the weather, the accommodation while at CHA, the flight details, reserving my seat on each flight, thinking of locations to visit while in LA (Hollywood, Walk of fame, Hollywood sign, Rodeo Drive, Hollywood Boulevard, Beverly Hills etc) and hoping like hell I can fit all that in.

As well as 2 days at Prima Headquarters with hands on product workshops and 4 days of CHA. My first day at CHA is my busiest as I'm booked into 4 business conferences. The next 3 days have one or two workshops, as well as working my way from booth to booth doing Make and Takes.

I'm really hoping to meet Tim Holtz, Heidi Swapp, Liz Kartchner and the likes. They are all having product releases at CHA so they should be very visible.

And the most of all is to finally meet Lee-Anne irl. Lee-Anne and Danni own Scrap Therapy and I've been on the Design Team for nearly a year. We formed a strong friendship on line and on the invitation from Lee-Anne has been my opportunity to go.

I'm hoping to blog each night but I may not be able to post a lot of images. I need to sleep at some stage ;o)

So I'm on count down with very few sleeps to go.

whoooo hoooooo.

tea with Pete and Laura

2012-01-22T16:04:00.000+10:30

Laura and her family and Pete came over for roast tea last night. Pete's been to the Grand Canyon before so I was really keen for him to point me the right way for the best spots for the best shots. He put me onto a book a while ago, which I purchased, to really get great info on the place.

Lovely tea, good wine, great company.
And a late night.
:O)

today's been getting Skype onto all devices and checking they all work. (thanks Janice for your patience), duplicating travel documents and really starting to think about packing.... I've only 3 sleeps left at home, 1 in Lincoln and then I'm gone for 2 weeks.

just getting a little bit excited now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (well, more than a bit lol

4 sleeps to go!!

tumby bay 2012 - day 20

2012-01-20T23:30:00.000+10:30

It was grey, overcast and a good setting to go home. If it was bright sunshine and a day on the beach feel to the morning, it would have made it so much harder to leave.

As it was, I still wasn't really ready to come home after 3 weeks at the beach, but both Kym and I both have things that we need to get on with, so home we came.

Funny how it takes forever to pack to go the beach and next to no time to pack to bring it all home. lol. (Gotta love the canopy on my Hilux. Fits in soooooooooooo much stuff with oodles of room to spare.)

Once home, unpacked, washed and visited some friends I started to think about packing the suitcase with winter gear for the trip. And thinking is about as far as it got. I was stuffed and an early night was on the cards.

tumby bay 2012 - day 19

2012-01-19T23:51:00.000+10:30

With Kym being on farm overnight, that meant no 6.30am boiling of the kettle for his first cup of coffee for the day. And with the style of apartment we have each summer, that kettle is damn noisy at that hour of the day. :-/

(PS the images in the galleries of each type of unit that have the white keyline on them are ones I shot for the Modra Apartments last summer :O) )

So after a leisurely beginning to the day, I took the kids out to Thurana for a quick Australia Day photoshoot. I'm feeling very nostalgic for this day this year as I'm leaving for a 2 week trip to the States on that day. So I want to have a bit of Aussie with me on the flight. :O)

Annie had a cracker idea for a shot, and it worked ever so nicely.

I upgraded her usual Paddle Pop fee to a Magnum icecream to reward her initiative. Sean earnt his upgrade as well by planting his feet wide in this shot to give it a bit of extra character. (lol had find some excuse for him wink wink)

We had fun with bubbles too, and with the sea breeze they were really zooming along!!

Kym was back at the cabin when we got back for late lunch. I started packing up all our gear as were we scheduled to leave the next morning.

I had a phone call mid afternoon from Brigette S to see if I'd like a lift to Lincoln for scrapping. Hell yes. Of course. I was packed and ready to go in 5 minutes flat. (laptop doesn't take much to pack lol)

While Brigette was at an appointment I took her 4wd thru the carwash

Pizza for tea with her daughter on the foreshore and then round to scrapping. Seeing that I wasn't driving (a very rare event indeed) I splurged out a little bit.

Lots of laughs with the girls. And a late night back in Tumby. Thanks so much Brigette for ringing me!!!! mwah

women in business - tiff firth photography

2012-01-18T22:39:00.000+10:30

The Port Lincoln Times had a feature on Women In Business in yesterday's edition. 17.1.2012

I was very flattered to be asked to part of it. In fact I recall laughing saying what I do is not serious enough to be called a business as I'm having way too much fun with it.

I was chuffed to see my fave colour associated with the write up. :O).

I'm really pleased with how the interview was written up. It seems to read well to me.

tumby bay 2012 - day 18

2012-01-18T22:30:00.002+10:30

A bit of an easterly breeze canned the idea of going out on the biscuit this morning :O( so Kym gathered up some of the larger bits and pieces, together with Max the guinea pig and his hutch to take back home and start on the summer spraying late this arvo.

The kids and I headed to the playground to burn up some energy for a while. While there we decided to go to the movies in Lincoln in the late arvo.

That gave us time for me to pick up my travel documents, pick up a few last minute things and for Sean to have a hair cut.

We also had a cup of coffee with Ann at Cafe Chino.

The deal between me and the kids was for them to watch a movie and I shoot a ruin on the way back to Tumby. They were happy with that. But when we got there the sky was just plain boring blue :( I'll be going past tomorrow night when I head down for scrapping so I'll revisit the ruin then and hopefully the sky is rocking.

While we've been on holidays its been a chance for the kids to do their own washing up. We've a dishwasher at home and its their job to unload each morning, so actually washing dishes is a bit of a novelty.

Kym's staying on farm tonight to be up at dawn to spray the summer weeds, so the kids snuggled into my bed to watch a DVD and seeing that they looked so comfy, I'll let them stay there for the night, and I'll sleep in Annie's bed. LOL, the things a Mum does for her kids. ;O)

tumby bay 2012 - day 17

2012-01-17T23:43:00.000+10:30

Dawn was a cracker this morning...... there was a bank of cloud in the right place at the right time and it fired up. Sweet stuff!!!!!

