Reflection question...

Snapped after a wonderful family photo shoot yesterday...

- and yes, both the family and the shoot were pretty amazing -

a horse drinking deep from a dam right on dusk...

Colour...
or black-and-white??

The Cook and the Chef...

My kids love cooking.

Love getting up their elbows in the kitchen.

Love making messes.

And while I do encourage their enthusiasm for 'making, baking, cooking all the while' it has recently become clear that perhaps I haven't been truly recognising their potential.

...

To explain, I need to backtrack a little...

Has anyone ever seen the ABC TV show 'The Cook and The Chef'?

It's close to my favourite television show.

(Mr Incredible is a fan too - though Top Gear still wins out when push comes to shove!).

For those who don't have the delight of access to the show, it features the fabulous Maggie Beer (The Cook) and sharp-witted Hilton-based guru Simon Bryant (The Chef), a couple of culinary-blessed scalliwags. The pair combine in an Odd Couple kind of way to whip up theme-inspired mouth-watering dishes with delicious unrehearsed humour and an easy cameraderie.

Laughter and drool.

It's a winning combo.

It's almost enough to make me want to get arty and energetic in the kitchen.

(I soon calm down though ... I detest cleaning up!)

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Some of the energy from The Cook and The Chef has clearly rubbed off on my kids.

To illustrate I'll share a little sequence taken in our backyard this week.

The kids had no idea I was taking their photo... I was being sneaky and shot at full zoom on my trusty 18-200mm. They were totally natural and the chatter was full bore.

As usual, please ignore uncombed hair, stained white fence in background - dirty sprinkler water does that - and abandoned bikes near unphotogenic deserted veggie garden.

I do.

I am imagining the conversation, a la 'The Cook and The Chef':

Violet: So Dash, I have never seen mud pies created quite like that before...

Dash: Maybe not Violet, but I reckon you are going to add this one to your next cookbook, it's so good!

V: Ooooh, and what is that ingredient you're adding there Dash?

D: That's a handful of couch grass from behind the old vege patch Violet. It adds a certain cheeky element to the pie. You'll see what I mean in a second...

V: I can hardly wait Dash. I have never had lawn clippings in my mud pies before.

D: You don't know what you are missing, its a great combo... a bit 'out there' but makes the whole experience really memorable... but enough about me...what are you working on there Violet?

V: Well Dash, it's a tried and true recipe from the CWA 1965 cookbook for dirt scones. There is nothing like the homespun charm of a dirt scone, you know.

D: I hope you have some whipped cream for that dish - makes me think of my grandma!

V (giggling) : Oh Dash, you are naughty!!!

...

Do you think my imagination runs away with me sometimes?

Or perhaps I just watch too much TV...

Violet and her (furry) boys

This slideshow shows a series of shots taken this week when Violet tried to take our (non) adventurous Great Dane puppy Axel to meet Rob Roy, the (non) enormous equine terrorising our houseyard boundaries!

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Firstly, Axel sat in our 4-year-old's lap as she chatted to him about climbing trees and riding horses and Barbie Dolls. Then the puppy and his human approached the shaggy shetland (who has momentarily halted eating). As you can see Axel was a tad less enthusiastic about the encounter than his bold owner. The second horse is Cherokee, one of Mr Incredibles steeds. He's gorgeous and snorts a lot (the horse, I mean).

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D'ya like the slideshow... please bear with me as I work out this new (for me) application. Sizes still a bit haphazard, but you get the drift.

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Now if you will excuse me, I have to chase Rob Roy and his followers out of the houseyard AGAIN!

Talk-free Tuesday... change of season

Happy Autumn everyone!

OK, OK ...Khe Sanh. And Acadaca.

I decided too much Jimmy is never enough...
...
So after introducing some of my northern hemisphere readers to the gravelly delights of the fabulous Jimmy Barnes, I thought to myselt: BB, you cannot leave it here. That would just be cruel.

So I had to bring you the unbeatable Aussie rock Cold Chisel pub rock song:

Khe Sanh.

This first version was recorded three years ago...

Man I love these guys...

