Sunday, October 18, 2009

An Optimum Prime Weekend

All over bar the shouting for another year, officially 53, a prime number . . let's hope it's a prime year and it pisses me off no end that I feel about 25. I will be able to watch prime time on digital channels thanks to the gift of a set-top box and my most precious gift this birthday, your kind wishes, three virtual birthday cakes, two e-cards, loads of emails and lots of well wishes on and off the blog. So for someone so forgetful of others' birthdays I am very grateful, thank you - I never really expected anyone to be interested in the banality that is Baino when I first started this blog. I'm continually moved by the sweetness of my commenters, friends and my sister and my best friend Thommo, who never forget a birthday.

My prized pressie was a 50mm lens which is fantastic for close-ups, macros and I am told, night photography. Great for when Adam is playing because I struggle capturing the rock vibe with my existing lens. I think the nicest thing, has been spending quite a lot of time with my children this weekend. I feel weird calling them children because I think of them as my best friends and housemates (except when they're naughty then I'm the fat controller!) Although both have their child-like moments and that's what keeps me young. I managed to catch up with old colleagues/friends on Friday night and we've vowed we won't let another 7 years go by before meeting up again . . I can't get over how quickly the time flies.

Saturday morning, Clare drove, me, Adam and Amy out to meet my sister and her brood at a nursery in North Ryde and shouted us all a fabulous buffet breakfast before a walk through the huge nursery which was more like a mini botanical garden. Lovely place.

Well we started with a few of these little mini-delights . . .



Then had to splosh a load of this on the plate . .


We walked off breakfast and I stretched the new lens' legs . . .this is a tiny native bee . .


The more traditional bees loved the daisies


Then today, we attended the Family Picnic. Special thanks to Adam who drove home from a midnight gig in Canberra, went to bed at 4:45 and fronted up all smiles.


My lovely in laws Betty and Arthur. He's 80 and I'm sorry, but the cutest grandad in the world. Way better than yours. Your glass is never empty! They are wonderful and I'm blessed to have them in my life.

More food!


Feeling a little pogged after a lunch of salad, fresh bread, prawns, ham, chicken . .far too many paddle pops and a caramel mud cake! (Clubbing until 3am had nothing to do with it)


Rejuvenated . . .a game of backyard golf . . .


One of the advantages of living on acreage even if the fairways are a little rough . .Adam has no problem with them.


Can you spot the obstacles . . whoever hits the dog or a horse has to feed them . . .

Finished with . . no . . not a rubbish collection but a mini golf course . .but then you knew that!


All in all, a lovely weekend. Thank you darlings for your lovely gifts and to my dear friends for their kind wishes.


30 comments:

nick said...

Goodness, if that's the debris from your festivities, it must have been pretty wild! Was it the full 53-hour celebration?

And there's nothing Bainal about Baino. Never a dull moment from your fizzing personality.

Bimbimbie said...

Tsup*!* Glad you had a wonderful birthday weekend, and you got to take some photos with your supper dupper lens. Your dog's a brave one and you
have green grass! Ours is brown and crispy and covered in leaves - been nothing but high winds since that dust storm ugh!

Sarah Lulu said...

How clear are those photos!!!!!!!

And I'm also 53 and it's been my best year in a long long time.

Hugs ....

Kate said...

What a lovely birthday weekend!! Happy 53rd - aren't you glad you can't catch me up!!!! x

Tom said...

Tiger Woods is coming to your next event. Can i caddy?

ian said...

A bit more exciting than my birthday!

Candie said...

Of course I knew that!;P hum..my eyes were more attracted to those delicious cakes!:D

Roy said...

Wow! All that food! I just ate breakfast and now I'm hungry all over again.

Looks like you had a great birthday. Here's to many more!

Leah said...

This post made me happy, plain and simple.

Unknown said...

I am in a Prime year as well.

It is not really adequate to write "He's 80 and I'm sorry, but the cutest grandad in the world. Way better than yours." I have problem with the last sentence.

Mike said...

Beautiful pictures! When do we see a picture of you?? I showed you mine.... lol! Looks like it was a fun time!

Grannymar said...

That sounds like a wonderful birthday weekend. The photos are terrific.

RLM Cooper said...

Happy Birthday! (Late) But....you really must start putting something GREEN on your plate. ;o)

Brian Miller said...

happy happy happy birthday! wonderful pics and looks like you had a great time! can i have some of what was on that plate....errr...hungry now!

tut-tut said...

Looks like a wonderful start for 53! That's coming up in April, for me. 52 really hit me like a ton of bricks, for some reason. Let's be naughty 53s, shall we?

Darlene said...

It looks like you are having a blast with the camera and that new lens. I love photography and can tell that you do, too. Great photos (especially those mushrooms). And how did you get the bees to hold still long enough to photograph them? They are always flitting madly when I click the shutter.

Is that lovely 'femme fatalle' with the long dark hair you? If so, you are simply gorgeous.

Alan Burnett said...

And thanks for giving us a tour of your weekend and a tour of your party.

laughingwolf said...

yay... glad all had fun; the lens seems to be doing its job too :)

Jefferson Davis said...

Gorgeous shots with the new lens, Baino! Looks like you all had a blast. The food looks scrumptious!

Happy belated B'Day. I did send well wishes on Facebook. Does that count? :)

Arija said...

Just popped over from Ces to congratulate you on your latest award to find another Libran with prawns (drool, drool, could not get any king prawns for love or money the other day!)on her birthday menu.

Sorry you had anes eich ne tee day at work, but so glad you made up for it at the weekend.

