One Word Photo Challenge: Distortion

Good morning from a cool sunny day here in Hastings.

Firstly I  must apologise for not being around much.  But there is a good reason. For the past 2 1/2 years, since splitting from my ex-husband, I have been living on an assisted living benefit.  I suffer from long term chronic fatigue syndrome, which comes and goes.  So it is hard for me to go back to my original career which was nursing.  So it was a change of direction for where to go from here to actively work and earn a decent living.  Age is definitely a factor too. Selling my knitwear at the market was never going to earn me a living.   So for the past few years I have been toying with the idea of being a nail technician.

Why that, you may well ask?

Well it is an extension of my artwork.  I have always loved nail polish and beautiful nails, but was never able to wear it for my nursing career. Now with all the nail art around, I thought it was a way for me to work, in miniture, so to speak, without it being too strenuous.  My ex-husband wouldn’t let me do a course.  But I got a lovely tax return and was able to afford to do a 5 day introductory course which was last week.  I loved it.

I got a buzz out of making beautiful nails for those who despaired of having lovely long nails.  When I was low with my condition, having nice nails always made me feel better.  So, if I am not around much, it means I am working. Which is always good.

I have a long term plan.  I want to be fully independent by the end of next year.  I do not want to end up on a small pension, living in a small council flat with little money to live on. This career means I can continue doing it long after I am supposed to be on a pension.

So wish me luck.  I already have some clients lined up next week, which is nice.

So onto Jennifer’s great challenge this week, which is all about distortion.  While in Wellington last month I took a lot of photos of distorted reflections.  I love the crazy patterns that the reflections make.

By the way, thank you for supporting my Monochrome of the Day images.  They were all taken from a moving car on the day I went down to Fielding a few weeks ago.

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One Word Photo Challenge: Distortion

One Word Photo Challenge: Growing out of Dirt

Good morning from a calmer and drier Hastings day.

An update on our earthquake.  We have had over 1500 aftershocks.  Most of them I don’t feel, but the stronger ones are definitely felt. I have the Geonet app on my phone which was going crazy with notifications.  I had to turn them off.  Wellington had a bad day yesterday as some of the buildings are not in good shape around the CBD and then on top of the damage there was a massive storm with lots of rain and flooding.  It never rains, but it pours.  Down in the South Island at the epicentre of the quake it is getting rather dire with food and water running out.  Navy ships should be docking this morning and airlifting supplies to that area. That area is completely cut off from the world.  It is incredible how much damage was done down there.

As to Hastings.  Yesterday we have a very, very windy day. That in itself, is very uneasy as you wonder about any damage done to buildings and also trees and whether the strong winds would just add to the damage.  But nothing happened.  I went out earlier this morning to capture the supermoon and there were a few branches around, blown off the trees.  That was it.  Thank goodness.  As to the supermoon – we have had cloud and rain the past 2 nights so when I got up this morning and saw clear skies I just had to head out.

Thanks again for all your caring comments.  Much appreciated.

Here are some photos for Jennifer’s One Word Photo Challenge.  Some toadstools and mushrooms growing up out of the dirt.

Finally some seed pods lying in the dirt among these tree roots.

One Word Photo Challenge: Dirt

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One Word Photo Challenge: My Knitting Machine

Good morning from a very wet and miserable Hastings day.

Last December I joined the market down in Otane.  Lately it has just taken off for me.  I am getting a reputation for fine knitting. And that is because I use a 2 ply knitting machine.  That means I can knit very fine garments such as this one I knitted up yesterday.

I then crochet the band to add my own signature to it.  As you can see the wool is very fine and the baby jacket is so light.  I think that 2 ply is also called fingerling in the US.

These sell for $20 each.  I have started to go through my mother’s wool and using that.  All throughout my childhood my mother would knit with her knitting machine.  She also worked for a shop.  Every Thursday night we would eat takeaways as she had to sew everything up, ready for Friday.

I come from a very crafty family.

My entry for Jennifer’s challenge this week which is crafts.

