Silent Sunday: Ripples

Posted on May 25, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

 

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

 

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Weekly photo challenge: twist

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

This weeks challenge is to give a twist in the picture, something that unexpectedly surprised you. As I have found there are surprises around every corner such as this palm tree certainly surprised me when on one of our dog walks we saw a twist that had not previously been seen.

Other twists are of a human kind. When told to meet “under the dolphins” this person decided on wearing the appropriate gear.

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

Another, naturally occurring element of nature gave me a surprise. This is New Zealand’s desert. The rainfall is next to nothing and not a tree in sight. If I’d seen this photo I would have thought Australia and certainly not given New Zealand a second thought.

 

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

 

On our trip to Vietnam/Cambodia we were surprised that a lot of German Shepherd Dogs were in the country, mostly left by the American and Australian forces when they withdrew their troops. These dogs are highly valued and an image of them has been created that adorns many an entry gate, much like the blue lions do. We searched high and low for one to take home. It took us into some surprising places, places that tourists never went. We eventually found one and then carried it, wrapped carefully in clothing in my backpack. It is equally surprising that it made it home in one piece as disobedient Roger defied the airport directions not to take luggage trolleys on the escalator. Naturally the back pack went somersaulting from the top of the escalator to the bottom. I could just see our china GSD in pieces, but no, it arrived home surprisingly whole.

 

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/twist/

 

 

 

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Weekend Funny Challenge: How Babies are Made

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

 

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all photos Patrice Laroche

all photos Patrice Laroche

 

How Babies are Made.

 Canadian photographer Patrice Laroche surely will have

no trouble explaining to his kids about the birds and the bees.

During his wife Sandras pregnancy, the artist

created this hilarious explanatory photo series titled

“How to Make a Baby”. The creative couple planned and

carried out their project throughout the whole period

of 9 months, taking pictures in the exact same settings

as Sandra’s belly expanded. The pregnancy saga of

Sandra and Patrice basically denounces all the traditional

cabbage and the stork stories.

 

 

 http://jenniferann1970.wordpress.com/weekend-funny-challenge/

 

 

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Skywatch Friday: 23rd May 2014 3pm Noosa Spit

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

Posted in photography, Skywatch Friday | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Floral Friday: I don’t know what it is but this beauty is everywhere.

Posted on May 23, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

This gallery contains 6 photos.

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Nitroglycerine

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
photo courtesy myorganicchemistry.wikispaces.com

photo courtesy myorganicchemistry.wikispaces.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some days you just feel like exploding and this made me think naturally, of nitroglycerine.

Nitroglycerine was first made by an Italian chemistAscanioSobrero in 1847 at the university of Turin. He warned against using it as an explosive but human nature being what it is, the development of explosives was inevitable. It was a very unstable compound. All you needed to do was shake it and boom it would explode. It was due to the death of his brother and several other factory workers who were killed in 1864, at the Nobel armaments factory in Sweden and numerous other fatal explosions of liquid nitroglycerine that the Nobel factory had shipped to California for railroad building purposes, that Alfred Nobel set about creating a safer compound. In 1867 dynamitewas developed by the Nobel company. He held tight patents on dynamite and of the other compounds developed to get around these patents gelignite in 1875 was the most well known . It was noted that nitroglycerine helped alleviate chest pain in armament factory workers and in 1878 Dr William Murrell used tiny doses to treat angina and to lower the blood pressure in his hospital patients.

Nitroglycerine has three major uses. Firstly, as an explosive the work done by Alfred Nobel has been put to use in many civil engineering tasks such as road building, construction of railroad tunnels, for mining, clearing farmland and demolition work.
It’s second use is as a propellant for use in firearms. Nitroglycerine has virtually no smoke on detonation and is used in combination with nitrocellulose which was a huge improvement over the previously used black gun powder. Originally it was used only by the military but it was soon adapted for civilian and sporting use.
It’s third use, for me is the most exciting, as a treatment for heart pain (angina). Interestingly it has also been an indirect cause of renal failure. This occurred because nitroglycerine is a potent vasodilator – that is, it dilates/enlarges the blood vessels allowing a greater blood flow which is why it helps in angina by getting more oxygenated blood to the coronary arteries. Not only does it dilate the coronary vessels but also those in the brain and elsewhere which leads to other effects such as headache and lowered blood pressure.

