Friday 30th July 2021

Celestial Picks. #SundayStills. 69/2021.

Sunday 6th June 2021 by 8 Comments

Celestial Picks. #SundayStills. 69/2021.

Terri here has now  moved into her new abode and I will share this post soon as ‘my’ Sunday becomes Monday here. Terri is in the northern hemisphere. I do enjoy sharing and am happy to wait till Monday.

I am being somewhat tongue-in-cheek in my title. Picks for Pics ….because I have not that many photos I thought to pick from meet the ‘celestial’ prompt. Nevertheless, I am ready to share five

celestial: positioned in or relating to the sky, or outer space as observed in astronomy.

 

Sun flare over the beach on a recent visit to walk and check out the waves.

 

The beautiful blood moon about to be eclipsed. I was seeing others’ images on social media, and even though I was in bed, I thought, hang on, go outside….and there she was. Amazing. My husband even popped out too. What a sight shared all over the world it was.

 

Sunset outside our place in suburbia…clouds capturing the last of the pink!

 

Watching the dawn begin on Australia’s A.N.Z.A.C. Day was a privilege and then to see the sun creep up from the horizon into the sky was magnificent.

 

This was an amazing sky at night! So clear thanks to the moon and my iphone 11 ProMax (it knows what to do, I just hold the phone). In our backyard.

 

I admit I love looking up to the sky. It is one very effective way to feel grounded too!

Denyse.

Copyright © 2021 denysewhelan.com.au – All rights reserved.

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Was A Fave Vacation Place. #SundayStills. 63/2021.

Sunday 23rd May 2021 by

Was A Fave Vacation Place. #SundayStills. 63/2021.

Terri here has now  moved into her new abode and her friend from Always Write  was caring for Sunday Stills while she did so. I will share this post soon too.

It’s almost Summer in the Northern Hemisphere, where minds turn to memories of vacations and also to planning them. Of course, Covid19 has put paid to overseas travel from Australia to anywhere as we slide into winter. We do, however, have places all over this country that are far better visited in our winter.

  • The Great Barrier Reef
  • Uluru
  • Parts of Western Australia
  • The Northern Territory

and for those who want snow…there are mountains in N.S.W. and Victoria. And cold spots too such as Tasmania.

My Fave Vacation Place is none of the above.

When we had a young family it was always easier not to drive too far from Sydney for a January (mid Summer school holidays) vacation of one week. Of course it was peak time so we paid a LOT of cash for that privilege but the drive took less than 2 hours from home and most things were in walking distance when we were in:

TERRIGAL

Fast forward about 30 years and this place has become an extension of the very expensive Northern Beaches of Sydney, so no affording to live there when we finally made our retirement move to the Central Coast in 2015.

But we can still visit!

I do from time to time when I am nearby at a meeting or going to the local larger shopping centres.

There has been a recent addition to help see the beauty of this place more directly in the form of a board walk…

Here are my images from Thursday 20 May a splendid Autumn Day.

This part is a gentler stretch of water called The Haven. I parked here, and walked towards the Boardwalk.

On the Boardwalk, trees in background, where I came from.

The boardwalk is beautifully made and the sounds of the waves crashing underneath and into the rocky walls made it even more special

 

The waves were quite small but as they broke against the sandstone they were pretty noisy.

The walk is relatively short but sure did show off the natural beauty and energy of this seaside mecca for tourists and visitors. I admit I find it very over-crowded in Terrigal itself now, and with prices of everything out of our budget, it becomes a place for me to enjoy what I can for free! THIS.

and this:

 

Terrigal Beach and its pines….and the almost ruined small pool which is washed by the ocean every day.

Next week is a week off Sunday Stills and I wish Terri a lovely family visit.

What’s your favourite vacation spot?

Has it changed over the years like mine has?

Denyse.

Copyright © 2021 denysewhelan.com.au – All rights reserved.

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Grey Images Today. #SundayStills. 60/2021.

Sunday 16th May 2021 by

Grey Images Today. #SundayStills. 60/2021.

Terri here has now  moved into her new abode and her friend from Always Write  was caring for Sunday Stills while she did so. I will share this post soon too.

