Day 181 - Book Shopping at the NGA

I really enjoy the book shop at the National Art Gallery, but I didn't get to look in there for long today because Henry preferred to look at the sculptures in the foyer (particularly the crocodile) and the steps leading down to the book shop. Once we finally got in there, we chose a couple of books for Henry which he wanted to read straight away. In the picture you can see him intently reading Everyone Poos when we went outside to look at the big outdoor sculpture that you can sit in. I wish I could remember the name and a google search isn't helping! Anyway we sat out there for a while this afternoon with Robbie and Damon enjoying the heated seats!

Day 180 - Soft Clouds

Today I set out to take a photo that depicted 'soft' and when I saw these clouds overhead late in the afternoon, I thought that they would fit the bill nicely. It's interesting, Dale and I both noted the other day, that since we have been concentrating a lot more on photography, we are both so much more aware of the beauty in things around us that we may not have noticed otherwise!

Day 179 - The Eternal Quest for Order

In my eternal quest for order, one thing that I have sorted recently is the laundry shelves! I don't know who would have thought that laundry shelves should be open, or if they used to have doors, but they have always looked messy. I bought the Laundy and House tin from Aldi a couple of weeks ago when they appeared in their catalogue. I have seen similar ones in either Kmart or Big W as well. Then I  got my hands on two sets of baskets from Big W. The baskets are actually plastic, but they look so good, you can only tell by touching them. I think the plastic is a good idea for the laundry. Finally a place to store all those cleaning products, the multiplying green shopping bags and other paraphernalia!

Day 177 - Where You Shop

Where do you shop? One of my favourite places to shop in Canberra is the Canberra Centre and this is the glass cube sculpture that is out the front of the centre. I thought it was a bit more interesting than taking a photo of the shopping centre, but it isn't until now, that I have found out a bit more about it. Apparently the cube changes colour at night in response to touch and sound! Something else to check out later I guess!

Day 176 - Something Cute

This afternoon, Henry and I headed to the park for a bit of a practice photography session. Inspired by Fat Mum Slim's Photo of the Day list, the topic in mind was "Something Cute" and this is what we came up with. Cute huh?

Day 175 - Dani's Birthday Lunch

Yesterday was Dani's birthday and today we went for lunch at a cafe in Parramatta Lakes. I tried very hard to get a photo of Dani with her gorgeous birthday cake, but as the candles were lit, the children there wanted to get in close to the cake, as children do! David organised a delicious white chocolate and strawberry swirled mud cake with white chocolate ganache which was enjoyed by all, including Henry who kept wanting more. Happy Birthday Dani!

Day 174 - Henry's First Escalator Trip

We tried this the other week, but Henry wouldn't have a bar of it... the escalator that is! Today he was happy to do it and then to go back down and do it again! Holding on tightly to his Dad's hand of course. We had a very big shopping trip today, which we don't get to do very often, but Henry was enjoying himself, so we were able to buy a few things for each of us and to get something for Dani's birthday, which is today!

Day 172 - Bath Time Photo Session

I try to pick just one photo normally, but I couldn't resist a little collage from today's little bath time photo session! As per instructions last Saturday at the course Peta and I did, I have been trying to fit in at least 10 minutes practice with the camera in manual mode every day. Daylight hours are scarce at the moment, so bath time is perfect. Henry can't really escape and he smiles a lot!

Day 171 - An Impossible Task

Today's impossible task was "Fave Photo You Have Ever Taken". Well with 22000 images on my computer, I gave up fairly quickly. I take a fairly big number of photos, almost every day. I always take at least a couple for photo a day and for this blog. After a bit of though and sifting, I realised it was like fishing for a needle in a haystack. I have been taking photos since my first ever camera (a little pastel blue one that took film) and so instead, here is a selection of current favourites on the fridge. They probably aren't as current as they could be, but the selection reflects the excitement I had in taking photos in Henry's first year.

Day 170 - Little Ted Gets the Bath Time Treatment

This is something Henry has done a few times lately after he has had a bath... Little Ted gets a dry off too! I love this phase of imitation; it makes me realise how much Henry picks up on and takes in each and every day and experience.

Day 169 - Something You Don't Know About Me

Today's photo challenge topic was "Something That One Knows About You" and I liked the picture that I took, so decided to blog it here too. After Saturday's photography course I have been keeping my camera in manual mode and have learnt lots as well as having enjoyed the results.

