A Driving Weekend

Well after my last post I thought I should post a couple of photos. These give you some idea of the drive we went on. 12k in total through some private property and a few quiet roads. Our little Pony Sam did very well.

We have been away for a Carriage Driving Weekend, camping in a tent overnight Saturday in the freezing cold. Mad I know especially as I had a sore throat before we went. So now I am down for the count with a fluey cold, in bed all day yesterday and generally feeling like death warmed up LOL Anyway we had a great time. However we have decided NEVER to sleep on an airbed again. Not only did it lose some air during the night, we could also feel the cold from the ground seeping upwards. We do have a Caravan but when we have a `horsey' weekend we tow the Horse Float so need to camp. Glad we don't do this too often in Winter!

This is my latest piece of Art created in Art Rage, a programme which just keeps getting better. I have added a scrap of netting and a couple of `brushes' (a brush in PhotoShop behaves like a digital stamp) Here the brushes used are a shell and a flower which in this image looks more like a tree due to the perspective. I stamped it twice then rotated the second stamp to make it look like a reflection. Not sure how successful this was. The clouds are brushes as well.

Winter Frost

Last week we had some freezing mornings here and one in particular has devastated our Garden. Last Thursday it was Minus 6.4 C in the morning around sunrise and all our plants in the lower half of our garden just shrivelled up. It hit the Paw Paws and Passionfruit, luckily they are established so they may survive, killed all the Basil and Tomatoes and a number of other plants. The Lavender, Rosemary and Lemon Scented Geranium were untouched. Amazingly the lettuce and rocket in an adjoining bed were also untouched. Some herbs are tough customers. The people behind us have planted a rainforest and it was coming along beautifully. Now a lot of their trees look threatened as the photo shows, we just hope they are strong enough to survive.

We are impressed with the insulation in our house as it was around 18C inside, at least 24 degrees warmer with no heating happening or really needed. In fact we were surprised to hear what the temperature had been.

Christmas in July

Last weekend we had a `Christmas in July' at our place. Sue and Brian, Joel and Sam and Louise and Jeff and Tate all came up for Dinner on Saturday night and stayed overnight. We decorated the house with some Christmas atmosphere, lit the fire and some candles and had a yummy dinner - lots of feasting and some nice wine as well. In the afternoon we played board games - Blokus and Solitaire and the boys foraged for timber for the fire. We managed to fit everyone in and Joel and Sam slept on mattresses in front of the fire - I was really envious, it looked so comfortable! Next morning we lit the fire again and it burned all day. All in all a great weekend for cocooning and just being with family. The photo on the left is me with Tate (who will be 1 on August 18) on Sunday morning, and the other is Alan with Louise (Tate's Mum) on Saturday night.

3 Things I like about Myself

My absolute fave Blog to visit is ` i Love Life' and this Blogger has asked all her Blog readers to answer the question above. So on to 3 things I like about myself. Number 1, I'm a survivor, I never give up and I stay optimistic no matter what challenges life throws my way. Number 2, I love learning and I learn new things every day, I go out of my way to do this, I can't help it and I like this about myself. And Number 3 just like this Blogger, I love life, the good and the bad and the plain mad, I have a great sense of humour and I really like this about myself. So there we are, 3 things I like about myself.

I Hate Golf and an Artist Date

Yup so now you know and Kate and Patti were right and Cate was wrong. I agree with the idea (from Mark Twain I think) that golf is a nice walk spoiled LOL. Kate thinks I'm adventurous, well maybe when I was younger........ now I am not quite as keen to take risks of any sort although I am still impulsive / spontaneous and I like to try different things as often as I can. On Wednesday this week I dropped into our local Art Gallery to view an exhibition called `On Track' , 32 works by contemporary West Australian indigenous artists over the last decade. I was lucky enough to hear a floor talk by Brett Nannup. the son of one of the artists. Brett was visiting from WA and he is the Deputy Director of the Berndt Museum of Anthropology, part of the University of WA. It was wonderful to wander around the exhibition with Brett, hear him talk about each of the works and to have the opportunity to ask him questions, not just about the artworks but about Aboriginality as well. And all this for free. The picture above is `Dead Cow' by Judy Broun from Perth. I love it.

The exhibition title is not just about `being on track, that is, about reaching expectations imposed by another; it is about having a track to follow, about proceeding along a route, one's own route albeit shared by family members and more distant kin, within the constraints of personal experience and dreamed goals.

This month's Digital Trading Card Swap is titled `Life's Journeys' so these words certainly spoke to me about that theme which I am working on right now.

7 Things about me (maybe)

• I have flown over the Grand Canyon in a light aircraft
• I have abseiled in Halls Gap
• I have flown in a Hot Air Balloon
• I don't colour my hair
• I play Golf
• I have ridden on an elephant and a camel
• I speak Italian

And one of these is definitely not true LOL

I haven't Blogged this week as the 'puter has been away for a tune up..... Also I am now using my Wacom Tablet and stylus and lovin it - goodbye mouse and RSI :) So now I am starting to paint with a pen instead of a mouse and it's all good. Watch this space!