Honestly when I saw “gray” or as we spell it, “grey” on the colour challenge list my heart sank a wee bit. I considered that to be dull, boring and …blah…but then I went to my photos and found images I am proud to share.

Without further ado, here is my version, from Australia, of GREY: a colour challenge.

This new school’s appearance has many tones of grey. This is now 2 years old and where our daughter teaches and her daughter learns.

 

The War Memorial at Wyong, N.S.W. which is made of  the grey slate and stone.

 

The grey floor and pillars in an almost deserted shopping mall during the more restricted times of Covid 19 in 2020.

 

With this fading sun behind them, the grey of these clouds is magnificent! Taken outside our house.

 

I often look to see the tiny flowers and plants in nature and these weeds (am pretty sure they are) are growing up amongst the grey rocks on the shore of the beach/lake area.

 

The iron arches of the Sydney Harbour Bridge are always grey (and re- painted frequently) but the grey weather emphasised this too. Taken on a grey day from Sydney’s Opera House.

 

One then 5 year old grandson, in grey shorts, checking out the grey stone fountain on our lovely day out in Sydney before he started school.

 

And here he is again, aged 4 with Miss 2, his sister, in his Batman grey outfit. Having the best time in what was the spare block next to our house.

 

Miss 2 enjoying the wonderful Brown Bear Brown Bear read  to her by her grey-haired Papa. 

 

Bye bye Christmas at Grandma’s and Papa’s ever again…2014 after we sold the house. Lovely Miss 5 and Miss 2 on the grey-stencilled driveway.

This was taken around 18 years or more ago. Family: my Dad, my brother, my niece and nephew, we are all in grey..the suits we had to wear to climb the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Expensive (I was a substitute on the day as my S.I.L. couldn’t make it) but oh so worth it.

 

Proving yet again how I actually can find images and meet these challenges.

Love this Sunday Stills. Good for my brain!

Thanks Terri.

Denyse.

Copyright © 2021 denysewhelan.com.au – All rights reserved.

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Weather Is Variable! #SundayStills 57/2021.

Sunday 9th May 2021 by

Weather Is Variable! #SundayStills 57/2021.

About Sunday Stills:

Terri here has now  moved into her new abode and her friend from Always Write  was caring for Sunday Stills while she did so. I will share this post soon too.

Weather is variable.

Not a truer sentence ever, right?

I delved into my history of photos ….takes a while and found these examples from recent times and waaaay back.

What’s the weather going to be where you are today? It’s a question we often ask in our place.

 

East Coast Low: constant rain & wind April 2015 kept us without power & access out for 5 days. Not fun. We had just moved the the Central Coast too.

After the roads re-opened there was a lot of damage to them from trees and so on, but I needed to ‘get out’ so drove to local beach where there were huge waves as the east coast low retreated…and one keen surfer there as well.

 

A lovely day…to be on a ferry on Sydney Harbour moving from west to east, and I would eventually be going under the Sydney Harbour Bridge on my way to…I can’t recall…but a bright blue day on Sydney Harbour when we still lived there was irresistable. This was Summer.

 

Have you ever waited for the news of a new baby to have safely arrived in the world? I have, eight times of privilege have been granted to me. On this WET Winter’s  day, I was stopped at lights before going to local shops to buy a BLUE or PINK welcome baby card for a new grandchild who was to be born that day. She arrived around this time, actually, and when I got the word, my husband and I had the joy of collecting her siblings from school and pre-school to take them to meet their sister..who will be 8 next month!!

 

Back on a ferry on my favourite harbour : Sydney Harbour: the Bridge in the background, the Sydney Opera House on the left, and Fort Denison is the stone structure a mini-island….and I am outside loving the salt spray and the joy of being where I have loved since coming to Sydney as a 10 year old. Now, aged over 70 and living away from Sydney, the last time I did this was pre-surgery for my final mouth reconstruction. Must get back again..on the water! Summer time here.

