I'm starting to think that my mother is unlucky with electronics. She has burned through more mobile phones and digital cameras than any person I've ever met. And seriously, what are the chances of ants building a nest inside a rice cooker without anyone noticing...?

Recently, her camera departed this mortal coil after she dropped it or something, I don't even listen to what happened anymore because I'm so used to her frying things. She decided that she wanted a new camera, something fancy and shiny with good macro (so she can take pictures like mine...I tried to explain that it's not all about the machinery but she wasn't interested...), and she needed to buy it last Thursday so that she'd be able to take masses of fancy shiny pictures over the long weekend. After hours, literally hours, in the camera shop, I talked her into buying a Lumix TZ-5, and I'm totally jealous because now I want a new camera. Especially after, during our hours in the camera shop, I played with a Fuji S100SF; want one now.

Um, so we got home, and she went to charge the battery, though the charger was an odd looking fit for the battery, and the next day off we went to Grafton. Come lunch on Saturday..how to put this delicately... the battery was almost completely flat because the camera had shipped with the wrong charger.

Moral of the story: I've had the same camera for 4 years, and every picture that follows was taken using it.

Oh and the reason we were in Grafton was because my grandparents have been married for 60 years. They got a letter from the Queen and all. And an article in the newspaper. Does that make me famous by association?

Jen and Asu...one of her rotating stable of Japanese exchange students.
Seafood for lunch, om nom nom nom nom....mmmmn
Family... to be honest, I'm not totally sure how I'm related to anyone in the pic other than my grandparents.
My grandparents.
Three generations, me bending down on flat ground and with flat shoes. Clearly I am my father's daughter.

An ant that I saw while I was poking around in the garden waiting for lunch.
Jen & Ellie. Hot stuff.

The next installment is some macro I took while we were poking around in Granny & Grandpa's garden yesterday as Mum and her sister raided the bromeliads. And a story about a bird. It will be more interesting than it sounds. Oh, and an aircraft related drama; it's alllll happening in my neck of the woods.