SUNSET THINKING

 

As the sun sets behind her, she is thinking. Thinking of all the little wonders around her – the dog, the sister, the people she loves in her life. She spots a bird, an ant, a footprint in the dirt.

She asks questions. She is four. She asks LOTS of questions.

Why are those trees knocked down?

Why do we need oxygen?

What’s that orange stuff growing in Daddy’s paddock?

How do you know he had a dog that bit someone on the bum?

Where was I when my big sister was born?

What do you mean I wasn’t here yet?

Where was I?

Was I visiting Maa Maa & Grandad?

What are those insects doing?

What’s your favourite colour?

Are you old?

How much longer do I have to wait to get a new number?

When will I be a grown up?

 

Hmmm, what does the future hold?  I’m much older than four and I still don’t know. I’m not sure anybody ever does….

But, she can dream. She dreams BIG.

RUN THE WIRE

Today the sky is blue. The clouds are thick. White. The Buffel looks like discarded straw. Moisture is minimal.

The fence stands strong. Four barbs with wooden posts in the black soil. It stands strong, against the odds.

If that fence could talk, what would it say?

In recent years it could describe the Station employees and their work ethics. The colour of their shirts as they bounce past on the nearby track, one elbow protruding from the window frame as they casually rest their hand on the steering wheel.

It could use several kinds of adjectives, I’m sure – to describe what it has seen – heard on the wind and carried from the nearby shed and its activities.

In the mornings, and again in the afternoon, it watches a frazzled parent, relative or Nanny high-tailing it to meet the school bus. The tell-tale signs of the rush out the door still etched in the furrow of the driver’s brow. The youngest of the children probably wave….or smear Vegemite on the window – Same! Same!

It silently counts the increase in traffic as the local mining industry booms. Bitumen over yonder would be nice. Less dust to be collected in my splintering Gidgee.

The seasons pass. Not four, but two. It’s hot or it’s cold. There’s not much in between.

The fence stands strong. Four barbs with wooden posts in the black soil. It stands strong, against the odds.

IT’S DRY

It’s dry.

The cattle are thirsty.

The wheat can’t put down more roots.

It’s dry.

If the skies don’t open, life on the land goes on, as best it can.

If the skies do open, life goes on. But there’s more of it.

More greenery, more progeny. More miracles of the bush that we don’t always see but often hear – The birds in the trees, the koalas near the creek. There are old red kangaroos lounging in the shade.

More smiles of wonder on little human faces as they notice more of life all around them.

We want rain. We will survive without it, for a little while longer, but we’d be more content if it came……

Though, drought is a less expensive form of weed control, I suppose.

WHEN WALLY GROWS UP….

 

The life of a dog is not complete without space to roam and follow all the smells to their source. Without mud to romp in, grass to roll in and water to splash in, how can a dog truly be content?

An urban dog might spy freedom between the fence palings or veer occasionally from the concrete path depending on the length of his lead. But a working dog earns his keep, is worth three paid humans at least and is respected for his wit and intelligence.

When Wally grows up, he wants to be a Labrador. He watches the retired yellow pet in his ageing years and thinks he’s got life sorted. First dibs on the scraps, comfy bed by the front door. Nothing bothers him and he doesn’t listen. He dozes all day and snores all night. Perfect!

But first, Wally must earn his stripes. He is a pup. He is agile. He is kind natured with good blood lines. His parents have proven themselves worthy of the game and learnt their lessons well. Soon it will be his turn to ‘step up’ to the fence that bounds the yards. To tail the weaners and muster the steers. It will be Game On! But not without some practice.

Luckily for Wally, his apprenticeship involves plenty of belly rubs and food treats. Soft grass to play and Little People to chase around the slide. He bounds at our feet at his meal time and sits quietly in hope at our meal time.

He is endearing, he is obedient. He is Wally :)

 

#DearLittlePeople

Dear Little People

I love you more than….

All the stars in the sky.

All the fish in the sea.

All the sand on the beach.

All the leaves on all the trees.

All the hair on your head.

All the teeth in your face.

All the spots on your flannelette pyjamas.

All the stripes on your blanket.

All the hay the Alpacas can eat.

I love you more than you could ever possibly imagine……it’s so true!

