Blogtoberfest 14

Occasionally it is fun to play with photo software.  I don't have Photoshop (too expensive!) so rely on the software that comes with Picasa and stuff that I can get on my phone.

I took these last year and played with them, using various filters and the like.  It amused me.

The only thing that is not tweaked with them is the basic composition.  It really was a heart shaped leaf, pretty much the colour that it is shown in the top photo, on a gravel path in a park.

Blogtoberfest 13

On April 8th, 1989, we got married in the then Moe Uniting Church (now no more, I think it may have been knocked down and turned into apartments or something). 

Blogtoberfest 12

Sir Laurence (or Lawrence) Carter, Baron of the Exchequer, was an 18th century judge in England.  The name Lawrence Carter has been used in my husband's family for some time, possibly named after him or not.  My late father-in-law was insistent that this was not the case, but the family story persists.  This is a portrait of him.

Blogtoberfest 11

I knew it would get too hard to keep up with Blogtoberfest, I'm feeling too tired to think of anything interesting, so here is an odd picture snapped in a Lakes Entrance cabin several years ago.

Blogtoberfest 10 - Wordless Wednesday

Blogtoberfest 9

A totally gratuitous photo of Sirius guarding her biscuit, lying in a welter of biscuit crumbs and smiling for the camera :)  Oh, and lying in front of a heater - guarding it, you know, against thieves and intruders.

Blogtoberfest 8

This sort of follows on the theme of yesterday.  I found this in the Pioneer Village at Swan Hill, on the Murray River and the border of Victoria.  It's a portable vault used by funeral directors in the country in the past, and I presume it was filled with ice to keep the deceased, er, 'fresh' in the searing heat that happens up there.

Blogtoberfest 7

Wentworth is a NSW town not far over the border from Mildura.  It's a hot, dry, dusty town and it's main claim to fame is its gaol, long since defunct as an actual penitentiary.  It's a museum now.  Last time I visited it, over 20 years ago, you could dress up in costumes and be photographed in a cell, and somewhere I probably have a photo of me doing just that (must find that one!)

It's an interesting glimpse of social history.  For quite some time after the gaol ceased its original function, it was used as a school.  Small changes were made - a pink peppercorn tree was planted in the old exercise yard to provide shade for the children (somewhere I think there must be an ancient statute that decrees that every Australian school must have a pink peppercorn tree in the yard somewhere) - but on the whole they used the old gaol facilities.  I wonder how that felt!

I was amused by the mortuary slab, just lying on the floor in a room, with the handwritten notice.

Blogtoberfest 6

Pretty cast iron gate in Broken Hill, NSW.

Blogtoberfest 5

While driving through central Victoria a couple of months ago we drove through a tiny place, the name of which I cannot remember, and the main street was full of yarn bombed trees.  I squealed, 'Look, yarnbombing!', George looked at me blankly, and I had to explain the concept to him!

I don't know where Yandoit is, but I presume it's near where we were.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of this poster - not in a ridiculing way, I just thought it was unique!

The yarnbombing had been done by people connected with the local yarn store, which sadly was closed - there was great stuff that I could see through the windows and I would have loved to have browsed.

Blogtoberfest 4

Sadly, the painted car in yesterday's post is not mine :(  It's in the Pro Hart Museum in Broken Hill, NSW, and was painted by him.

This is Rocky Road made from a Coles supermarket magazine a few months ago, obviously designed to use a new product as it included a particular, newly released jelly sweet in it.  For once I made it exactly as the recipe said (something I rarely do!)  It didn't last very long!  

The next Rocky Road I make will probably be the one that was on Masterchef last year that included fresh raspberries.  It looked amazing at the time and I have the recipe now.

The dress, by the way, turned out quite well, and I will post a photo when I have downloaded the latest ones from my camera.

Blogtoberfest 3 - Wordless Wednesday

Blogtoberfest 2

A knitted kitchen handtowel. To exterminate moisture!
Pattern on Ravelry.

Blogtoberfest

*****!!!!!

I've screwed up the courage to post once a week for a few weeks after a long hiatus.  Now, a sweet encouraging comment from the originator of Blogtoberfest has spurred me into attempting to do it.

Crap!!!