Thursday 21 July 2011

Hope springs Eternal

Hope springs Eternal by Life with Jordy
Hope springs Eternal, a photo by Life with Jordy on Flickr.

The Light of the Day meets the Dark of the Night.

"There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope."
Bern Williams

Beautiful Morning

Beautiful Morning by Life with Jordy
Beautiful Morning, a photo by Life with Jordy on Flickr.

It was such a Beautiful Morning the other day at Stockton watching the ships leave the harbour and sail off into the rising Sun! I want a job on this ship!! I see it regularly plying the waterways inside and out of Port Hunter. What a great job it must be!!

Wednesday 20 July 2011

Nobbs Point from Stockton Breakwall

I was up early to get to the Airport. Decided on the way back to pop into Stockton and capture the brilliant sunrise that was begging to have its photo taken! This is a 3 photo panorama stitched in PhotoShop Elements 8. It was a 'little' cold! My battery started to give out after a few shots but I am happy to say that it lasted long enough to capture this beautiful morning!

The Journey Begins

The Journey Begins by Life with Jordy
The Journey Begins, a photo by Life with Jordy on Flickr.

I was up early to get to the Airport. Decided on the way back to pop into Stockton and capture the brilliant sunrise that was begging to have its photo taken! I was also attempting to take photos of the large freighters leaving the port in accompany with the tug boats. Because of the low light, all I got was blurry looking things and not boats! There was however, a couple which worked out really well and this is one of them

Wednesday 13 July 2011

Back to work tomorrow! DAMN!!

 

I have just had 2 weeks off work!   It’s a nice feeling to know that there is a small reprieve from those night shifts for a short while but, everything must come to and end!

It has been a busy cuppla weeks.   Kims Mum had a fall and broke her hip and so, about 10 days ago we drove down to visit her and spend a little time with Kims Dad to ensure he was coping well.   Kim cooked him some easy meals to reheat in the microwave, but I think that Ken is not as hopeless as Kims Mum, Faye, makes him out to be!   She never really did give him a chance to do things around the home; she always knew how to do it better [apparently].   Anyway, Kims Mum is doing ok and looked a lot better than what we expected.   Hopefully she will be transferred to a hospital a little closer to home where Ken doesnt have to drive too far to see her until she gets the all clear to return home.

Kim and I celebrated our 25th Wedding Anniversary yesterday.   I cannot believe that 25 years has passed since that wonderful day!   What a great day it was on the 4th August 1985 when we first met and started going out together.   It was a bbq day at Waragamba Dam for her Rotoract Club.   I was the zone rep and was undecided if I would go or not because I had finished night shift that morning and was pretty tired.   I woke up and made a split second decision to go because it was such a lovely day.  Funny how a decision made in an instant can determine the rest of your life!!   Kim and I often remark on the fate of that split second decision and how our lives are better for it!

I also got the front garden ‘trimmed’ which, in this case, means I took a chain saw to the Yuccas and Agaves and tidied it up a lot!   We had a council pick up day and I was concerned that they wouldnt take all the ‘trimmings’ that I had left on the footpath for them because there was a LOT!!!   We arrived back from seeing Kims Mum in Penrith to find that the lot had been taken.   Many thanks to the Lake Macquarie Council!!

Took Barney for a few walks.  On one of our walks around our great suburb, I spied some orange mushroom type things growing on a fallen branch.   They actually look like sliced orange portions and are some sort of fungus thingy [lichen ??] Lichens on Jupiter cct  Our suburb has Cocked Hat Creek running through it and has been designed with many concrete footpaths/walkways that follow the creek and also join streets behind houses and through bushland.   There are so many things I can capture on photo that I must do a Safari one day!   Attached here is the fungus I saw the other day.

Today has been one of the coldest days I can remember since we arrived up here.  I am sitting down wearing my special beanie which has floppy hanging down bits to keep my ears warm.   It is so comfortable however, Barney barked up a ruckus when he first espied me walking down the stairs with it on!!

Hope everyone is well as we are all here.   Take care one & all until next time.

Jordy

Friday 8 July 2011

The Fishing Place.

The Fishing Place. by Life with Jordy
The Fishing Place., a photo by Life with Jordy on Flickr.

The break wall at Swansea Heads is a very popular fishing spot. This day had heaps of people out trying their luck. In the background are 2 coal ships waiting to enter the harbour.

Sunday 3 July 2011

Sunset over the Marks Point Marina

This is a High Dynamic Range photo of 5 exposure bracketed photos. I have discovered a programme called Picturenaut which does an excellent job on HDR photos. The original merging and tone mapping is done in Picturenaut and then the final post processing is completed in Photoshop Elements 8. The HDR here has captured brilliantly the beautiful tones and hues of what was a magnificent sunset over the lake.

Marks Point Sunset

Marks Point Sunset by Life with Jordy
Marks Point Sunset, a photo by Life with Jordy on Flickr.
After my afternoon at Swansea Heads, I headed to Marks Point on the beautiful Lake Macquarie where I was lucky to capture this spectacular sunset. A panorama of 3 separate photos taken from the Marks Point Marina.

Saturday 2 July 2011

NEWSFLASH!! - Velociraptor attacks man pruning his garden...............

We have a front garden that resembles Jurassic Park!   No joking!

 The previous owners of our house planted Burrawangs [Macrozamia communis - a Cycad, which I had mistaken for Sago Palms], Dracaenas, Yuccas & Agaves.  They were planted willy nilly with no thought as to how big they would grow in future years but also, without any composition as to the aesthetic look of the garden.

 I have spent all day today, chainsaw in hand, 'pruning' these plants/trees/things because they were so overgrown.  I fully expected a Velociraptor to jump out and take my leg off!   

HINT - Never let Agaves get out of control!   They get huge, and underneath all of the very large leaves, the former leaves die and remain to rot.  This in turn, encourages snails and, MILLIONS of mosquitoes   [which, oddly enough, have remained in their present form since Jurassic times also!!].

If u find yourself pruning these types of plants, wear long sleeves, gloves and, a thick hat!   The leaves of the Yucca are so pointy that they will stab you and draw blood [which my poor darling Kim found out this afternoon!]

 We now have some of these lined up on the front verge awaiting the Council rubbish pick up day which starts on Monday; I will finish off the rest tomorrow!   Hopefully the Council guys will pick up them all because if I had to take them to the dump, I would have to take out another mortgage to pay the tip fees because, these things weigh a TON!

I would dearly love to get a back hoe in and clear the lot out.   

I can picture hedged shrubs, a couple of miniature Japanese Maples, lots of flowering colour and, perhaps a water feature.......sigh............one of these days eh?

Sincerley

Jordy - 'The Happy Gardener'!

 p.s.  My apologies to my neighbours for the constant chain saw noise today and for part of tomorrow but, it's gotta get done!



Catching up.

 Well it has been a couple of months since I posted a Blog article.   I don't have any Project or roll of film in particular to share wi...