X marks the spot ...

... where ABC Wednesday has moved to - LOL

now ... eXactly what should I post about for X ?

maybe the fact that I am usually eXtremely late with my ABC Wednesday posts? (my V/W one, which isn't about a "VW", is still sitting as a half written draft ... might just re-cycle that into a normal post ... or I can probably think of an eXcuse to make it fit another letter ;-)

surely there must be a few words that actually START with an X?

[Andrea googles "X"]

hmmmm ... I think I did that one other time around - lol - if you want to know what comes up then I guess you can go google it yourself ... and get to see what odd thing they have instead of their logo (or if they just have "google" there) ... today it is something with Roman numerals in it ... one of which is X  - lol

X is usually used as a variable in algebra/other maths stuff ... but if you want to see how eXciting maths can be - there are other ways to approach it than just crunching numbers ... I recently "lost" an hour or 2 here at this interesting website - LOL (I also lost a few hours at a few other websites too, including B#$%^%&^ Facebook - lol )

talking about X being an unknown ... I actually DO know this bloke - (I might see him tonight actually - seeing I will be at the friend's place where I know him from, and he might turn up for a visit ... or he might not - one never knows with him) - http://www.mikixdues.com/main/page_musicvideos_music.html ... and he gave me a copy of his CD a while back ... and what I heard when I hit the play button (which is what comes up first when you hit play on the page that this link goes to) was not quite what I was eXpecting ... (I wasn't expecting that me - a middle aged mum - would nescessarily  like the stuff on a CD that, from the stuff on the cover, looks like it belongs to one of my teenage kids - but it is quite different - and I like it! LOL)

hmmm ... I won't post any X rated things, but I could bore you all and rave on and on about X chromasomes and X - rays and stuff ... or I could actually POST this before it is too late to add it to the linky thingy ;-)

but I might chuck a photo in here first ... because I can ... lol

If you abbreviate Christmas to Xmas it starts with an x ... and I just dug around and found a photo that was one of many I took with the vauge weird idea of making them into Xmas cards to e-mail/blog/etc ... so I am just firing up GIMP (an eXtremely useful program ... not sure why anyone pays for those other image editing programs when one can download this one for free!!!) ... so I can "draw" a star on it so you can "borrow" it and have a Xmas card for next year (or an eXtremely late one for this year ;-)




Anyway ... maybe I should have made a New Year photo/card instead? LOL

Ok ... I did ... LOL



If the above image isn't doing anything and doesn't have any "fireworks" - you will have to click on it (for some odd reason, and it might only be in the preview I can see before I post this and be ok once this is posted, it works when you just go to the direct link for the image, but not in the actual post)

and now ... I should stop messing around trying to teach myself to do transparent animated .gif images in GIMP (I learnt lots - like not to use white words when you are putting a picture with a transparent background in a place where, anywhere but this actual post, it will end up being displayed on a white page! lol) 
... and I should go do something useful ... like get ready and wander over to where I have been invited to celebrate the New Year - LOL


oh ... one other thing ... I can't do a post about X marking the spot without mentioning going fishing in the boat with Dad - where, if we actually caught any fish, he would always joke about putting an x on the side of the boat so we knew where to come back to next time ...

Merry Happy Whatever

... it is you are celebrating (or not) today ...

I just won something!

... when I was least expecting it - LOL

no - not the lottery/lots of money or a car/house/etc  (I wish) ... seems I have won a "Zentangle" drawing ...

... oddly enough ... I was not trying to win this one (I didn't even know it was up for grabs) - I was trying to win a different one - this one ... and in the process of doing what had to be done to enter that, I had to become a follower of her blog (which I wanted to do anyway ;-) 
So I dived over there, and hit the "follow" button ... and went and walked the dog ... and came back to find a comment on Facebook to say that I was her 100th follower and had therefore won a Zentangle, just for being her 100th follower!

a what?

a Zentangle ... a kind of drawing/doodle thingy ... her blog explains it ... they seem to be the latest craze ... well actually they have been around for a while now I think ... oddly enough - the "doodles" I have been doing on and off ever since I remember (at least back in High School) look a bit similar ... seems I had already invented my own version? LOL

I should do some more doodles/drawings sometime ... actually ... I have done a couple recently (I kind of got inspired after seeing Zentangles on peoples blogs ;-)
... but I have not taken photos of them or scanned them yet.

