SO BEAUTIFUL

 I'm so in love with these shots ...... red and pink dress, old glass panelled door, gorgeous light ....

 PERFECTION !!!!

  

 

They are from Le Portillon, I have posted about this beautiful blog before here ....

Oh and did I mention it is a Sonia Rykiel dress, a piece of art in itself !!!

Ruby red Tuesday: Toilet in the west.

http://workofthepoet.blogspot.com

My friends laughed at me when I took this photo when we took a train out to the west at Swanson. Here in New Zealand, we just say toilet.

When I went to Canada, I thought it was quite strange to say bathroom. In Borneo, most houses have separate bathrooms and toilets. If you went to someone's house and asked to go to the bathroom, your hostess would wonder why you want to go to the bathroom.

In Borneo, Malaysia and Singapore, they also call it WC or water closet.

In another post, I will post a photo of a very elite toilet, where you don't need loo paper and it even massages you. LOL

GREAT SPACE

I really have a thing for tiles at the moment, so this family home in Barcelona instantly grabbed my attention ... actually I remember being very fond of this space a while back, so it's probably safe to say I like my tiles to be Spanish !!!

Having those wonderful spacious apartments with their beautiful ceilings and french doors to work with certainly helps, not to mention being nestled in what I think is one of the best cities in the world.

Just Beautiful !!!
Click on pics for a better look.

Read more about the home it's owners here.

Thanks for the link Brydiebrown

Tominon 105 on a FujiFilm Instax 210

Aha!  What have we here? Possibly an important upgrade to the one and only camera that takes the incredibly sharp, fast and colorful Instax Wide film made by Fujifilm?

The Instax does not exactly lend itself well to an easy modification, and has a lot of parts, so I opted to simply graft this self-cocking Old Pol scope camera lens and shutter on the front after removing the plastic optic and native shutter - they come out with a few screws. But, the internal baffling I fear may vignette the image.  Also, the lens to film plane distance isn't that easy to control. There may be light leaks. The hot melt glue that holds that wooden Graflex black tripod mount won't fall off, though.

Results: Nothing to show from it. This lens is too long, and the internal baffles are in the way. I will have to find a smaller lens that can be recessed into the tube/snout of the 210.  Looks nice though.

JUST LOVELY

I really adore these photographs by Finnish artist Liivia Sirola, the shots are so beautiful and homely without being too twee, they just really hit the spot for me !!!

 

 

 

 

 

The lovely Liivia. 

See more of Liivias photographs on her blog via .

Old Photo Album Cover

I've been foraging in junk stores again, this time finding an old canvas-covered book of photos from around 1910.


Some of them are amazing, and I will post a few here and there.  This image is just from screwing around with photoshop. It's a monochrome digi, with difference clouds, then with tint, then invert applied. This is an interesting font, quite Art Nouveau, which was in style around 1900.

WEEKEND

 

 

Saturday was my mums birthday, she turned 63. 

She really is the most amazing woman, so beautiful and vibrant, a great mother, grandmother, wife, friend ... I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

I love these old photos of her, she is only 16 in the first one and that's me with her in the other pic.

( and she still has those great legs !!!)

My mum lives on a beautiful property about 15 minutes from my home, it's so lovely having her live nearby .... and such a nice place to visit.

 

 My husband has a horse he keeps there, my mum and him kind of share the looking after of her and at any moment she is about to give birth to a foal, hence the horses very fat belly in this photo ... so exciting .... I'm hoping we are lucky enough to see her give birth.

We were actually hoping the foal would be born on my mums birthday ... it would have been such a great birthday present !!!

 My beautiful mum ...

she loves all her animals, she is a bit of a Mrs Doolittle, she has kept alpacas, goats, numerous dogs, ducks and even a turkey (who would actually sit on her lap)

 

At the moment ( besides the horse and the soon to be foal ) she has a cattle dog .... 

 

a goat named Gary ....

 

....  lots of chickens (who lay very good eggs)

 

She also keeps birds, African Greys, Eclectus parrots and two huge Macaws just to name a few, they all adore her, as soon as she enters the cage they fly on her shoulder, give her kisses and talk to her, it's amazing how well some of them talk, they are such funny, intelligent, not to mention very loved birds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It really is a wonderful place, the gardens and animals keep her very busy and besides that she also works as a carer for elderly people (who also happen to adore her) did I mention she is very, very energetic ....

quite the special lady my mum !!!

So after last weekend it was nice to have some quite time at home and spend some time with my mum, and fingers crossed, this week I hope to be showing you a photo of our new foal !!!

Hope you had a great weekend.

XXX

Macro flowers: Daffodil

These daffodils grow every where in Auckland.
August is Daffodil month in New Zealand. August 27th is the 20th anniversary of Daffodil day. I tried to teach my ESOL students the concept of Cancer awareness.

Nowdays Daffodil Day is the Cancer Society's annual flagship event and one of the most important fundraising and awareness campaigns in the country. As well as providing an opportunity to raise awareness of cancer in New Zealand, Daffodil Day is a major funding source for the Cancer Society. We are proud to be regarded as one of the country's most trusted charities and this is reflected in our fundraising practices.

The daffodil is one of the first flowers of spring, whose bright yellow blooms remind us of the joys the new season will bring. It represents the hope there is for the 1 in 3 New Zealanders affected by cancer.

The donations we receive go towards vital scientific research into the causes and treatment of all types of cancer, as well as providing a wide range of support services, information, health promotion and education programmes to reduce cancer risk, awareness campaigns and programmes for people affected by cancer.

http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2010/08/thursday-theme-song-daffodil-song.html Go to my other site to listen to The Daffodil song, a British artist devoted to cancer.

Thank you Maia.

I am joining this meme for the first time. First I love flowers. Second, the badge for this meme is the North Borneo Orchid. My Dad's favourite flower. It gives me warm fuzzy feeling every time I see this flower.

Join Macro Flowers Saturday, a photo meme for macro photos and close-ups of flowers, garden flowers, wildflowers, blossoms, flowers with insects and butterflies (no insects without flowers), flowers with raindrops and whatever beautiful plants, plant seeds or berries you have, in close-up.

First time visitors, please read the rules. They are simple but I do ask that you, please, use a MFS badge or link back to MFS in some way. Thank you.

Macro Flower Saturday