Maureen

Owner and Administrator of website: maureendurney.com
Owner and Administrator of website: maureendurney.com
01
Nov
2018
The F-K of Doors and Windows

The F-K of Doors and Windows

The F-K of doors and windows is a journey through some of the places I’ve visited here in Australia, and across the world. Some of the photos might need to be viewed with a little more imagination than others – but – most  fall neatly into their assigned category.

F Well, this kind of qualifies in the F category. A stroll down Flinders Lane Melbourne opens up a whole new world of ornate doors and windows. How beautiful are these?  The curves, the panels – it all adds up to a beautiful piece of architecture and craftsmanship – or – should that be ‘craftspersonship’?

On to the G’s…

G The Treasury Casino is on George Street Brisbane. The windows and doors are stunning and provide the perfect backdrop for the colours that magically transform the Brisbane night sky. It doesn’t matter what angle you view this building from – its beauty is exceptional, especially at night. The former life of the building was a Government Office, dating back to 1886.

Old brick building, the Treasury Casino Brisbane, with red lights highlighting the sides of the building.
George Street Brisbane: Treasury Casino

Oh gee – Microsoft Windows!  

Buildings on Granville Street Vancouver at dusk with the Microsoft building highlighted in a bubble
Granville Street  Vancouver

H is for….

H Hamilton, Brisbane. The Kookaburra Queen entertains diners as it steams its way along the Brisbane River. The light coming from the windows on the old Paddle Steamer is reflected beautifully on the water at night. If you find yourself in Brisbane, you can dance the night away on a dinner-cruise onboard the Kookaburra Queen.

Old paddle steamer boat on the Brisbane River at night with the lights from the boat reflecting on the water
The Kookaburra Queen at Hamilton, Brisbane

I – well – it has to be India

I India! What comes to mind when we think of India? The Taj Mahal, of course. The magnificence of the buildings has to be seen to be appreciated. The windows and doors that make up the total experience of the Taj Mahal are spectacular! Just to stand in the shadow of this romantic building is amazing.

White dome-shaped ornate arches of the Taj Mahal in India
The Taj Mahal – India

And then, onto J

J Jiangsu – well – Nanjing to be precise, but it comes under the broader heading of Jiangsu. I love the way the new buildings can be seen through the archway of the old. Not exactly a door or a window, but I love the colours on the old structure. The colours in this elaborate entrance would welcome even the most weary traveller.

Typically old Chinese colourful arch structure with modern buildings behind it.
Jiangsu, Nanjing – China

On Jefferson Street you can stand and peer in this window and watch the experts mould the sourdough into delicious sourdough bread at the Boudin Bakery. There’s nothing better on a cold day in San Francisco, than going to the Boudin Bakery for soup in a sourdough bread bowl. Just thinking about it brings back so many memories…

Baker shaping sourdough into buns at Boudin Bakery San Francisco
Boudin Bakery, Jefferson Street (San Francisco)

The journey ends at K

K Kangaroo Point in Brisbane – home of the beautiful St Mary’s Anglican Church. The windows, as expected in a building like this, are spectacular. I sat in the church recently (at a wedding) and was mesmerised by the colours. I was grateful that the bride was a little late because it gave me time to take photos and admire the beauty of the stained glass.

Old stone church with stained glass windows in Kangaroo Point Brisbane
Kangaroo Point Brisbane

As I meander through the twenty-plus thousand photos I have stored on my i-Devices, I wonder why I have so many photos of doors and windows? So far I’ve covered the A-E and F-K of doors and windows, so stay tuned – the journey will continue until we get to Z.

By the way, if you know any place that starts with the letter Z, please let me know in the comments section below. Otherwise, we’ll only get to Y.

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, Travel, 2 comments
31
Oct
2018

That Didn’t End Well!

October – here one minute and gone the next. I can remember sitting here at my keyboard on the first day of October, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready for the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Now I’m sitting here on the last day of October wondering what the heck happened? Where did October go? And all I can say is – well – that didn’t end well. 

It always sounds so easy. Just post a blog each day, for a month. What could go wrong? 

Life!

That’s what could go wrong – and it did! I knew I was in for a busy month; I just didn’t anticipate how busy it would get. The committee I’m on needed attention – a little more than usual – and WordCamp happened. Add to that a sick neighbour who needed assistance and you’ve got a whole lot of too-tired-to-write nights. 

