Three Hundred & Sixty Five

I've shifted...

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:38:00 +0000

Hi everyone! As most of you know I have been having problems for a while now with my blog...I've finally had enough of red x's appearing where photo's should be (along with a few other issuses) so I have jumped the fence and signed up with wordpress. I have enjoyed the easy features of blogger and all the blogger bloggers I have met along the way so I hope you will continue to visit me at wordpress. I still have my art blog with blogger at this stage. You can find me now at http://lisasarsfield.wordpress.com/ and although it's early days I hoping that things will work for me now! Hope to see y'all there soon!

I will see if I can work out how to burn my feed so the lovely people who have subscribed don't have to go through the hassle of signing up again:)
Just incase you missed it...here's the new blog
See you there!

Poor bird!

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 22:44:00 +0000

This poor wee bird flew into our window today. I am not sure how, they are neither high up or exceptionaly clean and see-thru! This was taken with my camera on full zoom and it was as close as he or she would allow me to get. As soon as it attempted to move away from me I retreated and respected it's space. It was lovely to have been allowed as close as I got and I think the bird will make a full recovery once he/she's gotten over his or her headache!

Pukeko's

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:13:00 +0000

These Pook's are slowly tolerating my constant visits to 'their' pond. They were coming in closer to me here to get the bread I was trying to entice the ducks with. Some people think Pukeko's are pests but I personally love them. They're stunning to look at and they have cheeky personalities. I am quite pleased with the progress I am making with the pukeko's! The ducks are a different story though:)

Fennel

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:33:00 +0000

Trying for 2 photos.... another shot from the local pond. I love that place!
Hopefully it both posts and comes through clearly...

Found Fern

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 06:28:00 +0000

Fingers crossed I have fixed my photo problem! Not a very good photo a day blog if I can't post photo's each day. I think it was Norton's antivirus that was the problem, slowing my computer down so much that blogger thought I had given up and left. I think! It seemed to be even worse if I tried to add text to my photo's hence the lack of comment for ' Alike'. Thanks BTW Janet for including my entry even though I didn't let you know I had entered. You're brilliant:)
Isn't this fern and grass wonderful? The textures and colours were begging to be photographed and I was happy to oblige:)

Here goes...fingers crossed!

2 things challenge- Alike

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Sat, 31 May 2008 00:10:00 +0000

2 things challenge- Alike

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Fri, 30 May 2008 23:10:00 +0000

Matamata

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:20:00 +0000

This photo belongs to the first entry, Matamata.
The other photo "Matamata 2" belongs to the post of the same name.
First blurry pics, then missing pics..what's going on?

Matamata 2

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 29 May 2008 20:13:00 +0000

Matamata

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 29 May 2008 06:11:00 +0000

Matamata is a rural farming community on the other side of the Kaimai's (mentioned here several times previously) lots of cows, trees and it just so happens to be one of the places where filming of the Lord of the Rings was filmed. This view is just past the main township and on the highway out. Yes that 2 laned road is actually a highway! I didn't see any hobbits although I did see a garden centre called Hobbiton. There's touristy things to do with LOTR here, tours and the like but we were on a ride straight through. DH and I like to get out on the bike together as often as we can and this is the first ride we've had together in over a month due to hospital visits and the like! It was a freezing day (he tell's me I am a wuss) but beautiful and clear. 'Crisp' I think the weather man called it. We did a 200km run from our house in Tauranga over the Kaimai's and through Matamata, Te Aroha (photo below) Paeroa (where they make the L&P fizzy drink...which is world famous in NZ as their ad says!) Waihi (remember the old Gold Mining House photo?) and along the beautiful Karangahaki George (I posted a photo of the mystery man and the un-used rail bridge a while back) and back home again. It was a great ride and I can't wait for the next one!

If these photo's are looking blurry please tell me...they look funny on my screen when I view them on my blog but fine on my screen when I see them in the original programme...maybe it's the Hobbits?

Matamata 2

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 29 May 2008 05:26:00 +0000

No not a hobbit, just a sneaky pic of DH and the bike. No time to compose the shot...just aim and fire.

Te Aroha "The Love"

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 29 May 2008 05:16:00 +0000

Just before Te Aroha (Te is The in Maori and Aroha is love) my husband stopped and asked if I wanted to take a photo...which of course I did! We rode over these hills which are part of the Kaimai's and through Te Aroha and several smaller towns I'd never even heard of. It got more and more beautiful although I didn't take any more photos (I had to remind myself it was about the ride not stopping every 5 minutes to take a photo...which I could have!) The whole ride was beautiful and I kept breathing in the wonderfully fresh (and cold) air and reminding myself how lucky I am to live in such a beautiful country. Especially in Autumn.

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Mon, 26 May 2008 21:38:00 +0000

Trying again, this time the full strength version and not the VGA.

Pretty in pink

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Mon, 26 May 2008 05:09:00 +0000

Amongst the long grass, just waiting to be discovered I found this pretty weed. I was intending on entering this for the 2 things challenge "looking down" but unless it's just me it looks like the photo has come through 'pixelated' and blurry. It looks fine on picassa. Does it look like this to anyone else?

