Preserving whatis important.......

It is very cold here tonight, the type of night that one can sit in the quiet, hear the waves pounding down on the beach and the whistle of the wind in the background. I can shiver and be glad that I am indoors. J has made a quick dash by train to Sydney to meet Miss K and help her drive her little car down south here. She wants to clock up some driving practice and so this is definately the area to do that. She can drive us to and from work for a few days, take us shopping after work and perhaps visit her Grandmother. That should clock up quite a few miles for her practice log. Never a young woman to do things in a hurry, Miss K will one day get her licence and and like her father and I swhe will want to explore every corner and faccet of the country.

I have recently made a photo book so that no matter what happens to my computer at any time my favourite pics will be preserved. Should you ever wish to see some of them simply look through my book case for one called Heather''s Work 2011. I have this fear that they will be lost on the computer one day so this way they will remained safe. It is amazing what one considers important and worth preserving in life. For some it is their home, their jewelry or even their fmaily heirlooms.; for me it is my photos. They take me to so many different parts of the planet that J and I have visited, they shelter and protect a memory of a new experience and a wonderful time but most importantly, each photo reminds me to really see what is out in the world rather than simply look at it. I guess some people visit a place on earth, shop there, have a quick look and then tell people that they have been. But for me when I shoot a photo I want to sample that place, taste the culture and hear their music, know what they represent and feel their joys and sorrows. Yes my pics hold more than a picture which was at the end of my lens. Now the only down side of being like this is that one ends up with thousands of photos on your computer lol. What do I keep, what do I get rid of???? I hope that you enjoy my photos.

Putting Life Into Perspective.........

This is just a quick post, some thoughts that I have recently had. Of how people can be so much worse off than we, of how the predicamennts of others can put our lives into perspective and of how life can be special without us even realizing it.

During the week I suddenly wondered what J and I would do once we finished work at Cresswell. The end is fast approaching and like so many others in the construction industry we have nothing to continue on to. What with the recent state elections and the end of the financial year approaching much of construction has been placed on hold or cancelled outright. J and I often consider ourselves lucky in that we have no debts like so many others. We simply have to worry about living, which can be expensive enough as it is but managable. But every now and then, like so may others, I wonder about the future and each time that I do this something happens to remind me of how fortunate we really are. Call it fate, call it faith or perhaps we could call it providence but each time I find the answers.

During the week a milkman, yes a milkman, and his wife contacted us to ask if perhaps we would like to place an order with them. I thought how strange this was at first. Then the wife explained that 80% of their businessw had traditionally been derived from supplying the supermarkets and shopping centers with milk and dairy products; that they had traded for over 50 years like this. Now those large business groups (W & C) were developing their own delivery services direct from the suppliers and the services of the little local milko were no longer needed. Hence, at a moment's notice this elderly couple who had been the "local milko" to the area for their entire married life (52 years) were redundant. How sad I thought and how scarey for them. What does one do when you are in your sixties and have toiled at nothing but the same thing since you were 19 eyars old? I wonder if there are programs out there for people such as this; more over I wonder just how many people such as these two, are out there in the very same predicamnt. What does one do when you can no longer produce an income or when your usefulness in the working world has reached an end? Imagine the despair, the worry and anxiety. One has to feel for these people.

Some thing like this puts life into perspective for us and makes us realize how lucky we are. J and I often talk about how happiness in life can really be based on a stress free life style rather than a materialistic lifestyle. That it is a freedom from worry and anxiety that really is the ultimate goal in life to strive for. I guess one could call it a "peace of mind".

I hope this couple, and many others like them, find peace of mind.

Photos- Autumn leaves have such character all of their own

Whilst in Melbourne J and I visited Queen Victoria Markets. The difference between these markets and most others that one would visit is that Vic Markets have so much history about them that it is fascinating to walk around and sample the wears.

The Queen Victoria Market was officially opened on 20 March 1878 One of the most intriguing stages in Queen Victoria Market's history was during the 1960s, when the Market was associated with the infamous "Honoured Society". in 1963, a stallholder was shot.

This was the first of 5 shootings associated with the Market. These shootings, it is claimed, were carried out by the "Honoured Society", some of whose members had entered Australia through an illegal immigration racket and were using extortion to cheat immigrant Italian growers out of thousands of dollars .

Between the years of 1837 and 1854, much of the land on which the Queen Victoria Market now stands was the site of Melbourne's first official cemetery, which housed the remains of an estimated 10,000 early settlers Numerous bodies remain buried beneath the existing car park.

I loved walking around the market and I loved the stall fronts in the food section especially. At times we felt like we were walking back in time.

There was a wonderful chocolate maker. He made each of his wonderful delights by hand and the intricate decorations on them were amazing.