During the war when women were working in the munitions factories most suffered from severe headaches due to the nitroglycerine they were exposed to. As a result standard issue of APC powders were given to all the workers and eventually became an accepted social remedy. Men would drink beer and women would take the powders. These were the cause of a huge number of renal failure cases in Australia.

Headaches are also a common side effect of nitroglycerine in treating angina. They developed nitroglycerine patches in the hope of giving a constant relief and to decrease the headache problem although for many it still occurred. I remember one patient complaining of severe headaches and the doctor, in desperation, said to him “put it further away from your head. That might help.”  The fellow reported back that he had done this with good effect having put it on his nether region. In fact he was thrilled, – he had blood flow where he had not had it for years, with no headache but he reported his wife was now very unhappy as it was she who developed the headache.

In medicine nitroglyerine is known as glycerol trinitrate. Ironically, Alfred Nobel a few months before his death in 1896 was prescribed nitroglycerine for his heart. He wrote to a friend “ isn’t it the irony of fate that I have been prescribed nitroglycerine, to be taken internally! They call it trinitryn, so as not to scare the chemist or the public.”

In its almost one hundred and eighty year existence nitroglycerine has had a colourful history as an explosive, a propellant and in its use in the treatment of heart conditions, and …. I no longer feel like exploding.

Posted in musings | Tagged , , , , | 11 Comments

Wordless Wednesday: Grand Canyon

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

Posted in Wordless Wednesday | Tagged , , | 27 Comments

Weekly Writing Challenge: Blog your block

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

Seventy-nine steps to freedom. In that seventy-nine steps I stop for a dig in the garden. It’s my garden so although my owners ask me not to do it I do it anyway, spraying dirt everywhere. Then I walk quickly across the bitumen road, a quick stop for a piddle at the telegraph pole and then only forty-eight more steps to release. He lets me off the lead before the dog free sign but I never run backwards. Why would I?  On my release I run full pelt towards the river, my long ears flying in the wind barking for the sheer exuberance of it all.

I stop when I reach the T intersection in the path as the gum tree straight in front of me always has new smells for me to sniff at. From there I go left as far as the mown grass. I’d go into the long grass at the edge but I am always called before I can get in there. They don’t like me in there because of the snakes, the sticky grass seeds and because they can’t see me.

Sometimes I’m lucky like today. Today there was a dead bird on the grass which had probably been killed by another bird. It’s feathers were spread all over the place and it’s body had been picked almost bare. It didn’t stop me though. There is nothing like a dead bird or a bad smell that gets me rolling with joy, covering my body with the stench of it. I am after all a bird dog. I have a soft mouth so I don’t destroy them and if I smell like a bird I can sneak up on them in the bushes without them realising I’m there. My owners are never too happy when I roll. They think I smell bad enough anyway because of my sardine diet but they object so much to my rolling pong I always get a wash when I get home.

From there I run along the river. There are three small beaches and at each one I jump down onto the sand and paddle. One day I will try swimming but I’ve never been swimming with my old owner and I’m not sure that I know how. I am eight and a half after all. After each of my paddles I fly from the waters edge and jump in order to clear the eroded river bank. There is a jumble of exposed roots and you have to jump quite wide in order to clear them and hit the solid earth on the other side. Zac, my old pal, can’t quite make it anymore and his back feet often fall down between the roots. He has mostly learnt to leave the beach at safe places but I worry he’ll really do himself an injury which will prevent us from taking our long walks.

There are a few fisherman that use these beaches as well and it is always worth a good sniff as often their bait prawns are dropped. The second beach is best for this as there is a timber pole with a small square platform on the top which they use to cut up the fish and hold their bait. Sometimes if our owners don’t notice Zac and I get a few tasty morsels before we get called away.

