12 of 12 November 2011

Hello blogger people, well another month has passed and as usual I have had nothing to say. So, thankfully I still have the 12 of 12 project where I can share a little part of my world with you. I don't know what I'll do when this project ends next month. I guess I'll have to think of something before January comes along.

Anyway, lets get to it shall we. As usual I have to give credit for the 12 of 12 project which was the creation of this man (aka Chad Darnell). 12 of 12 is of course a way for people from around the world to share part of their life and their world with other people from around the world. This month I once again had a little walk around my fair city and this months photos reflect little bit of the summer that we are starting to enjoy here on the flip side of the world here in the southern hemisphere. As an added bonus I'm actually going to give you a baker's dozen and add a thirteenth photo. The actual rules of the project are to take 12 photos of your day on the twelfth day of every month, but this month I just couldn't decide which last picture to get rid of so I could have an even 12. So, forgive me this one little time by allowing me to cheat just this once. With out further adieu here are this months photos. Enjoy...

We start our day/walk strolling leisurely through Hyde Park wondering just exactly where my day/walk will take me.

Now I took pictures in the past of a building, the QVB (aka Queen Victoria Building), which they turned into a shopping mall. Well outside of the building there is this little statue. This is "Islay" the beloved dog of Queen Victoria and the story of Islay is this:

Islay is a talking dog statue. He is mounted on a wishing well. It’s a sandstone circle with a bronze cage on top with a likeness of Islay made of bronze in front. Now since Islay can talk every once in a while you will hear him say: “Hello, my name is Islay. I was once the companion of the great Queen Victoria. Because of the many good deeds I have done for deaf and blind children, I have been given the power of speech.” Visitors are asked to donate coins by throwing them into the wishing well. All of the proceeds benefit deaf and blind children.

This is just a nice picture of the tower that sits on top of Sydney's original town hall I thought it looked nice looking through one of the many Jacaranda trees which are in bloom in the city at the moment. If you don't believe me about the Jacarandas then you will by the time you finish looking at my photos.

Now, this really has no significance other than I thought it was just something out of the ordinary that I would share with you. I'm almost certain that Mickey Mouse doesn't look like that if I remember correctly. Hmmm???

Summer is here in Sydney and as you can see everyone is out enjoying the weather. This photo is down at Darling Harbour which sits on the other side of the city. If you go over to the other side of the city you will find Sydney Harbour where the Opera House sits.

I don't have a panoramic lens so I can only show you part of downtown Sydney as seen from Darling Harbour. When you have a city with four million people in it plus tourist, you have to expect it to be big.

One of many fountains that are flowing freely around the city. As you can see the kids are enjoying the moment.

Here are some more of those Jacaranda's as I promised and another part of downtown which sits to the left of the other picture I showed you of downtown Sydney.

Oh look, more Jacaranda's. I can't help myself I think they are beautiful and with all of the other trees with their green leafs it's just a nice contrast, that is if you like purple.

This fierce creature is one of two that sit outside the entrance to the oriental gardens down in the city near Darling Harbour.

Okay, I promise this will be the last of the Jacaranda photos, but this one also has a fountain. :-)

These guys sit over the entrance to a pub/bar in the city called "The 3 Wise Monkeys". Nice to see that they are in to the Christmas spirit with their festive little hats.

And last but not least my number thirteen of my bakers dozen. I just thought it was interesting so I took a picture of it. If you can't guess it's the windows outside at an all day laundry.

Well, that's all I have for you this month so I hope you liked a picture or two. I can't promise that there will be a post between now and the December 12 of 12 but hey who knows maybe I'll be inspired. Take care...

12 of 12 October 2011

Hello peoples, yes it's 12 of 12 time of the month and for me it's the closest thing to a post you're going to get at the moment. So, all I can say is enjoy the pictures. I just walked around the city once again this month not unlike past months. I hope that this months pictures are varied enough to pass as totally different pictures from past 12 of 12 pictures. As always I have to tip my hat to the creator of this project, a man how goes by the name of Chad and you can visit his site here You can also check out the list of other people who participate in 12 of 12. There are some brilliant photographers out there so please take the time to have a look at some of the other participants. I'm sure you will find something to your liking. Until next time as I said ENJOY...