Okay, WordCamp Brisbane 2018 was only one weekend – but it entailed a lot of planning. I live about one-hundred and thirty kms from Brisbane. At the very least it takes about one-and-a-half hours to drive there, but factor in road-works and heavy traffic – and you’ve got a more realistic time of close to two hours. Now that’s a little too far to drive to and from each day, so the first planning that had to be done was finding accommodation. With the first morning being a seven-thirty start, the accommodation was needed for Friday and Saturday nights.

The Options…

I looked at a few options, but because I was driving there, I had to find accommodation for my car as well. Has anyone found car-parking in the city that didn’t necessitate mortgaging the house to pay for it? The options weren’t too exciting:

  • Park on the other side of the river and drag luggage across the bridge (at least the parking is more affordable on the south side) 
  • Park in one of the parking stations in the city and be prepared for the hefty cost at the end of the two days (at least I’d be on the right side of the bridge)
  • Phone the hotel and see if they have parking and would it be affordable (I seriously doubted both)
Photo of Level 4 Row 1 of the Myer Centre Carpark
A photo of the carpark is a good reminder of where I left the car…

The last option won

I chose the Ibis Styles Hotel (right next to the Myer Centre) for two reasons:

  1. I have AccorPlus membership which gives me discounted accommodation; option of using my accumulated points; free WiFi; discounted food in the restaurant; priority check-in; 
  2. Location – the Hotel is: an easy walk to QUT (Queensland University of Technology), the venue for WordCamp; in the heart of the city; oh, and did I mention there is a Starbucks on the corner? Getting my morning coffee is not an option – it is a ‘survival-choice’. 
But first, coffee! 

A call to the Ibis Styles Hotel on Elizabeth Street cemented the deal. I could park in the Myer Centre carpark for $20 a day, as long as I remembered to have my ticket validated at check-out. Bargain!

Then there was the planning of what to pack for the weekend. I usually take three cases when I travel: one in case it is too hot; one in case it is too cold; and one in case it is just right. And then there is my technology bag, which usually weighs more than the other three put together. This time I had to economise. Even though the hotel is next door to the Myer Centre, I still had to drag my luggage from the carpark, through the shopping centre, out onto Elizabeth Street, and up to the door of the hotel. I ended up with one small bag for clothes and my usual large backpack for technology. It worked.

And WordCamp?

Two days of non-stop learning! Even though it meant more than two days away from writing (remember all the planning?), I figure it was a great investment in my blogging. What I learned that weekend will help me work faster and smarter – not harder.

WordCamp is all about using a WordPress website which is great for Blogging
Looking towards the path leading from Z Block at QUT
QUT – Z Block

So even though October has gone and the Ultimate Blog Challenge didn’t end well, I came through relatively unscathed – although exhausted – and a lot better off, knowledge-wise.

Life is a journey, and every moment taken for learning is a giant leap forward. 

Maureen Durney

So until we meet on another Ultimate Blog Challenge – this is me signing off. And now I’ll go back to just ‘blogging’. 

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, 0 comments
24
Oct
2018

There’s A Fly On the Wall!

Yesterday, a fly sneaked in behind me as I closed the screen door. It buzzed around for a while, viewing the goings on around it, and then settled on the wall beside me. As I sat there watching that fly on the wall, I wondered what it was thinking?

Fly on the Wall!
(Image from Pixabay)

The fly’s line of vision was aimed directly at the mess of colourful fabric, lying haphazardly across the sofa. The white cords zig-zagged across the back of the fabric, and spilled over onto the floor.

Let me explain

The saga started a long time ago. Well, almost three years, to be exact. When I moved into my unit, there was an issue with the door that leads out to the balcony.

It is big, glass, and bare!

I had inherited vertical blinds from the previous owner, but! – they were plain, and -well – what more can I say without using the ‘ugly’ word? So the vertical blinds have remained constantly in the open position, leaving the glass door vulnerably naked. And me feeling like a goldfish in a goldfish bowl.

For almost three years I’ve been thinking about making some kind of curtain to hang at the door; I just didn’t know how to tackle the problem. I wanted something to cover the bare glass, but still allow me access to the balcony without tripping over a curtain.  

