And so appears yet another tag with an unrelated name, at least it is a pretty name anyway. I am doing this tag thanks to Bonnie, you can check out here blog here, so thanks Bonnie. And yes it was so long ago that I was tagged to do this that it everyone has probably forgotten, like I had until I saw the draft post sitting there getting lonely.

Rules:

1.Thank the person who tagged you
2.Answer their 11 questions
3.Tag 11 people
4.Give them 11 questions to answer

It is things like these rules that put me off tags, because I don't want to tag people if they don't want to do the tag, so if you are reading this you may consider yourself tagged if you so wish. I assume at least 11 people will read this. 

Questions. 

1. If you could change one thing about the past, what would it be? Time travel is complicated, and gets very messed up, and should not be messed with for your own good, and the rest of the worlds. I should know.

2. Which one of your five senses would you give up and live without if you had to? I was going to say smell, but if you lose that you almost lose taste as well, so maybe taste, that way I could eat things I don;t like and I wouldn't care.

3. What is your middle name? L. No actually it does exist, but I usually write is as L. and it is my middle name. 

4. What animal, starting with the first letter of your first name, do you like the most? Chooks, easy, since they are actually one of my favourite animals, in fact I have some eggs in the incubator at the moment and I'm hoping they will hatch so I can have fluffy chickens too!

5. Would you rather have free Wifi everywhere you go or free coffee everywhere you go? If you know me this would be obvious, but free books would be even better. 

6. How do you want to be remembered? As me. I don't really care that much, I guess being remembered is nice, but it won't really matter once I need remembering. Assuming this is after dying remembering. It is also nice when I people remember I exist now too. 

7. Would you rather have a cat with a dog's personality or a dog with a cat's personality? Neither. I am not a dog or cat person. I prefer horses, or chooks (or any poultry). 

8. If you could master one skill you don't currently possess, what would it be? Magic... please..... I honestly don't care what kind of magic, but anything created by Brandon Sanderson or Brent Weeks or Robert Jordan has got to be awesome. But I would even settle for a lesser magic...... realistically, some kind of martial art would be cool.

9. Would you rather fight one hundred duck sized horses or one horse sized duck? Ducks can be nasty, they may not have teeth but once they get hold of you they do not let go, and they will not run away. So duck sized horses sounds really cool. I would catch them and tame them and keep them as pets. 

10. Which are you more likely to fight for: love or money? This is a false dilemma, either or logical fallacy, there are so many other things/reasons you could be fighting for. Like to achieve some goal, because I believed in the reasons. To stay alive. Maybe I would not fight for either of the above. I don't know as I have never had to. 

11. What makes you cry? Late nights..... When my sisters and I stay up and talk and it gets so late that everything becomes funny and I turn into a ball of laughter and tears, and I just can't stop.

These were such weird silly questions that I think I shall leave them here for people to answer if they wish. I would like to specifically tag one person though Jasmine at Where my Wild Heart Grows, you have been tagged. 

Questions Repeated:

1. If you could change one thing about the past, what would it be?
2. Which one of your five senses would you give up and live without if you had to?
3. What is your middle name?
4. What animal, starting with the first letter of your first name, do you like the most?
5. Would you rather have free Wifi everywhere you go or free coffee everywhere you go?
6. How do you want to be remembered?
7. Would you rather have a cat with a dog's personality or a dog with a cat's personality?
8. If you could master one skill you don't currently possess, what would it be?
9. Would you rather fight one hundred duck sized horses or one horse sized duck?
10. Which are you more likely to fight for: love or money?
11. What makes you cry?

I don't get many spam comments on this blog, but I get a lot on my photography blog. Some of them are just so funny though, especially in the context of whatever post they are on. Most are irrelevant to an extreme. Though some would seem a lot less like spam had they been on relevant posts, but the easiest way to tell they are spam is simply by looking at the email addresses which are lines of gobbledygook. So for your amusement here are a few of the spam comments I have got recently, and banished to the spam graveyard.

Please note there is a bit of sarcasm in my 'replies' to the comments.

"There are some interesting points in time in this article but I do’t understand if I see all of them centre to heart.There is some validity but I’ll take hold opinion until I look into it further. Good post , thanks and we want more! Added to FeedBurner as well."

