An apple a day...

TWO WEEKS and we'll be on holidays! We cannot wait! However, there is always so much to do before going away. We can't just walk away and leave things, like many people think we can. We are planning our two weeks of work PLUS the 10 days that Marc is away for. We have to make sure the cattle are in 'safe' paddocks with water and food as well as making sure we have enough prickle trees cut and supplement feed out to last the time that we are away.

There is a fair bit happening with my little business in that two weeks also! A friend of mine has decided to start her own hair dressing and beauty salon out here. She is very excited and I am excited for her. She has asked me to do some 'funky' photos for her. So after a discussion and throwing ideas around, we decided on a fruit theme. One of the prints I am doing for her is a series of images of an apple cut in half. I am taking a photo at the same time of the day, every day for a fortnight, or so, to capture it slowly decaying.

Here is the shot of the apple I took today, with a bit of a groovy edit




And here is a pic of the apple on the first day that I cut it with an extruded filter over the top





I am having fun doing these shots!

EXCITED!

A medium to long term goal of ours has been brought forward by quite a few years and we couldn't be happier. It is something that we have talked about, dreamt about and worked towards and now it is within grasp. We are happier than we have been in quite awhile, both individually and as a couple. This has been such a positive thing for us, that we are hoping the positivity transfers and that this last round of treatment WORKS! I am hoping, that as the saying goes "Like begets like"... "Positivity begets positivity".

I am almost finished my Proofreading course- so far I have received three high distinctions and three distinctions. I have 4 more assignments to complete and submit which I am hopeful of completing within the next couple of weeks!

The photography club that I started approximately 20mths ago has gathered a lot of momentum and I couldn't be happier. We have gained sponsors and an annual photography competition supported by a newsagents in Mt Isa. It is very satisfying to see that my hard work and commitment has finally started paying off.

My little business is also starting to gather momentum. I have had three newborn photo sessions already, with another two booked in as well as a family portrait session booked. Again, my hard work and commitment is paying off. This is a little harder to promote however as it is ME... People think that I am an extrovert, but I really am not and I find self promotion quite difficult. I have to psyche myself up, put on a 'business hat' and go in guns blazing... that's the only way to do it. If I am not psychologically prepared to promote myself- things collapse and nothing gets done. In fact, I am preparing myself now for tomorrow! Tomorrow I am going to try and market myself to get a few shoots booked in.

When I was driving home the other day from Townsville, I decided to take my time and stop and take photos along the way. I had a lovely day, however the conditions weren't conducive to taking photographs as it was bright, glarey and windy. However I persevered and here are a couple of shots I took. I added a 3D filter the images, I hope you can notice it!

This image was taken at White Mountain look out in the Burra Range. The following two images are of a lovely gum tree in flower.

And here is an image of 26 day new MR J! The wonderful thing about this photo shoot was that it was on his actual due date!!!

Have a great day!

Its the little things

Its funny how priorities change as you get older. I had spoken to Mr Fabulous in the past about putting a clothesline in the backyard. We have a little fold away clothesline attached to a wall on the back verandah, which is great provided the wind blows in the right direction and it isn't too humid! In winter, we have quite strong southerly winds, and the verandah clothesline never caught any breeze, therefore clothes would take awhile to dry. Mr Fabulous removed an old clothesline that was near the old shearers quarters and placed it in the backyard where it catches good breeze! I love looking out the kitchen window and seeing the washing on the line, spinning and flapping and drying. It really is quite silly, but it gives me a sense of home, seeing washing on the line in the sun and breeze!

Mr Fabulous has also been busy filling my existing and 2 new vegie gardens with fresh soil from the cattle yards as well as top dressing parts of our yard. It is a hard, messy job, however the lawn responds well to a layer of fresh soil and the vegies that will grow will be delicious! We have been busy watering the vegie gardens to get all the soil nice and wet before I plant out any seeds. I also need to 'plan' where to plant the types of vegies I have- some like nitrogen, some don't. Some like to be planted where other plants have been due to nutrients being left behind, some don't. I am hoping to plant seeds out this coming week end!

We still have had no rain. Winter only lasted a week and the constant heat is starting to take its toll on what grass we had left. Consequently, we have started cutting down prickly acacia, an invasive weed that causes so much angst normally, will provide enough fodder to see us through the year.