There are oodles of people walking in this park because they can let their dogs off the lead. I don’t worry about the dogs apart from a quick sniff but I always sit and look lovingly at their owners from my hangdog eyes, my tail wagging quickly from side to side and they always bend and pat me, cooing sweet nothings at me but at least sometimes I get given a treat that was intended for their dog. I am just irresistable.

We walk down the path which winds its way through the tall trees. There are paper-barks which I love rubbing against as they are so soft and soak up the messages that have been left for me. The grey gums are great shade trees but they are a bit dangerous. One came down in the river at one of the beaches and another when we were in the park, but luckily not underneath it, lost two of its huge branches. It was cleared up fairly quickly but the one in the river is still there looking like a skeleton lying in the river.

If it is a bit cold we walk down the middle of the park which is all grass and with no overhanging trees very sunny. When we do that I usually chase the ball. I try to avoid giving it back as I get sick of running up and down the park. I’d prefer just to pick up my postcards and leave my messages in return.

© irene waters 2014

© irene waters 2014

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_writing_challenge/blog-your-block/

 

 

 

 

Posted in Daily Post prompt and challenges, Zach | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Bite Size Memoir number 3: Magic and Fairies

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
© irene waters 2013

© irene waters 2013

I wasn’t a girl who believed in fairys at the bottom of the garden yet I enjoyed fairy tales. My father read to me all of Aesops Fables and other tales involving fairys and magic. I remember fondly Tinkerbell from Peter Pan which my Dad also read to my brother and I as small children. I also loved the sketches illustrating our copy of the book. When older I enjoyed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, then a modern fairy tale.

We didn’t have television until I was ten on holidays at my Grandma’s, we had permission to watch television in the late afternoon, I think to keep us out of the way and quiet whilst the adults prepared dinner. We enjoyed many of the programmes we watched but we were mesmerised by Houdini and his magic. We always returned home after our holiday practicing magic.

 

 

http://sharingthestoryblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/16/bite-size-memoir-no-3-magic-and-fairy-tales/

 

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Awards Galore: Inner Peace, angels award, Sisterhood, WordPress Family and More

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist

inner-peace-award doncharimsa-org-inner-peace-awardAwards are a wonderful happening. Not only do they showcase those sites that give so much to you of themselves, they also are a great teacher. I have learnt a lot of the technical arts as a result of preparing these award posts eg the image widget. This time I have learnt how to link within a post. Boy does this make the otherwise time consuming award post so much quicker to construct. I knew there had to be an easier way and you’ll see me linking all over the place now.

The Inner Peace Award: Thank you again to Don Charisma for nominating me for both the Inner Peace and The Angel Award. Drop by and visit Don Charisma as he has a great site full of helpful blogging hints, great photos and more.

Conditions For Accepting The Award

The only “rule” for the inner peace award is that you write a short piece on why you are accepting it. I would suggest that you forward on to other bloggers who you think would like it, 3-10 up to you:) You can choose whichever badge design you like.

Why I’m accepting the Inner Peace award: I believe we would all like inner peace, to be able to go about our daily tasks feeling good and happy inside. We all have issues that have caused us angst but to move on in life and be happy we have to deal with those issues and develop an inner peace. I believe that I have done this and am happy with where I am in my head. Of course there are days when things don’t go quite right and for those days I will enjoy opening up my site and seeing the inner peace badge will remind me to chill out and go with the flow.

doncharisma-org-award-angel_edited-1 doncharisma-org-angel-award-660x660The Angel Award – Thanks Don Charisma

If you’ve been awarded you may choose either badge.

There are no rules for your acceptance post, apart from that you do one !

Done!

Jenni from Unload and Unwind  has nominated me for the following four awards. The sisterhood of world bloggers, The WordPress Family, the Premier Dardos Award and the Wonderful Team Membership Readership Award. Thank you Jenni. If you don’t know Jenni pop over to Unload and Unwind and have your thoughts tested by her Enjoy a Rant posts. These are always thought-provoking and she deals with a variety of current affairs and human issues that are often not mentioned at all. Her pieces are always good to read. To recover from a week of dealing with subjects that are sometimes sobering she devotes her weekends to hosting a weekend funny challenge and there is nothing that most of like better than a good laugh.