There were several wonderful delicatessens with homemade dips and fettas.

And the pasta maker was enthralling with the vegetable and raw produce that they used' spinach

Melbourne Town Mothers Day 2011...............

Last weekend J and I headed off to Melbourne to visit the Tutankhamen Exhibition at the Melbourne Museum. Because this was the only facility to host the exhibition it was up to the visitors to make their way there.

I first read about it on the internet and applied to join a ballot of 2 million people who wanted to purchased tickets and of course, J and I were delighted when the tickets arrived a week or so later.

So last Friday we left work and drove home for a quick shower and to pick up a bag, then on to Sydney Domestic Terminal for the flight to Melbourne.
Now for those who have never visited Melbourne before it is a wonderful city, especially for public transport. They have not only trains, buses and taxis, they have trams as well and one simply hops on and off the tram whenever you wish to.

We left the hotel early Saturday morning to walk to Victoria markets. Like everywhere else in Australia Melbourne is currently experiencing Autumn and so the trees are all such beautiful colours.

A brisk walk through the gardens left me in awe of the gorgeous shrubs and trees and by the time we made our way through the gardens we had arrived at Victoria Markets.

By the time we finished there it was time to jump on a tram and head to Melbourne Museum. The Tutankhamen exhibition was well organized with entry times allotted to each visitor so as to avoid crowds pushing and shoving.

It centered around the life of the child king of Egypt some 3200 years ago. He became king at age 9 after his father died and remained king for ten years. Still today the cause of his death is a mystery.
His tomb was discovered intact in 1968. To view the artifacts on display, I was amazed at the detail and vibrancy of them.

Imagine how difficult and challenging it would have been to produce golden vases, rods and ornamental wears without electricity, every task performed by hand as there was no machinery and no formal education in trades.
Instead most workers were born into families who undertook the tasks of stone missionary , gold production and the creation of coloured paints, etc.

Generation after generation learned to perfect the tasks and trades within the Egyptian cities. A tomb fit for a king usually took a lifetime to build with the Emporer deciding what he wanted included in the tomb to take to the afterlife with him. The twist with Tutankhamen’s tomb was the he died such a young man that it is expected that his tomb was actually much smaller than the usual.
It was interesting to read that the use of modern DNA testing has been used to determine the cause of his death yet still scientists can not say what killed him.

He was mummified and buried according to his wishes and left no offspring to take his place. He was instead replaced by one of his elderly advisors.

In all, it was an excellent exhibition and left J and I planning a future trip to Egypt to visit the pyramids, the Valley of the Kings and even the Cairo Museum. It was worth the visit.

A friend had suggested to J and I to make time to visit Captain Cook’s cottage which is situated in the middle of the Botanicial Gardens in Melbourne. So after a quick breakfast on Sunday morning we hopped on a tram and headed off to Flinders Gardens.
The scenery was of course, lovely and we soon found the house. It was actually the childhood home of Captain James Cook and it was like stepping back in time.

The house had been dismantle d stone by stone and sold to a group of philanthropists who had it reassembled in the heart of the Botanical Gardens.
Even the front door mat was included in the purchase. It is made from flint stone and set into the cement at the front door.

Above the front door I could see the letters JGC and the year 1755. Apparently this was carved by Captain Cook’s father and merges the initials of Cook senior and his wife Grace, with 1755 the year in which the cottage was finished.

One has duck your head to enter each room as the doorways were low ( James Cook recorded as being 6’ 3” in his naval recods) for heating reasons back then and the staircase was quite narrow by our modern day standards.
The back yard was a working garden as in the 18th century families relied on home grown produce for their food supply. The gardens contained vegetables, fruit, herbs, flowers and medicinal plants. Of course chooks and pigs were maintained as part of the food supply as well.

It was very interesting to hear about scurvy grass. Scurvy is a disease caused by lack of vitamin C and was common amongst seafarers back in those days.

Cook prevented scurvy amongst his crew by including scurvy grass (a New Zealand spinach), sauerkraut and other fresh produce in their diet.

Now Melbourne is renowned for it’s intermittent rain and of course just as we finished looking around down came the rain so J and I hightailed it up to the main road to catch a tram uptown.

We stoped at St Paul’s Cathedral which I will blog about separately.
Before we knew it it was time for an early dinner and a flight back to Sydney.We are often surprised at how fast weekends away pass however, when the flight is but one hour long it gives you the opportunity to return again and again.We are heading back for some night photography in the city and we also want to visit the Mornington Penninsula as well.

I look forward to it.

Whilst in the sity I looked at so many of the tall buildings and realised that the rain clouds had desended down over their roofs.

J picked up on the tram routes very quickly and so public transport became easy.

The Intercontinental Hotel

I like to think of these two photos as modernity...the old and the new.