We all enjoy a paddle on a hot day! (Scatterday Challenge for January - Nature #2)

... not just humans :-))

Scatterday Challenge for November - "How I see myself" #2

- Adventurous! -

Here I am at Petra in Jordan three weeks ago, riding a camel and then a horse. Not bad for a city slicker, eh?
(Don't you just love my shameless though thinly-disguised ploy to show you my holiday snaps?)

Scatterday T - Week 35

Last Wednesday, while waiting at my local TRAIN STATION (which is In My Neighbourhood) I snapped this photo - then realised I had the Trifecta!!!!!


The TILES on that pillar were Blue and Square - and there were more Square TILES underfoot.

And the front of the TRAIN, when it arrived, was sort of Square .... sort of .....

I wonder what the other waiting train travellers thought of my unusually excited reaction to the mundane elements of railway station architecture?

Scatterday K - Week 34

You know how this works by now. One letter each week (this week it's K), and 3 categories (this week we have things you like the smell of, hobby, and office things).

Something you like the smell of...
For a Kris Kringle last Christmas one of my quilt buddies gave me a pretty pink drawstring toiletry bag containing deliciously scented Crabtree & Evelyn Rosewater products - hand cream, body lotion, shower gel and soap. Ahhhh....

Hobby...
Knitting is a pretty popular hobby, particularly at this time of year.

Office Things...
In my office/study you'll find a pink leather envelope from stationers Kikki K. I keep my bragging photos of you-know-who inside it!
And there are several styles of knobs - on the door, cupboard and chest of drawers.

Scatterday A - Week 33

This week our letter is A

The first category is Restaurant, and for this I immediately thought of Matt Moran's Aria. But since I've only been there once (courtesy of some generous friends) and wasn't in a position to photograph it this week, you'll have to make do with Aria's entry in the White Pages. Close enough?

The next category, Things You Find in the Dark, really had me scratching my head. I thought of annoyances like tripping over our cat (animal) or walking into a spider(arachnid) web, or ants that seem to find leftover food on the kitchen bench during the night - but when I thought about how to go about photographing these objects I appreciated an apparent anomaly here. If it's dark, then you can't see anything, can you? (But they're all in my photo - you do believe me, don't you?)

Finally we have Turquoise, and here I present my turquoise-toned Acme brand AM/FM radio.

Scatterday X - Week 32

Yikes - the letter X!!!!

I'm so glad we Scatterdaisies been set free this week to simply find 3 objects beginning with X. No categories to confine us. I found 3 without too much trouble, but I was grateful I didn't have to present 4!

Xylophone

X-ray

Xan

Scatterday N - Week 31

A combined photo for this week's Scatterday -

Little things - Packets of needles

Human - Here is a photo of my son's nuptials, featuring 6 of the humans in my family.

Mineral - Sodium (Na), presented here as common salt (NaCl)

Scatterday L - Week 30

Dear Miss Michelle,

I'm very sorry my Scatterday homework is late. I've been very busy. I will try to do better in future.

Household item - Ladle

Things that are round - Light

Tool - Loop turner

Scatterday V - Part 1

PinkVelour
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

The voracious letter V was just too big to contain in a single blog entry this week, so here are three!

Our first category is PINK which, as you can imagine, was reasonably easy for me! Here are three different shades of pink velour from my voluminous stash.

Scatterday V - Part 2

Big V Things
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

BIG THINGS

Here we are on our big Vacation (3 months' Long Service Leave in 2005) swanning in the Piazza San Marco in the big city of Venice.

This big vista along the Grand Canal still makes my heart beat faster. It's just like a Canaletto painting!

And only last week this big vessel (the QEII) visited Sydney and the Princess and I went down to the end of the street to say "bye, bye".

Scatterday V - Part 3

V Signs
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

SIGNS

Villers-Bretonneux in Northern France, where my DH and I spent an unforgettable Armistice Day in 2005. As the only Australians in a town where Australians are seen as heroes for having saved them from the German advance, we were welcomed and invited to join in their march and morning tea.