The drought's myriad affects are far reaching and the ecology at 'our' waterhole is being affected. Eureka waterhole is the lowest that MF remembers and it has split into three. The remaining water is very shallow. We took the dogs for a swim yesterday afternoon and the water is dotted with dead catfish and pelicans. The pelicans have no bottom beak. I surmise that the pelicans have gone to scoop up a bill full of tucker and not realising how shallow the water is, ripped their bottom beaks off on the creek floor in the process and therefore killing themselves.







Anyway, on a brighter note, one of MF's cousins is getting married in September in Brisbane. I cannot wait as I will have a chance to see family and friends whom I haven't seen for a long time, and of course I love going to weddings. MF is flying home early and has 'given permission' for me to have a driving holiday and 'take my time' getting home! Well, to say I am excited about that is an understatement! I have managed to book myself in a photography workshop in Montville, and I have already 'pre-booked' a few nights with a cousin in Burrum Heads. I am also thinking that I may try and book into a cooking class somewhere along the way too.

Hope you all have a great evening!!

JULY??

The past 18 days have gone by in the blink of an eye! We were in Townsville for the start of the month. We trucked down some bulls and the truck needed some maintenance. We stayed with friends for the few days we were there, which is always nice.

The most exciting thing about this particular Townsville trip was that we rehomed a two year old Border Collie named Sarge. He is a beautiful dog, however not much 'work' had been done with him for some time and he has some bad habits. Having said that though, he has assimilated into our 'pack' and our way of life rather well. This is Sarge on his first walk and swim in a trough. I just love his smile!

I turned 40 a week ago and I threw a fairytale theme costume party. There were some wonderful costumes, not all of them fairytale, but at least people dressed up! Here is one of the mad hatters who came with Little Red Riding Hood

And here is Minnie Mouse, a bar girl and a very 'pretty' harem girl

The week end after my party, I had organised for an internationally recognised photographer, Rowan Bestmann, to come to town to hold a workshop. In conjunction with this, the photography club is holding an exhibition at Nelia. The theme for the exhibition is colour and Rowan kindly donated his time and critiqued all the entries. The Gallery manager hosted a three course meal for the night which was beautiful!

Here is a shot of the dinner table and Georgi, the Gallery manager

Here is Rowan with a group of photos of a blue tongued lizard, titled "Blue".

And dessert- YUMM

Here are a couple of shots that I took just after sunrise Tuesday morning

Oh, it would be remiss of me not to say "QUEENSLANDER"!!!

Have a great night!

Stuff and Nonsense

What a week its been! We've done more cattle work; I've had my first newborn/ family portrait photo shoot; I've been to Food Tales with Julie Goodwin; we've been to our neighbours place for dinner; my old girl dog has had to have x-rays on her leg and our boy dog got his cast off his broken leg; I have also been doing my courses and taking 'other' photos!

My first newborn/ family portraits were with friends and their 20 day new little Mr. He was a wriggly, squirmy, unsettled little man who made me work HARD for every shot I got! I had all the appropriate 'boy' props at the ready. However as he was unsettled, they went out the window as I had to capture him when he was quiet and that was when he was being held. I still had alot of fun doing the shoot though and I am excited to do my next one on Saturday!

Here is a family shot from the other day.

On Friday, Julie Goodwin was in town as a part of the Food Tales promotion that is on at the moment. It was a lovely morning. We listened to Julie's story about being on Materchef and how that experience has impacted on her life. We also discussed memories we have that are built on/ around food. Julie asked us all to write something relating to food and she is hoping that we put it on her blog. I thought that I wiould share my story here as well...

