Photo a Day 2016

Hello there. Thought I'd left, huh? Well it's fair to say that the last year has been a whirlwind but I remain hopeful that the holidays can allow some semblance of reflection and so it is that I preservere with the previously-dumped PAD Challenge. Wish me luck!

This year we were in Perth, and our first day of 2016 was an exercise in heat management. Like dogs in a car we were Sydneysiders stuck in dry heat and eager to find relief where we could. In the morning we arose half-drugged already from the heat of the morning and I used my best material ASAP, with my predictable "I haven't eaten all year!" proclamation upon entering the lounge room. Much groaning and rolling of eyes occurred but I'm certain there would have been disappointment if I hadn't ventured forth into the completely known.

I also had a couple of books from BD sitting at Jan and Mike's awaiting the children, so I decided to present them on the first day of the new year (for no reason really except that, well, my name is Cassandra and I have book problem).  One of those books was the excellent Lego Creations - essentially a book outlining ideas on how to make a Rube Goldberg machine with Lego. And don't tell me you don't know what a RG machine is - we've been over this before. Harriet received the truly excellent The School of Art which I can't recommend highly enough if you have a budding artist in the family.


























It was then on to a day of visiting. I was thrilled to find that a friend of mine from high school was back in Perth. We had missed each other last time and I was gangbusters to hear all about her new life - last time I saw her she was living the wild life of a single woman by the beach and now she was married with two children. And oh my goodness - those children! Harriet was besotted immediately, which left my friend and I in the luxurious position of being able to talk with minimal child interruptions to catch up on years past. I also met her sweet husband and heard all about their love story in Vietnam.



We managed to squeeze in quite a few hours of love and talk and pushing on swings, but there is only so long a pair of small folk can handle a swag of strangers invading their home, so we set off into the wilds of Perth to entertain ourselves until dinner that evening at my Dad's house.












Thankfully Teddy was busy reading some book in some series of the Percy Jackson books and was happy to move out of the car as long as it allowed him to continue reading.


Actually that last statement is a complete lie. We had to bribe him to go to a cafe with the promise of a cake because we still had about 90 minutes to kill before dinner and he was insistent that it should be spent sitting in the car. In 40 degree heat. And let me tell you that he wasn't joking - not even a little bit.

 Is it just us? We ordered cakes and drinks at the counter, sat down and then realised after about forty minutes (yes, really - we were all frail with the heat) that James was still awaiting his drink. And we then reflected on how often this happens to us - I would say that around twice a month we would have an issue with placing an order (it gets lost, they didn't write it down, it's the wrong food, they bring out an incorrect variant, you know, that sort of thing).  Anyone would think that might be enough to sway us from eating out as often as we do but you'd have mistaken me for someone with much more enthusiasm for domestic duties than exists in actuality.

We then moved on to dinner at my Dad's where, as I had predicted earlier with my friend, I proceeded to get drunk on wine and explain in detail Sydney landmarks. Living up to expectations, that's me.

For this last shot, I had been taking a photo to demonstrate to Harriet about framing and, as is evident, not about focusing. That woman's ponytail in the left is so beautifully in focus, as is the chair just behind James. I could explain the artistic intention of the distracted eye, and how this is a play on the constant distractable self in contemporary society, but I know you'll see through it all and pronounce me a poor photographer. Fair enough. Seeing as how this is one of the few times I have picked up the camera in the last twelve months, it may be a rocky road back to PAD.