FRIDAY PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT. - EARTH

 Linking with Astrid for this week's hunt.

I found this one quite hard and have gone a little off piste and tied it into a wonderful place we've visited several times now, the first just before we went into our first major lockdown in March last year. 

My initial thoughts were:       Earth - soil.          Earth - our planet.

Taking all this into account, I hope this isn't too weird.

Heading into the hills north-east of Melbourne there are parks, where we stopped for lunch on one of our forays in December & I snapped this gorgeous dogwood in flower, which of course is connected to the earth by way of soil here on our planet.  OK, the other photos will not have so much silly info.😉

An old plough to turn over the soil.

And this is where we were headed.

Somewhere we'd passed many times over the years and it was either not open or we didn't have time to stop.  For someone like me who loves old, quirky & just browsing it's a wonderland and we've now been a few times  after we've been "let out" again.  In December we basically had the place to ourselves, except for the owners.

Definitely connections to the earth for the next two photos...................

Good old push mowers and I can remember my parents having one of these when I was really young & my late brother and I trying to push it through the grass..........we didn't have lawn.(lol)

Another connection, embedded by shrubbery to the earth.
Keith really thought this would be a good doer-upper, but we don't have anywhere to do it.

And now for some of the fun things made from old junk.

To be sold as "Garden Art" or maybe props for photographers etc.

My favourite, a donkey, but he didn't come home with me.

Other bits'n'bobs to turn around yourself.

Inside we came across a wall with some amusing signage.  No, I know that we are off the track of earth now, but this lot could come under the title of "What on Earth?"

In no praticular order, just hope you all had a giggle and then this one below, came as a surprise.

Can you imagine him in your front yard..............

Now, one last little bit with a story to it. and I do hope I don't offend anybody, but we laughed a lot.

Checking out this lovely table & chairs, a lady who was looking at it too, started talking to me about all the wonderful quirky pieces that were there.  Suddenly I started to giggle and she looked around to see what had caught my eye and her reaction was "OMG, he's mine..." Off she ran in the direction of her young son, carrying around the torso (in the truck below), with each hand holding onto a protrusion,  grabbing it and depositing in said truck and shutting the window. 

OK, not offended?  It was funny.

Hope you haven't been bored by my wafflings & weird sense of humour.  I'll link this later as I was interrupted and now I'm off to make us some lunch.  Cold again today, overcast with a few showers and very windy.

Have a great weekend all, take care and stay safe.

Hugs from down under, Susan.

AUGUST PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT....................LATE!!!

Better than never, as the saying goes.  I took some of these pics whilst in UK, but couldn't download them onto my tablet, then we also had so many issues with internet services.  Thanks to Kate from,
 I live, I love, I craft blog for hosting this, but I'm not in the link-up this time. Feeling very flat since we got back & even pondering whether to keep on blogging or not.  Maybe just this one?
Now for the words & photos.

1.  MARK.

Bookmarks I made from paint colour chips for Xmas presents to put into greeting cards.

The beautiful gum leaf bookmark DH fashioned for me, that I have shown before.

2.  DUCK/S.

                  Found hiding in the foliage of a park, beside the stream that flows through
                                                    Thornton-le-dale in North Yorkshire.

3.  WINDOW.

Ancient stone window surround.

This was also taken on our trip.  A lovely few hours spent walking through countryside to & around Wharram Percy Medieval Village, which I found absolutely fascinating.

4.  ARM.

Not very exciting, but here is my long "arm" quilting machine.  Sorry for the lousy photo, I should have found another one.

5.  STRAW.
I've gone slightly overboard with this one.  Whilst driving in the beautiful English countryside, I kept spotting "straw" photos, in colour & texture.  Sometimes we just couldn't stop (which irked me), but here a few I thought would fit the bill, so 3 made the cut.

            Straw coloured grain waiting to be harvested, again on our visit to Wharram Percy.

Straw bales for sitting on, spreading on the garden as mulch or even feed for animals.  This photo                                                was taken in the large barns at Great Dixter.

                               A very large haystack which always makes me think...... STRAW.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

                 The beautifully laid out garden in front of the house at Kingston Lacey in Dorset.
My lot done and hopefully some one may notice & I've not posted for nothing.
Have a good week all, take care & huggles.
Susan.

JUNE PHOTO SCAVENGER HUNT.