Blue hour.

Ta-da!!!

Pylon sunburst

5.30am alarm clock tends to knock me around a bit so I usually head back to bed for a quick hour catchup if I can. This morning I waited for Sean and Kym to head out fishing while Annie devoured a book in bed.

After the promising start to the day, it turned grey, cool, breezy and occasionally damp. :O(

Laura and her son came over the hill for a visit and we originally intended to have a day on a pristine beach not far from here with the kids, picking Sean up from fishing on the way. According to the weather map yesterday, it was to be fairly warm and not a lot of breeze. Well, we had the opposite, so we scouted that particular beach for a possible photo shoot later on and high tailed back to the Bakery in Tumby.

After lunch and browsing the shops we all came back here for a while. Great to catch up.

By the time Laura left, it was starting to rain. So the kids had a bit of a vegie arvo while I worked on yesterday's photos.

Late afternoon saw the western horizon start to open up at last. Kym was back from fishing early arvo and had been smoking the Tommies since. He came round to drop off the left over bits from filleting the garfish for Sean to feed the pelicans. Annie headed back with Kym to finish smoking the fish.

While Sean was feeding the pelicans,

I noticed how calm and still the waters were and was thinking just how pleasant a paddle in a kayak would be, when Christina came down the beach and asked if I wanted to go Kayaking for a cup of coffee at the Ritz. (Ice Coffee for me lol)

I trotted back to the cabin, parked the camera and picked up Sean's life jacket. He sat up on the nose of the Kayak while I paddled. About half way to the Ritz a rain scud blew through and we were drenched. But hell it was fun to be in it. Exhilarating really and I was laughing a fair bit, and fairly loudly. We also saw a 180 degree rainbow over the bay..... oh to have the camera on hand, even the phone would have sufficed.

The breeze had picked up which made the thought of kayaking against it just a bit too much to consider. Fortunately a friend of Christina's was at the jetty so we could borrow their car to get back to Christina's shack. And the hubby and his mate paddled the kayaks back (I think, well that was plan A. Plan B was for the fellas to put the kayaks in the trailer to bring back. They were laughing and saw the funny side of it.

Sean and Kym caught a mess of squid during the morning so it was fresh calamari for tea cooked up by Kym. Seafood is his thing, so he's cooks it.

I headed out for sunset after tea.

tumby bay 2012 - day 16

2012-01-16T22:00:00.001+10:30

Both the kids headed out fishin with Kym at Second Creek for the morning. I used the time to reconcile last month's accounts as I'll have precious little time for things at home before I leave on the 26th....... only 10 days away.

It still doesn't feel real yet. I don't think it will until I get home from our family holiday, unpacked and washed everything and start packing for winter in Los Angles and the Grand Canyon. I'm not too concerned about the weather at LA, its much like our winter and I'll be inside at Prima Headquarters for 2 days of classes and then Anaheim Convention Centre for Winter CHA 2012. I've booked all my classes and business conferences. The first day will be my busiest with 4 conferences. I'm attended classes from the second day onwards.

Grand Canyon, on the other hand will be cold. Seriously cold. It often snows there on the rims and if it doesn't snow it will be frosty. I'll be up predawn every day and that's the bit I'm packing the thermal clothes for. :O)

Anyway, I digress......

Reconcile balanced. Yay. Monthly accounts paid. double Yay.

I met the crew at Second Creek at 11.30 for low tide. I wanted Kym run my over to the sand bank on the other side via the boat during low tide so I could take some images. That journey would have been all of 30 metres lol.

So much to capture at low tide at this place.

After the kids had a run on the sandbar with me and Kym dropped us back to the orginal side, I brought the kids back to the apartment for lunch and a veg attack. I worked some images while the kids had some chill time.

I took them out with the wave board late this arvo but the waves were just too big for Sean to handle the board. He had a go and then we canned the idea.

I headed out for sunset as a really nice cloud came over the horizon. By the time the sun hit the deck, the cloud had moved too far to be in frame.

tumby bay 2012 - day 15

2012-01-15T23:17:00.001+10:30

Kym and the kids headed out fishing this morning and I headed out on the kayaks with Christina for a leisurely paddle around the marina. We headed out over the sandbar, down the channel and into the marina. The top of the marina is just behind our back door here at the cabin, so we pulled the kayaks up on a pontoon, came into the cabin for a cup of tea/ice coffee and then paddled back.

Sean cracked the shits while fishing so I headed out to Second Creek to pick him up and to give Kym and Annie time to fish in peace. I took Sean down to the beach to give him some pointers with the wave board before I got the camera out. :O)

Needless to say he's got it worked out pmsl. ;O)

Later in the afternoon Kym and Sean were smoking fish and I took Annie to the beach for her go on the board. She's got it all worked out too. I'll get em kneeling then standing next.

Sometimes is nice to break the photography rules and see something totally differently. I really love this shot.

Love this.

Beaut day at the beach today and the next couple of days should be awesome in regards to the weather.

tumby bay 2012 - day 14

2012-01-14T23:30:00.000+10:30

A wonderful way to wake up is to be served pancakes.......love those little moments.

Kym took the kids to pull the yabbie nets he set a couple of days ago

annie firth photography ;O)

and I headed out to a ruin that needed the morning sun to bring out all the details of the stone work.

now if I remember rightly the family that was in this home had 9 children, 5 of which were boys. The building out the back was the boys bedroom. The main structure was full of antique furniture which was all lost during the Wangary fire 7 years ago. They both lost there roofs then too.

I took my time and meandered back north thru the hills on all the backtracks I could find. I did come across the Pillaworta Weir.

I saw this stately tree and thought it would make a great image to go on a Sympathy Card.

