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[STICKY] books

I’m a closet bookworm. Once I get into a book, I find it so damn hard to put down! I’ve had that happen with a few books lately. I decided to start using the Kindle app on my iPad and iPhone more as a way to fill in the gaps, and not with mindless grumpy avian games.

So, to hold myself accountable for reading books – I’m not aiming to read 50 books a year or anything. I’m just going to record what I’ve actually read, fiction wise. If I included non-fiction, it’d be the dull list of accounting and taxation textbooks. Non-fiction now included, textbooks for school excluded.

So, here goes!

  1. The Undomestic Goddess – Sophie Kinsella
  2. Can You Keep a Secret? – Sophie Kinsella
  3. Girl in the Steel Capped Boots – Loretta Hill
  4. The Ugly Sister – Jane Fallon
  5. Cocktails for Three – Madeleine Wickham
  6. Lensbaby: Bending your perspective – Cory Hilz

 

This list is occasionally updated, so I’m making it sticky on my blog.

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quote

“My doctor told me to stop having intimate dinners for four. Unless there are three other people.”

― Orson Welles

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Camera & Cookie

I went to Harvey Norman’s in Pukekohe with every intention of buying a waste disposal unit to replace our one which had decided to die. To get to the kitchen stuff, you first have to walk past the cameras.

Fatal error.

There it was, the coveted D7000 sitting on the shelf. It called to me ‘try me out…. look at my clear LCD screen‘ – and so I did. It was beautiful to hold. Felt solid like my much-loved D200. It was faster, quieter, better in every way than my D200, which has also now developed some random electrical gremlin.

Knowing how hard it has been to get one, I purchased it. I’m now the owner of a rare D7000. So rare that it had only been in stock 3 hours before I got there. It was meant to be. Spoken like a true shopaholic.

So now I’m selling my D200 and my spare D50, a lens and a battery grip to recover some of my money.

As for Cookie? For those not in the know, my little girl has been very ill. It started a few weekends ago where she got her foot caught and she has either broken or sprained something in her little foot. With cockatiels, this is bad. They’re not like us. They can’t just put their feet up, take a load off and loaf around on their butts. She stopped eating and slept all the time. I took her to the emergency vets and due to an error in their scales, they over-prescribed anti-inflammatory medication for her, which made her more sick.

Continue reading →

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HDR at Glenbrook

Steam Room

Today we went out to Glenbrook Vintage Railway and I grabbed my camera and tripod with a view of capturing the vintage of the steam engines in a HDR capacity. Whilst I was fighting people walking through my shots (if you see a photographer, ask if you can cross their path please!!) in the limited 10 minutes I had, I did manage to get a few great shots.

AKH_8567_HDR.jpg

This is my favourite shot of the day. You can see the water running down the walls from the steam. This cabin was in the carriage right behind the engine. Through the window, you can see the Waiuku wetlands. Continue reading →