2015 photo post up-to-dating

54 (23rd February) - Fix - I took time to fix this mouse... he's Mum's and was a victim of kitten curiosity a little while ago. PVA glue was all I needed - that and to tackle the job in stages. At this point there are already some sections that have been glued back together. I was pleased with the results, and the mouse is back on the shelf.

55 - 12 O'Clock - I was out on the road, almost at Keith, on the longest distance driving day I've yet had. I enjoyed it more than I expected though wouldn't want to do this kind of thing daily.

56 - Reflection - after an interview I take time to reflect - on this occasion that meant time at Picaninnie Ponds, a place where I really enjoyed the isolation, if only for a little while, and during the drive. While much of my mind focuses on the road and the route there's plenty left to contemplate life, the universe and everything. The skies were pretty spectacular too. They might not be a literal reflection but they help with the reflecting.

57 - Grow - Something this lobster at Kingston SE did?

58 - Still Life - I took a few more traditional subject photos but wasn't really happy with them. Instead I focused on background and light. Which I need to work on more... but made some progress. This is my favourite of the shots taken, possibly not the best lit but in combination with framing it seems stronger.

59 - Thank you - not so much thank you, as thankful. For the festival season in Adelaide, the atmosphere, buzzing and excited, and for good nights out. This night I caught one of the $5 shows and enjoyed some food, drink and people watching.

60 - Starts with R - R & R and Reading. I've enjoyed a few books with a sociology/psychology angle lately and they've been good food for thought too.



-- From here I decided to take some time off, I don't want to burn myself out, so if I need a break in my creative projects... I'll take them ;) Days 60-74 I'm considering that break though the few photos following I've included anyway. They were taken incidentally rather than as part of an ongoing effort --

66 - Spotted some street art on the way to Yum Cha in the city with friends, these were Chinese donuts, crisp pastry inside, soft pastry outside, tasty sauce. I tried tripe for the first time, the flavour (especially with sauce) I found to be decent but I just couldn't get past the texture and found it difficult to eat as a result.

70 - I made my second batch of jam, this time with peaches. The method was a little trickier but the results were good. It didn't set as firmly as the nectarine jam did but I'm still happy with the outcome. This was also a much bigger batch so I'll have jam for quite a while now.

71 - A night out at the fringe. I saw 'Randy Writes a Novel' with a friend and had a lot of fun doing so. Couldn't take a photo then, so instead, this was my dessert. It was gooood.

72 - Colour - I jumped into responding to a prompt today as it inspired me. Overnight I heard that Sir Terry Pratchett died. His books brought much colour to my life and will continue to do so, I love re-reading these from time to time.

74 - After a huge and wonderful birthday weekend (this mug was a gift) spending time with friends and family and seeing La Soiree, which was absolutely incredible, it was time for a cup of tea. I will keep creating, keeping calm... is a work in progress. Although I'm going forward without prompts for now I'm hoping to resume more regular photography after this break.

2015 Photo Challenge Week 7

Themes used this week

40 - Energy - I burnt some off in the evening along the river track. I'd like to make this a more frequent occurrence.

41 - This inspires me - I often find street art inspiring, this was done by local artist Jake Sanders for Gawler's Fringe events. I've got a card design sketched out that this inspired, now that the weather's cooled off I'll have to see about making it.

42 - On the wall - I helped a lady put up her exhibition in a library a few years ago - I told her this was my favourite of her works. After I helped her to take it down again, she presented it to me. Such a good memory every time I see it just inside my front door.

43 - Pointy - my most used craft tool, an x-acto knife with a lovely fresh blade in it. I feel more confident with it than I do with a pencil or pen. That said, the circle in the background was cut using an adjustable circle cutter, another most excellent tool.

44 - Temptation - on a very hot day, I felt a great deal of temptation to find a place to immerse myself in water, unfortunately there wasn't a suitable option available. These pigeons found one in the fountain in front of the museum on North Terrace though.

45 - Love - Once again the library in Gawler ran a Blind Date With A Book promotion for Valentine's Day/Library Lovers Day. I made time to sit down with coffee, roses from the garden and some of a favourite chocolate. As hoped, the book 'The Ladies' Paradise' by Emile Zola was one I'd not have picked up on my own. I do love a good chance to try something new and different.

46 - Spot - A lovely spot to spend a couple of evenings this weekend... the laneway event in Gawler in connection with the Fringe, 'The Place Next Door' was nice and relaxed, a pretty ordinary laneway transformed into an art-filled performance venue and hangout spot.

Found Alphabet - H

I found H in the Garden of Unearthly Delights - a major Adelaide Fringe venue. For those of you not in Adelaide, the Adelaide Fringe is the second largest in the world after Edinburgh's festival and it's absolutely fantastic. I try to see as many shows as I can fit in - though shockingly I haven't been in three days - hot weather in tent venues is nasty and the air conditioned status of indoor venues is unpredictable.

My favourite way of experiencing the fringe is to do so with Rushtix - last minute cheap tickets - often bought at the Garden of Unearthly Delights box office. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad, but it's an amazing way to discover all kinds of awesome things. I do book one or two items of particular interest ahead of time as many acts do sell out, but the bulk of my fringe experience is last-minute and cheap - that way I can see more! I've been known to see two or three shows in a night given the chance...

So far I've seen the Fringe Parade, Eastend Cabaret, Morgan & West, Sammy J and Bushpig. I hope to considerably expand that list in the next week. Later in the week I'll also do a brief write-up on those and any others I see in the meantime.

This is one of the seat-ish things that are located in the food area - they get used in many ways, probably because they're not particularly a chair or a table and are very low to the ground. I think they make a pretty perfect H, and pleasantly there's no need to selectively crop the item. Almost any window frame could be an E, an F, and H or an I with selective cropping and rotation but I prefer to avoid that - it feels like cheating!

Just the one instance of the letter - whenever I've been free I've been at the Fringe. This is my excuse and I am sticking to it! If you're tossing up whether or not to go to the fringe, do it. No matter how weird or wonderful the act it's a really fabulous time of year in Adelaide.

Found Alphabet - G

This G is slightly behind schedule - I was having way too much fun on the weekend. Adelaide goes into full-blown festival mode for four weeks starting in mid-February. It's a giant party for that whole time, the biggest festival is the Adelaide Fringe, second only to the Edinburgh Fringe for festivals of its kind. Then there's Adelaide Writers' Week, Adelaide Festival of the Arts (every second year), WOMAD, Future Music Festival, Clipsal 500 and SO many more. After that Adelaide tends to re-disguise itself as a very quiet city. Until next year...

Anyhow, last year I was able to attend a huge number of events and performances, especially as I took advantage of last-minute cheap tickets wherever possible. I'm hoping to do much the same this year, at least for the first couple weeks as I'll likely be moving house after that (3rd time in 18 months. Ew.).

Enough explanation, on with the post! This was one of several Gs that I found this week - I expected to be struggling to find them but was pleased to find quite a few, all within the CBD. This was one of three I found in the same wrought iron fence around the Adelaide GPO. I wasn't expecting this one to be the winner but it was so much clearer and more defined than the others.

There are some more below - another from the GPO, a close-up of the hair on one of the Chinese lions guarding Moonta St. by the Adelaide Central Market and the third is from a very old and well-known fountain in Rundle Mall. The fountain looks like being shunted around in the near future, as will the famous Malls Balls - if I ever do a numbers series to continue this you can COUNT on that being no. 8.