Another slow day...

Aaah holidays! The chance to take things slowly and savour the moments and today was such a day.
A little bit of planing for work, the morning or what was left of it after a latish breakfast and then a chat and a bit of sitting around. Then a latish lunch and finally some time on my art journals trying to find my style- mucking around with techniques and ideas.

Then after dinner meeting Bernadette and Alex at Ellen's Stardust Diner and enjoying their company (Alex and Bernadette's that is) and a few drinks and a few songs. Now home in the warm and the prospect of not much other than what happened today as a repeat for tomorrow- ain't holidays grand!

If you haven't visited Tami's blog and seen the gorgeous Zach talking to Santa check it out via the link on the right- Tami is scrapping or even try it here.

Nearing Year's End

It seems not only has this month flown but the entire year! Looked back what I was doing this time last year and I realize I was home in Footscray so here are some of the photos interspersed through this.....The back yard in Footscray

I've been looking at photos to try and throw a photo book together and keep thinking- "oh yes that was this year".

Gum blossom

Today has been probably the most lazy unproductive day of the whole year! The main accomplishment other than getting out of bed was cleaning out the only cupboard that could be called our "pantry" cupboard. Took all of thirty minutes to sort the out of date things, wipe the shelves and then decide what and how to organize the items retained.

Kangaroo Paw

The rest of the day has been.... napping and checking out blogs.

A caffe latte

Perhaps some visitors this evening will get me moving a little more!

Walking in a Winter wonderland

After the snowstorm, earylish on Sunday morning I went for a walk... here are some of the photos.

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,In the lane, snow is glistening

A beautiful sight,
We're happy tonight.

Walking in a winter wonderland.

Later on, we'll conspire,
As we dream by the fire

To face unafraid,
The plans that we've made,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

When it snows, ain't it thrilling,

Though your nose gets a chilling

We'll frolic and play, the Eskimo way,

Walking in a winter wonderland.

The next steps in the Art Journal process

Creating more mess and add ons for the pages.

The first bits added to the pages to create little book-like things to be inserted into the art journal.

Collaged pages which were then cut out in star shapes.

Love the effect of these shapes.

Autumn in New York

Central Park in autumn.... it seemed like a great idea to go and have a look to see how things were changing. The light was just right and many of the leaves too.



Then there were the aspects of the park on a Saturday morning..

The running group assembled to get started.

The skating lessons

The ice hockey game



Nothing like taking the dog for a romp in the autumn leaves. These small things were rushing around after each other bouncing in , on and over the leaves.

The saxophonist was positioned perfectly for amplification and povided a really haunting sound track for the walk in the part of the park.

On leaving the park the birds drew attention to this magnificent creature perched in the tree.

It took off and rested for a while on one of the window ledges of the Plaza Hotel

Art Journaling

I have started a new class at Get it Scrapped. This one is called "The Graffiti of your Life" and involves creating an art journal from the ground up. Starting with cutting pages to use, then doing wash backgrounds which is what I did yesterday. Unlike the other times with Dina this is doing all the pages together. It has lots of paint and ink in the first few days and we're making all the pages all at once.

The stage after the wash was to do stenciling with letters and circles. It was so messy but such fun.

A new restaurant

On my walk on Sunday I happened upon a Japanese restaurant that I hadn't seen before- it was shut but I perused the menu and noticed in had nasu dengaku and okonomiyaki- what more could a little nippon-ophile want?

And so tonight I ventured forth and tried out some of my favourite dishes New York stle and the restaurant was very similar to many in my experience in Japan.

Perhaps I can introduce some of my friends to the fun that is Japanese dining that isn't sushi!

The waiting to get in may put them off but the wait as far as I was concerned was worth it!

Wedensday in the Bronx

Walking in the rain on the way to a school in the Bronx the change in the leaves really captured my attention.

Clutching my umbrella and groping for my camera I managed to take a shot down the "channel" which I hadn't noticed until last week but there it was looking gorgeous with leaves falling and the leaves almost filling the air.

I wanted to get the perfect shot of the leaves... the colours, the glistening rain and then my feet were there but in the end I decided I quite like the shot and it is vaguely in focus.

Friday's in Manhattan

Signs of Autumn

Signs of autumn- through the school fence at 117th Street

The curry night dinner at Annie's

The view down Broadway from Annie's on a rainy night

A walk

Walking home from the school in Harlem.

The sun shone brightly and it seemed the perfect opportunity to get a feel for the city in autumn.

Central Park is always a delight.