{White} Corner View

Clouds and Surf at Bondi Beach. Beautiful white.

Seagull at Darling Harbour.

**

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is now hosted by Francesca.  It is bloggers from all over the world, posting photos of a specific weekly theme.  To join, just post to your own blog and then link up over at Francesca's Corner View for the week.  Then, visit the other Corner Views ... that's my favorite part !  Seeing the interpretations of the themes, visiting different cultures, learning something new !

Corner {Mineral} View

 

I think this fella had a little bit too much of one particular mineral.

salt.

I found him washed up on the beach the other day ...

***

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is now hosted by Francesca.  It is bloggers from all over the world, posting photos of a specific weekly theme.  To join, just post to your own blog and then link up over at Francesca's Corner View for the week.  Then, visit the other Corner Views ... that's my favorite part !  Seeing the interpretations of the themes, visiting different cultures, learning something new !

day 68 {beauty} 365

(taken with my iPhone ... edited with instagram for iPhone)

yesterday at the beach

birds from {16}

Here are a few of the bird photos I took the other day ...

The Lorikeets are so beautiful but so fast and so high up in the trees !



These birds were so amazing !

I was actually leaving the library parking lot (one of my favorite places to shoot bird and flower photos !) and heard these guys ... I pulled over and took these photos ! I took a little video too. The footage isn't that great but I wanted you to be able to hear them ...

I think these are Common Myna birds ...

They would just swoop in and sit on each other.



Look at the photo below ... see how they stood on each others heads ?!



They reminded me of kids ...



It was almost like they were after their mother's attention !



I never saw the mother but this little butcher bird ?? (above) watched for a bit ...



They were so noisy !

And they just kept getting up and then flying around, low to the ground, and then laying on each other again. Can you see how the bird in the top photo ... the one in the right hand corner is just laying there ... it's like they are playing ... I just couldn't stop watching ! It was fascinating !!

Eventually though, they flew away ! And I moved on to the beach, where I found this little guy.

I think he's a young Magpie ...



He stood there and posed for me !



Seriously ... he kept moving position and then standing still again !



Here's a few more photos of the Osprey ...

I love this one of him cleaning his feathers !



I showed a couple of these photos to the guy at the camera store the other day ...



he said he thinks this is a juvenile Osprey ...



how cool is that ??



I'd love to get a photo of one of these in flight one day !
Of course ... I'm going to need a bigger lens for that !



A beach day photo shoot of birds wouldn't be complete without a couple shots of seagulls ...



There ... Complete !!

PS ... This post is dedicated to my Mom who loves birds !

It's my blog. I can dedicate posts if I want to !!

:)

Beautiful {Aussie} Beach

One of my favorite things about living where we live is our access to some of the most beautiful beaches on the planet. It's great to be able to hop in the car, drive a few minutes, hop out of the car and be looking out over the ocean ! This morning, we did just that. We went early, as we knew it was going to be a hot day. We were right. It was stinkin' hot so we only stayed an hour or so. We were home by 10:30 am !

Rory and the kids had a swim. I read a book.

The beach was chockablock too ! We think because it's Australia Day weekend, it is Sunday morning when Nippers is on, and it's the last weekend before school starts. All of that made for CROWDED !

We didn't really mind though. We enjoyed our morning, came home, turned the air con on and waited for our lunch guests. Grandma and Grandpa !! We had a great lunch and afternoon visiting ... before heading over to their hotel for a swim in the pool and dinner. All in all, it was a wonderfully refreshing Sunday.

And yeah, we did skip church.

We do that sometimes ... and we're ok with it !

Old School Date Night

Rory and I have recently started "date night".
We used to do it when the kids were little ... when we could put them to bed early.
That's not so easy now that Jono can tell time !
ha ha

Last week, Rory's parents were up for the weekend and agreed to watch the
kids while we had a date ... an outside the house date !
Since we are watching our budget,
we decided to get a some nice
crackers, a soft cheese,
some olives and
a nice dip.

We started our night with a walk along the beach.
The photo above is the only one I took the
whole night. I just couldn't resist
that sun poking through those
clouds ! Glorious, no ?
After our walk
which was
windy,

we
made our
way to another
beach and parked ourselves
on a blanket and had a picnic by
streetlight ! It was lovely but when the
light night started we decided to move on.

