Saturday 7 February 2009

Shadow Shot Sunday # 11

It's Shadow Shot Sunday again and I am cursing that I didn't take my camera to the Leonard Cohen Concert on Tuesday evening. There he was posing for me all night, with a wonderful dramatic shadow of his hat over his face. Mind you, a young lass in the row in front of us spent the whole evening watching the performance through her digital camera. Maybe I should have asked her to send me one of her thousands of shots. Some people don't get the fact that a live performance means occasionally looking at the real person rather than through a lens. Still, she is now smugly sitting at home surrounded by marvellous shots, while I sit here with none!

So there I was yesterday, blithely looking out of the window, daydreaming instead of working on the computer when something caught my eye. A stick insect was swaying across the top of the fence, so I grabbed my camera and ran outside, hoping he would still be there. Luckily he obliged and posed so nicely for me. As it turned out, the fence cast interesting small shadows across the texture of the timber. If you visit Hey Harriet's blog you will find some truly wonderful Shadow Shot Sunday images - they are well worth a look.


Walking back to the house, I passed the garden tap which looked sad and forlorn. We are coming out of a drought which lasted for several years and we have not been permitted to use our garden hoses for so long that I had forgotten that it was even there. Much of the garden has been watered by bucket and quite often it's recycled water from the laundry. Fortunately here in Brisbane the summer has been quite comfortable. I wish I could say the same for other parts of the country.




To the north of the State the population is being devastated by floods. The poor folk have only just finished mopping up and the floods have returned for the second time within days.

By terrible contrast, in the southern-most part of the country, the cities of Melbourne and Adelaide are suffering extremely high temperatures. Today Melbourne hit the highest temperature on record for the city - 46.4 degrees Celsius, or 115.52 degrees Fahrenheit. Of course, there are terrible bush fires which are never far away in such heat.

It all makes the northern hemisphere snow look very tempting indeed.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Rosebud Collection said...

What wonderful pictures..the poor faucet..Isn't it amazing in one place, so many weather changes..Kind of like here..Sometimes, it will rain on the coast and snow inland..same with the flooding. Of course that isn't happening now..looking forward to rain..Happy SSS..

bobbie said...

I love the insect! and the fence as well! At least the sorry little faucet made a nice shadow for you. Weather all over the world seems to be acting badly this year.

Anonymous said...

Love the insect but sorry I couldn't see the shadow. The tap shadow is great. This morning in Adelaide it has been very refreshing - we had some rain during the night and today is lovely only going to be 26 degrees.

SandraRee said...

Fantastic shot of the "walking stick"! We have periods also were we are not allowed to water on certain days. 115 degrees?! Even with our humidity that makes it feel like that in the summertime, I don't think we've ever reached that number before! Happy SSS to you!

EG CameraGirl said...

Neat shadows.

I didn't realize part of Australia is flooded. Most of the weather news from Australia has been of the terrible heat and now the fires.

Chubby Chieque said...

A terrible drought isn't funny and I really feel sorry. What can Mother Nature do to her children, huh?

Yeah, my love ones in Melbourne told me this afternoon EU time, bout the heat and the fires. Scary.

Hope everything goes well. Your shadow of your faucet is poignant.

Happy SSS, dear...

Unknown said...

That stick insect is amazing. Yes, I am so angry with myself whenever I forget the camera and its always something nice or important when that happens. Oh, even the poor tap made it to the shadows hehe :D

Gina said...

Lovely SS's and great texture and colour in the timber..very rustic
Happy Sunday :D

Lisa's RetroStyle said...

I bet it was a great concert...with or without pictures.
Love the photo of the walking stick and nice faucet shadow.
I'm always sorry to hear about people being subjected to the worst mother nature has to offer.
I'd gladly send you our snow if I could...I've had just about enough of it. Not the snow so much as the cold. It has been a very long cold winter. Hard to keep our drafty old house even at 60F (15.5C). Brrr.

Hey Harriet said...

Pity about not taking your camera along to the Leonard Cohen concert. Doesn't matter. I'm imagining that stick insect wearing a cool hat and performing 'Tower of Song' on his fence :) Cool photo of the little guy, and of the sad tap! The weather is all crazy and I guess we are the lucky ones here in Bris. Although I wouldn't say the heat here is comfortable. But then I don't have air con ;)

Oh I saw Slumdog Millionaire the other week. Just thought to mention it because I landed here via your profile page & noticed it listed in your fave films. What a brilliant film! Loved it! I think it will be my fave film of 2009. And we're only in Feb! :D

The Summer Kitchen Girls said...

Great - you got two shots for one....kind of! When you talked about the flooding there...it made me wonder if we will have much ~ our snow is all starting to melt....time will tell!
Happy Shadow Shot Sunday!

Carletta said...

That walking stick on the weathered fence is an awesome capture. Love the grain of the wood.

I'm shaking my head at the digital camera lass - sometimes you need to be in the moment and forget the camera.

Anonymous said...

Love your shadow shots!

Too bad you left your camera behind but it happens sometimes.

Paz

Sylvia K said...

Terrific photos! Yeah, I feel sorry for the faucet, too! I've so much about your summer heat from so many friends in Australia. I do hope you get some relief soon. Thanks again for the shots!

A Wild Thing said...

Well, we did get up to 60 degrees fahrenheit today in Iowa, very unusual for this time of year, usually we are knee deep in snow and ice...I'm anxious for those bug shots I get every summer, love the praying mantis.

Trust me, you don't want this cold, my kitchen sink pipes just thawed out day before yesterday.

sharon

GalleryJuana said...

Had I not read your post, I would have never noticed the praying mantis! Great shots!

Kat said...

I love that stick insect on the fence, he's truely fabulous!

The tap shot really is a great symbol for the crazy heat we are expereincing round Australia, 46.4 in Melbourne you say..wowee...times like this the humidity here in Brisbane doesn't seem so bad...

High Desert Diva said...

Nice ss.

Hoping the weather calms down over there. Soon.

Unknown said...

Love your capture of the walking stick insect! When my girls were little, where we lived there were always tons of insects on the grass; we used to these and grasshoppers all the time and keep them to examine for a bit and then let them go.

I also love the shadow made by the tap. Love that terra cotta shadow.

Raven said...

Don't you just hate it when there are wonderful photos posing for you and no camera at hand? Still, a Leonard Cohen concert is pretty cool... even without photos.

Love both of these shots. The knots in the fence wood are very cool and I love the spigot shadow. I love it when ordinary things become art.

PJ said...

Oh, I kow the feeling of leaving the camera at home. I bet you'll remember next time.
I love the walking stick, it's huge!
Happy SSS!

Ice Pony Girl said...

Preying mantis is great!!!

Alissa Nicolau said...

I too feel sad for your lonely faucet. The fires in your country made the news here in NYC last night. I thought of all you fellow shadow shooters in Australia. Wishing you well and safe. - Alissa

Dianne said...

so much severe weather!

the insect shot is amazing!!

Anonymous said...

I had one of those stick insects on my leg walking through the bush as a kid. Boy, did I scream! It was the length from my ankle to me knee. Although I don't mind them on fences. Great photo.

Another wonderfully written post Robyn. Yes if only the northern rain would dump a load of wet on the southerners, smother the bush fires and relieve the heat. This way the poor Northerners could empty their mop buckets and start again.

I'm happy living in Brisbane right now, especially after seeing some photos of frozen trees and cars in Switzerland.