hmmm ... I have not had a giveaway on my blog yet ... kind of missed/never got around to it at 100 posts ... and missed 200 and 250 ... maybe when I get to 300?  or maybe I should work out when I started blogging (er ... just looked at the date on my first post - oops - missed the 5 year aniversary too - lol)  ... and if I did have a giveaway - I am not sure what to give ... I might have to make something ... won't be anything huge or expensive though ... unless people start paying me 1000's of dollars for stuff I make or something ... which is about as likely as me finding out I really did have a rich cousin of a great uncle or somesuch, who I didn't know about, who has decided to leave his money to me, rather than anyone who is more closely related to him ...

pity I still have not got around to checking the crochet granny square patterns I used to have on my Geocities page (I know that some of them had a mistake or 5 in them) - I could put them up as a Celebration that I have been blogging for 5 years and 1 1/2 months ... gee ... it is THAT long?! LOL
(and - yes - feel free to ROTFLOL @ the fact that I have only posted about 260 posts ... plus a dozen or so on my other blogger blogs, and 4 or 5 on a few other blogging sites I tested out here and there).

"... I am a teapot, I am a teapot ..."

Actually, this isn't a post about Teapots ... but it will do for my ABC Wednesday letter T post, which I am almost Too late for ... I was Thinking about posting something else (about Torrential rain, among other Things) but The I found This (the mostly written post that is below this bit I am typing in pink)... and figured if I quickly add this bit and Throw it up There - Then it will be done ... and the other stuff I want to post about can be posted for my U Thing ... (Unless I just do that as an ordinary post and Use something else for U).

So ... here is a Totally strange example of how Time and I just don't seem to get on Together ... That, or it is just another example of a Terrible blog post ...

I have had this post saved as a draft since January ... but there was nothing In it until about September [when I wrote some of it] ... and I can't remember what the heck I was originally going to post about ... but It will do for a title for an ABC Wednesday post for the letter I ... which Is the letter we are WERE up to a few weeks ago ... although I am still wondering where the last several weeks have gone - last time I had time to post an ABC Wednesday post [the last time before I wrote this bit] we were only up to the letter C ... and I didn't have time to post what I really wanted to post about anyway (it involved too much time fiddling around with photos - some of which I had not even taken yet, let alone put onto the computer - lol). I did type some of an F post ... but I never Found time to Finish it ... (pity - I now have about 3 ideas for stuff I can post about for the letter F and I keep missing it!)

Anyway ... I had better get on to what this post is meant to be about - seeing it is something that actually does fit the title!

The main thing that has HAD been keeping me busy for the last few weeks, is WAS finishing all the weird stuff I was making for the ACT Textile Arts Association's "Garden Tea Party" exhibition - which is what fits in with the teapot title ... that and the fact that I think that once people have seen some of the weird stuff I have made, I will have now proved to all and sundry that I am totally and utterly insane ... I must be - at the moment it is 4am ... and a few days before the exibition ... I came in here to send an e-mail and check if I had any e-mail I needed to know about/do something about - after having stayed up way too late finishing off a few things for the exhibition, because I have to deliver them tomorrow, in my lunch break ... yes I am still up after 4am and I have to go to work in the morning!!!   ... for some odd reason (maybe because I am too tired to realise that "just having a look to see what letter we are up to" was probably NOT a good thing to do right now?) I ended up looking at what the last thing I posted was, and what posts I had saved as drafts, and hunting for one that might fit the next letter we are up to ... which at the moment will be I ... now lets see IF I actually get around to posting this in the next few days before it is too late for It to be my I post ... lol

nope, I didn't - LOL

[Andrea goes and sleeps and comes back to this a day WEEK or 5 later]

I totally forgot I had started writing this, and started another post, and then changed the name of it and finished it, and posted it just In time to sneak in for the letter I ... but ... It was about the Garden Tea Party exhibition ;-)
I also did a J post, then got busy/went away and totally missed K, but I snuck in a Late L post Last night ... and I found this while I was looking to see if I had already started a post I could/should use for N, Next week (I didn't need an M idea - I have already started doing a new M post last night - we will be up to that letter tomorrow) ...

I Notice that this one is Not an N post ... Or an O post or even a P Post ... but can/will I remember about it when it it Time for the letter T?!

Or should I cheat and schedule it to post itself when it is The right Time?
(Trouble with That is - I still have to remember To go and add the link To the linky Thingy ... so There is probably no point in even Trying to do that sort of Thing)

hmmm I Think I actually AM posting this when I said I would - at "T Time" ... but probably not the same T Time I was Talking about ... I Think I missed it That Time and now it is the next Time around ... (seeing That Two alphabets usually fit into a year and I started this in January and it is now December).

