Stuff

Around here I am -

Listening to students who ask a lot of questions. I am answering and asking more of them, it's what I do and at work I am known as the 'why lady'. If you want to write about it you have to convince me, you have to show me you know what you are writing about and you simply cannot shrug your shoulders and say 'I dunno'.

Reading a whole lot of trash. Well, entertaining historical fiction with a bit of romance thrown in for good measure. The librarian at work and I were discussing how e-readers are perfect for trashy fiction; portable and you don't pay much and the book doesn't have to come into the house. I get mine from the library though, so that's even better.

Honing my fire lighting skills. This is not a strong point for me, I have been responsible for some pitiful little things that really couldn't pass for a fire, let alone warm a room. Necessity is the mother of invention someone wise once said - my abilities are improving, even to the point of compliments coming from The Engineer who prides himself on his fire lighting capabilities.

Cooking soup. I seem to have hit the sweet spot for creating soup that involves a lot of vegetables, is quick to make and eaten by all members of the family.

Excited to play tourist in our city this weekend. Friends from work and I are going on a jaunt this weekend - I'll have photos to share next week.

Organised for The Nine Year Old's birthday present. Guess what, we hit double figures next month! Keeping in line with his obvious preoccupation with building, creating and inventing, we think we may have a new pathway for him to explore ... stay tuned.

Laughing along with The Engineer. In relation to being organised for an upcoming birthday, The Engineer has had to tweak a few things and modify the gift. In his own words .....

"I have been saving this little nut collection since I was ten years old. I knew it would come in handy one day and today is the day. I needed the magnifying glass and the tweezers, it was like performing an operation, but I had the nut and it fits perfectly."

I told him I was going to share that little nugget of information ... really, saving nuts since you were ten?!

See you next week!

Look Up - Look Down 2013 | EIGHTEEN

Look Up - Look Down 2013 is inspired by Helena.

Look Up - On an unusually warm May afternoon, over 25C, I stood on the back deck where the dog's kennel used to be. The pittosporums have grown so much since she was little and used to run in around them. There is an odd gap left now that the kennel is gone, we still walk around the space as if it were there.

Look Down - This is the tap that sits on the back deck. The hose is connected and it was last used to fill the water tanks in the boat. The boat takes up a lot of space in the carport and The Engineer is adapting and modifying the space so we can park at least one car in there with the boat. He is also making a set of super large skates to roll the boat around in the carport ... well, that sounds too free form, the skates will allow the boat to have lateral movement as opposed to the forward movement the trailer permits.

Simply A Moment - 2013 | MAY

Somewhere along the line I haven't posted April's version. It's all drafted and sitting neatly in Blogger.
The fifteenth of April was the first day of term two and it was a big day with twists and turns I didn't expect. Just the ways things go; I realised that if I were to publish that post, most of it would be blurred for privacy reasons, so I decided to let things be.

Surprisingly, May's entry was written at almost the same time of the day and the contrast is evident.

Another loud early evening moment in our lives.

Simply a Moment is a lovely journaling prompt Alexa shares on the 15th of the month.

If you are participating, do you find you gravitate to the same time each month? I make a conscious effort to change the times, where possible, and I was surprised when I started this month's page that consecutive months were within minutes of each other.

On A Nothing Much Day

The Nine Year Old has been saving his pocket money for a robotics kit. In addition to having enough money, he had to prove his mettle by rebuilding, unassisted, certain pieces of Technic Lego - the hard ones. The Engineer came up with that caveat, I don't mind Lego being a free form building activity, he prefers an item made and left whole. The Nine Year Old has learnt a lot in the last couple of weeks, specifically in regards to organisation and persistence. Pieces aren't lost, you just can't find them.

In less than 24 hours his first robotics kit was completed. It's a great achievement and I am very proud of him and his methodical approach to the project.

Can you sense the but?
Yes, there is a but.
But, did it have to be completed so quickly? Really? Couldn't he make it last just a bit longer?
Sigh.
This was an activity that both The Engineer and myself would have thought might take him longer, stretching the value of the project, stretching the challenge and stretching the opportunity for quality focus time.

The Engineer already has a plan that involves meccano and steam engines ... that set the tongues wagging at the dinner table - well it made a change from the physics discussion revolving around the force of a coke bottle when injected with a mentos. Physics and the digestive tract seem to feature frequently at our dinner table, and, when you know you can't beat them, you have to join them. So, I outdid them both and relayed some very interesting information about fecal transplants I saw while watching a documentary the previous night. Apparently I am now cool. I grossed them both out.