Once back in Tumby early afternoon I pedalled down to Elfrieda Drive to catch up with a couple of the girls with a couple of ciders in hand. While I was there I spotted a fella flying a red kite on the sandbar. I pedalled back to the apartment as fast as I could, grabbed the camera and took off like the wind to the sandbar. I was just in time to ask him if he minded my taking pictures of him and the kite. He was just about to pack up but he was more than happy to oblige me a few more minutes. I was chatting with him while taking the shots and learnt this is a training kite to build up upper body strength and to learn the nuances of the kite with the wind. How perfect to have the pop of the red kite and shirt. Couldn't have asked for better.

While on the beach.......soak up a little bit of Vit D and catch up on some reading.

And while down on Elfrieda Drive there were kids EVERYWHERE on bikes, ripsticks, and scooters. They very obliging lined up for a shot that I took on the phone. I laid in the middle of the road for this one. ;o) I purposely not taken full body shots. I just wanted the impression of the kids, their summer tans and all the modes of transport. I love the shot.

Sean is at long last on two wheels. I think seeing the kids on the street on their bikes has encouraged him to go for it....... very proud mum moment.

A bit of a social evening with a few kids dropping in made it fun.

Yabbies for entree

Kids strawberries and yoghurt for dessert. Very patriotic ;O) (image from a few days ago)

tumby bay 2012 - day 13

2012-01-13T23:30:00.000+10:30

Last day of Family Mission today. The kids have enjoyed the week at Mission so much. This was Annie's fourth year and Sean's first. From a parent's point of view it is a SAFE place to leave the kids for the morning. And there's local faces that I know from home wish is so very reassuring.

And the last day for VAC swim too. Sean did well.

Annie's group had a session on the wave boards. They look like so much fun.

(looks so grown up all of a sudden!!)

I've been eyeing the boards for a while and unbeknown to the kids I got one in Lincoln yesterday. They are not cheap, so they are sharing one. I believe in rewarding good behaviour and effort. This was a really busy week for the kids I hoped they got a lot out of it. So providing they both passed VAC swim and both didn't have any issues at Family Mission, they would be rewarded.

This is their reward.

We had a wonderful surprise visit from Paige. It's always a brighter day when she's around. ;o)

I headed out late this arvo to a ruin that I've had permission to shoot.

And tea tonight at the Tumby Hotel. Friday is Steak and Seafood nights.

tumby bay 2012 - day 12

2012-01-12T23:30:00.000+10:30

After putting the kids on the bus to Family Mission, I went back to bed. The late nights processing that day's images and the 'early lol' starts to have the kids up and away were starting to catch up. Having to set the 8am alarm clock for the kids during their holidays seems a bit rude, but if they want to get to Mission on time, it has to happen.

The mornings have been so grey and overcast that I've not had a single guilty thought that I should be out 'there' photographing something. :O)

Kym and I tagged teamed at lunchtime for him to have the kids for the rest of the day, meaning VAC swim, Family Mission Fun afternoon with the Merry Go Round, Face Painting, Bouncy Castle, Sausage Sizzle and the Concert last night. Alas Kym forgot to take Annie's camera (on purpose my thinks) so I have nothing to document the kids' time. Sean watched the concert, Annie was on stage. She sounded very happy with herself when I spoke to her about the concert.

The reason why I wasn't around is that I was shooting with John White down at Whaler's Way for the afternoon/evening. We spent time at Cape Wiles, Red Banks and Cape Carnot. The sun didn't really break through the clouds at all, so the light was really diffused and soft. So we've plans to return to Red Banks and Cape Carnot soon.

I'm still working on those images so nothing to show today.

After returning back to Lincoln and dropping John off (it was my turn to drive today ;o) ) I headed round to Scrapworkz to catch up with the girls. I had the laptop with me to start processing what I had seen today.

Late night home to find the kids soundly asleep, (I love kissing them and snuffling them while they look so peaceful) and Kym wide awake. (He had a arvo sleep)

tumby bay 2012 - day 11

2012-01-11T22:13:00.002+10:30

Kym headed out early to go fishing this morning to fill the freezer. He's doing a home run tonight to empty out the freezer here to make room for fishing trips with the kids. Oh and to check his tomatoes, the peacock chicks, the chooks and run an eye over a job site.

I had hopes of heading out photographing while the kids were at Family Mission during the morning, but it was just grey and flat light. So I pottered and had some quiet time.

At VAC swim Annie had to do a safe entry jump from the jetty platform. She's done this only once before and this time round didn't faze her at all ;oD

She jumped off several times just for the hell of it. Atta girl!!!!!!

After VAC swim and Family Mission the kids veged for a bit. And seeing that it was a little cooler today they enjoyed watching a DVD in the comfort of my bed, all snug as a bug.

The sun finally made an appearance late this arvo so I headed out on the foreshore with an idea. I noticed the lawns were freshly mowed this morning which gave some lovely leading lines. The only problem I had is that I needed a ladder to get some height to be able to see the aquamarine water. So I knocked on a door of a home and asked if I could borrow one. Viola. Problem solved....... sometimes you only need to ask. The worst thing that can happen is that they say no. ;o)

Silver eye gull on the wing.

Tumby offers the best wave action for jet skis......

and Batwings......

and Kite Surfing....

all posted with permission.

tumby bay 2012 - day 10

2012-01-10T23:30:00.000+10:30

The kids headed to Mission in the morning while I caught up on processing my shots, pottering in the apartment and enjoying some quiet time.

VAC swim was next on the agenda and by the look of Annie, the water must have been a bit on the cool side lol

Sean during his lesson

Annie running up to me for a big wet body hug..... lol I nearly fell over with the camera in hand.

Kym was back mid afternoon from his early morning start to fishing and he was looking for some quiet time. The kids had other ideas!!

Family Mission had a sandcastle comp on the beach late afternoon. This is Annie's team effort. No accolades but it was wonderful to watch the team effort and the cooperation. Note the outward swirl of shells that start from the centre. All the shells were collected off the beach.

