Wishing you a wonderful 2026

 I could go back over 2025, I could make all sorts of new year resolutions, but no.... all I am going to do is wish you peace, love, happiness, good health, space to do what brings you joy and fulfillment, precious times spent with family and friends, and lots of laughter. Be safe and happy everyone! and give someone a hug today and tomorrow and the next day!

And a prayer for peace around the world and freedom from adversity and hunger.

What a better world we would live in if everyone respected everyone's right to their own beliefs and we all supported each other with love. 

What a better world we would live in if we were more considerate and supportive of others and endeavour not to judge others. We don't know what others are going through, or their life backstory which may be influencing how they act or what they say.

Take care everyone and I hope 2026 is happy and fulfilling for you and yours.  

 

New Year 2025

 As the sun sets on 2024 I wish my family, friends, supporters and all who pass this way a very happy, healthy and peaceful 2025, finding joy and fulfillment in all you do. My thoughts go out to all those who are moving into the new year without their loved one. I pray for peace all around the world, and a better future for us all.

I hope you have enjoyed visiting my blog this past year. I appreciate hearing from you through your comments and look forward to another year of sharing my world with you.

Thankyou

2023 ends... and so 2024 begins..

2023 ends and so 2024 begins - but what to write? 2023, all things considered was a good year, with health, travel, art and family. I hope it was the same for you and yours, and if not, I pray that you have found a way through the troubles, and I wish you new beginnings and a better 2024. 

I wonder what 2024 will bring. My hopes other than happiness and health for my family and friends is that I will do a little more art, a little more esperimenting with art, a little more committment to art, walking every day and getting fitter, not getting bogged down with socials on the internet, a little more travels to places unvisited and places to revisit, a little more socialising with friends and family, a little more committment to my photography, a little more reading, writing...and publishing.... 

I don't make New Year resolutions. But the world is open to lots more little mores! 

But for now I went to a Gellie printing summer school workshop at the Stirling Street Arts Centre in my town last week, and I am going to another workshop "naturally printed" workshop at the end of this week. I am hoping to expand on my art this year. I would really like to do more sketching and dabble with watercolours. 

Next week I go to Summer School in Albany for a 3 day advance ecoprinting course with the wonderful Penny Jewell - who I have been to two workshops with before and assisted her at a workshop here. I have been doing eco-printing for a few years now, but there is so much more to learn, and so much that I don't know. 

I hope that these workshops will spark my "little more committment to my art". Perhaps I might join a local art group. My sister belongs to one where she lives  which has a vibrant arts community, and I can see the benefits of it. 

On Monday we took a quick trip down to Yallingup just south on Dunsborough in our stunning south west coast to visit an art exhibition by the Dunsborough Art Society which my sister is a member of. Sorry I didn't take any photos!

I am back on the committee for the Photography Group of Bunbury after a few years not on the committee - so that hopefully will spark my "little more committment to photography". In February our club is back to photograph a major triathlon - so great for practising action shots and panning.

We have not been overseas since 2018 (Covid stopped us in our tracks in January 2020 only weeks before flyng out), but we have just renewed our passports. Perhaps "a little more travel" will involve an overseas trip - who knows - nothing planned yet. More likely local trips in Western Australia this year after our epic 9 week caravanning trip to Queensland last year. 

Further to our Queensland trip, I am plugging away at a photo book of that trip - to finish it is on my summer to do list. And I still have lots more to share with you from that trip. 

That's all from me today. Do you have plans for 2024? 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!

Mosaic Monday @ Soul & Mind & So On

Saturdays Critters - Viewing Nature With Eileen

Inspire Me Monday

Travel Tuesday

Pictorial Tuesday 

ThroughMy Lens 
Image-in-ing
My corner of the world through my camera 
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global hosted by Randomosity. 
       and Little bird - Pienilintu
Thankful Thursday 
Welcome to Nature Thursday

Skywatch Friday

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.

My wishes to you for 2023

 I've thought and thought about what to post for today - and after a year of supporting family and friends through illness (particularly in the first part of the year), housing problems for a family member, and a lost love for a dear friend, my dearest wish is that 2023 be filled with happiness, fulfillment, health, peace, love and blessings for you. We have much to be thankfull for. Treasure every day and those you love. xx

My frangipani is started flowering in my garden again. After many years of not flowering, I think of it as a symbol of new life.

And for those still suffering through famine and war - I wish for you to receive food on your table, water to drink, shelter to keep you warm, and an end to the war raging through your country. May the leaders sit down together and reach a peaceful solution.

Thankyou for your support, comments and friendships over the past year. I appreciate each and every one of you.

And so 2018 begins

Today is the first day of 2018. Usually when I blog this time of year I look back with a summary of the past year. But today I am sharing just a small selection of my photos from 2017, as I doubt you really want to hear about what I have been up to, and anyways you can always go to my Index, or my Blog Archive list on the RHside there. So here are just a few pics from 2017....