I probably should Throw in a couple of photos ... must be something T related That I can quickly find in my photos ...

How about a Tree?

... with pretty marks where The rain has been Trickling down the Trunk.

And - a "secret santa" present, wrapped in "Tin foil"

(Actually aluminium foil, but that doesn't start with a T)

anyway ... Time to go ...

beofre I get Totally silly ;-)

(but first, I should add the Tags That I almost forgot to add)

Still Life?

I took this photo on my desk at work today:

well ... they say that "Life is a bowl of cherries" ... well Someone did (can't remember who ... maybe I should "google" it and see if I can find out? ... So - I just did that - aparently everyone and his dog said it, or Something Similar, and Some have even Sung Songs about it) ...

... and this bowl of cherries is not moving anywhere.

- so it is Still, and it is life, so does that make it a "still life"?  ... or am I supposed to actually draw or paint it before it is a "still life"?

Actually ... I can do an approximation of that with the "Art effects" in the photo editing software - LOL

not sure I am that fussed with that "work of art" I am sure I could do better, if I tried harder (funny - my school report cards used to say that ;-) ... but I didn't want to Spend too long Stuffing around with photos because it is almost "Stupid O'clock" and I probably Should go get Some Sleep Soon.

but ... Somehow I couldn't Stop myself - I had to have another fiddle:

That is a bit better ... but I Should Start with a photo that doesn't have a Strange looking Shadow that Stuffs things up.
(it would have been a bit hard to avoid the Shadow actually - I used the flash in this photo - the photo I took without it was blurry - and there is almost always a Shadow with the flash ... especially with close up - because the flash is to the Side of the lens ... So the angles are Slightly different - so the lens can See the Shadow to one Side ... or Something like that)

I guess I could do Something really Silly:

(and I Solved the "Strange bit where Shadow was" problem by cropping it out ;-)

hmmm - I think that last bowl of cherries could be MY life?

btw ... I did start typing a Q post for ABC Wednesday, but it kind of never got posted ... nor did an R post (which I think I started adding to the end of my Q post so it was going to be both) ... and my S post was going to be Something else, but I won't have time to organise the photos in time (in fact I just noticed that this is too late for an S post too - the linky list has closed already - hardly Surpising Seeing it is now Tuesday evening and Therefore Time to do a T post - Tut Tut Tut ... "Tempus Fugit" and all That ;-) ... so I might post this Shortly anyway (if I get around to putting the photo onto the computer once I have walked the dog and done all the other Stuff I have to do this evening) ... or maybe post it Tomorrow ... and just add it in the comments, and I will either just post about that other thing, that was originally planned as my S post, later/not for ABC Wednesday, or I might Save it for Some other letter I can make it Suitable for ...

Oh - btw - I am Still alive ... just been busy doing other things besides organising myself enough to get around to getting my photos on to the computer and blogging ... Sigh ...

[a bit later]
ok ... dog is walked, camera memory card is in the computer and camera software is having a look what is on there (it Seems to do that rather Slowly Sometimes) ready for me to transfer the photos to the computer, which I will do Shortly, and keep typing Some more of this post while that happens ... 
(It might be a Strange way to do things, but my posts don't get typed in the order they get read, which you might have noticed if you have been brave (mad?) enough to read Some of the posts where I have changed colours every time I have come back in later and added more stuff - I start typing then add bits in later at the top, bottom, middle, etc as I think of bits to add there ... so they sort of makes sense to read, but what you read first is not always what I typed first ... in this one I typed a bit at the top, and the bit about P and Q posts, then came back and typed the bit just above what you are reading now ... then I added the photos below here and typed the stuff to go with them ... then went back and added 2 more cherry photos and wrote some more Stuff to go with them ... then came back to this bit and am typing this ... and now I might add a few words/fix a few typos if I see them and then post this ... once I have gone and Said Something about Sunsets that I just remembered I was going to Say at the end of this post. ... are you confused yet? ... I think I am ;-)

This WAS going to be a post without all the usual Silly Stuff and Stupidity that I Seem to have been posting lately ... but ... Somehow I ended up with Some Silly Stuff to Say ... (and I took Some more photos, and then when I went Searching for those and the cherry one I found Several more photos - which is Several more than I thought I would be Sticking in this post - oops?)

