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."

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?

Just for fun here are a few things I have pinned recently on my Pinterest board For the Love of Books.

I have not done one of these posts for.... way too long... so here is another. I find most awkward things funny so each thing is kinda both or just funny.

"Bend back, bend back, no not like that, back!" I say to Alice as I am trying to get her posing the way I wanted for a particular photo. Then I realized she was bending away from me but to the side... so "No bend backwards" I demonstrated "Like this." and she finally got it and now it is just funny so when I did some photos of my other sister Jane she of course sees how far backwards she can bend.... while playing her violin. She got a lot further than that photo but the next shot was a bit blurry.

As one of my sisters says when I am taking photos of them, "I like it how if you want to take the photo from a slightly different angle you don't actually move your feet you just bend and tip." Or something along those lines, apparently I look funny.

I go into the post office to pick up a parcel and the lady asks me “what is your address” I stare at her for a few seconds…. Why in the world did she ask that…. What is my address??? Then I realized I’d better answer… “Um 'enter my address',” I said it really fast, and wondered why she didn’t just ask for proof of identity. I think I much prefer that….. somehow when someone ask me a simple question on the spot I often completely lose the answer….

When mummy is cutting Jane's hair “Can you put you eyebrow down!” “See you're cutting it all wonky” (Because she has one eyebrow raised)

Getting this email three times…. bahhhhahaha! Oh, every time I re-read it! You could use it to start a story.

Greetings,

Kindly Accept & Acknowledge my Proposal!

I understand that through Internet is not the best way to link up with you
to inform you about this notification but because of the confidentiality
which my proposal demands. However, I have already sent you this same letter
one month ago, but I am not sure if it did get to you since I have not heard
from you, hence i am constrain to reach you through the Internet which has
been abused over the years. I wish to notify you again that your name was
mentioned as heir to the sum of 5,600, 000.00 sterling pounds. In the last
testament of our deceased client name now withed. I and my team of the Heir
Hunters Company in the United Kingdom are detectives assisting distant
relatives of people who have died with or without making any official will.

As the heir hunter's team of detective, the race is now on for us to track
down the often distant relatives in line for a windfall.  We came across
your profile and email while searching through genealogy database. Note as
the heir hunters our aim is to assist people claim there lost relative
fortune instead of the government or Bank MDS to use the money to in reach
their treasury. Please send an acknowledgment email to enable us process your
inheritance with all due verification process.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Gregory


Waking myself up at night multiple times because I was talking out loud while having dreams about double crossing dragons…. Not very nice dragons... they wanted to eat me, and one betrayed me… and it being a dream I don’t really remember much else.

Ironing the wrong pile of clothes…. What’s more, I normally like ironing except when it is silky material of fancy clothes and the three things I ironed were just that kind of thing. (I have a job for some of the morning, one day a week, doing some household stuff for a neighbour) But anyway those clothes were sitting where I had been told the ironing would be so I just assumed they were what I was meant to iron. Later I ironed the right basket of clothes that had still been sitting up on its perch near the roof (where I can’t reach). And the basket was FULL, it took me two hours to get it all done…. And that is no exaggeration because I get paid per hour so I had to notice how long it took.

For the Summer Reading club this year I was in the adults section and I knew that I had over 200 hours/100 tickets in the prize draw and they read out some stats first. I can’t quite remember now but they said there were eight hundred and something hours ( I think hours, but I at the time I had forgotten that there are two hours to a ticket) reading time done by the adults and I realized just what a huge portion of that number was me since there were about 40 adults participating…… needless to say I won the person who read the most in that category. So many of those hours came from audio books which I have decided are almost as good as real books they are just “invisible books” which really sounds quite cool.

Jane     (she said I should include that one, just like that on its own, and I suppose because she said it that makes it worthy to be included.)

Taking photos of my sister during a ‘professional’ photo shoot I was doing of her, but needing to get down low…. I was half lying on the ground but being careful not to lie on the lens in my pocket (yes as Jane said “You have big pockets”) So I was resting on my knees and elbows and groaning while taking the photos and telling Alice to smile and trying to hide from the low sun behind her all at the same time… and the grass was itchy.

Me during a photo shoot…. Normally I am fairly shy, but not when I am being professional. The husband of my client was talking and talking to the owner of the winery we were shooting at, she had called him a few times, finally I yelled at him across the car park “'his name' you are paying me to take your photos so you better be in some of them” …… And I just did it and it was not embarrassing, but something like that normally would be just so awkward and I probably would not do it, but holding my camera gives me super powers!

