2015: A photo odyssey, part next

This is a catch up post, I'm just going to give you a few photos for the weeks I've missed posting for rather than worrying too much about having one a day. When I set out to take these photos, I promised myself I wouldn't let it get too stressful. It's a personal project taken on for the fun of it. So next month I'm going to try using prompts again because I find them a good source of inspiration - and in the cooler months I find photographic inspiration in much shorter supply than usual.

Moving right along.

Week 13 (16-22 March)

The highlight photo is from the chocolate walking tour I went on - a birthday present from Mum and Dad as this year I decided that I was more interested in doing things with people than coming up with a list of stuff. It was amazing! We stopped at seven venues, tried an amazing variety of chocolatey things and learned quite a bit as we went! This mint iced chocolate from Steven ter Horst was absolutely wonderful.

Week 14 (23-29 March)

 

The most significant thing this week, was that with incredibly inconvenient timing, my phone completely failed. Attempts at bring it back failed, and a new phone was ordered. After a phoneless week, I got the new one... which has a fault with the aux out. So it's gone back for repairs and as I write this I'm using a temporary very cheap phone I bought. It's got an incredibly dreadful camera in it, and I'm eager to have the very nice new phone back.

The highlight photo I chose because I preferred it to the dead phone photo (which is the first little one, I was feeling silly that day). It's part of my back fence, though the gate is in the neighbours' section. It's a heritage listed stable wall and gradually crumbling but it is quite beautiful.

Week 15 (March 30-April 5)

The highlight this week was a camping trip - I spent the long weekend with a great group of people camping, walking, photographing and snorkelling. There's a much bigger album of photos on Facebook if you are interested. The highlight is a fishing boat on the beach at Pondalowie Bay, near our campsite. The oldest graffiti is from 2008, so at a guess that's roughly how long it's been there. It made an amazing photography subject (and backdrop)!

During this week I actually had my new phone, I had some important calls to make/take and hung onto it until I could arrange a substitute. The photo of my feet has a short story - I took a photo much like it for Instagram on my previous phone, but I wasn't able to send it out before my phone shut itself down for the last time, not able to connect to a computer for retrieval (thankfully all but that photo had been backed up).

Week 16 (6-12 April)

A pretty normal week, mostly, and one for getting things done. In the case of the first photo, with a chai and in the Adelaide City Library. After my  haircut, I had work to get done on a deadline. The library proved to be a great place to plug in and get things sorted out.

I also went to a Board Games Day event - and won the door prize! Otherwise it was a good but unremarkable week of getting things done.

Week 17 (13-19 April)

Bacon + Eggs + Pancakes + Maple Syrup is the love story that won me some movie tickets in a twitter competition. There really only was one way to celebrate...

Side note, I actually like this one highlight, other smaller photos format. It's far less time consuming to put together, and I think it looks better too. Just as well I decided to change format for the catch up!

Graphic Novels and French Classics (obviously) (2015 books 16-20)

16 - The Wicked + The Divine Vol. 1: The Faust Act - Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie, Matt Wilson

Every ninety years, twelve gods incarnate as humans. They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are dead.

Another brilliant new comic, and one that I am looking forward to seeing more of. The story is engaging, the art beautiful, the characters very interesting. It's been a while since I read this one *cough*catchinguppost*cough* so I've not got a lot more to say.

17 - Lucifer, Book 4 - Mike Carey, Peter Gross, et. al.

This comic continues to be brilliant, drawing on mythology, especially Judeo-Christian mythology, and spinning a fantastic story with it. Most graphic novel volumes take me an hour to read, tops. There's so much content in these, however, that each one might as well be a short novel.

As with the previous, this is a catch up review, as it's not as fresh in  my mind it's consequently brief.

18 - Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass and Sorcery - Curtis J Wiebe, Roc Upchurch

Rat Queens was absolutely brilliant. I read it three times before I had to return it to the library. In the first story, now that more peaceful times have come the town of Palisade is finding the adventurers who previously dealt with the town's problems have become a menace. To avoid exile, each group is set a task, but something fishy's going on...

