December Hiatus

A belated announcement to say that AMIAM has slipped into a hiatus this month, December 2014. 

I'm having a re-think about what I want to get out of this blog, and how I want to best use it. 

On the one hand, having to come up with an idea, image daily for a monthly theme has forced me to be more alert to my world around me. I've really had to look at the world with appreciative, inquisitive eyes and not take it for granted. Where I might have otherwise glanced at an amazing sunrise and thought fleetingly, "wow, pretty", I'm now really looking and stopping to take a photo. And as a result, I've taken the time to take some photos and/or drawn some images that I'm extremely proud of. None of these would have happened without my blog. 

On the other hand, there have been quite a few try-hard/uninspiring/stretch-to-make-it-fit-the-theme photos and drawings which I've used simply because I needed to make up my 30-odd images for each day of the month. 

In addition, I rarely post an image without feeling I ought to add some kind of commentary. Some themes are worse than others for 'inspiring' my discussion. So I find I'm compounding the amount of work required for a daily image because of my verbosity. 

I've got my separate Dodo-Au-Gogo blog for all my writing requirements. Given I'm a genius procrastinator, my AMIAM commentary also gives me an excuse not to focus on my actual writing blog...

Come January 2015, I'm going to drop my requirement for a daily image. I'm going to keep a monthly theme and require a minimum of 10 images on that theme each month. 

I thought about letting AMIAM slip into a longer hiatus, but I don't want to give up on the opportunities it provides me with to look for, find and capture an image of beauty in my everyday world. 

So, from now on, 10 images per month it is. 

Now, I only have to think of a theme for January 2015...

Gratitude 30: Tree of Creativity

A tree of creativity, flourishing with ideas and joys :-)

Gratitude 29: Book Browsing

I had every intention of browsing potential presents. Instead a number of books were calling my name... So plaintively, irresistibly...

Gratitude 28: Friday!!

That mysterious spring in one's step which appears on Fridays... Often as one nears the end of the workday...

Gratitude 27: A Hint of a Direction

Gratitude 26: The Late-Night Inspirational Book

Gratitude 25: Thinking Hard for that Breakthrough

Concentrating hard until you get that triumphant lightbulb "A-HA!!" moment. 

Gratitude 24: Treasure

Gratitude 23: A Veritable Feast

Lovely food, all made with love.

Just ignore the tempura-shrimp-shaped knife and trident that seem to be the only eating utensils available :-)

Gratitude 22: Doing a Vegie Shop

Yum!! :-)

Gratitude 21: Feeding a Pigeon

I stalked this pigeon halfway across the train station as it grooved along oblivious to me. I eventually got close enough to toss down some little breadcrumbs that the pigeon then pounced onto with matter-of-fact relish. 

Gratitude 20: Enjoy the Sun

All cardigans, jumpers, shawls or scarves were in hiding today. 

Gratitude 19: Writing to a Friend

It is much easier to draw a figure writing a letter than it is to draw someone tapping on a smartphone, in order to convey the act of communicating with a friend. 

Gratitude 18: Handed in some Reports due

It was nice to submit a number of reports all around the same time! It results in a few nice desk-clearing moments. 

This drawing is how I imagine the reports look  jetting off to their destination in cyberspace...

Gratitude 17: The Most Wonderful Drawing

For the first time ever, a drawing which is not my own appears on my blog!

After reading my "The Sun and the Moon" story, a Twitter friend, the fabulous Kizzywiggle (@RamblingBandit) was inspired enough to draw this wonderful, wonderful drawing of Arigo the Truck and the Tree Man, which she then gave to me!

I have printed it out and pinned it up at my work desk so I can marvel at it, and grin at it foolishly several times a day!

Leaving aside the fact she seems to have drawn it up in no time at all (a measure of her exquisite skill!), she also managed to draw the whole scene, the Tree Man and Arigo almost exactly like I imagined everything!! Oh my! Especially Arigo's eyes! Her long eyelashes are perfect...

Thank you my friend!! :-)

You can see more of her writing and drawing here.

Gratitude 16: Compliments

I received a number of compliments on Twitter - as in, genuinely thoughtful and lovely compliments about my writing! 

The compliments were unexpected and contained wholehearted praise. To make it even better, they all came out of the blue, right on the heels of a crippling patch of self-doubt - which made them all the more wonderful!! I am very grateful to these generous folk in the FridayPhrases community!

(And no, I'm not repeating them here ;-p You can plough through my Twitter timeline if you really, really, really want to see them ;-)

Gratitude 15: Running in the Sun

With happy Yipsters!

Gratitude 14: Dodging Fire

Friday 14Nov14 was hot. Very hot. 40+ degrees with winds. A bushfire started in the lower Blue Mountains (Warrimoo).  

At 3:30, I received a call from a fellow-Mountains-residing work colleague letting me know about the bushfire, and also that the highway was either closed or partly closed. I passed on the message to all my fellow Mountains residents in my building, and there was an early mass departure that had nothing to do with it being a Friday. 

The highway is the main road in and out of the Mountains, and for the most part, the railway lines align with the highway so trains were also affected. 

A lovely friend gave me a lift on the only alternate road up the Mountains (dotted line), which joined the back onto the highway above the fires, at Springwood. 

From the alternate route, we could see the smoke from the fires rising impossibly thick and high, with two helicopters looking like tiny mosquitos as they hovered above. 

We saw first hand, that the police had blocked off the highway at Springwood, funnelling a large backlog of drivers onto the alternate route to either continue their journey or to do a u-ey (Aussie expression for a u-turn). 

There were hundreds at the Springwood train station, unable to go any further down the Mountains. I can only imagine similar numbers were waiting at Glenbrook (at the bottom of the Mountains) on the other side of the fire. 

