Fabulous sky, 15-2-15

I forgot to hang the washing out earlier. There was just enough light for me to get it out without having to take a torch. I'm glad I forgot as it meant I got to see the fabulous sky and the great clouds tonight. The photo gives you a bit of an idea. Another gorgeous thing about being in the backyard was the drop in temperature since the cool change has come in. Yay!

Shadow Shot Sunday - February 15th, 2015

Shadows and sunburn. It's 10am and 35C, after a really hot night. Its forecast to cool down a little this afternoon but it doesn't feel like it will. 

This is a Shadow Shot Sunday post. To see other people's shadow shots go to www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

Reading 'Five Go To Demon's Rocks'

My six words for this week - 

Reading Five Go To Demon's Rocks

In the last couple of days of been taking a bit of a trip down memory lane. I was with my daughter in a shop yesterday when I spotted a Famous Five book and decided to buy it. I've been thinking of reading one lately to see how close my memory of the books is to the actual books, how different it feels to read it as an adult. 

I absolutely loved The Famous Five as a child. From the age of 7 until I was 10 I lived at Poonindie which is a very small town close to Port Lincoln in South Australia. It was around that time that I first discovered The Famous Five in the school library. I remember enjoying reading the books during Silent Reading time at school as well as spending many hours reading them at home. I did watch the television series a little but to me it was no comparison to reading the books. How I longed to explore as the five did (and in many ways I did, spending lots of time outside exploring). George was by and far my favourite of the five. For quite a while my mum would buy me one of the books on her fortnightly shopping trip to Port Lincoln. What a treat to begin a new one! I remember lining them up on my bookcase on my bedhead, by number or perhaps in alphabetical order. 

The text of this book is copyright to Enid Blyton in 1961. The illustrations by Betty Maxey are copyright 1974 to Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. This edition was first published in 1970 with a fourteenth impression in 1980. There is a very neatly written name on the first page 'Samantha Rose'. I wonder if she was the first one to own this book and how many other hands it has passed through before making it to mine. 

The description is on the following page - 

The FAMOUS FIVE are 
Julian, Dick, George (Georgina by rights), Anne, 
and Timmy the dog

The five are planning to spend their holidays at 
George's home, Kirrin Cottage, but the house is 
crowded with visitors including Tinker and his 
pet monkey, Mischief. Tinker tells the Five 
that he owns a light-house, so they all decide 
to go and spend their holidays there; and they 
have not been there very long before they sense 
a mystery. 

This is the Five's nineteenth adventure 

I've read up to page 30 so far. I can see why I found it appealing. It is easy to read with lots of interactions between people. I'm noticing things I'm sure I didn't pay much attention to as a nine year old. For example, the adults complaining about the children. I don't think I questioned as a child why a nine year old would own a light-house. In what I have read so far there has been a misunderstanding which results in too many people in the house. First, George's father tried to call the Professor who was coming to visit a week earlier than originally planned to ask him to delay his visit as George and her three cousins and Timmy the dog were going to be there that week. When that failed as the professor was already on his way George's mother tries to phone George to ask them to stay where they were for another week. But it was too late and the children were already riding their bicycles over. 

How different might this scenario be if the book was written in 2015? If the children were allowed to ride their bicycles without an adult being there (something I imagine less likely now), then chances are at least one of them would have had a mobile phone and hence could have been contacted more easily. Not everything in the books is realistic of course, after all part of the joy of reading is fantasy but I'm sure Enid Blyton would have written parts quite differently if writing now. 

I'm going to enjoy reading more, remembering what I loved about these books as well as discovering things I have forgotten. One of those things being that Julian, Dick and Anne were George's cousins rather than friends. Perhaps too, I will get hold of Five Go Off In a Caravan sometime. I remember it being one of my favourites.  

Shadow Shot Sunday - February 8th, 2015

There are lots of shadows around here today! 

