November 2020 - Covid photo a day project

 Hi everyone. I am backtracking a bit today to share my November photos from my Covid photo-a-day project. I hope you and yours are doing well in the lead up to Christmas. Life certainly seems to be speeding up here, and the weather is getting warmer by the day as we enter summer here in Western Australia. I am sure many of us are looking forward to waving 2020 behind. None of us will forget this year! I am thinking of you as I share my November with you. 

Anyway, here are my November photos. 

1 November 2020 - Sunday - a visit to the Bunbury Art Gallery to see the current exhibitions, including the Iluka high schools exhibition.

2 November 2020 - Monday - it's raining!

3 November 2020 - Tuesday - the agapanthus in my garden are starting to pop open. Seen here with a background of red coral bush. My summer garden is always a riot of colour. 

4 November 2020 - Wednesday - lunch date with friends at the Koombana Bay kiosk and a wander along the walkway.

5 November 2020 - Thursday - making baubles filled with dried flowers in prep for a market stall.

6 November 2020 - Friday - our Friday morning volunteer work at Eaton Primary School library - for "get out of the house" Friday morning.

7 November 2020 - Saturday - oh so yummy quick chocolate mousse - thanks to a recipe from Nigella on TV last night. Yum! (apologies for the food photography)

8 November 2020 - Sunday - a visit to Wellington Dam to see the work in progress on the giant mural on the dam wall being painted by Queensland artist Guido Van Helton Guido who is renowned throughout the world for his photorealistic large scale murals. The mural is reputed to become the largest mural in the world painted by a single artist. https://www.guidovanhelten.com/projects

9 November 2020 - Monday - Coreopsis in my garden on a rainy Monday

10 November 2020 - Tuesday - little corner of a garden along the Miller's Creek walking path

11 November 2020 - Wednesday - poppies for Remembrance Day

12 November 2020 - Thursday - the bees are buzzing in the candlestick banksias

13 November 2020 - Friday - road trip lunch break as dark clouds of rain approach across Lake Yealering in the Western Australian wheatbelt

14 November 2020 - Saturday - harvest has halted due to rain in the Western Australian wheatbelt - this crop is in Bruce Rock. The farmers now have to wait for their crops to dry out before they can recommence harvest and hope it hasn't been degraded by the rain. They would have loved this rain in September!

15 November 2020 - Sunday - beautiful native hibiscus - Alyogyne hakeifolia - for my birthday - photographed on Sunday at Bilbarin between Bruce Rock and Corrigin in the Western Australian wheatbelt

16 November 2020 - Monday - a few dried white everlasting daisies

17 November 2020 - Tuesday - she-oaks along the Collie River/Leschenault Estuary walk

18 November 2020 - Wednesday - I have cold, who knows where I caught it, but I am trying to cough up my lungs...so I might just snuggle up on the lounge and read this fabulous book "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens. If you haven't read it, I recommend you do.

19 November 2020 - Thursday - just a dry eucalypt twig

Bonus shot - 20 November 2020 - Friday - experimenting with a technique new to me inspired by Greg Elms Photography

20 November 2020 - Friday - roses in my garden

21 November 2020 - Saturday - yellow Coreopsis in my garden say summer!

22 November 2020 - Sunday - celebrating Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company's 30th Anniversary in the courtyard of the Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. A fabulous afternoon of music, dance, culture, friends and food.

23 November 2020 - Monday - new Banksia flowers at Manea Park

24 November 2020 - Tuesday - making a few new eco-print greeting cards for the market next weekend

25 November 2020 - Wednesday - making French Marmalade - carrots, lemons, sugar - yum

26 November 2020 - Thursday - Photography Group of Bunbury awards night - and my awards!

27 November 2020 - Friday - beautiful perfumed wedding bush hanging over a fence along the Miller's Creek walk

28 November 2020 - Saturday - I received a Bunnings voucher with one of my PGoB awards, so I bought some new indoor plants

29 November - Sunday - Coffee and muffin at Caf Fez in Bunbury

29 November - Sunday - bonus shot - Sunday morning regatta - remote controlled yachts on the Leschenault Inlet

30 November 2020 - Monday - I am back driving again! yay! No I didn't take this photo while driving.

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you and yours are ok. We have been so fortunate here in Australia that infection numbers have been relatively low due to tough Government policies and border closures. We really cannot appreciate what everyone else in the world has been going through. I pray for you and hope now that it looks like a vacine will be available very soon that this pandemic can be brought under control. However I think it will take time. 

