The long weekend, a blue necklace and some favourite photography sites

Well, I ended up running so late last week, some things just had to give and the blog post was one of them. But I'm here now :D

The long weekend passed in a blur, as it does when you have three children running around driving you crazy. I really don't know where they get their energy from but they're constantly on the go. They compete for the spotlight as far as attention goes (from anybody - not just me!) and the uneven factor (3 verses 2 or 4) means that there is often one trying to be painful to at least one of the others. *sigh* Hubby went off to the Queensland Aerobatic Championships for the weekend so once again in my guise as Farmer Piper I took the reins. All fine though - short bursts of farm responsibility are OK :)

I've also been dragging myself out to the gym every couple of days. Obviously I'm too far from town to pop into the gym but in my garage I have a step machine, rowing machine, bench and free weights that have just been collecting dust for months. The time has come however - I've obviously taken it far too easy since summer (first because it was too hot, then because I was too slack) and need to clear the cobwebs and get some reasonable level of fitness back. It's hard work (even though they're only short workouts so far) but I'm sure I'll feel better for it soon. Well, perhaps once the muscle soreness goes away!

On the positive side, this past week I had a creative burst that lasted days (it is usually only a day or maybe two) so I have lots of lovely new finished jewels scattered around my bench plus a couple of orders I'm still working on.

Today's photo is one of the new pieces. I was in the right place at the right time to get these beautiful royal blue ultra smooth kyanite ovals :) They're not big, but the colour is absolutely spectacular! It's easy to think they're really sapphires in the most desired blue. I've made them into a fine silver chain with the addition of some gorgeous tanzanite that I've been hoarding for a while. Tanzanite has always been a favourite of mine with its delicate periwinkle blue colour. Yummy!

I'm a big fan of lovely photos - I have quite a collection of macro photography books weighing down my shelves, but I love great photographs of all sorts of things and find them very inspiring. I follow quite a lot of blogs that have gorgeous photos although most are photos that others have taken - they present them to a theme or idea and they are wonderful to look at.

But if you like to look at original photos too, check out these few sites - most are professionals but there are a couple of amateurs included. Maybe you'll find one or more that you'll love too! (I've got my eye on one of Clark Little's amazing wave photos for our beach house!)

Where I live
The Satorialist
Clark Little
Deceptive Media
Accessible
Chromasia
Creative Outlet
Jeff Lynch
Deblurr

OK, enough getting distracted at those sites... I'd best get to these orders!
Till next :)
Annette