Friday 30 November 2012

FSO - faces

The trouble when you start to look for faces that are not really faces is you start to see them in weird places.

You see them inside:


You see them outside:


They rise from the watery depths:


and visit from far off places:


and this one freaked me out!  I saw the eyes,  just the eyes, felt those eyes peering out at me.  Thought the face was upside down but now I'm not so sure!  For some reason I look at it and think Sinbad the Sailor but I have no idea why.


See, this faces that aren't faces thing is getting at me.  Wonder if anyone else in the FSO team has been driven slightly crazy by this topic.  Pop over here and see.

Just realized it's my turn to do the Spotlight photos this week.  I could be completely batty by the time I get that done. 

Oh, if you'd like to be helpful, you could leave me a comment making recommendations for the Spotlights! 

Monday 26 November 2012

Simple fun

I'm meant to be looking after the farm children this week.  They have to do a fair bit of looking after me with my gammy foot but together we are managing.  At the weekend Krystal went to a birthday sleep over and on Sunday Archer came to play with Georgia.  After spending a bit of time parachuting off the little shed out the back of my house (I posted about that here when they first tried it) they came rushing in wanting to prepare a picnic.  They cooked a pizza and some popcorn and trotted off with the promise to stay within sight of the house.  

Then Campbell came along.  Campbell is the farm worker, the lad who is running the farm in my son's absence.   Somehow Georgia had extracted a promise from him that he would take them hunting for baby ducks.  I don't know how they ended up having rides around the paddock. 

Georgia's turn

Archer's turn

A few modifications while the dogs wait for the fun to start again.

Now it's a tandem ride.

I suspect Campbell may have had as much fun as the young ones.  When they had had enough, he took them off to search for the ducklings.  They were gone a long time and in the end I had to ring Campbell and ask him to bring them back home as it was time to pick up Krystal.  They hadn't found the ducks but he took them to the creek where they could make dams and he could lay in the warm grass and have a nap. 

I ended up with two extremely dirty and smelly children.  

On the way to Archer's home he said, "We had good fun today, didn't we, George?"
She replied, "Yeah, we did, Arch."

Did I say, they always give me a laugh?

Saturday 24 November 2012

FSO - work, rest, play

Work, rest, play.  It's all a bit the same for me at the moment.


I'm not in the least little bit left handed,  this is the best I could do with just one hand.


We had plans, of course, for work/play.  But I had to sit back and watch as Georgia worked on the early stanges of making a Christmas gift.  I'm sure if Michael see this he won't be able to guess what we are making for him. 


I'm late, I'm limping and I'm left handed.  Shame this weeks topic wasn't the Letter L.  Some time next week I'll get around to visiting the rest of the FSO team.

Friday 16 November 2012

FSO–Self portraits, Introduce yourself

Hello, everyone.  I’m Pauline.  Pauline from the Paddock.  Once upon a time, over 60 years ago, I was the little girl on the left.  Even then Big Sister was one of my roles in life.
me and Esme
I’ve had many roles between then and now, none of them more satisfying than my current role of mother and grandmother.  I feel that grandmothering is my main mission in life.  I might not be trusted to keep my footing on loose rocks but once plonked on my butt, I can always be trusted to keep my little people from harm.  

holding aiden at creek

I often find it’s safest to sit and do a number of things these days.  Easier and safer than squatting or bending– and risking not being able to straighten up.  When I want to get up from sitting on the ground I can roll myself onto all fours and take it from there.    As long as there is no-one behind me with a camera, it can save me from a lot of embarrassment.

on grass
 The only time you are likely to see me in the lead is when I’m on the scent of a good photo opportunity.

at other bridge
 I might be old but I still like to have a laugh and am happy to play the clown occasionally.

at bridge
 I’m frequently the lady propping up the wall with a camera in a grandchild’s face.

taking pics
 Bev and I were young mothers together.  Now we are a pair of silver haired old ladies who still like to spend time together.   How good is that?

me and bev
 When I saw this topic, I thought it meant Who Am I?  I’m glad I looked at it more carefully.  I gave up asking Who Am I a long time ago.   I know, and if anyone else wants to find out, that’s up to them.  I’m old enough to have a take me or leave me approach to life.  I know some people ‘get me’ and some people don’t and I’m happy with that.

I’m looking forward to this topic telling me a bit more about the other members of the FSO team.

Friday 9 November 2012

FSO - Gravity

Gravity at play?  Or at play with gravity?  I decided to focus on the fun you can have when playing with gravity.  It's there for the young:


and the young of all ages:



It doesn't always go as planned:


And then there's the fight against gravity.  I didn't mind at all that the propellor got in the way of my shot of Mt Taranaki, as long as it kept turning and kept winning the war against gravity. 


Not an easy topic, I don't think.   I was relieved when I spotted that juggler practising his craft one afternoon down by the Town Basin, just along from the playground.  Thanks for letting me take your photo, Simon.  Want to see what the rest of the team made of Gravity?  Just pop over here.

Sunday 4 November 2012

Half wet?

or only one half was wet. 

I never have been very good at looking at the sky and guessing what the weather might do.  Despite that, I was confident when I set out for a walk that it wasn’t going to rain for some time.   There had been a shimmer of a shower earlier and the last of the wispy cloud was lifting from the mountain.

cloud lifting
 I’d left my walking pole at my son’s house yesterday and had walked there to pick it up and then decided to take a different walk to usual.     I was enjoying the view of the recently ploughed paddock at the back of my house from a different perspective

ploughed paddock nov 12

but when I topped the hill I stopped in my tracks, and did an about turn.   That cloud looked threatening but I thought I would  make it home before it reached us.

storm cloud 3 nov 12
 Wrong again.  The skies opened.   My son’s house was closest so I scampered to there.  I don’t scamper very well these days but I assure you I did a good imitation.  It wasn’t until my shoe laces were untied, (Georgia unlaced them for me, I was too busy gasping for breath) and I was about to take them off that I realize I was only wet down one side.  Is that half wet?

wet pants nov 12

Friday 2 November 2012

FSO - Repetition

Years ago I heard about a lady who appeared in court in relation to a traffic accident. 

She explained to the judge, "I looked left and right and there were no other cars.  It came out of nowhere."  But the judge was having none of it. 

"There's a difference between looking and seeing", he said.  "Next time I suggest you see when you are looking."

I've thought about that story a few times lately and have decided that judge might be quite proud of me.  I've been looking for repetition and seeing it everywhere. 

From the most simple forms in nature:
 
 To the more complicated we use in construction:


Mother Nature has it down to a fine art.  She creates something beautiful, then repeats it over and over:

Then we take her creations and plant them to repeat again:

I had so many photos I couldn't decide which ones to use.  Then I noticed that I had a bit of a walking theme going on, so just picked the ones I thought were the best of those.



 What a neat topic that was!  And I get to pick the Spotlight photos.  Yay!  I'm looking forward to that; I'm sure there are going to be some great shots to choose from.  Would you like to see them?  Or feel free to join in, everyone is welcome.  On Fridays we meet here.