If any one is still viewing these pages I have been very remiss in not letting you know that I have now moved my journal to blogspot pages. The new address is http://lifesnippits.blogspot.com/

I have just returned from a lovely 3 week break. I spent a week visiting my Mum and Dad in Pt Lincoln, a couple of days in Adelaide with my son and DIL and 5 days in Bendigo at the Scquilters retreat. Then back to Adelaide to catch up with 2 new great nieces and birthday celebrations.
It was a fantastic break from life in general and I will gradually get some pictures up. I played around a bit with some Infra red photography which was quite interesting as well

At last I have a free minute or two to get a sample up of Vang's adventure to Laos. He bought back some beautiful photos so it is really hard to chose which ones to put up here. Within two days of him going over he had to "endure" a couple of days of celebrations to see him into the Temple for a week as a monk and then go through having his hair AND eyebrows shaved.



Here are a few shots from his time in the temple. The shrine (4th picture) is his father's resting place within the temple grounds.



Some scenery





Then their was the food which Vang found fascinating after his 30 year absence from his homeland


1) Ox neck flap 2)chicken egg almost at the hatched stage 3)Wild boar

4) Charcoal grilled frogs 5)fruit market 6) The fermented alcohol off these geckos is actually drunk

7) Sting ray blood 8) a typical meal with sticky rice 9) snails

This week after several weeks of planning, framing, matting and manipulating we have set up our photo exhibition to open at the TAFE Gallery on the 21st of March and it will be on for 2 weeks. The exhibition is located in the corridor area of the gallery and we have had a great response from those walking past. Here is a peek at the set up.



We have 35 pieces in the exhibition so we think that is pretty good. I am pretty excited about the exhibition as I love photography and it is nice to do something with it.
Here are a few samples of photos in the show of mine.



The photos are: Headframe, Gold strike, Disco light (this is a photograph sandwiched between acrylic with glass backed where the light bulbs were in the photos set up on a wall lamp base) and Ghost of miners past.

I have been very lax in updating my journal lately. TAFE has started and again I seem to have run out of time. I have so many things that I need to add. Vang's fantastic adventure in Laos, I have missed the colours of the week and blue is this week, my favourite colour. I am still intending to do something on Vang's interesting mine life as well.
During a recent storm I took this picture of lightening. I actually took about 100 pictures but I am not 100% with operating my camera so this is the only good shot I got. I thought it was a little reflective of my life at the moment.

Along with just fitting all I have to do into each day I have had two friends die this month plus the birth of another great niece, not without a few complications but all is well now and the baby looks gorgeous. My own precious daughter Kat arrived for a weeks holiday and it was lovely to see her and have her company.
On March 16th along with 3 fellow art students we will be exhibiting some photos, some presented slightly differently. Here is a picture of a trial piece I have tried. It is a photo of some mining equipment cut in squares and set on different levels. Not showing up really nicely in this pik so hope the final piece should look much better. Also on the planning board is a lamp and some gold leafed ore photos.

Yesterday we had a fantastic adventure in Lancelin. We booked a tour on the desert storm bus ride. A bus just altered "slightly" to cope with sand dune travel. Here we are with the bus where only the brave could climb on the wheel because the only way off was to jump


On arrival we managed to get our car bogged in the sand. This was a bit of a panic as we were running late and some gentlemanly young guys helped push us out. Just after wards we saw a car bogged in the exact same spot and then we saw several other vehicles bogged. Here is a small sample, I think the car tow people would be very busy.



Included on the tour was a chance to go sand boarding which Kat and Robyn took advantage of.


Here are the sand dunes. The bus traveled down slopes that were practically vertical. It was incredibly exciting and the screams of the passengers were exactly as you would hear on a roller coaster. We all thought the bus would roll each time but the driver was very skillful.


It was a fantastic experience and if you would like to try it out check out the Desert Storm sight

Well it certainly has got busy in this household. Vang is back home after his adventures in Laos and he has bought home some fascinating photos and keepsakes.

Kat arrived on Saturday and we are enjoying her company for just one short week before she heads back up to Queensland and her Island
Wilson ISland and a return to work. She also bought fantastic photos and video of the turtle laying season and underwater pictures taken on the reef.

The weather has been horrible here with many days around 40. Luckily we get the occasional storm to break the heat. I love it when it rains and usually rush out to take photos in the garden. Here are a couple of shots I took the other day. I also have a great photos of lightening which I will also add.

While in Kalgoorlie I was lucky to get this shot of the comet over the town. I say lucky because I really don't know how to use my camera properly and it took me ages to work out how to set the camera for long exposure. The tail is much clearer on this picture than the one I managed to take in Perth which is nice.

While I was in Kalgoorlie I was receiving updates from Vang on his trip to Laos. He exited the Temple on Sunday, several kilos lighter by the sound of it. On Monday he visited a gold mine that his sister has some interest in. On Tuesday he headed off to the south of Laos, an 11 hour trip I believe and he is exploring the areas of Attapeu and Pakse.

I found a good web site on Laos which gives a booklet on the dos and don't when visiting the country which is quite fascinating. The site is at Dos and Donts

I have just returned from a little adventure to Kalgoorlie. On Sunday I boarded the train with 3 of my art student friends to head to Kal for a photoshoot and art excursion.
The train was very comfortable, much like plane seating but roomier and with 2 movies shown during the 6 hour trip.
I amused myself taking photos every 15 minutes out of the window to take note of the landscape changes.
We were extremely lucky in finding a friendly local who offered to be our chauffeur for our stay as he was an experienced taxi driver and tour guide so we managed to see and learn as much as we could about the area in our two days stay.
Our activities including an evening tour of the lookout and various spots of interest, a bus town tour which amongst other things took us through the town of Boulder, visited the massive open pit, the flying doctors service, Hay Street (the notorious red light district), The mining museum where we went on an underground tour, saw a gold our and explored the displays of mining equipment and samples of early mining living conditions.
We traveled to Lake Ballard to see the Gormley sculptures there, they were fascinating but it was over 40 degrees so we only saw about 10 of the 51 sculptures close up. We also inspected the area where it is possible to get an artist in residence position and saw many signs of live and dead wildlife along the way. In the evening we had the most magnificent sunset where we enjoyed taking photos of the main street. I was too tired to walk and take individual building photos which was a shame as it was the perfect time to do it. We also saw comet Mcnaught over Kalgoorlie which was a precious site and I managed to get a photo as well after much trial and error.
So after a really interesting stay and some very pleasant company we headed back to Perth on the train on Weds. It was a fantastic trip and we know we still have heaps of things to see there so might need a return trip. I will put up some photos as soon as I have transferred them over. Meanwhile here is a picture of the sunset we experienced in Kalgoorlie.
To Warren your expertise was very much appreciated and we hope that we have not warped your ideas too much on what is a not to be missed photo shot :)