Happens every year on the first day of winter time… I wake up way too early! But it’s a very beautiful day to wake up to: sunshine, hardly any wind left. And so I didn’t keep grumbling about lost beauty sleep but took a little morning stroll in the garden instead.
The new boy in town; this time it is a male, and he’s asserting himself as a little tyrant among the two girls. I’ve started calling him Bully…(see note below this post!!)
Never mind that stupid photo - gimme foooood!
Bully playing hide-and-seek...
...and checking out his new terrain
Then I found yet another “new boy” – or perhaps girl. In the absence of morning dew (that figures, doesn’t it? – me out and about early in the garden, and no dew. Tsk tsk tsk…) I resorted to the gentle squeeze on my water spray bottle. Yes, I admit, I’m ashamed. And it almost backfired, too: poor spider thought it was raining and escaped to the nearby lair it had built in a leaf… and it was moving damn fast!
Gotta get outta here!
Water droplets on spider web
And there’s still colour to be found in our garden!
Yellow
Rose in neighbour's garden
and another one
And I almost forgot our olives!!
Olives, not apples!
Have a happy Sunday!
.
Note: I was absolutely certain that Bully was a male because of ‘his’ swaggering kind of walk… I seem to be a hopeless case in this respect, because he turned out to be a female, too. *blush*
The strong wind that has battered the islands since yesterday, still hasn’t died down. The ferry hasn’t stopped operating though, and day-trippers still made it to Gozo. Xlendi Bay had a decidedly wintry look about it, though the temperature of around 21°C didn’t quite match that look!
Another reminder of winter being at close hand: tonight the clock is turned back to winter time (I’m always grateful when I get that hour back!!). Can’t say it often enough: time flies! Only a couple of weeks ago, I took photos of my colleague Stephanie to illustrate how much she likes to be in the sea, and at the same time Mazen was snorkelling and hunting for “sea eagles”. You don’t know what sea eagles are? Well then, head on over to Mazen’s post on the blog of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, Discover Gozo. There you can read all about it!
And while I am on the subject of time flying by, here is… well, Time Flies by Porcupine Tree. Thanks to my son for showing it to me (via facebook, wherelse LOL)!
But after a while
You realize time flies
And the best thing that you can do
Is take whatever comes to you
‘Cause time flies
For several months I was looking forward to last night: it was D-Day for “the largest photography project ever undertaken”. In a single moment (rather than across a period of time) Project “One Click One Pic” goal was to catch the earth as it was on Saturday 24th October 2009 from vantage points all over the world. That moment was precisely 24th October 2009 @ 8.00am, Townsville Queensland Australia (GMT+10.00) – which was midnight here in Malta.I hate to use this awfully clichéed phrase, but it actually was a dark and stormy night LOL! Although I had always had in mind to go out and look for a really unique shot to contribute, the weather forced me to stay closer to home. Thankfully it wasn’t raining, and my tripod withstood the stormy onslaught well. In fact, I’m rather happy about my catch! (Click on the images to enlarge)
One click one pic: Gharb village centre, Gozo
The clock shows one minute before midnight, but it was exactly 0:00 hrs, and even the church bell announced midnight, while I was pressing the shutter release button! Once I was out there anyway, I took another shot of the whole street, which was completely deserted at witch hour – a side effect of the wind, which I was rather happy about!
Church Street, Gharb, Gozo
I’m extremely happy with the EOS 5D Mark II… I have a feeling that a few night photo-shoots are coming up soon!
The beautiful collection of photos from around the globe are slowly trickling in at the project’s gallery.
Still Saturday… last Saturday, that is! After leaving Lunzjata Valley behind, we headed towards Xwejni Bay (behind Marsalforn). I really love that place; the salt pans make it look so totally different from anywhere else. I do realise, though, that I should search for different angles to take photos from. The views are getting a bit old, eh?
Il-Qolla il-Bajda & Salt Pans
Keep out of salt pans!
Relaxing pastime
Il-Qolla, again
The offspring, captivated by mosquito larvae
As you can see, the weather held up beautifully throughout that day!
Although several days have passed, in my mind it’s still Saturday. OK, perhaps not exactly in my mind, but I still haven’t shown you all the photos of that day (and after this post there’s still more to come LOL!). One of the attractions available at Lunzjata Valley last weekend was Alda Bugeja, who demonstrated how sheep wool is worked into carpets in the traditional way… and that, of course, made for some nice lens fodder!
first the raw, washed wool is spun, not into gold, but into an even thread...
