Photo a Day 122 - Monday Mural

This mural is paunted on the front of a block of flats in the city. Hard to get a good photo as there is a fence in front of the building.

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Love the bright colours.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Monday Mural"

Photo a Day 121 - Welcome back

This year we have rarely seen a koala although they have left their little presents under the trees.  Yesterday however the dogs started creating a hullaballoo and we dashed out to see what was going on.  To our surprise we found this young fellow not far up a tree, observing the noisy dogs with aplomb.

He is quite a young boy compared with our old friend Kenneth who I suspect has passed on as he hasn't been around for 12 months or so.

All day today, the dogs walked around looking up into the trees, but our visitor was not to be seen.

Hopefully he will be back soon.

Liz Needle   -   linking with "Camera Critters" and "Saturday Critters".

Photo a Day 120 - Weekend Reflections

It was quite obvious to me, walking past the Adelaide Court House that things are squeaky clean and crystal clear in the justice system in Adelaide.

Nice to know that taxpayers money is being put to good use.

Liz Needle linking with "Weekend Reflections".

Photo a Day 119 Flowers

Finally a reasonably fine day to get out in the garden. Managed to dig and plant 12 rows of potatoes - nothing quite like the flavour of spuds straight from the garden.

While I had the chance I shot a few pics of the flowers that are beginning to come out in the garden.

Honesty is such a pretty shade and the flowers are very sweet. I love  flowers that self seed and this one (Lunaria) pops up everywhere - so much so that it can be a nuisance, but such a pretty one.

We also have violets that self seed and spread. They really used to annoy my mother whose preferred garden style was bare earth and she was forever pulling them out. I love them and they grow prolifically under our trees and shrubs. At the very least they choke out all the nasty weeds. 

 This is my stunning magnolia - the name of which has deserted me. It is only a few years old and we don't get a lot of flowers yet, but they are gorgeous. It is planted quite close to the road and many cars stop to get a closer look.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Floral Friday Fotos"  and "Today's Flowers".

Photo a Day 118 - Wild Bird Wednesday

Here are some more shots I took on our zoo visit. They were taken in a huge walk-in aviary, so I guess they are wild birds in captivity.

This is the magnificent Red-tailed Black-Cockatoo which inhabits the east and northern areas of Australia. Here in the south we have the smaller Yellow-tailed Black-Cockatoo.

The Royal Spoonbill is common arounds waterways, wetlands and coastal lagoons and mangroves.

The beautiful Eclectus Parrot has an even showier female partner which is pretty unusual in the bird world. It is found in the rainforests of the northern most tip of Australia.


Liz Needle  -  linking with "Wild Bird Wednesday".

Phoro a Day 117 - Monday Murals

This is my first post with Monday Murals. We live in the country and don't see many murals in our little country town.  However, on Saturday I visited the city on a photography course and found several of them - so  my first posting.

And as a photographer, I quite like her in black and white as well.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Monday Murals".

Photo a Day 116 - Weekend Reflections

I recently spent a few hours in the city attending a photography course on perspective.  The whole group was fascinated with these reflections. Crazy buildings.

Liz Needle  -  Linking with "Weekend Reflections"

Photo a Day 115 - Monday Mellow Yellow

The daffodils are out at the moment, but because we have been having cold, miserable weather and nasty winds, they are finding it difficult to stay upright.  I am hoping for a few days aof sunshine so I can get out into the garden and tidy up the mess left by wind and rain.

These photos are older ones, taken with a small camera.

I never feel that my photos do the daffodils justice.  Yellow flowers always seem difficult to capture. Give me some fine weather and I'll try to do better.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Monday Mellow Yellows".

Photo a Day 114 - Outdoor Wednesday

Another great day learning how to get my camera off auto. This time the topic was Backlighting - but the sun was not keen to cooperate so we did not really get the effects we wanted.  Still the Botanic gardens were looking beautiful.

A rare moment of sun. I should have had someone sitting on the bench here.

Love these Moreton Bay Fig trees. The roots are visually fascinating.

I did get some backlighting here, but should have got down lower to get the effect. Except i would never have got up again!!!!

A pretty spot, but a decent bit of sun would have made it ever so much more effective.


