Monday, January 21

Fooling around with photos.

It seems I am on a new learning curve with this camera of my granddaughter's. It has macro, which is a feature my waste of money expensive camera has NOT got! I only discovered this yesterday after taking these new pics of flowers.
This first one is a grevillea, the one that the Shrikes so love.
I was also happy to discover a programme on the net called Picnik,
which can eat hours of my day, just playing about!

Here is a photo of Leo being a very good boy in the lounge in his little corner. We feel he is making good progress, & is already quite transformed from the horror he was a week ago.

The acid test will be when more visitors come to the door I guess. We had a visit from known friends yesterday, & they noted what a difference there was in his behaviour, & even Honey is benefitting from this new regime. So all is good on the dog front.
A note here, DogTech has a website if anyone is interested in checking them out. Just click on the name.


On other fronts, the weather is most peculiar, almost wintery in appearance. Windy, raining, & a lot cooler. Yesterday was so humid it was horrible to even move, but today is much nicer, though not cold at all.

This is another Bromeliad bract. I always wanted to own one of these when I lived in New Zealand. They were very expensive to buy, & I always felt if I did get one, it would surely die. Now I have them growing wild, in the garden. I love the exotic look of them, & I love the little blue/purple flowers.

This is another Bromeliad, showing the small bluey flowers peeping out of the water. They always remind me of little birds beaks, waiting to be fed. The ants seem to rather like zipping about on these.

This is actually perfect sewing weather! So what excuse can I think of today for my procrastination??
*************
On a drive past an Op Shop, on Sunday, I noticed heaps of 'donations' piled up outside the door to the closed establishment. The public have been repeatedly asked not to leave goods when the shop is closed. It attracts thieves, & the goods end up scattered about the place, often to get wet & ruined.
It is nice to think that people have good intentions, but often I think they are too lazy to find a proper dumping ground for their tat & trash, & so they kid themselves that they are 'donating', when they are just getting rid of their garbage.
Of course, not all of it is garbage, & the charities could surely make a little money to help their good causes.
There have been some interesting items on TV showing the dumpers, & the scavengers, rooting through the piles that others have left, & blatantly stealing anything they deem fit to take. It does seem a pity that charities have to resort to having cameras outside their shops in the hope of catching the thieves. Quite often these 'mongrels' are well dressed, & drive expensive vehicles, & certainly would appear not to be in need of theft as a way of gaining material goods.
As an op shop browser, I have noticed some of the charities have become rather 'expensive'. It makes me rather angry to see what I regard as rather steep prices on things that have been given in the best of intentions, to 'help the poor'.
Is greed creeping into the Charity business?
Joan Baez, Please Come to Boston.




23 comments:

smilnsigh said...

Ohhh I am so *jealous*!!!!!!! Look at those macro shots!!!!!! Ohhhhhhhh... -pout- -pout- -pout-

Mine has it, but I guess I have to learn how to do it. not just click some button and it works perfectly. sighhhh And I am not the world/s best read-manual person. The worst is more likely. yishhhhhhhhhh

Did I say I was *jealous*? -grin-

Mari-Nanci

Joyce said...

The flowers are gorgeous. We have been noticing that thrift shop prices are rising too. They are still far behind the regular stores though so we are not complaining too much.

meggie said...

Hi Mari Nanci,
The funny part is, there is no manual for the camera, & there is not one online either! I am just trying it all out, but am quite happy with the Grevillea.

Joyce, the clothes seem to be what I noticed were quite increased last time I looked. Sadly the Salvation Army stores seem to have got very 'dear'.

Tanya Brown said...

Oh, goodness. I can see how training Leo is a challenge. That face ... those eyes ... I'd give him darned near anything he asked for.

I greatly enjoyed your tales of the GOM a couple of posts back. Great stuff. I'm also enjoying your shots with the new camera.

ancient one said...

I had my camera forever before I knew it had macro. And I accidently did a movie of a butterfly...I still haven't read all of the manual. LOL

We didn't get any snow. Just cold weather.