Thanks to technology – well – Pinterest, the answer came to me a few weeks ago. The simple (or not!) solution was to make an Austrian Blind. I figured I could pull the blind up through the day – and down at night. Unless I have a light on through the day, I would be shielded by the expanse of balcony between me and the rest of the world. But at night time, I would need to have the blind down, for privacy.

I’ve Got This!

With Pinterest to the rescue, I saved the instructions, found the fabric I wanted, and set about making the blind. Having made one years ago, I thought I had this covered – except for one small detail. Instead of securing the fabric to a baton, which in turn would be secured to the top of the door-frame, I figured I’d take a short cut and put the blind on a curtain rod. The door frame seems to be made of some kind of metal, and I didn’t want to start messing with making holes in it. It would be much easier to use a tension-rod inside the frame. Some of you are probably ahead of me at this point and can already see where this will end. I didn’t.

After hours of sewing little loops onto the back of the fabric, I carefully threaded the cord through each one. I started from the bottom loops and ended with each cord making its way across the top of the blind, to be anchored on the left side. I figured this would be the easiest side to hide the cords on.

Disaster!

Do you know that feeling when you’ve finished a project and are about to give it a trial run? That moment when you suddenly think “What if this doesn’t work?”. Well, I had that moment.

After threading the top of the blind carefully onto the tension-rod, I hoisted it all into position within the door frame. All five cords hung neatly, as planned, down the left side (facing me). I gently started pulling the cords to raise the blind. Well, that bit sort of worked. What I hadn’t calculated was the cord on the far right of the blind, gently pulling the blind to the left side – sort of gathering the top – until the blind had departed from the right side and was now bunching up towards the left side.

The worst was yet to come!

Had I mounted the fabric to the baton, as I should have done, this would not have happened. The blind would have hoisted up, leaving the left and right sides in their intended positions. Oh, and in the process of the trial-run, I had to keep pushing the tension-rod back into position. It seems that all that gathering and hoisting was too much to bear for that skinny little rod. Therein lies another problem – the rod just isn’t strong enough.

So with the clock fast approaching midnight, the curtain gathering across the rod, and the rod constantly dropping out of its rightful place, I did what anyone would do in that situation. I dropped the whole lot onto the sofa, and went to bed. And that’s where it all was when the fly landed on the wall the next day.

Was the fly on the wall laughing?

Perhaps it did look funny – the blind laying haplessly on the sofa – and me trying to figure out how to make it work.

Ideas that have sprung to mind so far are:

  • Lash the rod to the brackets that hold the (almost) redundant vertical blinds (big problems with this idea)
  • String the cords up and over the brackets that hold the (almost) redundant vertical blinds (even bigger problems with this idea)
  • Buy a blind and have someone put it up – properly (definitely worth thinking about)
  • Go to the hardware store – buy a baton – fix the blind to the baton – and secure the baton to the inside of the door frame (seems like a feasible solution)

I will add here that a trip to the hardware store is on my ‘To Do’ list for tomorrow.

I’ll keep you posted on the outcome – if I ever get it right. 

If I was a fly on a wall at your house, what would I see?

G-Rated responses only! If I have landed on a bedroom or bathroom wall, spare me the details. I don’t want to know…

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, 0 comments
16
Oct
2018
What Has Changed?

What Has Changed?

Where do I start to describe what has changed over my lifetime? The obvious would be to segment my life into two categories: childhood and adulthood. But is that too simplistic?

The changes that have mattered most, happened on the brink of, and well into adulthood. 

But there is one consistant theme that has run through all the changes that my life has been witness to – and that is: learning.

Can I separate change from learning?

No!

Change and learning have been lifelong partners. Each change was the vehicle for valuable lessons. Things I wanted to learn – and those I needed to learn – albeit reluctantly.

My learning distance isn’t measured in time, but in experience.   

Maureen Durney

Every move I made, whether it was across town or to the other side of the world, taught me something new. At eighteen I moved Interstate; leaving home to become an adult with responsibilities. I learned independence and dependence, both at the same time. Independence: when I had to mend a fuse in the middle of the night because the man of the house was away; dependence: when I relied on him to do it, because it was his job as the man of the house. That’s how it was back then.

Map of Life 

Most people have their lives mapped out in the usual order: study; career; marriage; children; return to career. I was never good at fitting in with what everyone else was doing. College was put on hold until my children were both at school.