Liz Needle  -  linking with "Outdoor Wednesday".

Photo a Day 113 Wild Bird Wednesday

These shots were taken in the Adelaide Zoo while on a photo course. Strictly speaking the birds are not wild, but living in a huge walk in aviary, but they are wild as in not tame or pet birds. I hope you like them.

We learnt to aboluish cage wire while snapping this Gouldian Finch. A very pretty Australian Finch, endangered in the wild but frequently bred as a cage bird.

This cute little fellow is not an Australian bird but I loved him. I was so busy making the wire "disappear" that I forgot to check the breed.

Another exotic - a pigeon, but again I did not check the details.

This is an Australian cormorant - Little Pied Cormorant.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Wild Bird Wednesday".

Photo a Day 112 - Mellow Yellow

We don't have a lot of yellow in the garden except when the daffodils flower and at the moment it is far too wet and miserable to go out for a photo shoot.  However these poppies do look a treat when they are out.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Monday Mellow Yellows"

Photo a Day 111 - Macro Monday

I am really enjoying my macro efforts and am quite pleased witrh them. However on Saturday we did a photo class in the Botanic Gardens and came across an elderly man on his hands and knees with his camera stuck in a ground cover plant. He looked like an elderly hippie or a retired academic with beard and long straggly hair. His camera was impressive with its long lenses and extensions and a home made diffuser on the end.
After watching for a while I plucked up the courage to ask him if I could see his shots. He happily showed me this amazing shot of an insect's eye. He showed me the bug he had been shooting - about 1 cm long in total! Now that is really macro!!

SO my humble efforts below.

Hydrangea - well past its prime.

Marigold - love this bold colour.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Macro Monday".

Photo a Day 110 - Critters

I haven't posted to Camera Critters for a while - or to Saturday Critters either, but here I am back again.

I rather like this shot of my husband snoozing in the sun with our two boys Ollie and Alfie keeping guard.

They are great mates to have and love nothing better than sitting as close as they can to Don when he is resting or exploring the garden with me while I am weeding or doing other jobs there.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Camera Critters" and "Saturday Critters".

Photo a Day 109 - Reflections

Another photo class this wee - this one on backlighting using the sun.  Unfortunately the sun didn't shine all day,but we'll know what to do when it does. LOL

Instead I worked on my reflections.


This is a glass statue in our Adelaide Botanic Gardens. It captures reflections from every angle.

Liz Needle  -  linking with  "Weekend Reflections".

Photo a Day 108 - Floral Friday

Just looking at my heading - Photo a Day.  How far behind am I ? I thought it was going to be easy, but it has not happened that way.  Next year maybe? Meantime I'll keep going and see how many days I can clock up.

The weather here has bee cold and miserable. The longest cold spell I can remember.Gardening is impossible and the dogs and I are going stir crazy not being able to get out and do anything. We haven't had a lot of rain - well, not real rain - just constant drizzle.


These unusual daisies caught my eye on a flower stall. Have no idea what they are.

This camellia was shot in my garden. Love these shrubs - they are so hardy and easy to grow and produce stunning displays at this time of the year.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Floral Friday Fotos"  and "Today's Flowers".

Photo a day 107 - Wild Bird Wednesday

Our photography theme at a recent photography class was "Focussing on the Foreground", so I focussed on this little fellow. Just a little sparrow, but rather cute nonetheless

We moved on to the banks of the river just in time to snap this naughty pelican attacking this poor woman's lunch. He was very persistent and wouldn't give up and she wouldn't hand over her lunch. We came to her rescue, but not before I got a quick photo.

.He did eventually settle down after the poor woman had removed herself and her lunch

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Wild Bird Wednesday"

Photo a Day 106 - Our World Tuesday

A Saturday morning in Rundle Mall, the main shopping centre in ADELAIDE and the pigs were going about their daily business.

 Let's go shopping

Or eating

Or just sitting

And window shopping - and where better than Count6ry Road for a smart little pig.

Everyone loves these pigs.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Our World Tuesday".

Photo a Day 105 - Macro Monday

A walk around the garden provded these macro shots.

A leaf from the Copper Beech.

Inside the magnolia

A pretty daisy.

Liz Needle  -  linking with "Macro Monday"