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No extra floristry challenge for me this week. I did a day in the shop last Monday,  so I'll count that. I had a busy weekend though.

One eye on the Emergency Dashboards for three councils and the other on the weather radar for a day and a half and I set off for Townsville. There was a bit of water over the road between the Belyando Crossing and Charters Towers, but I put my Big Girl Pants on and followed five other vehicles through.

Here's my "Local Hero" shot of Mum.

I was excited for this week's floral challenge.  At last week's floristry teacher's training session Debby showed us two designs using aloe vera as the base medium. Currently in floristry we are all looking toward sustainable practices, and cost-effective options for retail and event floral design. While there are products available to replace floral foam they either aren't very economical (and therefore not sustainable in my opinion,  even if they are more eco-friendly) or they just don't work like foam does.

Anyway, here's what I managed. The week before I retired a blender whose best blending days were behind them (in favour of a Ninja that is the duck's guts), and opted to keep the glass jug to put succulents in. The succulents will have to wait for a bit longer. 

I don't have any new images to share from my Diploma assessments just yet, so here's some from last week of Bo. He's up on the bench because when I crouch to his level he always come close to me. Like, sit in my lap close to me. I think he may have learned this from my day care kids - whenever I sat down and made a lap a kid often sat on it. He was high enough that he wasn't tempted to try and jump off, although he did kind of want to, but no amount of, "Just relax and give me a smile" served to calm his frazzled nerves. I'm glad he didn't piddle on the bench!

I reached out and scratched his head and his tongue would dart out. Every. Time. One of those shots was what I chose to submit. The other two I have entitled "Indignant" and "I'm sorry. Can I get down now please?" 

Well, I waited as fast as I could (but not very patiently) for my Module 9 assessment results, and they finally came through today. Almost perfect. I'll take that! I received some very positive feedback from the assessor on my boxing images. Thanks to everyone who commented on those for the assessment.

As I get closer to the end of the course I'm trying to keep, and possibly build, the momentum. Three modules to go, and I spent quite a bit of time this weekend working on Module 10. You may have seen my post on socials asking for feedback on my advertising images. I'm enjoying this module on commercial photography.

I'm sharing an image from the shoot with Cassy a few weeks ago. It was about Seasons, so a shot to represent each season received a different colour treatment. In case it's not obvious in this blended shot (that I edited in four sections) here's the seasons separated with the colour for each.

I made some noise about doing a foliage only design this week, and I was feeling uninspired so I put it off until this afternoon. I had wanted to use the same kind of leaf in different ways, but I didn't end up doing that. I initially wanted to make something low, but I realised that my leaves didn't fit with any of my containers, so I went with this purple glass jug. 

It's difficult to see in this photo, but it's a grape kind of colour. That of course goes with the varieties of Tradescantia that I have (Wandering Jew, Purple Heart and Moses in the cradle) and the Black Diamond Crepe Myrtle. Suddenly, I felt more inspired. It ended up being a bit ratty, but it should stay green and kind of fresh-looking for a while, so it will be a nice addition to my sideboard.

With Cyclone Alfred causing havoc down south the Novice Titles were postponed, so we had a weekend at home.

I didn't give up though.    

Anyway, here's the photo I created to represent Balance.  

This is a still life composition where floral material was positioned to create informal balance.  The salvia in the vase is balanced vertically and horizontally by the sprig of salvia on the table.  The blue/purple is a striking tone in this image and draws attention.  Having some of that colour and texture up and down, as well as on either side of the middle third makes it easier to look at.  The quantities do not have to be the same for the image to be visually balanced, and these amounts make sense.  Perhaps one sprig was removed from the vase for a closer inspection so as to look the flower up in one of the reference books on the pile, and has been left on the table.  The muted blue tone of the roses on the vase is repeated on the spines of the bottom two books, and that unites those parts of the image.  Similarly, the top book has green tones which is repeated (although not exactly) in the green of the leaves.  The height of the vase is similar to the height of the stack of books, and the way they are positioned next to each other also provides some balance.

Next week I will have to try and get some feedback on social media for some images for the project I am currently working on.  I need to provide a screenshot of the feedback, so I'm hoping for something a bit interesting and detailed to include.  I'll be shooting those images tomorrow, so keep an eye out for them.