College Days …

I finished College and worked in a temporary, but full-time position while waiting for my appointment to a school. The offer came at the same time as the opportunity to move to Malaysia. Malaysia won. Teaching was put on hold. 

Crossing Oceans

Leaving the shores of Australia, I called Malaysia home, for two years. I learned resilience. New cultures, routines and a lot of diversity. I was an outsider in my new country – but I fitted in. 

The Sydney Harbour Bridge

The return to Australia – and the beginning of my career

On returning to Australia I reclaimed my career, and teaching began in earnest. I learned confidence. My goal had been to work in Special Education, but I started out in mainstream, as every teacher should. I served what I felt was sufficient time – then moved into Special Ed.

Circumstances changed; I packed up my career and belongings, and moved Interstate. I learned aloneness. Aloneness goes beyond independence. Aloneness was when I realised that I wanted to go home at night, close the door, and shut the world out – if only for the next twelve hours. 

More Study

Post-Graduate courses filled the night-times, and every other waking hour outside of the school day. Two nights a week I sat in classes, having driven almost an hour to get there. I learned persistence. Days and nights rolled into each other; always filled with journal articles; always filled with note-taking. I graduated three times in three years.

Graduation Day – Masters Degree 

The confidence, persistence, resilience and independence that I’d learned along the way, led to advancements in my career. I progressed from the classroom to an administrative role, but still with a teaching component. Instead of having one classroom, I had many. My role was to support students with disability, their parents and their teachers. I learned advocacy. It wasn’t easy explaining to a teacher that Ben could listen better if he didn’t have to look at her. And it wasn’t easy mopping up the tears of a mum who felt she had let her child down by not being an expert in disability. Nobody is an expert in disability; but every mum knows her child best. Babies aren’t born with an instruction book attached; we simply do our best. And that is all that matters.

The New Phase

Thousands of students later, career gave way to retirement. Time to put my feet up; sleep in; take life a little easier. Time to travel. I learned spontaneity. When an opportunity to pack my bags arose – I packed – sometimes with only a week between trips. Thousands of photos and a lifetime of memories that will now spill out onto the pages of my blogs.

New York City skyline with US flag flying high

The changes and learning in my life have led me home. Moving Interstate at eighteen; across the world at other times; and back to my home-state for retirement.

I’m home.

The changes may be less significant in this phase – but they are still happening. And each one comes with new learnings.

And that is how it should be.

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Posted by Maureen in Travel, 0 comments
10
Oct
2018
Weekend – What Weekend?

Weekend – What Weekend?

Weekends: those magical hours between Friday night and Monday morning. You close the door of your office on Friday afternoon, and look forward to two days of blissful R&R – that’s Rest and Recuperation in old Military terms. There’s nothing like waking up on Saturday morning, knowing that you can roll over and go back to sleep. The weekend looks good from any angle!

But what happens when the weekend loses its lustre? What happens when the weekend becomes just like any other day? 

We call it Retirement!

When you close the door on the office for the very last time, you know you’ve hit retirement. The defining line between weekdays and weekends disappears. Timetables are for bus and train trips, and reports only relate to weather. Work!, becomes a dirty, four-letter word (anyone remember Maynard G Krebs’ reaction to the word?)

Retirement – the new phase of your life where – Yes!, the world really does revolve around you. Possibly for the first time in your life you are free to make decisions that are best for you: “Will I go out today? Nah… I think I’ll sit on the verandah, drink coffee and read a book.” I can do what I want, when I want.

When you settle into retirement, either every day is now a weekday, or every day is now a weekend. I chose the latter. Those days that start with M are no longer feared or dreaded. 

Cup Half-Empty or Half-Full?

Mine was always at least half-full, but since I retired, my cup is closer to full (usually with coffee). I have filled it with all the things I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. While I was working, every time I came across something interesting to do, or new skill to learn, I promised myself that I would do it when I retired. Needless to say, the list of things to do and learn was pretty long by the time I closed the door on my work-life.

Working my way through the list!

The first, and most important task was to learn to write creatively. My career was filled with factual report-writing. And there’s nothing like report-writing to stifle any creativity that you may have had prior to your career. Reports: a case of re-telling ‘the facts, and nothing but the facts’. Not much wriggle room for being creative.