Love Me
xx

THE NIGHT CIRCUS | BY ERIN MORGENSTERN

 

THE OFFICIAL BLURB:

The circus arrives without warning. No announcements precede it. It is simply there, when yesterday it was not. Within the black-and-white striped canvas tents is an utterly unique experience full of breathtaking amazements. It is called Le Cirque des Rêves, and it is only open at night.

But behind the scenes, a fierce competition is underway—a duel between two young magicians, Celia and Marco, who have been trained since childhood expressly for this purpose by their mercurial instructors. Unbeknownst to them, this is a game in which only one can be left standing, and the circus is but the stage for a remarkable battle of imagination and will. Despite themselves, however, Celia and Marco tumble headfirst into love—a deep, magical love that makes the lights flicker and the room grow warm whenever they so much as brush hands.

True love or not, the game must play out, and the fates of everyone involved, from the cast of extraordinary circus performers to the patrons, hang in the balance, suspended as precariously as the daring acrobats overhead.

 

MY GLIMPSE:

If The Night Circus were a person, I’d be tempted to call it eccentric. There is definitely a whimsical flare of underlying ‘quirky’…. But because it is a novel, I will call it instead, ‘clever’.

It is definitely clever. The magic, the challenge, the venue for the competition, the hidden love story. I feel sorry for the victims who were made collateral along the way but I like that the girl could be a hero for those who needed her.

The Night Circus is not for everyone but it does highlight a different perspective on how and who your actions effect and the consequences of said actions, big or small….

 

Are you a reader of Fantasy?  Please share any or all of your personal favourites in the comments :)

#DearCeeJay…

Dear Cee Jay

HAPPY THIRD BIRTHDAY!!

I don’t know what the future holds for you yet, little one…..but it’s going to be GREAT!!

You are capable.  You are loved.  You are important.

Love Me

xx

#DearSelf

Dear Self

If you ‘glimpse’ outside, it has rained :)

THANK YOU Mother Nature for remembering us this time round.

If you ‘glimpse’ inside, you are surrounded by love.

THANK YOU Universe for all that I have :)

Love Me

xo

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THE HUSBAND’S SECRET | BY LIANE MORIARTY

 

THE OFFICIAL BLURB:

At the heart of The Husband’s Secret is a letter that’s not meant to be read…

My Darling Cecilia, if you’re reading this, then I’ve died…

Imagine your husband wrote you a letter, to be opened after his death. Imagine, too, that the letter contains his deepest, darkest secret – something with the potential to destroy not just the life you built together, but the lives of others too. Imagine, then, that you stumble across that letter while your husband is still very much alive . . .

Cecilia Fitzpatrick has achieved it all – she’s an incredibly successful business woman, a pillar of her small community and a devoted wife and mother. Her life is as orderly and spotless as her home. But that letter is about to change everything, and not just for her: Rachel and Tess barely know Cecilia – or each other – but they too are about to feel the earth-shattering repercussions of her husband’s secret.

MY GLIMPSE:

Moriarty asks more questions than she poses answers to in this gripping tale about a terrible, sinful secret.

What would you do with the discovery of such a secret?  What are the ramifications of this new-found knowledge?  Is secrecy ever justifiable?  How does one deal with grief?  Does grief have a timeframe?  Does time heal loss?  What determines guilt?  Is it possible to ever completely know another person?

I cannot begin to fathom the strength of character and integrity needed by any or all of the three main female characters in the wake of what they learn.  Three women living separate lives yet all paths cross and contribute to the dynamics of a sad truth.  The past meets the present and affects the future for all and sundry.

Underlying themes of social anxiety, ethics, morals, love, marriage, betrayal, and relationships are also sprinkled throughout the chapters in a touching penmanship of quality prose and class.

Liane Moriarty has gained a new fan and I’m keen to read more from her.

WHERE’D YOU GO, BERNADETTE | BY MARIA SEMPLE

 

THE OFFICIAL BLURB:

Bernadette Fox is notorious. To her Microsoft-guru husband, she’s a fearlessly opinionated partner; to fellow private-school mothers in Seattle, she’s a disgrace; to design mavens, she’s a revolutionary architect, and to 15-year-old Bee, she is a best friend and, simply, Mom.

Then Bernadette disappears. It began when Bee aced her report card and claimed her promised reward: a family trip to Antarctica. But Bernadette’s intensifying allergy to Seattle – and people in general – has made her so agoraphobic that a virtual assistant in India now runs her most basic errands. A trip to the end of the earth is problematic.