 When I looked back to find some photos for this post, I realised we had had a very good year overall. I enjoyed scrolling back through memories of my year through my photos. Now we are retired we have had the chance to do some travel and for me, at least, to explore some arts and crafts that I have wanted to try.

As 2016 comes to a close

Can you believe it is nearly the end of 2016 already? 2016 has flown by so quickly. This is the time of the year for looking back over the past year and planning for the future. We've had a few changes in lifestyle in 2016 as my husband retired at the beginning of the year so there has been lots more time spent enjoying time together - a year of reconnecting for us. 

I hope that 2016 has been good to you. 

This time of year I also take the opportunity to thank you my dear readers, as without you this blog just wouldn't be. You have helped me to continue to write down my thoughts and share my photos, and I hope you have enjoyed what I have shared. I have certainly enjoyed our conversations  and connecting with you through your blogs. 

It is eight years since I tentatively started my blog in July 2008. My posts have evolved over that time and I have made many wonderful connections all over the world. I am grateful for the way blogging has expanded my world.  One benefit of blogging for me is that it has become a diary of sorts for me, a great way for me to document, and look about over, our journeys, activities, special moments and thoughts through my photography and jottings. 

This is the way my blog for this week started last week, but then over the last few days as I went about preparing for Christmas my thoughts went in a different direction as I thought about the people in my life who are going through grief, stress or trauma at the moment.

My friend whose divorce came through a few weeks ago, our neighbour whose husband passed away from cancer on Christmas eve 2015, my brother-in-law whose brother passed away a few months ago, two friend's whose mothers passed away this year, a friend who is caring for her very ill mother in Esperance, a friend who is desperate to reconnect with her daughter if only she knew where she was (please make contact), my blogging friend who recently had encouraging medical reports on her cancer journey, and another blogging friend who has had multiple health issues during the year. 

But there has been joy too for some of these friends welcoming new life into their families.

A shared my poem - The Ghosts of Christmas Past - in my last blog. You can click here if you missed it - Christmas is a time for family

 And I realized that I have much to be grateful for. 

Time spent with our family and two grandsons. We are so lucky to live close to our son and his family so that we can be a part of our grandsons lives as they grow up.  They lost their other grand mother not long before our second grandson was born, and I've always felt her absence in their lives.

My husband and I lost our remaining parents in the latter half of 2014, my father in September 2014 and my mother-in law on 26 December, but since then we have celebrated new life within my sister's family -  the birth of three grandsons, a wedding and another baby on the way.  

I read recently that it is very important for us to mourn, but then turn the page and concentrate on the living and celebrate life. How true these words are.

 
 Time spent with friends. We especially enjoyed a couple of holidays this year with friends at Coral Bay and camping north of Broome. 

Being a part of three vibrant groups through writing with the South Side Quills, photography with the Photography Group of Bunbury, and dancing with the Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company. Very different groups, with very different people, and all adding something to my life, skills, outlook and stretching my confidence. 

South Side Quills launched their first anthology in August, and Sol y Sombra won their section of the Eisteddfod in June. 

 The opportunity to travel through our magnificent country. We have had various trips from only a few days to 6 weeks this year. If you go to the INDEX in the top tab, you can go to the links there to read blog posts from our travels. Western Australia is so vast and so varied in landscapes. I feel so lucky to be able to explore it.

The opportunity for personal growth through attending artistic workshops, facilitating photography workshops, portrait shoots for family and friends, and a food photography shoot.  I was very excited when one of my portraits appeared on a cd cover.

Since my retirement I've enjoyed attending various art workshops and trying new things, but I have also had the opportunity to facilitate workshops too - which has tested and added to my confidence. It is amazing what we can achieve if we just take that first step. 

The opportunity to photograph our amazing wildflowers, especially varieties new to me. I am passionate about wildflower photography, and with thousands of varieties in Western Australia, how lucky am I?

Grey Leafed Bottlebrush -Dryandra 2016

 In June I experienced the totally unexpected thrill and excitement of having my wildflower photography noticed by a national magazine - Australian Photography. 

 Health, a comfortable home, a loving and supportive family, learning from others and the opportunity and time to connect, indulge passions, and explore learn new skills and pathways.
 
This blog post has turned out very different to what I had at first intended. I thank you for taking the time to stop by and for being a part of my world.  You can connect to any of my old posts through the side bar or via the INDEX in the tabs at the top of my blog. 

 You might also like to visit my travel blog - Tour Western Australia

kangaroo paws flowering in my summer garden

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 whatever link-ups below that are operating this week. . Please click on the links to see fabulous contributions from around the world - virtual touring at its best!
 

Mosaic Monday 
Life Thru the Lens 

Our World Tuesday
Through My Lens 
Image-in-ing
Wednesday Around the World at Communal Global
Travel Photo Thursday 
The Lovin' Life Team over at Lifestyle Fifty
The Weekly Postcard 
Sky Watch Friday