(p.s. - I don't know what's wrong with Blogger but, some of the photos can be accessed in there larger forms by clicking on them and others can't. Beats the heck out of me. I've tried fixing the problem but have had no luck so my apologies in advance.)

To start out just a bit old Sydney and a convenient water supply on a hot day.

Captain Cook played and important role in the discovery and colonisation of Australia. Captain Cook charted the Australian east coast in his ship HM Barque Endeavour. Cook claimed the east coast under instruction from King George III of England on 22 August 1770 at Possession Island, naming eastern Australia 'New South Wales'. I currently live in the state of New South Wales in which the city of Sydney sits.

Sydney Tower - Centrepoint is Sydney tallest free standing structure. It is one of those towers you can go up to the top and get a 360 view of Sydney and like most other towers there is a restaurant for a lovely candlelight dinner or even a wonderful sun afternoon. It is also part of Sydney newest shopping mall.

A very tall flowering plant but unfortunately that's all I know and all I am able to say about it. Next picture please...

Just a pretty lateen hanging in the park near the food festival. There are lamps and twinkle lights all over the place. It makes for a very pretty night time experience whilst attending the food festival.

The city is a flurry of displays and exhibits and festivals and lets just say it's all happening here at the moment. This little display is part of the awning the is over one of the entrances the the Sydney Food Festival.

At this time of the year there is a project called Art and About that has all of this art displays and exhibits along with other types of performances. this is just a part of a larger installation. If you go to the website it will explain this piece.

It's almost summer here in the land down under and all around the city they placed all of these containers for flowers to celebrate this time of the year. So there are displays like this everywhere with colour to fill your eyes and imagination..

One of many lovely parks to sit and read a book or eat your lunch, since this in the middle of the city

A lovely statue that if I am not mistaken is the goddess Athena. I could be wrong because it looks like she wants to talk and negotiate a treaty.

Just the ground floor of another old building shopping centre not unlike the one I took last time at the Queen Victoria Building. We have regular modern malls but these are just way cooler.

Another month gone...

Update: I just realised that the post previous to this is about the same topic. Not only am I not posting to this blog but now even my none posting explanation posts are becoming repetitive. Man I need to figure this out because I'm about to remove my self from my bookmarks. I don't even want to follow my self. I mean I can bore myself in lots of other ways besides having to read my own lame attempts at writing a cognitive and some how fulfilling post. Anyway, moving on...

So as I was saying another month gone and I have not posted anything for yonks (Australian for: a really long time). I know I've posted about this before and I'm sure I'll do it again. I don't know why I seem to have lost interest in my blog. In reality it's not so much a loss of interest as just not knowing what to write. I know many of you over the past said I shouldn't worry about rather I post or not. And I shouldn't worry about what I write about. You also said that it didn't matter what I posted because it's my blog and it is up to me as to what I post. This is all very true, not to mention very kind of you to say, but I still don't feel right about not posting.

It just seems that other things have taken over my time and the blog has suffered through lack of attention/posts. It's sad because when I started this blog some 6+ years ago, I loved posting but then again it was all new to me and it also provided a great way for me to let my family back in the states know how and what I was up to here in the land down under. Since everyone I know is on Facebook, including my mother, I seem to find it just as easy and a lot more simple to type in a one sentence communique and be done with it and move on to the next thing. It's all just a bit lazy don't you think?

Now, don't get me wrong, Facebook provides a really a great way to communicate but at the end of the day are we just buying into the next latest, greatest, need to have/do fad? Remember when blogs were all the rage? Are we really that fickle? I suppose in some ways we are. We are very much a throw-away society. If it breaks don't get it fixed buy a new one etc. All said and done it doesn't come anywhere near to explaining my lack of motivation when it comes to posting on this blog. So, I guess the best I can do for now is to go off and ponder this some more and when I find some more clarity I'll come back and let you know what I find out. In saying that I hope I can find a little something to post before that because it could be a really big gap in between posts waiting for me to answer the big "to post or not to post" question and I'm sure you will get very bored waiting to hear my brilliant revelations. Of course that all depends on if I actually get/have and brilliant revelations. We shall see... Oh and I'm not going to promise but I would love and will try to post another batch of 12 of 12 before the year is out. Once again we shall see...

I just don't know...

