2019 Photo a Day from the Archives - Week 1

Last year I tried doing a photo a day. I did ok for the first month but I found it very challenging to find something to photograph each day. Some days not a whole lot happened which didn't help. By the end of March I had pretty much stopped doing it. 

So in 2019 I am trying something different. Rather than going out and trying to find something interesting to photograph each day I am going through my old digital photos and posting one a day on my Facebook page. I chose this as I have so many photos that I rarely look at or get the chance to share. My hope is to find some old favourites and showcase some of my older photos that may not have been shared before. So here are the photos from this week.

1st January

 This photo was taken on the 1st January 2000. It looks like snow but it is the middle of summer in Australia. The white on the ground is a layer of hail stones. Thankfully I arrived after the storm had passed. I stopped to take a few photos and the hail caused there to have a slight chill in the air. This was taken just north of Armidale.

2nd January

 In 2003 Amanda and I went on our first mission trip to Nicaragua which is in Central America. It was about a 4 hour trip from the capital city to the campsite where we would be working for a week. On the way we stopped for lunch and they had a few hammocks hung up. I decided to try out one of the hammocks and it was very comfortable. Had i stayed much longer I probably would have fallen asleep.

3rd January

One of our favourite events each year is the State Fair of Virginia. It is fun to see all of the animals, arts and crafts and the lights and noise of the Midway. Amanda and her parents like to play some of the carnival games. It is not my thing so I am the photographer while they try and win a prize. They normally do pretty well.

4th January

 In 2015 my sister and brother in law came to visit from Australia. We drove from New York to DC and we were mentioning some of the sights we could see. When we mentioned the Air and Space Musuem Tim perked up and said that was something he wanted to see. We hadnt had a chance to see it ourselves so it was a good opportunity to see it. The new musuem at Dulles Airport is huge and has hundreds of items on display including the Space Shuttle Discovery. It was neat to see one of the space shuttles that had been into space many times up close and personal.

5th January

In 2001 I had a long layover in Vancouver on the way back to Sydney Australia. My original plan was to go downtown but that didn't pan out so i stayed at the airport. There airport had quite a few sculptures and other artwork including this one on display.








What is your favourite photo from this week? What is your goal for 2019?

Saturday Snapshots: Staten Island Ferry

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

When we went to New York City in July we decided to stay outside of the city in New Jersey. It was much cheaper ($80 per night compared to $200-600 per night in the city) so I felt the extra time spent travelling into the city would be worth it. The easiest way travelling into the city would have been using NJ transit which would have dropped us off at Penn Station but we found a more interesting way to get there.

The Staten Island ferry transports people between Staten Island and Manhattan. It runs 24 hours a day and the best part is that it is free. What better way to travel into the city than a nice ferry ride?

They also have parking nearby for $7 a day. Even with the $12 toll to get to Staten Island it was far cheaper than NJ transit or staying in Manhattan.

You also get a great view of the city skyline from Staten Island before your ferry ride.

A close up view of the Statue of Liberty is included along the way. So no need for an expensive boat tour.

About 20 minutes after departing Staten Island you arrive in Manhattan. The ferry station is close to several subway lines and a short walk from Wall Street, the Brooklyn Bridge, World Trade Center and several other attractions.

We loved using the Staten Island ferry to start and finish our day in New York and would definitely do this again on our next trip to New York. Have you ever ridden on the Staten Island Ferry?

Saturday Snapshots: Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

Last month we drove to New York for a few days and stopped at the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel along the way.

 

 Right before the first tunnel is a gift shop, restaurant and fishing pier. You can see Virginia Beach in the distance about 3 miles away.

The fishing pier is always popular with anglers.

An information board about the bridge tunnel. The length of it is almost 18 miles.

Shellie having her picture taken as a crab.

Shellie and Tim (my sister and her husband)

This is the first of two channels. There is no land visible as the shore line is well over 10 miles away.

Have you ever been on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel or another long bridge?

Saturday Snapshots - Freedom Tower

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

We took a trip to New York City with my sister and her husband a few weeks ago. Among many other things we got to see the completed World Trade Center building. It truly is a magnificent building and here are just a few photos that we took.

The last time we were in NYC was 2011 and the tower was still under construction.

The finished tower dominates the city skyline

Its so tall it is difficult to get the whole building in one shot.

 A close up of the building.

What is the tallest building you have seen in person?

Saturday Snapshots: Lap quilts for the Aussies

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

My sister and her husband have been visiting us in Virginia for the last two weeks. My sister and I decided to make a lap quilt for her husband.

I cut out the squares and my sister sewed them together. Teamwork!

Tim chose the pattern that had beer glasses and beer related phrases. We paired it up with coloured blocks that matched.

 Tim chose the backing as well. It is a microfleece material. It was fairly easy to sew.

Since we were working together we finished Tim's quilt fairly quickly so we went back to the fabric store to get material for a quilt for my sister Shellie.

 She loves Dachshunds so we found a Dachshund fabric and some bright colours to be the solid squares.

The backing for this was a little harder to match but the nice lady at the fabric store found one for us.

 Tim and Shellie displaying their new quilts.

They are heading back to Australia today where it is winter so they should get plenty of use out of the quilts for the next month or two.

 Do you have a favourite quilt for cold winter days?

Saturday Snaphots: Snow photos

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Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

A lot of my friends in Australia are getting some of the coldest weather they have had in a while and some of them are seeing the first snow in decades. Since the snow is such a rarity there are tons of snow photos being shared on social media. I figured I would join in the fun and post some photos of the big snow storm we got a few years ago. 

Once we get this much snow we are pretty much housebound for a while.

Alex is out exploring the snow.

During this particular snowstorm we got 13 inches (33cm) of snow.

I love the effect of the overhanging snow.

Its interesting how the snow sticks so uniformly even on an angled roof.

 The snow melting sometimes causes some pretty cool icicles like the ones on this house.

Do you ever get snow where you live?

Saturday Snapshot - Lap Quilt

Have you liked our "His and Her Hobbies" Facebook page? If not, click here!

Today we are linking up with Melinda at West Metro Mommy for Super Saturday Snapshots.

Last week I posted a picture and asked if anyone could name which city the photo was taken in. Click here if you missed that post. A few of you guessed the correct answer which was Boston.

Today I am sharing some photos of a  lap quilt that I made for a friend of ours. I kept the design fairly simple but it turned out to be super bright and colourful as I used a ton of different colours and patterns.
 

The quilt measures approx 58 inches by 52 inches (147cm x 132cm)

The back of the quilt is an orange checkerboard fabric. I kept the quilting simple but it looks nice.

There is a total of 56 blocks on the quilt.

There are 27 different prints in the quilt. All but one of the patterns were scrap pieces from other projects.

 Each print appears once in the center of a block and once as the border of a solid color block.

I used a variety of solid colours for the binding. I really liked the effect that the different colours give the edge of the quilt.

Give it a quick test run before it got shipped off to our friend.

 Which of the fabric patterns on the quilt is your favourite?