To slice the sky

Open

Caught in the Act

We are Reflections of the Same

When in Bratislava earlier this week I came across this interesting reflection. A memorial for a destroyed Synagogue reflecting the image of St Martin's Cathedral... I found this to be a very interesting and inspiring Idea.
A couple of the pictures I took. Will make my way back there if a clearer day comes to try a few more different angles/aspects..

Royal in the Afternoon

A afternoon walk through Devin reveals the beauty when manmade and natural intertwine..

A union

A friend who is dear to my heart asked that I upload some photos of William and Nava's wedding. Here is a selection of some of my favourites, and also a link to an album of the photos that I think turned out the best...
It was a wonderful day, and the memories will stay with all who were present for the rest of our lives.







Link to Album: http://s599.photobucket.com/albums/tt75/202becki/William%20and%20Navas%20wedding

RUN...

Rockwall

Water Water

Moments passing

A collection of some photos from Plymouth that I decided to have a little play with last night..

V8 Supercars

Playing around with some old photos on iphoto..

Watcha looking at?

A bird with a shifty look, and black also.. Perhaps he is a petty criminal caught in the act? Not sure, but thats the feeling I get..

Tower Bridge

Managed to get a nice shot of Tower Bridge in my trip to London a few weeks ago. The Thames was at low tide so that enabled me to get down onto the pebbles of the riverbank and take a series. This is probably the best shot.

Absorbing the light

Enjoying Summer

End Of School Year

Another School year has finally come to an end. Yesterday the children were all bundled off home, after giving many flowers and chocolates to their teachers. Including me... My table at home has a pile of chocolates on it which I dont think I am ever going to be able to work my way through, mainly because i've never eaten that much chocolate in my life...
Now all the staff are at work again today, trying to forge our way through the mountain of paperwork in front of us. It is amazing how many sheets and books you find in drawers, on shelves and in cupboards. It literally becomes mountains, with some of it dating back to years before I was even teaching here..
Hopefully over the next two days we will be able to work our way out of this paper jungle. Then finally gaining freedom into the world. To prepare ourselves for next year and the new adventures that will begin..

The Little boy on a walk - (a story of virtues)

One day...
There was a little stick boy who went for a walk down his street to the shop.



As he was walking down the street he saw a man trying to put money into his pocket, sadly the man didn't notice he dropped a euro. Luckily the boy saw this, and as he was HONEST the boy picked up the coin and gave it back to the man.
Continuing down the street the boy reached the corner. Standing on the corner was a lady who was wearing very little clothing. The boy was very CHASTE and proceeded to walk past the lady with his head held high in the air, he would not be ashamed.
Finally the boy was nearing the shop he had set out for. As he turned the corner he saw a black man. Instead of sticking out his leg and trying to trip the man the boy showed his TOLERANCE and smiled at the man, saying "Good day".
Thus he arrived at the shop with a greater capacity than when he set out...

this story came as a result of being asked to mention 3 virtues.. I am dedicating it to Danny and the great night of discussion we just had :D

Its only monday but dont forget!

Don't you hate it when no-one remembers to remind you of events and/or anything else that is important to not stuffing up ones day.



All the best for the coming week, and don't forget to try and stay cool..

Sometimes life can be ohhh sooo.... hmmmm whats the word???
maybe this picture will jog ones memory

OHH THATS IT!!

Awkward

All because its an empty feeling monday....

Life is a collection

"Life Events are like stamp collections, as you collect them it seems uninteresting, but in the end you have an impressive collection" (Katrina Rohr)
I was talking to my great friend Katrina today, about our lives and what we have done so far, when she made the above statement. Instantly I was blown away by the sheer insightfulness of it. It is such a true thing to say, the fact of the matter is that to us our lives always seem somehow complicated and boring, when in fact the opposite is rather true. When you talk to friends you think 'Wow, if only what I was doing was as interesting as that', when in fact that isn't what we should be thinking at all. All our lives are interesting, and we are all being dealt the experiences we need to have and have also chosen for ourselves. My decision to return to Slovakia to live has changed my life massively from the direction it was originally going to take. In the future I will be able to look back and say, 'hey I was successful at that, I did something interesting for a few years there' and that will make me proud. At the moment its a hard slog, and I dont look at it that way, even though really I should. We all should.
Out of all the collections we ever make, our lives are by far the most important and the most interesting. They define who we are as human beings, and shape the people that we become. If it wasnt for these collections, well you could be a very dull person. Its the only collection I know that is added to no matter what you do, fail at a job, it added. live somewhere but then move away, it added. Love and then it falls apart, still added.. Such an interesting thing.

Our collections make us individuals, they define us, they reveal the true us. We can never hide them, and really, with such a beautiful thing in each of our possessions, should we really want to?

Perceptions

This weekend, many families around Slovakia spent some of their time at a cemetery, to commemorate a holiday of the dead. It has connections to the Catholic Holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1) and All Souls' Day (November 2). Personally for me, this Idea of going to a cemetery and celebrating the lives of family members is a foreign idea. It is not something that really happens in Australian culture. When someone first told me of the weekend I thought that it was a bit of a strange thing, why would you go and spend time somewhere like that? Cemeteries in most peoples mind are spooky places, that are not really ventured into. Especially not at night. Then I started to think, why is this such a strange thing? surely it is a beautiful time to spend with living family, and also remember those that may have played a large role in your life, or at least contributed to your family being the group of people they are. In my culture the last time most of us will think of a dead person is when we go to their funeral, we dont visit gravesites, and if we do, it is very irregular and not for a substantial amount of time. Why is this? because we are so concerned with a material world of the living. To me this seems to show how many of the people I come across here are quite open, often comfortable in who they are and on the whole nice people. For me it seems to stem from they know their own backgrounds very well, they are comfortable with where they have started and are able to look foward to the future.. In western culture we spend alot of time looking for where we have come from, because we never held onto it. Then there is a thirst for knowing what people as close to us as our grandparents did as a profession, because we never bothered to actually find out. Maybe this is why now we have so many tv and radio shows who are exploring the pasts of peoples lives, and finding out about heritages. In this quest for material wealth and self gain we have forgotten about the most important things in our lives, family...
TO take this whole matter a step further I was reading the paper today, and found that in Taiwan people are now beginning to hold "living funerals". These are often held by people who are suffering from a terminal illness, which has left them in the final stages of life. It is seen as a great way for the person to find closure and be able to face death with renewed courage. Now, again, froma standpoint of a person that sees funurals in the traditional standpoint, this seems like a strange idea. However, again, it doesnt necissarily mean it is wrong.

I guess what I am trying to say is, perhaps we should learn from these other people. We should be celebrating each other as people, not just caring about ourselves. If we all cared about each other and our families like these people obviously do, then wouldn't we all be much better off and perhaps more complete people than we are now?