A train was waiting as though just for me. You'll appreciate of course that the regular timetables had been thrown into chaos. But anyway, the warning whistle went as I got onto the platform and I dived inelegantly for the nearest door. The train which left immediately and we slid smoothly towards the Upper Mountains. 

So thanks to a lovely friend who gave me a lift, and the perfectly-timed train, I wasn't at all affected by the bushfire, and count myself as enormously fortunate. 

I'm happy to say also that, within a couple of hours, the amazing firies had done enough to keep the fire away from the highway and train lines to allow them to be re-opened. Hopefully everyone would have gotten home with only a couple of hours' delay - which, under chaotic and unpredictable bushfire circumstances - is amazing. 

Thoughts are with those in the Warrimoo and Blaxland areas, who had to be temporarily evacuated, but who were allowed back within a day. Hopefully the bushfire will remain contained and will peter out...

Gratitude 13: When the Sun comes Out

Gratitude 12: Grooving Inside

Not sure if it's clear but this is meant to depict travel on a train. 

And the internal grooving to the music in the headphones hidden beneath the calm exterior...

Gratitude 11: Hot Chocky!

Yummy. 

Gratitude 10: Saying Goodbye

A lovely colleague and friend is starting a new position tomorrow. Wishing her all the best and very excited for her (cause she's brilliant) but I still reserve the right to over-react ;-)

Gratitude 8: 20 stars!

One of my Friday Phrases micro fiction stories which hit 20 stars. 

On the theme of 'missed opportunities', I threw in the phrase of 'opportunity knocking' for an image/story that I think is quite powerful and symbolic...

(And I'm glad others thought so too!) :-)

Gratitude 9: Sleeping In

That joy of joys reserved often for the weekend... 

(It's just occurred to me that what I intended as curtains look a lot like a pair of shapeless shorts in mid-air... They're curtains, definitely curtains!!)

Gratitude 7: A Lunchtime Walk

Yes, of course I trip along so daintily when going for a walk at lunchtime!! 

Doesn't everyone?!! ;-)

Gratitude 6: Play!!

The typical greeting from the Yipsters when I get in after work. 

Actually, they're a good bit more boisterous, but it's hard to convey on paper!

Oh, and yes, these are meant to be drawings of dogs. My Yipsters have amazing triangular, pointy ears. Any resemblance to cats, living or otherwise, is coincidental and moreover, is a comparison the Yipsters wouldn't appreciate. 

And now, back to the important point: PLAY!!

Gratitude 5: A Borrowed Umbrella

A big thunderstorm hit Sydney around peak hour on Wednesday 5Nov14. 

A lovely friend lent me her brolley just in case. 

Gratitude 4: Smooth Runnings

The car is now much happier after a trip to the mechanics! 

It's now zooming around irrepressibly!!

Gratitude 3: Lollies

The lollies and chocolates provided by work colleagues. 

Tempting!! Very tempting!!

Gratitude 2: Photos on a Sunny Day

It's always nice when the doggy sits still long enough for you to take a photo. And they don't move even when you get very close to their face...

Gratitude 1: Cleaned Some Stuff

Yup! Cleaned some stuff :)

November Theme 2014: Doodles of Gratitude

I'm going to try something a wee bit more challenging this month.

I was inspired today by the 30 Days of Gratitude posts by Kristi Jo Jedlicki that I came encountered via the Kindness Blog,  

I've decided to do a daily drawing of something I'm grateful for, or pleased by, or just plain appreciate.

While I do try and have a daily 'attitude of gratitude',  my aim this month on this, my AMIAM photo/image blog, is to actually draw something everyday that I'm grateful for.

Umm, I should add that it's more likely to be a doodle than a drawing. 

So, let's see how I go!

En avant: Doodles of Gratitude

The Lilac Carpet

Reaching the end of the wisteria worship for another spring season. Even the last stages are pretty, as petals fall into a soft mauve carpet interspersed with emerald blades of grass... A scene which just makes you think of summer warmth, sunshine and, if you're lucky, a cool breeze...

See you next year, wisteria wonderland!!

The Last Few Wisteria

The last song of the wisteria in bloom. 

More Green than Lilac Now

The wisteria blossoms begin to yield to summer greens. 

Glorious

In full bloom. 

Petals' Playground

Sweetnesses

Shoots, Leaves

Wisteria leaves come up for sunshine. 

Enchanted Wisps

Yes it has. 

Been photoshopped beyond recognition, I mean. 

Very pretty, but surreal. I'll compromise by describing it as "enchanted"...

Layers

Wisteria carefully layered with Photinia...

Eager

Colours of Grapes

Reaching Out to the Moon

So close you can just about touch it ... 

A-l-m-o-s-t!!

Looking Down at the World

Like lilac clouds in the sky...

Growing As Fast As We Can

Wisteria Whispers at Night

Interrupting their dreams of dark velvet, for just a little moment...

Wisteria Weirded

Wisterias on a clouded, rainy day. 

Photoshopped into an echo of its natural state. 

Shivering in the Snow

On the night of 14 October, the Blue Mountains had an unexpected snowstorm. The result was around 20cm of snow which lasted well into the day of 15 October. 

The more prosaic results included: plummeting temperatures, cut-off roads, downed power lines and power cuts, and thousands of snapped branches...

This (cropped) photo of the snow comes courtesy of HD. 

This year's snow effort outdid the great 2012 effort, which also happened in spring. 2013 was of course when the bushfires happened. 

As if we needed more proof Australia is a land of contrasts. 

Waves of Wisteria

A veritable sea of purple/lilac goodness!!

Amethyst and Emerald

Glorious colours in the early morning sun, on a special spring day. 

Loops and Light

The petals are suspended like beads of light in the early morning sun...