The Awards

award-sisterhood-of-world-bloggersSisterhood of World Bloggers

 

My fourteen nominations for this award (and good news nominees, only a few strings attached – just accept, thank, nominate and inform another fourteen.

The WordPress Family: This award was created by Shaun Gibson  because as he says  “This is an award for everyone who is part of the “Word Press Family” I started this award on the basis that the Word Press Family has taken me in and showed me love and a caring side only Word Press can.

wordpressfamilyaward

The way people take a second to be nice, to answer a question and not make things a competition amazes me here. I know I have been given many awards, but I wanted to leave my own legacy on here by creating my own award, as many have done before.

This represents “Family” we never meet, but are there for us as family. It is my honor to start this award. Thank you”—Shaun Gibson.

 

 

I think that we have all felt part of the World Press Family. I know when I write something that indicates that I am or have been hurting there will suddenly be these cyber arms reaching out to offer hugs and support. I know when I write something funny that the world press family (or at least those that I have met already and I have a long way to go) laugh along with me. WordPress is certainly a big wonderful family and thank you Shaun for creating this to celebrate it.

premio-dardos-a-cuaderno-en-piel-dr-lauzurica-dermatc3b3logo-www-lauzurica-wordpress-comThe Premio Dardos is an honour for bloggers who transmit core human values through their post, pictures and other work. Indeed, this is a very special award because it recognizes personal, ethical, cultural and literary values ​​transmitted through writing and I am greatly honoured to be given this award.

It was created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers world wide, putting out a hand of friendship with affection and gratitude for blogs which add value to the web.

The Rules

1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.

2) Pass the award to another ten blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgement, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

wonderful-readership-award2The Wonderful Team Member Readership Award was awarded to me by Jenni and also just as this post went to air by Irene by Design. Irene has a great blog about her passion of creating jewellery and her jewellery is truly beautiful. She also blogs about personal development and these posts are also worth taking a look at. Thanks Irene

The creator of this award said: “As bloggers, we are also readers. That is a part of blogging as listening is a part of speaking.”

I agree with him. When you think about it, we as bloggers read other blogs, books, poems, all sorts of writings. If we didn’t love to read, we wouldn’t love to write!

This award is to honour readers we particularly appreciate for without you there would be little point in blogging. You are all truly appreciated. If only I could award this to everyone but although the rules CAN BE ADDED TO/AMENDED if deemed appropriate I will stick to the fourteen reader rule; let’s be creative, and let’s grow & improve, but let’s also keep to the spirit of the award.

The Rules

1. The Nominee of the Wonderful Team member Readership Award shall display the logo on his/her post/page and/or sidebar

2. The Nominee shall nominate 14 readers they appreciate over a period of 7 days (1 week) – this can be done at any rate during the week. It can be ALL on one day or a few on one day and a few on another day, etc.

3. The Nominee shall name his or her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees on a post or on posts during the 7 day (1 week) period.

4. The Nominee shall make these rules, or amended rules keeping to the spirit of the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award, known to each reader s/he nominates.

5. The Nominee must finish this sentence and post: ”A Great reader is…”

Reader comes from the Old English redere meaning to dream interpreter. What better way to describe a reader. A Great Reader therefore is one who reads often, reads deeply, gets lost in other worlds and interprets dreams.

My nominees for all awards:

Noelle Granger

Sherri Matthews

Deb

irene by design

bkpyett

Glynis Jolly

Ritva’s Art

ksbeth

etinkerbell

Milford Street

The additional four for The Sisterhood of World Bloggers and The Wonderful Team Member Readership Award.

Livonne

Leanne Cole Photography

oreanna 65

Tena Car

The Premier Darvos

Don Charisma

The WordPress Family

M-R    I don’t know of anyone else (except perhaps the Don and Half Eaten Mind and a few others) that travel the bloggosphere world and always has some words for us all and makes a huge effort to get us all together. M-R I know you don’t accept awards but I thought I would let you know how much you deserve this one.

 

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