Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Fire

This week it is Fire that captures our attention! I chose simple fire photos, enjoying my search through the archives, sidetracked here and there, but eventually producing these images.

playing with a campfire in Tasmania

fire and dance in Rajasthan

there is a fire in the boiler to produce this steam

traditional burning is a land-management strategy in the Northern Territory (this is a termite mound)

Thanks to Cee for mounting this fascinating challenge of the five elements!

Tagged E: Energy

This week we have seen very big seas, with a coastal swell of 4 metres and more. Heavy rain and strong wind spinning south from Cyclone Oswald added to the intensity of the sea. These waves crashing onto our beach seemed full of energy, sending spray and foam high into the air, mesmerising the observer with a wonderful display of power.

big waves at Mullimburra

To see other E tags pop across to Frizz’ site  http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2013/01/29/tagged-e/

Sunday Post: Focused Attention

Jake says “Focused attention is the cognitive process of selectively concentrating on one aspect of the environment while ignoring other things.” The challenge is to find something in your archives or photograph something new to show focused attention.

Penguin keeper

feeding

Little Blue penguins

When visiting the Antarctic Centre in Christchurch New Zealand we watched the Little Blue Penguins being fed. You can learn more about them here. You will agree that this young woman has to keep her attention focused completely on the birds.

 

 

Travel Theme: Walls

Jantar Mantar is a collection of astrological instruments in Jaipur India.

At 27 metres high, the Samrat Yantra is designed to tell the time of day exactly. When we were there workmen were restoring the wall, supported by bamboo scaffolding. The small cupola on the top is used for announcing the time!

cat on stone wall in Ireland

Early one summer morning on the Dingle Peninsular I spied this cat searching for a warm spot on the stone wall that lined the narrow road.

Ormiston Gorge, Central Australia

Walking through Ormiston Gorge  in Central Australia is wonderful experience of wind, earth and water. Tall colourful walls rise on each side of the stony floor, foliage clings to life where it can, and a deep waterhole awaits the weary walker at the end.

Wall of posters in Limoux, France

Walls of buildings are always fair targets for graffiti, posters and other forms of messaging! This one is very pro-French I think.

Ailsa of Where’s my Backpack has offered a challenge for photo of walls this week … how about looking through your wall photos too?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Love

Christmas 1971, the year we married

in 1983 when we had three young sons

and 1993 at Stuart’s art opening

2003 when we opened The River restaurant in Moruya

and in France in 2011

This week’s Daily Post theme of love set me thinking of what it means to love someone over a long period of time. Not a child or a parent, but another fallible human being just like yourself. Marriage vows make a lot of sense as years go by, those old fashioned vows of sticking with each other for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, through the good times and the rough times. Somehow we stuck it out and love each other more with the richness of years spent together pursuing our dreams and doing our best. Perhaps I married a very patient and adaptable man, or maybe he chose the right woman to cope with all his idiosyncrasies  as well as all abundant his gifts. Women ask me in wonder “Does he have a brother?” …well no, he doesn’t, so it was just lucky me when we met in about 1965 or 66, we were with other people at a party, but our eyes met across the room, and sparks flew! It was not until 1970 that we got together, and I had a sinking feeling …”Oh no, this is the man I will spend my life with, and he is here already!” … perhaps I wanted a few more years to sort myself out, but we dived into it and that was that. It still is.

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Wood

woodstack in forest, Switzerland

carved wooden door panel, Chateau de Bourdeilles, France

old toll house by the river in Perigueux France

covered bridge, Switzerland

cellar doors, Perigueux France

hidden wood, cello on the metro, Paris

Cee says: “This week your challenge is to show off a few photographs of wood. Wood/Spring: Tree, Wind, Moisture, Air, Minerals, Ink, Mind, Rubber, Paper, Plants, Poison, Wax, Dissolve, Carbon, Clouds, Health, Space”

I stuck with wood: Trees growing in the forest, a stack of timber for winter warmth, carved timber in a palace, majestic timbers in a bridge, a fine timber cello hidden inside its case, old timber doors, timber supports, cladding and roof shingles on an old French toll house.

Where would mankind be without wood? It is a wonderful renewable resource that has been tended and cared for by humanity for thousands of years … until today, when unrenewable resources  are used more and more for construction, and forests are destroyed for development and money-making. I look forward to a world where wood regains its true value before it is too late for the whole planet.

Sunday Post: Simplicity

Jakes sunday post this week is simplicity. My photo was taken in a little Parisian cafe, with Australian style coffee … hence we met some other discerning Aussies in there too. However I liked this typical Parisian with his dog under the chair. What could be simpler, a safe place for a loving hound!

Tagged D: Done In

When we were travelling in France last September there were times I felt like a lie down … this one was after climbing many hundreds of steps to the top of a defensive tower at Château de Bourdeilles. After a hot day the cool grass was just sooo welcoming … I was feeling all “done in.” According to the Free Dictionary ‘done in’ means exhausted.

christine feeling ‘done in’ after a hot day in france

To see more posts tagged D check out Frizz’ site http://flickrcomments.wordpress.com/2013/01/22/tagged-d/

 

Haiku Heights #205 Dusk

dusk at mullimburra lagoon

rosy light glowing
pink clouds streaming golden trails
dusk falling softly

This is a post participating in a weekly Haiku prompt … have a look at Haiku Heights if you are interested in joining in.

Travel Theme: Up

Ailsa of Where’s My Backpack has given us the prompt of “Up” for our photos this week. I was watching a wonderful dog high-jumping competition at the Moruya Show yesterday, where dogs fearlessly jumped up an ever-increasingly high wall. The crowd of children and adults cheered and shrieked with excitement, sighed with disappointment and finally clapped resoundingly when the last two dogs tied for first place in the competition. Thrilling! Who would have known dogs can jump so much higher than horses? So that is one of my Up photos, and the others will explain themselves.

dog high-jump at the Moruya show

Parisian sights from the Seine, sunset

up an escalator at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

rainbow lorikeet up in the tree

banyan circle above

sydney airport early morning