Turramurra Tilers

Where   : Hornsby
When    : Recently
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Bronzed Aussies at work ! This lot did the whole roof in 4 hours.

Herself's Patio

Where   : Turramurra
When    : 3-50pm, 29th August, 2008
Weapon : Fujifilm S3 Pro

... further to yesterday's post, here's the same little haven, from the opposite direction - still looking very tropical ... and so it is.  It is in fact unprotected from the rain, but sheltered by shadecloth.

Herself's Corner

Where   : Turramurra
When    : 3-45pm, 29th August, 2008
Weapon : Fujifilm S3 Pro

This is Herself's special little corner, a small back patio, rich in character and her personal touch.

She has created a mini environment here, of hanging baskets, old farming tools, the odd oar, some iron artwork, old lamps and plates and tropical plants.

It's a busy, cool, leafy art gallery, museum and al fresco dining spot with a hint of Steptoe's Yard all within a shady pergola measuring 3 x 3 x 3 metres, situated outside our kitchen window.

We sort of "live out here" in the Summer - we even eat our hot English style Christmas Dinner out here.  Sorry, spot the footprints - the possums have been crawling over the table, which was of course rescued, renovated and refurbished by Herself !

Here's another view .....

F3 Up & Running

Where   : In my Lightbox, Turramurra
When    : 8-20pm, 27th August, 2008
Weapon : Fujifilm S3 Pro

... and just to prove that I have got The Beast working,  here is a photo of its predecessor !

The pen and old computer screwdriver that has screwed the innards of an Amstrad 286, Amstrad 386, DataStar 486DX, Dell Pentium, Pentium II, Dell Laptop Pentium 4, HP Pentium 4, Pearl Pentium 5 Laptop, HP Pavilion Pentium 5 Laptop and now this Acer Intel Core 2 Quad, also featured in the previous photograph taken on the TZ3.

This was in the entry for 12th August titled "New Lightbox with Pens.

The Beast

Where   : In my Lightbox, Turramurra
When    : 9-00am, 28th August, 2008
Weapon : Panasonic Lumix TZ3

Here's my new best pal, a digital SLR.  Courtesy of  my good but distant friend, Jon Snelson.  His family can't spell, very sad, but he is a great photographer.

Here it is, complete with a familiar but new companion, a Nikon 18mm - 200mm f3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR lens.   I do not pretend to understand what all this means, but you can find out here at the Nikon Blog

I did a lot of research - driving all the local shopkeepers nuts, reading a lot of material, and listening to advice from many who "know" and some who say they do, but actually don't.

I looked at other specifications and other brands, mainly Tamron and Sigma.  I noticed a huge range in prices and materials (some have plastic mounts).  For example,  the Nikon 18mm-135mm lens is  1/3rd of the price of the one I have bought, but it has a
plastic bayonet mount, lacks a focus scale, yields some fringing and distortion.

On the other hand, the Sigma 17mm-70mm seems to be well regarded - as does (in another category) the Tamron 90mm.

I am endlessly grateful to my Canadian chum, and looking forward to improving on what this beauty-bottler has already achieved.

XPT Early Morning Train

Where   :: Sydney Central
When    :: 7-40am, Sunday 24th August, 2008
Weapon :: Panasonic TZ3

I took a very special person to Sydney Central early on Sunday morning to catch the Daylight XPT {eXpress Passenger Train}  to Wagga Wagga, where she is attending Charles Sturt University.  This is about a 6 hour journey, and the train continues on to Melbourne another 500 kilometres or so.  There are two of these trains a day, a day and a night train, in both directions.

This train set is headed by Locomotive 2009, City of Canberra.

The XPT power car features a Paxman VP185 12-cylinder, turbo-charged
diesel electric engine boasting 1492 kW or 2000 horsepower. There's a
power car at each end of the train, one pulling and the other pushing.  The train includes 2 first class carriages, a cafeteria car and a sleeper and I think 6 economy cars.

Not quite the romance of the steam age, but fun anyway - as long as you don't have to do it very often and you don't have scallies in the carriage and as long as nobody sits next to you.

A Touch of the East

Where   :: Terrey Hills, Sydney

When    :: 10-32am, Thursday, 21st August, 2008

Weapon :: Sony P72

There's a great pot emporium in the North of Sydney at Terrey Hills.

I have featured before the huge range of pots from Mongolia, Java, Sumatra, Lombok and New Guinea - but here is a shot of the little shop, that sells all sorts of Eastern nick nacks.

I was overwhelmed by the feast of colour, so just shot it as I saw it with my old Sony P72.