Diane's Naturally

2011-12-17T10:37:00.002+11:00

this week has been pretty mind numbingly boring with back injuries and enforced lying around.

my peripheral neuropathy has run rampant pain wise. not happy.

missed my last two pool classes too :-(

it has been relieved by the installation of my new shutters in bedroom and living room .

so expensive but sooooo worth it.

i love the effect and the look of the filtered view of the outside world .....

especially the light of summer that is so hash.

the dog has started to learn to move the slats with her nose

.......which is good and bad.

life has also been helped by a massage last night by the very very skillful Joni .

son freaked when he saw the number of teeny teeny tiny ants on the bench the other day..

and took a photo. they are the worlds tiniest ants i do believe. here in my house.

lucky lucy me !!!

the photo is included as a sign of my boredom.

another positive is the dehumidifier that i also caused the arrival of......
for what i (not even jokingly) call the "mould room".

that room i refuse to enter which houses my sons way too large collection of stuff he finds interesting.

and which needs protection from the elements of a damp summer.

the view thro a slat of the shutters......all the beautiful blue flowers are running down the side of my driveway

part of why the vet wants dog to loose some weight

the view from my pillow

blackhawk down

2011-11-30T23:46:00.001+11:00

it landed in a local park this afternoon, but i didnt get to see it for quite a few hours... and until it was dark.

had to photo as best i could with the huge sports lights that were on for the kids to play

and with my trusty small camera. it was verging on a carnival spirit really with people coming and going .

i had been going to go to that park with dog...but didnt when there were so many helicopters overhead.!!!

i figured there had been a traffic accident and i wasnt going to mess with peak hour snarled traffic

just to walk a dog. it was part of a formation of four apparently.

when i got there around 9.30pm some of the soldiers were playing footy with some of the kids who were scheduled to be there for practise and for whom the huge lights had been turned on.

eveyone started to come home apparently when the sports lights were turned off.

a lot of people were there .....as many as Santa attracts ...

or the huge water bombers in the bushfires do

the spirit of christmas at a busy intersection in inner west of Sydney

2011-11-30T00:45:00.001+11:00

last week i saw the decorations on the pole so this week i took my camera . unfortunately i got a split second to take these pics as the lights changed fast both times i went past.
therefore they are not very good quality.

i am sure it is the kind of thing that could only happen here in this sort of weather.

for those unfamiliar with the idea of a xmas man at a traffic light.......it is an illegal practise done here and there where a person sets themselves up at the lights and when traffic is inevitably stopped.....he rushes out to ask everyone if he can clean their windows. he then gets (usually) way too much money for the work. or maybe no acceptances at all

Today was designated as jacaranda flower photo day.........but it was also bush fire burn off day

2011-11-16T00:35:00.002+11:00

I decided to go ahead anyway on the basis that i had 3 ok shots that i have put in the previous post,
from another area of the city last week....... and one never knows !!!!!!!!

last year i photograped too early and this may be true of this year. never the less i have some pics

and if i dont get around to any more......i at least have imperfect smoky ones.

the smoke and ash spread a looooong way across the city and was enough to affect my photos

and a lot of other peoples lungs

smoke really obvious here

and here :-(

some flowers from a dog walk late this afternoon...

these are my own fuchsia flowers. From a bush that a friend gave me a cutting of 34 years ago. i have transferred cuttings to 4 houses since then and replanted.

The blooms are as reliable and as beautiful as ever and the bush

grows to huge heights if not cut back somewhat.

I have seen prettier ones...but this one is mine and full of my memories

i picked 3 ages of flower here.....unfurled pink flowers, opened ones

and ready to start drooping ones

i love the look of what seems like veins in these baby flowers

out of focus but i have put it in for the colour anyway

i messed with the colour of this just because i could

another trip to RPAH at jacaranda time

2011-11-12T20:39:00.000+11:00

these 3 photos were taken at Annandale

outside what used to be the security gatehouse. hope there are no important communications needed here

part of the old Vic block which is looking shabby

front of the Vic block with the added in ambulance bay for the A&E dept

outside the old maternity hospital....King George V

the main entrance to the hospital......always attractive

just right outside the main entrance doors is this stone

two of the stained glass windows in the main entrance

walk in the naked man park.

2011-11-03T12:11:00.002+11:00

once i was walking here when around a corner came a totally naked man. there was no where for me to go or move to so pulled off the path a bit as best i could. he stopped right beside me and asked......pointing to his wrist "do you have the time "??

errrrrrrrrrr .....no i did not as it happened. i dont wear a watch !!!

he moved on.

that man has since moved from the area after a lot of activity ranging across a huge national park area

(so i am told)

i dont often go there by myself anymore which is a pity as it is pretty,

close enough and the dog enjoys time there

the other day i again persuaded the son to come with me and took a few photos while we were there.

they are not very good photos but are a glimpse of a piece of our neighbourhood

the overhead canopy of trees

there is a lot of dead wood waiting to burn i suspect

dog enjoying herself but obviously getting older and slower....like me

part of the track....with cars in the background at this section.