Purple Fairy

How it is March already?!?

I spent most of the weekend working on photography projects for my Diploma. Thank you Cassy for being my talent and going along with my vision. Being able to change in the park whilst not drawing (too much) attention to oneself is a skill. I should double your fee.

I chose repetition to create rhythm in this shot, and decided on the recurring pattern of Lego people in “windows”.  There is enough difference between the people to create interest and draw the viewer to look closer, and I think the eye moves through the image smoothly.  I am wondering now whether I should have created a better pattern throughout the levels with the bricks, or whether this almost haphazard array adds interest.  It has formal balance and a compound centre of interest, although the slight differences between the people hold the viewer’s attention. The shape created by the bricks frame each individual Lego person, but their similarities and close proximity unite them as a group.

This week I didn't use cut flowers and foliage for my challenge, and I have to admit that I purchased a couple of items to bring it together.

The cushions on the seat at my front door needed replacing, so I thought I should give the succulents out there a bit of attention while I was zhuzhing up the space.  

I submitted Module 8 of my Diploma over the weekend, and have started work on Module 9 - Go me! This one has a lot of research. Some of that research includes watching the BBC 4 series called "The Genius of Photography". I'm enjoying it, so I'm not too daunted by the remaining four hours I still have to watch. The kicker is that I have to write about something from each episode and say how it may influence my own work. At this point everything is influencing my work and I'm looking for different photographic experiences from equine events.

I said I'd share Tone this week, and here it is. My long suffering "model", the newly minted Learner Driver himself. He had a birthday last week, and since he was away for boxing training last weekend he had some mates over yesterday. Always a challenge with the cake, and this year was no different. It was going to be red, but the first layer of fondant was too thin and tore, and then I ran out of red gel colour, so the fix was to make a green glove. I am very pleased (and a bit surprised) that no one said it looks like The Hulk's hand!

At the time I had difficulty choosing the image for Tone, but decided that this one was possibly more predominantly Line.  I'll share it here anyway, because I like it, and I used it elsewhere in the assessment.

Countdown to Novice Titles is on - 11 days to go!  It's too early to be getting nervous for him, isn't it?

Okay, so not Valentine's themed, but I did one. I had an idea that I couldn't quite pull off with the materials I had on hand, so I'm filing it away for another time when I have something to make a frame out of. It will be cool - I promise.

I managed to find one sprig (I think that's the right word) of Frangipani flowers so I thought I'd see how long they last on the stem in water. Because I didn't have much variation in the actual flowers I used as many types of greenery as I could find. The stem of Croton will hopefully sprout some roots (along with the Mother-in-law's Tongue) and I can plant them as cuttings when this arrangement is spent. There's some Monsterio, Strelitzia (Bird of Paradise), Canna, Rubber Plant and String of something that isn't pearls because they aren't round in there too. Again, it's foam free. Arranged in the old coffee jar the sunflowers were in. With this many thick stems there wasn't a need to stabilise the jar with stones this time.

Well, I managed two in a row!

       *****

All that was available at the time were sunflowers and chryssies (three of each in the bunch - see photo), which made the challenge a little easier than what I was expecting, which was a single stem of everything. 

It’s been quite a party, ain’t it

Purple Fairy

Something we hear almost daily in the shop is variations on the following...

"How much is a bunch of flowers?"

"Is the $65 one on the website a decent size?"

"How much for a big bouquet?"

I have to admit that before I started my training, I didn't have much of an idea about how flower pricing worked, and I'm sure most people are the same. Here's a few things to note when thinking about what your floral budget will get you.

1. Be clear about what you're asking for. "A decent bunch" is not a physical size. "Big" is not even a size. Be specific. Do you want something tall? Something with lots of stems of flowers? Or are you looking for visual impact? Visual impact can be achieved in many ways, and a trained florist knows how to pull that off.

