Friday, August 29, 2014

Favourite Photo Friday - 29/8/14

Spring has sprung at the Camelid Castle. Despite still being officially Winter (and some very cold nights) the days have been beautiful and sunny.  Our blossom trees are out in full force.  They are also buzzing with bees. I love taking macros of bees on blossoms, so this week it's a few of my favourite bee photos I grabbed during the week. I'll post more blossom and bee pics soon but here are some crackers I got......

For anyone who has tried to get insect photos, it's not easy! Those bees move very fast, and they only stay still for a second at a time while collecting pollen.  I've gotten pretty good at chasing them around and getting the focus and exposure right, but it's still not easy to get great macros of them. I love  seeing the pollen collected on the legs, how delicate their wings are, and all the tiny hairs on their bodies. All the amazing things that you can't really appreciate with the naked eye!



D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
ISO 1000  focal length 90mm
Exposure: 1/640 @ f/18


D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
ISO 1000  focal length 90mm
Exposure: 1/2000 @ f/8.0


D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
ISO 1000  focal length 90mm
Exposure: 1/1000 @ f/8.0


D7000 with Tamron 90mm f2.8 macro
ISO 1000  focal length 90mm
Exposure: 1/1600 @ f/14.0

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Who is a clever standing baby?

Little miss Astrid was standing supported and cruising furniture at 7 months. She didn't figure out the crawling thing until almost 11 months so as long as you didn't put her near anything she could stand against you were safe!  Mr Soren, on the other hand is a crawling monster.  He still only commandos but by golly he is quick.  It's impossible to do anything with a Soren on the loose, I put him on one side of the room, run to the other side and he is literally 3 seconds behind me.

Until the last week he wasn't really showing much interest in standing up or pulling himself up on furniture. I figured that although he likes to zip around on his tummy, walking was a fair way off.  Well, he went and ruined that plan........ and he is pretty proud of himself!


First he figured out kneeling.  For a few days we would find him up on his knees next to buckets or the coffee table. Great for playing with toys, but still no standing.



Then the other day we walk upstairs to find this........ all the toys that were previously out of reach are now fair game.  Astrid has suddenly discovered that her toy haven has been invaded and nothing is safe!



Even better, that activity table can now be used standing.  Oh we are sick of the songs that thing plays. Astrid loved it for many months and now Soren adores standing there, bashing it and making it sing endlessly.  At first he was pulling the table over to get to it, but now he pulls himself straight up onto it with no effort at all.






Mr cheeky still had his cot on the high newborn setting. He has made no effort at all to even sit up in his cot but with his new found skill being practiced endlessly around the house we figured it was time to lower the cot before disaster struck .  Just to show us that yes, he could sit and stand up in his cot if he wanted, Mr Soren demonstrated how much mischief he could get up to with this standing business....... if only Dad wasn't standing there with a screwdriver ready to lower the base........






Now, will he walk before his birthday?  Astrid, despite her early furniture cruising still didn't walk until just after her first birthday.  Will her little brother beat her?

I am Soren Augustus, I am 10 months old, and this standing business is pretty good!



Sunday, August 24, 2014

This week's baking with Astrid

There is no disputing that Astrid likes to bake! It is also a great way to keep her occupied (and relatively quiet) while her brother is sleeping.  She is fond of all cooking but particularly likes to bake with me because there is ample bowl licking opportunities and the finished product always tastes pretty good.......

In the last week or so we have made...

Pear and almond tart



Chocolate and raspberry biscuits 



Vanilla cupcakes with butter cream icing



The cupcakes were to share with friends when we went for a play date. Astrid's favourite colour at the moment is yellow, so of course we had yellow icing. She also had a ball putting M&M's and hundreds & thousands all over them.  Who can resist a toddler decorated pile of sugar?

Of course with all that baking there was the odd bit of beater and bowl licking!