And now there’s my Blog – where I get to try out different styles of writing. There is still a lot to learn, but I think I’m slowly moving into a zone where I feel more confident. I can relax a little, and really enjoy the whole writing experience – well – as far as my experience has taken me so far. I’ve only just started flexing my creative muscles so I know I have a long way to go, but I’m definitely enjoying the journey. 

Being retired, and being the centre of my own Universe, means I can be flexible. I can write when I want to – not when I have to. 

But What About the Challenge?

Ah, yes, the Ultimate Blog Challenge. Where am I up to? 

Day 6

As a blogger/writer, do you take the weekend off? 

Paul Taubman – Ultimate Blog Challenge

I had a bit of a chuckle when I read the topic for Day 6 – which is roughly where I am up to – despite it being the tenth day of October. My first thought was, ‘Weekend, What Weekend?’. Every day is a weekend. 

And I guess that answers the question…

I have posted Days 1, 2 and 3. I’m skipping Days 4 and 5 of the Challenge – until later. So that means I’m up to Day 6. Just saying….

Maureen
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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, Writing, 2 comments
07
Oct
2018
Fall!

Fall!

Here in Australia, we call it Autumn, not Fall. And where I live, there are no extreme differences between any of the seasons. Autumn is recognisable by the array of leaves on the ground, and being able to sleep comfortably at night for the first time in months. And yes, Autumn does signal colder days to come, but nothing like the cold days of the Northern Hemisphere.

An Autumn day in Brisbane

In some parts of Australia, like Central Queensland (CQ), there are seemingly only two seasons: Hot and Cold. But in Melbourne, you can have all four seasons in one day (or, so the saying goes…).

Kids Don’t Feel The Cold!

Out in Central Queensland, it would be hot one day, and then cold the next. That’s how you would know it was winter. Autumn had been by-passed – there was no in-between. Just hot, and cold. I’m not talking – Northern Hemisphere big-heavy-coat-cold, just an extra-layer-of-jumper cold.

When I was teaching in Queensland, the only sign of winter, as demonstrated by most of the students, was the addition of a jumper (sweater) early in the morning. They still wore shorts! Some of them would pass an occasional remark about how cold it was, but didn’t connect wearing shorts, to feeling cold. Long pants seemingly got in the way of running fast at recess. And by lunchtime, the jumper would either be safely stowed in their bag or lost in the playground; usually the latter.

A beautiful Autumn day in Murwillumbah NSW

Cold One Day – Hot The Next

And the reverse occurred at the other end of the season. Cold one day, and hot the next. The only sign of Spring was the emergence of new buds on trees. But temperature-wise? – hot!

Spring has sprung, here in Murwillumbah

I can’t account for other parts of Australia because my experience is limited (mostly) to Queensland and the northern end of New South Wales. However – there are places in Southern parts of our beautiful Australian landscape that apparently have distinct seasons. Trees put on seasonal colours that are seemingly spectacular, and the early morning chill creeps in and warns of colder days to come. Nice places to visit – but I wouldn’t want to live there.

The Beautiful Fall Colours of Boston

Speaking of nice places to visit, one of the most memorable journeys I have taken, was Boston US, in November. I was mesmerised by the beauty of the Fall colours. A travel-buddy that I had met while on the cruise from Southampton UK, shared my enthusiasm. On a bus from the cruise ship, to and from Salem, we must have driven the Fall-hardened passengers crazy. We (two Aussies) darted from one side of the bus to the other, cameras poised, trying to capture every golden leaf along the way. It was spectacular!

This photo doesn’t do justice to the beauty of the Fall trees in Boston 
Or this one….

Do we have spectacular Autumns (Falls) here in Australia? Yes! But not where I live. Beautiful – yes – but not Boston-type spectacular. Would I swap where I live for a place that has distinct seasons? Probably not. I love the way our seasons just ease gently into each other here in Northern New South Wales.

Oh, and yes, I did turn my heater on last winter – about three times, I think. And only for about an hour each time.

And that’s the way I like it!

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, Travel, 14 comments
04
Oct
2018
The Dawn of a New Tomorrow

The Dawn of a New Tomorrow

The bell signals the end of learning for another day. Students make a rush for the door, and the temptation to join them is overwhelming. You sit down at your desk and dream of the dawn of a new tomorrow. A tomorrow with no bells; no lesson plans; no marking; and no report-writing.

When you are a teacher, the lines between day and night are blurred. Three o’clock signals the end of learning for students, and the start of paperwork for teachers.