The lyrics tell of a Vietnam veteran coping with life after the war was over. I know EVERY SINGLE WORD. I would hazard a bet that most Aussies aged between 30 and 60 do too. I don't think it's too much to say that (for this age group at least) this song is almost like another national anthem. Well, an after-dark, after pub-time national anthem. You know what I mean!

...

I am momentarily 20 years old and dancing at 2am in some nightclub in Brisbane, or at some B&S in the bush, screaming along with Jimmy. I confess I am actually doing a little hair-thrashing here in the lounge room... such a great look! Luckily no-one else is up to be embarrassed by me...

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Interestingly (in my trawling) I discovered this version also :

...a much younger Cold Chisel with a 1978 rendition.

Some things just get better with age. Would you agree?

(And I am not talking wine, people!)

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And lastly (if your ears haven't been bashed enough in this post) I thought I should share that OTHER great Aussie 70's rock band, ACDC, with their classic head-banging song:

You Shook Me (All Night Long).

This band are currently doing a sell-out tour of Oz.

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I promise to go all gentle on you next post after these last two blasts into my past.

Hope your weekend was groovin' too.

...

Cheers

BB

Jiiimmmmmaaayyyy!

I love listening to music...

We travel long distances out here - everything is at least a half hour drive away, and while I do listen to ABC radio to occasionally catch up on what is going on in the outside world, my chief choice of audio entertainment is my i-pod. I plug it into the Prado's stereo and my kids brace themselves for Mum's terrible singing, as I belt along with whatever comes up on 'shuffle' setting. I feel quite sorry for them, but have noticed they are taking the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach and are singing mightily along too. Regardless of whether they know the words or not

(Chips off the old block! Ah'm so proud!).

Among the many and varied artists on my little piece of newfangled electronic equipment are some numbers belted out by one of my very favourite old style rock-n-rollers.

His name is Jimmy Barnes.

Or as fans call out when he's on stage:

'JIIIIMMMMAAAAYYYYY!'
(Not that I have ever done that... well, not lately!)

Jimmy led an awesome Aussie pub band called Cold Chisel through the 70s & early 80s.
I have sung (badly) along to almost everything he has ever put out - in discos, pubs and at B&S's. I have swayed and rocked to his gravelly-voiced lyrics at his concerts. He was a wild man, with a reputation for hard drinking and hard partying.

I also had the amazing opportunity to interview and photographing him a couple of times, back when he toured through my old stomping ground of Griffith (NSW). Sadly, those hand-processed black-and-white images belong to my old employer... how I wish I still had them now.

Among the images I took was of the wild rocker with a girl called Alice. Jimmy had met this special little girl during one visit to the town. Alice was just six and fighting leukaemia - Jimmy had a daughter the same age and Alice's story touched him deeply. So deeply, that he dedicated a song to her on an album (when she passed away). I cannot help but think of him in this way (when I hear his music) ... a tough, gruff rock'n'roller with a purpling broken foot (from some over-enthusiastic partying after the previous night's concert) gazing quietly at two little girls playing in a motel room.

I would love to share the song he dedicated to Alice (I think it was "Tears We Cry") but cannot find it on YouTube, and also love "(Your Love) Keeps Lifiting Me Higher" (which he does an awesome version of) ... but instead have found this ballad (from album Soul Deep) to share: When a Man Loves A Woman

Do you like a little gravel in your ballads?

BB classroom: What's real? .

I have been doing a spot of teaching lately.
Not that I am any sort of professional teacher.

I have the utmost respect for teachers, and the importance they play in our lives.

Plus they have to be the most patient people on the face of the earth, no?

And Lord knows patience is not one of my natural virtues

...
But Dash's teacher called on me recently

to share a little of my 'expertise' in the photographic field.
And I hesitated about exposing youngsters to my brand of

fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants lesson organisation

but agreed, freaked out slightly, then girded my loins, and braved the classroom.

It's not any old classroom - the entire school: 16 kids aged 4 to 12.

Keeping them all interested was going to be tricky...

...
Among the many things we talked about over three one-hour sessions, have been:
What is a Photo?

