Yesterday I got up at an insane time... three thirty if you want to know. Then I drove out to the meeting place, from where I followed buses of people and cars pulling trailers full of hot air balloon, to the launch site. From there I watched the massive balloons inflating, and had to duck out of the way of one that tried to creep up behind me and smother me with its voluminous folds (actually it wasn't that close at all and someone warned me that I needed to move, but that does not sound anywhere near as good.)

 The balloons began to rise as the sun did, making for some beautiful light, especially with all the dust still in the air from our cars on the dirt roads we travelled to get to the back paddock of the vineyard where the hot air balloons launched from.

It was a beautiful morning, and again the dust looked amazing. A lit like fog, which you could imagine it to be unless you were standing there choking and trying not to let the camera get to covered in dust.. and failing. Still, so pretty!

Yesterday we broke the highest temperature on record for February in the place we live. It got up to 45℃ which google tell me is also (113℉). Needless to say we did out best to keep cool by staying inside. But I got all inspired, inspired enough to go get my tripod from the car, so I could get photos I needed to play around with. 

My sister was kind enough to let me photograph her eye, which took a while as we both kept falling onto the bed in giggles. Then I needed a person. Who was wiling to dress up in black, me. My other sister did what I told her to do with the camera, (she is really good at that) and We managed to get some photos I was happy with. I used both these shots and another of Jane's eye, so I had one focused on her lashes and one on her iris. 

 And finally it all came together with lots of photoshop layers, experimentation, and fun. I think it looks book cover-ish, or like some story inspiration. Anyway I was quite pleased with the final result. I have called it "Trapped in my Mind."

Retreat is actually the name of the farm my uncle owns. 

We went over there a week ago to celebrate my granny’s 80th, while wandering the farm I discovered a ladder leaning against the main shed. It did not actually occur to me to climb up there until my other uncle (not the one who owns the farm) suggested we could, he also offered to hold the ladder while I went up. It was slightly terrifying, but I got good photos, which is what matters right. There are a lot of chooks at the homestead too so of course I took a lot of pictures of them as well. So without further ado, here are a very few of the hundreds of photos I took at the farm. 

The chook pen is beside the Homestead but you have to go through this really cool gate and vine covered arch to get there. It makes me think of portals to other times and book covers, but it is terribly hard to get a photo of it that looks any good. This one turned out okay though, thanks to the chook. 

 The old homestead at Retreat has recently been done up and is a lovely place to stay, all our family actually fit, with rooms to spare! Which is just not possible anywhere else, because there are so many of us.

Said ladder, that I was not going to climb.... because it was way too high.... but I did anyway.

 The photo below is probably  my favourite shots I took, well today anyway.

And from on the shed roof...

 I was very pleased with how this panorama worked out it is a 180 degree, shot from the corner of the roof.

 even solar panels make nice photos.

 The morning we left I walked out to the hay shed and got some photos there, before hurrying back for breakfast and to help pack up. 

Where have you gone for recent holidays?

Do you have a favourite photo?

My family recently came back from holidays and since then I have had four photo shoots in seven days, (One of which was a wedding) so that equals a lot of photos and when you count all the photos from holidays as well that is a lot of editing to deal with, I have completely lost count of how many photos I am up to now. But I have got some shots I really like. And so to apologize for my almost silence, here are some nice photos for you to look at from my holidays.

As the title says, here are a few little bits of beauty I have noticed and photographed in the last few weeks. Sometimes we can get so much from just stopping and enjoying the beautiful things around us instead of always rushing past to wherever we are going. 

Of course I write this to myself just as much as anyone. This though is one good thing about photography, you have to stop and look around and sometimes even seek out the beautiful things God has here for us to enjoy. Look around and make sure you don't miss out the beautiful things he sends you each day, because you forget to look and really see.

 What lovely things have happened in your life recently?

When did you last notice and thank God for the flowers he sends you?