fizzy

Nothing like spending time with friends and family, watching the sunset over the water whilst enjoy a cool and fizzy beverage!

Photocollage using some busy, bubbly photographs.

at the marina 2005

A couple more images from December 2005, when I first started taking photographs and blogging.

The bird on the post is one of my favorite images from that day.

beach patrol 2005

I've spent the last week cleaning out my office and improving the furniture situation and during that time I came across old work and other things that were nice to see, reminders of the past. The office is looking much, much better but will take another week or two until everything is in order, still waiting on some furniture. In the meantime, after my morning of tidying, I decided to look at some of the first lot of pictures I took in December 2005 when I first started blogging. I spent a lot of time at Elwood, Brighton and St Kilda beaches in the summer, going for walks or having a relaxing coffee with friends and often snapped photographs. These images were from the marina, I liked the character of the boats, the weather and sea-worn wood and the nautical colours.

(Some of you might remember this from my old blog! That blog has since been retired.)

venice canals

Some snaps from a lovely afternoon wandering around Venice, Los Angeles. I played tour guide and took my friend who was visiting around LA. We went to Hollywood, Rodeo Drive and then to the canals (fun looking at the great houses there) and the boardwalk along Venice Beach. And for that true LA experience, we had Coffee Bean for lunch and also got stuck in lots of traffic!

curing monday

How to beat a case of the Monday's? Take a break from work for swim, sun and relaxing! This is what I did last Monday and plan to do this as often as I can over the summer. Nice.

Image take using Instagram on my iPhone. Love these colours!

See more of my Instagram photos here.

boats, birds

Some more pictures from Redondo Beach last weekend. Quite relaxing to wander the pier and look at the ocean, watch the boats, enjoy the clear day and the view all the way to Palos Verdes (also pictured here and here). Pelicans and various other birds were out in force, trying to snatch bait (or lunch!) from near people fishing. (Images from my iPhone, edited in Photoshop.)

zoom in, panorama

Lazy weekend. Needed to get out a bit so we headed off to Redondo Beach to wander the pier, I'd never been down there. It was pretty busy, as is normal for Southern California beaches when it's nice out! It was good to see a new place, especially after the last busy week, mostly spent very locally.

I liked this picture (taken on my iPhone, I forgot my other camera) of the breakwater at the Redondo Beach harbor, the calm waters inside allowing for canoeing and boating, fun activities, sheltered from the bigger waves and tides of the ocean.

Hopefully more pictures this week! (Or see my Instagram pictures here. One from Redondo Beach.)

central coast drive

Last week we made the most of President's Day long weekend and headed north, to the California Central Coast, for a little holiday. The drive up was lovely. We took the 101 up past Santa Barbara, enjoyed the stunning coastline, ocean and the mountains and cliffs and then took the 154 for a little while, going through national park and past Lake Cachuma and through wine country, with fields, farms and then back to the 101 until we reached our destination. (To be continued...)

historical house

On our trip to DC, we went to Mt Vernon, George Washington's house, garden and estate. The property is huge and contains several farming areas. Washington used innovative farming techniques for the time. The property had been in his family and the house was added to over time to become quite a grand mansion with many outer buildings for staff and slaves as well as farm buildings for animals and storage. The extensive gardens are beautiful and contain areas for flowers and more exotic plants and another for seasonal fruit and vegetables. The large front lawn gives a wonderful view of the house and the back porch overlooks the Potomac.

The tree pictured is supposedly (according to our tour guide) the largest Pecan tree in the USA.

I enjoyed walking around the estate (despite the heat and humidity) and learning about American history and finally hearing how to pronounce "Potomac" as I'd only ever read the name in books and never heard it out loud. (It's amusing to my husband when I say it wrong! But to be fair, I'm still new to America.)

malibu sunday

 Perfect weather meant relaxing at the beach with friends yesterday. Malibu Pier was busy! There's nothing like the sun, surf and sand to wash away the worries of the week. Must make time for more of that before summer's end.

by the lake

An outing with visiting family to Lake Balboa on a gorgeous Spring day.

droplets

Some lovely droplets on a leaf in the Melbourne rain last year.