(snapshot, portrait, newspaper image, x-ray, ultrasound, etc)
Why Photos are Important to Us

(record of our lives, our community, our country, our world)
and What is Real?

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I find it startling and kinda scary that kids are so exposed these days to images that seem real, but are not. And the number of adults and parents who also cannot seem to be able to distinguish the difference... well, that's evident in the number of "can you believe these amazing photos' emails forwarded on through inboxes around the world.

...

We started with famous people (pics lifted from here):

After the retoucher has been at the photo...

Same photo before...Nice to see famous have pores too!

How about a retouched Desperate housewife: And before the airbrush hit the lovely Nicolette...
The boys in the class were amazed that
blokes get the same treatment by magazines:
And before the 'plastic-wrap' look...
And it's not just about faces...
Check out the change in Kelly's derriere profile...
Personally I like her with a little more junk in her trunk!
And while no-one could say this is an unattractive pic...

...that airbrush magician sure can tidy up those unruly locks...

I was careful to point out that all these people ARE genetically blessed too - that they are still beautiful in their 'before' photos. Just more real than the 'super smooth, super skinny' images that get published.

...

And then we finished on these images...

I got them to look closely where the wheel should have been...

to see where the sand had been 'copied' into the spot and the wheel copied and moved.

And then asked them the last time they had seen roos picnicking on a beach...

And described how I thought the photo manipulator had achieved the result.

Of course, I totally admire those who do this work so seamlessly that most onlookers are caught up in the fantasy - they are artists and extremely talented.

...
I just hope the kids can now look a little more carefully at the images in their world,

and value their precious childhood snaps which add up to their own personal histories,

and the glossy photos that (whether we like it or not)

help form view of 'what is beautiful' and 'what is real'.
...
Did any of these images surprise you?

Encounter of the (much-needed) wild kind

I went to Mum's "town" place yesterday, after visiting my friend Lil.

I wasn't feeling down exactly, but my mood was kinda flat I guess.

(Anyone hanging around this blog of late

will know what I mean!

BB's version of Sally Sunshine has been on holiday.)

...

So old Mother Nature decided to cut me a break,

and shout me a little somethin' special.

I pulled into the driveway of the house,

which is just a couple of kilometres from our local town.

As I parked, I glanced east, past the pumpkin patch

and towards the top of the hill...

To see an entire community of kangaroos grazing peacefully,

looking for all the world like they were in the middle of the outback

starring in the latest Baz Luhrmann epic.

This was just 30 metres from Mum and Dad's front door...

(and while this is not the city, Dad does consider we are still in the 'suburbs'!)

The roos - young and old - saw me just 15 metres from them,

but rather than take off (as wild roos would at Granite Glen)

they simply returned my gaze.

I approached slowly (with Mum shadowing me)

and my Nikon jammed onto my face

the shutter rapid-firing their way.

This young gun was ready to stand up on his tail and show off a little...

But the real man of the group was the big old buck

(sitting low to the left in the photo below)...

The young bucks were just doing what young bucks do...

wrassling and carrying on,

hoping someone was noticing,

while the females and main man grazed

and kept an eye out for danger.

Would you look at these crazy kids,

locked in combat...
And notice how everyone else is ignoring them...
(I swear that roo behind is rolling her eyes, and muttering "show-offs" under her breath)

Finally I sneak a little too close for comfort

(I was amazed I got this close)...

and the big fella stood upright, turned decisively

and bounded up over the rise...

And one-by-one each of his mob turned tail and followed him ...

Til the last lady, her pouch heavy with joey,

thunk-thunked across the horizon.

...

Sometimes, that Mother Nature,

she just blows your blinking socks off!

Favourite Things: Rain and Friends

Two of my favourite things

happened to me today...

Rain fell.

On my windscreen.

Fat droplets sliding into sweet patterns.

It fell on my side window too,
while I was visiting a friend...

My darling friend Lil.

Her epitaph reads:

"She lived Life & Loved to Laugh"

I can still hear her laughter.

And feel her love of life.

I see it in the image I took of her,

now captured indelibly on her headstone,

taken on the verandah of my city home,

as we shared a belly laugh.

...