The tricky thing about our industry is that the components of our products vary so much in size and value that it's near impossible to market bouquets or arrangements as "Small", "Medium" or "Large" (like coffees are). A physically small design might utilise flowers that are $10-15 per stem and cost more than a physically larger design that utilises cheaper blooms. I think we're so used to online shopping where the options are physical sizes like the coffees (small, medium and large) that it's difficult to get our heads around anything else. More about website examples shortly.

2. Product availability impacts what we can produce and dictates the price. A bouquet that had a $65 price tag this week is unlikely to be the same price at another time of year, even if all of the flowers used are available.

Like all industries that utilise agricultural product we are at the mercy of the weather, and that impacts price and availability.

Seasonal availability effects some flowers, but not all in this day and age. We are able to import flowers year-round, which can give us access to blooms that are currently out of season in our part of the world, but this comes at a greater monetary cost.

For florists in regional areas "going to the flower market" is impossible, so we're ordering often sight unseen and having flowers and foliage freighted to us. At times what we're hoping will arrive is slightly different from what's actually packed into the box, whether it's colour, bloom size, or in some cases how well the product has survived the transit. Florists if nothing else are creative, and we can usually think of a solution, but it does make it impossible to replicate a website example, or even a design from last week if we simply don't have the exact same product (regardless of price).

It's for this exact reason that when you order online from the shop's website you aren't given a range of pictures to choose from. I understand that people like to see what they're getting for their money, so what follows might help.

3. Flowers and foliage are priced by the stem, but there's a bit more to it that taking one out of this bucket, two out of that bucket and one out of that one etc. to add up to the customer's price point.

Creating a product that is visually appealing utilises the elements and principles of design, and when selecting floral materials, a trained florist follows these guidelines. Usually, we use at least two or three of the same flower in a design, rather than one of these and one of those etc. I will say that some florists do, and do this well, however they use another of the elements of design to create unity, rhythm and harmony throughout the design, even though the form and shape of each flower might be different. For example, they choose blooms of exactly the same colour. This is not always possible in day-to-day floristry when we're working with whatever the wholesaler has sent us.

I wouldn't put one fire engine red sim carnation with a peach gerbera and a yellow rose because they wouldn't look as though they were part of the same design. Creating a design based on stem count and type of flower won't generate eye appeal. There's a lot more to floral design than that.

4. "If it grows together, it goes together."

What does that mean? Well, flowers that grow in the same conditions look as though they belong together and combining them in a design makes sense to the eye. Not only that, flowers that grow in the same conditions require similar treatment for longevity.

Some flowers have soft stems, some hard. Some require small amounts of water, and others are heavy drinkers.

A trained florist will know what works together in a design. You can trust them.

5. Even though it's a quite minimalist flower "throwing in some Baby's Breath" doesn't just add a subtle enhancement to a design. It brings with it at least an $11 price tag for one spindly stem. Bouquet budget blown!

It can be difficult to tell the value of floral material by their appearance alone. Gypsophila is not as cheap as it appears that it should be. If you really want Baby's Breath have at it, but maybe don't combine it with imported Columbian roses and expect to pay under $50 for a visually impactful arrangement.

As a guide here's a few flowers that we regularly have in the fridge (mostly) year-round with a rough estimate of what they're worth per stem (on average). (This is for the shop where I work. I can't say how much this would vary in other locations, or with other suppliers.)

Roses - these vary A LOT, but expect to pay $7-9 per stem, and at least $15 for larger headed imported roses. If you work on $10 per stem that should give you a better estimate year-round.

Gerberas - around $6 per stem

Oriental Lilies - $12 per stem

Carnations - Sims around $5 per stem   Sprays around $3 per stem

Banksias - around $20 per stem

Proteas - around $11 per stem

Leucadendrons - around $4 per stem

Snapdragons - around $6.50 per stem

Alstromeria - around $4 per stem

Irises - around $4 per stem

Chrysanthemums - around $7 per stem

Disbud Chrysanthemums - around $14 per stem

Sunflowers - around $7 per stem

Fill flowers, such as Emile, Golden Rod, Aster Lutea, Thryptomene, Geraldton Wax, Sweet William - around $4 per stem (sometimes a lot more)

Leather Fern - around $3 per stem

Monsterio Leaves - around $5 each

Gum - around $4 per stem, and these can vary in "fullness" too.