Time again to link with Kate over at I live, I love, I craft, I am me, for the photo hunt.
Our words were a good mix & I found it hard to stick to one, so have doubled up on a few.

1.  NOTICE.

I took this photo many years ago at a Museum in Broken Hill, thinking how my Dad was a proficient morse code operator in his youth.  He started work at 14 as a telegram boy, then was promoted to learn the above.  As time went on he saw much technology come & go.

Now this sign (taken last year in Queensland), tickled my sense of humour.  Again I thought of Dad in his latter years with dementia & wondered how many of us can relate to these circumstances with family or friends as we age.
2.  SPOTTED.

Last Thursday, DH & I had a lovely small walk & spotted a lady out with her young pups in the park.
They are Pointer pups & have ....SPOTS......  There were 3 in this group & another 6 curled up together too.  Now that makes 9...whew, a lot of puppies, but the Mum actually had 12 & three had already gone to their long term homes.  I'd not had my spotted photo, so as well as being able to cuddle one of the pups, having my camera with me meant I had my last photo too.

3.  STARTS WITH A K.....

This photo & the one below were taken many years ago at No.4, our previous home in this suburb.
                      The kookaburra shown in our Maple, visited regularly for a number of years.

4.  COBWEB.

                                          Cobwebs on a misty morn on our small Magnolia.

5.  STEP.
Another 2 for 1 moment.

Stone steps jutting from a beautiful stone wall, to make climbing over easier.  I remember this was in a village called Sawley, Lancashire, where we had a wander through such pretty scenery.

Not being able to make up my mind, I had to show this old trolley bus at the Ballarat Tram Museum, which we visited earlier this year.  The steps on the outside to the open top are interesting.  I remember trolley buses in Sydney when I was a child & always found them fascinating.  There were very few places where they ran in the 50's, but we were lucky to be able to catch one to a great aunt's place.  Not quite the same as this one.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.
Sunday & Monday mornings this week just gone.

Around 10am on Sunday, after eating a crumbly biscuit, I went outside to shake off the crumbs, heard a most unusual sound & looked up to the sky.  What did I see, but this hot air balloon drifting right above my head.  It was amazing & I've never seen one here before.  They fly over Melbourne & the Yarra Valley, but not this far east.  I ran inside, got my camera & took a few photos & this was my favourite with the moon.  It was even in our local free paper on Friday, so must have been a real "one off."

4 good frosts in a row, have made for very cold mornings with our pond freezing over, as in the photo above.   Brrrr!!!!!
Well, I know I'm running a bit late, but do hope you enjoy.
I'm off to link up & hopefully see what the other hunter's have come up with.
Take care all, huggles Susan.

AUGUST SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT.

I'M BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Linking up with the lovely Kate from I live, I love, I craft, I am me............  Having only just got back from 3 weeks away to Queensland in our caravan, I'm still not quite with it, but here goes.

1.  TEA/TEE

 My great grandmother's delicate teacup, saucer and plate.  It's very old, as she was born in 1875 & passed away when I was 15.

A golf tee used to hold a small felted flower, propped in a cotton reel from Stotts Bobbin Mill in the Lakes District, UK.  I made this in a craft class, way back when.

2.  THYME/TIME

 Not what I had in mind, but last minute option.  I've no thyme growing in my garden & didn't have "time" to go looking for some 😖

This would tell the TIME on a sunny day, but alas it's been quite dreary here today.

3.  AISLE/ISLE

 The aisle of an old church at the Pioneer Village in Toowoomba, which we visited whilst on our trip.

Another photo taken on this trip at Mudjimba Beach showing an island just off shore.

4.  FAIRY/FERRY

 This flower "fairy" fabric was left over from a quilt I made for my great niece for her little girl bed, which was some time ago, as she is now 12.
I've been toying with an idea for these & had just got them out when the hunt list came through.

Taken yesterday, when we went out for a light lunch as my birthday treat.  On the way home we stopped of at a place called Corinella on Westernport Bay & spotted this little ferry arriving from French Island.  I went "aha", my ferry photo.

5.  FLOUR/FLOWER

 Another from our recent trip.  We had a day when we visited several waterfalls, one being a short walk, then a long walk down many steps & all the way back up again for the second..  The third was a bit of a let down, with not being able to see much, so drove back towards the caravan park & had an afternoon cuppa at this Cafe, then realised what it was called so snapped their sign.