All on a nothing much day.

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The link above is for Australian readers, I am not sure if overseas readers can view. This one is from the BBC where it was originally aired and produced. If you want written information ... so you can compete in the gross out stakes - read HERE.

Sorry :)

Look Up - Look Down 2013 | SEVENTEEN

Let me just say, the things we do for a photo .... this series saw my lens spattered with spitting mineral water .. hmmm.

Look Up  - Look Down 2013 is inspired by Helena.

Look Up - A wedge of lemon in my glass. Finding the right lighting conditions was difficult on this one, I wanted good natural light, but the day was overcast and it meant I had to be right beside the window which then meant a greater risk of glare and reflection on the glass. I like the definition of the bubbles in this shot.

Look Down - This was the lens spattering shot. I like the context it gives but I don't find it as interesting as the Up version. I think both shots imply a degree of fizziness but I was using the G11 so it's not as creatively appealing as I would have liked.

Which angle do you prefer?

How To

Last week many commentators were interested in how to make their own watermark for blog photos. As I said at the time, it is something I have done on and off over the past couple of years and the main reason for my inconsistency was laziness. Yes, it is another step to add when you want to blog or upload photos into a public sphere. My reason for starting again is that the new blog readers make it very easy to on-share photos onto other social medial and pin board sites. For most people this is a good thing but having your photos credited to you is also important, in my opinion.

I made my watermark in Photoshop CS3.
I googled how to do it.
Some tutorials are easy to follow and some are set up for people with far more knowledge than I can ever claim to posses.
I made my watermark as a brush, which is a digital stamp.
This will not be applicable to everyone but hopefully it will give you an indication as to how simple it is to do - do not be afraid.

1. Open a NEW photoshop document.

2. Size your document to the highest constraints your program will allow. CS3 and above allow for 2500px x 2500px, below that it is constrained to either 1000 or 999px (px = pixels). This step allows for a high resolution brush to be made, the old saying, do it right the first time applies here. If you make it bigger it will look clearer on small images. If you make it small it will not enlarge well.

3. You will have opened a square shaped document.

4. Select the 'T' for Type tool in the tool box - see the arrow in the picture? Click on your document and type whatever you want for your watermark. With the Type tool selected you can adjust colour and size and font. Colour is not really relevant because you will change that depending on the photo you are using.

5. In the EDIT drop down menu select Define Brush Preset.

6. Name your brush and click on OK.

7. Your brush is now saved and may be viewed in the BRUSHES palette via the WINDOW drop down menu. When you wish to use your brush/watermark, select the BRUSH tool from the tool box making sure to create a new layer and then click on your image and it is done. Resize for the web, upload and publish.

In a nutshell - 
Create a new large sized document.
Type your blog name or whatever you'd like for the watermark.
Save as a brush in Define Brush Preset under the EDIT menu.
Select BRUSH tool from the tool box to use.

It is easy and no doubt there are many alternative ways to achieve the same outcome.
I'd suggest searching for the particular program you use, ie 'how to make a brush in PSE10'.

Internet inspiration is wonderful and I love sharing ideas. I fully accept my responsibility and risks when I post photos and layouts but I equally believe in acknowledging the work of others and being polite.

Any questions? Fire away ... I'll try and answer them!

The Obvious Photo

My choice of photo for April's Month in Numbers round up was glaringly obvious.

Does anyone else have, or have had, a dog who will NOT look at the camera? Our girl would positively squirm in front of the camera, though sometimes it was more like a nonchalant sneer, she'd raise her eyebrows and turn ever so slightly so as to appear distinctly disinterested.

It's funny how things turn out, when I look at these numbers in summary I see death and sickness featured but if you were to ask me how I was and how the month was I would have said it was pretty good. State of mind and reality don't always measure up ... perhaps that's a good thing?

Thanks to Julie for her inspiration and unique way of looking at the things around us.

Look Up - Look Down 2013 | SIXTEEN

This week I thought I'd try something different - though, it was spur of the moment and if I were serious about it I would have cracked open the dSLR and set up the tripod. As you can see, I did not.

Look Up and Look Down are self explanatory this week, they are of the same subject at the same time in the same room with the same lighting.