Also, "fill" (as in, greenery and fill flowers) has a price attached to it too. All products included in a design carry a cost. If you want a really "full" bouquet with lots of horticultural material that is factored into what you pay. A half dozen roses is not $60 (based on $10 per stem) because the design includes greenery, fill, paper and ribbon.

6. Choose a florist whose work you like and trust them. Just give them information to work with.

When ordering, if you can tell the florist what the occasion is, a little bit about the recipient and what you'd like the flowers to represent they will be able to put something together for you.

"Just something nice" doesn't really help because as a general rule professional florists aren't creating product that isn't nice.

We can work with variations on these...

"It's her birthday and she loves yellow. We want to show her that we appreciate her."

"Next week is our 20th wedding anniversary. She doesn't really like roses, but I want to send her some flowers that will last so she can appreciate them for a bit longer. She likes bright colours."

"It's Mum's birthday and I want something over the top. It doesn't matter what flowers you use as long as it's impactful and I don't mind spending over $200."

"Something in a cottage garden style in a pastel colour palette in a vase. She has a vintage vibe. I'm happy to spend $100, including delivery."

Many flowers have meanings, and in Victorian times they were used not so much to send messages but to convey intent. Sometimes using the "right" flower for the occasion and sentiment makes the gesture even more special.

Favourite flower, favourite colour, even things that you think have nothing to do with flowers ("she loves cats") can help us to create personally meaningful florals to convey just the feeling and message you would like delivered.

7. Order ahead if possible.

We need time to plan and create the magic.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk.

(Reminder that Valentine's Day is three weeks away.)

As it’s been over 12 months since the last blog post (OMG – that’s quite a while!) here's a couple of follow-ups in case you were wondering…

P. S. The shower has been replaced. We only waited SEVEN months. The bath tub is now used solely as a laundry hamper and a receptacle for watering the indoor plants because I no longer find baths relaxing or indulgent.

P. P. S. I managed the 52 weeks of 52Frames and became a “Weekly Warrior”, then immediately stopped. My submissions are still on the Two Togs facebook page if you’re interested. It was worthwhile doing, as I achieved what I set out to do, and now I’m working on an actual photography qualification to learn even more.  So much for being done with study!

It’s been quite a party, ain’t it

Purple Fairy

Not only did I learn that I could possibly fix a leaking toilet this week I also discovered that enforced silence is excruciating.  I invigilated a senior exam at one of the schools this week, and was not prepared for the agony.  I'm perfectly fine with silence when it's of my own choosing, but it was agony having to be basically a fly on the wall and not say A SINGLE THING about ANYTHING for a few hours, just watch people writing and watch people watching people writing. (Invigilating isn't supervising, it's reporting on how things are conducted and supervised, so basically a silent dobber.  To clarify, there was nothing negative to report at all, so not technically dobbing).  It took me a few days to recover.  I talked to EVERYONE to restore balance.  If there was ever any doubt that I'm an extrovert we can confidently substantiate that this is indeed the correct classification of my personality.  My introvert friends all laughed at my pain.  

Week 38 was one of the weeks that I tried something new.    The topic was One Light Source, and I even managed the Extra Challenge of "Use a Cookie", and that's not the delicious baked good, it's a device for casting shadows.  It would have been much easier with a model (and no doubt, more in focus), but that cable release is paying for itself.  An open lace parasol propped against the wall, resting on a pot plant, a torch Blu-taked to the door jam, and all the hallway doors closed created this lighting effect.
I tried it in Black and White, but felt that the colour version has a more appealing mood/story.  I think I'll be trying this again some time.

Such a broad topic for Week 40 "Rule of Odds"! Pressed for time (as usual) I looked around the house for inspiration.  I have a lot of old stuff, & things that look like they could be old (like this basin & ewer my brother bought me because he knew how much I loved the one at our great grandparents' house).
I actually shot this in sepia in-camera (because I have yucky pink blinds & I haven't played with those in-camera settings in a very long time), but on import to Lightroom all the colours came back.  I tweaked the sliders a bit to help the blue glass bottle and Billy Buttons pop.
I wish I had more time and more opportunity to do something really fantastic with this theme, but it had been hella crazy around here (and I'm actually stunned that I managed to hang in there for 40 weeks! Go me!)  

