Day 282

My first piece of retail therapy since Iain left (apart from the new bedclothes): a new pair of shoes. Red, naturally! ;-)

The first shot is an attempt at something arty. I wibbled the iPhone around so that the shoes would be blurred. I then applied a cross-processing preset in Lightroom and cloned out the huge manufacturer's name on the inside of the shoes.

Here's a more conventional shot of the shoes (for those of you - okay, let's be honest, the women - who want to know what they look like).

Day 281

The neighbour's horses posed for me yesterday.

Here's a close up of the miniature pony, Nemo:

Here's Harry, yawning:

And here's Harry grazing at sunset:

Day 280

I've got a snail climbing up my bedroom window! I've never seen the underside of a snail before. Those dark bands pulsate upwards from the centre of the snail's body to its head. Note to self: I really must clean my windows!

Day 279

I got to enjoy another gorgeous sunset yesterday; something to be thankful for. I had a lot to be thankful for yesterday: the deeds came through, confirming that the house now belongs to me and me alone, the house passed its final building inspection, and two more people made appointments to view the house. When Iain left I started a daily thankfulness practice (what I call my 'gratitude prayer'), and I've found it immensely helpful. It's one of the four wheels on the wagon that's going to carry me through this crisis. The other wheels are my friends, my yoga practice and my meditation practice.

Day 278

My neighbours are currently grazing a dozen year-old calves on my land. Here's one of the heifers, having a nosh on one of the ornamental flax plants Iain and I planted about a year ago. They're not looking very ornamental any more!

And here's a Hipstamatic shot of the carnations I bought the other day. They're still looking good.

Today I added another thing to the list of 'Things that are great about living on your own'. You can sing in the shower, as loudly and as out of tune as you like! :-D

Day 277

I've got two photos to share today: one pretty and one gruesome.

By the way, thanks to everyone who voted in the latest Top Pic(k)s poll. The winning photo was the one of the lambs. (My favourite was the horses.)

Day 276

Flying home.

My dearest wish right now is to do the same thing.

Day 275

I've done the occasional self portrait as part of this 365 project, but I've not done one since Iain buggered off, and I thought it might be interesting to do one now.

No, I'm not wearing white face paint or black eye liner in this shot. I took an iPhone image of myself after I'd been crying and put it through the infrared preset in Lightroom. Infrared processing really emphasises any redness or blotchiness in your skin, so you wouldn't use it for a 'beauty' shot, but I love the effect it's produced here!

Day 274

I bought some carnations at the supermarket today, and had lots of fun photographing them. I got three shots I like, but I'm not sure which of them is the best. Which do you prefer?

Day 273

The weather has been wet all day again, as the forecast promised. Lisa Gordon commented on yesterday's post that she likes to buy and photograph flowers when it's wet, and I think that's an excellent idea. I've not had the opportunity to go into town to get any flowers yet. In the meantime, I thought I'd photograph the embroidered flowers on my favourite cardigan.

I only bought this cardigan a few months ago, and I was wearing it on the day Iain told me he was leaving. So I now think of it as my 'new life cardigan'. The black represents my mourning over the loss of our marriage, and the rosebuds signify the hope of one day being able to 'bloom anew' (as Melissa put it in her haiku).

Day 272

It's been raining all day, and the forecast is promising rain for the next ten days. I shall have to start getting inventive with my photo breaks! If anyone's got any suggestions of good subjects to shoot indoors, I'd love to hear them - I have no idea what I'm going to do! Today I popped outside for five minutes and took some photos of raindrops on the grass.

I got three shots that were worth keeping, and I decided to process them all differently. The third one was a shot of some grass leaves similar to the second shot, but then I noticed the little fly during processing, and I decided to zoom in on him. This is really pushing my 18-55mm kit lens to its very limit. One day I will get that macro lens.

Day 271

This is a photo of one of the fridge magnets on my fridge, courtesy of my lovely 50 mm lens. It's called a 'kiwiana jandal', which will be gobbledegook to you unless you've visited New Zealand. Kiwiana is the collective name that New Zealanders give to New Zealand cultural icons, and jandal is the Kiwi word for flip-flop.

I sold the yurt yesterday. Given that it was badly damaged in the storm that blew it down, and that very few people are puddled enough to want to live in a yurt, I thought I'd never sell it, but it had sold within a day of listing it on Trade Me. I'm elated at having sold it, as you can imagine. It's a big thing to have lurking in your shed, let alone your subconscious! But I'm also sad at having to sell it. It was our home for a while and I loved it. Despite the sadness, the overall feeling is one of optimism. The fact that I've sold the yurt gives me renewed hope that I will be able to find a buyer for the house.

Anyway, I'd better dash. I'm off to yoga class.

Day 270

I had lots of fun in my photo break today, playing around with different ways of shooting a pineapple. This is the best image I got, courtesy of my iPhone and the Hipstamatic app. This is the shot exactly as it came out of the camera, with no tweaking in Lightroom. You've gotta love Hipstamatic!

Top Pic(k)s for August and September

What with all the drama in August and my temporary absence from the blog, I completely forgot to do my Top Pic(k)s for the last couple of months. So I thought it might be fun to do one now.

Here, in chronological order, are my five favourite photos from August and September. Which photo do you prefer? Please take a minute to cast your vote in the poll in the sidebar. Thanks!

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.