Birthday Eve Dinner at 589

Yesterday we headed up to 589, commonly known as Glasshouse Mountains Lookout or Forestry Lookout 589 for Birthday Eve BBQ Tea for Grandad who turned 88 today.

I made a pavlova for dessert, my first! I then ate a whole lot of pavlova for dessert. Pavlova isn’t exactly the most friendly dessert for a 1 day shy of 88 diabetic….

Eating a BBQ dinner.
Birthday Dinner

I got a chance to play with my GNDs taking this shot of the soon to set sun.
Forestry Lookout 589, 28/366

Prior to heading up to 589 we did the usual lazing round the farm on an arvo, reading, watching the birds, photographing etc etc.
There were a few birds that were having a ball splashing their tail feathers in the water and of course making for a good photo.
Splish Splash

And of course a Galah.
Galah

New week, new concert

Last Monday night, gee a week ago, I went along to The Zoo to photograph Enter Shikari and The Amity Affliction. I am really watching every dollar at the moment so am not going to any gig where it is going to cost me money to get in. It means I have got a lot of housework done πŸ™‚

The Zoo has two new lights. They are LED arrays and are on either side of the drummer. They don’t seem to actually provide any light though. mmm. It was my first gig where I spent the entire time at iso 3200 and oh it hurt, it hurt so bad. However, I much prefer noise to blur so I have to accept it.

Lots of rude punters. I think that the odds of crowd rudeness increase significantly based on the music. mmm. It is not like you have any desire to steal their spot hanging off the front of the stage, all you want is 10/20 seconds to pop in front of them or lean over them, take a picture and move on. You have a big sticker on your shirt saying media and a camera in your hand that you can use as weights practice. The common answer at the gig however as you politely tap them on the shoulder, raise your camera and ask if you can duck in front of them for a few seconds was Get lost, Get or a grunt or shove.

Other than that it was a fine night, by no means my style of music but the crowd seemed to enjoy it. Photos are here.

The Amity Affliction
Amity
Amity

Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari
Enter Shikari1

Australia Day Celebrations

2 Countries, 2 Hemispheres, 2 very different days.

Karl, like the typical Aussie Expat hosted a very fancy Australia Day Beach BBQ in Reykjavik. It was 1 degree above freezing. Still they had a beach, a flag, a bbq, Vegemite, three different types of Karl’s very own beer on tap. The photos are a hoot!

Helen, was assisting at her first wedding for local wedding photographer Tim Harris. It was 31 degrees in the shade at the Bride’s house. I had a great day though, holding flashes, cameras, flowers etc etc and taking a few photos as well. The whole bridal party were a great group and I enjoyed the day, though I was pretty buggered when I got home. πŸ˜€ I also hit the 10k mark on the 5d at about 1:59pm. She was 159 days old yesterday.

The Wedding

cake, 26/366Anissa, a moment of reflectionGiftsReceptiondressshoes

Australia Day also means the Triple J Hottest 100. Only two of the songs I voted for made it into the hottest 100, a couple of the other artists I voted for made into the list but not with the songs I voted for.
56 Xavier Rudd Better People
68 Ben Kweller Penny On The Train Track
I had a much higher hit rate on the Triple Zed Hot 100. Like getting I think five out of the top ten songs.

Jan 24

Andrea and I got together tonight for some retail time. Well really time spent socialising at Chermie and not really buying anything.
I am after a pair of black pants. It sounds so simple. Anything but. I want black, 100% cotton or similar, real pockets, nice cut. I tried on pants after pants after pants. There were one pair that were sort of ok, probably about a 7/10 on the like factor. I came home pantless. The problem is that I have a pair of stoney camel Country Road pants that I got off the sale racks at Myer a little while ago. I love them, decent pockets, Italian cotton and most of all a really nice cut. This of course means that any pants I try on are held up against them. Do they have that same feel? Do they fit as well as the Holy Grail pants to? The answer was no, it always seems to be no. I am thinking that perhaps I need to make a trip to a tailor in SE Asia with said pants and ask for X copies in X different fabrics. Moving away from my tale of looking for that perfect pair of black pants.

One of the things Andrea had for me was this CD (click image for the track listing etc).
come together
Andie knows that I have a slight thing for covers. I now have 7 or 8 Beatles cover albums. This is a really good album, feels very Sunday arvo BBQ. A more alt, slightly folk, with a hint of Americana style Beatles, it works.

and some photos.

today.
Backlit Leaves, aren’t they so pretty?
Backlit Leaves, 24/366

yesterday.
some cool yarn.
cool yarn, 23/366

the day before.
Made in India. My most hippy skirt. I picked up this skirt many trips round the sun ago for a school dance. I never ended up wearing it to the school dance. It has sat at the bottom of my wardrobe all that time, with me not feeling flowers in my hair enough to pull off the skirt. I went to a party the other night and decided to wear it. Now I very much feel flowers in my hair enough to wear it.
Made in India, 22/366

Everyday Formula

I am so tired to but in a good way. I am working in the city at the moment with quite classy Brisbane River and Story Bridge views before my eyes. This means that I need to get up just a bit earlier than I used to have to get up when I worked down the road. I am thoroughly enjoying catching the bus to work again. I get to read, people watch, listen to music, think, etc. The reason that I am tired however is that I went to a concert last night. It was The Zoo, it is summer, it was a sweaty night.

I took this photo as my day 21 photo as I left the concert and headed back to the car.
Winn St

I am about to go to bed but I have to take today’s photo yet. I don’t know what it will be yet. I am not going to pike though on the 366 days no matter how tempted I am to just fall into bed now.

Is this not the most delightful photo? It is currently my desktop background, thanks big brother.

I have watched parts of Kalahari on the ABC the last two Sundays. I could say Damm five hundred times over after watching that. Just the sheer amount of wildlife. Seeing those clouds of birds or the Acacia trees covered in bird nests or those herds of Zebras. I just can not fathom the sheer numbers. It was breathtaking.

not the day

There is all this stuff I want to say but it doesn’t feel like the right time to say those things at the moment. I need to dwell on them for a little while longer. It is frustrating. I’m looking for that fast forward button. I want things to start now. Moving on.

Yesterday morning, Mum and I dropped Matthew at work and headed off to the Hotel Broadway markets. We parked the car at the Kangaroo Point Cliffs and walked the rest of the way to the Hotel Broadway. It is a relatively small market but it was good. We got some Mangrove Honey πŸ™‚ We walked home via the specialist food shops on Balaclava st, which open at 7am every morning! We had a good walk, window shopping, garden shopping, people shopping watching and I had fun taking some photos.

The Markets
Hotel Broadway Markets

The Gabba
Woolloongabba

The Cliffs
Roo Point,19/366

The Story Bridge
Bridge & Sky

The Valley
Gipps St Red

Windsor War Memorial
Windsor War Memorial

The Park
the park