Why thank you spammer, that article, ah blog post was full of photos and the only words it contained described the photo shoot so I have no idea what you are talking about.

"This is the correct blog for anyone who wants to find out about this topic. You understand so much its almost difficult to argue with you (not that I actually would want… HaHa). You definitely put a new spin on a subject thats been written about for years. Excellent stuff, simply great!"

Again interesting, I am glad you think I am so smart, but what argument were you talking about there? It rather feels like you commented on the wrong website.

"I don’t even know how I ended up here, but I thought this post was good. I do not know who you are but certainly youregoing to ba famous blogger if you are not already Cheers! "

Well I don't know how you ended up here either, and I really doubt that my poor photography bog will ever be in any way famous.  But your comment certainly amused me.

"That’s a genuinely imesvsripe answer."

Do you need help with your spelling??? Oh and there were no answers or questions in that post just photos.

"RE: the unhappy memories of Nazi-era Germany. I empathize as a black American, whose history in this country is–and still can be–painful and degrading. I’ve learned to look back while facing forward, and find a richness in a dark past to draw hope and empowerment fro-s-becaume we’ve come so far from a time when senseless, public prejudices were the norm rather than the exception.To lighten the mood, I am envious! Berlin is right up there with Paris and Vienna for me. Potsdam is right up my alley, as I have an odd fascination with Kaiser Wilhelm II."

I completely understand.... no, wait, what was that all about?

"Tara watching your videos is like talking with a really good friend who happens to be extremely wise. They are so genuine, such a feminine peesvrctipe and so missing in our world. Thanks so much for putting together this website and please keep up your good work. I see much success in your future!"

Yes I know, of course I am so extremely wise, I am glad you recognize that fact. Oh wait, um, I have not made a video for years and when I did they were of birds flying around.... and very wobbly and horrible.

And here are four more short ones that I liked. Especially of course the first.

"You’re the one with the brains here. I’m wanitchg for your posts."
"This makes evtirehyng so completely painless."
"Great hammer of Thor, that is porllfuewy helpful!"
"At last! Someone with real exieptrse gives us the answer. Thanks!"

And those are only some of them, I did also get a few with links in them (more obviously spam) and one about stomach pain, and one on how terrible the pro-life movement is. I got another saying how there are problems with my website that need fixing, and one telling how apple has released some new thing. One saying how this person is so happy for me and telling me to say hi to all my friends which the spammer named named and oddly enough I have never heard of before.

Do you often get spam comments?

Or funny spam emails?

Thanks to Lydia from C'est La Vie I have been tagged. For a rather odd tag I still don't know who I am going to say are my top 10 favourite villains. Except for number 1 which of course is Chauvelin from the Scarlet Pimpernel. Because he is my favourite. Seriously favourite villains...are they meant to be the most nice villains, the most villainiest villains, the best at being villains villains? The most world conquering villains, the villains who inspire most dread..... what does it mean favourite. I don't like most villains.... or maybe favourite could have something to do with laughing... 

1. Post a Top Ten Villains button. 
2. Thank the blogger who tagged you. 
3. List your top ten favorite villains and why you chose them(they can be from movies or books). 
4. Tag ten other bloggers..... 

Chauvelin from The Scarlet Pimpernel... is just the coolest villain ever. I decided that when our town did a production of The Scarlet Pimpernel, I then went and read the book and still liked him. He is a very likable villain and he made me laugh

Erich Von Stalhein is the 'bad guy' or one of them in quite a few of the earlier Biggles books. And I always like books with him in them especially in Biggles Buries the Hatchet where he makes quite a turn around. He is also funny at times.

The Alligator He made me laugh so much when mummy read his parts in her Alligator voice in the book Before You Meet Prince Charming. I would also highly recommend that book for a lot more than the Alligator!

Mayor Prentiss IS NOT FUNNY, he is a scary complex villain. An amazingly written character from the Chaos Walking trilogy, which I would not necessarily recommend especially not to younger readers.

Harry and Mrav from Home Alone, the first one I don't even know if I have watched any of the others... I have almost died from laughing during that movie......... my family actually had to pause it because I could not breathe....

Hrathen from Brandon Sanderson's book Elantris, he was terrifying... And complex and that book was so good, better for older readers but I would highly recommend it.

