Last week...

I have been playing the Fat Mum Slim Photo-a-Day game on Instagram for some time now and I love it. My love of photography is part of this and, while I really enjoy it ,I don't profess to be a 'real photographer'. Many of my pictures are taken with my phone and often my DSLR camera is on auto! It's about seeing things around me and the process rather than the mastery for me.

Another part of the enjoyment of this 'game' is that no matter what  my day is like, I have a reason to take time to look at my family, home, work or life in general a little differently. I consciously appreciate the beautiful and the interesting around me.

Last week the FMS prompts were colours and I set myself an extra challenge to find something to photograph that is part of my outback mining town home to share...

 

The Big Red Chair
Red

there are tones of orange everywhere in the outback
This picture was chosen as last week's favourite Pic of the Week by my local ABC as part of the ABC Open Pic of the Week project



Yep, it's a mining town!
Yellow



I love this little church! It makes me want to know its stories!
Green

 

Keep looking up. That's the secret of life - Snoopy
Blue

 

the wildflowers are out, Silverton, NSW
Pink



an artist's car -John Dynon Gallery, Silverton, NSW
Rainbow

 While I love to go and explore new and beautiful places, my place is beautiful too, don't you think?

 

Kate xx

 

 

Linking with Trish over at Wordless Wednesday

 

 

 



Bricks to the Bush

Living where I am means that it is easy to think about the things we miss out on but sometimes our isolation makes us special and we get to experience things that not everyone gets the chance to.

Last year we had a life sized Lego Forest pop up in our Living Desert (which you can read more about on my blog here). This was a part of the Festival of Play to celebrate 50 years of Lego in Australia. It was very cool...

This year we have been lucky enough to have another Lego exhibition visiting us at the Albert Kersten Mining and Mineral Museum. The Lego Colosseum has been on display and there are enough bricks in this to make any young (and old) Lego lover's heart pitter patter!! 

This largest ever scale model of Rome’s famous Colosseum has been built entirely from LEGO bricks by Ryan McNaught, aka "The BrickMan". Mr McNaught has Master B's definition of the dream job being one of 13 LEGO certified Professionals and the only one for the southern hemisphere. If you have recently seen a big Lego something chances are Ryan was there!

You could spend all day wandering around, or if you are like me, on your hands and knees with the children crawling around marvelling at the detail and sheer Lego-ness of it all.



 


I loved the fountain

 








Look at that happy little face...in Lego heaven!

 

I think Lego brings out the child in many of us. We have probably played with it as children and many of us who are parents or aunts and uncles have vacuumed it up or stepped on it.

I feel lucky to have been able to see this exhibition and I hope it's one of many that visits us in the bush, reminding us that we all need to play.

Now I will hop off my Early Childhood soapbox...and go an pick up some Lego so I can vacuum :)
Kate x





Linking with Jacana for Totally Thursday

WALT, A Zebra Cake and 2000 Acres of Sky

As I mentioned in my last post, Walt arrived at my house to much excitement and fanfare. He had come all the way from sunny Queensland for an outback adventure...and adventure he got!

While WALT was here we took him to sit on the Big Chair...

we shared some of our mining history...

 

and we certainly didn't forget a visit to Bells Milk Bar for a taste of the 1950's with a raspberry spider!

During WALT'S visit we also got the chance to go out to visit my family on their property. This meant WALT slipped over the border into South Australia for a day!

WALT got the chance to appreciate the wide open spaces...

meet some of the family

 

and join in a birthday celebration.

turning 5!

We have absolutely loved having WALT to stay and while we have enjoyed showing him around our home, Master 9 and Miss 7 have been inspired to find out a little about his home town and think about the differences and similarities.

WALT has had lots of laughs and many little arms around him thanks to the Little B's and their cousins (he may also have had some rather sticky, cakey fingers on him and a little red dirt on his fur but all with love!). We are sending him on with lots of happy thoughts

Bon Voyage WALT....we wonder what you will get up to next?!

I am linking up with Jacana from WALT'S home town and her Totally Thursday

Kate xx
 

STOP THE PRESS...WALT's bags are packed and he is ready to go but he decided to stop at the Little B's school on the way. It was so exciting HE LOST HIS HEAD!!!!!

 

 

He is going to need a couple of days to "pull himself together" before he is ready to travel again. Sorry...he is coming!

LEGO forest in the desert

To help celebrate 50 years of Lego in Australia, replicas of the original Lego trees and flowers have been made and they appeared in the Living Desert near Broken Hill this week.

Imagine the excitement of my children to see trees over 66 times bigger (4m high) than the ones they love to play with!

Now there's something you don't see every day!!!