Highlight Sunday (a little late)

Yesterday, my husband took Bec & I out for a trip to a lovely cafe in West End called "The Three Monkeys". We had both been cooped up in the house most of the week due to the constant rain & storms and had very little opportunity to take any photos, which is our outlet. The weather cleared for the afternoon, so once we had enjoyed a lovely soy chai latte & slice, we stopped at a nearby church, St Andrews Anglican Church, East Brisbane.

Image courtesy of http://www.st-andrews.org.au

The foundation stone was laid in 1878, but due to lack of funds to complete the building it wasn't finished until 1883. The original design by Andrea Stombuco included a tower and spire but due to increasing costs, they were never built. The church also houses an organ shipped from London in 1885. We didn't go inside as church members were rehearsing for the evenings church service. Here are some of my shots from our short walk around the church:

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As Sunday draws to a close...

Tough day, tough week. As the sun sets on another day, I am again in awe...

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Sunset Sunday @ Just Used Pixels    AND the the link ups below...
                                               

Water Sport Sunday

On Sunday afternoon we took a drive down to one of my favourite sunset spots - Wellington Point. It's a popular day trip destination all year round but Summer brings out all the extreme water sport fanatics and makes for even more interesting photography.

The kitesurfers are rather amazing to watch... now that's some real "air" he's getting.

Coming in to land...

Touchdown!

And a sharp turn creates some impressive spray...

The sunset was impressive too.

I hope you had a lovely weekend.

Sharing with some of my favourite weekend link ups:

                             



           

Christmas Day in QLD, Australia

Having a very large blended family (9 children) consisting of mainly adults means that Christmas day is often missing a few of our children. This year my eldest daughter Sarah & son-in-law Oscar are in Melbourne celebrating with Oscar's extended family. My oldest prodigal son , his fiance and their 2 children (who we have not seen since March... their daughter Annabelle was born only a few days before Christmas).  Michael's 18 year old prodigal daughter was with her partner's family. And his youngest 2 daughters were with their mother.
I wasn't really looking forward to Christmas, especially after finding out only a few days ago that my second grandchild had been born and knowing I may never get to see her.

This Christmas day was celebrated with my youngest 2, Ben & Bec, and Michael's oldest 2, Amy & Tamsyn. It turned out to be a thoroughly enjoyable & peaceful day.

I cooked the turkey breasts last night as our hot summer is not really conducive to a hot Christmas lunch. It's been Ben's job to cut the turkey & ham for so many years.

Bec loves creating salads so I was "kicked out of" the kitchen. The potato salad was a joint effort between Bec & me, and the tossed salad was Bec's.

Michael with Amy (23)

Michael & Tamsyn (20)

Lunch was delicious and was followed an hour or so later by my Mum's amazing Christmas pudding. I usually make Brandy cream to accompany it but, due to being sick all week, I opted for a pre-made Pauls Brandy custard (which was rather disappointing).

After lunch, we exchanged gifts. Michael surprised me with a Canon 50mm Portrait lens and so I embarked on doing something I had only done a couple of times - switching to manual mode and experimenting with adjusting aperture, shutter speed & ISO.

Here are the results SOOC. I was amazed at the sharpness of the images and quite happy with the results but I still have so much to learn.

Youngest son Ben (20)

Youngest daughter Bec (19)

Oldest step-daughter Amy (23)

Step-daughter Tamsyn (20) - love the light in this one

Great friends, Tamsyn & Bec.

Husband Michael

And me

This last image is credited to RAD Photography (Bec) over at Through the lens; RAD Photography

Around 5:30pm, Michael collected his youngest two daughters, Jess & Lizzie, from their mother's house and, when they were back home, I took a family shot (well, with 6 of the 9 children). I had no idea how to alter settings for so many people so on went the 18-55mm lens, set on Auto, with tripod & 10 sec timer.

Today, I am extremely grateful for celebrations with family

Linking with SOOC Sunday &

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The girls didn't want to decorate the tree until I arrived home from my break in Melbourne, so we were quite late decorating the tree this year.

Of course the lights have to be checked before being wrapped around the tree. And that creates a perfect excuse for a bit of horizontal macro photography!!

Let there be peace on earth...

Joy to the world...

I absolutely love the light reflecting on the glass Christmas tree ornament creating some colourful bokeh decorations.

And the finished product... was rather satisfying!

I have since dealt with those empty spots in the middle of the tree!!

May you find peace & joy in this Christmas season.

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