Happy Surprises!!

**Surprise Number One**

You may recall in an earlier post:  "Gems and Frills" when I wrote about C, one of our dear granddaughters, being on a well earned trip to Paris.

Recently, we were thrilled to have a lovely family visit and catch up, when C so lovingly surprised us with some souvenirs... gorgeously delicious French chocolate and a beautiful painting.

The choccie has gone and the painting takes pride of place:

Here's some more photos of C's trip...

This is what it was like when trying to see the Mona Lisa!   


A different view of the Eiffel Tower:

Here's C enjoying her baguette, spread with Vegemite she'd brought from Australia,  for lunch in front of the Eiffel Tower:

... and finally, this is the lovely shop where C bought our delicious chocolate:

A great adventure indeed, and thanks dearest C for thinking of us - Hugs and Love, Grandma and Papa xoxoxo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~//~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

**Surprise Number Two**

Today in the mail, this little sweetie arrived:

She's a Dotee, and her name is Aurora, isn't she gorgeous!!!  She was sent to me by Vee who's been a blog-friend for quite a few years now.

Vee makes beautiful dolls, bears and now Dotees and I'd happened to comment on how beautiful they were...

Here's a closeup of Aurora's pretty little face and curly curls:

I just know you'll love to see all of Aurora's friends, you can find them here "Vee's The Bearister Blogspot"

Thanks very much Vee, I'm thrilled to bits at your kindness and totally wowed, once more, at your beautiful creation.

P.S. I have to say, that Tinnie Bear has been beside himself with joy at Aurora's arrival.  I managed to get this quick snap as he was making her comfy after her long flight all the way from Canada.  Firm friends already!

Cheers now :D)

A Lovely Day

Hello there,
A bit of a mixed bag for this post, but I've had my head down and brushes up for a while now.
Time to post something and to pay a few visits.

The other day started off with some painting... by the time MD had coffee ready, I'd roughed out a little acrylic.  Have a new fad to paint at the moment - vases of flowers.  The one in the photo below is of some pink nameless kind of flowers but I'm going to intermingle branches of the lovely silver grey eucalyptus leaves.  You can see I've got one of my photos showing on my laptop and I'm using that as a reference.  I'll post a photo when its finished.

We decided on a walk after brekky, so down we went to the lake.  Saw this lone Australian White Ibis (I think that's the right name) having a feed way off in the distance.  It was beaut because we don't often see them here.
(Sorry to not have joined in with Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday but I can't seem to be organised properly these days ... blame the painting and swimming!!)

I'd wanted to do some sketching after we'd walked.  Got it into my head that I could do some boats and so we set the chairs up and I had a go.  Lol, I think that'll be as far as I go with trying to draw boats somehow... lost patience pretty quick - back to flowers and other such things!!

It was a lovely spot though:

After a little while, we noticed this fellow paddling along towards us.

"Hello" he seemed to say !!!!  "Got anything to eat?"

He soon got bored waiting for us to break out the snacks, so a bit of preening took place:

.... then a stretch.  Oh, what a beautiful sight, just a couple of feet away from us:

Wings down and feathers settled:

obviously time for a walk.  Up he came, right up close to MD.  Totally friendly, but really, really hungry apparently !!

Nothing doing, no food from us (we didn't come prepared), so he ambled on down alongside the road.

I'd been meaning to take some closeups of the swans' feathers when I next had an opportunity and this was as good as any.  Aren't they gorgeous!

Back home I played around with the photo editor, applied a filter and enhanced the colour... I didn't change the colour to mauve purposely, it happened as I applied more contrast and saturation. (I'm not technically minded but I love experimenting... can always hit the 'Undo' button!).

Last of all, here's one of my paintings that I've recently finished.  It's an acrylic that had been sitting on the easel (or near it) for the past 6 months.  Finally, I got stuck in and completed it.  "Kelp Forest Fantasy"... I enjoy painting the fishies.  There's a little mermaid in there as well.

That's about it for this post.  Thanks for taking the time to visit.
I hope life is treating all of you really well.
Cheerio and I'll see you over at yours :D)

Blowing in the wind ...

It's a wee bit windy over here today ... I managed to keep my glamorous lipstick on though (phew!) :D)

Wild Bird indeed... unwanted visitor!

We had a visitor the other day... and we weren't the only ones who noticed:

The hawk wheeled and swooped over all it surveyed:

After about 5 minutes, one of our resident Magpies had had enough and decided it was time for Hawk to be on its way....

It took a bit of convincing:

In  fact, it needed a thoroughly good piece of the Magpie's mind before it decided to head off:

"... and stay away !!"

Job done, Maggie resumed her position on the tv aerial.


A chance encounter which I'd have missed except for the keen eyes of MD - he'd seen the Hawk briefly the previous day and had been keeping an eye out, knowing how much I'd love to photograph it.

My photo quality leaves a lot to be desired (shaking hands, too excited and forgot to fully extend lens) but, as we've all agreed on previous occasions, sometimes the thrill of the encounter trumps the quality of the shot!

Cheers now, and thanks for having a look at our birds.  Pop over to Stewart's blogspot [click on the image below] to see lots of other birdie offerings!!

Goosey Goosey

It's 10.00 am and I'm sitting at the table, coffee finished...

You can see how painting has taken over my life... this is my side of the table!!!

... and I'm saying to M(y) D(arling) that I want to paint but can't think of anything.

He looks across to the kitchen area and points, saying - "there, paint that ... a still life".

So I did.

 

It was quick (but that's the best kind ... no time to fiddle) and by the time he'd pottered in the kitchen for a bit and had his shower I had it on his side of the table for show and tell.

Good fun indeed, and more practice.  Thanks my darling!!

11.00 am ... preparing a post for my blog.