which shows that altho much of the walk makes u feel like u are

a long way from anywhere.......in fact you are not

tree roots that provide a handy set of steps

shadow of me looking down to the national park area where dogs are not allowed.

bit of bushfire and termite damage

some gum nuts

roughish terrain

my favourite tree

about where i met the naked man

tree at the exit with interesting mould

a native flower whose name i do not know

i drag along more slowly behind

loving my new bag

2011-10-28T12:19:00.000+11:00

i have only twice bought off Etsy and both purchases have been happy ones. this purchase is however ......perfect

i chose the colours and had the size of the standard model made less deep . i measured my favourite leather handbag and had it made much the same size. it has the totally perfect amount of zippered up sections inside and outside, along with a key ring inside. it is colourful and happy looking

thank you to http://www.etsy.com/shop/tippythai

some belated soap

2011-10-23T16:34:00.005+11:00

i did a ding on my back the other week so it was good that i managed to get some soap done .
i have altered my receipe a bit and have now stopped using coconut and am back to
using castor oil which i love for lather. i want to keep my oils stocks minimal and easy.
i will possibly revert (not sure yet) to simply olive oil and castor as my only oils .
i did that for about a year when i was last doing markets, was really busy and wanted simplicity..
given i do not live in a house that is soapmaking friendly .
the castor gives such a great lather and feel and i have not used it for a few years now.
i will see how the cookie crumbles, as it really is a nice soap

==========================

People can now buy this soap so that the money can go to Vinnies.That will help to add to the money we will need for the extra food for our local people at Christmas
Every $ counts and all the sales proceeds go direct to my Normanhurst Conference
which helps support quite a number of familes and single people in the area.

------------------

the black and white soap was meant to have only whispy black bits in it .....but somehow it became more than that.!!

seeing as it was a sort of male combo of fragrances i had to come up with another name.

it is now called "Boys in Black" and is a combo of S-W's

Green Irish Tweed, Lemongrass

and another S-W fragrance. I rather like it !!

This pink one is another S-W fragrance called Black Raspberry and cream.

this is the lovely Mango in green and tiny tiny flecks of pink mica

and this one the ever popular Yuzu

which i did in yellow and white for a change

and of course the everlastingly popular Lavender

some photos by my son

2011-09-28T22:19:00.001+10:00

These were taken a few months ago down south near the Snowy Mountains

Holts Flat railway siding from days past

Lillian Frazer Garden

2011-09-23T16:58:00.002+10:00

yesterday a few of us gathered there to learn something of the history of the garden and the woman.

none of us took a camera.... so today i went back to do a few photos.

Unfortunately i choose high noon, which made it hard for my poor olde camera, and has made
too many shots too light.It was a very very sunny day.
sadly i am not clever enough to rearrange that bad lighting, so i will simply put the pics
up as a memory to a lovely suburban garden, a pleasant day out
and an interesting woman ...Lillian Frazer, whose garden is only a few blocks from mine
double click the photos to enlarge.
seeing as i dont know the names of most of the plants....i have left them unnamed.!!

the shed at the entrance to the garden

old man banksia tree

close up of the banksia trunk

a so called pom pom tree.....which obviously fascinates me!!

a lady working in the garden took me aside to show me this plant. she does not know its name.

she says it is rare in australia. it has a star shaped leaf and a star shaped flower.

chair at the entrance to the garden

garden entrance/exit

soap from a few weeks ago..not a huge contribution to the soapmaking world but about all i could manage

2011-09-04T12:16:00.001+10:00

this is a mix of two of Scent-works fragrances. It is pretty and feminime

this was the last of a bottle of fragrance and right now i have not got a clue about its supposed name cause the bottle is gone.........except that it too is feminine despite being a blue for boys colour !!!

and right now with a blocked up nose and ears i cant smell it anyway to give myself a clue.

but pretty is a good descriptor

the ever popular Scent -works "Provence".

This is a good men/women/everyone fragrance.

August Was

2011-09-03T15:10:00.003+10:00

a trip back into time when i went to RPAH and saw a showcase with some WW2 memorabilia.

the nurses uniform is the exact one that was worn by the deputy matron when i was a student nurse.

she was known as the "grey nurse ". and she was.!!!! (as in grey nurse shark... for those who dont live
on coastal waters) i have often felt that her generation of nurses owed some of their attitudes to the tough times they no doubt experienced in the war.

the uniform that she maintained well into peace time sort of reinforces that thought

a couple of flowers as i watered the garden

me and my shadow

2011-06-26T23:01:00.000+10:00

in the process of weeding the front drive yesterday a lot of ants were disturbed. I ran

to get my camera and took a heap of bad pics.

the ants were moving so fast i hadnt a hope.

very very tiny tiny ants that had no respect for macro zoom.

and here are a few equally fast moving friends.
you can tell i am bored if i take pics of ants i suppose !!!!!