 

The weather was fine, warm and great Autumn day to be able to show a first-time to Sydney friend around parts I knew well and are tourist favourites. This view is of Manly N.S.W. Beach (South Steyne) and I took this photo from the walkway around Fairy Bower to Shelley Beach. My niece swims this most Saturdays in  Summer as part of a group of surf swimmers. This day was glorious as you can see.

 

Now, we are back to the part of the New South Wales coast where we live and this is my husband, in Winter, looking for the whales who are making their winter migration north. It’s hard to see them but I have seen their water spouts a couple of times. They are already heading this way again from the Antarctic so best I take my binoculars again. Seeing a whale breach is such a huge event. I did via a whale watching cruise a few years back when the whales were coming back and I was on the far South Coast of N.S.W. that time.

 

What do they say about ‘after the rain’? Here it is on a winter’s day at Pretty Beach, near Killcare Beach on the Central Coast.

 

More from Pretty Beach on a windy day..sand in the eyes was not fun. Two (now adult) grandkids out and about with us to explore this amazing environment.

 

Our son’s children visited us another time those holidays on a much sunnier day, and here is Papa with Miss born on the winter’s day as we explored rock pools and her older siblings tried to jump over waves.

Exploring the water at low tide on a colder winter’s day did not stop these grandkids having fun writing in the sand and exploring areas for fish and shells..and I gave them a little camera so they had fun with that too. The was exactly opposite where we lived in 2015 – a most unsuitable house but it had this nearby. We moved away within 10 months.

 

A much younger me got to see the beaches of Oahu after being a ‘surfer girl’ fan of Beach Boys and Jan & Dean in the 1960s. I have to say, I was very underwhelmed when I saw no such waves I had hoped at Waimea Bay in Northern Hemisphere winter!  Got the photo right though!

 

And yes it was winter and wet and windy in San Francisco on my “one and only” trip overseas but I did not let anything like that stop me. This was my gear on the day of a very wet half day bus tour of San Fran…crossed the Golden Gate Bridge in fog so saw very little. I did however, see it more from the ferry taking me to Alcatraz and I loved SF. Reminded me of the city I will finish on….

A day around the rocks area, close to Sydney’s Circular Quay, and the overseas Terminal with my favourite icon in the background. “A Beautiful Day” as my Mum would say.

Do you have a weather app or three on your phone and Apple Watch as I do?

Denyse.

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Water Is All Around Us Here. #SundayStills. 54/2021.

Sunday 2nd May 2021 by

Water Is All Around Us Here. #SundayStills. 54/2021.

About Sunday Stills:

Terri here has now  moved into her new abode and her friend from Always Write  was caring for Sunday Stills while she did so. I will share this post soon too.

May is here and if you too want to follow the prompts here they are for May 2021.

May 2    Water
May  9 Weather
May 16  Monthly Colour Challenge: Grey
May 23  Favourite Vacation Spot
May 30  NO CHALLENGE

For our planned move from the landlocked space of North Western Sydney back in 2014 we both knew we wanted more space around us, nature and W A T E R.

My husband and I both had childhood and teen years by the waters of towns and cities of N.S.W. but we could not afford to buy anywhere near those areas when we returned to the city after teaching in the country.

We always holidayed annually near the beach, and it was to this area we have retired. Still not purchased a house but we are renting where we feel like we belong for now.

Water IS All Around Us.

The Wyong River.

We live on land which  belongs to the local Darkinjung people who are the original inhabitants of this land. European settlers also farmed this land and it was only a short while ago (less than 10 years) that where we live was a place for dairy cows. The Wyong River’s source is in the hills we see in the distance from near where we live and it meanders in gentle times, and floods in times of big rains. I visit the river at different locations. One is at Tacoma as it readies itself to join Tuggerah Lakes, which then flows to the sea. Another is what I call Porter’s Creek which is where I often go to contemplate and appreciate nature and just up from there is the place, of the original Wyong Milk Factory,  where the fresh water from the river meets the brackish water of the lakes.

Tuggerah Lakes. A Huge Inland Water System.

I see the lakes at various places near us: Toukley, Gorokan, Budgewoi, Tuggerawong, Wyongah, North Entrance and The Entrance.

And undoubtedly my favourite. The Pacific Ocean.