So yes, I collect stamps. Well, not really I guess. It's not like I have an album or anything (these days at any rate). Hey I don't even soak them off the envelopes and I keep them in an old biscuit tin. After collecting stamps as a child, I have never been able to throw them away as an adult. You don't actually get a lot of mail anymore with stamps, so I don't have a huge number either. I have always thought that if I had a child who wanted to collect them, then I could start them off with what's in the tin! So far Henry likes looking at the pictures and playing with them, so we shall see.

Day 168 - Distraction

We took Jenna to karate practice this morning. For a more comprehensive photo and description of the sport, perhaps read Dale's blog here. I, however, didn't get a great pic of Jenna with her not being in the front row and me not wanting to be too obtrusive! Henry was very quiet during the class, which I think baffles him a bit, what with all the outfits and sharp yelling noises! Towards the end, he needed entertaining and I think that his Daddy fit the bill particularly well.

Day 167 - Love Your Camera!

Peta and I were very much looking forward to today as we had both arranged to do a photography course taught by Angie Baxter, called Love Your Camera. The main aim of the day was to use your DSLR to shoot manually rather than only ever using it on auto. As I haven't had it long and had struggled to get my head around the manual settings, today was fabulous.

Peta and I drove over to Lanyon Homestead (what a beautiful setting) quite early for a Saturday and once we got past the cows blocking the road (yes they do move if you beep gently) we were all set to learn.

This little yellow duckie was one of our models for the day. The rest of the day we had to use ourselves. Here he is in the woolshed.

Day 166 - Cuggles

Although bedtimes are sometimes difficult, we do get lots of cuddles (he says cuggles) and kisses from Henry before bed. He is still learning to master the pout and sometimes they are slightly damp, but we wouldn't change that! Here's Henry giving Dale a kiss at story time.

Day 165 - Time

Today I had the challenge of photographing time. I ended up picking this clock which was a gift to Dale and me for our engagement. It was from my brother, David, and I think the style of clock is just the very thing that he would choose. It's interesting and stylish and I really liked how the contrast of the shadows and numbers showed up in this photo! I didn't take the photo at quarter to seven. Really must replace the battery.

Day 164 - 'Henry's Fruits' An Artwork by Henry

This is a little paper plate artwork that was brought home from day care last week. Do you like Henry's colour choices? :) This is such a cute one that I would consider printing it off and putting it on his wall! He likes to point out where the strawberry and the banana are, he knows apple and cherry, but we are still trying to figure out the green one. It looks like baby spinach to me!

Day 163 - From a Low Angle

I really like this picture of Henry's toys that I took this afternoon, set with the challenge of "From a Low Angle". These are the toys that are on Henry's dresser at the moment, so this might just be the angle that he sees them from! I used a bit of tilt shift in this to make the tower look just that little bit taller and the cars just a little bit smaller. I think it looks like a little street scene :)

Day 162 - Parliament House

It's a long weekend this weekend and what with doing reports and putting up with miserable, cold weather we felt that we really needed to push ourselves to go out and do something. Armed with our cameras we decided to follow up on Dale's current project of photographing landmarks in Canberra. We found ourself at Parliament House on a little photo taking safari and the above is my pick of the day. Henry had a ball for some reason (you wouldn't think Parliament House could do that, right?) and he happily posed for many photos in-between running around on the roof of the House. It was great to get out, despite the miserable cold!

Day 161 - Surprise!

After a week where I was going to deviate from the whole photo a day theme thing, I ended up sticking to it quite a bit. It was a hectic week, what with reports and marking being full on and with losing our cat Baby earlier in the week, I wasn't so inspired to get the camera out. Henry is the one who inspires a lot of my photo taking, as he did in the bath this evening. I find the bath to be useful for photos... he can't move fast! I love the look of surprise captured in this one!

Day 160 - My View Today

Today I had the challenge of photographing my view... as I spent almost all afternoon writing reports, I didn't get to go anywhere gorgeous to show off any scenery! At 5.30, as I logged out of the school reports and dashed out to the shops to get a couple of things we needed from Woolies, the sun setting out at the driveway was pretty magical. So although my view was of my computer screen and assessments for a lot of the day, this was a nice way to end it!