To find her mother, Bee compiles email messages, official documents, secret correspondence – creating a compulsively readable and touching novel about misplaced genius and a daughter’s unflinching love for her imperfect mother.

 

MY GLIMPSE:

‘Where’d You Go Bernadette’ is a humorous read that I related to far more than I’d like to admit!  We’ve all had agoraphobic moments in life, haven’t we?

Bernadette Fox is a loving mother and wife, full of good intentions and sincerity who just happens to get a little sidetracked from reality along the way.

She is a Genius.  She is an Architect.  She is an Artist.  They say that people with creative minds are more likely to suffer from Depression because they worry that society simply doesn’t “get them”.  I can see how this would be true and I feel that Maria Semple has done a marvellous job of engaging the reader in a witty perspective of this endorsement.

I love the crazy moments when she turns her back on the social-climbing status quo with charm and grace – well, MOST of the time!  And the rambling email conversations had throughout the story – another concept I can relate to, having to empty my ‘sent’ and ‘deleted’ email folder regularly to rejuvenate storage space and bandwidth speed ;)

All in all a great read, deserving of its many accolades. One for those who like a book with its own sense of humour.

 

 

TWO | SNAPPED

To photograph one of something can be amazing, but to shoot two at once is double the fun. Two is a pair, a couple, a friendship and a match but it can also be a distinction. Challenge yourself to think creatively and numerically to capture the essence of two – ABC OPEN SNAPPED: TWO

#DearSelf

Dear Self

Well, you’ve done it again!  Every year you let both Winter and EOFY knock you off track from your goals.  You find it hard to move (read ‘exercise’) and get motivated (read ‘get out of your pyjamas’) when it’s cold.  Add to that June and worse again, July from a business perspective and you’re sabotaged.

Maybe I will start brainstorming preventative action now for next year’s ambush.  Does anybody else have this problem?

Yay for August.  Today I will start picking up the Glimpses and update The Blog.  Just because it’s fun and today has turned into a ‘Me’ day.

Love Me

xo

WINTER | ABC OPEN GALLERY

Experience the moody skies, crisp temperatures and frosty, foggy mornings of winter through this eye-catching gallery here.

You may recognise a Brumby Girl amongst the wheat ;)

Thanks ABC Open for the inclusion amongst such a high calibre of talent. I’m humbled.

 

 

LONG EXPOSURE | SNAPPED

Long exposure photography allows you to capture the passing of time in a single image. This month, try using a slow shutter speed to photograph in the dark, blur movement and see time passing in cool ways – ABC OPEN SNAPPED: LONG EXPOSURE

 

Bulb Exposure

Mackay Marina Twinkles

Love is Black & White

#DearCeeJay…

Dear Cee Jay

Today you dropped the F-BOMB.  

Please don’t do that again.

Love Me

xx

#DearLittleDude…

Dear Little Dude

Happy First Birthday Little Buddy!!

We have all survived your first year….. a few of my personal favourite memes from then until now –

• Your first giggle.
• Finding your feet.
• Learning to crawl.
• Swallowing things – not food!
• Searching through your poo looking for said ‘swallowed things’ – not food!
• Looking for a Barbie Shoe in said ‘poo’ and finding a marble instead of said ‘Barbie Shoe’ – again, not food!
• The constant vomiting.
• The constant smelling like said ‘vomit’.
• Falling down the stairs.
• Black Eye.
• Knocking out your front tooth.
• Your eyes light up when you see any of your sisters enter the room.
• Your snazzy sense of fashion :)

Thanks for the memories, looking forward to a squillion more :)

Love Me

xx

 

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#DearLittleDude…

Dear Little Dude

This week you knocked your front tooth out. Yep! First trip to the dentist and you’re not even one yet.  You beat one of  your sisters and she is almost three.

In your defence, you were semi-assaulted (the tooth fairy paid a little extra danger money for compensation).  Next time, maybe don’t try to ‘help’ Nin Nin clean her room.

Just so you know, we spent a few hours with GP’s, RN’s & Dentists.  A few grey hairs were shed.  Daddy literally pinned all your limbs with all of his limbs so your mouth could be x-rayed.  You squirm a LOT!  

The good news is that there is no major damage, you will just be a boganish, gappy-smiled child until you’re about seven.  