blue and gold...i always did like

2011-06-22T15:06:00.002+10:00

there is one heck of a lot of gold mica in these few soap bars but

a lot of it looks more plain yellow. there are a few veins of gold there so

i hope they show up in the photos.

i chose my boarding school as a teenager based on the school uniform

of royal blue and golden yellow . loved the colours and hated the school!!

the soap is fragrances with Scent-works "Amazon Grapes"

which is beautiful soft and gentle feminine fragrance that i love

a short trip to Bondi Beach and lunch at Watsons Bay

2011-06-22T00:13:00.005+10:00

surfers

assorted beach photos. the pine trees are really growing and

are certainly making an impact on the view from some parts of the south end of the beach

the usual boats hanging out at Watsons Bay

a very bad photo taken nearly directly into the sun . i was just sitting in the hotel grounds and took

a random shot looking down the beach to include all the tinnies lined up. i didnt see the two adults together at the end of the beach or the child picking up shells til i put the pics on my computer.
it was soooooo bright i could see nothing in the viewfinder :-(
i wish i had noticed them and gotten a better shot of the little girl.

it is way too over exposed and way too much sun in it but it is evocative so i have included it.

there is a real glow on the tinnies on the beach..... and that too spoils the shot

a short walk at Brooklyn

2011-06-19T17:14:00.002+10:00

dog

rock fishermen..all Chinese

i found this tree growing out of the rocks quite fascinating

the sun was shining right into the top of the tree

creating a real glow

another tree's roots around some rocks

I don't know the story of this disaster.......but someone's dream is gone

random photos as i waited while my house was open for inspection. someone better buy it soon as i am sick of the sale process

2011-06-18T23:18:00.002+10:00

there are no good photos amongst this lot....... but i think it is so long since i took

any photos that i have nearly forgotten how to use my camera

bottle brush

a row of water bubblers

one water bubbler

leaves between 3 huge tree trunks

bark markings. i like to look at the endless variety of markings on all the different trees in the area

the last leaves of autumn

leaves blowing in the wind

i tried to be clever with these horrible "torpedos" on the tree but it didnt really work. the photo dosnt look any better in black and white than in colour. i hate the things anyway as they are such a fall/trip hazard when they hit the ground

they were too high up for me with too strong a wind blowing

same torpedoes left in colour

the first bit of wattle i had noticed. smelled beautiful. again.......the wind was blowing so the photo is blurred

a single beautiful red rose at the entrance to the school yard

the centre of a bubbler. it interested me in its worn out look.
i messed with the colour a tiny bit

and then there was Patch

2011-06-11T22:57:00.000+10:00

Patch was a dogs dog. she had an independant spirit, an inner life of her own, did not need to be half an inch off my heel all day ........and was capable of spending a day by herself without being traumatised by the neglect of it all. an amazing kelpie X shepherd

she died nearly 11 years ago

a cold day for dogs so i had better snuggle up

2011-06-11T21:29:00.003+10:00

some soap

2011-05-01T21:10:00.003+10:00

Lavender

Pretty woman

Yuzu

Lots and lots of rice bran oil with some organic coconut. A special batch.
this has turned out to be a fabulous soap with huge softness and great lather.
i am going to have to make more of it . love it :-)

F111

2010-12-05T19:03:00.005+11:00

The son went to two press days at Amberley Air Force Base...... over two different weeks.
This was to see this planes last days before it was decommissioned

He has 100000000000000 photos but i will include only a few !!

This is plane much admired by and its replacement is apparently a sad day.

I love to watch jets myself so can part understand the obsession

Warming up ready to fly

taking off

7 in formation

Dump and burn

More dump and burn but with some bonus flame left behind

vapour coming off the planes

love this criss cross effect of the vapour

the pointy front end of one of them

the back of one of them

full size plane

a row of some of them

the wheels of one of them

Some Soap

2010-12-01T14:02:00.001+11:00

Scentworks duplicate of Rice Flower and Shea (feminine and powdery ...ummm)

Provence

Yuzu (japanese grapefruit)

lavender

in the driveway

2010-11-20T10:36:00.000+11:00

a new baby tree with lots of pretty flowers at the park ....... and some grown up ones

2010-11-20T02:13:00.007+11:00

the photos are all a bit less than wonderful as it was poor light.
however there were lots of tree trunks shedding interesting bark.
lots of burned out trunks from fires a few years ago.

a pretty flower that is a noxious weed in most of the state.

has several names but i know it as "Pattersons Curse"

ant nest looks like it is ready for rain

the last bottle brush flower i could find anywhere....

and it is only part of a flower anyway

even the jacaranda wasnt that good

we have had a lot of rain and it seems to

have made a lot of flower loss and foliage growth instead

dog off to the park

2010-11-20T02:10:00.000+11:00

a walk to the school and some old friends met

2010-09-11T20:40:00.006+10:00

i cant resist photographing these as they always look great

we have not seen these two other dogs for a very long time

Milly the border collie has only 3 legs

these are just low light pics i wanted to try..

and this lamp appealed to me

as a subject

a sliver of moon and the evening star as we got home

dog is really too cute and the azaleas are pretty

2010-08-30T16:39:00.004+10:00

Well i am happy with that mix of fragrances

2010-08-29T23:24:00.000+10:00

The Scentworks "Amazon Grapes" and the bit of Patchouli that I have mixed with it

have produced already a fragrance that several people have liked.