Centring around an all-female group of Dungeons-and-Dragons style adventurers this hilarious action-filled story has a great deal of potential and I cannot wait to see where it goes next. I'm particularly keen to learn more of Violet's story, though it looks like the next character to get the spotlight will be Dee - not that I'm complaining. An atheist cleric whose family worships an evil god has got to have one heck of a back story.

Not for those who like their stories squeaky clean and their characters well behaved, but if you're not looking for those things then give this a try, it's got an improbably high concentration of fun within its pages.

19 - You Only Live Once - Lonely Planet

I enjoyed this book over some weeks with cups of tea. It's a beautifully made coffee table style book and divided up into ideas based on how long is needed. The majority of stories are very, very brief and don't really give much by way of how, just inspiration really.

There's still a bit of me that now has the urge to walk/cycle a ridiculous distance. Perhaps I could walk across Ireland... or cycle around the country here. Hmm.

20 -  The Ladies' Paradise - Emile Zola

I picked this up at my local library in the 'blind date with a book' promotion, and am glad I did. I doubt I would have picked this up otherwise, as a perceived high chance of a dominant romantic theme generally puts e off.

Instead of what I expected, I was fascinated with a story of the social and economic implications of the arrival of department stores and the prosperity, ruin and upheaval they brought. The romantic plot was there, and unsurprisingly I didn't care for it at all, but it wasn't as big an element as expected. I would heartily recommend this book.

Found Alphabet - V

A quick aside, somewhere in there while I wasn't paying attention my blog passed 50k views! Just a little excited. Thank you! On with the show...

Strictly speaking I mean to take photos sequentially... but this V was too good to leave behind. Technically it dates back to my holiday in November - this is the ceiling in one of the terminals of Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

I should be back with W tomorrow - a photo a day to the end of the year will see this alphabet done this year. Then I can work out which letters need a reshoot etc. and work on some kind of final project.

Travel Journal - Phuket, Thailand (Part 1)

Sometimes when I travel I keep a journal. I recently took a week long trip to Phuket, Thailand and thought I'd share the journal this time. I've twitched it a bit here and there from my personal copy, but hopefully that makes it all the more interesting.

Found Alphabet - S

 

This S comes from Kuala Lumpur International Airport - I was in transit and spotted this on a a lamp in the cafe where I was enjoying a rather excellent teh tarik and some samosas.

The one below was meant to be my S, it's the pavement of a market area in Patong, Phuket. I waited for tuk tuks and market shoppers to get off it for a moment... but the angle and framing just aren't right. This is the best I can get it to be.

*grump*

On the upside my holiday was incredible and I'm working on writing up my travel journal.

Found Alphabet - Q

I interrupt your conference review coverage because it's high time that this found alphabet got back on track if it's to have any hope of being finished this year...

This Q was found in Brisbane - a selective angle-and-crop of a statue of a rope knot in the general vicinity of Southbank. I've been trying to find another Q since but nothing half as good has popped up. About the next best is the anthill-and-stick formation I found on a walk at Kaiserstuhl Conservation Park a couple of weeks back. A lovely walk, if lacking in Qs. Hopefully R is not so elusive!

Review: The Solitaire Mystery - Jostein Gaarder

I have several reviews to catch up with courtesy of my holiday reading but I've chosen to do this one first because this is a book that just might have changed my life.

I first discovered The Solitaire Mystery by Jostein Gaarder in my high school library when I was about 14. It is a deeply philosophical novel that I realised I didn't fully understand. I enjoyed it, but I knew there was more that I couldn't see. I firmly resolved to read it again when I was older.

This was a resolution I promptly forgot until I was in a second hand bookshop in Darwin last September. I came across this and decided it was definitely time to see if I could comprehend the book better - my first reading was now half a lifetime ago.

A couple days later I was in Alice Springs walking around in a daze as I compared the messages of The Solitaire Mystery to the place my life had got to - it pointed out to me that in many ways I'd settled for something that was comfortable and easy and had just accepted the place I'd landed in rather than striving onward as I'd promised myself years ago when I chose to change careers. Where I found myself in work and home life wasn't what I'd wanted, exactly, but in my mind I was conscious I'd decided that it was good enough. That reading of The Solitaire Mystery might just have been the wake up call I needed.