It’s going to be another long night. Before you start tomorrow’s planning, today’s marking screams at you. Thoughts are sloshing around your head – and they need to find their way into the books to be marked, before they settle into a pool of useless, random words. Leaving the marking until later never ends well. So you open the first book, pick up your pen – and start.

Image from Pixabay.com

And Lunch?

Image from Pixabay.com

Your stomach reminds you that playground duty kept you from the staffroom, for yet another lunch break.  Along with the empty feeling in your stomach, you crave coffee. Another one of life’s simple pleasures that eludes you in your teaching day. Hot coffee and students don’t mix – Workplace Health & Safety posters adorn the staffroom walls.  No chance of forgetting. You make a mental note to stop by the coffee shop on your way home.

When is Enough, Enough?

The teaching weeks roll into teaching months. Before you know it, you’re beyond retirement age, but you are still on the treadmill. Love for your job, and dedication to it, are no consolation for the tiredness you feel. That weariness that chases you down at the end of each long day. Your non-teaching friends are in bed at a reasonable hour – you are up late, planning and writing reports. It takes its toll. Your health starts to flash warning signs – Enough is Enough!

And one day it all comes to a grinding halt. The plans you made to keep working until your seventies, not that you are too far from that magic number, disappear. You wake up one morning and think “I can’t do this anymore”. And that’s the day the resignation papers fall out of your pocket – onto the Principal’s desk.

The dawn of a new tomorrow

When I closed the classroom door for the last time, I didn’t have time to think about it too much. As soon as I made the decision to fill in the retirement-forms – I booked a cruise. I needed something to separate my working-life from my new retirement-life. And I needed something to console me in the raw days following my departure from the world that had absorbed me for more than half my life.

I poured myself into planning for the cruise from Sydney to Singapore. That trip was to close the door on my working life – sealed shut – never to be reopened; and it worked! I came home refreshed, renewed and excited about settling down into a normal life. 

Or, So I Thought!

The years of getting by on less than eight hours sleep had become stuck somewhere in my Body-Clock, and it wouldn’t budge. I found myself unable to put my head on the pillow before midnight – but I was still waking up at five or six in the morning. The problem was, there was no planning or report-writing to fill the evenings. I subscribed to paid television – but that didn’t work; there never seemed to be anything worth watching. 

I started writing. I had always loved writing and promised myself that one day I would write a book. Perhaps that ‘one day’ had arrived.

The website I dabbled in, while still teaching, suddenly had meaning. It had been sitting there, half-baked, for years. Now it was time to get it into the oven. 

And the idea of a Blog started to gel. I’d been hearing about, and reading blogs, for a long time. 

Writing; Website; Blogging

The three started to overlap, then merge, until it was only natural that they would become one. And from the ashes, my Phoenix arose.

MaureenDurney.com emerged.

My humble musings from the early days are often painful to revisit. But put into perspective, they are a yardstick by which to measure the distance I have travelled. I can see the improvement in my writing, in my website management, and therefore in my blogging.

What has had the most impact?

The Ultimate Blog Challenge!

Writing within a time-frame and to a specific topic has reined in my verbosity. The challenge dictates a blog-a-day for thirty-one days. You can’t allow yourself the luxury of extra words when the clock is ticking away beside you. Well theoretically, anyway. I still need to work on the length of my blogs. And that is a work-in-progress.

MaureenDurney.com is keeping me focused. It is absorbing me – drawing out the passion that I used to pour into my teaching. It is my new life. Learning new skills is exercising my brain, just as Professional Development did in my teaching days. 

And The Book?

The book is another work-in-progress. And the Ultimate Blog Challenge is pre-requisite learning before launching full-on into it. With my long teaching days behind me, and with the dawn of my new tomorrow, I can now devote my life to Blogging. 

MaureenDurney.com is alive and well!

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, Writing, 4 comments
01
Oct
2018
October Ultimate Blog Challenge – Day One

October Ultimate Blog Challenge – Day One

I’ll call it ‘Third Time Lucky’, for want of a better philosophy, but the Ultimate Blog Challenge is back. I made a weak attempt in January, then slightly better in July, and have signed up again for October. I’ve dusted off my iPad and sharpened up my keyboard, so let’s go! 

Why Am I Doing This?