Being a sandcastle comp, there were some hand props around ;o)

My fave. Clean and simple.

I asked Annie to run thru the water to me for a shot.

Sean too.

And a few drinks for our 'girls night in' as opposed to our annual 'girls night out'. Laughed a lot.

tumby bay 2012 - day 9

2012-01-09T23:30:00.000+10:30

Family Mission started this week. Every morning from 9am to 12pm. And its wonderful stimulation for the kids. Lots of craft, activities, the bouncy castle and a concert on Thursday night. For those who know XRoads at home, its much like that on a bigger scale. There's even a bus that picks the kids up and drops them off. Sweet stuff. The first morning is registration so I took them in and stayed for a little bit to make sure that they both were happy.

:O)

Sean's in the orange jumper and hat near the chick with the yellow hat hanging on her back.

This week will be a busy one as we have VAC swim at 1.15p. So I'll pick the kids up from Family Mission so they can have lunch and get changed in good time before swim. (The bus doesn't get here until 12.30ish)

safe entry off the pontoon.

He likes his googles really tight.... I loosen them often and he tightens them often lol

Even Max, Annie's guinea pig comes on summer holidays with us. How lucky is he???. Shot taken while he was out grazing while his hutch was being cleaned by Annie.

After a bit of a vegie afternoon from their busy morning they had some Dad time so I could head south to a pristine beach.

I had this beach all to myself with not even a footprint on it. So I thought 'what the hell' and took a skinny dip. It was exhilarating and it felt just a bit naughty..... not to mention chilly. But hey, you only live once!!!
:OD

I meandered back along the coast and stopped at Second Creek to see if I could get Tumby Island glowing in the late afternoon sun on camera.

While I was waiting for the light of sunset to show I mucked around with the iphone camera.

This is the eastern sky at sunset. So gorgeous with all the pastels

There was a full moon that should have risen just to the right of the island at 8.30p last night, but the cloud thickened quickly and it wasn't to be seen. At least I was in the right place for it lol.

tumby bay 2012 - day 8

2012-01-08T21:26:00.000+10:30

With the breeze picking up overnight enough to be called 'windy', it was the perfect excuse to have a lazy day, mostly indoors for me. :O)

Kym took the kids shooting with him, so that left me some quality 'tiff time' lol in the afternoon.

I caught up on a backlog of images, watched some photoshop tutorials and generally slothed. I headed over to a friends late afternoon on my bike with an eski over my shoulder. Unusual backpack lol.

I didn't even pick up the Canon today and that felt fantastic. But I still couldn't resist taking one shot with the iphone.

I'm certain who is the biggest Angry Birds fan in da house and its not the young man on the right.

:Op

tumby bay 2012 - day 7

2012-01-07T23:30:00.000+10:30

We had a lazy sleep in and I woke up with the kids in my bed (love that)

While Kym and Sean were fishing,

Annie and I rode down the street for her to have an icecream on the beach. It's not often that Tumby Bay is flat calm. It was delightful.

Annie swum out the pontoon while I took some long exposure shots of the jetty.

Us girls met the boys at the boat ramp so I could have my Ladies lunch at the Marina Hotel in Lincoln.

Delightful afternoon with a lots of laughs. Great to catch up.

I headed up to John White's home to have him show me how he cleans his camera sensor with swabs. I use a vairety of tools but had a few persistent spots that would not budge!!!! We got them all bar one.

On the way home I stopped off at a couple of lakes to take some shots of the wash from the recent rain.

Then headed south of Tumby near Ski Beach to see if the sunset would fire up. Alas it didn't really happen, but the south east sky looked good with the cloud.

tumby 2012 - day 6

2012-01-06T23:53:00.001+10:30

Pre dawn was a fiery show of pinks, oranges and yellows. It was such a delight to watch.

The sun made a showy appearance with starbursts leaping across the ocean. :O)

The light softened and this row of clouds marched across the sky from the west.

I crawled back into bed about 7am and woke up later to find this little man in bed with me. awwwwww.

He made way for Annie have a snuggle with me. :O)

Kym took the kids fishing off the pontoon while I pottered about. They did catch 3 Brim and returned then back into the sea.

I was watching the sky a fair bit today and took off to catch this while Kym got lunch for the kids. Bless that man.

Kym went out fishing for the afternoon and I took the kids to their VAC swim lessons. Good surf for the wave boards today. Looked like fun.

A quick visit to the bakery was requested by both the kids after the swim.

We took the kids on the biscuit after Kym returned from fishing. And thanks to Annie for letting me take her camera on board the boat. mwah.

We took the fish remains after Kym cleaned them to feed the pelicans.

I ventured out just before tea to catch the sunset. All the ingredients were there, warm, still, good cloud, a bit humid so more cloud build up was likely. But right at the crucial time a big thick cloudbank moved in and took the sun for the day. So nothing to show for the effort.

We'll see if I get up in the morning.....feeling a bit weary and I've lunch at the Marina with the Lock girls planned and Kym wants to take the kids out on the biscuit very first thing in the morning......

nitey nite.

tumby 2012 - day 5

2012-01-05T22:03:00.000+10:30

What a lovely relaxing kinda nothing type of day. I decided not to go out to catch dawn so I could have the kids snuggle in with me or me with them this morning. LOL I was up before they were ;O) as they both slept in a bit. It was nice to have a sleep in for me too.

The breeze was up a bit so no going on the biscuit or fishing today. So we slothed for a while and Kym took them down to the playground to run off some energy. They went out onto the sandbar as well.

Kym gave Sean a hand with his bike for a while.

Now I know this is going to sound a bit like overkill, but there's a damn good reason for it. We have both the iMac and my laptop here with us. Kym's learning the iMac as he needs to navigate it with confidence while I'm away later this month and for a fair bit of next month. So he wanted to have it here to get used to it. It didn't fuss me at all, so it came with us.