We walked the esplanade for
while in search of a nice
dessert. Didn't find
anything that
took our
fancy.

So
we came
home.

It
was so
nice to just
spend time together.
Tonight is date night # 2.
We'll be home. Rory planned it.
Since we have borrowed season 7 of 24
on DVD, we're going old school date night.
Rory has bought some chips, dip and COKE !
We're going to stay up late watching episode after
episode of 24 ! I haven't had a coke since we were in Denver
for Christmas 2008 so I'm sure the caffeine and sugar will do their
job and we might get through the whole season tonight ! ha ha. We might
though. We watched the first four last night so we only have 20 hours to go !!
We are planning to hit the BBQ's at the beach early tomorrow morning
though and have a pancakes on the beach breakfast before church.
Hopefully we will be able to drag ourselves out of bed !
We shall see !

Corner {l'aqua} View

Corner View is hosted by Jane at Spain Daily.
Join us as we travel the world each Wednesday ...

This week's theme ... "l'aqua"

~ guest hosted by Dana ~



Life is busy at the moment so I'm only posting this one photo ...

If you want to see something
more interesting you could watch my first video log
that I posted a couple days ago !!

{White} Corner View

Corner View is hosted by Jane at Spain Daily.
Join us as we travel the world each Wednesday ...

This week's theme ... "White"

In my corner you will find Azaleas ...



Magnolias ....



And these beautiful bells ...



White backdrops.



White Sky.



Fluffy White Fur.
And an afghan knitted by my Grandma.



White paper.



White keys.



White clouds in the sky.



White sand.



White light.



White dresses and shoes.



Spiffy white shirts.



White pots full of tea.



And white hot potato soup.

What's white in your corner ?
I'll be round to see ...

Bits {and} Pieces

Ahhhh ... I love the sun going down over the ocean !
Don't you ?

~~

Corner View tomorrow ... the theme is "white".
Care to join us ?

~~

Speaking of tomorrow, it is Alia's birthday !! She is going to be six. It's crazy, I know !! Scheduling difficulties have meant that we are not going to do an extended family party for her like we do most years. We're just going to have a quiet family party at home. She's been asking me to take her to Subway for ages so we're going to get some take away Subs to bring home. We'll do some party food ( chips and lollies ) with it, have a cake, do presents, maybe play some games ... you know, all the simple stuff that they love !

~~

I've got to work today. Just a couple of hours to keep on top of things over the school holidays. I still don't feel 100 % but if I don't go in, the work will pile up and that is never good !! I didn't pack any lunches last night so I'd better go do that now ...

{i still call australia home}

saturday
soccer is finished
neither rory nor i had to work
nothing was scheduled
the sun was shining
and the beach
was callling
to us

armed with our sunscreen

disarmed of our footwear



we set off to find a little piece of heaven



it wasn't difficult
there are so many little pieces of heaven where we live



we took the boogie boards



the kids used them in the water



and on the sand hill



and we enjoyed ourselves immensely



one more day til spring hits this sun burnt land ...



bring it on !!!

I've got to go ... but I want to leave you with a song that my American family and friends will probably not have heard. This particular version is from a Qantas commercial and I used to love it when it came on ! Thank goodness for You Tube ... I can watch it anytime I like now. Do yourself a favor, take two minutes to watch this ... it's beautiful. I love the lyrics. I'll include them underneath ...

I Still Call Australia Home
by Peter Allen
I've been to cities that never close down,
from New York to Rio and old London town,
but no matter how far or how wide I roam,
I still call Australia home.

I'm always traveling, I love being free,
and so I keep leaving the sun and the sea,
but my heart lies waiting over the foam,
I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters spinning 'round the world,
away from their family and friends,
but as the world gets older and colder,
it's good to know where your journey ends.
Someday we'll all be together once more,
when all of the ships come back to the shore,
I’ll realise something I've always known,
I still call Australia home.

but no matter how far or wide I roam,
I still call Australia I still call Australia, I still call Australia home.
but no matter how far or wide I roam,
I still call Australia I still call Australia, I still call Australia home.