Last one...for ages!!! 31/365

That's it...the holidays are officially over! Back to the grind stone! The last sleep in for quite sometime me thinks!

Relections 30/365

Reflections of water on boats in the marina has such a soothing effect on ones personality and mood, shot near Caster Bay

Outrageously Westie 29/365

A 'choice as' visit to the Auckland Museum and the 'Outrageous Fortune' exhibition - leopard skin galore and all things Westie!

A fascinating exhibit demonstrating the growth of our favourite Westie show and family - from conception, ideas, planning, design, wardrobe, screen tests, make-up, props AND yes....the iconic front room of the Wests complete with grandads chair and leopard print oven gloves!

A must see for ALL Outrageous Fortune fans and for anyone interested in scripting and screen plays it's an amazing insight into how a show is created from concept to filming, ideas slapped onto butcher paper, character plans, prop design [everything from the beer to the bread has been redesigned] and character development and interaction etc

A 'choice' as outing!

Snail Post 28/365

OK NZ Post has excelled itself this time...in the post today...a card posted from Waitakere on 20th December arrives in my mailbox on 28th January in Glenfield! For those non Jafa's [Aucklanders] that's about 40 mins in the car! Seriously gives new meaning to snail post!

Among the fields of...27/36

Among the fields of corn - loving these fabulously tall plants swaying gently on a summers day breeze!

Sunset @Bayswater 26/365

A wee photography outing tonight with a few members of the NSPS to Bayswater Marina [we had special permission to enter this private domain for the night].

A tricky place to capture sunset with masts and a really, really, really bright sun. Gave me chance to practice using shutter priority and fiddling with the shutter speed to see what happens.

Need more practice with this shutter priority..Westhaven next stop according to some NSPS members.

Blogging frenzy 25/365

Been on a blogging frenzy today which inspired the photo. When you take up the teacher blogging challenge and get inspired by Tony Ryan...what else is there to do but blog about it.

Someone else to Inspire 24/365

A slight cheat today.....I was at a conference with Tony Ryan [legend and inspirational speaker] - meant to take my artsy fartsy photo of tables of notes with him in the background...and promptly forgot! STINK! But wait....have no fear....one of Tony's 'things' is share images with children. One of his favourite photographers is Jamie Livingstone who did just this - depicted his life through photographs everyday for a number of years.
So because I am a lemon and forgot to take my artsy shot of Tony Ryan I will share Jamie instead.

The perfect breakfast for a blustery day 23/365

What else is there to make for Sunday breakie after aqua on a rainy, blustery day but.....

Perfect for a rainy evening in 22/365

Need I say more?

Oh No She Didn't...Oh Yes She Did! 21/365

Loving the olde English tradition of pantomime, albeit a wee bit later than is traditional.
The English posse donned their tiaras and wands [$2 shop specials] already for the 'oh yes she is', 'oh no she isn't', 'he's behind you' and more....
This years panto, Cinderella, was a wonderful example of all things panto - the adult innuendos, the child friendly tripping and falling, the awesomeness of the particularly ugly sisters and the fabulously funny panto horses. We yelled our lungs out with the best of them and laughed heartily.
A great way to find your inner child and become a 10 year old for the night!

Must be the colour! 20/365

Fascinated by the fact that these Praying Mantis's seem to LOVE my new car. Is it the colour? Is it the shine? Who knows. Still I have also discovered that apparently these animals are no friend to the gardener either...who knew!

Quail 19/365

 

Loving these gorgeous visitors that trogged over our batch in Coromandel. Here is the father Quail...wasn't quite fast enough or quiet enough to get a good shot of his Mrs or his offspring. Still I am pretty impressed with this shot. I love his quiff - very retro!

Chinese Checkers 18/365

A wet and blustery day in Coromandel Town...what else is there to do but learn to play Chinese Checkers. Gilly's Dad taught me this strategic game of planning ahead and keeping track of your marbles, pretty sure I lost mine half way through the game when we started using two colours each! Graham managed to beat me a few times...but an awesome game all the same [I did get my own back later by thrashing him at Uno - clearly m kind of game]
Continuing to practice macro here - discovered it has a very shallow depth of field - need to work out how to rectify that business.

