Welcome to Life Images by Jill

Welcome to Life Images by Jill.........Stepping into the light and bringing together the images and stories of our world. I am a photographer, writer and multi-media artist.
Focussing mainly on Western Australia and Australia, I am seeking to preserve images and memories of the beautiful world in which we live and the people in it.

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Showing posts with label May 2020. Show all posts
Showing posts with label May 2020. Show all posts

Monday, 8 June 2020

Getting out and about

Hi everyone, I hope you are all going well and getting through the pandemic and the recent street protests and demonstrations - Black Lives Matter. There has been much distressing footage coming from USA over the past week, and the protest marches have also spread to Australia, mostly peaceful and no looting, thank goodness. Race relations are a problem in our country too. I am worried that these mass rallies are going to spread the Coronavirus just when we seem to have it under control. However I don't do politics on my blog, though I do sympathize. 

Interestingly this has come at the time of National Reconciliation Week in Australia - 27 May - 3 June. 
"Our theme for #NRW2020 – In this together – is now resonating in ways we could not have foreseen when we announced it last year, but it reminds us whether in a crisis or in reconciliation we are all #InThisTogether."

 It has been a couple of weeks since I updated you on my photo-a-day-Covid-19 project. Over the last couple of weeks I have really been trying to get out for a short walk every day to exercise my healing ankle. Lucky for us we have some lovely close walks close to home. I shared some of them with you here in March and September last year - Nature walks. and September wildflowers
Lucky for us we have several very close to home so we don't have to drive too far for me to only walk for half an hour! 

Here is my selection of pics from the last couple of weeks

 25 - 31 May
Monday 25 May 2020 - We had a huge storm over Sunday night which really kicked up the waves and washed a lot of coastal sand away from the rocks along our Back Beach.  
Many fences and trees were blown down, but thankfully we had no damage at our house. 


Tuesday 26 May 2020 - playing with one of my botanical eco-prints - adding colour with paints made from leaves and flowers.


 Wednesday 27 May 2020 -one of our close walks along the Collie River towards where it enters the Leschenault Estuary.


Thursday 28 May 2020 - a beautiful sunset - photo taken in our backyard


Friday 29 May 2020 - a walk around our city - Bunbury - looking at street art - can you see them looking at each other?


bonus pic - restrictions are being lifted so we could go back to having coffee and cake in a cafe

Saturday 30 May 2020 - Eucalyptus caesia 'Silver Princess'


Sunday 31 May 2020 - Western Australia's internal state borders have eased so we had a lovely day meeting up with family at their beach house



 1 - 7 June 2020
 Monday 1 June 2020 - another Collie River walk close to home. These are paper bark trees.

Tuesday 2 June 2020 - water birds searching for fish along a Leschenault Estuary walk


Wednesday 3 June 2020 -  "Cooinda" in aboriginal language means "happy place. This is new street art, by Andrew Fraser, on the back of a factory building and a wet land garden they have created is next to the Cooinda Primary School. 


Thursday 4 June 2020 - late afternoon walk along the Back Beach - much calmer than a week ago!


Friday 5 June 2020 - we went for a walk in Manea Park. A great place for bushwalking close to the city, especially in spring. Tiny orchids are going to pop up from these leaves in the next couple of months.



Saturday 6 June 2020 - seagulls 



Sunday 7 June 2020 -  another walk along the Collie River. The level of the river is up seeping up through the boards of this boat landing area.



So that is it for another week. I wonder what next week will bring. I hear that Covid cases continue to rise around the world, as well as racial unrest. I pray it will calm down soon. 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you and yours are well. 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!

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.

Wednesday, 27 May 2020

A week in winter

Hi everyone, the last few days have disappeared as we have been hunkering down away from the wild storms that have lashed our Western Australian coastline. Lucky for us we haven't sustained any damage around our property, though there was a very sleepless night on Sunday as I lay in bed and listened to everything rattling. We really need the rain, especially in the agricultural regions, and now that winter is on it's way it has suddenly turned cold, so the fire has been on every night.

