BigBlog

Well I have finally taken the plunge and join up with faster internet service. There are no changes to our email addresses. I hope to be able to keep in touch a lot more often now. So drop me a line from time to time and I will get back to you.

Smile and have fun. I am enjoying the tennis at the moment and still undecided on who I would like to see win the Australian Open. I am leaning towards Kim Clisters and I would like to see the tall lanky frechman Gael get into the semis.....

Well I didn’t believe that we would finally get here but we have. Larissa has graduated from Emmaus College after five challenging, exciting, frustrating and wonderful years.

As I sat through the last school assembly I remembered my school days that seemed not so long ago and now my daughter is finishing!

Larissa has been able to stay with a core group of friends, from her first days at preschool, through primary and then on to high school.

To see there lovely young people grow has been an amazing privilege and the final school mass St Joseph’s Cathedral was a very moving ceremony. The students brought the road to Emmaus story to life with wonderful music, singing and acting. Bishop Heenan presided over the mass with co celebrants Fr John Hogan, Fr Val Shoolepoff and Fr Andrew Chase.

The grand finale of course was the formal dinner dance held at the Rockhampton Leagues Club.

Lara arrived in a Mazda driven by her boss Lance Williams. She trod the red carpet with her friends instead of having a partner escort her. Her boy friends are all from other schools or have finished school so could not accompany her.

Mum and Dad could only be present for pre dinner drinks (non alcoholic) and the official photographs and then we were off while they had fun. We picked then up at 11pm so that they could then continue partying at the afters-party. Oh, to be young!

The night was magical. Larissa looked so beautiful. I have been blessed with this delightful young lady as my daughter and I only wish the very best for her as she strides ahead in the next chapter of her life’s journey

Well I am finally getting around to adding another post. Bit slack arn't I? Thought I would share a little about my new career.

I am employed by a division of QR called QRNational Rollingstock. It is a division that deals with freight traffic thoughout Queensland and now interstate as well. Our main product is coal though and we have many depots from Mt Isa through to Newcastle!

I have just started a tour of the depots and have been north to Mt Isa and Cloncurry to meet the great guys who work in these far flung regions. It was wonderful. The scenery is amazing I was able to get everthing done in just a couple of days.

Next I head down to Toowoomba and Brisbane before I head up to Townsville and Hughenden. As you can tell my travelling bag is getting a lot of use!

I have include a photo of me at my desk holding my first delivery at QR (what can I say? The midwife is still in me!), my newsletter, Fleet Leader. I really enjoy putting this together. I am journalist, editor, graphic artist, desktop publisher and photographer all roled into one!

That is all I will bore you with for now. Tell next time, be happy!

Well, one normally doesn't call their mother the Biggest Loser, but there you have it. She even has a trophy that says she is.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Actually Mama has been going to a slimmers club and won the award because she has lost the greatest amount in the last 6 months than any other member.

As you can see by the photo she looks fantastic and is feeling great too.

Mostly she is an inspiration that keeps me on the straight and narrow, so I am exerecising more and eating healthily. 

Well what a day I had on Saturday.

Sports photographers Chris Munro and Darren Coswell from Red Hot Shotz kindly offered to let me tag along with them for the day on round four of the Queensland Rally Championships.

The various legs of the rally took place at the resort, through the wetlands and the Byfield State forest. This was country that I hadn’t seen before but despite the 50mm of rain the previous day still managed to throw up a little dust.

I was getting excited about the little plumes of dust spraying from behind the cars however Chris was quick to point out that this was not dust, still it took 30 minutes in the shower just to get the grit out of my hair!

What I did learn on the day is that sport photography is about getting the shot and you may only get one chance at it and that it is about 90% frustration and 10% glory.

I found too that I have learnt more by what is sitting in my recycle bin that what I am posting in the gallery. Panning was the technique for the day and to get the sense of motion also required positioning the car in the frame with a sense of action about it.

I tried to get the sense of movement but often my shots looked like the cars where parked for the day!!!!!

I also got an interesting action shot involving a photographer (Unknown) doing his bit to get the shot he was after. I love that his feet are off the ground.

The conditions for the day varied from the early morning overcast sky to the brightness of the midday sun through to the late of the afternoon where the failing light spelt the end of photos for me. My poor little Nikon Coolpix 775 just couldn’t cope as the sun started to set. I was envious of the guy’s equipment and definitely decided to get the digital SLR that I have been wanting.

Again, big thank you to Chris and Darren for letting this chick invade their space for the day and pick their brains about the finer points of sports photography. Check out their website and see what the pros can do, you’ll be glad you did.

Red Hot Shotz Sports Photography at http://www.redhotshotz.com/

My dear Aunty Shura from Sydney has recently been to see us. What a delightful time we all had. Rocky put on its best winter weather and Shura defrosted quite quickly.

It was refreshing to see Rocky through a visitor's eyes. You tend to forget about the good points of the city when you see them each day, but Shura refreshed our view.

Even our family dog Lucy loved her visit and enjoyed all the attention and ball games she got.

We managed to see the botanical gardens, tour the heritage village, shop and explore the local markets, view movies, take walks and enjoy a leisurely drive to Yepoon. Fish and chips always taste better by the sea.

We also got into some good old Russian cooking and I learnt lots from her is just a short time.

It was really sad to put her on the plane back to Sydney my cousins will enjoy the goodies she took back home with her.

Love you Aunty Shura.

Check out the photo gallery for some photos of her visit

Throughout my life things I own have been labelled with a Zed, so why not my blogg!

I hope you enjoy sharing my e-ventures just as much as I enjoy creating them.

From time to time I will have some news, will post something that I find interesting (too bad if you don't) and generally share my hopes, dreams and achievements with you.

So come along, enjoy the ride but most of all join in and give me feedback.