Sabine in Gozo

Killing time…

Needed some distraction this evening. After succeeding with the paypal transaction yesterday, I’m now waiting for the shipping notification – and once that comes, no doubt I’ll be sitting on hot coals until the baby makes it to Malta!!

In the meantime, I re-acquainted myself with OOB – out of bounds. Last Sunday I took the photo of a dead (!) fly I found on the floor, with the 50mm Canon lens plus extension tube (EF25):

And this is the result of my nerve-soothing photoshop activity:

Go away, why don’t you!

It wasn’t only my son who I bothered with my camera yesterday afternoon. Simba was stretched out on an armchair and seemingly unconscious. My favourite lens fodder LOL! I took quite a few shots at him, and yes, he was annoyed with me. This one started out as a “so-so” shot, until I attacked it with photoshop – now I quite like it!

Would you please leave me alone?

Entangled

The spider I brought you a few days ago, has decided to stay on in its new habitat and created comfy quarters (somewhat chaotic-looking – reminds me of my living room) for itself! Taken with the 70-300mm lens and a tripod, I still didn’t succeed in getting a sharp shot because the net kept swaying in a constant breeze. Better luck next time…

Entangled

Hmph!

I did it… I ordered the Canon EOS 5D Mark II! Unfortunately I haven’t managed yet to pay for it. I decided to take a loan to buy the camera. That’s because I just couldn’t/can’t wait any longer, and a wonderful opportunity to put it to good use has just come my way…

The mills of bureaucracy grind oh so slowly. Well, it’s not just that: this whole thing has been a real uphill struggle so far! The blurb on my bank’s website says,

Whether you’re taking out a Flexicredit loan to buy a car, take a holiday, install a kitchen or for any reason, you will have your loan within an hour…

What a tickle! The story so far: Last weekend I applied online for the loan, because it’s easy (or so I thought), and another little blurb on the same banking website states that,

You will not pay processing fees when applying online for a Flexicredit Loan or Flexicredit Overdraft.
This means that you save €46.59 when applying online.

On Tuesday I received an acknowledgment message and was advised that my branch would contact me, which happened the next day. To cut at least that part of a long story short, I was charged 50% of the processing fee because my ID card ends in “A” for alien (never mind that mysteriously hubby was listed as the main loan applicant!) but yesterday I did receive the funds, and I went ahead with ordering the Canon from DigitalRev. Concluding the deal was another story though. I succeeded in -

• transferring the money from my current account to hubby’s (necessary so the paypal/ebay confirmed addresses match)
• transferring the money from hubby’s account to his VISA account
• clicking “pay now”
• logging into paypal
• receiving message that this credit card cannot be used for this transaction
• phoning bank’s helpline asking whether there was a limit to the amount one could pay online
• getting reply in the negative, “as long as there are the funds”
• explaining the whole “story so far”
• getting reply that hubby should go to the bank on Monday because there might be a limit to the amount he could pay online… (that had been my very first question… so wtf?)

Hmph!

I’m irritated, to put it mildly. And so are you because – if you’re still reading this – you’ve just fought your way through one helluva boring post. Thank you for bearing with this frustrated woman’s ramblings!

The rest of the afternoon this frustrated woman tried to calm herself by being content with what she has (for now) and doing what she does best: annoying family members with her camera!

a lazy Saturday afternoon

cluttered den on a lazy Saturday afternoon LOL

Concentration... (my favourite shot of yesterday!)

Hopefully this time next week I’ll have a more cheerful post for you!!

More clouds…

…and a little experimenting with Photoshop. I’m seriously falling in love with black & white! Took these photos, once again, after leaving the hotel. Very soon I won’t find any more daylight after work… but hey, I am ready for winter!