Enjoyed this post!!

Tanya said...

Glad that Leo is behaving. Choco is trying...

Lovely flowers in your part of the world. Japan is BROWN.

Kelli said...

Leo trouble? Look at that oh so innocent face! ;-) He he!

I saw those gorgeous(pale pink) bromeliads for the first time at the Noosa farmer's market yesterday. At a distance I thought they were baby pink pineapples (I think I exclaimed that aloud, and a little too hastily - but people were polite ;-). Your garden looks gorgeous. Excellent photos. I must check out picnik too...

Kelleigh

LBA said...

This camera seems a real gem - will you keep it then ?

I am still unhappy with our latest camera acquisition, which has a lot of fancy features, but cannot seem to take a nice picture on ANY setting. Even AB has finally conceded it is crap.

I will only buy Canon or Pentax from now on, as they've never let me down in the past !

What brand is this one, and also, your expensive one ?

The Sagittarian said...

What fantastic flowers, they look like something from sci-fi! I have had my camera for almost 2 years now (well, my digital camera) and am still finding out things that it does. The worst thing was my word mix-up when I first got it, inadvertently referred to it as a genital camera!!

Mary said...

I love your beautiful photos.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and entering my giveaway. Good luck!

I am glad that your grandson doesn't have Asperger's. It is a difficult disorder to live with, but my grandson is doing a super job and is progressing each day. He has come a long way in the last 4 years.

Blessings,
Mary

Eileen said...

I Love your pictures . Thank you for your encouraginng words on my maiden voyage into blogging. Iam getting a little less confused with a lot of help from Pauline. I just wrote another piece and Pauline helped me take a picture of my current sheltie . The picture is the best part . It's amazing to me to think that you are in Australia and there is communication between us. Duhh ! I know. Thats what everyone has been saying to me and I've been resisting the message like mad. Thanks for helping me join up.

Mike said...

Beautiful pictures Meggie. We have a nice digital camera, but every time I touch it, I screw something up.

I think they are banning me from using it.

Marja said...

Happy your dog is doing well. The foto's are stunning. Beautiful flowers.
About donations. At the childrens home we sometimes get boxes full of the most rubbish toys. Broken and old. Do people reaaly pet themselves on the back for this

caramaena said...

Oh what beautiful flowers.

Sounds like the macro is a handy thing to have. I'm not very good at photography and half considering doing a course or something to improve.

Mrs. Goodneedle said...

The photos are lovely, I do so enjoy Bromeliad. Glad Leo's behaving, that dynamic between the dogs can be unsettling, I know. Enjoy your perfect weather, it's cold here.

Teodo said...

The pics are wonderful..........I saw the grevillea for the first time last spring in Ischia and was amazing.
I'm happy that now Leo is quite.
ciao ciao

Ian Lidster said...

I think greed has been in the charity business for quite some time. We offered a used sofa to the Sally Ann a few years go. It was a beautiful thing, but showed a tiny bit of wear, a bit of fraying on a few seams. They wouldn't take it. Not good enough for them. Structurally it was absolutely sound. So, we gave it to a friend whose daughter had move into a basement suite. Daughter was over the moon with the Sally Ann reject. Thought it was lovely.

Christine Thresh said...

I still have so much to learn about photos and my camera.
I think you are doing a swell job.
Leo is darling.

Thimbleanna said...

Awww, look at that sweet little Leo -- glad to hear he's doing better. I don't think I could have been as brave as you've been with his training. Love your flower pics!

Rosalind said...

I have so enjoyed reading your blog and looking at your pictures from the other side of the world.

Sheila said...

Your flower shots are great Meggie. I'm glad the pups are getting on better with the new rules. Like children they are probably happier with boundries.
xx

~Bren~ said...

Your flower pictures are wonderful, especially since I am buried under a foot of snow here!!
Leo looks resigned to his schooling.

Fairlie - www.feetonforeignlands.com said...

Lovely bromeliads. They are a very special plant - so many shades of colours.