It does save the kids arguing over who's turn is to play Angry Birds. Sean's teaching Kym atm. Funny to watch. ;OP

VAC swim started for us today. Both Kym and I are very firm believers in having the kids go to Royal Life at our local pool (just before Christmas) and VAC swim in the sea in January. What they teach at one is completely and utterly different at the other. And we want our kids to be safe in the sea as much as we can prepare them for considering they both have been going out in boats since very young.

Later in the arvo we visited some friends in what I call 'shack row'. Sweet little spot that overlooks directly onto the sandbar!!

While visiting our friends, this plane flew overhead and it reminded me of what I'm doing on the 26th of Jan!!!

Snitty night at the Tumby tonight for tea. I think Kym was eyeing off the Steak and Seafood menu that happens on Friday nights. :O)

tumby 2012 - day 4

2012-01-04T22:39:00.000+10:30

I headed out for the dawn sunrise with hopes of some of last nights cloud still lingering overhead. I was not disappointed. :O)

The gorgeous pastels of the blue hour

lead to the fiery orange and pinks pre dawn.

The actual dawn was such a non affair after all that colour ;O)

After climbing back into bed for an hour or so the kids and I tided up the cabin and headed to Lincoln to catch Alvin and the Chipmunks - Chipwrecked. Funny and worth it.

If the kids have been good at the movies I always reward them with a Wendy's ice-cream. It always works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We collected Sean's early birthday present for him.

He's never had a brand new bike, they've all been hand me downs so have a shiny new one is very special for him. And he didn't want trainer wheels. Yahoooooo for that. Now to just get him going on it!!! ;op

Kym was crabbing for Blue Swimmers today and he came home with more than enough for tea. I had pizza. Can't stand crabs. Blah!!

I didn't bother with sunset tonight. We all snuggled up and watched a DVD in our big bed. Kym promptly started snoring which stopped after Annie poked him in the ribs. :O)

First day of VAC swim tomorrow. Yay!!!

tumby 2012 - day 3

2012-01-04T00:01:00.003+10:30

No sunrise for me this morning. Kym was on the farm outloading an early truck so I relished the sleep in with the kids. We didn't have a thing planned until I had a late morning phone call at the playground :O)

The kids and I did a loop trip via home to pick up a special something for Ann and we headed down to Lincoln and her pool. Another lovely afternoon frolicking in the pool. Just the ticket.

By the time we got back to the apartment Kym had just arrived too. There was a great cloud front coming in, so I headed out with the camera.

I ducked back in for tea and then headed out to catch the sunset. Mother Nature in all her glory.

There was an awesome post sunset glow of pink that I missed as I was driving back to the apartment to kiss the kids goodnight. Drats and darn.... it was a stunning show. :(

It's late as I'm typing this and the wind has come up. I'm wondering what dawn will bring.
:O)

tumby 2012 -day 2

2012-01-02T23:03:00.000+10:30

With a weather front forecasted to be moving in overnight/early morning, I had hopes for a good sunrise.

I wasn't disappointed

Blue hour

sunrise

Today was a day of firsts for us. First time to dip the not long acquired 15 foot dingy in the water for some family fun. 25horses proved to be plenty enough to drag the biscuit. At first Annie and I went out together on it. I think Kym enjoyed my scared face on occasion. Annie loved it. Then Sean came on with me. He loved it too. A bit slower pace for him, but not much. Then Annie wanted to go solo. You ripper. Gave me a chance to dry my hair on the boat (yes, I did slide off the biscuit a couple of times.) She had such a glowing happy face. Little Achiever. Sean decided that if Annie can, he can. He kept putting his thumb up to go faster. Little bugga was trying to give me heart failure. Proud Mum moment. No photos as this stage :O)

I took some shots of Ski Beach as the cloud was starting to build up nicely.

After chilling out from the mornings activites and a late lunch I took the kids to the playground near the jetty. Quasar was tied up to the jetty. I remember seeing this yacht when I was a kid sailing with my Grandpa, so she a good age now, and still kept in pristine condition. Of course it was a photo op.

The sky was really starting to build up late arvo so I took a quick stroll half way up the jetty to face west over the town to get it all in.

Kym headed back to the farm late this arvo to move the last of the grain off the farm tomorrow and to water his vegie patch. The kids are hanging to see him back here asap to go out on the biscuit again!!!!

it's a rural thing

2012-01-02T21:03:00.003+10:30

These are the last of my catchups for myself. I love this one to bits. Incoming summer storm over snail encrusted strainer post. @Home

These blossoms make their show when everything else around the place has dried off or died off. What a wonderful splash of summer colour. @ Home

Can you see the black minx cat, or is it a black rabbit.??

on farm storage

2012-01-02T15:11:00.001+10:30

just cleaning up a few files while the kids chill out after their late morning rides on the biscuit at Ski Beach.

harvest 2011. home.

I've had a lot of comments about the horse in the cloud...... can you see it. Took me ages to find it, and then suddenly I did. Its a black relief of a black horse. To be honest I could only see a white smoke breathing breathing dragon sweeping in from the left....

:O)

tumby 2012 - day 1

2012-01-02T01:03:00.001+10:30

It was hell hot home before we left. Like this hot

iphone

When we arrived at Tumby only 35 mins later is was....

iphone

This is why we love Tumby. You can be cooking at home or over in Coffin Bay, (47 degrees c at Frenchmans today) and it is sweet as on the east coast.

Kym took the kids to visit a mate while I unpacked all of our gear. I do prefer to do it this way, so that way everything is in its place from the start and its easier to keep it that way (thinking of husband here lol)

We had tea on the beach and the kids decided they wanted to head back to chill out for a while. That gave me the chance to step out and catch these shots.

golden hour

blue hour

chocolate hour

black point christmas - last shots.