Immediately when I saw the topic for Week 41 "Shoot through something" I knew it was the perfect time to play with shaped bokeh.  I love stars, but when I thought about foreground interest I decided to use my guitar, and change the star to a music note.  I hung a string of fairy lights in a bunch in the corner of the room, then cut a music note shape out of black card and secured it around the lens with a heap of rubber bands.  Focusing was a challenge because of the card and rubber bands (and the low light) but I got it done (kind of).  

Purple Fairy 

Silverado

Last week's 52 Frames topic was "Golden Hour", and I didn't make it to the dam for a sunset portrait session.  There was an impressive mackerel sky one afternoon, so I looked around my street for something interesting to put in front of it, but couldn't manage that.  I did notice the Jacaranda across the road had a different glow in the afternoon light when looked at from below.  

This week is "Portrait of a Stranger", and I'm trying to think of the least weird/creepy way to ask someone if I can take their photo... because photographing a stranger unbeknownst to them, from a distance, paparazzi style is definitely weird/creepy.  I wish it was next week, and then I could have used a photo of a Wildhorse Cutting competitor that I don't know.  As it is I have to think of something for "One Light Source" for next week.  I'm at Week 37 of 52, so I feel like I have to stick with it.  It's certainly forcing me to think outside the box.

Purple Fairy

I had every intention of being punctual with this blog post... and then life happened.  Never mind, I'm here now.

I spent most of the weekend photographing Working Dog Trials at Comet, so now I have another 2500 photos to sort, edit and upload.  I feel like I may never catch up.  (I'm exaggerating of course.  I will catch up.  Have no fear.  Your photos will be available on the website as soon as I can manage it.)

It's Formal Week in Blackwater, so we've been up to our eyeballs in corsages.  I can't wait to share some photos after the big night.  Here's a little something from last week, inspired by Game of Thrones.  If you squint you can see the Iron Throne (kind of).  Can you guess that I started watching House of the Dragon?

flower

noun

the specialized part of an angiospermous plant that occurs singly or in clusters, possesses whorls of often colourful petals or sepals, and bears the reproductive structures (such as stamens or pistils) involved in the development of seeds and fruit.

I had never really thought of ‘flower’ as a verb, other than in the context of a plant producing blooms, but I’m adopting it in the same way I use ‘photograph’.  It’s what I do for a job.

flower

verb

to produce flowers; blossom

to become more successful and completely developed; flourish

to provide or create floral decorations for; to decorate with flowers

I have flowered.  I am flowering.  I will flower.

So much better than 'floraling' or 'floristing', and 'floral designing' really doesn't seem on-brand for me.  Also, I do feel as though I'm flourishing, so it has a blooming lovely double meaning!

It has been such a great few weeks in the shop in Blackwater.  I just love going to work in the morning, opening the shop, renewing the floor stock, and taking and filling orders.  Last week I filled an order for an arrangement that had to be:

Tall

Yellow

Impressive enough to make her (the recipient) say, “Holy sh*t!”

This one stands over a metre tall (1.3 to be exact, and I am now officially limited to 1.25 because it was only special Tetris ninja skills that allowed it to be put into the car for delivery.  Oops!  I can imagine the colourful utterances that were coming from the two who loaded and delivered it).  I was up and down on the step ladder putting it together because that's an awkward height on the workbench.

I should have taken a video to get up closer to all the textures that were contrasting, yet united throughout the design...
Woody - pot, bamboo, Stirlingia
Fluffy - macrame cotton and the off-white Banksia
Bumpy - yellow Banksia and grosgrain ribbon
Smooth - Leucadenron and Geraldton Wax buds
Fuzzy - Kangaroo Paw, Acacia and Stirlingia

I sent photos to the customer when I had finished and he was really happy.  He even came into the store the next day to thank me again, in person.  That was so cool!  It made my day.  I loved creating it, and then I was humbled by having my work appreciated.  All the feels!  