...what to write that is. I seem to be in a void as of late. I'm not writing anything here. I'm not writing anything on Facebook. I missed this months 12 of 12. I'm not even that much interested in the Internet except to check my email and I don't even get that many emails. Of course that could be because I don't send that many emails to anyone else. I wish I knew what my problem is. I am not depressed but I'm as they say just "flat". I got nothin'.

It seems my biggest accomplishment every day is my walk. I've been walking as part of my weight loss regime but even that has come to a halt. I lost 13 kilos (29 ponds), but even that has stopped I need to lose at least 10 more kilos but it's just not happening. I go for a two hour walk everyday. I walk down onto the city and walk through the shopping mall looking at all the things I want but can't afford to buy. I've been looking for work but I can't even get a part-time job selling bed linens to old blue-haired women. When I say part time, I mean casual work filling in when some one calls in sick or they just need an extra hand for the day. It's far from a permanent job and as I said I can't even get that. I suppose maybe I am a bit depressed.

I shouldn't be depressed. I mean I live in a beautiful part of the world. I have a very loving, giving and caring husband, that has stayed with me for almost 13 years. I really want for nothing. Sure, there are things that I would like to have but, nothing I really need. We have a nice place here in the city and a home that we rent out in another place in another city. Both of them are paid for so I'll always have a roof over my head. So why am I whining. Once again I don't even know what to say.

I've got to figure this out but I'm not sure where to even begin. So, I guess I'll get ready for my walk and I'll think about what and where to from here because I'm really tired at being at a loss for words as well as at a loss for what/where my life is headed. Wish me luck...

12 of 12 for July 2011

Hello all 12 of 12ers and to any one else that possibly reads this blog. As you can tell by the title of this post it's that time again for me to dazzle you, or at least amuse you, with 12 photos taken on this 12th day of the month. Now this concept was the brain child of this man. So we thank him for his ingenuity and creativity. Once agin this month I take you around me little part of the world. Most people call it Sydney but currently I call it home. So, here are this months photo and I hope you enjoy them and maybe one or two catch your eye.

This is part of a permanent art installation these tiles cover an entire building. All of the tiles contain different messages relating to the gay and lesbian community.

Like the above mentioned art installation this light post sits in front of the building.

An interesting sculpture sitting in the park in the city.

Another piece of art work within the park.

We may be in the middle of winter but that doesn't mean we can't have a little colour along side the cold temperatures and rainy days.

I don't know how old this sign is but I thought it was interesting sitting on top of one of the main tunnels leading to the city subways/trains.

Another form of transportation in the middle of the city. We need more of these in the city and less cars.

The top of the QVB (Queen Victoria Building) which is a lovely three story shopping mall. One of several shopping malls in downtown Sydney.

The interior of the QVB building, this picture doesn't do the building justice and unfortunately you have to actually physically see the building to take it all in in it's entirety to thoroughly enjoy it.

One of hundreds of sculptured mouldings that cover many of the older building in the city.

It's lunch time and a very busy city as we all sramble to get our food and do it all in a half an hour.

It may be cold but kids just don't seem to feel it an this one is having too much fun in this fountain.

That's all of the pictures for this month. I hope you enjoyed looking at them. Come around next month and see what else I can find to show you.

12 of 12 for June 2011

Well, well, I've finally made it back to 12 of 12. I have to tell you that not only was it raing all day which made it extremely difficult to take my pictures but then for some reason there was a computer malfunction and I don't know if it was between the camera and the computer or if it was a problem with iPhoto but I finally got these pictures up the long way around and I didn't even get to put up the ones I really wanted but none the less here are June's 12 of 12. Enjoy... (I'm also sorry to say that they aren't in order as I'm tired an frustrated but there here) Oh and one more thing I have to thank this man for starting the 12 of 12 project.

The entry marker to Hyde Park in the middle of downtown Sydney

The tree canopy the runs from one end of the park to the other

This lovely fountain is on one end of the tree covered walkway and the war memorial is on the other end

Yet another fountain in the park. It'a bit of a rain/water/fountain theme this month what can I say it/I was wet all day

This is this month's guess what it is picture....

The main Apple store in Sydney

This lovely, quaint, little fountain can be found in Martin Place near the Central Business District downtown...

This statue of a boar is supposed to bring you good luck if you rub it's nose and as you can see it gets a work out but can't say that it's done much for me, because I have tried. Hey it can't hurt...

No real reason for this picture other than as far as fall/winter changing of the tree/colours this is about the best you'll get in the city...