Even now,

I cannot help but giggle silently with her,

remembering her, that belly laugh,

her joy in her life, and in mine,

and still

I share my milestones with her.

Even now.

Yorrick...

This little series of snaps comes from a trip we made into town a couple of days ago... I had picked up Dash from his tiny one-teacher school, and was flying in to pick up Mr Incredible and Violet who were waiting in the main street of our nearest 'real' town for us. Despite being in a bit of a hurry, I stopped the Prado suddenly

when I spotted this guy in the middle of the road...

It looked suspiciously like a 'joe blake'...

but it wasn't.

For one thing, it was a whole lot slower....

I suspect he was pretty ancient,

he had a bit of a hobble and his feet were pretty gnarly...

We shall call him Yorrick...

The turtle was making mighty tough work of the epic journey from one side of the bitumen road to the other. Actually I think he was having a bit of a nap here - despite encouragement to MOVE from a certain concerned onlooker...

C'mon mate!

Uh oh!

We can hear a truck coming down the hill...

Mum tries to pick up our new friend Yorrick

To take him to safety...

but that truck is getting awfully close.

She grabs Dash instead and heads to the right side of the road,

hoping the turtle is far enough across on the grass verge

to avoid a terrible collision of shell and rubber.

The truck driver rounds the sharp bend

(behind the camera position)

and veers wide upon seeing the Prado and disembarked passengers.

He waves as he zooms by,

oblivious to the small creature huddled at the side of the road.

Two sets of brown eyes widen as they see the blur of tyres fly by.

Something spins out behind the departing truck...

Alas, poor Yorrick...

(I knew him not well, but still...)

Hang onto your hormones, girls!

There will be a variation from cattle and dogs images today - can I hear a sigh of relief all round?

We had a little side-trip on our latest journey to show our cattle last week...
a very special little side-trip.
And even if you are past child-bearing age, I feel I should warn you the images following required a flashing

"hormone hazard ahead" sign...
'Cause the cute factor is pretty darned high.

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Babies have been making quite an impact on my life lately. Not my own (said she hastily...I'm still adjusting to my two, now aged seven and four!!) but the offspring of those near and dear to me. Seriously, every second person I know is procreating. Friends and cousins have been breeding up a storm, delivering cute baby after cute baby. (Of course, I always have a particular little angel close to my thoughts too.)

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I have resisted sharing the influx of gorgeousness with the world til now. But the visit to a maternity hospital a couple of days ago tipped me over the edge. I finally had to get permission from a couple of new mums to share their bundles with us...

Like this divine little man delivered by my cousin Em ...Little Edwin... what a cracker!

He is serious 'aaahhhhh' material. Downright dangerous to be around for a woman not quite out of childbearing age. Not that I am getting clucky, mind. (Deep breath BB!)

But wait... there's more...

Your ready? Do you think you can handle the cute?

Please meet two more of my second cousins...

Phillip and Zoe

Phillip (the handsome devil on the left) was two pounds heavier than his sister at birth, and loves a good snuggle. His mother tells me his sister (the brunette with the gorgeous pout) is a bit more independent. They were born a tad early (Zoe was just three pounds something when she arrived) and are still in a special care area of the hospital.

Mr Incredible came for the visit too - he is notoriously baby-mad. We gazed on these two as they snuggled close to each other and slept. This pair are soooo tiny and soooo perfect-looking. I admit their little-ness intimidates me slightly - my babies were both over nine pounds, the boofas! I will be game for a hold of the twins in about two pounds time, I reckon. But these guys have made rapid progress since birth, are now tube-free and slept peacefully through our very quick photo session ...

Double cute.

And in black-and-white...
Glory be... close to illegal.

I hope they keep up this serene look when their Mum finally gets them back home to their cattle property. Luckily my cousin (her hubby) is the kinda bloke who is happy to help out and be supportive, and just the proudest Dad in the world. He is itching to have his family back in the same spot (he currently drives over four hours one way to see his wife, toddler and new twins, from his hectic stock work at home).

I can't say I blame him. Being separated from this degree of divine-ness must be sheer torture.

So...

How are we going, dear reader? Are your hormones behaving?

Mine are about to take a very cold shower!