Cheers everyone, have a great week :D)

Swimmingly

Hi there, 

As always, I love to take photos of what my current interests are for posting on my blog. However, cameras aren't allowed in the local swimming pool so I decided to do a little sketch. 

Over the last few months, I'd found that all the walking we were doing was aggravating some bone problems I have.  So, I did a bit of research and found that hydrotherapy exercises were highly recommended.  Being lucky enough to have a heated pool in our town - I started going several times a week and haven't looked back!!  

It's nothing short of bliss actually, and gave immediate relief.   

Should say that I've taken great liberties with the depiction of myself in this sketch, lol !

I don't wear my earrings into the pool, my lips aren't as luscious, my nails aren't so glamorous and not a wrinkle can be seen. 

I do love to take huge lashings of artistic licence, you've obviously realised by now!

However, what is spot on is that look of sheer relaxation and happiness as I lie back on my yellow noodle.

Have a really great weekend -  cheers now :D)

Popping in.. a quick visit

Hello everyone, I wanted to refresh the photos here ... blogs can get an abandoned feel can't they!

I do hope life is treating you well.  All is fine here.

I've not been an active blogger for a little while and felt ashamed when I saw there were comments on my previous post left unanswered.  My apologies.

I hope you enjoy these pretty grevilleas.  They are from our former garden which we both loved so much.

I shall look forward to catching up with all of you in a while.

Until later, cheerio for now :D) xx

Birds and Fences

Hi there,  we happened to catch everyone snatching some sort-of shuteye as we passed.

I really like the way birds stand on one leg to sleep - their balance is spot on isn't it!

I'm doing a two in one post today.  Flitting between Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday (oops, its Thursday already Susan!!) and Theresa's Good Fences.

Bird tracks are another thing I love looking at - think it dates back to when Dad used to show us, as kids, how to make fake animal tracks in the dirt.
I've lots of photos  of tracks - oh, I can keep you fascinated for hours on end (ha ha) but I'll restrict to just 2 ;D)

Loved this sky - oh those clouds !!!
Here's a little quote I enjoy:

"Now, if God made the clouds so beautiful, did He not mean us to gaze upon them and be thankful for them? ~ Alfred Rowland"

.... walking up off the sand and into the scrub, here's a first glimpse of a fence:

... turning back for a last look (for a day or so!), the fence frames a most beautiful scene I'm sure you'll agree :D) 

Thanks for coming along on this little walk.  By clicking on each of these photos you'll be able to see lots of other birds and fences (and all that they encompass), shared by many lovely bloggers here and all over the world.  Cheers !!

Update:  Just to let you know that your comment won't appear immediately anymore.  I regretfully have to resort to comment moderation because of spammers.

Gems and Frills

One of our dear granddaughters is overseas enjoying her efforts of having working part time for many years while going to college and uni.  She saved hard and is now having a great adventure, with a good friend, for a few months.

A visit to the Moulin Rouge was great fun and, because they were right next to the stage, every now and then gems and feathers would fly off the dancers on to them - ooh la la!

My imagination soared and I quickly did a little sketch, hopped on to photoshop and fiddled around (as best I could - still learning how to drive it ha ha) with my drawing... here's the result - a bit of fun, so thought I'd share :

School of Fishies Fence

Wow, the time does scoot by doesn't it.
I've not been wasting it, it just kind of slips away without me noticing ;D)

Catching up once more with Theresa at her Good Fences gathering.  I found these pics, that were taken a little while ago, lingering in a "to be sorted" folder.
I've lots of variations of those folders, the "culling needed", "add captions"  and worst of all "miscellaneous" ... oh that's a baddie - and a biggie!!

You'd never guess now that - once - I used to be an efficient kind of lass who ran her office with much order and pride.
Lol, on the other hand, I quite enjoy the lack of pressure of those days.  So, actually, I think my various "to do" folders can stay put a bit longer while I keep enjoying the freedom of retirement - yes!!

We were actually taking some quick snaps for purposes of  getting ideas for housepainting colours when I saw this cute little gate.
I like to straighten my photos before publishing them, however, when I straightened to the gate edge, the little balcony on the left looks right out of whack doesn't it!!

Zooming in a bit, I just loved the look of this house and its entrance and, oh yes, the paint colour... that was the whole purpose of the pics wasn't it ;D)

A cropped closeup... I love those fishies, hope you've enjoyed them too!
Cheerio now :D)

Thanks very much for your visit.  You're always welcome over at Theresa's place too... just click on the image below:

Waiting ... with the birds

Hi everyone, this is my week to join in with all the bird lovers over at Stewart's Wild Bird Wednesday gathering.

While I was waiting for hubby to see the Chiropractor, whose office is across the road from this lovely piece of beach, I decided to join them ... the birds, on the beach, that is ;D)

I set my sights on the Cormorant which is the black lump over in the right of the photo.
I quietly and slowly walked over to him/her.

 

A zoom lens is beaut isn't it.  However, Cormie was on to me!

... didn't seem to mind too much, so I kept clicking and walking slowly

That was apparently far enough, so off he trots and joins the Pelicans

Also on that little patch of beach, were a few jellyfish

While I was bent over taking the previous photo, I looked up and was rather delighted to see this curious Swan paddle over.
It seemed to me, she was fairly interested in what I was looking at.  I always seem to put human thoughts on to animals, but on this occasion that's what it felt like!
(There's a jellyfish directly below the Swan, and one to the right of her)

With Hubby sufficiently bone-cracked, we went for a stroll further down the beach, and here's a few more jellyfish in deeper water.

It was a jellyfish kind of day - you know, just kinda floatin' around, not doing a lot... all good :D)

Thanks for having a visit, you're most welcome to join everyone over at Stewart's spot.  They're a great bunch of folk.  Just click on the image below :