... it Started when I realised that by the time I got out the door with the dog, it had Started to rain again ... So it was a rather Soggy walk, involving Several S words, like Slosh and Slippery and Sliding in the mud and Stuff ... although even if it had not Started to rain again - the ground/grass/etc was So wet the doggy would have been Soggy anyway ... Same with my Shoes ... actually I wore my Slippers (really a pair of moccasins, that I Sometimes use as Slippers, and that Sort of need a wash anyway so I wasn't bothered about them getting wet and Soggy) I wore them because I didn't want to get my Shoes that I usually wear to walk the dog even more Soggy and Saturated than they were, because I might want to wear them tomorrow (er ... make that "today" now that it is after Mindnight - lol). They were Still Slightly Soggy from when I took the dog for a rather long walk last night - it wasn't raining but it had been all day - and besides the fact that all the grass/etc was wet, I also stepped in what I thought was just some shallow water/a very wet patch of path - but it turned out it was a puddle to rival the one that poor "Dr Foster" Stepped in when he "... went to Glouscester, in a Shower of rain" ... Seems he "fell in a puddle, right up to his middle, and never was seen again." poor Sod ... lol
(hmmm I wonder who wrote that poem? [andrea "googles" it]  hmmm - it seems nobody knows who wrote it ... but the version on Wikipedia ends differently than the way I learnt it as a kid ... I think I like "my" version better ;-)

Anyway ... here is the Soggy doggy:

he was licking his feet dry, while I was busy messing around with the camera ...

... I was taking a photo of Something on my Slippers:

a Slug?  No ...

when I looked closer I noticed it was ...

- a fuzzy caterpillar, that decided to hitch a ride inside ...
(I guess it is lucky it Stayed on my Slipper, because if it fell off I may have Stood on it)

here is another photo, of the caterpillar curled into a circle in my hand, just before I put it outside (in a plant pot under the front porch).

This one might be worth clicking to see the big photo - its fuzz looks quite pretty because it has tiny droplets of water in it ... glistening like jewels - I guess the caterpillar was dressed up in its finery ready to go out for the evening?
(probably going out for dinner ... without realising that IT was probably the main item on the menu?)

... talking about Strange Slimy things like Slugs and Such - all sorts of things come crawling out in the wet weather - look what DD found on the bathroom window the other night:

 
ok ... the bottle is full of dog shampoo, but what are those things on the outside of the window?

- a Snail,

 and a slug

actually there was more than one Slug, the others did not show up in the photo (or they crawled onto the other window/the wall/etc before I took the photos - which I took from the inside)

Slugs and Snails like the rain (I have to look where I walk if I go outside - so I don't get Slimy Sticky Squishy Slug/Snail Slime on my Shoes or, if I am barefoot - which I often am, Squished on the Soles of my feet - ugh!)

This Snail was climbing the bush in the garden a day or 3 before I took the photos of the bathroom window.

(you might have to click to get the full size photo to see the snail ... although I can see where it is - but that is because I know where to look ;-)

There is one other S word that I don't think I will mention here - because I don't want to Start getting Scads of Spam comments ... and I don't want the Sort that I would be more likely to get if I mention THAT word on here ... So ... I will just have to describe this as Some beetles ... making more beetles:

and ... talking about ensuring the Survival of your genes ... I think that is what these 2 butterflies might have been trying to do:

They were down the bottom of Black Mountain somewhere - I have been walking there a few more times lately - I walk from work in to the middle of the city (which is just the other side of the mountain) and go to whatever I have decided to walk into town for, the DH meets me in there and we go out to tea ...
which kind of defeats the purpose of the excercise of walking in there - LOL
Yes I did say THEY - there are 2 of them - the Second one is below and to the left of the other one (about half way between it and the bottom left corner of the photo) - it has its wings folded up so you can't see the bright orange - it blends in with the Sticks rather well! There were actually Several (dozens even?) butterflies flying around chasing each other ... often in pairs, but sometimes there would be 3 ... 2 males chasing the same female maybe ...

Talking about bugglies and Stuff, and other Small items of wildlife ... the other day, I Saw Something in the bottom of the washing basket when I went outside to get it (to put more wet washing in to hang up):

hmmm ... there is definitely Something IN there ...

yes - did you really think I could write an "S" post without at least one Spider?!!!!

it Seems this Spider had Sorted out Some lunch ...
(and, i fI remember rightly, I even managed to tip the Spider out into the garden without it loosing its lunch)

Speaking of things that catch and eat flies and other Small insects ... I found (on the memory card of photos I have just put on the computer) Some more photos of whatever Species of Sundew (Drosera sp.)  this is:

this one has lots of Shiny droplets of whatever that Sticky Stuff is (the stuff that the insects get Stuck in) - this is another photo that looks really pretty if you click on it and look at the full size version. (well - I think it does ;-)

and talking about pretty things - one last, but not least, S thing:

Spook - curled up on the bed - with the Sole of one of her feet Showing - LOL
(one can also See a round black Spot too - she is a rather Spotty, Splotchy looking cat ;-)

wow ... an S post and no Sunset/Sky/Sundogs and Such ... there were a few Sunset and Sky photos on that memory card ... but nothing that really Stood out above anything else ... and I have lots of Sunsets and Skies in other posts so I figured I Should Stop Searching for Stuff  ... it is now well and truly "Stupid O'clock" ... time for me to Sneak in to the Shower and then Slide in to bed ... I guess one advantage of me being up So late - I Should be tired enough to go to Sleep quickly - which means less chance of being kept awake if DH Starts to Snore ...
(if he Starts Snoring when I am Sleeping, I Stay asleep ... but if I am awake ... it keeps me awake until he Stops for long enough for me to go to Sleep)

btw ... don't hold your breath, but - if I get time in the next few days, I might post most of that P/Q post, which doesn't have the photos in it yet (that is why it didn't get posted when we were up to P and/or Q and/or R) but I won't put the photos in that one - because I have only written some of what goes in between the photos, and I can put that, and the photos in another post ... if I have Time to find the photos and put them in there it can even be my T post (T for Textile art, rather than Q for Quilts and the other Stuff I was going to use for R but then decided to do for S, but Still didn't get it organised in Time)
Trouble is - I really Should be posting my T post Today (as in Wednesday ... which it now is, even though it was Tuesday when I came in here and Started Typing this post, and there was still a bit of Tuesday left when I came back and put some photos onto the computer and Typed the rest of this Strange Stuff) ... but I am not sure if That T post will happen or not - Some of the photos I want to use are not on the computer yet, and Some of them might not have even been Taken - Sigh ...

If I don't get Time to do a T post, then I will just have to find another letter to make it fit ... we should be up to W when things get a bit less busy for me - so I can post about "What I have been making all year" to cover all the quilts and crochet and other textile art stuff I have done and been meaning to blog about but not got around to it ...

btw ... I just took a couple of Stupid photos of the dog ... DD got up for a P and called out to me to turn around and look behind me - and there was the dog Sleeping in one of his favrouite Strange positions - Streatched out on his back, legs in the air Showing the whole world that he is a reall HE (he has not been "Snipped" So to Speak ;-)
No - I am not Sticking the memory card back in the computer and putting that photo here ... I do need to get Some Sleep!
(I have been having early nights for the last few days, but these days it only takes one Stupidly late one and I am Stuffed for the next couple of days ... Sigh ...)

goodnight ...

(I have read through most of this once, but still keep finding typos ... but if there are any more - then too bad - they can Stay ... LOL)

Parhelia ... and other Peculiar Photos.

well ... I said that last Photo from my Previous Post might kind of lead to this one ... and if I actually Publish this in time for it to be my P Post for ABC Wednesday - then it Probably will - LOL

the last photo was a Peculiar looking sunset ... with a link to a page on this website - http://www.atoptics.co.uk/ ... I originally found that website when I went searching for some other weird thing on there, which I read about on some blog (no I can't remember what one - I look at rather too many, and once I got lost looking up the thing I saw mentioned I probably never went back to the one I had been reading at the time) ... anyway ... I ended up looking around on that site, and noticed something about Parhelia - otherwise know as "sundogs" ... which I think I had seen mentioned in some book I read once ... and had never known what they were (I do now ;-)   
The odd thing was - not long after I read that info about them - I actually saw some! (I don't recall seeing them before that ... and I am sure it is the sort of thing I would have noticed/remembered even if I had not known what they were - in fact I would probably have been more likely to remember seeing something like that if I didn't know what it was).
so ... it strikes me as a bit Peculiar (or maybe it is just Me who is Peculiar?) that I have seen them several times since ... and also a few other odd things that are on that website (although I do remember seeing some of those in the past, before I knew what caused them).
Anyway ... this is probably all a bit boring ... time for some Photos?

actually - it is time to save this Post for later, seeing it is not quite time to Publish it yet anyway, and go do some more imPortant things ...

but first ... while I am in the right folder of Photos - here is a Photo I took just before the last Photo on the Previous Post:

yes - there were sundogs (Parhelia) that time too ... well Possibly only one Parhelion (they often come in Pairs, one each side of the sun, but only if there are hexagonal ice crystals on both sides of the sun for the light to be reflected in) ... a very faint one, but it was there ... for a few minutes ... then the Parhelia faded and the upper tangent arc appeared.
(the sundog is the rainbow coloured patch, level with the sun on the edge of the dark ring around the sun, a bit below and to the left of the middle of the photo ... it is only a very faint one so you will probably have to click through to the full size Photo to see it)

Ok ... Off to do that Other stuff now ...