Kylo Ren I don't even know why I like him, but have you ever seen those silly cartoon drawings of baby Kylo Ren and other Star Wars characters!

Levana from the Lunar Chronicles, she is also scary. And mysterious. And I have not read most of the books yet but I got the next one for my birthday so that is the next book on my to read list, Cress here I come!

And last of all: Captain Hook from Peter Pan.... sometimes I think my favourite villains are just the ones that make me laugh the most... And I am thinking of the book and the animated movie of Peter Pan as I have not seen any other one. 

And because I am lazy I tag all my followers who want to do this tag, if you do do it please leave a comment with the link, or you can just comment who some of your favourite villains are.

So, quite a few weeks back I was awarded the Liebster Award, which I have got before but I decided I would do it again anyway, but before I got around to doing it I was tagged yet again and now, if you are reading this, I have obviously got around to finally doing both of them in one post.

As always the procedure to follow is:

• Link back to the person who tagged you
• Answer 11 questions
• Try To Tag 11 bloggers
• Ask them 11 questions
• Let them know you've tagged them through social media
• Have Fun 
• And (in this case) answer the other 11 questions

I was tagged by both Susannah Joy from Frosted Woods Dreamer and Katie from Sparkly Ambitions. 

Susannah's Questions and my answers:

1. Generally speaking, how old do you think you should be when you get married? And how old do you want to be when you get married? God's timing is best. But I think it is good to be able to be married when young. As to how old do I want to be... I suppose that would be not much older. So lets say 21. 

2. What is your favourite thing about blogging? Taking photos for posts, and getting comments, and being able to connect with people from all over the world, it is really so amazing!

3. Tea, coffee, or hot chocolate? Coffee is definitely the worst. Oh wait, you meant which do I like the smell of most? That would be tea, just please don't make me drink it. Hot chocolate is okay to drink sometimes, but only when it has marshmallows floating in it because what is hot chocolate without marshmallows?

4. What is your favourite website? (Not a blog) That is a tricky one, can I say Goodreads? I go there a lot of the time to review and rate books I read. EVERY book I read gets some kind of review and ones I read ages ago usually just get ratings because I can't remember enough.

5. What's your favourite hobby? Photography, and if you say I can no longer count it as a hobby then I shall say just art in general, like sketching and photo-shopping.

6. What's your favourite Bible verse? F-A-V-O-U-R-I-T-E, see that word, makes this very hard to answer, impossible in fact. I could give you some verses that I like so much I am currently memorizing. 

But I will hope continually and will praise you yet more and more.

 Psalm 71:14

On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased. 
Psalm 138:3

"Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the LORD GOD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation." Isaiah 12:2

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. 1 Corinthians 3:18

Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. 2 Corinthians 5:8

7. Do you play any instruments? Nope, nope nopety nope.

8. What's your favourite season/time of year? Autumn, which is right now! Any other time when it is not stinking hot and preferably not too cold will also do... but wearing long jackets is a plus if it is rather cold.

9. Do you have any pets or animals? Chooks and a duck. The duck is an ancient useless Muscovy duck. One of my chooks (Speckled Sussex) is also old and almost useless, I have two Australorps and three Araucana.... and all the rest of my chooks died recently from various different illnesses....

10. What do you think you'll be doing in 10 years from now? I have no idea, lets just imagine a nice possibility though. I have a fair sized photography business, and a small family of my own, and in the spare time that I no longer have I am editing a book of mine for publication. Unlikely but we can dream, right?

11. What's your favourite book to read, and what's your favourite book in the Bible to read? I almost never re-read any books..... I have re-read The Lord of the Rings, and I will do so again. I have re-read a lot of kids books, and read some to my little brothers that I read to myself when little.... but they are not really favourites. Other than LOTR I can't think of any others I have re-read at the moment, so it must be my favourite. As for the Bible, I have re-read it a lot of times. I am always reading through Psalms or Proverbs though, because one chapter from those books is a great way to start the day. 

