Tales of an Ordinary Life

Talking with some of friends today about a book club made me think of the effects of books on my life. I am an avid reader and will read most genre's but my weakness is crime novels. While the kids were little I tended not to read a whole lot but now I am making up for it. My friend put some of her favourite books on her blog and thought I might steal her idea(sorry Rach). So what does this pile mean to me let me show you how they fit into my life and thoughts 1. Bible - what can I say but the ultimate guide book to life. 2. The Time travellers Wife - Christmas present from Anthony and a ripping read 3. Captain Corelli's Mandolin - One of my all time favourite books read too many times 4. Nikon D90 camera manual - still trying to work out what all the menu's and button's on my camera do 5. Private - a nod to my crime novel obsession 6. Cut the Clutter - trying to synthesise this book and it's elements into my life (not succeeding) 7.Notebook and Real Living - a girl...

Anthony and I were fortunate enough to be given a day to spend together - yes it is a very rare occurrence. So we went into the centre of Brisbane to the Art Gallery to see an exhibition that we have been wanting to see for quite some time (it actually finishes next weekend). It was by a sculptor called Ron Mueck and he sculpts people and they have such a life like quality to them. A few years ago we saw a sculpture he did of a pregnant woman at the Gallery and I was totally transfixed by it. In this exhibition there is a sculpture of a baby and it is so impressive that you just want to reach out and touch it. I took my camera with me and decided I wanted to capture some of Brisbane through the lens of my camera. Even though I have lived in Brisbane for many years I have never really took photos of the city. I was pleasantly surprised how amazing the city looked and have a new appreciation of it

Today is a beautiful Brisbane winter's day - sunny and warm but not hot. You can just sit in the sun and lap it up. It is not that great for taking photo's though the light can be a bit harsh. Anyway the kids and I have been enjoying it immensely first we started the day off going the markets for our fruit and veg, we had a walk with the dog, then a play in park and ended up with a picnic on the front verandah. Making me so appreciate this time of year. I am so proud of our little vegie garden it is thriving and has been so productive so far I have been able to give produce to my friends. The tomatoes are growing like some one has given them growth hormones not to mention the zucchini's. We have also managed to get some freebie mushrooms thanks to the mushroom compost....no they are not magic. For this next Assignment for the workshop I am doing I had to take photos of flowers something I do not find easy to do. Isabella fell in love with the flowers I had and wanted me to...

As a commitment to find my creative niche I have taken on a photography course and boy has it been challenging me. I am learning things that I have been too slack to learn and should have learnt many years ago. So I hope you enjoy some of my efforts. I have been home from holidays for nearly a week and already the mundane of life has set in much to my frustration. I came home with a renewed optimism to change the things that had been driving me crazy such as messy home, lack of time for exercise, lack of time for creative pursuits just to name a few. I think I will have to really sit down and find a way to resolve some of these issue before they really begin to get to me. Any idea's would be most gratefully received. I am beginning to see though that I am not alone though in this dilemma and many women in my situation (ie. small kids, working ect) are trying to work out this but not too many of us are succeeding. What a journey I am on lets hope I grow rather than get bogged down

Well I have just come back from 2 weeks holiday travelling around Northern NSW. As a result of doing so much in the past 2 weeks that I was wondering about how to write it up so the kids and I came up with a list things that describe what we have been up to. Dubbo Zoo animals Otters feeding giraffe's Monkey's frost bouncing pillow W arrumbungles telescope making maps emus kangaroo's raining Lightning Ridge fossicking underground mine opals fossils hotsprings cabins old trucks Mt Kaputar clouds wet kangaroo's joey's campfire cold panoramic veiws snow gums Narrabri sunset radio telescope cotton Moree hot springs

Isabella's version of a cup cake recipe.....notice the emphasis on the icing and toppings. And the bookmarks even I had a go.

Today was a gorgeous Brisbane sunny winter afternoon, so of course the vegie garden was beckoning. Brisbane winters are unlike winter anywhere else the days are beautiful and warm and the nights cool. So you can grow things in the vegie garden you can't usually grow in winter. This is the first time Ant and I have done a vegie garden on any major scale so much of it is trial and error. We were talking today and saying that even though both our parents were gardeners how little we know about planting vegetables. It has made us a bit more determined to impart to our kids the results of our gardening experiments. Experiments you may ask.....well many of the plants we may have planted too close together or with non companion plants but it is all learning. Today we had two main tasks to create a compost bin and to plant out some strawberry runners. Do you know most average families throw out 50kg of compostable waste and that is what has prompted me to do a compost bin. We made it from ...