A lifetime ago

Rosie as a newborn in May last year. Mere months, yet a lifetime, ago.
Taken on an Olympus E30 and edited with Photoshop CS5.

Gateway

Taken at Twin Falls, Kakadu National Park, with a Pentax K20D
and edited with Photoshop CS5.

Hottest of the hot updates

I fully expected to get jack of the constant Facebook and Twitter updates about the heat earlier this week. Kind of like these people:

The wisest course of action would have been to not log on. But how boring would that have been?
As it turned out, my social media feed was quite entertaining.
So, my favourites from Twitter:

And this was shared by Jasmine on Facebook:

See? Hilarious! Bring on the next heatwave. (No, really, don't.)

Wordless Wednesday - My little sun seeker

Rosie prepares to destroy a castle during our trip to  Cape Arid NP.

Once again, linking up with the amazing Trish from My Little Drummer Boys (check her blog and you'll see why she's amazing) for Wordless Wednesday again. Thanks Trish!

Conversation off the menu

Life is always more romantic in cartoon-world.
Image from Dreamstime

They say communication is the key to a healthy relationship. Yet it seems verbal communication, at least, can vary in importance, depending on your relationship stage. 
For example, one couple on our street recently jetted off on a child-free holiday (lucky devils). Value of conversation during holiday: pretty high, I imagine. 
While they're away their 18-year-old daughter has the place to herself. And every time I've stickybeaked happened to be going by I've noticed her boyfriend's car in the drive (lucky young devils). Value of conversation there: a secondary consideration, surely. 
While they are all, presumably, revelling in their rare together-aloneness, I've had a couple of days of revelling in plain aloneness. Well, relative aloneness - I've Rosie, of course, and my mum is visiting. But with my husband away for a few days, my nights have been pleasantly peaceful. And I've spent pretty much zero time in the kitchen. Bonus!
Can you tell we're the ones with the married-for-a-decade-and-now-there's-a-baby relationship? No young love here, folks. Nor second-honeymoon romance yet, either. Value of conversation to us: meh, we can talk later. 
Which is just as well when it comes to things like anniversaries. Of which our 11th is approaching. I have vague plans to celebrate with dinner and a movie. Because we do enjoy each other's company. Really. 
Not that you'd think so if you spotted us out at a nice restaurant. We'd be the couple barely looking at each other and - yep - speaking even less. Even though it's the perfect place for meaningful discussion. 
This is due to my husband loving his food and being an avid people watcher. Deploying the 'men can't multitask' argument, he claims tucking into a seafood buffet while eyeballing other diners is as much as he can handle. 
I've long since accepted that eating out means eating in silence. And why complain, really? After all, I still get to enjoy the novelty of wearing nice shoes and having someone else cook dinner. I can talk to him the other 364 nights of the year. 

Is conversation important in your house? Do you get it when you go out?

Linking up with Jess from Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays. Thanks Jess. 

Cruel summer Pt II

Taken by J Gadsby (my mum) in central NSW with an Olympus E30 and edited with Photoshop Elements.

Cruel summer

Taken with iPhone and edited with Photoshop CS5.