Katie's Questions and my answers:

1. What's your favourite hang out spot? It can be anywhere, from a special spot in your back yard to a nook in your bedroom. Where I am now, at my desk, it is kind of in a nook in the schoolroom. If I really want to imagine there is no one else around (impossible anywhere in this house) I get out my earphones and listen to an audio book while editing photos or something similar. Then I can just imagine I am alone. Other times I just wander around the yard, go see the chooks or go down to the big swing attached to one of the largest gum trees down the back.

2. What do you think your best day ever was? That is a hard question. I am not sure that day has come yet. Ultimately I think it will be when I see Jesus the first time... but maybe those days will only get better and better, which kinda makes this question harder to answer.

3. What's your idea of a perfect evening? Most fun evenings definitely involve watching a fun movie with my family, preferably one that I have not seen before. But sitting by the fire in winter listening to mummy read a really good chapter from the read aloud we sometimes have is also pretty much perfect.

4. Do you like Taco Bell? So I had to google what this mysterious 'Taco Bell' was, and it turns out it is a chain store/restaurant that I assume is quite common in America and there are apparently a few in Australia. But I have never heard of it before now. Infact I looked up Chain Stores in USA and got this result for Taco Bell "Leading Mexican-style quick service restaurant chain, with more than 5,800 restaurants in the US; serves tacos, burritos, signature Quesadillas, Grilled Stuft Burritos, nachos etc"

Whatever all that meant... I probably would like it, but I probably would not like it. Although I like the taste of a lot of fast food and other places like that I don't like eating it because I can't help but think of all the horrible things that are probably in the food: preservatives, colours, flavours and stuff like that.

5. What's your top 3 favourite blogs? That is a hard question, I follow a lot of different kinds of blogs.... So my favourite book review blog is Paper Fury and I follow so many photography blogs but one I read today was Eliz Alex Photography and I also follow a lot of writing blogs and some other ones for the story the writer is posting on there but my favourite story at the moment is The Firewall Saga (PG rated, a lot of violence and weirdness, but an epic story so far) And that is three, there are so many more though, but those will have to suffice. 

6. Coffee or tea? Yes, let us outlaw coffee so that no one ever has to drink or smell it ever again!

7. What's a show you could binge watch all day long? The only 'show' as in tv show I watch is um.... Doctor Who and that is back with the 10th Doctor.  And I really would not want to spend a whole day watching that, or any tv show really. That would be a rather wasted day.... Unless, say, I was not feeling well. Still, reading a book could be more productive, but imagining I was so sick I could not concentrate on any book... I would like to sit and watch all of the hobbit and Lord of The Rings Movies or all of the Star Wars ones, that would be rather fun.

8. How about a movie that you could literally watch over and over? I would need Captain Literally to force me to watch anything over and over. There are some movies (like the Princess Bride, Bourne, Sound of Music and others I can't think of atm) I do like watching over and over but months and months apart please.

9. Favourite nail polish colour? Like brand and colour. I don't actually ever wear nail polish....ever.

10. Time travel forward or back in time? Can I come back again? If not, I shall go back, but not back too long ago, maybe 100 years. But if I can return, then I shall go as far forward as I dare and then come back and write the most realistic dystopian book EVER!

11. If you found a genie's lamp, what would be your 3 wishes? Well I suppose I could do all those unselfish things like stop all bad things, feed everyone in the world, and make Jesus return. That is actually a kinda boring answer though, a very boring answer. 

So assuming that the genie could not grant wishes for more wishes or anything that was not material... and being selfish, I would ask it for, a flying island with a giant library stocked with every book I will ever want, in the middle of some paddocks of horses. And an invisibility cloak because I have always wanted one of them and some way to fly up to my private island. Okay, I will share it with some people but they'd better not harm my books, otherwise....


Now I have to think of questions and award people. Well, I award any person to uses the word 'eyeball' in a comment and anyone else who wants a flying island or a giant library. If you don't want to do a post, just answer some of the questions in a comment.

Questions:
1. What do you sort your books by? Would you sort them differently if you had enough room?
2. How many centimeters long is your hair?
3. If you had a flying island would you share it with anyone? Who?
4. Have you ever dressed up medieval?
5. What was your favourite game to play when you were little?
6. What is your favourite board game?
7. How is your flying island normally attached/anchored to earth? 
8. What colour are your eyes? and what book character has eyes that colour?
9.What does your family cook on the BBQ? (and if you are American, do you know what a BBQ is?)
10. If you could bring back one item from a dream what would it be?
11. How do you tie your hair up?