The local Village Store was an obvious subject for my camera this afternoon...

As was this Visitor Parking sign.

How much deeper into my archives will I need to dig for next week's Scatterday?

Scatterday O - Week 28

Scatterday O - Week 28
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

When Michelle and Dy announced this week's assignment I almost choked on my orange juice, dropped my book and pricked my finger! However I need not have worried because, as you can see, I already had it sorted!

Our letter this week is O.

Something you would find in a library -
Books by the authors George Orwell (Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four) and Michael Ondaatje (In the Skin of a Lion and The English Patient).

Sweet things -
An orange.

Hawaiian -
An ornament I bought in Honolulu 16 years ago, a china thimble from the grand hotel, the Royal Hawaiian. Keep something long enough and it's bound to come in handy, eh?

Scatterday H - Week 27

...and even shorter this week!

The letter is H and the categories are:

Games - Pointy Things - and Colour

So here I am, playing "Hide and Seek" (as one does!), and pointing, with my hand, to the pointy handle of my brush, which is just protruding from beneath my new hot pink blouse. Good enough?

[Chortles and chuffed grin here :-)]

Scatterday S - Week 26

Scatterday S - Week 26
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

Short and sweet this week.

Fruit - Strawberry

Things that make you itch - My daughter's beautiful black cat, Satchmo. I adore him, but I must remember to wash my hands every time I've patted him, or I suffer!

Gold - Star, a remnant from Christmas that made itself useful on its way to the garbage bin.

Scatterday I - Week 25

This week our inquiries took us to images illustrating the interesting and intriguing letter I.

Ideas????

The first category was YELLOW...

On our trip to a conference in Italy last year we were entertained in the grand Sala Gione (Yellow Room) of the Palazzo Normannii, the seat of the Sicilian Parliament. So here is a taste of a yellow INTERIOR.
You might also like to see some yellow ITALIAN IMAGES that I took on my travels....

Our second category was AUSTRALIAN...

Here's my intelligent daughter Sarah with an INDIGENOUS animal, a koala. Sarah is an animal geneticist researching chlamydia in koalas for her PhD.

Our final category gave me the most difficulty.

SOMETHING YOU WOULD FIND IN THE AIR...

However I found it while I was browsing my Italian trip photos. Can you guess what it is?

ICE!

On our international flight (something else you would find in the air) as the morning sun was coming over the horizon (somewhere over Greece) I slid up the shutter to see this crystalline cluster on the plane's window.

Why did I photograph such a trivial sight? I must have known that one day this ice - which I found in the air - would save my bacon on Scatterday!

Scatterday Z Free-for-all...

Scatterday Z
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

Thanks, Michelle, for being gentle with us and not setting any categories this week!

This challenge has been fun - so much so, in fact, that I had lots of Z things I could have included. I omitted my zygocactus in its hanging pot under a tree in my garden, a zucchini, and my Zimbabwean friend Wendi, because I liked the way the colours went together in my mosaic just as it is....aahhh, pretty!

So here you have, firstly, a zebra, which I photographed myself when I visited the beautiful Singapore Zoo last year. I must say, too, that the animals in that zoo look very happy and contented.

I've included a photo of the entrance to the Singapore Zoo too.

The zinnias in my garden are creating a splash of summery colour.

And this bright red zipper is cheery too!

Zounds! I did it!

Scatterday N - Week 23

Scatterday N - Week 23
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

Surprise!!!! I'm early this week. Tomorrow is Australia Day, and I plan to spend it by Sydney Harbour making the most of our wonderful summer weather. I can relax now that my homework's been done, and handed in.

Most of this week's were "drive-by shootings" including one taken out the front window of the car as I hurtled down the Warringah Freeway towards the Sydney Harbour Tunnel.

After a week of angst, in the end the solutions were easy and presented themselves to me in a morning's drive today, so here we go....

Orange -
This orange netting outside a house at Roseville fits the bill perfectly.

Something South American -
Nuts! Brazil nuts, of course!

