Knees and Nipples

29 October 2022

It's been a minute since the last blog post. I've been like a one-armed fan dancer for the past few weeks. It's been a LOT. Hopefully things will start to settle back into a manageable routine very soon.

At the time of writing it is Day Six of not having a non-leaking shower. Fortunately the shower isn't over the bath, so personal hygiene is not diminished. As much as I enjoy a bath (for the indulgence and relaxation) it is wearing a little thin. Especially since the shower isn't likely to be replaced until the new year. My haircut was timely. I may have to invest in one of the visor things I had at Nan's place when I was a kid. If you Google "hat that stops water getting in your eyes" you'll see the updated versions, which now come with earmuffs attached. Mine was a foam thing (probably from Avon) that didn't quite keep the water out of my eyes. Cody has been complaining about needing to lie down to rinse his hair and having to stick his feet straight up in the air because he's so tall. I would just like a tub deep enough for my knees and nipples to be under the water at the same time without having to flip over. Emerald friends, I may be knocking on your door with towels and my toiletry bag on hair washing day in the near future.

I had thought that using the tub instead of the leaking shower would cut down on the need to replace the bathmat daily because it was saturated. I was wrong. This may be too much detail around my bathing habits, but hear me out. I pull the plug out, stand up, and towel off before stepping out of the tub. From the state of the bathroom it would appear that Cody employs a different method. I haven't actually witnessed it, but I suspect that he uses his paddle-like feet to ladle several litres of water out of the tub as he steps out of a full bath. Either that, or he's reliving his wave pool style of bathing from when he was little.

Leaks seem to have been a theme around here this week. I discovered that the loo was also leaking, and being the independent woman that I am attempted to remedy this situation on my own. After a bit of telephonic advice from Dad that I could replace the seal thingo myself, a quick You Tube video and a trip to the plumbing supplies store for a replacement flush cone (after the first trip resulted in my purchasing the wrong size) I made the first attempt. The leak was smaller, but nonetheless still present. Back to flushing with a bucket. Another trip to the store for a seal and attempt number two. Still no joy. Welcome back, bucket. Cue professional plumber. He rocked up the next afternoon and you should have seen the look on his face when I told him that I had a go at fixing it myself. The eye roll was almost audible. I know though. I felt the pain myself just saying the words. He did say that I almost had it, and showed me how to correctly fit the flush cone. I guess that means I'm approved to attempt this in the future. After the first go I was less grossed out about the toilet water on my hands, but I went through a lot of antibacterial soap. I'm not sure that I would be excited about having another go. I might be contented just to know I could and leave it at that. I won't be hanging my plumbing shingle any time soon.

Not only did I learn that I could possibly fix a leaking toilet this week I also discovered that enforced silence is excruciating. I invigilated a senior exam at one of the schools this week, and was not prepared for the agony. I'm perfectly fine with silence when it's of my own choosing, but it was agony having to be basically a fly on the wall and not say A SINGLE THING about ANYTHING for a few hours, just watch people writing and watch people watching people writing. (Invigilating isn't supervising, it's reporting on how things are conducted and supervised, so basically a silent dobber. To clarify, there was nothing negative to report at all, so not technically dobbing). It took me a few days to recover. I talked to EVERYONE to restore balance. If there was ever any doubt that I'm an extrovert we can confidently substantiate that this is indeed the correct classification of my personality. My introvert friends all laughed at my pain.

Somehow I managed to keep up with the 52Frames challenge, and am now at Week 43. I can't believe it! This week is "Details", and that should be right up my alley, because attention to detail is kind of my thing. I'm yet to find inspiration though.

Week 37 was Portrait of a Stranger. I found this week by far the most difficult! On my travels I had no qualms about documenting moments with strangers, but this week it felt odd, and time was not on my side for a leisurely stroll through town pretending I was a tourist. I didn't want to lose my streak, so I submitted a half-hearted entry that I took with my phone. I haven't included it here because I'm not at all enraptured with it.

Week 38 was one of the weeks that I tried something new.

The topic was One Light Source, and I even managed the Extra Challenge of "Use a Cookie", and that's not the delicious baked good, it's a device for casting shadows. It would have been much easier with a model (and no doubt, more in focus), but that cable release is paying for itself. An open lace parasol propped against the wall, resting on a pot plant, a torch Blu-taked to the door jam, and all the hallway doors closed created this lighting effect.
I tried it in Black and White, but felt that the colour version has a more appealing mood/story. I think I'll be trying this again some time.

After four big days covering an equine event (ATRA National Finals) I actually didn't really want to see my camera for a while, but as soon as I got home I set this up for the theme "Letters" so I wouldn't lose my streak. My son tells me that using letter tiles, or writing the letter combinations down is cheating when playing Wordle or Quordle, but I'm not convinced... On a side note, I somehow lost my Wordle streak through no fault of my own. My phone decided to reset or something, and it went back to one the next day. (*sad face). About three days later I got a word wrong, so it restarted anyway. I was relieved that the streak wasn't about to surpass my previous maximum of 81, but I won't be "trying other words to start" in the future because that's clearly asking for trouble. I don't care if ADIEU does have the most vowels!

Such a broad topic for Week 40 "Rule of Odds"! Pressed for time (as usual) I looked around the house for inspiration. I have a lot of old stuff, & things that look like they could be old (like this basin & ewer my brother bought me because he knew how much I loved the one at our great grandparents' house).
I actually shot this in sepia in-camera (because I have yucky pink blinds & I haven't played with those in-camera settings in a very long time), but on import to Lightroom all the colours came back. I tweaked the sliders a bit to help the blue glass bottle and Billy Buttons pop.
I wish I had more time and more opportunity to do something really fantastic with this theme, but it had been hella crazy around here (and I'm actually stunned that I managed to hang in there for 40 weeks! Go me!)

Immediately when I saw the topic for Week 41 "Shoot through something" I knew it was the perfect time to play with shaped bokeh. I love stars, but when I thought about foreground interest I decided to use my guitar, and change the star to a music note. I hung a string of fairy lights in a bunch in the corner of the room, then cut a music note shape out of black card and secured it around the lens with a heap of rubber bands. Focusing was a challenge because of the card and rubber bands (and the low light) but I got it done (kind of).

Last week was Black and White Minimalism. I knew I had some of these feathers somewhere, but the challenge was first to find them, and then to choose one to use... I wish there had been a more curled one amongst them. Minimal set up this week (see what I did there lol), and I think I really enjoy this style of clean, uncluttered imagery. I experimented a little bit with placement, and would have preferred it to look as though the feather floated down on the breeze (not sure I achieved that).

I'm hoping inspiration strikes for "Details" by Sunday afternoon. It may be another job for the bellows and something shot in macro. Wish me luck.

It's been quite a party, ain't it

Purple Fairy