2012-01-01T23:47:00.000+10:30

We had awesome cloud build up on Christmas Day at Black Point. I took a chair down the beach to stand on to take the series of shots to create this pano.

and I stood on the balcony of our ~~shack~~ ahem..... house (no such as shacks there) for this pano effect.

These shots were taken just before lunch..... there were a lot of people out on the beach after lunch.... it was a lovely day!!

Dawn - Boxing Day. I had both my nieces with me from 5.15am to learn camera tricks. Very eager students. :-)

this last week.

2011-12-31T14:04:00.002+10:30

We made it home from our Firth Family Christmas and I've been unpacking, washing, repacking all the ~~crap,~~ ~~supplies~~ gear we need for our annual 3 week Family holiday away to the beach. Insert a day trip to Lincoln, hours setting up profiles, data transfers and getting the hang of the MAC way in computing, kids, husband etc etc etc, and it being bloody hot, I've not done a lot about blogging or taking photos.

today. New Years Eve.

Mind you I was in Ann's pool with the kids in Lincoln yesterday with her gopro camera getting video vision and stills of the kids underwater.

I would love to wish you all a safe, rewarding and happy new year to you all for 2012

Make it your year to dream a dream, the courage to chase the dream and then live the dream.

image source

take care and see you on the other side.!!

christmas eve vistas

2011-12-26T22:23:00.001+10:30

Christmas Eve at Black Point was a day of fun, fishing, kids heading out on the biscuit, fine wine, fine dining and wonderful skies.

I've been getting up at 5.l5am each morning to capture sunrise. Christmas Eve sunrise so far was the most spectacular, so far!!

I went for a walk up to the tip of the point with the camera. It was less than a km from the shack, but it took me quite a time to get there and back as there was so much to capture on camera. The skies were really going off!!

high and dry!!

the water was a mirror!!

the colours and textures of the sand were gorgeous!!

the skies were amazing!!

the sky was seriously amazing on Christmas Eve.

boats, biscuits and cousins. sure fire way to have fun (Adrossan in the background)

Karla the Cockatoo has been the mascot for the Festive Break. He belongs to Dave, my sister in law's other half. Karla is such a smoooooooooch. HE, yes he's a he, is seriously a cool bird!!

christmas road trip.

2011-12-25T12:34:00.000+10:30

I'm killing time whilst the big arse Turkey is roasting away for our late lunch. Everyone is saited on champagne and chocolates for late breakfast.

On our way around to Black Point to our Firth Family Christmas I tested out the iphone camera. All these shots were taken via the passenger window (which wasn't all that clean) and driving at 110km, I was very impressed with the capabilities of the tool.

I use Camera+ as my iphone app to play around with them.

smile

elbow hill

iron duke

the tanks

the flyover and looking towards Flinders Ranges.

Ruin south of Pt Augusta

always spotting possiblities

Red Hill

At Black Point at last. Drink in hand and feet up

on the beach with the cousins on the first night.

comet lovejoy

2011-12-23T05:35:00.002+10:30

I heard about a comet that's on our horizon atm. Comet Lovejoy is passing through with an amazing long tail that can be seen with the naked eye.

I popped out of bed at 3.30am.... I was awake for a call of nature anyway, and headed out for a look. With the camera of course.

This shot was taken at 4.56am. That's a satellite passing through the image and the lights of the Cummins silos at ground level. There must have been a train outloading.

innocence

2011-12-22T00:44:00.002+10:30

Something I finished a couple of days ago and hadn't got round to putting it up. Been such a mad house with everything atm.... lol.... thank goodness Christmas only comes around once a year!!!! I don't have the time for it more often than that.

hamming it up lol

2011-12-19T22:26:00.001+10:30

Last scrap nite with the girls @ Scrapworkz for 2011 last week :(

Gina had the brilliant idea of a photobooth shoot with her gear. Including props from her daughter's birthday!!!! The whole gang got in the pic (not posted without permissions)

I didn't take too much encouragement to have a bit of a play!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gina 'the Harry Potter stand in actor'. Shmee. 'Dame Edna?? ' Amy 'the Mo-vember pinup chick'

Top idea Gina B. mwah babe.

sunlit gum in paddock

2011-12-18T14:23:00.002+10:30

Yesterday was such a great day for POs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't know what a PO is?????????????????????????

It's a Photographic Orgasm!!!!!!!!!!!! It's that most fulfilling feeling you can imagine when you now you have just cracked 'THAT' shot. It's addictive and it's better than sex!!!!!

This is a PO for yesterday.!!!

The two posts below show my other PO's...... man what a day

I'm exhausted!!! **puts back of hand on forehead**

:O)

summer sunset and building thunderheads

2011-12-18T13:44:00.000+10:30

Did you get out yesterday after the rain.

YOU SHOULD HAVE!!

We were treated to the amazingness of Mother Nature. Lots of storm clouds ran through the sky yesterday afternoon, the build up of the cloud line along the Tumby Hill line was something to behold. It looked like the clouds were trying to get up over the hills and met the cooler sea air. Instead of rolling over the hills, it boiled upwards. And really quickly too.

I had the camera pointing east for the sunset last night. That's where all this cloud was and that is where the lightning was (see post below)

How lucky are we to have all this on our doorstep!!!!!!!!!!!!

Taken with the very last light of day. Not long after this shot the tops of the clouds flattened out to anvil heads and the lightning really started!!! It was such a still evening, not a breath of breeze and so mild......

Pano of 20 shots to show the cloud line stretching all the way north to all the way south, running along the eastern horizon. I should have headed to the coast :-/

summer lightning

2011-12-18T01:05:00.000+10:30

We had a tremendous show of summer lightning tonight on the easteren horizon. I'd been out shooting this afternoon and watched the cloud building up along the hill line. Instead of the cloud rolling over the hills, it boiled upwards and just grew into huge thunderheads. Big anvil tops. It wasn't until after sunset that the lightning really shone.

gently

2011-12-17T22:41:00.003+10:30

I was so in love with this shot when I took it over 2 years ago (I'm usually a chronological scrapper) and I still adore it. Pulled out my scraps folder and pulled this one together.

you are right where you should be - annie

2011-12-17T14:37:00.000+10:30

Sometimes I do a his and her LO of the same photo or story. If it's important to both of them or if Kym or I are in the shot with both of them. Sometimes it might be because both of them are in it.

