Painting Project...

Lounge Room renovation...

During the recent September school holidays the girls decided that it might be a great idea to re-paint the lounge room!! A great idea, but who would be doing all the work, I wonder??



We agreed that it was time to get rid of the 1990's colour scheme and bring the room into the 21st century. The hard work began with most of the furniture/books/dvds/miscellaneous paraphenalia finding temporary homes all over the house. The walls were stripped of their friezes, ceiling swept, walls washed, and lots of patching needing to be done. Hannah & I washed walls and then waited for Robert to complete the huge task of repairing the cracks in the lathe & plaster - not a fun job at all!!


The new colour scheme was chosen from the Dulux white collection. White (ceiling magic) on the ceiling, "Fair Bianca" on the walls, 1/2 strength Hog Bristle on the skirtings & picture rail and full strength Hog Bristle on the fireplace wall.

The painting marathon began on Thursday and wasn't completed until the following Tuesday. At some point or other during the process everyone found themselves with a paintbrush or roller in hand - even Jared who arrived from Hobart on Friday evening!!

The room has a 10 foot ceiling so a lot of time was spent going up and down the ladder -
wouldn't I love $1 for everytime I did that over the 5 days it took to paint the room!!!

Of course, we had a slight paint mishap during the project - ever tried to get almost 1 litre of paint out of carpet??? LOL - that's what happens when you're trying to get a job done late into the evening and the concentration lapses for just a moment! :) Thankfully the paint splashes missed the furniture, just catching both Robert and I, the ladder and the carpet in front of the fireplace. Needless to say, the carpet has now been steam cleaned and has come up a treat!

It took 3 coats of paint to cover the green walls. All the work was worth the effort, though, because we now have a light, bright room that looks fantastic. the light colours have made the furniture and pictures just "pop" and look like new again!!!

Here is the result of 10 days of hard work:

Concert Memories

Osmonds 50th Anniversary concert in Perth, Western Australia

3 years ago my friend, Gail, and I flew to Perth to meet the Osmonds and sit in the front row at their only Australian concert on the world tour. During the concert I took this video of Marie and Merrill singing one of Marie's big country hits "Meet Me in Montana". I posted this clip to Youtube and am amazed that more than 50,000 people have now viewed it!

Here it is:

Macro...

After a long wait we finally added a new lens to our Nikon lens collection.


Both Robert and I use Nikon cameras so this is a shared lens. Robert shoots with a Nikon D700 and I'm currently using a Nikon D90.

I thought I'd share some of the photos I've taken recently, some of which have been taken with the new lens.

Rainforest at Lemonthyme Lodge

Seaside Daisy

Moss cover rock on the forest floor at Lemonthyme


Delicate growth


Champagne Falls


Painted Gull


Spider's Handiwork

Forest Stream, Cradle Mountain

Ash Cloud at Sunset

This week the ash cloud from a volcano in Chile has been creating havoc across southern Australia. I took these photos earlier in the week as the sun was setting. The colours were amazing!

Dramatic Skies...

Dramatic Skies...

I drive past this lovely spot every day on my way to work and the scenery is always changing. I finally took the time to stop yesterday afternoon to catch this dramatic sky and the river in flood.

On my travels recently...

Fogbank across the eastern suburbs of Launceston

Autumn...

These are just a few of the photos I've taken recently on my travels around the north of the State.

Reflections taken at 41 deg South - Salmon & Ginseng Farm

Garden Colour...

Fresh Tassie Salmon...

Waterbirds on the North Esk River on a cool Autumn morning...













Baby Kitty keeping her toes warm...

Agfest 2011

The first weekend in May is one of my favourites!



I look forward to Agfest every year and this year I spent the day with Sacha and Jared. Agfest is one of the best agricultural Field Days in Australia - so much to see and lots of delicious food to sample.

After stopping for an Anvers Hot Chocolate to warm ourselves we usually head for the craft sheds first, especially since the Olliebollen van is parked right outside - Yum!

Sacha was keen to meet Frank and Nikki - our Tassie BettaMILK ambassadors.

These two are very friendly and lots of
fun! They had a
long line of people
keen to meet them
for a photo and a
signed poster.









We're "Tassie As..."











The weather was just perfect - no wind and warm enough to peel off a few layers of clothes towards lunchtime. We made the perfect choice for lunch this year - fresh battered flathead, calamari and hot chips, along with a bowl of delicious tempura mushrooms washed down with a bottle of ginger beer - extra zing of course!!!




After lunch Jared stopped to look at his dream machine - a BMW touring bike - a steal at a mere $27,000!

Dreaming...








Along the way we stopped to watch the 4 wheel drive demo down on the corner of Sixth and North Street.

Big Boys and their Toys...


Its a long day with so much to see and do and lots of walking down the avenues and streets. After a final stop at the craft sheds to purchase some yummy fudge and nougat, 2 bags of fresh Tasmanian apples and a mother's day present for my mum it was time to head back to the car.

However, I think everyone else had the same idea as us because we sat in an endless line of traffic for 45 minutes waiting to get out onto the highway for the 15 minute trip back to town.

Roll on Agfest 2012 when we will do this all over again!!!