Night/dark conditions photography is an area where I am inexperienced and hesitant. In the back of my mind I'd like to devote more time to familiarising myself and gaining confidence, but the reality is, I don't take many photos in these conditions regularly so I don't let it bother me. Until the time comes when I do want to take photos in these conditions and I'm left floundering .... usually one of the kids' birthdays.


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Look Up, Look Down is inspired by Helena.

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Over the years I have played with the idea of watermarking my photos. One thing I have noticed since the demise of Google Reader is that the new reader services make it extremely easy for any blog images to be shared on other social media and pinboard sites. I'm all for sharing, with appropriate recognition and in the appropriate context, ie within scrapping and photography circles. Anyway, the watermark is back - distracting as it may be, I am feeling it is necessary at this stage in my blogging and sharing.

Storytelling Sunday 3 | MAY

I'm celebrating the precious this year with Sian, and many others, as we gather for Storytelling Sunday at the start of each month.
I'm going for a pictorial this month, celebrating my outdoor precious ... can you guess?

There could have been more but I thought this was enough. When I get the chance, I take a lot of beach and water based photos. I find the tang of salt exhilarating and the worn feel of my hair and skin after being at the beach comforting and tiring and peaceful all at the same time. Standing so I see no one else and feeling the throb of power crash before my knees, I'm reminded of my fragility and strength simultaneously. This is precious.

Let's Sit And Drink

Well, after the week I've had I really do need to sit and have a drink, but, it's only 2.30 in the afternoon so a mineral water will have to do.

Abi has been running a lovely conversational blogging catch up for a little while and I thought I'd sit down and tell you all about what's been happening over here.

I have to start with the unavoidable and let you know that after Bronte died last Sunday we decided to bury her here at home. The Engineer took Monday off work and sorted everything out while we were all at school. It was a task I was glad to miss. We want to plant something special for her in the garden and I did suggest a corn stalk or a tomato plant as they were the two things she would demolish every time we tried planting them ... surrounded with a border of parsley, coriander and mint - also edible items I could never grow due to her fondness of eating every single thing ever sown.

I'd undoubtedly talk about work. I love my work, but conditions are never good and financial situations are tight within the education system. So, you can imagine my relief when the long running teachers' dispute ended this month and part of the deal is that all support staff go onto, at minimum, seven year contracts. I am yet to see this new contract materialise but we are all hopeful they will be signed off soon. Then I'd have a little giggle about missing the Grade Three excursion today - they were on a river cruise .. I shouldn't giggle, it's cold and it's been raining on and off. Anyway, I was saturated just getting to the car at the end of my shift so that serves me right!

You'd be pleased to hear that The Nine Year Old is having a great year at school, he's so much happier than last year and starting to seem rather too grown up for my liking. To that I would add that I'm having a couple of niggling concerns about The Six Year Old. She's a bright little button, but marching to the beat of her own drum and sometimes I worry she's not expanding her social circle enough - she's happy and loves school so I suppose I shouldn't be too concerned. Parent teacher interviews will be soon and I'm in her class each week so I might have a quiet word with her teacher.

We've had an exciting year with several family members having extended overseas trips. All are home now and there have been many wonderful stories told and some excellent photos to see. My brother and sister in law have just returned from a month in the US this week, I was told quite firmly that I would need to check Facebook for daily updates as I am not really engaging with Facebook as much as they would like. Anyway, we did as we were told and I was quite relieved because I was able to have immediate contact with them the day of the Boston Bombing - they were not in the immediate vicinity, thank goodness.

Creatively, I would open up Photoshop and show you my completed pages for Project Life ... actually, I'd ask you to help me think up another name for this project because I am not really doing anything related to PL and PL products ... okay, I would show you my scrapbook pages. Oh, and I would be very excited to talk about Rinda's upcoming scavenger hunt - I loved it last year and I'm really looking forward to finding out what the prompts are. I am going to bring more family members on board this time around.

I'd want to hear all about what's happening in your part of the world. I'd love to hear about your scrapping and photography and how life is in general - it's funny how we live so far apart and yet so many of life's experiences are the same.

By about this time I'd look at the clock and realise I'd have to get going because I have to pick the kids up from school. Right now it's pouring, I really should have lit the fire before you came in - sorry, I hope you're not too cold? You know what? I haven't even spoken about the books I'm reading, The Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon .......

** My  Sit and Drink post was written Wednesday afternoon  **