The shadow of an old abandoned chair. After taking this photo I noticed how many other shadows are here  too. 

This one looks great on the old trampoline. 

Shadows on a huge leaf

and some intricate shadows of a weed. 

Most Sundays I find shadows around my yard to photograph for Shadow Shot Sunday. You can see lots of other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

Morning shadows on the carport door

This morning, over on my other blog www.pausingforsmallstones.blogspot.com I wrote - How to photograph a shadow without my own getting in the way?

I noticed some great shadows on the carport door when I got home from the morning school bus drop off. I love the boldness and the detail in morning shadows on a bright day. When I tried to photograph them though it was hard to get the angle I wanted without my own shadow getting in the way. The best view was front on but I couldn't get close enough to get a good shot without the shadow of my phone (and me) also in the shot. Eventually by holding the phone at an angle on the left side I got one that I am reasonable happy with. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - February 1st, 2015

I had to be quick to catch shadows today. 

This is a Shadow Shot Sunday blog post. You can see lots of other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

Holiday feet

It was back-to-school day after the Summer holidays for most children in Adelaide today. We had an extra day to get ready and spent some of it at Officeworks stocking up on stationery supplies. Brianna is going into year 9 and her school only has year 8s and year 12s attend on the first day of the year.  

I always enjoyed the first day back at school after holidays. I have many fond memories of the holidays too. Here's a poem I wrote a few years ago to celebrate going back to school and happy memories. 

Holiday feet

Coated in carpets of prickles

Fat from a meeting with bee

Covered in gritty, grainy sand

Set free by wriggling toes

Pelting across hot bitumen

Poked out from single sheets

These are my holiday feet

Soon to be cocooned again

Soon to be back-to-school feet

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 25th, 2015

A great day for shadows today!

You can see other people's shadow shots at www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com. 

First I explored Pinterest, and then...

My six words for this week - 

FIrst I explored Pinterest, and then...

It's been a busy week around here. The last week of the school holidays has been filled with a variety of activities. Lots of little things adding together. Yesterday, at the end of the day I felt like all I'd done was get in and out of the car. 

My first pin on Pinterest also happened this week. I signed up a while ago but haven't spent much time on there. After my first pin I was hooked. How much fun to organise things I really like in just the way I want! At the same time I was aware that I can spend a lot of time being inspired by things I see and think I could do that but then never actually get around to doing it. So I was determined to try out one of the ideas. 

One of my boards is called Duct tape creations. After pinning a few inspirational ideas, one thing led to another (and multiple visits to Spotlight) and resulted in more than one creation. The learning was so much fun as well as the design tweaks. I'm very happy with the results, as well as thinking of ways to make them even better. 

I began with a wallet. 

then a coin purse, with a magnet to close. 

I liked the look of some duct tape feathers I saw but was a little skeptical about how they would turn out. These ones are quite small, with an unfolded paperclip for the stem but I'm happy with how they turned out and will make some bigger ones when I get some longer wire. 

After these I was ready for a bit more of a challenge. I found the instructions for the Cookie Monster lunch bag here. 

Next, a Tardis one for one of the Whovians in the house. I based this one on the Cookie Monster one and did a Google search to come up with the design which I tweaked a little for my purposes. 

And for the Whovian's friend an Eiffel tower. Again Google image search helped. 

After some experimentation I've discovered a great way to make the letters is to stick tape on to the backing of contact paper and then cut out. They then peel off easily and are much easier to manage. Now to start working on my next request - a dragon lunch bag!

To read how other people describe their week or part thereof in six words go to www.showmyface.com. 

Shadow Shot Sunday - January 18th, 2015

Most Sundays I post a photo of a shadow or shadows from around my yard. I'm breaking my own rules this week. It's already dark outside and I didn't take any photos at home today. 

Instead, here are some photos of the gorgeous Lotus flowers at the Adelaide botanic gardens. 

To see other people's shadow shots go to www.shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com.