I learned so much from the first two challenges that I couldn’t resist coming back for Round Three. I saw the difference the challenges made to my writing, and I know I can learn a lot more. 

And one of the great things about the Ultimate Blog Challenge is the people you meet on the journey. Accepting the challenge is a lot more than simply posting a blog each day – it’s about reading other people’s blogs. When someone makes a comment on one of my blogs, I immediately feel connected to the reader.   Leaving a comment for another blogger makes a connection with them. And it makes a difference. We don’t sit and write each day to have nobody read our writing, no matter how humble it might be. Seeing a comment at the bottom of a blog, validates the time and effort of writing it. It makes it all worthwhile. 

So, what is the Ultimate Blog Challenge?

The challenge lies in being able to address a set topic, within a specific time-frame. Since there are only twenty-four hours in a day, that’s all you get, from the time you get the topic of the day, until the next one arrives in your inbox. 

For someone like me, the ticking clock is my biggest motivator. Without the time-frame I’d spend way too long writing each blog. Writing within the confines of a day ensures I get a hurry-on. And that in turn makes sure I use less words instead of more. 

One of the things I’ve noticed about my writing is that I’m getting much more contained in my ‘wordiness’. 

“So avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy. A man is not very tired, he is exhausted. Don’t use very sad, use morose. Language was invented for one reason, boys – to woo women – and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”

N.H. Kleinbaum, Dead Poets Society

When recycling isn’t a good thing!

Recycling waste is great for the environment. Recycling blogs isn’t good for the challenge. Each blog has to be new content. Perhaps a new spin on an old theme would work, but re-posting something that has already been posted doesn’t fit within the Blog Challenge guidelines.

Here’s to writing one blog a day for the month of October!

May we all succeed and arrive at the end of the October Ultimate Blog Challenge with thirty-one blogs, done and dusted.

This is my first blog for the month.

Enjoy!

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, Writing, 8 comments
19
Sep
2018
The A-E of Windows and Doors

The A-E of Windows and Doors

I can be walking down any street, in any city, and be captivated by an odd shaped window or an ornate door. Luckily my iPhone is always in my pocket, so the camera is always ready to capture the moment. The downside is, I now have thousands of photos of windows and doors! When I look back on the photos, I often wish I could open some of those doors, or peer in the window to see what is on the other side.

Should we go there?

A journey through the photos of windows and doors that clog up my digital albums would not only fill these pages, but probably bore you in the process. So I’ll break the journey by sorting the photos into alphabetical order. The hardest part will be deciding which photos make it into the blog – and which ones will be left behind.

The A-E of Windows and Doors

A This beautiful building, with lots of windows and doorways, is in Amritsar, India. I’m sad that I didn’t have time to stop and get a photo from the best angle, but at least I got this much. India has some of the most amazing buildings. Obviously there is more than a touch of British heritage in the architecture of some of them, but the beautiful materials used, brings the focus back to India.

And, on to B…

B  This is window-and-door Heaven! The old Bank of New South Wales building (the one on the left) is on the corner of Queen Street Mall and George Street in Brisbane (Australia). The building on the right is the Treasury Casino. If old buildings are your thing, come to Brisbane and take a walk around the Central Business District. You’ll be amazed at the number of beautiful old buildings.

Crazy, I know, but…

…this is one of my favourite photos from the Queen Street Mall. I’m sure real photographers would quickly point out the photographic errors, but I love the lines and angles I captured in this photo. Oh, and of course, the windows!


Another B Building…

B is for Boston, USA, and the windows in this fabulous building reflect the amazing colours of the sky and the autumn (Fall) foliage. It also takes me back to my childhood. I used to have blocks that looked a lot like the colours and shapes in this building.

C Christchurch, New Zealand – the city that rebuilt itself after a devastating earthquake. I love the rustic look of these doors, as well as the shape of the glass panels. One of the advantages of photographing windows, or glass doors, is the bonus image in the reflection. 

D Devonport, New Zealand. On a very cold day in September, these windows offered some hope that there might be a warm fire glowing on the inside. If you find yourself in Auckland, take the ferry across to Devonport and investigate some of the beautiful buildings. 