I mentioned the War Memorial earlier and here it is... I just checked all the pictures and I don't know why this one came out so small, but hopefully you can see it well enough.

This statue is in the centre of the memorial. I wished they had cleaned up all the junk down around the bottom. It's a bit disrespectful not having it tidy in my view...

...and last but not least I thought this was a cute way to keep people from parking in front of your garage. Something tells me it works... Well that's it for this month. Hopefully I will have my mechanical breakdown fixed but the time July set rolls around. Take care and I'll see you soon

Gee...Time really does fly....

....rather you're having fun or not. As some of you might know, we have recently, for the past 3 months, have been relatively homeless as we wait for our current tenants to move out of our place in the city. Due to this displacement it has been very difficult for me to keeps tabs on this blog. Hell who am I kidding, I had trouble keeping tabs with the blog even when I did have a place to plug in our computer. Regardless, I am happy to announce that if all goes well that by the beginning of next week we should have a new place to call home. That's right the tenants are in the process of moving out as I type and as it stands we have the movers scheduled to move our stuff out of storage and into our place on Friday. I'm hoping that after everything settles I will be able to focus on this blog and most definitely be able to get back into my 12 of 12 photos. So, all I can say is fingers crossed and watch this space as it should be showtime all over again in the next coming days. Until then take care and stay out of trouble...

Miss me much??? I do too...

As usual I have neglected this blog so much that even I thought it was no longer functioning. Then I realised it was I that was no longer functioning or for that matter writing. Anyway, here I am and I'm coming back with a not so happy post. I'm not even sure why I'm sharing this but non-the-less I am, so read on if you care to but remember it's not a very happy post.

As many of you know or maybe you don't either way I'll remind you that I have been and still am HIV positive and have been since 1986. Now the fact that I have lived with this dread disease for 25 years and am still around to be writing about it is wonderful. Well, wonderful that I'm alive not wonderful that I've had to live with this disease for so long and will continue to do so for the rest of my life. I am one of those unlucky ones that watched one to many of my friends loose their lives to this disease including two of my own partners. It will actually be exactly 25 years to the date on the 16 of this month that I found out I was positive. It's funny how you remember certain life changing things. Well maybe not so much funny as just plain odd/interesting/strange, you get my point.

I am lucky in that I was able to survive long enough to have access to the antiviral medications that became available in 1994. Those drugs and have extended and saved many peoples lives since then. I'll be honest it's not been nor is it for anyone a joy ride taking these medications with all of their various side effects like constant diarrhoea, nausea etc. Regardless, I persevered and finally found a combination that provided me with the protection I needed and had the least amount of side effects. Now, I have taken this combination of medications for over 9 years and through all of that time they have kept my little friend (aka the virus) at bay, tucked away in it's own little corner not bothering anyone.

The drugs, if you don't already know, are supposed to keep the virus at such a low level that it has a hard time replicate and as such has a hard time destroying your immune system. At the same time by holding the virus at bay and with your immune system not under constant attack the system itself is better able at repairing itself and bringing your defences up to normal or higher levels of protection. My counts as far as the virus is concerned are always in the undetectable range which is where we want it to be and my immune system albeit on the low end of normal nevertheless is in the normal range. That is until 4 weeks ago...

It seems that after all of these years of gliding along rather smoothly. My little friend has decided that it is not content with playing all by itself in that dark little corner. No, it wants to come back out and play in the sunshine with all the other immune cells, blood cells and all the other parts of my body. It just wants to have fun again. Problem is, when it has fun I don't. So, what am I saying? Well, what I'm saying is I now have a detectable viral load and my immune system is headed to the no go zone. Now, we don't need to panic because there are lots of new medications to choose from so there should be some combination I can take that will send my little friend back into his little hole where he will hopefully stay for a very long time. We have done some blood work to see what medications I have apparently be come resistant to and can no longer use and then allow us to to decide what other new medications I can try and we will go on from there.

I know I shouldn't worry but I'm not very happy at the moment. It's not that I was fooled to believe that the virus had left the building. I've not only lived with it for to long but I've also worked in the field of HIV education so I know the in and outs of this terrible disease. It's just a kick to the head and it makes you suddenly feel so damn vulnerable. All from something we can't see with the naked eye but that we got from being naked. Hmmm, I digress Anyhoo, no time to wallow in self pity, nor would I as I did enough of that a long time ago. Lets figure out what we're going to do and just do it. I've got nothing to loose and so much to gain.

