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RuthsArc

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Category Archives: 52 challenge

Evandale Penny Farthing Festival

22 Tuesday Feb 2022

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, days out, remembering / musing

≈ 9 Comments

On Saturday we watched the Australian National Penny Farthing Championships, held in the historic village of Evandale in central Tasmania.

This year’s event was a scaled back event due to covid, yet still fun a fun day out. Races were run over a triangular course around the village. There were various races, sprints, mens’, ladies, juniors, veterans, relays and obstacle (run, carry and push the bike, ride it). Also ,a 20km road race.

There were food and craft stalls, an interesting village store. Some locals dressed in 1800’s costumes. 

When the championships started back in 1983 the penny farthings were originals. Now many have been newly manufactured.

52 Things in 52 Weeks

22 Saturday Jan 2022

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, all about me

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

52 Things, me

I need to send this out into the universe. I’m committing to “52 things in 52 weeks” challenge. Some are daily, some weekly, some are one-off challenges. I want 2022 to be a memorable year for positive reasons, not just another year living with covid. Some things I’ve done before but there are several brand new ideas too. In no particular oder ….

1 ~ Visit the Northeast corner of Tasmania  

2 ~ Visit Ben Lomond and drive up “Jacob’s Ladder”
3 ~ Spend more time out in nature
4 ~ Create new health habits and make them stick
5 ~ Exercise before breakfast on week days
6 ~ Pay it Forward
7 ~ Reduce our environmental impact
8 ~ Review and reduce our rubbish and recycling every three months
9 ~ Do something special on public holidays
10 ~ See a show at The Playhouse, Hobart
11 ~ Swim in the ocean on Christmas Day
12 ~ Keep my diary up to date, include sketch noting
13 ~ Complete another year of Photo a Day 
14 ~ Change my job within current organisation
15 ~ Update our driftwood Christmas tree throughout the year
16 ~ Complete another year of Sentence a Day journal 
17 ~ Learn more about indigenous culture and history
18 ~ Read a meaningful book every month
19 ~ Visit a new restaurant every 3 months
20 ~ Attend two workshop to learn new skills
21 ~ Try a new craft activity
22 ~ Ride an e-scooter
23 ~ Go to a drive in movie
24 ~ Fly in a sea plane 
25 ~ Go to a basketball match
26 ~ Visit all exhibitions at TMAG Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery
27 ~ Take part in a painting workshop
28 ~ Revisit MONA regularly 
29 ~ Get to a healthy weight and maintain it
30 ~ Add a new recipe to our diet every two months

31 ~ Try a new ingredient every month
32 ~ Go to a Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra concert
33 ~ Review and use photography techniques 
34 ~ Join a reading challenge
35 ~ Ride a Jet Ski 
36 ~ Take a moonlit walk on a beach 
37 ~ Review and reduce my photo catalogue 
38 ~ Visit the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens every season
39 ~ Grow more veggies and herbs
40 ~ Make use of local library and street libraries
41 ~ Visit Phillip Island
42 ~ Visit Brighton Beach, Melbourne, to see the beach huts
43 ~ Reduce my alcohol intake, have alcohol free weekdays unless special occasion 
44 ~ Go to a live comedy show
45 ~ Regularly go to the local farmers market 
46 ~ Visit Canberra
47 ~ Go Blueberry picking
48 ~ Visit Evandale for their Penny Farthing Fair
49 ~ Decide on blog direction, expand my blog network 
50 ~ Try six new tea flavours
51 ~ Sort out my wardrobe and be realistic 
52 ~ Take a selfie every week for a year 

Daily Gratitude

12 Sunday Apr 2020

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, all about me, my place, Uncategorized

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

gratitude, Hobart

What are you grateful for in these unusual times? Here are some of my daily photos.

Finding balance in this new normal (17 stones, my personal best).
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This weekend I am especially grateful for where we live. We arrived in Hobart five years ago yesterday. (We knew Tasmania’s history but never thought we’d be “locked in” with no flights out! Lols)
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Daily exercise after working from home. Grateful for these tracks and views. We do not have to walk along city or suburban streets.
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Our new garden windmill, looking good with this week’s full moon in the morning sky.
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Early morning high tide at a local beach.
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Fresh local produce still available at our weekly farmers market.
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We are very fortunate and grateful.

#2020 Photo Challenge – Blue Tongue Lizard

04 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, one with nature, photography

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

animals

We had a visitor to our garden last weekend. I’ve seen a few Blue Tongue Lizards in the wild now, but I was able to get up close to this fellow.
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This month, Jude’s monthly 2020 Photo Challenge is all about texture. I love the contrast of textures in these photos, reptile, concrete and branch. His intricate scales and colouring is also perfect for last month’s topic of pattern.
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And I finally got a photo of his blue tongue.
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Changing Seasons – February

29 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, photography

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

seasons

Another month has flown by, with limited time to post or read other blogs. I aim to participate a bit more in the coming months, as our days draw in towards autumn and winter.

February included some unexpected travel. My flight over Tasmania revealed intriguing circles of green on the land below, where some paddocks and crops have been watered.
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I had a weekend in Sydney with torrential rain and storms, trees down, roads closed, power cuts that lasted days. We take electricity for granted. I missed my regular cups of tea. The choices for meals were limited. When offered a cheese sandwich, my son-in-law asked “Do you mean a raw Toastie?”