So I don't know if it was that, or what, as we haven't had any "appointments" the last 3 days, but I forgot about my blog on Monday. So thought I'd better do something about it. 

In the meantime however, Covid cases in Western Australia have thankfully remain low, I have been starting to get out for some short walks which have been lovely, and playing around more with my eco printing. 

So here is this week's collage for my photo-a-day project -




 Monday - 18 May 2020 - we went down to the Balingup Tree Park for the day. It truly is beautiful this year with the colours of the autumn leaves from trees planted from around the world. 
I've blogged about it several times - last time was last year - Autumn colour in Western Australia


 Tuesday - 19 May 2020 - laying out some of those autumn leaves on paper for botanical eco-printing. This is Red Maple.


 Wednesday - 20 May 2020 - Tonight I did two zoom meetings, one a photography workshop and the other a catch up with my Spanish dancing group. It seems to be the new normal these days.


 Thursday - 21 May 2020 - beautiful red flowering gum tree on our afternoon walk.


 Friday - 22 May 2020 - playing with dyeing natural Eri silk thread with colours made from leaves, flowers and bark.


Saturday - 23 May 2020 - leaves of the Sea Urchin Hakea - Hakea petiolaris


 Sunday - 24 May 2020 - fresh quinces and granny smith apples bought from a grower from the Boyanup farmer's market.



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!

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.

Tuesday, 19 May 2020

Simple Pleasures

Hi everyone, I hope you and yours are doing ok. I am continuing my photo-a-day project, but this is a quick post from me today. Do you find you are enjoying, savouring, time out and appreciating the simple pleasures in life now you have the space in these social restricted times to see and enjoy things that have passed you by before as we rushed through our lives? 

I think this is the silver lining to the Covid nightmare - having the time to enjoy the simple pleasures, to appreciate the beauty around us and to just be in the moment. 

"Do not dwell in the past,
do not dream of the future,
concentrate the mind on the present moment."
                                                                                         Buddha

These are some of my simple pleasures this past week -
 Monday 11 May 2020-  The simple pleasure of enjoying the late afternoon sun in my lavender bed.


Tuesday 12 May 2020 -  The simple pleasure of going for a walk under the trees - something I am just getting back to since my ankle operation - only short walks, but so lovely to be out again


Wednesday 13 May 2020 - The simple pleasure of a brilliant sunset - even with powerlines! 


 Thursday 14 May 2020 - the simple pleasure of baking biscuits - the aroma in your kitchen and the taste is so much better than bought varieties!



 Friday 15 May 2020 - the simple pleasures of having time to sit and sketch and paint - continuing to explore making paints with leaves, flowers and bark. These are Marri eucalypt leaves and nuts.


 Saturday 16 May 2020 - the simple pleasures of sitting around a campfire at my son's block with our family and eating damper, stew and chocolate pudding cooked in camp ovens over the flames



Sunday 17 May 2020 - the simple pleasures of finding new eucalypt buds opening. 


I hope you and yours are safe and doing well, that you are ok economically, and that you are enjoying the simple pleasures in life.

Here in Western Australia, and Australia as a whole, numbers of new infections are very low, and they are starting to ease some of the restrictions. Some of our internal border controls within Western Australia have been relaxed and now 20 people can go to a restaurant or cafe, and 20 people can go to an exercise class. 

I have just finished reading Jackie French's "A Year in the Valley". You might remember Jackie from when I introduced her and wombats to you -  Wombling with Wombats - back in March. 

This book takes us through the seasons at her home in a valley in eastern Australia along with stories about a collection of wild animals that visit - including lwombats, wallabies and lyre birds - the trials and joys of country living, and the produce of her garden and orchard - along with recipes. It really is a delightful read for anyone who has ever dreamed of living in their little corner of paradise in the country.

This paragraph in the last few pages of the book really rang home for me, particularly now - "A good life is made up of tiny luxuries. Matt's bread, eggs with yolks like darkened sunlight and jam that smells of fruit. Quietness and bird noises. Kids laughter, or just that sort of mutter when they decide to cuddle".  Jackie French. 


How are you enjoying simple pleasures? Perhaps you would like to share with us in your comments. 

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!

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.