"It was a Saturday morning and there was a buzz in the air. I, being four, had no idea why mum and dad were so busy. I just kept running and playing, until I heard "Suzanne, its time for you to have a bath". I was instantly confused as the sun was still out. "But why Mummy?" "Because we have people coming for dinner." No names were mentioned, just 'people'. I enter the house and am greeted with the aroma of yumminess! Mum HAD been busy and the delicious smells attested to that. "Right" she said "Go and have a bath and put on the dress that I have ironed and put on the end of your bed. And don't waste time!" That's when I noticed Dad in his suit. Wow, I thought, I wonder who 'people' are?
I hurriedly had my bath, donned the dress and re-entered the kitchen. Mum finished smoothing the top of a cheesecake and put it in the fridge when she reached for my hair brush and roughly plaited my hair.
It was now time for mum to get ready. "Stay out of the fridge Suzanne, don't touch anything." That cheesecake was all too tempting, so I had to put my finger in it! I didn't realise that I would leave a tell-tale sign that I hadn't obeyed mum. She reappeared looking lovely and proceeded to get a 'tupperware' container and lid and then she poured cream into the container. She added a couple of teaspoons of icing sugar to the cream, put the lid on the container and started shaking it around like mad. She was walking around, still shaking the container, observing the table; looking at my hair, ensuring everything was just so. Then the doorbell rang. It seemed almost simultaneously, the lid came off the container and suddenly mum was covered in cream! It was everywhere!
To this day, I cannot remember anything else of this night; no idea who 'people' were; no idea what we ate. I cannot even remember if I got into trouble for touching the cheesecake. My memory of this night, ends with mum covered in cream!"

Here is a photo of everyone who attended and Julie Goodwin

And of course there was a Super Moon. Here is my shot of it

Hope you have a fabulous day!

Winter!

It is FINALLY here! It may not be here for long, however it IS HERE and I am LOVING it! I have even turned off 1 air conditioner in the house! I love being able to wear a T-Shirt and not feel sweat running down my face, back, legs. THAT is a most unpleasant feeling that I experience often- too often. I cannot believe that I live in one of the hottest places in Australia, when I feel the heat so terribly.

I have been busy trying to 'brand' Country Pix Photography. This means coming up with a good watermark, and website banner etc etc. I find this really difficult. REALLY DIFFICULT! I am doing an E-Course on blog and website design and how to incorporate them into the one site. I really like the idea of that! I thought I was being clever at the start of the year when I bought my domain name, by doing a website on the 'cheap'. Well, that has proven to be such a nightmare that I relented and contacted a friend of mine and he is 'fixing' it all for me. My domain name will easily 'point' to my website and he is going to help me rebuild my site. This means I can EASILY have a blog tab. Sounds great, however I have to BRAND myself first and that is the difficult part. I don't want to be too limiting with the images that I highlight, however I have to be real and accept that most of my images are landscapes. The name of my business is limiting enough, without being limited by the majority of images I "get to" take. I would love to do some weddings, birthday parties and other events but my location restricts me somewhat.

I will share some of my banner designs at a later date, when I have a couple that I can say that I like and that I would be happy to showcase. For now- just know I am working on something special (hopefully).

We've been busy here- as usual. We preg tested 1623 cows in two days last week! The build up and aftermath have been just as busy as those two days- except I don't have the vet and two other day workers to feed! I picked up my camera for the first time in a week yesterday when a friend and her daughter visited yesterday. Meet Lillie-Mae Ruby

I ordered my costume for my birthday party today! I am going as the Queen of Hearts! I have ordered the dress, a wig, a crown, special stockings AND I am on back order for some special shoes

courses!

We all know that I love learning! However, this time I must be mad! I have signed up and paid for three (yes that's right- THREE) courses. I am mid way through the Proofreading and Copyediting course, plus I have started an on-line photography/ photoshop course AND I paid for and started an E-Course on blog and website design, including coding! I MUST BE MAD- as if I don't have enough on anyway!?!

I am very excited to be doing all these courses. Any course is a good course I reckon! Although, I am uncertain how I will get them done!!

We are pregnancy testing our cows this week so we will be busy, busy, busy. Not sure if I will get to do any course work, which will be a shame.

Mr Fabulous had his birthday Saturday. We had about 25 people over for a pig on the spit! We also had roast lamb and roast chicken as I am not a big fan of pork, with roast vegies. Some wonderful friends made a beautiful pavlova and coffee cheescake for dessert. YUMMO! It was a lovely night and week end.

Anyway, here are some photos I took of a sunset the other day



And here is a shot of Eureka Waterhole, a waterhole on the back of our property, that is part of Eastern Creek. I decided to try it in balck and white also and I think I like it better.





Have a great evening!