Moving on from the old

It occurred to me that I needed to get a photograph editing programme off my desktop computer. You remember? The one that's dead?

Since I'm clever (my degree says so, right under the beer stains), I thought I'd replace the power box with another cannibalised from another computer. Yes, I'm sure you can see the problem: once I scrapped a few knuckles, broke a fingernail or two and tossed a number of expletives (Mum was in the Navy) into the atmosphere to turn it blue... I saw that the salvaged power unit wasn't as powerful as the one I meant to replace.

On a sigh, I turned the desktop on - just to make sure it was dead - and lo, it turned on! Wahoo... or not, since there wasn't any video output.

Not to be discouraged, I fooled around with the connections. Finally, there appeared... not a damn thing. Timing is everything. I had a glimpse of the background wallpaper when we had a brown-out with the electricity and the whole thing turned off.

No amount of button pressing could revive the computer. I've decided to let sleeping silicon chips lie. It will cost too much to repair and I have the handy-dandy laptop to download stuff onto.

Now, I'm off to fool around with Paint.net. Freeware. It looks good and I have some covers to create.

Judge and jury...

It's been a stressful week, and it's not over yet. I'm not talking about it either. So there. Nyah.

This afternoon, I have the dubious honour of judging a local photography exhibition on local photographers favourite holiday snaps. I know what I like, but I'm not sure that should be the only criteria for making a decision and it's been a long, long time since I did a visual arts unit at University.

I suppose I should look at the subject - whether it's framed or not - the colours, or not, contrast, shading, emotional response, the artistry, any blurring (deliberate or not), whether I recognise the place of the photo and other stuff, in conjunction with meaningful discussions with my fellow judges.

I'm totally impartial in this. I don't know the photographers, but I have travelled. Maybe I won't be so impartial if someone's been where I have...

Anyway, I'm hoping it will cheer me up.

There's also a new story over on The Takeaway.

Moonscape

You know I was out there last night taking photos of the lunar eclipse. It really was the blood moon astronomers describe it as.

I could only wish my sister had returned my tripod, but I improvised with the help of the step ladder, tilting the steps.

So, here you go; and yes, that little white dot is a star (I couldn't see it with a nekkid eye):















I'm hoping to get the short story done; if not today, then manyana.

Dra-gon

As requested, here are some of my dragons:

The Western Learned Silver Dragon. At his feet is a Book of Runes (you can't quite see it, but it's there). He's protecting only a few jewels; the book - and wisdom - is more important. He is, of course, made in China - probably cheaply - but that doesn't matter, he's gorgeous anyway for what he represents and is extraordinarily detailed. There are matching silver book end dragons guarding, well, books, but I couldn't get the shot with both. I'll take photos of them one at a time later.

And yeah, he's guarding my collection of David Webers. No-one, and I mean no-one is allowed to borrow them. They're mine, I tell you, MINE! All my dragons are on one bookshelf or another; they seem to like it. Except when the Eastern dragons are too close; the West and the East don't seem to get along. If they are too close, I lose things, am more clumsy and can't seem to get any writing done. Go figure.

Three of the Eastern Dragons. Two are Imperials, the third is the Money Dragon (though it looks more like a turtle). The Imperial Dragon is the only dragon with three toes, usually holding down a pearl (to stop it from escaping, I suppose). The Emperor of China is the only person allowed to have the Imperial Dragon - it represented himself.

The Money Turtle rises from the deep on the back of a dragon and has the seven trigrams of heaven on his shell. The dragon has a coin in his mouth representing prosperity, abundance, strength and endurance. Not the best of photos, but then I think they're shy.

This is one of my favourites - actually, they all are (can't offend the others, now can I?) I picked him up at a garage sale for a couple of dollars. He's an incense dragon. You put the incense underneath (yeah, he sits on it) and smoke comes out his nose. Too cool for words.

He's my only smokin' dragon. I love his colouring, too and he's on a bookcase all on his lonesome - looks like I'll have to buy another one to keep him company. (What a great idea!)

I'll post more dragons later.

Paparazzi Parrot

I took a break from anything to do with writing and worked in the garden.

This is a danger zone for me because I'm botanically-challenged. A weed, is a weed is a Babiana? I have no idea until they flower. My siblings don't suffer from the same malady. They, the evil trolls, can simply point at a plant and name it - my mother goes one better and names it in latin, too.

I'm tugging out the grass - yes, I know it was grass - from a drain, when the squawking of Rainbow Lorikeets came from overhead. They're noisy beggars but beautiful.

They squabble like children, talking over each other, snuggle together, fly rapidly and are incredibly difficult to see if you don't know where they are in the trees.

Two settled into the bottle brush, two others into a nearby tree and I figured I could get my camera and take a few shots.

This little one is obviously a celebrity parrot. He sat very still for this photograph, but every one after, he ducked into the foliage, jumped to the Sesanqua Camellia and otherwise refused to have another photo taken. The other lorikeets were busily chatting away like schoolkids. Probably giving him a razzing.

You'll note the scowl on his face in this photo. Ah... what it is to be popular.

Starstruck

I went out last night to try and view the Comet McNaught.

It's only visible for a few nights, so I braved a cool North-easterly and stood waiting for the event. Others had picked the same spot to try and see this once only event. (Discovered by an Aussie, the comet will never be seen again.)

My photos aren't as good as these - I'm still trying to learn how to use the camera and it came out a little faint - but, the sunset was spectacular.


This is towards the mountains; my normal view is towards the sea, and while the comet is, apparently, visible just before sunrise, there's no way I'm getting up that early for more shots.

Playtime

I've got some photos from my new camera that I'm going to post here; but not until the weekend.

I think I've got it worked out... mostly... kind of... I'll get to reading the destructions eventually. I'm still having fun with it; sigh a new toy.

And that's the thing, isn't it? You get a new toy, you gotta play with it. I don't care how old you are, or what gender, you've gotta play until something goes awry and then out comes the instruction manual.

It's no longer the sole domain of men (where not asking for directions is) to play with nifty electronic or electric devices.

I know many women who secretly love their electric drills, power saws, screwdriver sets, hammers. Men have held sway over repairs and building for too long, I say, and women have finally found out why: it is fun! Over-the-top, what-can-I-drill/saw/screw/bash-next fu-uu-un!

Um... yeah, cool, but back to the point. On other blogs, the authors have posted pikkies of pets, work spaces, sunsets/rises, family members, themselves, just about anything you can point a camera at.

I'm going to as well. This place where I work, where I live, has some stunning wildlife and scenery, so I'm gonna share.

Look for them tomorrow or on Saturday; look for a new story, too, over at the The Takeaway.

I am going to post one story every month, rather than every three weeks, and it will be up the first weekend of the month. I gotta get back into the writing rhythm - these breaks suck...