Waking up this morning, I smile,

Twenty-four brand new hours are before me,

I vow to live fully in each moment,

and to look at all being with eyes of compassion

(verse by Thich Nhat Hanh)

Blue Vase
        Venetians  
             Moodometer
                 Beach souvenirs  
                      Bananas on shopping list
aaaand:
     Job done!

Willows
~~~~~~~~~~
Footbridge
~~~~~~~~~~~~
She-Oak
~~~~~~~~~~
Green Giant

Remember me? While I stay home on the couch my Human goes out walking in wondrous wild places like
Mt Geryon, The Labyrinth,
or Lake St Clair, from Parthenon,
looking at Reflections on tarn,
Dark Clouds over Lake Elysia
and a little daisy on granite rock.
Other times she goes riding bikes to the West coast Marrawah beach, where the ocean stretches all the way from Australia to South America! Hey, why don't you get me a little trailer so I can come and run along that beach!!!
No wonder she hasn't got time to post any new stories. Sometimes though, she stays at home and takes pictures of things 'round the house, like an invisible Buddha in darkness with candle [this one's for the still life theme]

At the local Toy Run (charity event where all kinds of bikers donate all sorts of toys to local charity groups, and have lots of fun along the way!)
Muppets
Rudolphs
Santa's sack
Sidecar doggie
Backseat animals
Trailer load
Antlers
Smiles all 'round
Live to ride
Candy color outfit
See ya on the road

Some Snaps from up high. Locals just call it 'The Mountain' (Mt Wellington, 1271 metres, Hobart, Tasmania). On top, we were almost on one level with the low clouds, resulting in a lot of glare just above eye level. From the top:
View from top City & East     Currawong on rock     Sign on summit plateau     Currawong on rock with lichen     View from top South
On the way down:
Waratah flower   Snow gum bark   Purple berries   Gum leaves   Pink berries with flower

(To make up for my lack of a photo of the mountain itself... there's a webcam at http://www.rosebay.tased.edu.au/camera.htm)

... to all of you who helped with their hints & tips about how to change backgrounds. Experimenting with Magic Cut and Magic Wand tools (in ArcSoft PhotoStudio) I came up with:

Another Dahlia
(lost the original of this in the process tho')

Another Miss M.  
( from this one)

Say

It

With

Flowers
(last one is the original before any editing)

This flower was given to me by a gardener friend saying it was the first blossom of its kind (Dahlia?) to open this summer - and she gave it to me!

This is as close as the little camera (on Macro) will let me get ... Some cropping and enhancement made it more interesting
Here's Another Nectarine B4 ... and after (now if I could just attach that lovely smell of the ripe fruit...  hmmm)
   ~~~
Trees silhouette B4 ...  and After
   ~~~
And of course Miss Mollie B4.  Background's not so good (and I need to do more experimenting to change it completely (a Q: How do you get your outlines traced so neatly - mine always look dodgy), and the bleached out white on the right of muzzle. Then I discovered Old Photo

These flowers (native to South Africa I think, but very popular in Oz, because they don't need much water) are fascinating in the way they take weeks to go from big pointy green bud, to half open bud with little 'fingers' emerging, to perfect sphere of little flowers making up one big flower head. Once they've opened all the way... summer's here!
  Bud
  Flower
  White-blue-green
  B&W
Unfortunately in many areas they are now regarded a weed as they spread into and displace natural vegetation...
And from a different plant: New growth  

I cannot seem to open any of the comments/feedback links underneath each story ...  it's just no fun without!!  When I hover the mouse over the Feedback link, the status bar at the bottom of the screen reads something like JavascriptToggleVoid + a bunch of numbers, but nothing happens when I click the Feedback links. I have Java/Javascript enabled, popups not blocked ...
Any ideas what other settings I should check?  

"Did you just say Wwaaalk?!"  
Yup, we're off to the beach again,
Catching waves, Chasing waves, Barking at waves...  
Meanwhile, the person on the other end of the leash
is hanging on to and pointing the camera with one hand ...  
trying to have fun too:
 ~~~  @@@   ~~~   %%%   ~~~   ###   ~~~   ^^^

Something I can never get enough of: the sky and clouds...
shades of blue
...
shades of pink
...
rain cloud
+ one from the garden: fuchsias

My other hobby is ...
~~~
Special dinner ingredients
~~~
... greener on the other side
+
Not for Arachnophobics:
Hungry little spider

Two pairs (ok I know the theme is  thirds, sorry!) which one of each do you like better & why?
Jingle Jangles 1 or  Jingle Jangles 2
Wooden ducks 1 or  Wooden ducks 2