Including even me who essentially does not use fragranced soap.

My other mix of Lavender and some secret flowery fragrances is also liked.

That is most satisfactory so I will repeat both for the future

some soap

2010-08-27T12:33:00.008+10:00

this is a combo of coconut, lemon and lime.
i have done something different with it in that i added titanium dioxide ...
which i deliberately didnt mix it properley.
the aimed for effect was for streaks of white that might look like falling stars.
i should have had less falling stars i think!!!!!.... but it sure smells good.
next time i will do it differently and with somewhat less mad abandon.
it might well be the sort of soap that qualifies for what i am sometimes asked for.......whitening soap!! .

the inevitable sago is there.......again because i can and because i ran out of ideas at the last minute!!

OK.....so this is actually a combo of lavander and some flowery fragrances .

i added the camomile because it was lonely out in the garage and needed some company.

i have too much camomile !! coloured it green
because i failed to come up with any other idea fast enough :-)
It is called "Lavender Flowers"

this is a fresh clean feminine fragrance to which i have added a tiny touch of patchouli.

the idea of adding the patchouli to this fragrance i can gratefully attribute to another soapmaker .

it is called " A Cleaned up Patch" because i usually associate Patchouli with dark colours for some reason and decided this time to add all my tiny fragments of soap to the mix and keep it pale and pretty ....with blobs

Lunch at the Sydney rowers club followed by a visit to Balmain a couple of weeks ago

2010-08-27T00:11:00.004+10:00

the view from our table where we were celebrating a family birthday

Balmain court house and an old workmans cottage now gentrified

scenes from Ballast Point which i dont recall visiting before.

My sister walked around and took these while i sat and watched the scenery aimlessly

looking toward the lower North Shore thro the Harbour Bridge

the ferry Freshwater at Mort Bay

huge interesting bit of sandstone

a building in which i once worked in another life....and the waterfront at Double Bay

2010-08-25T00:51:00.006+10:00

i had to grab these shots of Queen st, Woollahra as i drove past and there is light

right in the centre of the lens .

It was not mid day so not sure why the artefact of light.

i took the colour out of one and softened it to try and mitigate

the light blob...... but i am not clever

enough to disguise such flaws

There continues to be no parking in Queen St.

some things dont change even 38 years later.

i love this building as it was years ago without so much outside decoration

and without the cafe.

its plain facade was very beautiful and i couldnt get a shot of the front of the building today.

the price paid in around 1972 was, as i recall it......$120,000 for the house and back stables and side shop.

dont know what it is worth now.......but that was the days of terrace houses being worth

$26,000

. how times have changed :-)

a couple of gifts from the very very south of China and a few spring flowers

2010-08-22T16:19:00.003+10:00

My sister visited with a pile of wonderful textiles and goodies she bought down near the Burma border where the handcrafts are still handcrafted and the colours are colourful.

these are my presents from the collection......some of which collection is worthy of gallery wall space IMO.

i am sure the market sellers were sad to see her return to her own city

A carry bag that is highly decorated with minute stitches and decorative silver

and beads

i have a black embroided version of this lower bag that came from Vietnam.

i needed a lighter coloured one or summer . I keep my mobile/cell phone in it

hanging around my neck. Not sure what they were designed for but they suit me well !!

detail of the elephant stitching

detail of the little dangly thing on the side of the phone bag.

i just love all the colours

these photos are of embroidered inner soles for shoes.

i just love the colour combo and the pretty sort of flower pattern.

i will never use them in my shoes !!

the Macro gift seems to have left me with these pics.......but the drift is there .

random photos from the last couple of weeks

2010-07-29T20:00:00.003+10:00

a cockatoo in flight when i didnt have the right settings

on the camera to even hope to catch it

Lighthouse at Vaucluse

the top floor of a shop at Wollahra

local house i really like

school grounds

Hornsby Park

Some of the local shops looking old and shabby in the main

South Head Cemetry at Vaucluse

a dog called Shadow

yesterdays soaps

2010-07-26T20:09:00.008+10:00

Sago on Mango

a bit of mango is good.... so i added more and made it darker.

then i again added some coloured sago on top..... because i can.

Man vanilla is made with vanilla, orange and a secret ingredient.
It is coloured with blue in one part and the other part is left to go to a
deepening warm chocolate colour from the vanilla fragrance oil

Rose and Lavender.......a classic in pink and violet

Castile on Goatsmilk

2010-07-20T17:21:00.002+10:00

decided to use some shreds of Castle on some GM soap.
it is a lovely warm beige with a clear white top in real life

Dog on a cold and windy night trying to snuggle in my grandmothers ancient patchwork quilt.......which is illegal for her to do

2010-07-03T20:25:00.002+10:00

SOME EARLY WATTLE

2010-06-28T19:28:00.001+10:00

a visit to Callen Park...

