Serendipity Experience 42 : Find the Beauty!

I decided that I would link up again this week with Ashley Silk's Scavenger Hunt Sunday. My challenges was to find the beauty in the following ordinary objects.1. Beverage, 2. Texture 3. Button 4. Fog 5. Seventies.

Beverage: Just one of the many drinks from my "Alice in Wonderland" high tea party!



Texture: I just love the texture of this lovely old paperbark tree, reminds me of the "Faraway Tree"

Button:  I found the simple "button" the hardest of them all!





Fog: With no fog in sight ( or any chance of any) I had to resort to my bathroom mirror.





                        

Seventies:  At least I have an obliging participant who is willing to help me out when I'm in a pinch!!!!

                                                             

Serendipity Experience 41: Hunting for Chestnuts

Hunting for Chestnuts in Summer is no easy feat! Yet that is precisely what I have been doing since I decided to join the Project 64 Colour Challenge! This challenge required me to find the colour chestnut and called for some serious 'thinking outside the square'. Fortunately on my beach walk today I found the answer!

When you look at this you may see a vibrant blue bluebottle. But when I look at this all I see is thousands upon thousands of grains of chestnut coloured sand!!!                    

Unfortunately so intent was I upon my newly discovered chestnuts I accidently stepped upon several unsuspecting bluebottles and ended up requiring some vinegar for my stings - the lengths we will go to for a photo!!!!

Serendipity Experience 40: Share an Obsession

I currently have an obsession with pears. I was actually unaware of my obsession until this morning when I looked around my kitchen and realized that I was surrounded by pears in all different shapes,sizes and forms.

I am actually quite perplexed to realise that I have this obsession. Whilst I enjoy eating pears, it is not their flavour, smell or texture that seems to appeal to me, but their actual form. Why? I do not know.

How is it, that I have sat here surrounded by this obsession for so long and yet been totally oblivous to it?

 

Serendipity Experience 39: Challenge myself!

I had so much fun joining Scavenger Hunt Sunday last week I thought I would challenge myself to try it again this week! The prompts for this week were: 1. Memories, 2.Silhouette 3. Doorway 4. Reflection 5.Silver.



Silver : I hadn't appreciated how difficult it was to photograph silver. I can certainly see why it was chosen as one of the challenges!

Memories: Far too many memories to choose, so thought I would share my memory wall instead!



Silhouette:  I really enjoyed looking for silhouettes. Found this one on my evening walk.

Reflection: I took this earlier in the week when I was practising working on my lighting.

Doorway:  Running out of time I didn't have time to look any further than my own front door!   

                                                                 



Serendipity Experience 38 : Delight in Dandelions!

What is it about dandelion clocks? Every time I see one it takes me back to my childhood where we would tell the time by blowing on them and counting how many puffs it took for them to float away. I have evidently passed this onto my children, who can not pass one by without doing it too!
                                                   

Serendipity Experience- 37 Let the Sun Shine!

"Beauty is eloquent even when silent" proverb

Today I resolved to take time to savor and appreciate the simple pleasure of sunshine. All too often I complain about the intensity of the heat and pull down my blinds. Today I took time to embrace its warmth and delighted in watching it play upon the water.

Whilst we sat in silence watching the sun, I tried to recall my friend Justine's advice about photgraphing in the sunlight...I still have a lot to learn!

We were not the only one's enjoying the sun, our resident waterdragon, sun worshipper that he is, shared our appreciation of the sun's rays. (Although I did not appreciate his recent appearance in my house last week, where he sat very content on the nice cool tiles, whilst I shrieked the house down!!).obviously hasn't deterred him at all!

Pop by and see what is making other's happy at the moment!

              

Serendipity Experience - 36 Join a Scavenger Hunt

My challenge for the day was to join  Scavenger Hunt Sunday! It looked like so many people were having a wonderful time interpreting the various prompts. Having just taken up photography I thought it might encourage me to experiment more...and I actually had a lot of fun in the process!! We had to interpret  1. A different view.  2. Looking Up  3. Abstract  4. Hair  5. Half.