The words on the journal tag are a Prima Flocked Iron On from Scrap Therapy. type in Prima Iron On in the search bar and you'll find them. This one is out of stock atm.

you are right where you should be - sean

2011-12-17T13:18:00.002+10:30

Back in August 2009 I took the kids up to the top of the world. Not far from where we live is a hill line with the tallest one called North Block. The access to this spot is on private property and I was very kindly lent a key for the padlocked gate. Kylie and her kids joined us for a picnic lunch and lots of bubble blowing. They even brought up their little pet Kangaroo.

Kylie took this shot of us and it's one of my all time favorites.

Scrapped at Scrapwokz with the girls on Thursday night.
:O)

Christmas Trader's Night

2011-12-16T23:14:00.001+10:30

Each year on the Friday school breaks up for the Summer Holidays, the Cummins Traders' host a Community Christmas Evening, starting with a street parade. Sean was buckled in front seat of the CFS Appliance, thus putting his Dad in the back seat. =-p

Annie and I watched the parade from the side lines and then made our way to the Railway Triangle where all the action happens.

Bucking Bull.

Father Christmas

There was a couple of Bouncy Castles, plenty of tucker, and music on the stage. The weather was quite pleasant too which was wonderful

bokeh

2011-12-16T22:35:00.000+10:30

Scrapped for Scrap Therapy and showcasing Teresa Collins Christmas Home - Christmas Chandelier paper and Red Glitter Paper. Also used as my example for the SHOOT IT, SCRAP IT - All things Christmas Challenge.

Click the highlights for the deets.

I made the kite and the tail has plastic twistie ties that I cut to shape.

The charms hanging from the ribbon are the little ID dangle thingos that you clip onto your wine glass. I added the little bells found on Christmas Gift Tags. This is the best time of year to gather embellies for your Christmas scrapping to come!!!! Wired Ribbon from Cheap as Chips.

rural sunset

2011-12-16T01:13:00.001+10:30

At the moment, I'm able to put the kids to bed, and then run outside to catch the sunset. I'm about 30 metres away from Annie's bedroom window and I'm by our chook yard.

When I'm set up it looks like this..... taken with my iphone.....

.......to capture this!!!

this was actually a bit of a no show that night...... some evenings the sky fires up, and sometimes it doesn't . That's all part of the pull of shooting landscapes....... being able to capture the unexpected moment.....

2011 swim carnival

2011-12-14T22:10:00.001+10:30

Annie's first ever swim carnival. And she was so excited about it.

The morning was fairly cool, overcast and breezy. I bet she was thankful for wearing her wetsuit in the pool. Because she's slender framed, she gets cold very quickly in the water. At the beginning of last summer, I bought a wetsuit (spring suits) for both Sean and Annie. And they have paid dividends. Now the kids last a whole swim lesson instead of loosing the plot due to being cold after 10 mins in the water.

Anyway, I digress.......

The afternoon saw the sun break through the clouds and it was quite pleasant.

Annie's first event was 25m freestyle. And she did it as a PB for herself. She didn't stop once, she just kept on going and going. She was sooooo pleased with herself and for me that was the highlight of my day. She came 4th in her heat.

Next was 25m breaststroke. Her most disliked stroke. Funnily enough she did that one so well. Again a PB. No stops.

25m Backstroke. Her fave event. She did keep angling for the wall and fortunately the instructors where on hand with noodles on the wall at the point of impact.

I did notice that Annie selected the lane by the wall for each race. I think that gave her no end of confidence in herself just to know she only had to reach out and she was safe.

team games. Tube relay.

Tow relay.

It was a day of fun in the pool, about participation and having a go for your team.

She came home with 3 ribbons pinned to her hat that I'm allowed to have to scrap later on. Lucky me.

cummins christmas tree

2011-12-13T21:22:00.000+10:30

The kids and I headed in for the Cummins Christmas Tree on Sunday evening.

Sean sang Jingle Bells with a lot of gusto lol.

cheeky wave from one of the wonderful M boys (posted with permission)

Catching Annie unaware.

S with the big guy.

A with the big guy.

The grand exit..... can't see any bracelets on him lol.

lights, camera, action

2011-12-11T22:01:00.001+10:30

At long last, I was able to get to scrapping with the girls last Thursday night. When harvest is on, that's the number one priority in this home, and rightly so.

I become a Harvest Widow for about 4 weeks. My family photography sessions stop when harvest starts. Mostly because Kym's not home to have the kids when I go out shooting in the evening and the Fathers in the families I photograph are on the header too!

My evening commitments come to a pause during harvest as well. Kym's not in until after sundown, so things like my scrapping with the girls @ Scrapworkz in Lincoln, Camera Club in Lincoln, and my shooting sunset land/water scapes come to a stop for a while.

Last Thursday was my first night out for a while. (about 4 weeks) and it was wonderful to catch up with the gang again.

This is the LO I did that night.

Scrapped for Scrap Therapy. I've written a photography tutorial about "playing around with Christmas lights". It's basically getting you creative with them before hanging them on the tree. I've written it in plain English with examples, tips on setting up the camera and thrown in a challenge at the end of the tute. There's even a $25 Scrap Therapy voucher to be won.

Featuring Teresa Collins Christmas Home Range of Papers. These are wonderfully strong accented heavy weight papers. More like cardstock really. Love them.

Did you spot my typo on the LO :-/ ?

I've written a number of Photographic Tutorials which you can read and play with if you like in the Shutter Therapy part of the forum.

blood moon

2011-12-11T15:32:00.001+10:30

I stayed up last night to try to capture the second blood moon of 2011.