Things that are good for you that you don't like -
My friend Moo hates thunder storms, and these nimbus clouds are harbingers of rain and, often, thunder storms. The rain they bring is wonderful and life-giving, but the sight of these nimbus clouds is scary for some ... like my dear Moo who has been known to hide under the bed! (Me? I love rain and storms - as long as I'm inside!)

Oh, and if you have your speakers turned on you can probably also hear the delightful Norah Jones who, although beginning with the letter "N", is not nutty (or from South America) or orange, and is definitely good for me - and I love her music!

Have a great Australia Day, dear friends!

Scatterday U - Week 22

Scatterday U - Week 22
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

This week's Scatterday letter is U, with the categories...

Street -
Here is a photo of Underwood Street, not far from me. If it seems slightly un-composed or out of focus that's probably because it was (as a friend of mine is fond of quoting) a "drive-by shooting". Stopped at the corner, would down the window, and snapped!!! Wonder what the drivers of the cars behind me thought.

Cartoon Character -
I have to admit I Googled "Uncle Scrooge McDuck" to find this photo, not having a stash of comic books in my storeroom (wish I did, they've got to be worth a fortune on eBay!).

Things people pay a lot of money for -
This ultrasound of my precious granddaughter (at 12 weeks' gestation) cost quite a lot of money. If you look carefully you can see that, even though our darling was only 2 inches long (!!!!!!!) she was already sucking her thumb. Don't you just love modern technology that allows us to observe such wonders!

Scatterday E - Week 21

Scatterday E - Week 21
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

I'm back!

My slackness of recent weeks has been due to a mini-break of 2 days away between Christmas and New Year, and then being attacked by a virus that had me in the grip of an all-consuming lethargy.

But I have done my homework this week and, apart from a recalcitrant "E" that simply refuses to sit up straight in spite of repeated rotations, I am happy to hand it in for your appraisal.

Our letter this week is "E", and the categories...

White - An exercise bike! Yes, in my house it's a White Elephant. Planning to remedy this state of affairs in 2008, though. How many fellow Scatterdaisies, I wonder, have a similar white elephant sitting quietly in the corner...

Terrifying Things - An empty page! I know it doesn't look too frightening to most of you. But when you've been asked to write a couple of paragraphs as a tribute to a friend who's having a significant birthday, and when these words are to be on behalf of around 20 of her buddies, and when the deadline to hand over my piece is looming fast and writer's block has firmly set in - that empty page (or in my case, computer screen) is mighty daunting. That's what happened to me last week. Inspiration eventually struck and I dashed off a piece of verse as I drank my morning coffee. Phew!

Plant World - This is an Echium. "A what?", I hear you chorus. An echium! For around 10 months of the year it sits sedately in the garden, a pretty grey-green velvety leaved shrub, hardly noticed by passers-by. Come September, though,it throws up spectacular purple-blue flower spikes on candelabra-like branches up to a metre tall, and stops admirers in their tracks with its gorgeous display. This is our specimen which is only a baby - we're expecting great things of you, little echium.

Scatterday S - Week 18

Scatterday S - Week 18
Originally uploaded by dijobbins

This week's offering comes with sincere salutations of the season to all my savvy Scatterdaisies - and is brought to you by the letter S.

Medical
Firstly I have a patient's-eye view of a saline drip, taken one-handed with my little digital camera as I lay in the intensive care ward of a private hospital in Cairo in September 2005, suffering from severe dysentery. Obviously the treatment (and the home-made fruit jellies Jenny Bowker brought me) was beginning to work!
In addition - if you can cope - here is a photo of the scar on my wrist, a legacy from an accident when I put my arm through a plate glass door at the age of 4

Beverage
My favourite soft drink - Coke Zero.

Christmas
Some sparkling starry sequins.
Our own little Christmas 'star', Alexanne, hanging on the Christmas tree.
A shepherd and his sheep from my Fisher Price nativity set.
And the stable (or shed) with the rest of the nativity figures.

Have a wonderful Christmas - but keep those 'digis' at the ready!