When I began my blog I wanted to merge two of my passions, one for gardening and the other for my creations. I don’t call them ‘dolls’ because not all of them take the human form. They are very impressionistic. They’re not perfect in proportion and my sewing can be impatient. I still haven’t found the language to express my ideas, (I don’t know what to tag them), but the images might tell my story.
When I began my blog I was frustrated with the quality of my photos. I have been fixated on trying to improve them. I’ve studied lots of other blog and watched countless videos. Now, I have a new challenge taking inside photos indoors. I cheated and went outside in the brief sunshine we’ve had. Who to take first? This one seemed appropriate for the sunshine.
You might be shy too, in this outfitLook at me up here
As I was playing around with the sun and the pesky shadows, (there is a downside when the sun comes out), I noticed something through the viewfinder. Oh wow, blossom. Here, as I’ve said often lately, it’s the end of Winter. Wait on, maybe I should say the start of Spring
Today marks the start of the last week of winter. The wintry weather is persisting, but I’m looking forward to the start of Spring.
Yesterday I took some pictures from my upstairs window and noticed a little dot of colour down below in a pot. It was a bit of a mystery. Being winter here, there’s not much of this colour in my garden at all. So I braved the cold to investigate.
It was a rose flower that has clung on since I pruned them last. At that time I couldn’t bear to nip off the final rose. Looking more closely, it was a fairly battered about, missing a few petals and looked a bit wind blown. With the arctic ‘breeze’ this week, I have to say I’m surprised it had any petals at all.
I’m awaiting the time when it has new blooms so that I can share them.
Also for Cee Neuner’s Flower of the Day Challenge (FOTD)
I glanced out the upstairs studio window and grabbed the iphone in excitement. There was a storm coming. There might be a drop or two on the window.
There was a sudden darkening of the sky and the colours were all changing. No post-photo adjustment to the photo here.
Then the sun peeked through the cloud and lit up a patch of reeds beside the water. I love how the colour changed, (without resorting to after photo fiddling with the colours.) Isn’t sunlight amazing…
It’s not often it’s cold enough to keep me inside but today it is. It feels like snow. I was going to post about Snowdrops, (the bulbs not the weather) but after a little research, I realised that what I have are actually Snowflakes.
If I was a Galanthophile, I would be loving Snowdrops, but alas there’s no official title for Snowflake lovers.
Snowdrops’ botanical name is Galanthus. It comes from the Greek word ‘Gala’, meaning milk and ‘anthos’ meaning flower. Put them together and you have milk flowers. Galanthophiles are people who collect these beautiful bulbs. And there are more than 2300 different varieties. They are similar to, but different from, Snowflakes, and apparently are frequently mistaken for them.
Snowflakes, as I have discovered are often confused with them, especially where I live in Australia. What I have here are Leucojum. They are taller and they have more than one flower per stem. The feature I love is the little green dot on each petal.
When I was a young girl I was fascinated by these and I still am. My mother’s side of the family were all gardeners. Mum loved them too. There was always a clump or two of these snowy little plants around during winter.
Did you know Hans Christian Andersen wrote about a story and the life of a single Snowdrop flower? The snowdrop ends up being pleased to be a book mark in a book of poetry. He called it simply The Snowdrop. In my imagination I’ve always visualized them as snowflakes. Fancy learning that all these years later.
Snow drops are exquisite. I’m doubtful that they could withstand the harsh Australian conditions. But, I’m tempted to give them a try.
Henry Lawson ( 1867-1922) is one of Australia’s most famous short story writers and poets. My favorite story is entitled, Water Them Geraniums. One of the characters, Mrs Spicer, tries to maintain some beauty in her difficult life of isolation and hardship in the Australian bush, by growing geraniums. Her final, dying, words to her daughter were “water them geraniums”. It’s worth a read. Just follow the link.
I never take any drop of water for granted where I live. If my garden is neglected, it shrivels up and dies in the harsh Australian climate. Luckily I live on an irrigated farm, so I have access to water. It’s expensive, but I couldn’t imagine living without a garden.
The geranium pictured above, lives in a pot under the verandah, just outside my door. It needs very regular water to survive. It’s just about to flower.
After visiting Cee’s Flower Of The Day Photo Challenge and looking at her fabulous photography, I was inspired to play with tomorrow’s post. Here it is. Come back tomorrow for the real thing. I’m still debating which photo I like the best.
Bear with me. I’m still a beginner. I’m going to take some time to celebrate what I have achieved so far. After a few early posts I have tried to post once a day. This has been hectic at times, but having not much else to do, it has been achievable. Learning to work on drafts and then schedule the finished posts, has helped a lot. But, I have made 50. It’s a start.
