February rambles

I can hardly believe we are at the end of February already. It seems to have gone by in a blur. And because I have been so busy of late, I am going to give myself a little break, and only post a few pics for my post today.

But first, because I have just realised that I didn't post any pics from the Blue Moon-super moon-blood moon-total lunar eclipse on 31 January, here are a couple of the pics I took that night. Were you able to see it from where you were? Amazing wasn't it! 
We travelled up to Wellington Dam, about 30 minutes from home, to see it because I knew there would be very little ambient light there. At least the event was in the evening so I didn't have to get up at midnight. We just made it in time to see the moon coming up over the trees. 

A couple of weeks ago I blogged here - In the summer time - about a few events we went to in February - a dragon boat regatta, a Spanish sundowner, and to see the around the Busselton jetty swim. 

Last Saturday I was involved in the South West Multicultural Festival. This is a fabulous annual free family event with performances from many cultural groups and food trucks selling food from all around the world.  
I was there performing with my dance group - Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company. 
You can see those of us who performed on the night below here. That's me on the far right. As you can see we are different ages, heights, and body shapes, which is a great thing about Flamenco dance. 

And some of the other performances from the night.
 

 I've seen them before, but I always love the Japanese drummers.

 Last Friday we went down to our fruit growing area as I had a photo gig for a local company - Solarfruit - to take photos for their new on-line sales website (the link takes you to their current web site). They sun-dry stone fruit and make all sorts of delicious dried fruit products. 

Now that summer is on it's way out and the cooler mornings and evenings of autumn are creeping in, the pear trees are fruiting.

 Life is just a little bit busy, and I would just like to sit here on the waterfront with my feet up. If I thought February was busy, March is shaping up to be even busier, but we actually found a week in March where we have nothing written in - so I've written across the week - go away in caravan. Stay tuned! 
I need to remember the blessings of a busy life from my post last week - Blessings and Inspiration

 So that's a wrap from February. Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.  

You might also like - South West Multicultural Festival under the stars 2016

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

All Seasons
Mosaic Monday 

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

Through My Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at Deep Fried Fruit
Little Things Thursday

Life in Reflection

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

If you are a blogger you can also link your blog to Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global.

Blessings and Inspiration

 When I was pondering what to write about this week I was scrolling through some of the blog posts on Kim Klassen's page. Do you know of her? Beautiful still life photography, beautiful presents, beautiful thoughts. 

While I was strolling through I found Kim's post "Things Get Broken" - I am sure we have all had times like this ..... and here is a lovely quote Kim shared......

"things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.― Hanya Yanagihara, A Little Life"

I am sure we have all felt like this at some time or other. I know I have. A friend of mine and her sister are going through a difficult time at the moment with a sick parent who is stretching them to their limits both emotionally and financially. I hope in time that they will find that life will rearrange itself.  I know my friend finds solace in dancing. I know I found solace in my photography when my father was gravely ill in hospital.

But that is not what my post is about today.......When I scrolled through the comments Kim received, this one in particular, from Terasazehr resonated with me ....
 
"Yes!! I woke up this morning thinking “my week is so full” but then thought “what if I spin that? And think of it as my week is so full of blessings? Or gifts waiting to be received ?”

How true this is in my life at the moment as I jump from one event, or task, or group, or creative pursuit, to another. There never seems to be enough time in the day to stop and smell the flowers. But how lucky I am that this is possible, that my life is so full, that I am not sitting on my own on a chair in the window, wishing that life would come to me. That there are people in my life that inspire, encourage, and support me. 

I met up recently with another friend who lost her husband unexpectedly in the last couple of years. Life took a dramatic turn which she was totally unprepared for, and she has had to make a new life without her husband. She was out enjoying an event with a friend when I saw her, and she said, "at least I am not at home curled up in the corner of a couch in front of the TV."

Wheat-belt wild flowers

 Last week we had a quick overnight trip to the wheatbelt to attend the funeral of my sister's husband's father. He was 95. And as I listened to his eulogy I thought about the full and interesting life, well lived, he had led.  His funeral, even though there was sorrow, was also a celebration of his life.  And I was reminded again of the importance of grasping opportunities as they come along and treasuring every moment, those around us and our blessings.

My life at the moment is consumed with creative arts, particularly leaf prints on paper. I'd been reading about the exhibitions on at our Art Gallery . I always find art galleries inspiring, so we went into town on Sunday afternoon for a look. 

 The first collection "Broken Places" by Christopher Young and Elisa Markes-Young was inspired by the work of two women, Rosetta Kelly who produced hundreds of watercolours of flowers as a way of dealing with her grief over the loss of her son in the First World War, and Georgina Molloy who lived an isolated pioneer life in the early days of Western Australia, and began collecting wildflower specimens, which now reside in the collections of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK.  I was particularly interested in this because of my love of wildflower photography, and more recently make prints of eucalypt leaves, and I late last year I had read - Geogiana Molloy, The Mind That Shines - by Bernice Barry

 Also on show was the collaborative exhibition "Salt", by two local artists, ceramic artist Tracie Anderson and painter Sharon Hinchcliffe. I had first met Tracie last year at the Dardanup Art Trail, where she was exhibiting next to me at Lyndendale Gallery. Tracie's whimsical use of ceramics and found beach pieces combined beautifully with Sharon's flowing colourful lines of her mixed media canvasses. 

