The Silence of the Lambs - LJ style

No, no need to be alarmed there is no Hannibal Lector or Clarice Starling here.

I just thought it was a catchy title for a post all to do with lambs.

We have some sheep on a property at Nuriootpa.

It is now the time of year when the lambs are being born and they need their tails chopped

(thanks to the great Aussie blow fly) and a tag put in their ear to indicate in which year they were born.

We went up a few weekends ago now, to round them up and do the tags and tails.

I had a dream the night before we went there would be 13 lambs.

 When we got there and rounded them up there were 14 - pretty close.

And there are always rebellious lambs who just won't  go where they are told!

And there are some who just want to stay with us and not go back to their mothers!

I think little J would have liked to take this one home!

At lunch time I took the opportunity to walk over to the dam. 

It looks its best now that we have had so much rain.

It is quiet and serene.

 I'd like to bring my book and settle in for a nice long reading session in the sun here - one day.

Birthday Bash

One of my very sweet and cute nieces celebrated her 5th birthday last weekend.

Here is Miss E, cute as a button!

We were invited for a birthday party to remember.

All things pink.

But the best thing of all was her "Sweet Shop"

Miss E declared to her Mother that she wanted a sweet shop at her party.

It was a smorgasbord of lollies that had my children (and husband I might add)

salivating at the very thought.

It was a little like being let loose in a Willy Wonka shop.

I don't know if you can see the little pink cupcakes stamped onto the lolly bags?

SOOOO CUTE!

It was the party of the year!

Happy Birthday little Miss E!

Lola is in the House!

After we made our travel plans I started looking for a camera bag that would fit more than my camera and an extra lens. I decided that I would most definitely take the big camera and capture as much as I could about our trip. I have taken it plenty of times before when we have been on holiday or at the zoo all day. Carrying it around does not really bother me.

I think it is worth it to have the pictures in the end.

Anyway...I did my research and there is really not a lot to choose from in the
"fashion camera bag" industry.

Until I had an Epiphanie.

I decided that Lola should be mine :)

Now a side note on the company "Epiphanie" I am not in anyway connected to them other than I am a customer who has purchased from them.

 I ordered my Lola and for whatever reason the shipment was delayed. Epiphanie contacted me and gave me a US$33 credit because of the inconvenience of the order being shipped late.

 I was impressed.

 They didn't have to do that, I was happy to wait and I still have my bag in time to use when I go away.

Also, when I received my email to say my bag was on its way it arrived exactly 1 week later!

Fast shipping from the US for sure.
I have been very happy with their customer service.

So yesterday a little bit of happiness arrived on my doorstep.

  Lola comes in a pretty box.

Inside the box is a pretty pink zip bag.

 

Inside the pretty pink zip bag is Lola in black.

 

The velcro dividers are really strong and you can move them around to whatever configuration you desire.

 

I am planning on having my camera with one lens attached in a larger section and the other lens in a small section. I will have the battery charger in another bag so I won't carry it around with me.

 That will leave about half the bag free for my other stuff, purse, sunnies, etc.

Like this...

(This photo was taken with my iphone) 

There is still room in the top for more "stuff" too.

I love the long shoulder strap which is padded for comfort.
(Sorry I don't think you can really see it in any of the photos)

And the two shorter handles are easy to pick up and swing onto your shoulder in one motion

 (that is my criteria for any bag that I buy - I have to be able to put it on my shoulder quickly)

(another iphone photo)

So there you have it.

Lola is in the house!

A Visitor

I got home from work today, came in and as I

turned to shut the front door something caught my eye.

Can you see him there nestled in the tree branch?

A closer view of him all curled up.



He very kindly turned to look at the camera when I asked him to.

OCD

Big J suffers from a bit of OCD. Some would say it is just the Autism, but I think it's a little of both.

He walks around the house shutting certain doors. The toilet, laundry, bathroom, my ensuite and my wardrobe.

He straightens the tea towels on the oven door.

He makes sure the bin is in the right spot.

He pushes rubbish down into the bin to make room for more.

And if anyone ever puts something in the bin, he waits and watches the bin lid go down.

(We have a sensor bin, you wave your hand over the sensor and the lid opens)

He pushes the chairs in at the table.

No drink bottle or jug can be left in the kitchen without him tipping out the contents and throwing the empty bottles in the sink.

He puts his dirty washing (and sometimes clean washing) into the dirty clothes basket.

(which is a good thing I'm not complaining about it - the dirty washing that is)

Once I put an extra pillow on his bed so he had two

 ( I don't see what's wrong with that - I have 6 pillows on my bed) 

until I got tired of picking it up off the floor because he kept throwing it there.
He is an energy saver - he walks around our house turning off lights especially at dusk when I need the light on in the kitchen!

He also does not like the way I arrange cushions on my lounge.

This is what my lounge room looks like according to me.

And this is what it looks like according to Big J!

It kind of makes me smile!

Through the Window

I have decided that Autumn is my favourite season.

I just LOVE all the leaves in their warm colours on the trees and on the ground once they have fallen.

I love the rustling , crunching sound it makes when you walk through them.

I wanted to share our best tree this year.

( Yes being married to Dale for 20 years has rubbed off on me)

Acer rubrum - Red Maple "October Glory"
Although it is our "April Glory"

It is just beautiful and I get to look out the dining room window everyday at it.

The photo really doesn't do it justice.

 And here it is up close.

Happy Thursday everyone!



Mt Lofty Botanic Garden

On Tuesday, the last day of our 5 day weekend I wanted to take a family trip across the way to the Mt Lofty Botanic Garden to take some pics.

We got into the car, drove over there only to find the car park full and overflowing out into the surrounding streets.

We found a spot to leave our car and low and behold....when I opened Big J's door he looked at me and said "No Thanks" and shut his door again!

Sigh.

Big SIGH.

This happens sometimes.

The not getting out of the car thing.

Quite frankly it is very annoying.

All I wanted to do this weekend was take pictures here!!!!!

We used to come here a lot a few years ago.

It was a great Sunday afternoon activity going for a walk as a family and enjoying the beautiful trees and greenery.

Maybe we have left it too long between visits?

Maybe because we were not parked "in" the car park he couldn't tell where he was?

Probably not.

Oh well, so we all got back into the car and drove off.

Yesterday however Big J had a quick one night stay away from home so in the afternoon
 I took A-J and little J and off we went.

Here are some of my favourite photos.