[later]

... but when I added a bit of the stuff below (a link and a photo or 3) it was only a little while later ... although I have added most of it now - a few days later ...
I kind of kept Playing around - stuck a photo here, and used it for my blog background ... but it was the wrong size so I stuck another one here and used that ... and it was also the wrong size ... (I just deleted those ... they were almost the same as the next one, but with a grotty grey background instead of the Pretty green and grey)

I also ended up Pasting the Photobucket URL/etc (below) into this Post:

http://i545.photobucket.com/albums/hh371/aykayem/Blog%20Stuff/PA041091.jpg (used to be bg b4 I put the above there

... and I didn't even put another ) at the end - lol
(and "bg" is my abbreviation for background ... I knew what I meant ... I tend to use a lot of those sort of abreviations if I am writing/typing notes to/for myself ... and if I am writing/typing stuff for others to read I have to remember NOT to use them - lol)

Peculiar? - yes, Perhaps - but it was a good Place to Put the link in case the 3rd Photo did not work either and I wanted to Put the link back in the thingy so that it could still be the background.

But I did a bit more fiddling, and re-sizing of the Photo, and came up with this:

... which, as you can see (well - until such time as I change it again ;-) is now the background image on this blog.

ok ... this is Probably all getting a bit too Peculiar ... so Perhaps I should get back to the Point of this Post and Put a few more Photos of Parhelia or something in here and then Post this ... ?



Problem is ... where did I Put the Photos of Parhelia ... it would help if I knew what dates I had actually taken Photos of them! LOL

oh well - I will Peruse a few folders and see what I can find:

er ... Piles of Photos! ... and I only looked in 2 folders of Photos (which is about half of October - I take LOTs of Photos ;-)

Anyway ...

here is a Pretty Pink Peony:

 That was at a meeting I was at - and my tea cup (beside it) has a Pink Pig on it (but you can only see Part of it - the Posterior Part - ie its rear end!). That reminds me - a Person wants me to e-mail her this Photo (and/or the other one - I took a couple) ... I don't Put Personal details about People on my blog (unless they want me to ;-) but it just struck me as a bit of a Peculiar coincidence that her first name and surname both start with P ... and, so I had her e-addy to send it to - she gave me her Pretty Purple buisness card!

ok ... I had better Pick up the pace here, if I want to get through Prattling on about the Pile of Photos I have just uploaded, and actually Post this ... lol

Some Pine trees...

 with wallaby/kangaroo Poo in the foreground ;-)

another Photo of the Pine trees - looking quite Pretty in the light

 those 2 Photos, and the next 2, were taken on my morning walk on the Sunday of the quilt retreat.

... the Pine trees/etc looked quite Pretty in the early morning light:

 ... not so sure about this Puff ball in a Pile of Poo (rabbit Poo I think)

a Pretty Pink grevillia flower somewhere near home

and our Peculiar "Puppy" dog:

 what IS he eating?

- yes - soggy wet dirt!

 I guess it tasted Particulary interesting ...

A Power Pole ... but that is not the reason I uploaded this Photo

the clouds have rainbow colours in them!

 there is stuff about this sort of thing on that website I mentioned - the one with the info about Parhelia ...

... and talking about Parhelia (sundogs) - yes - I saw, and Photographed, a parhelion (sundog) that day too!

 it is only a very faint one - on the left hand side of the photo (level with the sun) ... the sundog did not last as long as the rainbow colours in the clouds did.

this photo technically is't a P one at all ... but it does have a Purpose - I found it in the same folder and decided to Put it here while I was thinking about it/knew where it was.

 it is a photo of a wattle tree in flower, and the Purpose of Putting it here is because it shows what I used for my inspiration was for some fabric Postcards that I made for a Spring Postcard swap on an art quilt e-mail list. I can't seem to find a photo of the Postcards either ... maybe I forgot to take one before I Posted them? ... I do still have the spare ones I made, so I can take a Photo of those I guess)

Here are some Pretty Pink flowers at the base of our "street tree" (the one that "they" planted on out nature strip)

I think they are actually sprouting from the rootstock, below the graft - lots of ornamental/etc trees are actually grafted onto stronger (but less pretty) rootstock so that they have nice strong roots/etc to grow a better tree on top .. or something like that ... lol

here is a close up veiw of them:

More Peculiar clouds, with colours in them:

if one was to Paint a sky like this in a Picture - People would think it was a bit Peculiar!

in fact they might wonder what Planet the artist was on ...