Also known by Tasman Sea – our nearest neighbour to the east is New Zealand. Each beach along the East Coast of Australia has unique qualities and often different coloured texture and types of sand. I sometimes walk on Lakes Beach, and down to Soldier’s Beach. These are places I see the surf and the waves. I also visit the rock platforms close to shore. So much water. So much to enjoy. And I do!

What is the water like where you live?

Denyse.

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I Can’t Find Photos With Violet* In Them. #SundayStills. 47/2021.

Sunday 18th April 2021 by

I Can’t Find Photos With Violet* In Them. #SundayStills. 47/2021.

*oh but wait. Look here.

I found some. Phew.

Indeed I did.

But first, About Sunday Stills:

Terri here has now  moved into her new abode and her friend from Always Write  was caring for Sunday Stills while she did so.

V I O L E T.

The first thing that came to mind was of course, the flower but then I saw colour challenge and had a look. Oh my.

So many varieties in this colour with blue tinges and red tinges.

So, without further ado,

Here are my examples of violet from family snaps and my garden and a few from here and there.

Family snaps in violet.

From Our Garden Violet.

Arty Violet.

Out and About Violet.

I ended up loving the images I found and am indeed very fond of violet in all her tones.

Denyse.

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It’s My Favourite. 11/51. #LifeThisWeek. 26/2019.

Monday 18th March 2019 by

It’s My Favourite. 11/51. #LifeThisWeek. 26/2019.

Why I wrote “it’s MY favourite” as an optional prompt is a mystery. You see, I am the worst at selecting favourites.

I like and love a LOT…so how can I proceed?

By words and in pictures of course.

That IS MY Favourite…BLOG POST!

 

Routine

Getting out of the house every day, dressing with purpose IS my favourite routine along with the refreshing and reviving double shot, small latte somewhere before midday! One coffee a day.

Walk

I like walking more these days and try to get around 6,000 steps a day in. Some walks are slower than others. And that too is a good thing. A favourite walk on Manly Beach 11 years ago is here introducing my grandson to the sand and the water. Even further back in memory, is the 3 generations of us who “walked” as part of Bridge Climb well over 16 years ago.

Patterns.

I cannot go past nature for favourite patterns. These are but a few. Yes, they are close-ups and are part of the wonder that IS nature: colours and shapes we can barely replicate.

Celebration

I have been the one to make memories via celebrations, little photo books, parties, gatherings and more in our family. As we live away from the city this is much harder and the family is getting older and bigger. However, using the word celebration I believe I have found MANY favourites indeed!

 

Experience.

To have my ‘upper prosthesis’ added to my gums following cancer and then to smile (and eat again) was a BIG favourite. I also loved being part of this book “Women Kind” and in 2006 had the experience of a solo trip to the US where it was a favourite to visit Alcatraz.

Colour

Yes it’s the hue of blue. But I do love other colours too. However, it IS to blue I return to over and over.

Memory

I have been blessed as they say with a good memory and I did have many images to choose from for my favourites. Even these are but a few favourites!

 

Creation

I think the more my brain is not thinking work (job)  anymore it is allowing me to create. I love the ways in which I can be inspired but my favourites are almost always based on shapes – triangles being wonderful to design with and mandalas. In 2016 when I discovered how to design and colour mandalas my creative life was enriched.

So, do you find it hard to select favourites too?

Tell me more in the comments.

Denyse.

On Mondays I link here with Kell for Mummy Mondays.

You can link up something old or new, just come on in. * Please add just ONE post each week! * Feel free to go with the prompt for the week to add your ‘take’ on the prompt. Or not. * Please do stay to comment on my post as I always reply and it’s a bloggy thing to do! * Check out what others are up to by leaving a comment because we all love our comments, right! * Add a link back to this blog in your post somewhere. I don’t have a ‘button’ so a link in text is fine! *Posts deemed by me, the owner of the blog and the link-up, to be unsuitable for my audience will be deleted without notice. * THANK you for linking up today!

Next week’s optional prompt: 12/51 Memories I’d Like To Re-Capture 25/3/19

 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

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