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 
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 

Our World 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.
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
 Month end link up @ Live love craft me

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.

Photography Group of Bunbury Photography Awards

 Hi everyone, just a short post from me today to share with you some awards I was given at the Photography Group of Bunbury end of year awards night last week. Please forgive me for some blatant self-promotion :) 

The photography group meets once a month, and each month topics are set for members to enter. These are judged by independent judges. Some of the topics images are projected onto a screen and some are print images. 

Below are my gold, silver and bronze awards from the year, If you have Facebook you can see them better over there: Life Images by Jill on Facebook

I was thrilled to win the Consistency Award for the most images entered over the year, and was 2nd place for the Photographer of the Year. This is awarded based on points given for number of images entered, plus points for each months Gold, Silver and Bronze awards. It was actually a close tussle between 1st, 2nd and 3rd place, and 1st was awarded on a countback. 

I was also awarded three Highly Commended Colour Images, as judged by eminent and highly acclaimed Western Australian photographer, Christian Fletcher, whose work I have always admired. So I was thrilled that he liked these three images. His comments are in the bottom right hand corner. Thank you Christian Fletcher. 

It what has been a difficult year for me physically, and I guess mentally, with my two injuries, operations, and recoveries, these awards have really ended my year well. I thank everyone who has supported me along the way, especially my husband who has been my right hand everything man this year. 

I was also awarded 2nd place at the 2020 South West Virtual Arts Spectacular back in May for my spices image, and also a Highly Commended for an autumn scene. 

I wonder what 2021 will bring? I'm thinking bout next years topics already! 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you and yours are doing ok in these troubling times. I know I have said it before, but I am so grateful to live in Western Australia where cases remain low, with no community transmission and the only new cases being residents returning from overseas and in hotel quarantine. 

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. But please forgive me, I have a busy week coming up preparing for a Christmas market. 

Stay safe, wash your hands and 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 
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenir

Our World 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.

Thankful Thursday 

Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit

Month end link up @ Live love craft me

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.

Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company - 30th Anniversary

 And so here is the start of another week and another Monday blog post. How are you and yours?  

We celebrated Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company and School of Dance's 30th anniversary on Sunday with a mini Fiesta in the courtyard of the Bunbury Art Gallery. It hardly seems like five years since I posted about their 25th Anniversary here - Ole-celebration-of-25-years-of-flamenco

Due to the Covid restrictions this year, we had a very different year of dancing with almost two terms of no dance classes. But with our 30th anniversary coming up we were determined to put on a show - albeit much smaller and with only family and a few close friends. However it still proved to be a wonderful afternoon of celebration. 

Unfortunately I didn't dance due to a cold I came down with last week, but I was very happy to be able to go along and take photos (whilst socially distancing), a few of which I will share here. With the late afternoon heat in the courtyard we certainly felt like we were in Spain! 

We were also treated to Gabby from the South West Opera Company singing Habanera from Carmen, Steve Hensby playing acoustic flamenco guitar and Montse and Cesar from Food with Passion South West cooking authentic Spanish paella for us. Montse teaches Spanish cooking classes, so she knows her stuff. Yum! 

We would have dearly loved to have more of our supporters join in the festivities, however, it has been a tough year for everyone, and Covid restrictions meant we had to keep numbers small, and the show as low key as possible. We will be back in 2021 with more for our amazing friends and supporters. A huge THANKYOU to everyone who contributed to our Anniversary celebrations, and danced with us and supported us over the last 30 years.

You might also like:

Dancing in the dark

A celebration of 25 years of Flamenco dancing in the South West

Weekend of art and dance

Sol y Sombra Spanish Dance Company

Instead of falling numbers of Covid cases it seems numbers are rising around the world. I do hope you and yours are staying safe. I have had a cold this past week, but I know it is just a cold, as we have no community spread here in Western Australia. I feel so lucky to be here - it feels very safe in our corner of the world - though I know it is dangerous to become complacent. Perhaps that is how I caught an early summer cold? 

