Having fulfilled my mission to use my iPhone to document pictorially each day of 2010, I was left feeling a little lost with the 365th and final post. Walking outside on the first day of the new year my eye was caught by this grasshopper on a glass door, silhouetted against the reflected sky. It cried out for a new photo set, hence I'm heading over to a new blog, (I foolishly included 2010 in the URL/title of this blog). You can find the ongoing collection at http://mrpbpsiphonography.posterous.com/
The beach that is formed in our little bat is a favorite play area for lots of families who bring with them all manner of toys for their children to play in the sand with. Alas many of them leave the odd toy behind when they depart the beach. Not wanting the toys to wash out on the next high tide, and having made sure the family has had a chance to return for them, we've collected them as a record of the 12 months that have now passed since this pictorial quest began.
Thanks to all who have proffered kind comments over the year either via the blog or Facebook, your encouragement has been appreciated. I've learnt lots, not only about photography with the iPhone but also about how easy it can be, if you look, to find something of interest even in what might appear to be the most mundane of situations. Thanks for taking an interest too.
On the Bellarine, the Christmas holidays signal the annual influx of campers, boaties and other assorted hangers-on that we locals sometimes sardonically refer to as the "tourerists". Most add vibrancy to the area though some are more a pain to be endured for a week or three till their employment means they have to leave us to peace and quiet again. To assist them to interpret some of the sights the local authority have erected a number of signs around points of interest such as this fishing winch alas now made redundant by personal watercraft of a much more annoying persuasion.
The abundance of rain this spring and summer has been a boon for plants of all types. The grasses and herbs in particular are laden with all manner of seedheads. Some are feather like whilst others such the wheat plants are bulging with goodness. All carry with them the beginnings of next year's crop.
Back on the bike for the first time in a fortnight or so Vicki and I headed off on our usual route around via The Bluff at St Leornards. The vegetation that grows on the bluff area is a curious mix of native and exotics some of which have featured previously in this series. Today we came across these lilly like flowers though whether they are true lilies I've yet to find out. Of course a bit of digital image manipulation just had to be added too for contrast.
This time of the year is all about sport in our part of the globe. If it's not cricket, (and the less said about that the better), it's sailing that dominates. The main focus is on the Sydney to Hobart race but this is not the only yachting classic. There are two other fleets sailing to Tassie and both leave via "The Heads" of Port Phillip Bay. Today we took the short trip down to Point Lonsdale to join the crowds farewelling the boats as they entered the quite challenging waters of Bass Strait.
Today was the day for Vicki's side of the family to get together for the giving out of presents and the sharing of food. Having feasted on a BBQ and the obligatory pav there was just enough room to try to fit in one of Vicki's Christmas specialities, her mini puddings. This late in the Christmas season there were barely enough of the original batch left to fit on the plate so yummy have they proven once again.
After a big day spent traveling to Melbourne, Bendigo and back again catching up with all manner of family and friends we drove back into Port in the dark for once. In Bendigo the other week we'd noticed numerous light bedecked houses. In Port, whilst there were numerous lit trees visible in windows, we only spied these two albeit quite illuminating house lit examples to light our way home.
Each year around Christmas, one of the farmers whose property is on the way from Geelong to Drysdale, creates a sculpture in his paddock nearest the main road. This year's acknowledgement of the season is this magnificent Santa made entirely out of stacked hay bales, complete with celebratory VB in the left bale. So for all of you who have followed these pics during the year may your bales be tightly bound and keep you in good the top paddock as you celebrate the Christmas season.
Tonight I went to the freezer to get something for dinner but was taken aback to find that the first item I picked up was beginning to defrost. A further check revealed that the freezer was indeed not working. After some hasty consultation with our very generous neighbours we transferred the contents of our dead freezer to their's. Now we only have to wait for the repair man to call in tomorrow to find out if the freezer is repairable or not, (oh and it's Christmas Eve :).
This blog is one of a number of blogs that I work with. I began uploading pics in 2010 to http://365pics2010.posterous.com/ but as I had used 2010 in the URL I felt I needed to establish a new URL for ongoing pics hence http://mrpbpsiphonography.posterous.com/. You can find my main blog at http://johnp.wordpress.com Also check out Ms V's Site at http://vickip.posterous.com/