The Garden

The Garden

 I am not an enthusiastic gardener but do love the flowers that are now well established in my garden. It is winter and I have been admiring the Camillias which are beginning to bloom, outside the loungeroom.

Also we planted Lavendar in March and with the rain we have had it has certainly taken . Otherwise the rose bed is bare and the trees have lost their leaves creating a wintry scene outside. However I take heart that the bulbs are all starting to shoot and in a few months there will be plenty of colour. This morning was a frost as it was the coldest start of the year only 1 celsius . The bird bath was frozen over.

Photo Scavenger Hunt 2 .. I am a winner

 Photo Scavenger Hunt 2 ...I am a Winner

As mentioned previously I dabble in photography helping Greg with ideas and photos. Recently I too became involved in the seasonal Scavenger Hunts involving usually about 200 photographers world wide at different levels of craftsmanship.I don't consider myself an expert photographer but can come up with some whacky ideas which are hard to execute. I prefer not to use photoshop but sometimes it is necessary. This morning the results for 2 words... Shoe and Paper Abstract were announced and one of the four judges awarded me a first place for both images. I am not a serious photographer but now Greg  has bought me a new camera.(Olympus with the kit lens) to carry in my handbag.

 Greg received an Honourable mention for his photo for Cosy and also his interpretation of Toilet Paper, which reminds me of going to Grandma's as a child and only having newspaper in the outside toilet for Toilet Paper.

This photo was taken with the camera strapped to the fan and Greg holding the remote. Greg was very fussy about the specifics of this photo so I went all out and bought new bed linen in blue as requested, at Greg's expense of course.

Memories .. HJ meets the Queen

Memories.... HJ meets the Queen

Some of my entries in this blog will be memories which have been inspired by old photos.

When living in Cairns we were fortunate to have a visit to the city from Queen Elizabeth . This seems no big deal now but then it was for a small city like Cairns. Somehow the School Captains were invited, however my daughter was not a school captain but as she had her birthday on the day of the visit and had sent 2 letters to Her Majesty and received a reply, the primary school allowed her to attend. I went with her and watched as she was speechless as she gave Queen Elizabeth a bouquet of Australian flowers.

I also remember the class making an itinerary for the Queen, places to visit around Cairns. The Queen was in Cairns Commissioning a new aircraft for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.

Love the Itinerary and the reminder to Slip, Slop,Slap.

Proud Mum

This month's word is Season

This month's word is Season

How do you I interpret Season?

Women role models

                         Women Role Models

I came from a male dominated family. I have 3 brothers and 2 male cousins . I had no sisters or female cousins. I had 1 aunt and 2 uncles. Even now the next generation is very male dominated. However when I was growing up the gender roles were really defined. I was fortunate to have 2 grandmothers , a maiden aunt and later we had a housekeeper who all contributed to teaching me to cook, sew and knit. I enjoyed these pursuits and thus kept accomplishing more diverse challenges in these fields. I was expected to by the age of 10 to cook the Sunday roast and have it ready for after church.Fortunately I loved to do it and spent many hours in the kitchen cooking for enjoyment as well as for the family as mum was too busy.

Mum, somehow avoided the traditional roles and wasn't the best cook or sewer or knitter. Mum was too intelligent to get lost in domesticity.She was ahead of her time being one of the few female doctors in her era.She was a very independent woman who taught me too,to stand up and pursue my dreams without succumbing to the norms set by a society dominated by men.
I took pride in pursuing these activities, that evolved around cooking and crafts and care giving and later teaching them., and still do. My Grandmothers were of the era whereby everything was made from scratch and even grew their own vegies and had chooks too., neither grandmothers worked, their work was the home.Being the only granddaughter they taught me everything involving cooking and sewing and knitting and I loved it.

When Mum and Dad built the house in Mooroolbark, they employed a lady called Miss Poynter, to help look after us as they both worked at professional jobs and might not be home when we came home from school.Miss P was a darling and became another grandma to us and kept the house in order and meals on the table as well as teaching me to cook and knit. 

Mum was a great role model in the way she cared for people and instilled family pride and love in all of us. Dad was the scholar too and was very busy with his teaching roles and later University career, spending a lot of time travelling to and fro to work but making sure we had an excellent education as he had to fight hard to get his.