Ten months later my life is in a very different place. A lot has changed and I realised earlier in the year that I'd achieved enough of my long-term goals that I needed to go looking for more - I can't give The Solitaire Mystery credit for all of it but I think it helped get me moving again. I though I should read it a third time while I was away in Brisbane and see what revelations it might have for me this time. I enjoyed it again but it didn't have the impact it did last time. Maybe the twists in the plot were too fresh in my mind, maybe I was happier with the image in the mirror this book presented me with. It was still time well spent.

I would absolutely recommend this book, it's somewhat quirky and different with a strong surreal element but the philosophy is wonderful and the themes are really intriguing. Maybe the ideas and concepts might give you one of those fantastic revelatory moments that a good book can bring. It's well worth finding out.

Found Alphabet - P

I just spent four wonderful and very relaxing days in Brisbane. I thought it would be a good chance to get this alphabet back on track. I've not found much to inspire a P post - at first I was just too busy, then I just couldn't find anything I liked. I think the holiday was very much needed... I feel refreshed and renewed, if somewhat tired from the late flights that I took in order to maximise holiday length.

The final choice is part of a sculpture near the Queensland State Library - found on my last day in Brisbane, the only one that wasn't blue-skied and sunny. It was nice not to be cold for a few days! The internet tells me the sculpture this is from is Approaching Equilibrium by Anthony Pryor.

The second below is also from a sculpture, this one in the Queensland Art Gallery - Elvira Madigan by Ron Robertson-Swann. This was the first of the images I found and after some weeks of feeling a bit disconnected from this project I suddenly had to scoot back to the cloak room to grab my camera. Hopefully this new rush of energy for the alpha-hunt continues.

I also did a lot of reading. I told you about Spellwright by Blake Charlton but read another four books too. That's a story for another post.

Shrinkage

Do I sound too childish if I tell you that I'm easily fascinated by watching plastic shrink?

I'm working on things for an upcoming fête at the moment. I wanted to make more jewellery and make it fairly affordable. At the moment I don't really have the space or set-up to get out all of my jewellery stuff so I decided to have a go at shrink plastic.

My first few sheets were so bad they didn't even make it to the oven - I'm having tremendous difficulty getting stamps to transfer the entire image, and at first I did not know what kind of ink to use. I found that a waterproof fineliner worked just fine for the black lines - although it doesn't truly set until baked so needs to be handled carefully it comes with the bonus of being able to redo difficult bits. Coloured pencils provide great colour, especially as baking concentrates the colour. I also now sand one side before I start.

These are destined to be necklaces and earrings, the 50c piece is for scale. The cherries will probably go onto a bracelet - one on each chain link. I'll have plenty more time to do this when I get back.

I'm off now for a week and a half. I'll return in early November with a TARDIS card tutorial and photos of Uluru.

Until then, adios!

Matryoshkas and Melbourne

Quite a few things have happened since my last post, and some things that I had made but could not yet show off can now be shown.

There have been two farewells from work and I made cards for both. One card was very much like those in my previous post, the other quite different. I modified an image from My Sparkle's matryoshka doll ornament tutorial to make it suitable for stitching into a card.

I do love making cards, but I hope not to have to make another farewell card TOO soon.

I also took a trip to Melbourne - travel is another thing I love, though this time going on a grand adventure was not an option. I saw many sights and relaxed for four days which was well needed. I went to the Esplanade Market at St Kilda where I found these fantastic geeky earrings. There were many single earrings to choose my pair from, but this pair just worked so well?

Of course, the food in Melbourne was amazing too. I had meals from all corners of the world and even found a cupcake bakery with more than twenty varieties of cupcakes, that decision was a hard one! The best meal I had was from Xpresso Mondo in Degraves Street. Such a small restaurant that there were no indoor tables, but on a clear night the outdoor tables were very atmospheric. Braised lamb shanks from the specials menu were absolutely delicious and cooked beautifully. I might have missed out on Mum's Sunday roast, but this went some way to making up for it!

I did many other things in Melbourne - visited ACMI and played fantastic games at the Best of the Independent Games Festival 2012 display and got to call it a cultural experience! I also visited NGV, wandered around the Fitzroy Gardens and generally had a wonderful time.

Now I've got some knitting to do - I bought some sashay yarn at Clegs and am working on making a fabulous frilly scarf.

Until next time!