I love that we can produce things that help augment an occasion.  We can provide that little bit of extra something to make it spectacular.  Flowers are for every occasion and in support of every emotion in all aspects of life.  They can represent a moment in time, a feeling, or an occasion.  Flowers are also a medium for creative expression, and sharing this beauty with others in personally meaningful ways nourishes my soul.  I truly love what I do.

The extra special part is creating personally meaningful floral designs.  Little details make the designs unique and help them fit to ocasion appropirately.  A couple of months ago flowers were ordered for a birthday, and because it was so far ahead of time and I was told a little bit about the recipient I was able to look around for what I needed to make it fit the occasion a little more than a shop floor stock product might.  I hope they were happy with what I created.  I was happy that I could use that little bit of extra detail that made it more personal.  I think that's what it's all about as a professional florist.  

Purple Fairy Flowers - professional bespoke florals that tell your story in creative ways.

(When you give me time to create the magic... and order direct from the shop, not online through an order gatherer that takes almost half of the flower value in fees.  End of today’s lecture.)

If you’re in Blackwater come and see me.  I will flower for you.

Last week’s 52Frames topic was ‘Peace”, and even though I’m having such a joyous time ‘flowering’ and all, I couldn’t muster enough peace to come up with a photo subject that represented it in the flower child, free love sense of the word, or even in the War and Peace context, or the zen mindset.  I went a different way.

“ Give peas a chance... please ”

I didn’t have much inspiration, but I did, however, have peas... and a pun… and a memory of a son who didn’t particularly enjoy eating peas.  I also had a dog who would lick all the gravy off the peas and leave them in her bowl.  They are the ruination of a perfectly good meat pie, so I guess I understand.

This week is “Edited by Someone Else”, and my mate Jacqui from Imagery Magic is going to do the honours for me.  I’m a bit excited about what we can create together.  (Mostly it will be her… I’m mainly the instigator, and will then bow out when it’s time to do the work.)  I just hope the weather clears so it’s bright enough for me to play around tomorrow after I have ‘flowered’.

It’s been quite a party, ain’t it

Purple Fairy

There's a new reality show on Paramount +, and my brother is on it!  It's called "The Bridge".

Everybody: Stunned silence

Most people that you talk to will tell you that Mount Isa Rodeo lost some of its atmosphere and traditional vibe when it moved from Kalkadoon Park into town to Buchanan Park.  It was an opportunity to kind of rebrand and claim its rightful place as an iconic tourism event and cater not only for rodeo competitions and rural people, but also to showcase the region and attract spectators and festival goers from far reaching areas.  I don't remember ever going to the Rodeo at Kalkadoon Park, although I visited the venue many times, as the Mount Isa Gun Club was also there.  Personally, I love the Buchanan Park venue.  At certain times of day the light is sensational and produces epic photos, and the raised stands means that everyone can see the action clearly.  The only thing I don't like is that it's difficult to race around the arena to change positions between events as the programme rolls through so quickly and it's such a large area to cover.

You're too young to smoke!

(This windscreen WAS clean - I swear!)

This year the programme ran for over 12 hours on the second and third day, and 8 hours on the first and fourth day.  I've seen more sunrises in the last week than I have for the previous 12 months. So much of what makes what I do what it is depends on timing.  Not only timing the photo, but putting the photo out there.  It would be much easier for me to take all the photos, then sort and edit them at my leisure after the event.  If I did that there might not end up being much point in this instant, digital age, where we want the information in real time.  Therefore, during an event there's not a lot of opportunity for long, rejuvenating sleeps.  I think I may be tired for a month after this.

What a weekend we've had!  I'm a tad late with this blog post because I spent the weekend buzzing around like a blue arsed fly... or like a one-armed fan dancer.  (I know a bloke with one arm, and to my knowledge he's not a dancer, although if he could be persuaded it would certainly be worth a look, with, or without a fan.)