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little look at our 30th Anniversary celebrations. I value your comments and look forward to hearing from you. I will try to visit your blogs in return. 

Please stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask if required and 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 
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 

Our World 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.
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
 Month end link up @ Live love craft me

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.

Western Australian wheatbelt weekend

 Hi everyone. I hope you are all doing ok. 

We have just returned from a lovely weekend with family on a grain growing property in Bruce Rock in the central Western Australian wheatbelt. 

We have a long association with the wheatbelt as both my parents were raised in the wheatbelt, and my husband has cousins in the wheatbelt. My sister's first teaching posting was to Bruce Rock and she married a farmer, and so the connection continues. I love going there, driving those wheatbelt roads through the salmon gums, walking in the paddocks, over the granite outcrops and getting back to the earth. 

When our kids were young it was a great opportunity for them to run wild with their country cousins on the farm (they always seemed to know when it was mealtime), and now these all have children of their own, and so it goes on.  

It is late spring here, but we still saw some wildflowers along the way - I always say that there is always something flowering in the Western Australian bush).

Clockwise from top left - Pop Flower (Glischrocaryon), yellow everlastings, unknown blur flower, Blue Leschenaultia (Lechenaultia biloba). one of the yellow pea flowers, wild Cauliflower (Verticordia eriocephala), one of the firebush family (Keraudrenia), and white everlastings (or possibly Waitzia suaveolens - fragrant waitzia)

We stopped at Lake Yealering for lunch as dark rain clouds were approaching across the salt lake. We have often stopped here. It is a good place to stop for lunch with picnic tables, shade, ablution block and playground, and a small shop across the road. There is a caravan park if you want to while away some time. Yealering - shire of Wickepin

Back on the road again it wasn't long before it started to rain and it was fairly obvious we weren't going to see any harvesting over the weekend. 

This is not what the farmers want this time of year as they have to halt harvest until the grain dries out. If they get too much rain the grains start to sprout and the wheat is degraded. 

However, for us visitors, we had a lovely weekend with family with plenty of get togethers, dining, walks and touring. 

You can't see it in this photo, but this is 1000 acres of solar panels just south of Merredin. They also have a wind farm. 

Located on former farming land, and developed by Risen Energy (Australia), it is the largest solar farm in Western Australia, with 360,000 panels which will generate enough power for approx 42,000 WA homes. You can read more about this project and see a video here: Merredin solar farm

A few pics from around the farm.

This is Leroy Brown and Blizzard - two bull calves - I think you can guess which is which. 

And a few wildflowers - salmon gum (Eucalyptus salmonophloia), Granite kunzia (Kunzia pulchell, Green Mulla Mulla (Ptilotus polystachyus) and two pink and grey galahs 

Too soon our weekend was over. A few more wildflowers on our way home. 

Clockwise from top left - white everlastings (or possibly Waitzia suaveolens - fragrant waitzia), one of the pink feather flowers (Verticordia), not sure of the yellow one, one of the mallees, one of the red flowering gums, nuts of the Mottlecah (Eucalyptus macrocarpa), and the native hibiscus (Alyogyne hakeifolia)

Read more about Bruce Rock here:

 Bruce Rock @ Life Images by Jill 

Shire of Bruce Rock

You might also like: 

Exploring the Western Australian wheatbelt

Do you name your farm paddocks?

Camping out in the Western Australian wheatbelt - Kwolyin free camp

Western Australian central wheatbelt

Maybe we will see harvest next year  

Thank you so much for stopping by. I hope you have enjoyed this little visit to the Western Australian wheatbelt.  Stay safe everyone. 

I am saddened by the continuing reports of rising Covid cases around the world, and am so grateful to live in Australia where numbers are relatively low.  

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 
MosaicMonday at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf
Sharon's Sovenirs 

Our World 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.
Thankful Thursday 
Der-Natur-Thursday 

The Lovin' Life Team over at: Deep Fried Fruit
 Month end link up @ Live love craft me

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.