Day 159 - 6 O'clock

Today the theme was 6 o'clock. As much as I would have liked to have been up at 6am taking photos of a sunrise, the sun doesn't actually rise until about 7.15, around here at the moment so pm it would have to be. At six pm most nights we are somewhere near the beginning of the whole bath time, dinner and bed time routine and at six tonight I was on to dinner. It's sometimes frantic, sometimes late, sometimes fun but always full on!

Day 158 - Drink

These are two of the coffees that I didn't get to finish today. In my job, most days we get two 20 minute breaks during the school part of the day. In that time you have to: help kids find their hat, drink, lunch box or whatever else they have lost, get your own lunch ready or heated, eat it, make coffee, wash your own dishes, use the bathroom, do any photocopying and catch up with anyone you need to speak to, such as office staff or other teachers. Once you have fit all of that into your break, you are either out on playground duty or back to the classroom, where you pretty much have no chance of finishing your coffee before it turns cold!

Day 157 - Hat

So the theme today is hat and I discovered that my little hat collection was all at school! The thing I do like about buying hats is that for teachers they are a tax deduction, along with sunglasses, for the outdoor work that we do (playground duty). It's a good excuse to buy them!

Day 156 - Sign

Downtown Monaro Street in Queanbeyan this afternoon as the evening was just coming on was a very cool brisk walk. Today's theme was a 'sign' and as much as I wanted to find something clever and funny, I couldn't! So instead I tried to capture the feel of the business of the day winding down. There are always a lot of cars about here at this time and the street was pretty empty because it was so cold! Like many main streets through NSW towns there is one shop sign after another overhead, as far as you can see.

Day 155 - Goodbye to My Feline Friend of Eighteen Years

Today was the end of a very long era. My cat, Baby has been through all of my adult life with me. I got her during my first year of uni in 1994 and she has seen all the changes in my life, including moving many times and finally moving to Canberra with me in 2006. Dale says that he will never forget that trip with her on his lap in the passenger seat of the MX5! I do remember pulling up to get petrol and getting funny looks at all the cat hair covering me when I went in to pay and I didn't even have her dribbling all over my lap!

Last night Baby didn't seem herself and strictly speaking, I did take this photo early, because I took it on Sunday night. It was, however, more fitting to post it under today's date. On her last night I brushed her hair, we had a little chat and I kept a very close eye on her after taking a bunch of photos of her.

Sadly by morning, she was no longer with us, having not made it through Sunday night, but having made it through 18 years with me. She was a trooper, sometimes a pain, sometimes purry, sometimes cranky, but always there.  Hoping now that she is with her old mate Jessie with maybe a bit of frolicking like they used to :)

Day 155 - On Your Plate

The theme "On Your Plate" encouraged me to cook a lot today - breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert in fact. You may notice the beetroot soup that I made for lunch. I was attempting to make soup out of ingredients that we already had so that I could use them up. We had some frozen stock which I made use of, some roasted veggies from last night's dinner and a tin of beetroot from the cupboard. The fact that I couldn't find a use by date on the tin, suggested that the beets were old. Did you know that they can turn black in the tin?! Yes Dale had to grab some more so the soup could be finished off. We certainly ate well today!

Day 154 - Googong Excitement

It was an exciting day today as it was Googong Day! With our 3.30pm appointment not far off and a message from Peta saying that they were successful in getting the block they wanted, we were pretty excited about picking our lot! Last night we sat down and went through our block choices again. We read all the fine print and discovered that you need 8m at the rear of a 2 storey house, which changed our choices a bit. Finally we decided that there was one we liked if only we could change the side that the driveway was on. After being told that would be okay, we picked out our block and the salesperson stuck an orange dot on it to say that it was taken! Funnily Jenna is not pointing to our block in this photo; we will be a bit further north.

Day 153 - Morning!

Well doing FatMumSlim's May photo challenge was a fun way to take photos for the month, but now that we have arrived at June, I have decided to go back to using my favourite photo of the day, regardless of a theme. Today's photo does fit in with the theme of Morning, however. Here is Henry happily munching away on his toast this morning (looking back, did I go heavy handed with the jam or what??). Henry loves toast... most of all the popping noise that the toaster makes!