2010-06-27T21:53:00.021+10:00

http://www.dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/callan_park_mental_hospital

http://www.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/mhealth/other/rozhistory.html

http://www.altmedia.net.au/fate-of-callan-park-‘in-limbo’/9498

another lot of yuzu..plain green with white shreds

2010-06-27T21:45:00.003+10:00

then the other day i went again to RPAhospital and managed a few inside shots in the old main hall and a couple outside...dont seem to be able to arrange them correctly

2010-06-24T15:38:00.005+10:00

well the lamp is obviously outside and i guess a reproduction...... and Queen Victoria is from a very long distance shot of her majesty standing on top her pavillion.

another trip to the eastern suburbs on a moody stormy day

2010-06-24T15:19:00.008+10:00

If you lived in the house below the views would be yours

all the long distance shots are at the extreme end of my cameras range so not so clear

Rose Bay wharf and surrounds with view toward the city

things from this week

2010-06-14T19:47:00.007+10:00

i was kindly invited to join a small group of photographers and had to run up a few black and white photos.

i did some of a statute in a garden and some of a tiny flower that is a ground cover /weed in a few gardens locally. i did more but wont bore with them all

if you look closely u can see a tiny face on this flower

this is the weed flower with the background sort of blacked out.

kind of makes the tiny white flowers glow

these two photos are of some family crockery with a background of my

paternal grandmothers receipe book

dog looking suspicious of what is behind her on the street

i did a bit of soap yesterday.....Magic Hour is the blue one

Strawberry and Vanilla is the pink one.

Both smell fabulous

at the school

2010-06-11T01:13:00.002+10:00

2010-06-11T00:31:00.007+10:00

a trip to the Eastern suburbs of Sydney to be measured up for handmade shoes that will cost more than the debt of a small nation (but are essential for my poor feets) allowed me to take a few side tracks to a couple of my favourite places.......Watsons Bay and its wharf area and Bondi beach. Both places helped create my old skin because i spent many days there both asleep when working nights or awake and consciously turning like a pig on a spit. no wonder i have had an early melanoma .

anyway my son who was recovering from surgery and my dog who goes where the car goes

......came for the ride.

the photos are not so good but they at least show the area of our beautiful harbour.

taken from the watsons bay wharf

free range dog

a Morton Bay fig tree with intricate root system

a bit of the small beach

the ferry that goes to watsons bay just arrived at the wharf

Dunbar House

city backdrop

The photos taken from "the Gap" illustrate the long drop from the cliff top to the rocks below

which made it a popular spot to suicide.

a lone yacht entering the harbour between the heads

a stitched up shot my son did of South Head looking to the

North Head of the Harbour entrance

a very long range shot looking toward Manly from South Head

BONDI BEACH much loved by visitors

Root system of a Morton Bay fig tree in one of the Rose Bay streets

looking to the city and a Manly ferry from the Watsons Bay wharf

a bit of time at what must be the worlds most beautiful off leash dog park

2010-05-10T22:29:00.004+10:00

2010-04-25T20:22:00.006+10:00

Recent soap available for sale shortly

2010-04-04T22:09:00.002+10:00

This is a duplicate of a popular mens fragrance that I have added some secret ingredients

to so as to make it more deep and mysterious.

It has a LOT of gold mica in that yellow /gold colour so I am

calling it "golden man". ....but women will like it too

What can i say.......it smells like Mango and has

some coloured sago on top so it is not totally plain

This too is a duplicate.......this time it is of Crabtree and Evelyns

beautiful "Summer Hill"

I went feral and added poppy seeds to some of the bars for no good reason ....

except that i could !!

Photos of my sisters trip to Juizhaigou National Park in the mountains of China

2010-04-01T22:39:00.004+11:00

to see the rest of these photos please go to the link below

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40153695@N08/sets/72157623746420798/

Some bromiliads that i saved from a demolition house a few years ago and which are finally flowering again

2010-03-23T12:58:00.005+11:00

Old stuff in the country...there were once rail tracks under this grass

2010-03-23T00:19:00.006+11:00

contrail and old shed

Dog with toys...dont mess with my stuff

2010-03-20T20:19:00.000+11:00

a few things i looked at today

2010-03-18T17:17:00.010+11:00

Interior garden in the main block

these photos start in Anndale with the old house called *the Abbey* which is very obscured.

go via the beautiful Hunter Bailey Church on to RPAH and its lousy car parks !!.

moving into the hospital grounds with an old garden and a new one .

a pic of what was once the *residents quarters* and

a few pics of St Johns college and its mellow brick.

the old Bonds factory is a huge apartment block in cream.

some photos of photos displayed on the walls of the hospital with some of

the old wards and the old nurses LOL.

