Tails’ Blography

Why are the titles of my posts always the most complicated to think of? I always struggle for a title, although that shouldnt be unusual. I remember reading somewhere once that the title of a book was always the last thing to be decided on.

Hmm. Anyway.

I’m thinking of baking more cookies this weekend. Chocolate cookies, mmm. But I cant decide how I’m going to decorate them. Any thoughts and ideas would be appreciated, nudge nudge. I was thinking Angry Birds, but I need to find a wider array of tips to use to do any details.

Had to delete a bit of this post as I typed this up yesterday (or was it the day before that?) but never got around to finishing it. So where to continue? Fiance bought MW3 and played it all of the night before last, and he seems to like it which is great. I was doing a website for my dad’s friend and its finally finished, along with photos I was editing for the wedding I shot in Oct, so I finally have free time in the evenings again to relax. Its wearing me out working all day and then still having to focus and work in the evenings as well as make dinner etc.

Got home this evening and what did I see? A gardened garden!! Turns out, my mother came in during the day with her gardener and cleaned out our garden so its looking lovely now!!! A little sparce, but nothing really grows in my garden anyway, but its all weed free and trimmed!! And my tomato plant that sprouted itself has been propped up with a twig (taken from the cuttings of the overgrown hedge haha) and there are SO many tomatoes growing!!

(pics taken with my cellphone)

So many full bags!

My tomato plant in the front

So awesome! Of course we’ll reimburse her for the gardener, and I’ll buy her something really nice or give her a voucher to buy herself something of her choice. It was such a lovely surprise to come home to after a long day at work. <3

I really have learnt so much from my mother during my years, and really, without the amazing and strong woman she is, I wouldnt be half the woman I am today. I’m so blessed to have her in my life to guide and love me, no matter what.

Bird seed? Check. Garden? Check. Bird bath? Check. Birds? Check!

I can officially announce the first of my 101 in 1001 to be crossed off! I have (on average) 10 birds in my teeny garden within 15 min of throwing out seeds. They’re mainly turtle doves, but there have been a few pidgeons and smaller birds too. I even managed to grab a shot or many of them without them taking off! (at great discomfort to myself….it was cold, raining, and I had to slither half out of my door to capture them without them seeing me – very uncomfortable!)

Currently, as I type this, I have 9 birds outside my window! How awesome! Its such a great feeling to be giving these birdies some food regularly, especially now that winter’s coming. And as soon as I can, I’m getting a sunbird feeder, of which I’m sure I’ll blog about.

So yay! 101 in 1001 – only 100 to go!

I’ve been throwing seed and cooked rice out onto my lawn in hopes of attracting birds, and its finally paid off. Unfortunately, a cat was stalking the birds and they flew away when I went to chase off the cat, so I never got to get any photos of them, but I did end up capturing some other garden photos.

It really brought my love of photography back, and the reasons why I started. It was so peaceful out there, lying on my patio waiting for the birds. Eventually when they never came, I started moving around the garden looking at everything with a new outlook. One I havent used in a long time.

I climbed out of my “comfort zone” and used my 75-300mm lens, which made me think a little before each shot since its more limiting than my 18-70mm. I’m very pleased with the results, esp after seeing them on my monitor (the LCD on cam never does images justice).

Please feel free to leave comments on these photos, after all, my blog isnt called Tails’ Blography for nothing

Click the images for larger versions if you’d like.

Ok so thats a pretty cheesy title haha. But its feels like forever since I last blogged. A find myself thinking a few times in the week about something I’d like to blog about, but then realise there are a backlog of things I’d like to blog about, and so on and so forth…in the end I keep procrastinating.

But enough of my inadequacies, the latest news is that I’m done with my move. I’m out of our old flat, and I actually miss it. It was nice and cosy, and I adored the paint colour (since I painted it only four months before moving!). The new place has boring cream/yellow on the walls, but at least its a fresh coat. Our new place has an extra bedroom which we’re using as a computer room for our 2 computers. The lounge is about the same size as our last one, but seems more roomy due to the computers no longer being kept in there. The bedroom is slightly smaller which is fine because the bookshelf is now in the computer room as well, so less stuff in the bedroom. The kitchen is BIG which is great! There is so much more counter space to work with, and our clothes horse stands at the back of the kitchen nicely tucked out of the way. I’d show you photos, but I dont have any just yet. Still waiting for the remaining boxes to be sorted through/put away. The toilet is separate from the bathroom, but there is a lack of cupboard space for the small things like toothpaste, razor blades, etc. There’s a linen cupboard, but all those small things get lost inside. Oh and the flat comes with two parking bays!

On the whole I’m happy with our new place. Still trying to find brown bulldenim curtains for the bedroom that arent tab-topped. Sigh. Currently my winter blanket is the curtain. Sigh.

Other news is I’m finally done editing one of my two models’ photos from the beach shoot in Nov. You can see those in my recent pics to the right. I’m particularly happy with the results, and have had a good response from people online who’ve seen them. Best of all, Katharine is happy with them. Amongst those recent pics are photos I took of our 5.5m Christmas Light Tree which graces one of our shopping malls. I got some shots before security came and chased me away hehe.

My Christmas Tree is up (couldnt take it anymore and spent Sunday Nov 30th putting it up haha. I also hung lights in my window to spread some festive cheer. I’ll take photos of that soon as well and post them. So much to do, so little time.

My new babies have settled in nicely, and Ramoth, who was the smallest, has grown considerably. They’re all very happy looking good. Xeon’s looking a little thinner, but I’m trying to give her more fatty/protein-rich foods like scrambled egg etc. She’s currently sleeping and bruxing on my lap

I think thats about it…oh wait! I forgot to tell you about my garden! The new flat comes with a small garden that was pretty run down when we moved in, but I’ve since pruned it and watered it and bought new plants for it (petunias). I’m very proud of it, being that I’ve done it all myself and not just called in a gardener.

Speaking of gardening, looks like I’ve finally got into Bonsai keeping. Viia gave me a teeny tiny birch sapling which we’re going to grow into a bonsai (she’s got a few for herself) and I’m looking into getting myself an already-established bonsai to train. I’m having trouble deciding on which tree to get though. I’ve always wanted a bonsai apple tree, but with research have decided it might be a little complicated to grow. Other options I’m favouring are cherry, pomegranite, olive, fig, and the latest option is a Serissa foetida (Tree of a Thousand Stars) which looks easy enough to grow and has pretty flowers.

There’s a Bonsai Show on at Kirstenbosch Gardens next weekend which I’ll be going to. I’m also looking for a Christmas/English Holly bonsai for my sister. If anyone has bonsai experience, or a bonsai blog, please leave a comment for me