Moving on up, or is it moving out?

Well, it's a little bit of both, as we are on the path to moving back into our apartment in the city. By city I mean Sydney. We have found ourselves quasi homeless after living in an apartment under my husband's parent's house. It wasn't it an optimum situation but it provided us a space, breathing room and most of all time to help make decisions about where and how much we wanted to spend on a new home back here in Sydney. For those of you who who are up to speed, we recently moved back to Sydnay after living in Tasmania for the last 5 years. We unfortunately had to move back to Sydney for several reasons, health being an important player. We kept our house in Tassie and are renting it out which will provide us with a nice bit of change to spend on our new mortgage. It will at least make the payments.

Anyway, here we are back in Sydney. We are planning on moving back into our apartment in the city which we were letting out for the past 6 years. We had to unfortunately give our current tenants notice. They were good tenants but we need a place to live. A place to live I might add that is mortgage free, so no monthly rental for us to lay out. We plan on living back in the apartment for probably a year at which time we hope to have found a new house to purchase. So wish us luck and here's to hoping that our current tenants find something sooner. The sooner the better as we can stop living out of suitcases, moving from hotel to hotel and other various forms of accommodations.

Oh and while I'm on the topic of moving and being homeless, seeing that all all of our worldly goods, bar three suitcases of clothing, are in storage, I will not be able to participate in March's 12 of 12. I probably won't be able to do Aprils and possibly May's unless as I said we are able to move back into our apartment sooner. It all depends on the current tenants. We shall see...

12 of 12 for February 2011

Hi Dee Ho all of you other 12 of 12ers and also to the few viewers that happen to stumble upon this blog or those few who do continue to follow my few postings. Anyway, after that long introduction here we are with another submission of photos for the event called 12 of 12. Now this this event was the brain child of this man. The basics of this monthly event is to take pictures throughout your day on the 12 day of every month and post them for all to see. Originally the photos were supposed to show the time of each picture was taken, along with a short explanation about the photo. I have to admit I have changed my event slightly. I do post my photos in the order in which I took them and I do offer a small explanation but I don't add a time nor I take the pictures throughout my day. generally I take my photos in a time frame of when I that I am able to find the time to take a set of photos. Okay once again I have become long winded. With my explanations as well as making grammatically in correct ling sentences. So here we go with this months 12 of 12 I went with a theme last month and I have done the same with month's. Well sort of as this month it's all about colour. Enjoy...

I have no idea what this is plant, but it is some type of a grass used in may of the gardens around the neighbourhood.

Not unlike many places that get very hot during summer; we have crepe myrtles that. this plant grow. well in the dry and/or humid environments.

This picture come from the neighbourhood flower seller and the colours are brilliant not to mention the roses are pretty.

A mixture of flowers from the market which once again provide lovely colour.

I just love sunflowers and I also a fan of the seeds.

Another flower I am not sure what they are called but I think by the looks of them the are some type of mum. I did find out that this is the natural colour of this flower.

Did you know that the lovely gerber daisy are related to the sunflower family and that they originated in Africa?

Who doesn't love a lovely tulip? Do you get the idea I got stuck at the flower market? What can I say? I'm mot sure that all of these count as an acceptable set of 12 of 12 photos but this what I am offering.

Okay, I've move away from the flower market and took this picture of a native flower here in Australia. The flower is a bottle brush and they like to call it a Christmas bottle brush due to as you can see the read flower. they also have white ones that also come out around Christmas.

This flower did not give us much un the way of colour. Maybe the reason it is so dull is because it is actually a weed.

Another flower that I don't know the name of, but I thought it was pretty. What do you think?

And finally, I flower that is growing in our garden and I can't remember the name of the damn. I know it starts with a "P". It is on the tip of my tongue and is just won't come to me. Maybe it will later. Well, as I said I hope you enjoyed the photos and I'll see you next month. I hope I can take a better assortment of pictures. See ya'

Well, that's all I have for this months. I hope you enjoyed my photos this month. I know that there are a lot of pictures from the flower seller near the house but I just could not help myself with all of the colour that was provided from the flowers that we have available during the summer months. See you next month with maybe another post in between the 12 of 12 entries...