Arija said...

OOps, that word should read: es, eich, one, tee (sh 1 t), oh, what the heck SHIT it was and is.

River said...

What a great weekend! I love the food photos. (I love food...)Lucky you to get a photo of a native bee. I have them in my yard too but they're never still long enough unless I don't have the camera with me. I'm going to have to sit out there one day with several bucketloads of patience.
(got dozens of shots one day of a tiny cricket who seemed to be just as interested in watching me as I was watching him)

Baino said...

Haha .. that's NOT debris, that's a putt-putt course. Please kindly note the recycled materials! Hehe! And thanks Nick, you're very sweet. I really don't feel very effervescent at the moment!

I did Bimbimbie and very impressed with the lens. My dog doesn't know what 'get out of the way' means. She did get gently clocked with a couple of golf balls! Yep not too bad. We had solid rain over the long weekend and we're watering a tiny patch near the pool to be bindie free so we can walk on it with bare feet.

Pretty nice aren't they Sara Lulu? It's not for everything but great for macros, I've yet to test it in the dark. Well good for you and I hope mine improves.

Thanks Kate and I'm not going to ask how old you are because whatever it is, you don't look it!

Haha . . we have three holes! About 50metres apart. It's a rough old course Tom but if you can hit a pony we'll have you!

So cute aren't they Candie. I'm really not a very good breakfast person on a daily basis but I love a slow brekky on the weekend. Especially when someone else does the washing up.

I know, Roy, shocking isn't it. There are two poached eggs under there somewhere too!

Then I have succeeded in my aim Leah.

Are you? Ah yes, 19 . . sweet 19. Tee hee . . really Ropi, you must stop correcting my grammar and he's just the loveliest Grandad in the world.

Thanks Otin. Since I'm mostly behind the camera and very shy and fussy in front of it . . .we'll see. I have got a tripod and a remote thingy that I don't know how to use yet so maybe I'll practice. All I need is a smoke machine and mood lighting. I do not photograph well.

Thanks happy hips! It was indeed better than anticipated.

Thank you Angel. Really I'm a pretty healthy eater most times, this was a special treat and there's not a lot of green stuff for breakfast, I ate a whole plate of Chinese broccoli at yum cha last week . .does that count?

I'll let you into a secret Brian . . the beans weren't nice. We like the Heinz beans with ham so they tasted a bit bland.

Actually Toots 50 hit me . . all of a sudden people stopped saying 'you don't look your age' I wasn't very happy about that! Then I met up with colleagues on Friday night who said I hadn't changed a bit so . .

Trust me Darlene, there were a lot of photos that didn't make the cut. The bees were indeed very busy or deep inside the flowers and very hard to snap. Haha . I wish it was. That's my daughter, she's 25 in December . . .oh the memories.

Thanks Alan. Didn't have much else to write about frankly but had to show off the new lens!

We did Wuff. I love mucking around with my kids, I really do. I'm also lucky that occasionally they don't mind me posting the odd snap.

I saw them JD thank you. And every good wish counts, birthday or not.

Hi Arija. I've been over to yours a few times but haven't commented. I love your garden. Beautiful spot you live in. I know they're bottom feeders but they taste so good! Yeh, well work is up and down. I felt sick this morning just thinking about it and yet the day wasn't too bad. It's been a long time since I had a new job so maybe it's just nerves . . I'm not sure. It's a very negative culture but the money is good. I feel I'm compromising my principals sometimes. Haha my mother used to say ess aitch one T . . . never a great one for swearing . . didn't rub off on me unfortunately.

It's a foodie camera River. Perfect for close ups. Trust me they were evasive, just a lucky grab. Yeh, I think that's what the real photographers do. Just set up shop and take loads of pics and hope one or two are great.

Grow Up said...

Nice, belated HB mrs. That fry looked mega. Still seriously jealous of the acreage.

Unknown said...

It was content and not grammar correction! For a person who respect and likes his grandparents, it is not easy to "digest" what you wrote.

Don't Bug Me! said...

I shall start with a compliment - great photo of the little native "bee". Because it is in such good, crisp focus, I can now tell you that it is a hoverfly and not a bee - it has fly type antennae and the hind wings are reduced to little stubs.
Am I very annoying when I am this pedantic ?

Susan at Stony River said...

Wow what a weekend, what a great birthday! I hope it's a great year coming. I'm starving now after seeing that breakfast, envious of the new lens, and wondering what on earth is a Paddle Pop?? the photos are gorgeous.

Baino said...

Hehe all thats missing is the black puddin' Grow Up. Im told that's an essential ingredient in an Irish Breakfast! Yeh it's pretty good.

Ropi good to respect your Grandparents. Ours are lovely.

DBM I knew you'd identify him for me. Actually my resident horticulturalist brought that to my attention too but I couldn't be arsed changing it. Truth be told, I've never seen a 'native' bee! And no, you're not pedantic, you know your bugs and I'm happy to be set straight!

Yeh it was pretty cool actually. A Paddle Pop is a chocolate ice cream on a stick shaped like a paddle but they come in all different flavours. The littlies love 'rainbow' all that pink yellow and blue sends them batty!

Mim said...

Happy Birthday to you - great photos and yes...he is a cute grand-dad - very nice...

Melanie said...

I missed your birthday !!!!!! I am such a bad bad blog friend and follower. I have no excuse except for not being a good blogger lately.I just cant multi task. If I am busy on one thing I forget about other stuff like blogland Have an awesome year luvvy! cheers. Mel oxo