When I am so sure there was something else to add to this post but can no longer remember it.

What Awkward and Funny things have happened in your family recently?

I saw this poem the other day and thought that I must never forget how to be a little girl, or at least not for a long time yet. I don't know who to credit this lovely poem to, because where I found it the name under it was Margaret Fishback Powers, but in another place Henry Alfred Dixon. Maybe it was another who really wrote it, I don't know. Most sources say Anonymous. But whoever it was that wrote it I am glad they did.

This poem made me think. We are so often in a rush, from one thing to another. We don't stop, we are not often still. God has given us so many things, small moments to enjoy. It is easy to grow to old and not stop to look at the world through the eyes of a little girl. But here is the poem, so you can read it before I continue.

Yes it is a rather catchy name, or at least it made me go "What, what in the world is that?" So I went to find out. And indeed The Umbrella Festival is mostly just like any markets with a lot of games happening at it as well... baring one odd thing.... there were umbrellas everywhere!

It all started with a parcel in the mail. This parcel contained hundreds of eggs, and some tiny black specks that were already humping around, baby silkworms. Our tree had next to no leaves on it, so we had a dilemma. In the end a question on a local Facebook page fixed it. Someone told us off a huge mulberry tree that grew at the end of a fairly run down street and it did not belong to anyone. 

I realized the other day that I have not done a 'crafty' post in ages, but then I have not really made as much this year as other years either. A week ago I made these little fellows, and took some photos of the process. So here is how I made and how to make a little owl on a stump.

A few days after taking all those photos of books, glasses and keys, (can be found in previous post) I was able to borrow an old pocket watch from a friend. Naturally that entitled another photo shoot of my books and the watch and pieces of the insides, pieces of time....

To read of and glimpse the first part of the day read this post. For the second part, all you have to do is continue on. 

I have set mine eyes upon snow twice in my life. Just a week ago the second time came around. At the beginning of the day we were rather in doubt as to whether the weather would be horrid or not. The predictions spoke of rain, and we did not even know if there would be any snow left, from all the falls on the weekend when everything on Barrington Tops had got covered in a heavy shroud of snow. We set off despite all dire predictions, as we had planed... well rather spontaneously the night before.

The book shop is the best shop in town.... and one of the most dangerous places for me to go, whether I have any money to spend or not. We are friends with the shop owner and I just enjoy being in there, with all the books! I may have walked out without a book once.... maybe... I took some photos last time we went, to go with a silly rhyme I made up. So come with me and take a tour of our local bookstore. Or at least many of the more interesting shelves.

I just finished listening to the audio book of Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

I really would not recommend reading the synopsis from Goodreads, it gives away way too much, here is the one I read. 

"An author whose previous, wildly successful novels have earned him a reputation as fantasy's master of magic, Brandon Sanderson continues to dazzle audiences with this tale of princesses and gods. In this extraordinary world, those who attain glory return as gods. And those who can master the essence known as breath can perform the most wondrous miracles - or unleash the most devastating havoc."

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads, but I possibly should have given it four.... there are no half stars though. Rating books is really hard.

Warning: there are a few minor spoilers in this review.

It is here, the cover of The Tournament at Gorlan! And it is supposed to be released on October the 6th 2015. I had a lot more ravings about it in a previous post. I also linked to a place where you can read an exert, the first few pages of  The Tournament at Gorlan. Mostly it is Halt at his worst, or gloomiest.... typical Halt.

It just occurred to me that I still had not posted some general photos I took while on holidays. Though I am a month late, I shall still post them. So enjoy some of my favorites that I took while on holidays in May.

Our God is an awesome God! Look at the power of the ocean! He made it.

The day before we planned to do the photo shoot we checked out the beach, it was beautiful.... the sand was clean and shiny.... that day, little did we know of the scum that would be allover the beach the next day, but then how could we know?

 Samuel modeled for me that day. The next day we all got dressed into our denim and white clothes and drove to the selected beach. I took photographs in the sand dunes first. I had all these plans of setting up the tripod on the beach to get more photos of the whole family, but the tide came too high and there was nowhere to set up the tripod so with the help of my dad and sister "Walking Tripods" I got photos with me in them, but not any more of the whole family.

