5 in 5 - MELANIE - May 2016

Melanie is my friend who lives in Australia and she loves photography.  Every month since the start Melanie has taken

part in this monthly meme and we managed to find a way round

her not having a blog by posting here. I love that we have found a way for her to take part!  So, over to you Melanie:

Already the month of May and in the UK the saying goes ‘March winds, April Showers bring forth May flowers’.  Over here in Adelaide it is Autumn but this year a new festival called ‘Living Colour’ has brought forth May flowers in the city.  Not the beautiful spring flowers of the UK but a colourful selection of flowers which bloom at this time of year over here.  I took the train into the city and walked the length of Rundle Mall.  This is the main shopping mall in the city it had crates filled with flowers dotted throughout its length.  Of the different sites the Stephens Place site seemed to have more crates and variety of flowers than others so I chose this site to do my five minutes of photos.  In addition to the flowers mentioned as being at that site there were also several from others site.  Of the many flowers I only recognised the Pansy and geranium but fortunately on the web site http://rundlemall.com/living-colour-festival/ there were details of the flowers at each site with photos so they could be recognised.  In five minutes I took heaps of photos and it was difficult to select five but I have settled on the five below. Top row starting from the LHS Angelonia Archangle series purple, sunpatiens series white and Pansy Matrix Blotch.  On the bottom row on the LHS Verbena Blue Series (red) and on the RHS Capsicum Medusa. Hope you enjoy these colourful flowers.  If you check out the web site you will be able to see what the crates looked like.

Thank you for sharing here Melanie, what a lovely colourful

display. These flowers look familiar and are so cheering. My own garden is sadly lacking in colour though I did plant lavender and gernaniums today in pots by the front door.

If this has inspired you to pick up your camera and take part in

this challenge you have until 25th before this months link closes.

  It's great fun and you can see more posts and link up here.  

And if you want to know more 5in5 this post should answer any

questions and give other information that you need.

Hopefully Melanie will be back next month and I look forward to you joining us. Thank you for popping by, it is great to have your company!

5 in 5 - May 2016 - Messing about on the river

Welcome to '5 in 5' where on the 5th of

each month I post 5 photos that I have

taken in 5 minutes.

In my last post here I wrote about how I took part in a video interview. This took place in one of my favourite locations and after the filming was complete I decided to give myself some quiet time to reflect. I sat by the river for a few minutes then decided this was a good time to take some photos for '5 in 5'. Come join me:

This bridge provided the backdrop of the filming. The metal construction is not elegant, but this narrow bridge has stood the test of time and has needed strengthening to carry todays traffic.  

 

This old granary mill stands at the mouth of the river. At the top is a tea room, I could sit here all day looking out of the window at the winding river. If only I had time.... (sigh).

And as a lover of boats and water I am at my happiest here. Boats come and go, and every year there is a raft race with much mayhem!

On the bank I found cowslips. A treat for the eye and not often seen, sadly.

I went home with a big smile inside, feeling a sense of achievement and peace. I wonder what gives you this feeling?

Thank you for visiting, and to Eileen, Melanie, Miriam, Maggie, Barbara, Karen and Borqna for joining in last month. It is always lovely to have company and if you feel inspired to take part yourself here is what you do:

1.  Choose a location.
2.  Have your camera ready.
3.  Set a timer for 5 minutes (I use my mobile phone).
4.  Take as many photos you can until the time is up.
5.  Choose 5 photos to download and share by using the link tool below. 

   Please note:

You have until the 25th of the month to add your photos to the link and you can take  your photos any time. They do not have to be taken or posted on 5th!

If you would like more information please go to the original post here where you will find more.

Missing, not lost

It seems so long ago I posted anything other than my monthly 5in5. I have a head full of ideas and things to share but it has been difficult to find time or energy, and some things have sadly been neglected. But hopefully I will find my way back soon.

It wasn't meant to be. But after a year of running workshops I decided I needed to reach out and meet others, as running a small businesses alone can be isolating sometimes. So I have been on trainings, to events and network groups, and a long the way I met some extremely interesting and knowledgeable people. Looking back it has all been worth while.

One of the things I have been doing is setting up my own website. Boy, that has been a challenge! It is work in progress and I still have way to go as it is a huge learning curve and I am not someone who finds technology easy to understand. But I want to do this for myself so that I have control of my website, I did not want to pay or rely on someone else to manage this. Hopefully I will have a sense of achievement in the end, and I love learning new things so I just keep reminding myself this!

Last week was another situation outside my comfort zone. I was asked to give feedback about some of the trainings I have attended so I agreed to this, only to find afterwards that it was a video interview.  Now then, I am not accustomed to wearing a mike and having a camera just a few feet from me! So although I was outside my comfort zone I decided that it was a good opportunity, so found a way of managing this. It seemed serendipitous as one of the recent trainings included video presentations and the interviewer chose a waterside location. Now some of you will already know that I am most comfortable and relaxed by water. So I took these as good omens and other than needing to do the odd retake, as ducks decided to add to the sound effects, it all went smoothly and I gave a huge sigh of relief and achievement when it was done. I am waiting to see the result....

Meantime I have been busy running and planning workshops. For a very long time I have been germinating ideas of a handmade book with a Alice in Wonderland theme.  This all came together on Saturday and  I had a lovely time and hope the ladies who attended did to. Of course, being Alice we had to have afternoon tea and jam tarts! 

Some ladies wanted to come and were unable on this day so this is likely to be a workshop I repeat in the near future. I will post photos once I have worked on my book some more, and I hope not to leave so long this time!