Clouds - San Lawrenz (1)

Clouds - San Lawrenz (2)

Clouds - Gharb

Twosome

We have a pretty large garden, compared to others, anyways. Hubby is the one trying to keep it tidy (it’s an uphill struggle!), while I’m largely shooting what’s in it. As was the case with the spider a couple of days ago (though that was in the garage behind the garden…) it was hubby who spotted this couple making out after sunset in an orange tree:

Making out in the orange tree

Autumn evening

Leaving the hotel just before 6 pm I noticed some wonderful clouds looming in the distance and decided to chase them instead of going home. I headed for Kercem and Ghadira, and when I finally did make my way home, I couldn’t not head for Dwejra as it was just the right time for the sun to set…

By the way, I need to say it lest I burst: I had some wonderful news today that is directly connected with my photography… I can’t give more details now – but it’s nothing short of a WOW thing, I assure you!

A visit by spiderman

I was dozing on the sofa when hubby came in from the garden and asked whether I’d like to take a pic of a spider in the garage, before he’d remove it… Nothing much exciting to shoot otherwise today, so he didn’t have to ask twice. I’m always grateful for fodder!

Intruder in the garage

Tried to leave out the background clutter

Spiderman, relocated to a more natural habitat

He (she?) seems to like his new home

Beautiful - but still pretty creepy!!

Obsessed with clouds

These kinds of views are the reason why I love Autumn. Gone are the boring plain skies! Yesterday it was overcast all day, but it wasn’t until just before sunset that finally a few drops of rain put in an appearance – and funny enough, the sun, too! It was too late to get ready to go out for a proper sunset shoot, so I just grabbed my camera and an umbrella and went up on the roof… (apologies for the raindrop on the first one!!)

A beautiful rainbow showed up too; it was visible from our bedroom window which sadly has mosquito netting that can’t be opened easily. My son‘s camera was closest to the scene, so we did it in teamwork: I held open the net, while he took a shot…

They say that at the end of the rainbow a pot of gold could be found… I wonder whether our neighbours have any idea about the riches in their water tank LOL!

Some great music coming up!

Deborah Bonham & Band

I just received an e-mail from Peter Bullick, guitarist of Deborah Bonham’s band, informing me of upcoming gigs in Malta! For those of you who haven’t got a clue: Deborah is the sister of former Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham. A fact that fades into pettiness as soon as you’ve heard her sing. When she and her band opened for Robert Plant a couple of years ago, I was the one who was clueless (the programme had said “Two Timers” were on – and until today I don’t know who they are!), but her music surely rocked! I remember being amazed how a supporting act could be just as good as the gig you went there for in the first place.

Deborah Bonham opening for Robert Plant in Malta, July 2007

The above was the only shot I took of her performance – and (I still find it hard to believe) it went on to grace the CD booklet of her album Duchess. Thanks, Pete, for finding it in the jungle of the internet!

Here’s a song from her album Duchess, Duchess And The Shufflemeister:

So… on Sunday 27th September – at 9.30 pm – she’ll rock the Bugibba Market Square in the name of Malta Tourism Day. Entrance, I assume, is free. Another performance – tickets are EUR20 a piece – is scheduled for 2nd October 2009 at the Excelsior Grand Hotel in Floriana. (The latter being a fact that tickles me into trying to persuade “my” hotel to come up with something on those lines… Hmmm…)

Chasing Pandora

And while the English come to Malta, Gozitans go to UK…

I really wish I could be there at one of their gigs in UK… It must be very exciting  stuff indeed, just to be there watching people go crazy over them – not to mention listening to their music, obviously! I’ve been “in love” with the music of Chasing Pandora ever since I was sort of forced to listen to it for the very first time about 3 years ago, for an article that I had to write for the last issue of Gozo Plus, the magazine which once was mine… *sniff* (hands up who remembers that??!). I’m still one hundred percent behind what I wrote back then… Mel & Keith: you rock! Wish you loads of success in England and wherever else you might go after that!

Before playing in London, Mel & Keith are going to perform at the Notte Bianca event in Valletta, on 3rd October 2009, so you should definitely try not to miss that, if you can’t go to London next month!