Then a road trip to Dubbo in NSW. The drive took us through huge landscapes with big skies.
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Through bush fire impacted areas and communities, with miles of burnt out trees on both sides of the road. There were tinges of green after the rain but still a devasting sight.
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We stopped at Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, usually a place filled with tourists. It was very quiet following the fires and now the travel ban on Chinese tourists due to the corona virus. I was glad we could stop, shop, have lunch and support their local economy in just a small way. The Three Sisters Lookout was in the clouds, a beautiful eerie feel to the view.
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This was the view when we were there last May.
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Back in Tassie, we had weekends to relax and reconnect, to enjoy our local waterfront, summer drinks and beach walks.
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This is my contribution to Su’s Changing Seasons Challenge.

Changing Seasons – January 2020

02 Sunday Feb 2020

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, photography

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

seasons

What happened to January? I don’t know where the days have gone since we returned from our New Zealand holiday. As I look back through my photos for the month, we were busy, making the most of each summer weekend.

We went blueberry picking at a local farm. My first time. The berries are delicious and are “easy pickings” almost falling into the pot as you run fingers gently over the bunch. The bushes are a reasonable height so it isn’t back breaking work either. As well as enjoying fresh berries each day we also have a few kilos in the freezer.

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As we passed another farm shop we bought raspberries and cherries a few metres from the orchards. All these fruit have so much more flavour than shop bought produce.

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As we are thinking of changing our front garden to natives, we visited the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens and Inverawe Native Gardens for some inspiration.

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We are on water restrictions and the landscape is parched, fortunately we have had reasonable rain in this recent days.

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This is my belated contribution to Su’s Changing Season Challenge here.

#2020 Photo Challenge – Kiwifruit Orchard

20 Monday Jan 2020

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, one with nature, photography

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

New Zealand, trees

I need a few challenges for this new year, so I was delighted to read that fellow blogger Jude has set a 2020 Photo Challenge to “try out various photographic techniques, skills or concepts”

The theme for January is Composition and Framing. I didn’t know about the challenge when I took these photos earlier in the month during our NZ holiday. But these photos seem to fit the bill, taken on my iphone. I have cropped them to straighten and frame them. I need to get away from the Instagram habit of square images.
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Whilst visiting the Bay of Plenty we stayed with friends of friends whose house overlooked this kiwi fruit orchard and I was able to get up close and stand underneath the trees / vines of hanging fruit.
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I like these photos, looking straight down the “tunnel”. But .. the big leaf in the top left of this one is distracting.
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I like the hanging vine in this, but it hinders the sense of distance and there is not so much fruit in the picture.
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The fruit were not quite ready for harvest, but workers had been there earlier, thinning the leaves and removing damaged fruit.

The orchards are bordered by very high hedges which act a wind breaks.IMG_7648IMG_7662

Have a look at Jude’s photo of Godrevy Lighthouse here and links to other bloggers contributions.

Changing Seasons – December

31 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

seasons

December begun will cool days and snow on the mountain, a cold start to summer. My photos for the month show many with a Christmas Tree theme.
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Also, our office elves returned, bringing smiles to all colleagues. Staff organised a reverse advent calendar this month, donating items for Foodbank, Toy Run and “Share the Dignity”.

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We’re now on holiday for two weeks, so we’ve relaxed. We went to the beach on Christmas Day morning. This is my fifth summer Christmas and it is still a novelty.IMG_E7098.jpg

This week has seen the 75th Sydney to Hobart yacht race, with 157 yachts of varying size and age arriving in our city. We have enjoyed our view from the Eastern Shore. It is also time for the annual food festival, The Taste of Tasmania. We spent a delightful afternoon, eating local produce and welcoming the boats to our city.

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Yesterday, Tasmania joined every State and Territory in Australia, having temperatures over 40 degrees. We have a total fire ban and are on water restrictions. Such contrasts during December.

I am linking this to Su’s Changing Seasons Challenge.

Changing Seasons – September

02 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, photography

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

seasons

I’m a few days late with my monthly “changing seasons” post. September has been “alphabet month” in my photo a day group so I’ll share a few of my photos to summarise my month.

We’ve enjoyed a visit from our daughter, son-in-law and two year old grandson, so some letters reflected toddler activities.

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A – artwork – toddler originals on our fridge
B – blossom
C – clock tower
D – daffodils
E – eucalyptus flowers
F – fire – back burning on hills behind our house
G – grass through glass
H – hay on hillside
I – ironwork
J – jetty
K – key hole
L – lilies
M – museum
N – night out
O – orchid that I’ve kept alive for 3 months
P – playground
Q – quiet toddler
R – reading
S – slide
T – toddler and friend
U – looking up
V – view
W – white wallaby and brown joey
X – XO noughts and crosses
Y – yachts
Z – zebra at the zoo

Changing seasons

Changing Seasons – August

01 Sunday Sep 2019

Posted by RuthsArc in 52 challenge, photography

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

seasons

My initial thought was that August was a totally wet, cold and windy month here in Tasmania. However, the photos I’ve taken in the past thirty one days give a different impression.

Between showers, we did get out for walks at Pipeclay Lagoon Conservation Area. I’m not sure what the wood spikes were for, perhaps remains of an old fence line or jetty.
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Also a walk on nearby Clifton Beach. Although we had to rush back to the car as the rain fell again.IMG_4264

The mail boxes at this beach always make me smile.
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All the rain created spectacular waterfalls where I experimented with long exposure photos.
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Despite the weather, August is a colourful month here. The bright yellow wattle is a winter highlight.

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There has been snow on Mount Wellington all month but the days are getting longer so it is now still light when I get home. I don’t need a torch to get the post from our street side mail box. Oh the memories of having post pushed through a letter box in the front door. They don’t do that here!
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My crochet project at the moment is this spiral square blanket.
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I’m linking this post to Su’s Changing Seasons series. Have a look at how other bloggers have spent their month.

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