For goodness sake ....!

I am happy to report that our internet service provider finally came through with the goods. The throttle is off! We are back to normal speed but only because we rang them to say that we were experiencing crazily slow response times. Seems we were on a really old  plan and were eligible for an upgrade for no extra cost. Hmmmm, nice to discover this but I think if it wasn't for my increased blogging activity with the wonderful blogtoberfest we would have been none the wiser ........ I can't help but say a small grrrrrrr!

Anyhow, here's a nice shot to make me feel better :::

My sweet Jasper.

I was attempting a homework closeup but he kept moving.

I quite like the effect of this shot - his eyebrow whiskers stand out beautifully and he looks quite thoughtful.

What’s Hot + What’s Not Thursday

Funny how my Thursday's often seem to be a little bereft of blog inspiration. I just posted some of my pictures thinking this was an easy way out and it was kind of fun but then I remembered this meme so I'll air it again and see what I can come up with ...

What's Hot

1. Preparing and eating delicious food :: particularly mushrooms, like those being cooked right now in Jamie at Home - a whole episode on mushrooms!! I have some lovely swiss browns in the fridge that I sort of forgot about. Bought them on Tuesday to have with steak but found a bag of mushrooms already waiting for me when I got home.

Might turn these ones into mushroom risotto tomorrow night.
And how about these scrummy sounding risotto recipes.
Mmmmm!

2. Festive lights. Looking forward to bringing out my twiggy lights from last year - will probably do this soon. But I spied some fairy lights out shopping the other day so might have to break out an buy another string of them for the deck and perhaps some icicle lights for the front porch.
Meanwhile, these are rather pretty ...

 by Hannahnunn

3. Writing - and the thought of writing in this journal is so appealing! Hot Cocoa Journal sounds very enticing, encouraging the putting of pen to paper. Even though we are edging closer to summer, the little cold snap we're in the midst of makes the concept of this journal fit in perfectly.

 

by nouveaudesigns

4. Catching up with old friends. Looking forward to a long overdue get together on Sunday. Planning afternoon tea and I think I will bake a nice old fashioned butter cake with lemon icing. Mmmmm.

5. As 3 out of 4 Hot items have been food related, here's one more:

Walnuts. Yum.

What's Not

1. Rain in November. Coolness is unwelcome, particularly when we had a taste of warmth two days ago. We had a v.hot Melbourne Cup day but by Wednesday it was back to sleeves and thinking about soup for lunch. And now I'm sitting here with icy fingers and toes!

2. Feeling like it should be Friday when it's only Thursday. That will teach us for having the Thursday night Thai takeaway on Wednesday night.

3. Fiendish villains that launch kamikaze raids to swipe leftover breakfast. Curse the jingling stealth bomber!
We like furry visitors here and welcome our neighbouring felines from either side - because they are nice, pleasant creatures.
But this Goth, or perhaps I should call him a Hun, leaves a calling card every time he scampers away - he turns his back, sticks up his tail and sprays the garden, the fence and even once, our table on the deck. Good thing Jasper and Licorice are such a great watch cats - they chase him off the premises every chance they get. Dastardly deviant! I shake my fist at you!!! Fiend!!!

4.  Discovering that yet again it's nearly midnight. Why are there not enough hours in the evening? I dream of a night that is as long as the day I spend at work, giving me time to do cute blog posts, write, make things, cook and eat a scrumptious dinner and still get to bed and have time to read my book and then get a good 7 - 8 hours sleep. This sort of existence must be in that parallel universe I keep imagining.

5. How about that, I cannot think of another un-hot thing. That has to be good!

Things that make me smile

My little sabre tooth tiger

Giraffe visiting the Blue Mountains .... !

How can all that cat fit into one little shoebox?

Heralding the moths of November

November is the beginning of the Bogong Moth migration to the cool caves of the Australian Alps, where they rest out the hot summer months before flying back to the plains west of the Great Dividing Range.

My little moth lingered on our kitchen wall last night, casting an exceptional shadow. The shadow moth seemed to be flying - perhaps the moth was dreaming of flying adventures.

I was always intrigued by these gold and black moths as a child, their bumble bee bodies and stained glass window wings.

Ahh, I do love moths. Now that I am getting better with the closeup, I'll be looking for more moth photo ops this month ...

Time Travel Tuesday - London 1984

Talking to someone today, this theme came to mind ...

An image that reminds me of a good friend, lots of laughs and a moment in time. Only one person will get this ...

Evening earring
ToujoursTu

Get down ...! (you know who)

Things my camera taught me #1: The closeup

I'm a little embarrassed to say that I didn't realise I could take quite reasonable closeups with my little camera. I just haven't really tried anything out and, unlike me, I haven't read the book yet. Quite unusual because I am the type of person that reads the assembly instructions v.carefully, committing key points to memory and then attempts to do the job without needing to look at the words again. Weird I know, but being a bit technical and working out how things work have always been quite appealing to me.
So, thanks to Jane, I discovered that all I needed to do was flip from the mountain symbol to the flower and hey presto! So, here are my first attempts. What do you think?

My beautiful hibiscus!

 

 

A strawberry flower

 

The Cecil Brunner rose, a climber, that smells like turkish delight.

 

Not particularly wonderful shots, but nice to see that the little Canon does a pretty good closeup.

I have homework to do!

Licorice in the washing

Clean washing is the best!