Adios Australia

Tim and Jemma head on out on their big adventure ...first stop DOHO (?)

The weeping family...not!

The Wohlings look pretty excited to see Jemma leave.

Merry Christmas...the family gathers

Sunrise

Early morning light at Chiton...walking the dogs again while the rest of the world sleeps.
A beautiful time of the day to be alive.

Rock Pools

Rock pools at Knight's Beach

Spekky sunrise

Pre-dawn dog walking has been a highlight of my day recently, especially here at Watson's Gap where the views are so spectacular.

Beach Shoes?

Rosanna's new Gladys Sim Choon purchase, shoes which add about a metre to her leg length. Of course she had to wear them onto the beach to sow them off. A bit different to the other varieties on display here...Crocks, Berks, Vans etc.

Coastal Mosaic Art

Some creative person at the end of our street in Victor Harbor has been mosaicing on the stoby poles and it's a fabulous representation of some of the beauties of the coast. Very talented and creative.

Love is :-)

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” – Billy, age 4

Love is:-

“Love is what’s in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” ~Bobby, aged 7

Buddhist Seasons Greetings

The prayer flags are sending the seasons Best Wishes to all at this festive time of the year.

Giallo

The family Christmas  AGM  was followed by a delightful dinner at Giallo and the following day by a headache signifying a "dirty glass"(?)            

Compassion

Compassion for ourselves gives rise to the power to transform resentment into forgiveness, hatred into friendliness, and fear into respect for all beings. ~ Jack Kornfield

Happiness

Happiness is seeing a man ironing by the wam glow of the evening light.
Well my happiness anyway...maybe not his happiness.

The key (to happiness) is changing our habits and, in particular, the habits of our mind. ~ Pema Chodron.

Italian Karaoke

Surely it's a mistake...Italian Karaoke????
But no, this year's break up for the Italian students was at FILEF and everyone was in fine form singing along to the subtitled youtube videos up on the screen.
Such passion!

A thistle in time

I know they're a noxious weed, but the thistles on the Long Ridge track of the  Chambers Gully walk are in their blooming prime at the moment and a feast for the abundant bees.

Trouble

I should have realised there was trouble afoot when I saw that Maxi had grown a white beard...sure enough she'd got into the freshly shawn Alpaca fleeces and strewn them across the lawn.

Locomotion

Once again we bravely faced the locomotive...feeling the tracks buzzing just before watching it burst out from the tunnel in the Belair N.P. today.

It always gives me a thrill to see so much screaming metal on the steel rails...but poor Maxie, unused to the noise and vibration, was completely freaked out.
Still...it's a far better use of resources than trucks on the roads.

Railway vandals

We were pondering on how the vandals could get into this railway signal box...but not for long.

Sarah Kay: How many lives can you live

Aussie percebes

This remnant of a sea platform washed up on the shores of chiton rocks hosted a thousand still squirming barnacles and reminded me of the delicious sea critters I was eating in Spain recently, called percebes.

“Wear the old coat and buy the new book.” ~ Austin Phelps

Gandy's Gully

Gandy's Gully was exciting new terrain for us and we felt like intrepid explorers finding our way up the wild and snaky Gully then onto the ridge for spectacular views and a precipitous descent.
The log book at the cairn on the top held signatures and notes from walkers back over the last 3 years.
We LOVED it!!!

Gandy's gully

Looking a little hot around the gills after the steep hike up the gully. Luckily the views over the city and the remoteness were worth it.

Blooming beauties

Stunning roadside blooms...look like dogwood but not sure.

No strings attached?

If you want to eat unhealthy food there'll be strings attached as Ryder's friend found out at his party.

Shark attack victim?

There are obviously deadly creatures lurking in the dark waters here that have already feasted on this girl's legs.

Dog training in the parklands

All these are schnauzers and all are totally different...colours, shapes, dimensions, and hair curliness. Wild!

All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them.~Galileo

Flying in the wind

The dogs LOVE flying along the beach

Lip print

Who's been kissing you Lizzy? Can you guess?

Birthday time

Birthdays...too many years to count in candles.

A oui bit French

Rick and Deb get into the "esprit français" at Chris' 50th

Movember

Tim get's into the hair raising act of Movember

The sky's on fire

Mag!

Magnificent magnolia grandiflora with a visitor.

Jacaranda time in Adelaide

When the blue of the Jacaranda tree is here....Christmas time is near.

Ian Potter centre stairwell...Fed Square.

Who needs to actually go into the gallery to see art when the stairwell is this cool.

Federation Square

Trams and the art centre spire...Sheryl's favourite icons of Melbourne

Maxie

You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf~ Joseph Goldstein

Prickly beauty.

It's hard to believe that these prickly plants can provide so much beauty.

Alley Art

Street Art...I wonder if they change it regularly. Guess I'll have to come back to check.

Melbourne street art.

One of the things I love about Melbourne is how they have turned grunge into art in the alleyways and bars.

Alleyway wedding

Some brides will do anything to be different.

Action in the paddock

The girls are back and lapping up the attentions of a visiting male for 6 weeks of fun in the sun!

Scary Rice Statistics, 2

With each grain of sand representing 1 child the pile on the left is the number of school children in S.A. and the pile on the right is the number of child soldiers.


The use of child soldiers has been universally condemned as abhorent and unacceptable, yet over the last 10 years 100s of 1000s children have fought and died in conflicts around the world. These children are forced to use weapons and engage in hazardous activities such as the laying of land mines or explosives. They are forced to live under harsh conditions with insufficient food or access to health care. They are almost always treated brutally, and girl soldiers are particularly at risk of rape, sexual harassment and abuse. http://www.child-soldiers.org/childsoldiers/child-soldiers
And my son complains about having to go to school!

Scary Rice Statistics, 1

With each grain of sand representing 1 person, the mound on the left is the number of refugees in the world, and the similar size mound on the right is the number of millionaires.
Hmmmmmmm.

Salt on Jupiter?

This close up of Jupiter taken with my iphone  is actually my salt lamp purifying the air around my computer with its negative ions and calming me with its beautiful glow.

Mozzarella

Who would have believed there could be so many varieties.
Luckily the Central market is well stocked  but not the variety as we found in Italy.
Mozzarella describes several kinds if Italian cheeses that are made using spinning and then cutting (from the Italian verb, mozzare...to cut)
My favourite is the fresh buffalo mozzarella (mozzarella di bufala), but I can't remember seeing any buffalos there.

Let the visions you experience
pass through your consciousness
like clouds passing through an empty sky.
~Jack Kornfield

Contrasting beauties

This japanese maple provides the perfect contrasting backdrop to the brilliance of the golden azalea in the peak of its bloom.

Sharing the road

I love sharing the road with these guys and feel privileged that we have them as our neighbours even in the suburbs.