In Da House!

Is it a mushroom? Is it a rug? Is is a pillow? No - Rosie is in residence and is feeling quite comfortable.

Ghosts From the Past

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!
I found my Mother's old camera under the house and it still had film in it.  I have just had the film developed and was astounded to find images on the film that must have been over 55 years old.
This is the camera.

And these are the images.  My brother as a schoolboy -

and our family home (since demolished)

There are scratches and fungus marks on the film but after that time it would be expected.

Super Moon???

Tonight we were supposed to be able to look out and see a "Super Moon".  It is the closest approach to the earth in a year so it is the biggest and the brightest moon for the year.  It looked pretty much the same as always to me.  Apparently NASA coined the term to stimulate interest in astronomy.  While it is bigger and brighter, the casual observer cannot see the difference.
This is my photo of the moon tonight.

Another Birthday Photo

We are kicking a few goals here.  Today we managed to get a photo that we can use for Lachlan's third birthday.

Not only that - we also managed a family photo!

Jets Down

James played East Ringwood today.  At their last encounter the Jets were given a spanking but today they only lost by 5 points.  The strange feature of this game was an Umpire that clearly had not got up to the part where she learned about free kicks.  On the plus side, she was bad in a very evenhanded way.
Adam continues in his role as runner -

and James attacked the opposition with his jumper.

Jack's Birthday Photo

We have been having great difficulty getting a birthday photo of Jack, Cooper and Lachlan.  Holidays, illness and timing have been against us but we persist.  We think this will be Jack's seventh birthday photo.

Basketball

Pat's team had a tough day today getting well beaten.  If Pat was looking for divine intervention, it did not seem to work on this occasion.  Perhaps next week,

James played Warrandyte and it was a tight game right from the start.

James played well against a determined opposition.  The opposing Coach was telling their key player to "keep on Number 4" (James) so he must have been making life difficult for Warrandyte.  Unfortunately the game ended in a draw 22 to 22 but the standard of play has improved remarkably in the last couple of months.  The last pic. is James and his mate Tyson after the game.

Jack the Auskicker

It was a freezing mid winter morning.  Clear skies and frost on the ground but Jack was thoroughly enjoying AusKick.

He practiced his speccies, his tackles and a bit of ground work.

New Baby Arrives

It took us the whole day for the handover of the new van.  We learned about all the systems and controls over a period of about 5 hours. Now we have it home and will have to load it up and give it a trial run.

Boys Visit

We are still needing birthday photos of the boys so we tried again today,  Cooper and Lachlan had both been a little less than 100% so photos were not high on their agendas.  Maybe next time.

Jack's in the Band

They're putting the band together! Jack's on rhythm guitar and they are playing at Assembly.  We went along for the Concert,

New Software - Yummmm

I love it when new software extends your capabilities!  A new version of my favourite application Lightroom has been released and I thought I would try it out on a rather bland photo of a bloke in a frontier soldier's uniform.
This is the before

And this is the after

Good result.

Jets v Blackburn

The Jets came up against Blackburn today.  The last encounter did not end well and although the Jets did not win today, they put up a much stronger performance.  James worked hard for the team all day.

We last saw him play Blackburn before we went to the US and since then he has really developed his game. Granny got quite excited on the fence.

Hardest working member of the team was Adam.  I think he was on the ground running for the whole match.

James occasionally found it necessary to make sure some of the opposition knew not to mess with him too much.

Pity about the result but congrats to the boys and to James in particular for his improvement in the last month.

Close - But No Cigar

Pat played close to home today against Eltham.  It was a close game but the boys went down fighting.

Passing of an Era

The Slingshot Camper that has been with us for about 10 years is now up for sale.  After a weekend cleaning it is ready for a new location.  It did clean up well and there were no immediate problems.  It is in good condition.

A New Challenge

Just as I thought I had nothing to do a new challenge presented itself.  For some time I have been interested in trying to use film again.  Mr Ebay presented me with an opportunity so I am now the proud owner of a new, old twin lens reflex camera.  It appears to be in good condition so a roll of film will glide past it's shutter in the coming week and we will see how it operates. This is the new toy.

PS I am glad I drive a twin cab ute - this thing weighs a ton!!
As a boy, the camera I used to take photos for a number of years was the "Pucky 1" (it is still under the house and has a roll of film in it).  I was interested to see that these are still being traded in the vintage camera markets.  The marketing guys must have been on something pretty serious to come up with that name.

More Rain

While it is looking like a dry year, we did have a month's rain overnight recently.  Last night we had a top up so the tanks are full again.

Jets Grounded

The Jets played Vermont today and unfortunately they did not repeat previous successes.  They were missing a couple of their key players but the spark was missing.
James, however, had a good day working hard in the packs and harrying the opposition.

There were a number of occasions where James demonstrated that he had good ground coverage (one way or the other). He also made sure that as soon as Vermont had the ball he was on their case.

He had a good day and got one of the Coach's awards at the end of the match.  Well done!

Rains, Floods and Pestilence!

It had been raining all night. I thought there had been a fair amount but then I looked at the gauge.

It was nearly full.  We had had 100mm overnight.  Consequences;
a) the garden will not need watering for a while
b) the tanks are full
c) I had to pump water that had leaked over the floor of the shed.

Tough Day for James

James knew it was going to be difficult today.  They had been moved up a division and the team was down to the minimum through injury and absentees.

What they had not counted on was the worst umpiring we had ever seen.  It appears that the Umpire's "L Plates" were very new.  We can only hope they learn quickly.