Completely different to the two previous galleries, we were totally enthralled by the work of Noongar/Yamatji contemporary artist Lance Chadd who paints under his tribal name Tjyllyungoo, inspired by his culture.  His paintings were amazing. As you look at them, you begin to see other images within the main painting which draw you in.

Here is a video which will give you an insight into his work - 

There was also exhibitions by Sue Dennis and Yvonne Dorricott, interpreting the breaching of the Broke Inlet, a collection from the Australind Art Club, and works from the city's collection depicting 100 years of Bunbury's history. 

Following our tour of the Art Gallery we went down town for coffee and cake at The Townhouse Cafe where photographer friend Dennis Bear was holding as small photographic exhibition. Well done Dennis. 

How blessed am I to be able to view such amazing artistic work. Where do you find your inspiration?
Thank you so much for stopping by. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week. 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
Mosaic Monday 

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

Through My Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at Deep Fried Fruit
Little Things Thursday

Life in Reflection

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

And you can join up with Wednesday Around the World linky party at Communal Global right here! 

In the summer time

It's summer here in Western Australia but we are enthralled watching the Winter Olympics. I love watching the events on TV and seeing the speed and exhilaration of the sports. These winter sports are so different for us, as we only have a couple of areas that have snow in Australia, and certainly not in Western Australia, except for an occasional light dusting on Bluff Knoll in our south west. 

Medals for Australians at the Winter Olympics are few and far between, so when an Aussie wins a medal, or in fact just gets into a final, it is a reason for celebration. So it was exciting to have just watched Matt Graham take silver in the moguls, our first medal at this Olympics.   Daily Telegraph - Winter Olympics. Congratulations Matt! 

But as I said it is summer in Australia and this last weekend we had a very busy weekend immersed in summer life. 

We had family come to stay so there was a BBQ on Friday night, and then Saturday morning we went to a waterfront restaurant for breakfast. The water was sparkling and the icecream van was already cranking up for the day.  Our town is surrounded by water on three sides - the Indian Ocean, the Leschenault Inlet, and Koombana Bay, so beach and water activities are a big part of our summer

In the afternoon we went down to the Inlet to watch our sons compete with their dragon boat club, Forza, in their local annual regatta. Dragon Boating has been a part of the landscape of our town, and our family life, since the first regatta was held here in March 1990. We have seen the big days of the sport when our local regatta was a two day event with over 70 teams, to the small regatta it is today. Our main competition is held in Perth, our capital city. Our local event was for teams of 10 paddlers, rather than the usual 20.

 On Saturday evening my husband and I drove up to the Ferguson Valley, a wine region only about twenty minutes from home, to enjoy a Spanish Sundowner at Green Door Wines. My Spanish friend Montse and her partner Laura, from Food with Passion South West cooked up a storm, including a variety of tapas and a huge paella. Delicious. 

And the light coming through the west facing window in the late afternoon was amazing. 

In between courses Flamenco dancers, Nicole and Susanna from Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company danced for us. Unfortunately the low light, the fast movement, and my skills didn't do their dancing justice, but you can get an idea of the colour and movement in these couple of images. 
These two talented ladies are our Flamenco teachers at Sol y Sombra. I've blogged about them several times before - Ole - Celebration of 25 years of flamenco

It was a fabulous evening. Oh, and don't forget the Sangria

On Sunday morning we had an early get up to travel down to Busselton to see our eldest son compete in the around the Busselton Jetty swim.  This is an annual event, which started in 1996, and which now attracts over 2000 competitors. The course is a swim of 3.6 kilometres from the shore, around the Busselton Jetty, and back to the shore. People swim solo, as my son, nephew and his wife did, or relay teams of two or four can nominate. 

Below you can see the start line and the end of the jetty where they swim round and then go back down the other side. 

And my son on the return leg.  We only managed to spot him because he was swimming alongside the jetty instead of further out. He said he was having difficulty dragging his arms out of the water at this point, but he managed to sprint the last few hundred metres to the finish line - what a welcome sight it must have been. We are so proud of him that he achieved this swim.

Thank you for stopping by everyone. I hope you have enjoyed this little look at summer in my part of the world. What is happening in your corner of the world? Are you watching the Winter Olympics?

I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. Have a wonderful week.  

You might also like
A celebration of 25 years of flamenco 
Belonging and choosing happiness 
Busselton jetty swim - 2015 

I am linking up to the link-ups below. Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!

   
All Seasons
Mosaic Monday 

Our World Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

Through My Lens 

Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at Deep Fried Fruit
Little Things Thursday 

Sky Watch Friday

Life in Reflection

Hello there! I love reading your comments. If you scroll down to the bottom you can comment too! I would love to hear from you.

You can also link up here Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global.





 

Is there a snake in your camp? - Don't get bitten!

It is summer here in Australia and I really don't like getting out in the heat and the sun too much these days, but a photo memory came up on my Facebook page the other day which was a timely reminder that this is the time of year when snakes are out and about. 

A conversation with Bob Cooper, Australian Desert Survival Expert

Way back in 2013 I interviewed Bob Cooper, considered to be one of Australia’s leading desert survival experts and snake handling instructors, for an article about snake awareness for Go Camping magazine. I had interviewed him before about his Outback Survival book and kit, also for Go Camping magazine. Bob was generous with his time and expertise and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with him.