Nebo Cutting Show ran 10 herds on Friday, 9 (and the Bareback Cutting) on Saturday and 8 on Sunday, and while they were smaller herds they were enough to keep me moving to (try to) stay on top of things.  Nominations were slightly down, but it was a fantastic weekend, and so good to be back on the sand.  Technically, I wasn't on the sand... I was on the concrete.  (I really like how the pen is set up at Nebo, with the fence right at the edge of the concrete steps, with the judges sitting on the outside.  It means that I don't have to watch multiple directions and be prepared to take evasive action should a frantic beast decide to run me over.  I've had a few near misses with cattle making for the gaps, including one that came underneath the judges' stand with me at Comet, having been undeterred by the potted palms that were also "out of the way" under there.  It's lucky that all the Skeet shooting has honed my reaction time.)

I got back to Emerald on Sunday night, tried to catch up on sleep, then had 2 days work at the florist in Blackwater around trying to sort out my photos and get all packed up and ready to head to Mount Isa.  I feel like this week is a bit of a whirlwind and I have so much to do that it’s exhausting just thinking about it.  On the plus side, they say that if you do something you love you never work a day in your life.  Well, obviously I'm really not working this fortnight at all… except for the driving.  Not loving the driving.  If I had a driver I could sort photos and edit on the passenger side while the driving was happening.  I don’t, so I had best just concentrate on the road and arrive safely.

I have recently downloaded an app onto my phone to record my voice notes as text, which I'm hoping will save some time and I can just do a bit of a brain dump and the app can do the typing.  I also have articles to write from this fortnight as well, and need to find the inspiration to write two different articles about the same thing.

I was a bit worried this morning that I wasn't going to get this blog post up before the next one was due but then I remembered that this is my own show.  I make my own rules, and no one's marking me on this or taking points off for being late or whatever.  I have to say that the talk-to-text app is fairly accurate, and seems to understand what I’m saying.  If I could only get it to upload directly to my website that would save even more time!  On second thought, I just read through what it recorded, and it’s probably best that it doesn’t!

Part of my preparation to leave was to drop Bo at the kennel. He was super excited to get in the car.  He rides with his face out the side looking forward.  I wonder if he thought we were going to Normanton?  He likes it there.  He was beside himself when we got to the kennel!  While he was excited to get to where the other dogs were he wasn’t stoked about me going in the other direction.  I resisted the urge to wave to him.  I did that when I left him at the Vet to have his tooth pulled out.  I couldn’t believe that I did it! 

Something else I couldn't believe I did was remember that my windscreen needed cleaning BEFORE I got in the ute and started driving away!  I even used glass cleaner - you could almost put your hand through it.  So impressed with myself.  I usually realise as I'm heading down the road, try and wipe the inside with my sleeve and content myself with whatever is in the washer bottle until I stop for fuel.  This time I even topped up the washer bottle and added Bars Bugs.  I'm still trying to work out what I forgot that allowed me to remember this...  

Another job was watering the garden.  I don’t think it will come to much harm while I’m away, but I will be disappointed to miss the first home grown Stock flower that’s beginning to bud. 

The surviving Geraldton Wax is beginning a stunning display (I hope I don’t miss it completely), but the Ozothamnus diosmifolius is pretending it’s just rice, and not flower, and showing no sign of ever doing so.  Each time I walk around with the hose I promise myself that I will make time to spend in the garden – it desperately needs a tidy!  The cherry tomatoes have engineered a coup and now control three sections of the yard… where I didn’t plant them.  Similar story with the rosellas that I didn’t get to do anything with before they were overrun by aphids.  I have proven under assessment conditions that I am capable of planning a garden, but in practice I seem unable to do so.  When the tomato seedlings appeared I couldn’t bear to pull them out.  I suspect that had I grown something intentionally it would require more care than I currently am lavishing on my garden.  Gardener guilt is real!

Week 30 of 52Frames was “Single Focal Point”, and I brought some poppies home from the shop and had a play.  I love the dynamic line of their stems, the fuzzy outer pod and the way they "pop" open and display papery textured crinkly petals.  So much whimsy!  This vibrant orange tone is quite eye catching against the black, so I feel it fits the topic well.

I raced around madly one afternoon to get something for Week 31, which was “Choose a Colour” before we headed to Nebo, and this week’s topic is “Night Photography”, so Thursday evening’s Indigenous Rodeo Championships will provide me with lots of opportunities to get the shot before I get run off my feet during the main event.