Ellis Island Immigration Museum

E Ellis Island, NY USA. When I visited the home of immigration almost two years ago, I wondered if any of my relatives had walked through the door, or looked through the windows of this building. My grandfather left Sweden when he was young and sailed around the world many times before settling in Australia. Having taken the DNA test offered by Ancestry, I know I have a link to the USA, and I’m guessing it might be through some of the Swedish family that we have no knowledge of. Who knows, maybe their new life started right here in the Immigration building on Ellis Island.

What is your favourite thing to photograph?

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, Travel, 1 comment
05
Sep
2018

Just An iPhone Click Away

It doesn’t matter where I go, there are so many things to take photos of.   And thanks to modern technology, most of us carry a camera in our pockets, courtesy of our mobile phone. Unlike the chunky cameras of the past, today’s cameras are smaller, but incredibly sophisticated. That little window in the corner of our Smart Phone is capable of taking fantastic photos. Nowadays, great photography is as close as an iPhone click away.

In the Old Days……

I’m not going to say how old I am, but my first camera was a Kodak Box Brownie, back when they were the latest innovation in everyday photography.

StockSnap / Pixabay

Before the world of digital cameras, you had to

  • buy a roll of film
  • insert the film into the camera
  • take photos
  • remove the roll of film
  • have the film developed
  • cry over blurred photos

Too bad if you missed that once-in-a-lifetime photo, because the opportunity to take another one had probably long since disappeared. Imagine how it felt when you arrived home from your first trip to Europe – collected your six rolls worth of photos, only to find the special photo you took in Zurich – was blurred. Ughhh!!!! It’s not like you could jump in the car, drive a few miles, and take the photo again. It just didn’t work like that.

And then someone came up with the idea of the Digital Camera. No more rolls of film to be developed, and instant feedback on whether you had captured the image – or not. The digital camera revolutionised photography.

Could it get any better than this?

Oh yes!, and it did. The DSLR and Smart Phone Cameras, took photography to a new level. The Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera had been around for a very long time, but adding the Digital component brought them into the modern world. A zoom lens, added to a DSLR camera, brought the world up close, and very personal.

And Then We Got Really Smart

The mobile phone became smaller and smaller. The smaller it got, the smarter it got. And eventually it evolved with a built-in lens. As phones became more sophisticated, so did the camera. The quality of the Smart Phone camera today is outstanding. You simply aim the phone, take the photo, and check the image. Of course, there’s always the option to switch the camera around, aim the phone at yourself, and take a selfie. What could be easier than that? And photos taken with most Smart Phones are nothing short of spectacular.

And Now?

Now there’s a small camera with wide and zoom lens capability that you can attach to your phone. The Olympus Air 01 is, without a doubt, my favourite camera. It clips onto my iPhone 6S Plus easily, even when the phone is in a solid case. Photos are easy to take, and even in Auto mode, they are amazing.

I’m glad I gave in to that temptation!

When I retired from a long career in teaching, I took a cruise to Singapore to celebrate. And on that cruise, I was introduced to the Olympus Air A01 camera. Because I have always loved gadgets, and technology, I couldn’t resist the temptation, and bought the camera. I have to admit though, I deliberated on the decision for a few days before deciding it would be an investment in my future. At that point I had no idea what my future would look like, but I figured it would have to involve technology at some level. 

This photo was taken at ground level in front of the Statue of Liberty, with my Olympus Air A01 attached to my iPhone.

That tiny camera has delivered some amazing photos as I’ve tried out my travel-legs, in the first phase of retirement. There’s not much point in travelling if you can’t bring back lots of photos, and thanks to my Olympus Air A01, I’ve managed to take some amazing photos from my trips.

Small in size – big in content

The Olympus Air is so portable! The monitor is your phone. It doesn’t have to be an iPhone like mine – it works just as well with Android versions. And because it works through WiFi and Bluetooth, you simply select the Olympus Air WiFi setting, open the specific App (once you’ve paired the camera with the App), and start taking amazing photos. The zoom and wide lens are simply a setting away. No need to change lenses, it’s all there. The selling feature for me was the ability to enlarge a photo taken with the Olympus Air, without losing detail.

When you are not paying for rolls of film, and having them developed, you can take a few extra shots of that sunset, or the parrot in the tree. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t turn out the way you hoped, you simply take another photo – and delete the not so good ones. You can even use software to touch up any not-so-perfect shots.

There’s no such thing as a bad photo now that photos are just an iPhone click away.

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Posted by Maureen in Blogging, 2 comments