gosh it's been a while

my family has had a bit of a sad trot lately, beginning with the tragic and unexpected passing of my step-cousin, a vital young woman of my age with a 4 yo daughter before christmas and (hopefully) ending with the long fought though expected death of my aunt after a two year battle with cancer.   her two older sisters - my mother and aunt were with her till the end. the three of them have a long and adventure-filled history.

that, along with a few other changes, job uncertainty with frank and yet more work than i could ever wish for for me, a new kinder schedule and a house that just won't clean itself comes some way to explain my absence.

in other news...

i'm being scrapjacked! i must say i do love a guilt free scraplift and this is great fun.  they sent me a huge pack of fab Bella! products and i came up iwth the above.  the (minimal) papers are scrummy new Paper Trunk '1974'. 

i love what Sharryn and Louise have produced already and look forward to seeing everyone elses. 

 

 

 

A couple of recent layouts from the aussie scrap source blog.  honestly star wars is so big in the house right now i'm not sure when i'll be able to do an alex layout with them in it in some way.

i find i'm loving a kind of central square look in my layouts at the moment.

 

and another actually .. for a fontwerks feature in  for keeps.  i'm not a big stamper but i love the size of both of these fontwerks alphas and enjoyed playing with this one.

 

 

these photos are from australia day weekend, so they're long overdue.  we went to see the sand sculptures in Frankston.  Truly the intricacy and attention to detail in the sculptures was just amazing, and certainly worth more than the cursory glances my two gave them before whining for ice creams and swims in the sea.  me - i just wanted to play with the cool depth of field in my new lens.

now while i'm here, scroll back up a few photos and tell me - who else reckons frank looks just like the scarecrow in the wizard of oz.  and i can't believe it's never struck me before!

 

 

the highlight of the day should have been the sand sculptures, but it was actually this.  we call these 'walls of ears' because the climbing things on the one in the park near us look just like ears.   when i do this layout it's probably going to be titled determination.  alex wasn't so keen and came back to land pretty quickly, but phoebe was going to give it all she had to reach that buzzer at the top.

the exif data on my camera tells me they started at 2.01 pm

 

 

she was here at 2.06 pm

2.11 pm.  by now when she got this close and then slipped not just frank and i, but the whole crowd waiting at the bottom all let out a collective 'ohhhh.'

 

2.16 pm.  and again. so close but no cigar.  this time the attendants caught her when she got near the ground, because she'd pretty much gone over whatever time limit you get, and i didn't mind because my neck was stiff and the camera batteries were all but worn out.  she got a round of applause from the bystanders.  not bad going for a just turned five year old we thought.

 

 

Comments

[Lisa W]

Hi Sue1 Great photos. I didn't realise that you lived so close to me. I live in Pattereson Lakes. i love popping into your blog and seeing your creativity. Love the photos with the new lens.
Cheers, Lisa

[cindy]

Hey you updated your blog love the photo of Alex and Pheobe with the blured sandcastles behind them. Can't wait to see how people scrapjack you.

Cindy

[Chris Millar]

Sorry to hear you've had a rough trot with loosing family members Suz. That's so sad. Hope the rest of the year is a positive one! Loving all your layouts and the pics of the kids!

[Alison Shearer]

I'm sorry for your losses - life just sucks sometimes. I hope Frank's job uncertainty settles down and that you can not have such stressful things to worry about. Gorgeous photos as always - I think Phoebe is a star!

Alison

[Jennifer C]

Great to see you back! Some lovely layouts and love the photos - very impressed with the 'depth of field' ones. So you are loving your new camera? I am searching for a new one. Any suggestions? Look forward to seeing more pics!