 ... or what kind of Pills they had been taking!

 er ... no wonder I have a Pile of Photos on here ...

Pretty Purple Plants (lavender) with a bee ...

and this is where I should be - in bed!

 yes - this was after a bath (which he needed after I took him for a walk and let him have a swim ... and I let him swim in the Pond because he kind of needed a bath anyway). Note that he has his head on MY Pillow!

no - we not quite at the end of the Photos yet - LOL

Here are some Pink flowers that I have in the garden

 and if you Put your mouse Pointer on the Photo and click to get the full size Picture - you will notice there is lots of Pollen on them.

ok - we have had some dog Photos - here is our Peculiar cat:

 sound asleep in a box (with Polyester quilt batting in it) that is only just on the coffee table! (I decided to be a nice Person and Pushed the box a bit further onto the table after I took the Photo - Poor thing would have been a bit Peeved if she had rolled over and the box fallen off with her still IN it ;-)

and ... this seems like a good Picture to finish with - a Pink sunset:

yes - that is the tower at the top of Black Mountain (where I took that huge Pile of wildflower Photos) ... but this Photo was taken from some Place down the bottom of the hill ... where I had just been and watched a rather Peculiar Performance ... (I am not sure how long this link will still work for - but it was this is what I had just been to see ... or if that link it dead this one might work ... the Person did say there was a blog with stuff on it but a search didn't find anything except one blog that had nothing on it yet and more was "coming soon" ... rather a long time ago).

Perhaps I had better Post this?

oh Poop! - it is way Past "stupid o'clock" and I am still up ... should be going to bed ... and I have just noticed I am getting hungry ... lol

I wonder what else I WAS going to Prattle on about in this letter P Post?

Perhaps I will never know ...

if you hear a "Plop" or "Plonk" sound shortly - it will be me "yawning my head off" ...

.... goodnight.

Oops? Or something ...

... I was going to call this ABC Wednesday O post "Odds and Sods" ... but I have already used that one!

I could have called it "Oh Dear" ... but - that particular video I took got fried when one of my camera memory cards died while trying to upload the stuff from it ... which is probably a good thing for you lot because it wasn't suitable to post here anyway - it was just a bit ... er ... Off - lol
(someone else took a video of the same thing, and their version is, or at least was, online somewhere ... but I am not going looking for it - lets just say it involved a rather drunk person at a Christmas party, and a reindeer decoration on someone's lawn, and leave it to the imagination)

Ok ... so what shall I post about ... any Old thing? ... all sorts of Odd things?

or should I take the Opportunity to find something that I wanted to post about anyway, that I can make fit the letter O?

Of course what I should do, seeing I am still UP after 3am On a night where I have to get up for work in the morning, is head Off to bed and get some sleep!

I seem to have done what I Often do, and got "lost in cyberspace" again - Ooops?

[One day later?  ... er no - forget that - I am still here - LOL ... I threw these photos up while I knew where they were, then curiosity got the better of me and I just had to see if I could find out what they were]

How about some Odd little plants

... they are very Old ... well these particular ones are young - but they are Old as in - this type of plant has been On this planet for a long long time ... longer than flowering plants etc ... Ooops - I forgot what they were called ... they were more things I saw on that wildflower walk ... and the expert who showed them to us did say what they were, but I forgot the name ... but I remember him saying they were primative plants ... not sure if he said they were related to or came before mosses and ferns ... methinks I might have to google ... but google what? "weird plants" probably won't find them - LOL
hmmm ... I might have actually found it! ... it could be something called Austral Adders' tounge - Ophioglossum sp. ... a couple of websites about that plant genus mentioned that it has rather a lot of chromosomes ... and I think I remember the bloke saying something about that when we were looking at the plant ... it is a type of fern ... an Odd, but fortuitous?, coincidence that it should be a plant with a name that starts with an O ... LOL ... in fact both the Genus and Family are O names Ophioglossum genus in the Ophioglossaceae family ... but Oh what a mouthful those botannical names can be ... lol

... and I should add a few more Orchid photos?

but first ... Oooooops again - it is now stupid O'clock and I am still Out of bed ...

Off I go ...