Alas the cloud cover was 100% at the crucial time of 1am to 2am. So nothing on the camera.

BUT, with the wonders of Photoshop, and an earlier shot in the evening.... somewhere around 11pm, I've come up with this.

Its a fake Blood Moon.

The next one is not until 2014.

christmas gifts for the Grandparents

2011-12-10T18:41:00.001+10:30

When my brother and sister in law were here recently, I whisked all the kids away for a tiny photoshoot in our wheat crop.

I had a plan in mind for the Grandkids to give their Grandparents a gift. As the Grandparents are not together, I needed to make two.

This is Grandpa Smart and Grandma Jane's gift

and this is Granny Smart's

Prima Roses and leaves. Bo Bunny(?) fabric blooms. Kaiser Craft Sweet Nothings embellies.

2011 christmas letters

2011-12-10T14:10:00.001+10:30

The kids have written, decorated and posted their letters to Father Christmas.

I stood back and not interfered at all. I helped Annie when she asked with the colouring of her letter (Glimmermist, but she actually did it and swiped the colours). Sean sprayed his on his own as he watched me demo mist for Annie.

They wrote out the envelopes, rang up the Postmaster to find out the postcode for the North Pole, stamped them, and posted them.

clever kiddos.
t

babies x4

2011-12-10T00:56:00.001+10:30

Celia, our Pen Hen arrived today with a wonderful surprise. She'a a Mum to 4 little peacock chicks. As the peacocks are free range, she's free to take them wherever she pleases. This afternoon was all around the outside of the house and the yard.

The kids and I sat down quietly to watch and learn about them. She seemed happy enough to range up to a metre of us with her brood. She sort of 'clucks' for a want of a better word, every few seconds to make sure they stay close and she pecks at titbits on the ground to show them what to eat. She sits down often with them so they can a 5 minute doze.

I'm sure she can count, because when Kym handed one of the chicks for the kids to hold, she wasn't aware at first one was not with her, then her clucks were more insistent and you could see her start to 'search' for her lost chick. Needless to say she got it back fairly quick. I didn't want to distress her and scare her from bringing the chicks up to the house yard.

Now to work out how to sex them when they are young. ;op

Christmas Winter Wonderland

2011-12-09T23:14:00.001+10:30

We are very very blessed in my hometown to have an amazing Christmas Wonderland. It's created and dismantled each year by a very dedicated band of volunteers who gather bits and pieces during the year.

Each display is an original and this years is no different. Blue and White Colour scheme with the lighting creates and wonderful winter feel.

I took some shots for the committee to keep for posterity and asked if I could promote them on my blog and Facebook Page.

Its wonderful to see the magic of Christmas thru a child's eyes and to see how much they believe in the magic of this time of year.

I would really recommend you take the time to visit. I'd allow an hour so you take it all in!!

The details. I've smudged the contact numbers as I've not asked permission to post them. Contact me and I'll help you out

The donation box by the door when you come in. Pop in a goldie via the chimmney and watch it run its was down to the bottom. Don't blink, its quick

inside the baker's house. real chocolates on display

check out the bottom of the dunny door. now who could that be......

the princess carriage. Isn't this just amazing. It was manufactured locally by a very clever gentleman and his welder. There are dress up clothes for little girls to be princesses and a cloak and crown for the boys to be kings

All generations can wear a tiara. Basically if it fits, wear it!!

Posted with kind permission

the hot seat for Father Christmas when he visits

hands on fun for the kids to play with. This Thomas the Tank Engine is a substantial size

the nativity scene

the mountain that the train travels through was made by a small number of volunteers and it's brilliant

the magic garden. I counted 20 special hand made fairies. All different and all so sweet. Complete with a running waterfall and pond

The hip shakin', singin' Father Christmas

Mother Christmas. One of the volunteers actually wore this dress last year. The detail is exquisite

the wonders of the deep blue sea

He pops up fairly often

the gingerbread house is made from real gingerbread. It's about 1metre tall

This tree actually snows. Really truly. This tree is just amazing.

snow

Mary

2011-12-06T14:57:00.001+10:30

A wonderful friend of mine has finally moved into her new home. After weeks of delays and frustration, finally Mary is in and finding places for all her things.

The girls (Sandra, Janice, Trish (in thoughts) and Lou (in thoughts) had a late morning get together today to catch up and to wish her all the house warming thoughts.

I made her a card. I very rarely do cards but I'm a bit pleased with this one. I've smudged some of the detail that doesn't need to go out into cyberspace :O)

case IH 8120

2011-12-05T12:28:00.001+10:30

Case IH 8120 combine harvester reaping the 2011 season of wheat.

Paige

2011-12-05T00:26:00.001+10:30

My kids have an unofficial big sister. Paige is a very special part of our family and she has been for years. We've been family friends with her parents since I started hunting, so many eons ago.

Paige boarded with us 5 days/nights a week when she was doing Year 12 at the local Area School a number of years ago. Her school where she lived didn't offer the subjects that she needed to get into Uni for her chosen career of RN Nursing/Midwifery. This one here did.

Paige slotted into our household almost seamlessly. I think she was VERY patient with us. :O)

At that stage Sean was only a few weeks old, so he has a very special spot in her heart. She was there to witness a lot of Sean's first year of milestones.

Annie's known Paige since nearly forever in her life and Paige has mentioned a few times that she would really hope to there for Annie like I have been for Paige. That is so so special and I hold that close to my heart. Just to know the love is there and the fact that Annie will always have someone else to talk to, to share with or just lean upon means bucket loads to me. And it does to Kym too.

Paige is a qualified RN now and works on the other side of the state. She also about to start on her Midwifery study. When ever we are able to catch up I always take a photo or two of her with the kids. She has what she calls a "Firth Shrine" in her home where she lives, and I like to keep her up to date with special pics of her with the kidlets.