intertext

Here's August



Yes, I'm still keeping up with the project. Still haven't missed a day (though some have been pretty desperate shots). I like the colours this month, dominated by shots from my newly renovated house.

Because my little Tofino getaway straddled the end of the month, I'm late posting my May mosaic. Here it is:



I am quite astonished with myself that I've managed to keep up one photo a day so far: nearly half-way through!

I've had a lovely relaxing weekend, despite the howling gales for much of it. My friend mkb had a get-together for her parents' friends and relations to celebrate her mother's life, and a lot of them had trouble with ferries and planes (although I don't think anyone was prevented from getting here).

I managed to get some marking done, and some work in the garden, including hauling up Constance Spry (a climbing rose, for the uninitiated) from the ground where the wind had blown her. This involved a complicated process with bungey cords and wire: I tied a bungey cord around her "waist" and pulled her up off the ground, then threaded wires around the corner of the deck and pulled her tighter to the corner each time. She actually looks better now than she did before, because I also took the opportunity to cut out some dead wood, and she's more securely fastened to the deck.

In the process, I discovered a bush-tit nest in the top of the rose, which had been unharmed in the crash. Once I got the rose fixed up, I saw the little birds going to and fro again with stuff in their beaks, so they seem undeterred. I shall have to keep Tabitha away. I think they're probably safe, but it wouldn't surprise me to see her launch herself from the top of the deck into the rose if she gets the chance. I hate keeping her out of the garden, but as soon as I let her out she makes a bee-line for the deck and sits, drooling, under the bird feeder. It hardly seems sporting to invite the birds to come and then let my cat kill them.

Saturday was Robinson's birthday - he's thirteen! Here he is in his birthday portrait.

This is what I've been up to photographically. I thought I'd try the 365 project again (I lasted about three days last year). So far, I've done it. Here's January!

I was inspired by the artist's rendition to try a B&W shot of my own. This one is also the result of something I learned in my photography class about using fill-in flash to make the subject pop and darken the background. I am pleased with the result. (I love it when you plan a shot, and actually get something worthwhile!)

Taking a leaf out of heleninwales's book, I've decided to try the 365 day photo project on Flickr. This is #1 - my first photo uploaded for the year 2009.

One of the things I enjoy about participating in certain groups on Flickr is that it pushes my boundaries in terms of making me go out and take photos of things that I don't, normally. There's one that I'm in right now, it's a kind of Survivor with photographs, rather too complicated to explain, but the upshot was that today I had to go out and take shots of "wood (no trees)" and win a challenge with one of them so that I could add it to this ongoing collection of things for this Survivor game. So I went to a local lumber yard and wandered around and ended up having a great time looking at pattern and texture. My Flickr photo-stream is now full of "wood" shots. Oh, and I won my challenge - in fact, so far I've won three with them, and I'm idly continuing on to see how many medals I can win in this particular category.

This one is my favourite, but you can see the others if you click through to my photo-stream.

I've created a monster. I was doing a photo-shoot for a Flickr group this morning and thought I'd let Tabs out on the deck because the light was better. I didn't think she'd jump off, because it's pretty high. After a short time, though, I decided not to risk it, because she was captivated with the birds in the garden and showed every sign of wanting to leap out into space despite the 20 foot drop. I did get one or two good shots, though, including this one.

Yesterday was a good day^TM.

( Morning walk )
( Cleaning )
( Open Day )
( Home things and Dinner )