Weekly Winners Sunday Meme

It's nearly the end of the summer holidays - 5 weeks gone, only one more to go. (Can you tell I'm counting down?) Summer has well and truly arrived, too - this week we've melted through sweltering humid days. All of which contributes to total brain-fade for me, where any coherent thought or act of creativity goes right out the window, as I struggle to maintain my equilibrium and my temper.

I'm hopeless in hot weather, far too inclined to fly off the handle at the smallest thing. Whoever thought that summer was a great time to have your children at home with you all day every day was a raving sadomasochistic #&^$#@@...

All of which is a long-winded and unnecessary explanation for why I have hardly touched my camera all week. One lovely image of Miss Furpants, just to say "hello" and give me an excuse to go dip into all the other wonderful photos featured at the lovely Lotus'(Sarcastic Mom) weekly photo meme. I'll gaze longingly at some exquisite snowscapes from the other side of the world, and remember what it's like to see steam coming out of my nostrils...instead of my ears! LOL!

Weekly Winners Sunday Meme

Well, here it is. What do you think? *does a little twirl for the benefit of viewers* Does it suit me? I've been wearing black for too long, and wanted a fresher look. I've still got a fair bit of tweaking to do, so forgive the scaffolding and empty paint tins lying around (and apologies to anyone having trouble seeing me, as I haven't yet checked it out in all browsers yet).

Due credit for my new look must go to the folks at Our Blog Templates for this lovely free Spain template (have a look at how good it can look when someone knows what they are doing!), and to Amanda at Blogger Buster, for sooooo many great tips, tutorials and a fantastic free e-Book on Blogger templates - any problems with this template are down to my incompetency, not their fine work.

I've found heaps of great resource sites, and I'm learning some wonderful tricks, which will be the subject of a future post (for other CSS/HTML virgins like me who want to learn how to tweak what's under the hood of their Blogger blog!).

I've been fiddling with this thing all week, therefore haven't taken many pictures ! So, for some REALLY good photography, go look at Lotus and all the other Weekly Winners. In the meantime, you'll just have to put up with me:




My little sunshine





Captain Underpants




Not quite my Pocket Pussy any more...




Summer perfection...ripe papaw...




...though size can be deceiving! (Isn't it cute?! It was gorgeous, too...mmmmm...)

Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme AND the Big 100!

Well, well, well...here I am at Post 100. No deep introspection here. Some colour and light, a little peek at my world this week.

Visit Lotus at Sarcastic Mom if you like photographs - she amazes me on a weekly basis with her original perspectives (and wicked wit), and she hosts this fine photo meme.






We did each other's make-up - guess who is not getting a call-back...?




All action at the playdough table...





Artist at work.





From this, I could make...





Scarface Claw





My zygocactus blooms, signalling winter.





...and its translucent beauty at sunset sends my shutter finger crazy...

Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme

Happy Mother's Day, to mothers everywhere, and especially all you special mothers who patiently wait for my spasmodic postings!

I hope you had a wonderful day with your loved ones. I did - the little man and his dad picked me up and took me to our local Sunday market, the wee feller on a mission to get me to choose something. (He arrived with a fistful of jonquils, which are perfuming the room as I write this...heavenly!) He helped me pick out a gorgeous lavender plant, and some herbs to pot which he assisted me with later in the day. We spoke to some of our other favourite mothers, and enjoyed the fresh autumn day together. He had decorated a little box with "jewels" at preschool (helped me eat the chocolates inside, too), and drew me a card that is recognizably a person (me!) cooking a chocolate cake (for him!). It's lovely that he's now old enough for this day to begin to mean something for both of us, though I'm looking forward to a few years' time, when I get the whole breakfast-in-bed shebang!?. Why else am I teaching him to cook?


The camera lay idle most of the week. My good deed this week was to run over to the garage with it to take photos of the sweet old pup who had been struck by a car (luckily, not seriously), and was tied up there while the hunt was on for his owners. I came home and made some "Lost Dog" posters on the 'puter to put up at the shop and PO. His owners saw them, and collected him gratefully the next day. Don't we love a happy ending?!




(Remember, check out the lovely Sarcastic Mom and the other Weekly Winners. I'm sure they've taken plenty more photos than I have this week.)



Never found out his name, but he was the sweetest-natured boy...






Parachute games at playgroup






Making cuteness a high artform...(and I promise this photo was not staged)

Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme

I have a bit of a back-log, so forgive me if this page takes forever to load. My mother's 60th birthday spent with family, the wonderful Fun Day we held this week on National Playgroup Day, and my ever-photogenic wee man and wee cat have provided much shutter fodder and happy memories.

For a glimpse of what's happening in other parts of the world, visit Lotus's blog (Sarcastic Mom), the lovely sponsor of this meme. Give her a hug on the way through - she's hurting right now, and we love her.





Looking rather like a koala...Miss Mahlia FurPants...




...who has the sweetest feet...





...and was in the wars last week - attacked a week after her op by a neighbour's cat, she has a bald patch and stitches on BOTH flanks now.






The birthday card we made for Nanna Mama








The wee man and Nan (his great-grandmother)





A quiet time with a movie after the big drive to Nanna's





Birthday girl





The wee man, me and Pop





The object of his affections





Primitive instincts...boy with fire





Unky J, in party mode





Beautiful party people





Playing with Unky J





Breakfast with Unky B





Musing on the night before...?






Welcome to our Fun Day





I'm not having fun





Oh, what a beautiful day!





My beret looks better on him





Wednesday's magnificent sunset










Ending as I began...with my furry baby.

Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme

Two weeks have slipped by; how has that happened? Where did they go? And where was my camera?

None of these questions will be satisfactorily answered by this post, but despite my absence and few photos of any interest, I am compelled by love and loyalty to be here for my favourite meme. Go check out Sarcastic Mom and the other weekly winners, for much greater dedication to the blogosphere and some much better photos!






Our little green visitor




New best bud





Evening jewels






I'll be back - I promise. I've got things to say, and tell you about, but I've let the blogging habit slip the last few weeks and just dealt with off-line life for a while. I need to get my broadband connection again - that makes a big difference to my online experience.

Weekly Winners, Sunday Meme

This week, I wanted to explore the idea that "all that glitters is not gold". Here in my sub-tropical part of the world, the golden light and saturated colours are a photographer's dream. That, plus I have my own little golden boy who lights up my world and my lens. Put them together with the lovely Mahlia (kitten), and you have this week's Weekly Winners.

(Remember - if you like what you see, rock on over to Lotus' place (Sarcastic Mom), and tell her I sent you. She's got a whole lot of fine folks parading their favourite happy snaps through this great meme every Sunday. Push the button and have a look.)




Local beauties (right next door)





Something about arches




A single hoya flower





So cheeky we should bottle it...!





Staghorn I





Staghorn II





Spun gold





Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed





Yesterday evening...

















And finally, this one won't win any photography awards - just file under: "Awwww...all tuckered out...aren't they cute?"