My Son - The Mad Hatter

Matthew was invited to a fancy dress 'Disney' party tonight and we managed to get him this wonderful outfit - The Mad Hatter - he looked fantastic all dressed up.  Here are some photos:

 Anyone for Tea?

 And here are my sisters!

Follow-up to yesterday's post - The Look

Matt loves computers, in fact he lives computers.

Yesterday he got his new school IPad, so these photos reflect and show a side of Matthew that is special.
Another Rachel idea:

Teenagers and 'The Look!'

I am reading a wonderful book  called Click - How to take gorgeous photos of your kids by Rachel Devine.
It has some wonderful ideas and tips and one that resonated with me, was to take your kids when they are not posed, not perfectly happy - take their mood as well as their photo.  As I was reading this Sarah stormed into the study.  I am now, not even sure what it was all about - and the best part is that I know that neither is she (now).

Well, I grabbed my camera and started clicking - here are some of the results - I am going to call them 'The Look'

It says 'Mom if you don't get that camera out of my face - I am going to  . . .

Then of course there is always the option of the total 'ignore'

 When this didn't work it was the 'cold shoulder' . . .

 And now for my favourite - the hand of frustration!

 Of course the cat scratcher might improve the look - but finally I guess . . .

 I caught that tiny little grin, that lights up the eyes - even when they are scrunched up and the mouth is hidden by the pillow.

Thank you Rachel for a great tip - I have captured not only my beautiful girl - but also some of her fiery, teenage personality.

Writing a book

I have discovered that writing a book is very different to 'creating' or producing a book.  The writing part is easy - well sort of easy.  It takes dedication, determination and time. You have to dedicate time to write, each and every day.  I have done this for two years running in November and have 2 manuscripts - I won't call them books yet!

Now to produce the book - is another story.

Today there are many online possibilities - you can convert your blog to a book - I have done that. You can create a book of poetry - I have done that. But, when it comes to turning your manuscript of 50 000 words into a fully-fledged book, well I am not there yet!

At the moment I am working on another book of poetry and short stories, it is time consuming to take each poem, story and photo and convert it into the right format - to allow it to flow, to correct spelling and grammar mistakes and get the layout right.

Quite and interesting process.

This is all in the lead up to NaNoWriMo in November - my writing month. So wish me luck for both endeavours and who knows I might have a book and a manuscript by Christmas.

Raindrops on flowers, webs and dewdrops

A day of rain storms yesterday provided a beautiful morning of dewdrops and spider webs to photograph. School starts back today, so I was up at 5.30am to make Ivan's breakfast, pack the lunches and sneak out to take a few early morning photos.  Here are a few for you to enjoy.

 And this is my favourite - it looks like a rollercoaster for the fairies.

Running Water

We went to the Ipswich nursery yesterday to get our free plants - as rate payers we are entitled to 15 free plants a year  - this is wonderful as it encourages people to plant in their gardens.  The nursery has mostly native plants, which in turn encourages the native bird and animal life.

On the way home, we stopped in at our local pot store and spotted this great fountain.

So today we turned this ordinary area on our patio from this . . .

 to this . . .

The water sound is not too loud and is really soothing - another small improvement in our life. Then it was BBQ time, a game of snooker and good company - thanks family for a lovely day.

Windy Day

I am not a fan of the wind - I find it gives me a headache and I feel stressed by it - yet it does have its advantages:

It dries washing really quickly.
It airs out the house and blows away the cobwebs.
It blows away the dusty air.

And other than that - I don't like it.

So wind please stop or at least lessen.