seventy

We spent the weekend in Tassie celebrating another milestone birthday, my mother's 70th. Like most mothers she is an amazing and special lady and very much loved.

She also happens to be a bit of a crazy dog lady, as my sister can attest when she went to visit and found my mother and Lottie sitting side by side in their rocking chairs! Lottie has personality; that is a kind way of saying she is a crazy, energetic, full on puppy. She has moments of normality, a slight hope for the future. In the meantime, as my mother said, she literally laughs out loud every day at her antics - a not so little fuzzball of mischief and merry-making...

thursday

It just so happened that Johanna had the day off, Rachel had stayed overnight and Colin didn't have to be in Melbourne (he juggled work from home). It wasn't a hard decision to ditch attending my class today and join the others in a rare mid-week jaunt.

A little bit of a swing

A little bit of a walk

A little bit of a swim (well Rach was the only one brave enough to strip off and take the plunge)

A little bit of yoga (well for Johanna anyway)

And a little bit of lunch, but no photo of that.

Comment of the day from Johanna, "it just makes me so happy to have sand under my feet"

birthday suit

Zac got a new wetsuit and hood for his birthday, of course it needed a test run. It wasn't the best of days or conditions but Point Roadknight promised something.

heading out

some fun little waves

a trademark Zac stance

Jan's practising is paying off

someone is not having a good day, may even have been a bit of an angry outburst

Zac mucking around on Colin's board

the angry man finally found something (in his defence he was not riding his usual board today)

at least he is up

Zac didn't seem to have too many problems

nice one to finish the day

Verdict - the wetsuit and hood were great, only his hands went numb (gloves are next on the list).

Epilogue - the angry man recovered his usual good humour (so much so that when I was taking photos of the ordeal that is removing a wetsuit with numb hands at the end of the day, he delighted in bending over and mooning the photographer, unfortunately I captured the moment, fortunately for him I am not one to post such a thing!)

it's time

We knew it was coming, she was deteriorating slowly and then last week rapidly and then Heidi had to make the hardest decision of all - it was time. Time to say goodbye. 15 plus years of doggy love and devotion with a good measure of 'rascal-ness' thrown in. The whole family was there; to say goodbye, to spend the last precious morning together, to take her to the vet, to cry together, to see her life end and her body relax, to bury her in our garden here at Barwon Heads, to remember and tell stories about the little dog with a big attitude that was an integral part of our family...

crazy girls

Two daughters - a midwinter sunrise swim, yeah sure, sounds like a great idea!

 A five minute quick walk

First some contemplation for one and yoga for the other

Courage and a touch of crazy

So beautiful

And then the fog rolled in

where the sun shines

Three days driving, camper trailer in tow and we have arrived - in the place where the sun shines, even in winter. We have a few days here in Caloundra and then a couple of weeks in Byron Bay, the usual mid winter gig. We are both feeling the need for a break, so unless I feel inspired to post a photo or two that's it for a while...

from Colin's iPhone

flying and shooting

This week has been dominated by two things, organising flights to Italy in November and an end of semester photography assignment.

A family discussion, the creation of a fb group, an on-line travel dates spreadsheet, a lot of to-ing and fro-ing and finally ten tickets to Italy organised. We are committed now! Our family pilgrimage to Abruzzo on the anniversary of my father's death will include our children, partners, my sister and my nephew. There will be some coming and going but we will all overlap for a time and there is great anticipation and excitement at the prospect of traveling and experiencing something of our father's/grandfather's birthplace together. We feel so fortunate to have this opportunity.

In between all the organising was the realisation that our up coming trip to Byron Bay meant that instead of four weeks to complete my assignment I only had two, and I couldn't start until we had completed some basic instruction and practice with studio lighting. Having never stepped inside a studio before it was a steep learning curve. I was feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the tight time frame (and my complete inexperience) but Colin and Johanna came to the rescue, kindly and patiently sitting for a couple of hours each, following my instructions while I attempted to complete my allocated task. Studio photography could be a lot of fun if you knew what you were actually doing! Tomorrow's job is to choose from the following possibilities, complete lighting plans and write a brief description for each :(

great ocean road

Johanna decided she wanted to visit Johanna Beach on her birthday, so we took a couple of days and visited the Twelve Apostles and drove the Great Ocean Road in the process. The B and B was memorable, that is the most positive thing I can say about it, the Twelve Apostles viewing platform was rows deep in tourists and it was cloudy. So not a great start.

ordinary light

too many people

how do you feel about all the people? 

Loch Ard Gorge was less crowded and quite beautiful and the sun peeped out for a short while making for more interesting photos.

The following morning we stopped by the Twelve Apostles again while Colin made some work phone calls (phone reception - just). Johanna and I had the viewing platform to ourselves for a while and discovered a whole other path and view that we hadn't realised existed due to the amount of people the day before. And the sun came out. And it was spectacular. So if you want to see the Twelve Apostles without hundreds of other people go before 10am, the tourist buses are still on their way.

As we drove back along the coast the sunny breaks gave way to clouds which gave way to misty rain by the time we reached Johanna Beach. Green rolling hills, cows and a wild beach, three of Johanna's favourite things. We will definitely return to this place in warmer weather.

wild, windy and deserted

here comes the rain