A Different View

1. A Different View: Taking a walk to the Botanical Gardens this week, we saw a completely different view of our Sydney Landmarks, which seemed to be playing hide and seek with us between the trees!

                                                            Looking Up             

  2. Looking Up... I took this photograph today on our trip to our local bay. As we play together in the water we are so aware of the horrendous impact that water and the recent floods are having in our adjoining state of Queensland. Through this adversity people have been fantastic with over 50,000 people today volunteering to help their neighbours with the clean up. With the floods starting to ease and the clean up underway we can only hope that things are starting to look up for those so badly affected.

 Abstract

3. Abstract - Not being a particularly abstract person I had to resort to a reinterpretation of my shells.



Hair

4. Hair ... My teenage daughter requested that I try out the latest hairtrend on her - fishtail braids!!!

Half

5. Half....Our capacity for love is enormous, what a wonderful world it would be if we gave away even just half of it to others!


      



Serendipity Experience -35 Appreciate Nature!

After spending the past few days indoors my goal for the day was to get back to nature! With this in mind I decided the best place to do this was to visit our beautiful Botanical Gardens, nestled on the Sydney Harbour foreshore.

We spent a delightful morning, walking the foreshore, inspecting the flowers, yearning to climb the trees and generally watching the world pass us by.



It was difficult tearing ourselves away from the lush green grass and the treasures it held, but we promised ourselves we would return and savour it again another day!

                                 

Serendipity Experience 34 Savour Simplicity

               "Our life is frittered away by detail..........Simplify,  Simplify,  Simplify"

                                                                                                Henry David Thoreau

After enjoying a month of Christmas excesses my goal for today is to get back to savouring the simple things in life! Instead of rushing through my daily routine, today I am going to sit back and slowly drink my "sultry chai" tea. I am going to pick up the paper back which has been lying on my chair this past few weeks and actually take some time to enjoy it, without feeling guilty about my household chores. I plan to take my time over selecting our meal tonight and am going to enjoy the simple task of preparing the meal. Taking time to just be! ....to laugh, to relax, to linger!!

Savour the simple sweet pleasures of life!

Serendipity Experience - 33 Make Family Resolutions.

Our family has just spent a delightful week being tourists in our own town, visiting museums, galleries, landmarks and even staying in a hotel in the city. It has been a wonderful bonding time together and a lovely start to the New Year. After spending this time together we were inspired to make some family resolutions for the year ahead.

Each family member had some input into our resolutions. Whilst the adults selected behaviours we could modify for more harmonious family life, the children selected more things they would like the family to do together.

I have decided to keep all of our resolutions in a jar in the kitchen so that we see them regularly and are reminded to adhere to them!

My children should have made a pact
not to bite thier nails anymore!

Hopefully having united goals and making a "pact" to uphold them will actually mean that we fulfil some of our family objectives for 2011!!


I decided to link up with the following challenges, pop by and visit them!

   

Serendipity Experience - 32 Embrace Happiness!

There is no duty we so much underrate as the duty of being Happy" Robert Louis Stevenson

Fun in the Sun!

                                            
The New Year has just begun and I find myself being surrounded with constant reminders to just 'embrace 'Happiness! It began on the first day of the New Year when a friend presented me with a book entitled "The Happiness Project"  by Gretchen Rubin. A book which follows a blogger and her year long quest of capturing happiness. My friend knowing my love of goal setting thought it would inspire my own Serendipity journey. (Little did she know she was in the very process of creating yet another challenge for me!)

The Happiness Project by Grechen Rubin 

Everywhere I have been this week I have been inundated with the adage "Relax...enjoy the moment, be happy"! And so my challenge this week has been exactly that. I have not allowed my 24 hour stomach bug, car problems, or worry over my teenage daughter's wanderings in Cambodia to consume me. Instead I have made every attempt to find happiness where ever I can find it! Simply in sharing a family movie together, enjoying a swim at the beach or taking the time to read a good book. Happiness is there in abundance in the midst of the daily grind you just have to embrace it! 

In true Serendipity style I discovered I was not alone in my embracing of happiness. Have a look how others are discovering happiness!