i took too many pics and they are of no interest to most, so i will leave them at that .

the hospital is an interesting mix of the old and the new .

the atmosphere is good.....better than some other places i have patronised lately :-)

Hunter Bailey church

Anzac and Harbour bridges

Queen Mary Nurses home which once housed around 1000 student nurses.

reputedly for redevelopment

what was once the "residents quarters"

St Johns College

the old Bonds underwear factory now turned into apartments

spires of St Johns College

Photos in a display of nursing history.

the old *nightingale wards* made it easy to keep

an eye on patients but must have been sheer hell

for patients.

any one of those student nurses could have been me

made from the masterbatch...Zen Teas...delightful fresh fragrance

2010-03-18T16:10:00.005+11:00

a photo i played with in Picassa tonight....because i could .......change the colours

2010-03-17T22:40:00.002+11:00

the week that is and was

2010-03-17T11:16:00.001+11:00

Dog ......is beautiful.............but has (had ) fleas. It is 2 weeks since i Frontlined her. what is going on??

i spent most of yesterday washing dog and all bedding she has used . She has multiple official beds along with those comfortable places that she hits before i can stop her.

Back...........bad. sore. fed up. more steroids shot into it, more consultations re it all. Not timed for washing dog or potential flea containing bedding. Who is the best back surgeon in Sydney i do wonder.

weather........perfect for washing dog bed linen . Beautiful days.

the ironies of life

Then I got help to made up a HUGE masterbatch of oils to make soapmaking easier.

I did my maths wrongly so now i have TWO monster containers of my oils.

got to do the maths on that and melt and recontainerize it all.

Shouldnt do maths when not thinking well. Should leave huge containers alone when not thinking well.

I donated to Vinnies for a year and have now changed to another organization I have some empathy with

Médecins Sans Frontières

People better buy soap so that i can give the money away and make all the mess of the masterbatching worth while :-)

Saturdays pale and prettty ......but not well lit ...photos

2010-03-13T19:36:00.004+11:00

todays flowers

2010-03-12T20:32:00.001+11:00

Some more random pics of Beijing taken a few months ago by my sister....the older part of the city

2010-03-06T07:27:00.010+11:00

an old but very serious door !!

selling fur on the street

how would you know who paid for what electricity??

a cat that lived at a hostel .......but which apparently had fleas.
note the one blue and one yellow eye.....same as one of my white cats had

the smog is visible and real despite so many push and electric bikes

Some castille with goatsmilk..... and calendula on top

2010-02-27T14:56:00.000+11:00

I got bored with plain castille which is such a good seller so added some goats milk

which is divine and threw on some calendula

I messed with the colour of the local greenery that i passed on the dog walk today

2010-02-18T00:31:00.002+11:00

this looks a bit spooky with the colour removed. In real life it is just all very green with filtered light

some wild grasses with the dead ones accentuated

i totally killed the grass colour...........just because i could

and then i moved on to the bamboo !!! which needs removing anyway

and should be as dead as it looks here

the bird that keeps yelling and diving at us.
this was done on max zoom and is not so shabby for the effort

my favourite gum tree

some poor chooks that I only ever see cooped up in the small run.

they do have a larger yard. I guess the kids at the school are learning something

about chooks

dog sitting in the middle of an impossibly green sports field after a lot of rain recently

Soaps from yesterday

2010-01-30T14:04:00.007+11:00

this is more of Scentworks wonderfully fresh "Yuzu"

my first time to use Scentworks "Pink Sugar"
I like it and can think it will be popular.
it is actually much more yellow than it appears here
AND...a couple of weeks later it is very dark brown and smells mainly of vanilla.
i loooooove it

This is the ever popular "Provence" .

except that this time it is night in Provence and some small stars are out.

well you get the drift !!!!!! i love to use sago as part of soapmaking.

it is revenge for all those years of being forced to eat it as a child :-)

dog and blue tongue lizard and redback spider

2010-01-27T10:26:00.003+11:00

dog was outside (for a change) making a fuss around the side so i figured i knew what the bark meant.!!!
another blue tongue lizard..... which appeared to be under an old cover in the yard
i got her out of the area but she came back...interested, concerned and a cross between frightened and curious

i carefully took the cover off the ground.... and this is what we had.........what looks like a very pregnant blue tongue lizard

we left her alone as she was getting very upset and running at son and being somewhat unfriendly.
a short time later son moved some bricks stashed against the fence and there she was.

however the eggs belong as far as i can figure to a red back spider which my son had seen just before.

i had a think about it and decided that given the amount of bricks, the number of eggs inside some other bricks , that i was going to kill them.
i couldnt spray because of the lizard being hurt and the babies being injured when born.
so i did my usual spider thing and got son to stomp on the eggs we could find and i tipped boiling water all around.
however ..........most of the eggs had gone.
the question remains ......do red backs pick up their eggs and move them....or did the blue tongue eat them???