Swan Plants and their buddies 17/365

I am quite fascinated by these plants - Swan plants...Why are they called Swan plants? There seems to be nothing remotely swan like about them. Nothing white. No Swan necks. No black bits. No sharp bits. AND NO feathery bits either.

Still, I am fascinated by their little buddies. Apparently the larvae of the Monarch butterfly feeds on nothing else except this 'unswanlike' plant. And when I say nothing else...I mean nothing else, not even sugary water. As they grow the caterpillars fairly much stripe the plant of all it's greenery. Surprisingly enough the plant does survive this gluttonous creature regenerates itself for the following years onslaught of Monarch larvae.

Monarch Larvae stripping a Swan Plant on PhotoPeach

The diet starts tomorrow! 16/365

Ummmm don't ya just LOVE love LOVE the taste of the Summer holidays? Boysenberry is such a delicious flavour of Summer and reminds me of NZ...the second and last ice-cream of the holls...promise!

Yes I know...the diet starts tomorrow!

I want one.... 15/365

Otis....how cute is this face???
12 weeks old and cute as a button. Loving this boxer squidgy, wrinkly face....
Softest fur, cept freaky feeling his ribs when you stroke him - apparently that is supposed to happen with these type of dogs. He has way big feet too! Cutest thing ever spotted while having breakfast in Devonport

The many uses of Tupperware! 14/365

So many uses for a Tupperware dish while we wait on all the plumbers to return to work...wonder if it's the flange that needs replacing?

New toy..... 13/365

My new toy...not quite an iPhone but it will do me and my purposes as an iPhone is way out of my financial league at the moment.
Love fiddling with all the new functions...might need to sort tones though - incoming message sounds like a frog in a blender!
Tinkering again with macro - need to perfect the focusing and depth of field shananigans!

New Born 12/365

Not my favourite pastime...well they all look so red and wrinkly and ......well old manish really. Today's event was seeing my friend, after she promised NOT to make me hold the baby. Still it was amazing to see a new baby boy born on 30th Dec 2010 [less than 2 weeks old] to see how long his fingers and feet were, how soft his skin was, how alert he already was and so well behaved too - even with the nappy change that he clearly did not like but cried so minimally I was quite blown away. So welcome to the world Lucas John - thanks Michelle for an awesome visit and not making me hold him!

Clearing out the debri 11/365

One wee space cleared and a whole heap of recycled paper later....way more to go.
So therapeutic clearing out the junk and being super ruthless!

Sums up my day! 10/365

Elvis Day 2011 9/365

In celebration of Elvis's 76th birthday on 8/8/11 we celebrated in style today on Waitakere at Elvis in the park - an annual event run by Memories of Elvis Fan Club. So much to photograph...so much to choose from! Ended up choosing 9 images for day 9 of the challenge - enjoy my special selection

Elvis Day 2011 on PhotoPeach

Stars of Nature 8/365

Love these flowers - attempting to practice with macro. Need some serious practice you can see!

Green explosion! 7/365

A belated parcel arrives from UK with the added bonus of green packing sponges strewn everywhere!

Water is fun for some...... 6/365

but not so much fun for others.....

Let Sleeping Cats Lie.......on the strawberries? 5/365

Mousetrap [YES that is his name] has found the perfect place to sleep during the hot weather in NZ - it seems the strawberry patch with a ready made hammock is just the ticket for a sleepy cat.

Let Sleeping Cats Lie 4/365

Struggling against the tide! 3/365

 

Mac swims frantically in anticipation of hitting the water - held tightly by Jez before the final let go!

the lines tell a story 2/365

First one of the Year! 1/365

New birth for a new year - the mother Monarch butterfly laying an egg on a new swan plant. Amazing sight to see when they flutter about in a mammoth garden and keep coming back to the mini tree. On google researching I discover that the Monarch lavae ONLY eat Swan plants or milkweed - nothing else!