[a few days later - yes really - I did go to bed, eventually, and now it is probably time I was thinking about, perhaps even writing, the next ABC Wednesday post - because in another day or 2 it will be too late to add this one to the linky thingy]

Ok ... what else WAS I going to add to this?
(besides Orchid photos - seeing I have mentioned those - lol)

Orchids would be nice I guess - I don't Often post Orchid photos to my blog ... probably because One doesn't Often see them ... except  seem to have seen Oodles of them lately - lol

[Andrea goes hunting around in her photos]

Oh - that nearly gave the blogger editor a heart attack ... adding all 18 photos (that I just uploaded as I found them) all at the same time ... lol

Ok - I promised Orchids:

Here is One I had forgotten about - growing in Mum's garden (I took the photo while I was up there a few weeks back)

 now ... back to the photos I took On that wildflower walk:
- a few purple Orchids

 One can see why these Often get stood On without being noticed underfoot - One leaf and a bud comes up, and becomes One flower ... sticking up On its Ownsome ...

Or in this case 2 - because they came u side by side ...

 ... and a spider seems to have made its home in them.

Ok - here is an Odd number of Orchids ...

 3 pinkish Ones.

... and 2 white Ones ...

 seen from the Other side than most Of my photos Of Orchids - lol

this Odd thing isn't an Orchid

 Or a poo (which is kind of what it looks like) - it is a puffball (a kind of fungus).

another Odd thing - and Old cocoon from a case moth

 fallen/dropped on the path and stood On by passing feet.

another Odd looking Orchid

it kind of looks like a rubber monster finger puppet I used to own ...

some hood Orchids

 I was going to put this photo in the Other post but I missed it (which is Ok because I can use it now instead - lol)

another one of my Odd photos

 I take lots of ODD photos ...lol

Ok ... you have probably noticed I am not On the wilflower walk any more - now looking in the next folder or 2
and I found an Orange sunset

 this is One of the paths I Often walk the dog down (or up)

One of my Own flowers in my Own garden

 (not an Orchid - a daisy)

another Odd photo - looks like a rather Odd audience for One Odd pigeon?

 actually the pigeon just happend to be there too - the swans were looking at me, and the 2 blokes fishing - hoping someone would feed them.

another Odd photo

 I took lots like this - for a rather Odd reason - I am involved with an art quilt project where a group of us are all making A3 sized quilts Of different parts of the shoreline of Lake Burley-Griffin - and this is my bit - the bit with the "bird on a stick" (also known by various other names - most a bit rude) 
Once upon a time I used to work in a building near that bird (I think it might be just out of the photo on the left somewhere).

Another Odd photo ... On my desk at work actually!

 it was a collection of gum leaves I had picked up ... they were wet so I spread them out on my desk to dry out a bit before I stuck them between some paper to press them ... and I couldn't help myself - had to arrange them in a pattern ... which may (if I get around to it) eventually end up being my blog header or something ... lol

One more Orchid - this was while I was On the quilt retreat a couple Of weeks ago

 I saw it (and a few Others) while Out On my morning walk.

This is the dog - heading Off home at the end of a walk

 no that is not Our house in the photo (which is why this one is not clickable to get the original size - not sure the neighbours would want people peering at a close up veiw of their front door/yard on the www ;-) we live a few houses down the street from there(in the direction the dog is heading ;-)
I like this as an idea for a quilt ... but with a different house in the background ... maybe one done with a log cabin block or something ...

and last (but actually taken before a few of the other photos here) ... One photo that might sort of lead On to the next post/letter of the alphabet ...

a rather Odd sunset ... note the interesting v shaped rainbow like thingy above the sun (a tangent arc, actually) ... and the "ring" ( 22º halo) around the sun too ... both caused by sunlight reflecting off ice crystals in the sky, according to this website. (I pointed that link to a page that shows both the things in this photo - but there is a menu on the left that takes you to all sorts of interesting stuff - I have "lost myself" there for hours at a time - lol)

I could have kept digging around in my photos (I didn't even look in the Other lot of photos I took - the day I climbed to the top of Black Mountain) ... and I have even more photos that are not even On the computer ... but enough is enough I think ... lol

I probably should post shorter posts, more Often? - lol

time I went anyway - not Only do I still have the Other stuff I was going to do this weekend and didn't - I also have a load of washing to hang Out On the line, and small  pile of boxes Of fabric and stuff to sort Out (Or at least move) - they are kind of sitting in a pile in the way beside the doorway in a space that needs to be clear so that the new lounge can be delivered tomorrow ;-)

and ... the dog will need a walk - I can't make him miss Out today - it is his birthday! - he is now 8 years Old!

Oh - One more thing - if you want to see more Orchid photos (or find Out a bit more about them - they really are quite intersting plants) - there are lots Of photos Of them, and lots of pages of information about them, Online ;-)