some of last weeks soaps with fragrances by Scent works

2010-01-15T20:41:00.006+11:00

L'Heure Magique

Black Raspberry and Vanilla

these are both for sale

Yuzu,Coconut, lime and lemon, unfragranced goats milk,Provence,

Pretty Flowers,(puree grapes) lavender fields with Rose

All going as trials to test a market

Some Chinese critters found on a walk by my sister

2010-01-14T20:56:00.002+11:00

Some scenes from China

2010-01-07T16:15:00.003+11:00

some gift cards that my great aunt painted over 50 years ago....all done when her vision was very poor. She had made her living painting such cards...mainly from memory of Australian Wildflowers

2009-12-25T15:09:00.001+11:00

For Susan .........a red colour that u might like to use one day

2009-12-25T00:19:00.008+11:00

this is one of the colours i was speaking about.

it comes from another page way back in my blog.

look down the page for it.........a red topped soap.

http://dianesnaturally.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-08-04T10%3A01%3A00%2B10%3A00&max-results=8

you will have to copy and paste the link sorry

It is all gone

2009-12-20T00:43:00.000+11:00

the soap called *sensual man* is gone except for a few bars i am keeping for the house. I rarely do that with any fragrance, but this one has been soo beautiful i just cant let it all go. the vanilla chips in it were a masterstroke addition.
people have really liked it, which is good of course .....but i cant repeat this batch as it had real West Australian sandlewood essential oil in it that i had hoarded for some years ........and it is all used up.
It had aged and mellowed beautifully that oil
I am not buying more. i will however make another blend using a fragrace oil.

some more soap that is for sale for Vinnies

2009-11-01T15:14:00.005+11:00

this is a delightful fragrance that is a duplicate of a Crabtree and Evelynproduct

called "Summer Hill"

thank you to "sassy diane" for the fragrance, which is now hard to get

~~available for sale~~
all gone now

this is yet another version of Scent works *Provence"

with its crispy clean fragrace

~~available for sale~~

all gone now

this is a pretty pale yellow soap

it is Scent -works "Zen tea "

which means that i made it to look nothing like tea but

in colours that appealed to me.

yellow with a pink top.

it is a soft and gentle unisex fragrance
~~available for sale~~

all gone now

and this is a bad photo of a pretty pink soap with white icing on top

it is Scentworks "Ume blossom"..or Chinese plum

another gentle flowery fragrace .

Wiki tells us that ....

The flowers have coloring ranging from white to rose to deep red. The leaves appear shortly after the petals fall. The leaves are oval, with a pointed tip. The fruit ripens in early summer

~~available for sale~~

all gone now

some flowers and trees from rounda bout

2009-10-29T19:08:00.008+11:00

jacarandas and one tiny native flower at the end

2009-10-29T19:07:00.003+11:00

some new soaps that smell divine,,,on sale for Vinnies

2009-10-26T15:27:00.010+11:00

this is a mix of a soft femine fragrance and lemon myrtle EO

~~available for sale~~

nearly all gone

this is called Sensual man and is a mix of sandlewood, lemon myrtle, orange and vanilla chips

~~available for sale~~

all gone now

this one is a soft feminine mix of citrus and flowers

~~available for sale~~

all gone now

this one is rose and lavender

~~available for sale~~

a few left

poor dog has a ring worm right on her nose

2009-10-11T15:09:00.003+11:00

it isnt bothering her which is good .

poor dog with another lot of medicine and some cream

you can see it on the left hand side of her face in this pic

a gift that came from the wilds of Inner Mongolia.

they are quite perfect for me and are the exact right size

Turquoise.!!

belated pics of some soaps from about 2 weeks ago

2009-10-09T16:03:00.041+11:00

this new format of blog confuses me and i cant label things correctly

anyway i can but try but it just isnt working well for me

~~these are all on sale for Vinnies~~

all gone now

there are only a couple of the vanilla ones left
and this is the last of my supply of that particular fragrance

this first soap is Provence, a favourite of mine from Scent-works.
clean and fresh as always

done this time with a insert of blue with gold mica dusting

this a special soap for those who like pale and pretty with no fragrance.

people like me for example :-)

the next on is the one that sends me totally wild ..........

Vanigilia de madagascar.it reminds me of

a spiced up version of vanilla and chocolate. it comes out

a dark glossy choc colour. Scary how tempting it is .:-)

.this is of a soap that is a mix of a couple of Scent-works floraly fragrances

and made pretty pale with chunks

and just for perspective here is a pic of a plain all olive oil soap being blended
by the trusty stick blender. it has no colour or fragrance and will,
when finished, be virtually all white in colour
this pic is a bit dark but the oil is more off white than anything else at this stage

and from London and my sister yet more interesting things

2009-09-27T20:08:00.000+10:00

the celebration of the end of Ramadan in Trafalgar Square

a rather large bird of prey

I HAVE MADE MORE SOAP

2009-09-27T17:11:00.003+10:00

I have sold all but a few bars of castile and goats milk.