Autumn and Evergreen

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 22 May 2008 23:11:00 +0000

Sitting outside the school waiting for the bell to ring and my kids to come out I notice how lovely the light was, filtered by the evergreen and picked up by the wonderful hues of the oak's rapidly thinning leaves. I was intending to photograph the sun and see what sort of sun spots I'd get for my light series but the tree was filtering to much of it. It wasn't until I got home that I realised that the two trees represented both the evergreen varieties and the non evergreen (what's the term I want here...decidious??)
The sky too has it's contrasts, grey above the evergreen and blue above the other tree.
There were lots of birds in these trees, I couldn't see them apart from the odd dark shape moving but I could hear them. Lots of bird song interwoven with the distincitve throaty call of the native Kereru. I have heard this bird here many times and never seen him/her. I am willing to be he/she can see me though and is almost amused at this 'mere humans' in ability to find him/her. I will have to be content with the bird song for now...I am still wanting/wishing/dreaming of that new camera! It feels as elusive as that Kereru right now close but not quite there...

Cropped

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:48:00 +0000

I cropped the top version a little and changed the saturation very slighlty... I love the way it bought out the warmth of the autumn leaves and enhanced the slight purple ring around the sun.

Black and white version

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Thu, 22 May 2008 22:40:00 +0000

Sometimes I find these sorts of images to 'busy' in black and white. I love simple strong lines and bold but not sharp contrasts..I think this one works though:)

Red, Yellow and Green

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Sat, 17 May 2008 21:23:00 +0000

My son was unexpectedly invited to a friends house for birthday cake and ice cream so rather than go back home for an hour and a half I went to Yatton Park. I knew it would be looking stunning at this time of year and as always I had my camera in my bag!
There are so many trees at Yatton Park, some of them are ever-greens of course but there was no shortage of Autumn colours. The photo below is just to give the green/yellow tree at the front here perspective. I was standing on a raised area which has made the lower branches on this look close to the ground but I could almost stand beneath them. It was a stunning day to as you can see by the blue sky, frosty morning breaking out to a wonderfully warm day. I created art outside and actually got too hot!

We're off to the hospital again tomorrow to make sure the bone grafts have taken and to get more casts put on Miss 10 again. We're only supposed to be there one night this time so hopefully we'll be home again some time on Tuesday. Perhaps another week or so of bed rest for my daughter and then she should be back at school again. I am also due to have an operation to repair a hernia and will meet the surgeon this Wednesday to find out when it will be...talk about cutting it fine!

Thank you all for your visits and comments, despite my sporadic tours of the globe. I hope this finds you all healthy, wealthy and creatively inspired!

Aladdins Cave

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:55:00 +0000

Yatton Park Entry

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:47:00 +0000

There are 2 entry official points to the park. This is the walker entrance and there's a access point for cars further up the road. Personally I don't see the point in spending tax payers money and using resources to build an arch way that you can actually step around...but with the Autumn colours offering the scene a wonderful warm light and backdrop it makes for a lovely photo...almost country garden! I almost expect some well dressed ladies to step out from behind with their long dresses and day umbrellas

Cluster of leaves

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Sat, 17 May 2008 20:37:00 +0000

I love how this one small cluster of leaves shows most of Autumn's wonderful colours!

2 things challenge- Noisy

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Fri, 16 May 2008 05:11:00 +0000

The photo that should have been below....not sure why it isn't!

2 Things challenge- Peaceful

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:24:00 +0000

Peaceful is exactly how I felt standing beneath the thinning canopy of yellowed leaves, the sun on my back and bird song in the air.

Yes, that is a little mushy sounding but it was a lovely moment and I took many photos, the rest of which I will post tomorrow:)

2 things challenge- Noisy

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:16:00 +0000

Taken from the school car park amidst the noise of 300 children singing at assembly and the traffic of the main street that runs parallel to the school. The kids were doing a Kapa Haka presentation (singing in Maori with traditional actions to the songs) which was actually quite a nice noise to be listening too! Even though I have no Maori blood in my heritage I feel a strong connection with my country when I hear the beautiful songs of the Maori language sung with such pride by the younger generations.

Song- Waiata. (Said why-ah-ta)

New Light Series Photo

noreply@blogger.com (Lucky Dip Lisa) — Fri, 16 May 2008 01:02:00 +0000

I was waiting for my kids and just so happened to park directly opposite this tree. I love the coloured light spots that you get when you photograph into the sun and the way that the figures (soccer players and bystander) become silhouetted. A nice addition to my light series that I started several months back!

**** Three Hundred & Sixty Five ****

I've shifted...

Poor bird!

Pukeko's

Fennel

Found Fern

2 things challenge- Alike

2 things challenge- Alike

Matamata

Matamata 2

Matamata

Matamata 2

Te Aroha "The Love"

Pretty in pink

Autumn and Evergreen

Cropped

Black and white version

Red, Yellow and Green

Aladdins Cave

Yatton Park Entry

Cluster of leaves

2 things challenge- Noisy

2 Things challenge- Peaceful

2 things challenge- Noisy

New Light Series Photo

Three Hundred & Sixty Five