The better news is – You’re still the spunkiest little monkey I ever did meet ;)

Love Me

xx

100 GLIMPSES HAPPIER

I’m a HUGE fan of Instagram.

Lately, I’ve enjoyed viewing loads of uploads targeted at the #100daysofhappiness movement.

Although I am not an official participant, I upload my ‘happy glimpses’ to Instagram every other day anyway, because I love photography.

I was once told that the best camera for the shot is ‘the one you have with you’. And it’s true. More often than not (especially when the ‘babes are in arms’ and there is no room in the nappy bag for anything else) the camera I always have with me is my iPhone.

I use a few different Apps and totally layer a gazillion filters over too many of my snaps….but hey,  its fun! All my #instasnaps are #iphoneonly. Some people upload their edited DSLR shots, but not me. I think that kind of spoils the spontaneity of the platform!

Instagram is my hands-down favourite social network  for its creativity and simplicity.

I spent the larger part of today scrolling through my camera roll to find the most recent 100 ‘Glimpses of Lately’ that jumped out at me.  Even though I recently removed 1046 images, I still had 645 to choose from.  Like I said, I am a HUGE Instagram fan and I always have my iPhone on my person :)

Some of these made the Instagram cut, some didn’t. Most are my own, the odd one is “stolen” or sent to me from friends/family.  Some made me happy, some made me laugh, some filled me with gratitude, some are arty farty and some are just plain silly.

#100glimpseshappier

ENJOY!

 

1. Homemade Icecream

2. Family Road Trip

3. Gladys The Glamper

4. Seafood

5. Coffee & Kindle

6. DD#2 & Me

7. Camping

8. Gratitude

9. Sisters

10. Bike Rides

11. Camp Cooking

12. Boiling the Billy

13. Candy Cat & Abby

14. Bling Bling

15. Home

16. DD#1 & Me

17. Here Kitty Kitty Kitty….

18. Pre-Schooler

19. Grade One-er

20. Pre-Kindy Kid

21. Laughing at Daddy

22. Born to Yoga

23. Room Makeover #1

24. Room Makeover #2

25. Namaste

26. Duck Lips

27. Typography

28. Walks at Sunset

29. I can stand!

30. I can Headstand

31. Art Journal

32. Country School

33. Enroute to Balance Class

34. Yoga Fix

35. More Ducklips!

36. Shoes off & play!

37. My Favourite

38. Brumby

39. Nin Nin

40. CeeJay

41. Sisters

42. Relaxed

43. Mickey Blue Eyes

44. Yoga Fix

45. Girls Day Out

46. Baby Cino

47. Fairy Wings Day Out

48. Enroute to Balance Class

49. Nom! Nom! Nom!

50. Rodeo Debut

51. Mermaids

52. Obstacle Courses

53. Balanced

54. Daddy’s home for lunch

55. Rainbow Hair

56. Happy Easter

57. Marble Tournament

58. Purple People

59. Aunty Nug

60. Boys Club

61. Smoko Break

62. Tupperware!

63. Home

64. Namaste

65. Local Yoga Studio

66. Welcome to my mat

67. Dragonfly

68. Dress Ups & Playdough with one of our favourites :)

69. Poppy

70. File Under ‘K’ for KEEP

71. Crazy for Looming

72. Spoilt

73. Happy Mother’s Day

74. Sisters

75. Dorothy

76. My Little People & Me

77. Cheeky Bum

78. Multitasking

79. Chocolate

80. Strawberry

81. Vanilla

82. New Hair

83. Morning Snuggles

84. New Hair

85. Cheeky BUM

86. New Fave Shirt

87. Noodles

88. Snoozing

89. Weekend Photographer

90. I can read…

91. Storytime

92. Charming

93. Candy Cat

94. Aromatherapy Night Light

95. Cuddles!

96. Cheeky Bum

97. It’s the weekend

98. Frankie

99. Soaking by Candlelight

100. Hot Chocolate Weather

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AT WORK | SNAPPED

*PLAYING CATCH-UPS*

Often considered a shared experience, work is actually unique for all of us. The daily grind to some, the reason to be for others. Inside or out, big or small, epic or mundane, this month through the art of photography capture what work means to you and to those you encounter.  Catch the action on ABC OPEN SNAPPED: AT WORK

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