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Just for Emilio

Yesterday I posted this image in colour for my entry for Jennifer’s One Word Photo Challenge.  Emilio commented that he would love to see this edited as a vintage version.  So Emilio, here it is.

Emilio Pasquale is a wonderful photographer and author.  I love his work so check him out.

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One Word Photo Challenge: Contrasting Cow on the Hill

Good morning from a cool but sunny Hastings day.

This photo for Jennifer’s great challenge is one I took last year after a week of solid rain and flooding at the Chesterhope Bridge just out of Hastings.  The cows didn’t have much grass due to the flooding and stood on the ridges above the river to search for decent grass.  Well actually they saw me with my camera and took off in the opposite direction.

My entry for One Word Photo Challenge , which this week is cows

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One Word Photo Challenge: Contrasting Colours at Cornwall Park

Contrasting colours of the daffodils

Good morning from a cooler spring morning here in Hastings. As you can tell from my posts this morning spring is here.  Well so far at least.  But the weather is expected to turn nasty for the next couple of days.  Hopefully it is only for a couple of days as we have our Blossom Parade this Saturday.  For some reason I thought it was the following Saturday but got a nasty jolt yesterday when I found out it was this Saturday instead.  So I have had to quickly make my hat last night and organise my clothes.

These photos were taken on the first day of spring – 1st September.  So how could I resist the daffodils.

Contrasting coloured clothes

And we were serenaded by this lovely lady playing her violin.  It really added to the ambiance of spring.

Contrasting colours of the begonia against the background

The hothouse was fill of these gorgeous begonias.

My entry for One Word Photo Challenge, which this week is contrasts.

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One Word Photo Challenge: Computer Keyboard

Good morning from a cool but so so day here.  Tomorrow is the first day of spring.  So I shall be going out to search for some blossoms and other signs of spring.

But my image today for Jennifer’s challenge is indoors.  To be exact my laptop keyboard.  So a thoroughly modern image edited in a vintage effect thanks to the Nik Collection.  It makes me wonder what computers will be like in 100 years time.  Will the keyboard still be the same or even obsolet? Just as in Star Trek where we talk to the computer.  Or will it be walking computers such as R2D2 or C3PO?

Food for thought.

One Word Photo Challenge: Computer

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One Word Photo Challenge: A Golden Start to the Day

 

 

Good morning from a damp coolish morning here in Hastings.

I am an early bird – it has just gone 6 AM, and I love seeing the colours emerge as the sun comes up.  The golden hour is glorious.  Especially so when I go down to Otane on Sundays.  The light is always amazing and the colours just pop and as I now am driving down with a friend I can have my camera out while she drives.  So here a just a couple of beautiful golden colourful moments.

The colour on these trees is literally this colour.

One Word Photo Challenge: Colour

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One Word Photo Challenge: Clothes

Good morning from a cool but sunny morning here in Hastings.

Today for Jennifer’s challenge I thought I might show some of what I have been selling at the market. I have a knitting machine and knit baby outfits – sweaters, singlets[vests] and some supporters outfits for our All Blacks.  At present I am knitting a large sweater with alpaca wool (and it is so warm) for a customer.  Once I started knitting these I started selling them which is good.  I have a busy day today finishing off this sweater.

Then I have to clean up.  My son demolished my storage room while looking for my Time Capsule.  Everything now sits in the middle of the lounge.  It is time to go through everything to see what I have and see what I can sell in a bargain bin.  Anything to earn more money.

So I hope everyone has a good day and I will catch up with you tomorrow.

One Word Photo Challenge: Clothes

One Word Photo Challenge: Cityscape

Good morning from another cold and damp night here in Hastings. We are just so soggy.  Driving around everywhere you can still see some surface flooding after last weekend’s storm.  I couldn’t see the ranges – there was heavy clouds hanging around.

So it was nice to go back to a warmer and friendlier day with this week’s challenge hosted by Jennifer

This is a hands on exhibition at the Hastings Art Gallery.  It consisted of white lego bricks and everyone was invited to build a city.

It was amazing to see how creative people – mostly children, can be when playing around with lego.

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