Mum

Miss Poynder

                                                                                                              

Grandma Noble and Aunt Lilian

Gran Halse

  

Knitting

Knitting

Since returning to the cooler Melbourne climate, I began knitting again and over the years more so for charity than family. I am now venturing and experimenting more and getting better and more confident with design. I love to knit to keep myself busy and it stops me biting and picking at my finger nails.

I have a box of knitted treasures put away for the future, mainly for babies and children.

I enjoy meeting up with a group of knitters weekly to see their creations and hear their stories. I have also in recent years have given  time to coordinate a knitting group in an aged care facility. I collect the knitted squares the ladies make and assemble into blankets for charity.

At the moment I am making hats for homeless people as well as a jumper for my son and the Temperature blanket I started during lockdown, which is almost halfway which means decreasing can begin. The colours relate to the daily maximum temperature here in Melbourne.The pink line is the change of the month.

Funny story

Funny Story

Whilst preparing and thinking about ideas for the latest photo challenge, I thought the word was Copy. 

I found the easel in the shed and put a painting of Greg's on it, and the exhibit too in the correct place. 

However once I had taken this photo and gone back to check the list of words, I realised the word was suppose to be Cosy... ouch, so back to the drawing board and I put away the props.

Photo Scavenger Hunt ...1

 

Photo Scavenger Hunt...1

One of my more recent creative pursuits has become photography, encouraged by Greg. I don't get carried away with the technicality of it all but do like to come up with original ideas. The Scavenger Hunt  is a world wide community who once given a group of words have a chance to exhibit their interpretation and creativeness, submitting a photo to exhibit  this. This time the theme was Alone Together, as we are all in lockdown during the covid pandemic. There are about 200 submissions for each of the 10 words,; Cosy, Connected, Keys, Matches, Meal, Mirror, Abstract Paper, Shoes,Toilet paper and White. We had about 8 weeks to do them this time  and as we are in lockdown had to look at things in the home or local neighbourhood as all photos have to be taken in the time frame.There is a team of judges who have checked them out and will announce winners shortly. The range of ideas and techniques is amazing.

https://scavengerhunt.photography/

Here is my photo for connected. An idea I came up with, after doing some homeschooling and making a paper chain to measure size of a room.Greg's interpretation was different, computer networking.

Sunrise

Sunrise

Sunrises and Sunsets can be colourful and spectacular. I am usually still in bed at sunrise but Greg is often on his way to work. So these images are his.

Red Sky in the morning , shepherds take warning.

See no evil..........

See no Evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil.

Although an ancient proverb, it is one used in various forms today. I have a couple photos created here.

According to Wikipedia,this maxim originated in Japan in the 17th Century, as a carving over of a famous Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, Japan.

Flinders Street Station

  Flinders Street Station.......pre caronavirus and during lockdown period.

Looking at photos today, trying to compare scenes of business before this panademic and during. I am sorry now that I didn't take photos of the empty shelves in the supermarkets at the beginning of the lockdown period.

Greg is going to the city for work once a week so has captured many street scenes with few people about. I chose Flinders Street Station as it is iconic to Melbourne and is usually very busy, especially in peak hour.

                                                      During the lockdown

                                                                 Prior to the pandemic before peak hour

Cover....Intro....Welcome

Cover...Intro...Welcome......Myopic Meanderings

A new Blog. New ideas. Welcome to my world of random thoughts, photos , laughter, ideas.

There is no real format to this, only the occassional, maybe, blog of something I find amusing or interesting or even reflective at that time.However with the looming lockdown it will morph into something different again.

The photo below Greg took when I told him the title of my blog. He heard Myopic Mandarines.I chose the title as I am very short sighted and probably have a limited view of the world even though I am educated and very tolerant of everyone everywhere, but these days, I tend to live in a safe bubble.Meanderings came from the fact that the blog could cover anything I decide that tickles my imagination on a specific day. It could be a pasion of mine or an old photo stirring up memories or a piece of art that I like.Who knows. what will delight me going forward it is all just a fun challenge , so if you you want to follow be ready for a bumpy ride... Welcome.