Full Moon Beauty

Tonight was full moon so Mark and I went down to the beach with the tripod to get in on the action. We took dozens of photos but were disappointed with many of them as they lacked definition. We also realised that we should have cleaned the lens before we started as it had some spots - probably from last night's photo shoot. This was one of the better photos although some of the others were interesting.

Just before I took this a school of dolphins swam gently across the beach just beyond the breakers. It was an awesome moment and although we took lots of photos they weren't really visible as they didn't breach at all, but what an exciting sighting of these beautiful creatures. I was just thinking about how doing this challenge has made us more open to photo opportunities. For me it has become the daily chance to "stop and smell the roses". A great idea and I feel so privileged to have started on this adventure.

Pink Skies at the Shark Rock

This is called Shark Rock Pier in Port Elizabeth. We bought roti's and samoosas for supper and sat on the wall watching the sunset. I just love it when the sky changes to glorious colours. There were some more fiery shots we took this evening but I love the way the pinks are reflected on the sea and even the beach sand looks pink.

There's always something uplifting about watching a sunrise or sunset in all it's glorious shades. It makes me think of that verse in scripture that says, "The Heavens declare the glory of God.." How wonderful to be able to enjoy God's art in such beautiful surroundings. I love being at the coast. Good night.

Fabulous Fungus

This is my photo for today. My husband spotted this bright yellow fungus "growing" out of the side of our garden table this morning. I used the macro function because it's actually quite small - just a few millimeters across. I love the bright yellow colour. It looks almost edible. I was wondering what prompted it to start growing there. The light rains we've had after the prolonged drought?

I need to do some more studying up on the macro function. I just don't seem to get the same definition my friend, Maggie gets with her camera. Whew, this photography is technical stuff! I'm enjoying it and a daily photo is certainly a way to learn about one's camera.

Bonus Photo

I can't resist adding another photo. This is our neighbour's cat keeping a careful watch on the pigeons that come to steal their dog food every evening. Yesterday evening I was taking photos of a group of pigeons sitting on the telephone wire waiting to swoop down and steal a morsel. Their large ginger cat suddenly appeared on the garage wall. The cat isn't really that close to the birds - it's an illusion, but it certainly gives a sense of drama.

Sweetie Hearts

You're looking at the face of bribery here today peeps. As you know I'm the computer teacher for Grades 1 to 3 at my school. We introduce the learners to the ThinkQuest website from Grade 2. It's a secure platform for project work which means that each child has to have a unique username and password to log in. The little ones really struggle to copy their username exactly as it is on their name card - then there's still the password. When we first started out it took the first 20 minutes to get everyone in. So I resorted to bribery. I buy these little heart sweets and any child who manages to log in without my help gets a sweetie heart. It's worth it for my sanity. ;-)

ThinkQuest really is a great site for kids once they get the hang of it. Of course I'm biased because we were world winners in the U12 narrative competition last year. Yeah! A first for South Africa! Well done Team.

Painted Patchwork

Isn't it amazing how once one starts on this challenge everything is a potential photo shoot. Today I took a photo of this "quilt" that hangs in the corridor at school. Some of the Grade 2's and 3's made it in art club. Each child painted a colourful square and then they strung them all together to make this wall hanging. This is just a part of it. I think it's a wonderful, creative idea.

Actually today I also took quite a lot of photos of the birds in our garden. Since our daughter gave us a bird feeder for Christmas we've really enjoyed watching them come and feed. It was difficult deciding which photo to post today but this one won it. Something different. The bird photos have been posted to my Facebook page.

Road Trip

Mark and I are planning a trip to Tanzania in June/July this year. We will be away for four and a half weeks and travel 10 000 km. We will be travelling through the following countries: SA, Swaziland, Mocambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana. That's a lot of kilometres and a lot of Africa!

We'll be spending time with friends and family along the way ending up at Moshe near Mt Kilimanjaro where we'll visit with Mark's cousins, Brock and Delphi. I can't wait. It's going to be a big adventure. Mark has done so much planning, plotting our route and we've organised international driver's licences. He has also bought a special rack for the roof of the Jeep to carry extras like jerry cans, gas bottles and our tent. Watch this space! You're going to see a lot of photos of Southern and Eastern Africa come the middle of the year.

Simply Salsa

This was the start of supper tonight. I wanted to grill some fish and decided to make a mixture to go with it. When I'd chopped up all the ingredients the colours looked so good I just had to take a photo.
The fish was actually disappointing - rather dry and tasteless (frozen hake fillets) but the salsa was delicious. I ended up eating my baby potatoes smothered in it.

Cooking is not one of my favourite things. I enjoy the eating but get very bored with thinking up something to cook every day. Hubby doesn't "do" cooking so it's my lot in life. Ah well, at least he's happy to wash up afterwards.

Feeding time for baby

I'm very excited about my photo today. We have a bird feeder hanging from the hook below the pole. This morning two baby Cape Sparrow chicks sat on the pole while the parents flew to the feeder, filled their beaks with seed then flew up to feed the chicks. I had to take this shot from the study window using the zoom but I'm please with the result. I'm so glad I shot it in time because shortly after this they left.

Thank you Lord for special moments with your creation. I feel like I've had a great start to my day.

The Pretty One

This is our female Staffie, Maggie. She's the brother of Mutt - see my entry for 2 February. Maggie has a beautiful gentle nature. She's very loving and affectionate but she's completely dominated by Mutt who has yet to understand the concept of women's liberation.

Maggie is always watching for us when we get home from work. When I get out to unlock the gate she let's out an unusual sound that sounds rather like "Hawo". So cute. She doesn't often make noises except at that time or when someone dares to have the audacity to walk past our property. She lets them know in no uncertain terms that there's a big fierce black staffie on patrol and they'd better move along fast.

I think this photo shows here lovely eyes and expression. She is totally devoted to Mark and considers herself the head wife. :-)