new soaps will be ready in about 10 days as i did a few lots today with deep water discount
to have them ready early. i even did one log as a rather pretty non fragranced one
.... for those of us who like pretty but dont want a fragrance .
will make more soap tomorrow if the dentist dosnt traumatise me too much.

today i did Vaniglia de madagascar...and went mad with the amount of fragrance .
it is one of Scent Works stronger fragrances so i will have a powerful vanilla fragrance on my hands!!!

another was Scents works "Provence" and the other fragranced one was Scentworks Pink Peony.

can you tell i like to use Scent works???
i had a couple of soaps i really liked........a creamy rose which was regular rose but done in a pale orangy yellow, and a mix of lemon myrtle and a flower fragrance (the latter again from Scent-works).
they too are all gone

so we had a dust storm

2009-09-27T16:11:00.003+10:00

that i dont believe i really "heard" the warnings of. if i had i would have closed up the house and made preperations LOL.

i am still cleaning up and will continue to do so for a while i expect as more little pockets of red are found.

growning up in Hillston is good preparation for dust storms.

this pic is taken from Westfield at Hornsby looking over the highway toward the rail line

this is looking toward the Hornsby shopping centre from near the hospital

an electricity pole on the highway

these bottom two shots are from the outside of my house looking toward and to the side of the sunrise

yesterday i went here for the first time in a loooong time.

2009-09-23T16:18:00.023+10:00

RPAHospital as seen on the TV show !!

A four year part of my history was spent there doing my hospital based nursing training.
it is so enormously changed with some of the fascinating old buildings long gone.
the main two pavillions...one named for Prince Albert and one for Queen Victoria remain but not in the format i knew.
both pavillions were being renovated but i grabbed a few pics anyway.

the first pic shown here is the "A block" with Albert watching over all that occurs in the very busy streets around

the main entry remains as it was but with the addition of some seating and a less austere atmosphere. the stained glass windows
interesting now as they ever were.
i couldnt photograph it as it was covered in scaffolding

Victoria has her own window ...pictured here

this is Victoria's side of the building with her on top in all her green verdis glory . dont know what the rooms are now, but this part of the building was referred to as the "Vic block" and was full of patients, while the block at the right hand end was the pathology labs

today they did a burn off around the city and the air was ugly

2009-09-19T18:35:00.010+10:00

despite that dog and i went to the local school for her usual walk......this time making sure she didnt get to eat any of the scraps that are forever lying around from the kids meals. she is going to have to stick to her low fat diet very rigidly

the sky was blood red as the sun set, so just in case no one believes me here are too many photos of the sun setting coloured red!!!

they are all taken at maxium zoom with a shaky hand.... so are not the best.

the city was covered in smoke and in some of these pictures of the schook grounds you can see smoke filtering thro the trees.

i finally got photos of a couple of the sheep that live in the school grounds.

and a few more of dog .......showing her new slim self and looking much more healthy

Poor dog has been sick

2009-09-15T19:58:00.004+10:00

this is dog today ....pretty in pink in blue and not sure just how much food she actually wants

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

on last friday she suddenly became scarily sick late at night so i had to take her
to an all night emergency vet.
she came home the next morning and hung in ok for the rest of the the day, drinking minimally.
sunday morning i took her to the local vet twice for pain meds .
at 7 pm he soooo kindly came in especially for her and admitted her
with an IV overnight as she was in so much pain and couldnt really drink enough.
i hated to leave her by herself . next morning i went to visit her in her cage and it broke my heart.......and hers that she had to stay there
she came home Monday night and went back for another check up again today
after a test meal of plain rice
the way she is trying to attack my food tonight i think she has turned the corner.
by the time she eats a little bit again tomorrow morning she will have had very little over 5 days.
pancreatitis is not a nice disease.
special thanks to Matt at the Thornleigh Vetinary Hospital for
care above and beyond the expected

this was taken on saturday as she lay around very sad and sorry for herself

some pics from the trip back to China by my sister

2009-08-30T19:34:00.003+10:00

this is a good illustration of why there are large amounts of this country with no people

lovely silvery images

random spring flowers

2009-08-30T01:29:00.010+10:00

bird of paradise.......looking a bit scruffy in the school grounds

a cottage garden just cleared, fertalized and ready to look wonderful soon

next door is a much more structured look

the new new camera

2009-08-28T00:30:00.005+10:00

i got pinged off with Panasonic over my camera purchase a few months ago ..... a long silly story really ......... but i downgraded a model which means nothing except that i dont have the you beaut HD video. that is ok because it was/is a total bore to use and needs converting with software i havnt a clue how to understand

anyway to test out the downgraded model i had to take pics of dog tonight...of course.
the camera is marginally different and i need to sort a few things out to get better macro shots

the weather changed late this afternooon

2009-08-07T19:33:00.003+10:00

double click for a clearer view of a rainbow.

weird shape...someone kneeling with hands out

this was taken with the "pinhole" effect on my camera...it changes the colour too

2009-08-04T19:05:00.003+10:00

the original.... a tree from up the street

"pinhole* effect