After I had returned from my dawn photoshoot in Ghajnsielem last Saturday, the weather started to look quite bad. There was a big black cloud looming over Gozo, but after a while it magically disappeared. In fact, the weather then turned out just gorgeous! I packed my son and camera into the car (ok, Daniel actually joined voluntarily LOL), and we drove off, first without any aim in particular, but then Lunzjata Valley sort of materialised by the wayside, and it became our first stop. Unfortunately, it was the weekend of “Festottobru” (I believe that’s what it was called), a cultural activity which I don’t really want to complain about, but there were the marks of humans everywhere… it was tough to find an angle where flags or other paraphernalia wouldn’t interfere. I was also rather taken aback at the huge amount of garbage everywhere. What a shame that people don’t stop and think before getting rid of their rubbish in the countryside!! It would have been appropriate to organize some kind of “clean up the valley” activity, before attempting to show off this beautiful valley – which would easily be Gozo’s most enchanting spot – if it wasn’t for all that garbage!
Stone steps leading from Lunzjata up to Kercem
Rummien - Pomegranates
Fertile fields in the valley of Lunzjata
Old windmill
Posted on October 21, 2009 - 10:00 pm. Add a comment
Yesterday morning I went for the first photo-shoot with my new camera. I purposely woke up at 6 am to catch the sunrise in a particular spot of Ghajnsielem. I needed the photos for discover-gozo.com, to accompany Mary’s blog post on discover-gozo.com. Mary is a Reservations Agent at the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, and we roped her in to contribute to our blog baby!
In typical weekend fashion, after a week of sunshine, it rained cats and dogs on Friday night… I practically slept with toes and fingers crossed for better weather. And what can I say… it helped – Mother Nature even threw in a little rainbow for good measure!
Sooo… you haven’t heard anything from me because I was busy playing with my new baby! My EOS 5D Mark II saga, which I thought was about to become a never-ending story, had such a sudden positive end that I simply had no hard feelings left to complain about the dealer. After I’d paid for it in cash the day after I ordered it, I spent two whole weeks e-mailing Digital Rev back and forth, becoming more frustrated and infuriated with each day that passed by. While it is certainly true that they answered each e-mail within 24 hours, it drove me absolutely insane that they never replied before 24 hours had passed!
Astonishingly, the camera was delivered to my doorstep (via DHL) at 7.30 pm on the same day that I’d finally received an e-mail saying it had been shipped (but not stating when that had happened!). I was so surprised and happy, that all hard feelings were erased! For me that’s a case of all’s well that ends well!
Well, let’s get down to business… I have a camera for sale! I really need to get a little bit of cash back now, after that major 5D expense, so if you happen to be on the lookout for a second hand DSLR camera – or know someone who is – for EUR 450 you could get all of the following, in original box:
Seriously, though, I really don’t find much time for my blog, what with the creation of the new blog of the Kempinski Hotel San Lawrenz, Discover Gozo. That blog is a great team effort, and besides the work it involves, it really is fun to keep it going!
The latest offering is from my colleague Stephanie, whose favourite place in Gozo is “in and under the water.” To get some nice photos to accompany her blog post, we went to Dwejra yesterday afternoon, and Mazen, our reservations manager, joined us too. And thank heavens for him!! I had roughly an idea where we’d be heading; I knew that some scrambling over rocks would be involved. I wore jeans and a t-shirt and decided on shoes that would be sort of “sensible” for negotiating the sharp and irregular rocks.
So then came the big surprise: to get to the location Stephanie had in mind, we had to cross some shallow water. Oh boy, I almost quit there and then. My camera bag, stuffed with lenses, had no space for the camera. So I had that bag over one shoulder, another over the other, tripod in one hand and camera hanging from my neck. Oh yes, and then there was the little detail of my shoes… That’s where Mazen’s gallantry came in: he heroically offered me his flip-flops and stored my shoes in his back pack.
I’m still blushing in embarrassment when I think of the idiotic figure that was wading through the water; I was so damn fearful of tripping and landing with all my gear in the sea… but I’m happy to report that all went well – and I did bring back some rather nice shots, too!
Stephanie preparing for the swim...
...and readying the snorkel gear
Meanwhile, Mazen is hunting sea urchins!
Sunset time is getting closer!
the majestic Azure Window, almost close enough to touch!
No comment LOL!
one of Gozo's big trademarks: the crystal-clear sea surrounding it!
Message in a bottle, in front of the Azure Window
Azure your mind!
Oh, and if you need an explanation of Azure your mind – you find it here!
Have a great Sunday… I need to azure my mind a little now, after all the fun!!