For the next few days I’ll be operating on coffee and sarcasm, but with a smile on my face.  After all, I’m heading North West, which you will remember is my favourite direction.

It's been quite a party, ain't it

Purple Fairy 

Well, here we are, one sleep away from August!  How did that happen?  The year is flying by, and for me, about to get really busy on the photography front.

My first Isa Rodeo was in 2013 when I was selected to assist the then Official Photographer Ben MacRae. That was where I met Stephen Mowbray, who lent me a much better camera to try, and subsequently cost me a LOT of money in acquiring the kit that I now shoot with.  This image though, was taken with my 550D and 70-200mm f2.8 lens (I couldn't get back any further that this), at my first Isa Rodeo and it demonstrates how timing, position, and not a small amount of luck work together to freeze a moment in time.  

On another note, it's been a month of two minute noodle dreads, and I'm getting used to the daily taming of the frizz.  I happily had the opportunity to wear a hair pin (for want of a better term for this item) that I bought it at Mindil Beach Markets in Darwin.  It's crocodile skin, and previous attempts to wear it haven't worked.  It stayed in place in my now curly hair, but I underestimated the length of that wooden pin.  It's difficult to tell from the photo, but it's 24 centimetres long.  I kept getting caught in the foliage on the top shelf of the cold room, and I even had trouble getting into the car!  Ever seen a deer with antlers getting through a fence?  It was nowhere near as graceful as that!

If you need me I'll be parked in front of a poppy in a vase, waiting for it to open.

So, I decided to move some furniture around.  I like to make a change every now and then.  Inspiration will strike, and I'll feel compelled to follow it with all the mania of a pianist's fingers taking on Liszt's "La campanella" (Google it - it's impressive).  The result was that I have marginally more space in the studio in which to work, but I will need to recalibrate my spatial awareness when walking around the end of the kitchen bench.  If only I could just push a couple of walls a bit further out.  

I toyed with the idea of opening back up because I miss my kids, and there's something special about the kind of relationships you build in family day care.  But, at the end of the day I was pleased to have my house back and fill it with floristry equipment in place of toys.  Cody was pleased not to have to share space as well, so that's that.  Seven years, 60 children and a lot of fond memories.  I was gifted a gorgeous book when I closed, made of reminiscences of my wonderful families and it makes me teary when I look through it.  It's one of the most special things I own.  I had a moment recently when I needed some reminding, so it was my go-to.  I cannot declutter that.  Any books it seems.  Marie Kondo made a pretty big call saying you should ideally keep fewer than 30 books.  I have more than 30 books' worth of joy to spark!  Perhaps that's my problem - I'm too joyous to be uncluttered!

Working Mums might know this feeling... when you have a day off during the week and you feel as though you will achieve so much during school hours.  Perception versus reality can be a bit unbalanced on these days.

Thanks to Phil Russell of Townsville Gun Club for the photos from the facebook page.  

Cody's first visit was when he was three months old, and this was his first trip as a shooter.  We haven't gone full circle with the camping though.  That first trip was when Cody first met Uncle Teddy - thanks for the photo Uncle Teddy.  Here's a presentation photo from that same event.  Thanks to Carol Betteridge for that one. 

Luckily I had shot a "back-up" image to submit for this week's 52Frames challenge, so my streak remains in play.  (As does my Wordle streak, which is currently 56, and I hope saying it out loud doesn't jinx it in some Beetlejuice kind of way...)  This week is "A Common Object", which I will give some thought to after a few REM cycles.

Last week was "Negative Space", and I wanted to include something botanical in the subject matter and story.  This little girl has made an appearance in a couple of my floristry projects.  She has so much presence about her, and there's so much story around her.  What I had in my head was a tiny figure walking through a forest of tall trees with negative space above and beside her.
I created something close to that and positioned it in the greenhouse, then lay on the ground to photograph her.  I really need to tidy that greenhouse...  Add it to the list!

I might not have had as a productive a Friday as I had hoped, but we made it to Townsville without incident, had a great weekend (which included Mexican food and Zarraffa''s coffee) and after which made it home safely (several hours later than planned, but home and safe nonetheless).  Someone wasn't as fortunate.