So hopefully someone will answer some of them, I went to all the trouble of thinking of them. Come on, I know you want your own floating island! If you do do a post, link to it in the comments, and have fun.

Five hundred is a large number, at least as far as numbers of blog posts posted. A number like 500 requires a celebration. So on reaching 500 posts posted with this very post, I have made these seriously cute little bookmarks, because no reader can have enough bookmarks right? And I think that most of my followers are readers, and if not the make good gifts to give on! Especially when they are sparkly and some have owls attached to them. 

This is open internationally, because it is just no fun when giveaways are not. Like last time there will be two winners, the one chosen (by the computer/rafflecopter) first, will receive their favourite bookmark; the second person chosen will receive either their favorite or second favourite bookmark and another, depending on whether both people have the same favourite.

And here are some photos which are a bit closer up.

I have had a lot of busy afternoons recently (and I shall be posting about some of them soon,) so I took all these photos indoors during the middle of the day. Which means they look a bit different to most of my outside ones! 

I had such fun making these bookmarks, hope you enjoy the photos and of course two of you will get some of them! I can't wait to see who it is. Down at the very bottom of this post is the rafflecopter thing to enter with so enter away! It runs for a week before finishing. 

And my sisters (should I just say Jane) you are allowed to enter this one and if you happen to get chosen then I shall pick a third winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is a test post. Or at least a post to test things with, on around. As you may be able to tell my blog is looking very different. As is my sisters blog, although only slightly so. Jane decided she wanted a different header image, some photos of her looking towards mountains with elvish writing on them. So a day after Christmas she dragged me outside into the freezing air so we could do a photo shoot before and as the sun rose. I got some nice photos, including this one. The change of header on her blog necessitated in changing a few other things so they went together. This image we used as the background as you can see if you go have a look at her blog, and maybe even leave a comment.

Here you can see my really old header images, my current and a sneak peek of my future one. I got tagged for the Lovely Blog Tag quite a while ago; Thanks lovely Sarah from Ink and Paper Tall Ship. But I decided I really had to do this post today because my blog will be looking very different in a few days! Still I am sure it will be lovely, well I know it will be. My blog has changed a lot since I started it back at the beginning of 2013!

But onto the tag...

The rules are simple: Give seven fun facts about yours truly, and then give this tag to fifteen other great blogs.... seriously 15, I think I shall have conveniently forgotten how to count by the end of this.

I did that tag last month but got tagged back by my lovely cousin Jessica..... obviously I should have changed the rule that allowed it. But I am endeavoring to answer her odd assortment of riddles.... well mostly number 1 and 3... they are decidedly illogical...... But I have answers... of a sort. I have also edited the previous riddle tag post and written in the answers to all the riddles on it.

Along came another tag and I grabbed it as it passed. Sadly the rules did not manage to slip through my fingers, though they were changed a little. I like riddles, probably because I am good at them...well it's true. So thanks to Katie from Sparkly Ambitions I have been tagged. But I must begin.

Well This is my 400th post... as the title clearly states and it is also a giveaway, as giveaways are cool. I will be giving away one of these five necklaces that I have made. I figure that whichever one the winner chooses can be posted in a normal sized envelope, so this is open to international participants as well as people from Australia. Hopefully you realized before the previous sentence that I come from Australia and not somewhere else. In case you did not, I hereby state: I am Australian through and through, and proud of it!

So follows the photos of my metal, chain, wire, marble, and bead creations, otherwise known as necklaces. 

This one does hang like this sometimes.... but it is notoriously difficult to untangle...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If any of you read my sister, Jane's blog you may have known we spent last week at the beach. So why have I had no photos from it? I took a lot. But I really do have a good reason. I did my first wedding photo shoot the weekend before and am still going through (almost two thousand) and editing the hundreds of photos, I have not touched the hundreds I took on holidays yet, but they shall come. So shall a few of the wedding but after I have got the photos to my clients.... oh that word clients... it sounds so serious but I don't know what else to say.... so clients it is. 

Well The other day.... actually more like two weeks ago I hit 19999 page views. I actually saw the number... and remembered to get a screen shot of it. I also have an extra follower or two since then.