I have no photos of this event so you shall have to imagine it from my words, and really when it is as dark as the other night, even I can not take a really good photo. 

Motes of hay drift up, hay that has the slightest dampness to it. We leave our places, by the warm fire crackling behind us. We leave the orange glow and settle down on the hay and lean back against another bale. All along the trailer people talk, I am too far away to hear most of what is said. Wordless voices rise high and fall. 

Rumbles of the tractor engine drown out some of the voices. It lurches forward throwing us all sideways and against one another. Red taillights flash, the head lights cut a bright swathe through the grass as we turn and bounce on. We leave the flickering flames behind. Not a trace of their warmth is left. Chords, strummed on strings. Upon one of the topmost bales a shadow sits strumming her guitar. I reach out and touch her as she plays. 

Music wafts through the star spangled night. Overhead the Milky Way stretches, stars glow brighter as we leave other lights behind. The two pointers shine bright, I follow their pointing with my eyes and find the Southern Cross. It shines right overhead in the middle of the misty streak across the heavens, the  Milky Way. I wonder at the vastness of he who names the stars. His Glory is plain if we only but look. 

We rattle past round bales, fences, a dam. Six wallabies start up in surprise as we rumble towards them, fixing them in the tractors headlights. They flee in all directions, we give chase. "Kangaroos" comes the shout, "Look, there!" Voices exclaim, hands point. Some of the wallabies hop along a fence, trying desperately to get away. They bound through the grass and melt into the darkness.

The tractor and its heavy load rattle away to into the darkness. Back to the fire, back to warmth. As we go voices are raised in song from the rear of the trailer. As those in the middle can't make out the words we begin our own. Song, laughter, hay, starry skies, a beautiful memory, a beautiful world, a great God.

That just says it all

I actually enjoyed it. Well I enjoyed it once it was happening but not for the days before. Yesterday A few days ago our Bright Lights group went to a nursing home and sang for some of the residents. I was the eldest (of our group, not the old people) and responsible for the nine other young ladies, all but three of which were taller than me. I drove seven of the girls there (our car only holds eight people), that was slightly scary. Then we went into the nursing home. It was a little awkward because it took a while to actually find any of the staff. Then we were take to the dementia ward. Because we had forgotten So we could sing for the residents there. 

I had already worked out where everyone would stand and all the girls remembered so that went smoothly. Jane stood at one end and played the flute. After a few song one of the women asked if we could bow or something at the end of each song so they would know when to clap. So I curtsied since I had a long skirt on. I always knew it would come in handy to learn to curtsy properly back when for some reason I did.

I was moved while singing "Trust and Obey" as we got to the chorus I could hear a few quiet voices in other parts of the room and looking about I could see the many of the residents mouthing the words to the song. As we finished one woman said "It has been years since I heard that." We were thanked many times.

As we got to the sixth song I said "This is the last song" and whatever it was called. We were asked to sing again, we managed to sing all six songs again, I figured most of the residents would have forgotten we had just sung them before so it would be as though we were singing new songs each time. The only problem with singing them again was the breathing factor. Despite what you may think breathing is slightly  important. After the six songs I felt a little light headed, but when I curtsied for the second last song I stumbled and nearly fell right over because I was so dizzy. 

Still everyone enjoyed the experience and we were asked to come again next school holidays. One of the staff mentioned how amazing it was that a group of young people would give up their free time for others. It was just a wonderful feeling to be able to do that, young people can make a difference. And those that do really stand out because they are so different from other people their age.

No that photo has nothing to do with singing at the nursing home except it happened on the same day. Later that afternoon an epic sword fight raged from our front yard up to the neighbors a few houses away. And there a knife thrower joined in.

Swords got dented, scratched, chipped. They parried and whacked at other swords and shields. Watchers were randomly stabbed. Missing limbs, and how dead people were were debated. And after all that I was the only one who did not get shot... as it was me doing the shooting. People (like me) were pronounced dead two seconds after a minor slash in the leg, even though I had been "shooting" the knife wielder the entire time she was charging at me. The epic battle raged. 

 Until eventually one of the throwing knives got sorta smashed.  

Quite a fun afternoon really. If you are interested in the making of the swords, have a look at this post on the master craftsman's blog. For a more detailed account of the epic battle, and from one of the sword master's point of view check out this post on my sisters blog.