A day out to the rhodendron gardens (late July), in the Dandenongs found me snapping away merrily & I thought this one would do for flower.  I think it goes by the name of witch hazel & I've actually never seen one in flower before.  It's so pretty.

6.  MY OWN CHOICE.

Another from our recent trip & also taken at Mudjimba Beach.  I had to look this one up and found it is a Pandanus Palm.  Although I knew what the top looked like, I'd never ever seen the trunk & base of this tree, and was rather amused.  We saw many more along the coast as we drove home.

OK, that's my lot for the hunt & I'm getting cold again.  Best turn the heater up before it gets dark & colder.  It's only 9° now at 5pm.
Looking forward to catching up with all again & seeing what everyone comes up with.
Take care all and huggles from Susan.

JULY SCAVENGER PHOTO HUNT. (2018)

Linking this last Friday of July with Kate from I live, I love, I craft, I am me, to show my selection of photos for her word list.  I've had fun with both finding in the archives & more recent ones, including a last minute photo yesterday, which is very fuzzy, but will have to do.  So here we go.

1.  DOOR.

A side door with beautiful ironwork at Bolton Abbey in the Yorkshire Dales.  Somewhere we head to each time, we visit the UK.  So this one is from my archives, probably 2014.

2.  11AM.

This is my fuzzy one, but hopefully you can read the little blackboard heart.  Taken about 2pm yesterday, at the Craft & Quilt Show in Melbourne, where I had a day out savouring many works of art.  If I was just a tad taller, it may have been better, but I did find it and, with a little bit of laughing by the stallholder as to why I needed it.  Luckily she is someone I know as she used to have a quilt shop in the next suburb to where we live, but it closed many years ago and is now an on-line business.  SAD!!.

3.  TEXTURE.

Just look at this old cart made from timber.  It definitely has TEXTURE!!!!!!  I took this photo earlier this year on a day out to Gulf Station, which is a National Trust property in the Yarra Valley region & is only open odd occasions.  I should do a post about it, as I did take many photos.

4.  SHADOW/S.

Another from the archives.  Taken at Temple Newsam in Leeds, this is part of the walled garden & although looking for another photo, I spotted this and realised the shadow line went diagonally from corner to corner.  There were a few other contenders.

5.  VIEW.

I narrowed this one down to a more recent photo, from the quick trip we had to Sydney.  This view is from the lookout area on Cambewarra Mountain, on the south coast of NSW, in the Shoalhaven region.  For many years we lived in Cambewarra Village at the bottom of this mountain, where hubby and I both worked out of Nowra.  Alas, this where I was made redundant from the bank, where I'd worked for many years and we've moved on several times.  It is an area I still dearly love, and yes that is the sea in the distance, and the little lump on the left is Mt. Coolangatta with the Shoalhaven River flowing out to sea in the centre.

6.  My Own Choice.
OH DEAR!!!!  I've two for this one.  Sorry.............................
Both doggy photos, to join with others who do the "dog bit" for their own choice.

Dash, on the left and Patch to the right.

On Sunday, just gone, it was a reasonable day, although, extremely fresh and we made our way to the coast for my monthly sea-air fix.  We walked along Cape Patterson beach, made our way up to the grassy knoll at the top to take in the view before we started along the beach again, back to the car.
As we sat, a motorbike descended the track to the beach & what did I espy in his back pannier, but these two cuties.  I asked politely if I could take photos & told yes I may.  The very nice man gave me an account of how he collects for The Children's Hospital by taking them out on odd occasions to raise this money.  I didn't have any money on me, due to just walking along the beach & he said it was OK, as they'd just needed a "wee" stop. BTW..  Patch licked me death.  They even have their own Facebook page.

Millie.

I'm sure everyone will know the artist who painted this.................
A beautiful portrait of a friend's dog, who sadly passed away suddenly, very recently.  This little lady was our unofficial mascot for the car club we belong to and is missed very much by her owner, as well as many of the members. I commissioned it from Kate.   We should be presenting this to her next Wednesday night at a committee meeting & I'm sure she'll do as I did, and cry as she unwraps it.
OK, that is all from me for now.
It's been a busy year so far and I know I've been slack on the blogging front, but the Scavenger Hunt keeps me on my toes, so as the weather warms and we venture towards Spring, I may keep more up to date.  I'll do the linky thing & keep an eye out for the other Hunter's post.
Take care all.
Susan.