In my all time stats the US has also finally topped Australia. I do wonder though just how many of them are fake search engines and how many are real people.

And there are individual posts. I find these stats the most fascinating. Some of them make sense of how they got so high but others? Seriously that one on making door-stopper chickens? That was a very early post full of terrible photos and... well it has hundreds more views than anything else, I would assume someone must have pinned it to pinterest or something. 

The giveaway post is also high... well who does not like a chance to win free stuff? So I have been thinking about doing another when I reach 400 posts, I can't decide what yet. But as for the bottom two I have no idea why they have so many views.... I don't have any idea at all why they are so high. 

The movie review of God's Not Dead makes sense, as it could come up on search engines and people who don't normally read my posts would read and share it. As with the Rangers Apprentice one I suppose, and the DKT. In the case of the Blogger award one, well people like me probably keep finding it by following links back... forever. The riddle one though? I don't know. I never thought they were that good and the answers are there now too..... sure it got high fast originally but why is it still going up?

Ahh the mysteries of stats.....

As for the giveaway I thought it could be a handmade necklace..... that could be posted most places without much cost. 

I'm doing a shout out for my sister today. Jane has a blog over at The Misty Mountains. She has decided to start writing something a bit like a choose your own adventure story. She will be posting the next part each week and then give you readers three choices of what you want to happen next and you can vote for the one you want in the comments. So head over to her blog and check out the first part of Dusty Red....where the story begins. (yes it is my photo).

The story could go anywhere..........

Please don't let that terrible photo and the others you will see as you scroll down kill you. I promise they won't, though it almost kills me looking at them. But I am killing myself for a good reason. Comparison can be an evil thing for photographers (and writers too). In our day and age we can access so many wonderful photos of anything (almost). We can also be tempted to compare ourselves to other photographers. We look at their photos and see how much better they are than ours and sigh... "what is the point... surely I can never be that good, so what is the use trying."

“Comparison is an act of violence against the self.”~Iyanla Vanzant

Comparison can lead us to give up and stop trying, don't. Look to those photographers as inspiration, and go and practice. Enjoy taking the photos you take. I enjoyed taking these photos back in 2005. Yes they are terrible photography-wise but they were a start. Everyone has to start somewhere.

“Comparison is the death of joy.” ~ Mark Twain

As to why you get to see these embarrassingly terrible photos.... Well they prove how bad my photos were and of how much I have improved. They are also part of another point I want to make. Comparison can be good, (yeah I know I just said it was bad) but only if you are comparing to yourself. I am very glad of how much better my photography has gotten. Very...

2006

Because we are human though, we compare. So, if you must, then compare to me... see where I was, and where I am now. It is possible. With practice, it is possible to get magnificent results. I just revel in that feeling, when I capture a moment so perfectly and I know I have just taken a photo that I have always aspired to take. So scroll on down and see how my photography has changed, through the years.....If I can possibly call this stuff at the beginning photography.....  

2006, yes this is actually a selfie....

2007

2008 (I bought my first digital camera)

2009

2009

 I did occasionally even take photos back then that I still like now. Like that one at the beach, which is rather nice. I decided to only use photos of people, because then I only had to go through a certain amount of photos. Back then I only very rarely took photos of people. I preferred flowers... generally blurry ones. As you can see though, I did sometimes take photos of people.

2009

2010

2011

2012 (I bought my second digital camera)

2012.... yes I used a tripod

2012

2013

2013 again a tripod.... because that is me

2013 (borrowed a friends Nikon DSLR)

2014 (bought my own Cannon 600D)

2014

2014

2014 

As you can see the camera does help, to a certain extent. But really I bought a better camera each time, because I wanted one that could do more, because my photography had improved. The thing that counts most is practice and training yourself to see the photos.

2015

Don't compare to other photographers. Look back at how far you have come. Look at others for inspiration and go out and take photos. Yes some of them will be dreadful (but if you don't put them on social media no one will ever know how dreadful some photos you still take are). Dream on, Lord willing you will get there, you will be able to capture that picture, just as you always dreamed of doing.

Comparison to others takes the joy out of things, whether it is photography, writing or even life. So please don't do it. Just have a go, take your camera for a walk and get clicking.