2. Finding a focus
At first I had a vague idea of the direction and focus of this blog, my ‘dolls’, my garden and where I live. It seems like this is still fairly fluid. I initially wanted to show off my crafty projects and record what I was making. My current thinking is that my ‘craft’ is not something many people can relate to. Actually the garden is more appealing. I’ve been slowly realising what my readers find interesting. There doesn’t seem to be much purpose to writing a blog if the audience isn’t engaged. Another part of me says it’s still to early to focus too narrowly and I should just keep exploring blogging and it will find its own direction. I think, at this point, I’m just writing about me.
3. Discovering other blogs
I’m spending more time reading other people’s blogs than working on mine. At first I found gardening blogs very interesting reading. All the more because Australia is in the southern hemisphere and most of the bloggers I read were in the northern hemisphere. In the depths of winter, it was uplifting seeing images of beautiful flowers and gardens. It gave me something to look forward to, rather than dwelling on the misery that is Covid. Now I’ve discovered the amazing range of subjects covered by bloggers. I’m currently devouring photography blogs; enjoying their content and hoping to pick up some tips.
4. 1000 hits and very nearly 50 followers
My first follower was my son, then a friend and then strangers I’ve never met, in places I’ve never been. I find it amazing that so many other people read my blog, take the time to like the posts and sometimes comment. I love reading about other people’s lives. Sometimes they live in places that I am familiar with in my own country, but it’s rather magical being virtually transported to other places, only to find that underneath the details, people share so much in common.
5 Discovering challenges and an award
What a compliment. To have another person appreciate what you have been up to. Thank you Cee Neuner for featuring my post. as a CFFC Featured Blogger. How embarrassed am I to admit that I’d love to put the banner up on my site, as a widget, but with my skill level, that presents yet another challenge, just to get it up there!
An unexpected result of blogging has been rekindling my interest in photography. Loving that!
6 Upskilling
I bought my first computer with the leave salary for my first pregnancy. It had 48 K! It was a real luxury back them. It cost a fortune. Computers have been a great tool for work and I will admit to spending many, many hours as a ‘gamer’. But, this blogging business is a test of my patience and perseverance, and most definately a real challenge.
7 Challenges not the fun ones
Getting the site up and then changing the theme to a more advanced one. DAYS LATER finally making it all work again.
Ping Backs. I did it. (Once!) Look at me with the technical language…
8 More challenges, not the fun ones
Organising my photos. Still a work (quite a lot of) in progress. Enough said.
9 Challenges : the worst
Trying to put a watermark on my photos. Discovering that ctrl shift ‘u’ a9 = the copyright symbol. Like, since when is that a thing? AND THEN BEING CAREFUL TO PUT IT ON A STICKY NOTE ON MY COMPUTER SO I WOULD NOT FORGET IT, AND THEN REALISING THE STICKY NOTE HAD UNSTUCK AND DISAPPEARED, AND THEN SEARCHING THE HOUSE FOR SAID STICKY NOTE….AND THEN TAKING HOURS TO WORK IT ALL OUT AGAIN…..
10 Looking ahead
This year I took all my long service leave, a whole year’s worth, to travel the world. A few days before we were set to go, the Pandamic was declared to be a thing and all plans were cancelled. So I’m hesitant to make any future plans. However, I can still blog.
Except for the challenge logos, all the images I’ve used have been current and have been my own. I want to have another look through the thousands of photos I have and share some of the better ones. I’ll continue to try and improve my skills and maybe, treat myself to a couple of better lenses.
If you’re still reading, thank you. I’ll visit you later.
This is the old chook house, about to fall down. The chooks (Australian slang for chickens) and the ducks have left home in fear of their lives.
Kachunga is a name made up by my children many years ago. I think it originally came from a TV program. It sounds like something you might say when this finally tips over.
World Photography Day is an annual, worldwide celebration of the art, craft, science and history of photography.
I started this blog to simply record what was happening in my life. As Covid intensified and my family became separated it was a way to keep in touch. I wanted to share what I was doing. I hadn’t thought about the process much. As I progress, I realise the power of an image. And it fascinates me.
I was planning to use my phone to take pictures and I have been impressed by the quality of the photos. However the day inevitably came when I dusted off the old camera (a DSLR not the one below!) and set about relearning how to use it. Now I’m hooked once again. I’m finding that the photos are dictating the direction of the blog. Once I have a good image, the rest just happens.
The younger generation continue to impress me. Electronic schooling, electronic games, electrionic music. They adapt so quickly to using technology and their creativity is boundless.
Home schooling took a tangent the other day. My grandson showed an interest in photography. Here he is discovering the wonders of how a camera actually works. I wonder what he’ll teach his grandchildren about, when he’s my age. What advances could there possibly be in the future? Mirrorless, intelligent cameras, more resolution, 3D, versatile lenses, drone mounts? Will the camera just be an app?The possibilites are endless.
AT PATHO 