Crumpler Haven

A fair time ago, I had just gotten my DSLR and was planning to take it with me to Tasmania only I wanted a camera bag that not only held my camera, but all the crap I’m forced to cart with me as well. Stuff like two pairs of glasses for my myopic vision, my wallet, a small compact camera for shooting video (smaller than a video camera and great for places where you aren’t allowed a DSLR) and my mobile phone. Most camera bags are great for carrying huge amounts of kit but if you want to carry other things apart from a netbook, there’s not much out on the market. Even on Etsy, the DSLR bags are still focused on carrying kit only.

I tried to make my own padding and convert a plain black nappy bag and this did a great job for the whole two weeks we were in Tasmania. The strap broke just as I was getting into my sister’s car for the ride home. At least it didn’t break earlier than that and admittedly that bag copped a lot of abuse. Not only did it have my camera in it and all the aforementioned crap, it also ended up carrying water bottles and food a lot of the time. No wonder the poor bag snuffed it.

I’ve since tried out a few bags and I have what I suspect a lot of enthusiasts have – a cupboard with a large variety of bags in there. It is getting pretty scary. While each of them are great in their own way, they weren’t what I wanted on a day to day basis. What I wanted was a sling bag/satchel that didn’t overtly scream camera bag while still providing a good amount of cushioning and had room for the aforementioned bits and pieces. So of course I have the standard “hello I am a camera bag” one that I came home with from the store when I initially bought the camera. Well thought of at first until I realised how little I could really fit in there. So next came the nappy bag invention which did not last the distance.

Then came the backpack which is great for hiking or when I’m carrying the camera for long walks because sling bags just don’t cut it for more than a couple of kilometres. Eventually even the most comfortable, padded shoulder strap is going to start making you wish that you’d left the camera at home. But it’s not exactly unobtrusive, nor is it easy to whip out the camera when time is of the essence. That made me want to go back to a sling bag and so came along the Domke bag which I ordered online. Only whoa! Far too big for what I need. It is however fantastic for storing ALL my stuff in when I’m not using it.

After a bit of Googling, it became obvious that I wasn’t alone and this was a need of a lot of amateur/enthusiast photographers – we want to carry our cameras but we don’t like having a dedicated camera bag. We want something which will provide protection for our goodies, not scream that it is a camera bag and can carry other stuff as well. For a long time, all I found were people wanting the same thing as I did but not really getting any satisfaction. Until I stumbled across a solution from Crumpler called the Haven (see below). There are others available on the market that fit this bill but they don’t seem as versatile as the Haven. The dividers are all able to be moved so that you can make the Haven what you need it to be, depending on what you want to take.

I got the large Haven in a ghastly orange and grey combination (would have preferred green but they were all out) but hey, it doesn’t need to look good on its own. Truth be known, I probably would have gotten it even if it were bright pink! It fits in my canvas messenger bag and still I have room for the jolly glasses, wallet, compact camera and phone at a minimum, probably a few more small items if I had to carry them. In the Haven, I have my 40D with 18-200mm lens attached, lens hood (detached), spare 50mm lens and an external flash. There’s even room for my Spudz lens cleaning cloth, remote shutter release and spare memory cards. It might not suit everyone’s needs but it’s certainly fit the bill for mine.

Crumpler Haven Crumpler Haven

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Dear pests: please sod off already

I hate spiders, bugs and pretty much anything that crawls but usually if they hang around outside, they’re pretty much welcome to stay there. Until they start making a nuisance of themselves that is. At our last house, we could pretty much put anything in the ground and it would grow and often with great gusto. Here we are having less success with plants, even those that are supposed to be for the particular area where they have been planted. Incredibly frustrating….especially when all we want is a fairly low care garden.

All of the Little Red melaleucas and the token banksia seem to be suffering the same fate – their leaves get smothered by some insect (most likely a tea tree moth if this comparison is anything to go by), which uses the leaves to make a nest of some description. I’ve given all of them a savage pruning which they respond to but they are hardly going to grow to any significant height if every 3-6 months they have to be hacked back to something the size of a seedling.

I’ve tried spraying with Confidor, chucking soapy water on the plants and any other kind of remedy that friends suggest or even some suggested by Google. But still the problem persists. I’m giving thought to ripping up the entire garden bed and starting again….although there are some plants that are doing really well and it would be a crying shame to lose them.

Easter holidays can’t come soon enough. Stuff going away for the long weekend – all I’m wanting is nice cool weather, a trailer and possibly a garden guru to wave a magic wand over the place and fix up all the bits that are giving us headaches. I wonder if Jamie Durie is busy. :P

Spider nest?

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Trash or treasure?

It’s been a very surreal couple of weeks. First my home town copped the worst flooding in my memory (and that of older family members). Then before the flood waters started to recede there, the rest of the state copped a belting as well. For a city that was urged to conserve water because our dams were so dry, there was far too much of it to prevent a major flood event in the city. During the news footage, I often heard the sentiment that “Wivenhoe failed to protect the city” or that it somehow couldn’t do enough. Really? I don’t think so. More like our memories are short and the powers that be forgot that it was built for flood mitigation not for drought proofing. But that’s another rant. ;)

We did the right thing and stayed away from the affected areas at the height of the floods. After all, there were photos galore on Flickr and the media coverage was almost non stop. There was no need to go and see for ourselves to believe it was happening. I was just grateful it wasn’t happening right on my doorstep. But last weekend, we hit the road and went north to Nudgee Beach aka the river’s dumping ground. There is an amazing amount of trash that has accumulated there, most noticeable is the pontoon floating just off shore, complete with  what looks like a lamp post and guard rails. Ironically, it looks like it still has the no fishing sign fixed to the post.

Just around the corner there was another piece of pontoon washed up on the shore. The locals and visitors didn’t seem to care – it just meant that they had an extra fishing pontoon to spread out on. It’s just a bit broken and a long way from its original home but it’s still good for something. ;)

Off Nudgee BeachNudgee Beach

Above: Floating pontoon just off shore; Below: A trashed section of what appears to be the old Riverwalk washed up on Nudgee Beach makes a good fishing pontoon for locals

Posted in Out & about | 2 Comments

Goodbye 2010, hello 2011

I fully intended to have a crack at the “Day in the Life” photography project. But I kind of forgot that it was an hourly photo thing….whoops! New Years Eve is generally a pretty quiet time for us, most other years we have just opted for take out dinner at home and a few DVDs. At the last minute, I decided that maybe it would be cool to go and watch the fireworks somewhere. They even had 8pm or 9pm shows on for people like me who prefer to have an early night. That’s doable right?

I hate crowds so anywhere in the city wasn’t going to be in the running. And Surfers Paradise is pretty notorious for crowds going wild and cops having to go in for crowd control. So instead we decided to go to one of the “community” fireworks shows armed with a box of pizza and a bottle of fizzy stuff. We found the park where the fireworks were going to be set off only to find that a heap of other people had the same idea. Meh.

Then we remembered that there was a nice grassy park on the other side of the river which looked fairly abandoned so we decided to head there instead. A couple of other people had the same idea but still not remotely crowded. Pizza pretty soon got polished off and we sat and waited for the crackers to go off.

New Years Eve fireworks

I was fairly under-whelmed by the whole experience. Perhaps it was just because it was the 9pm show but it just wasn’t that spectacular….consequently we headed home not long afterwards and didn’t bother hanging around for the midnight showing. Cue some movies and falling asleep on the couch, waking up just before midnight to hear the neighbours (who had actually stayed awake long enough) yelling out Happy New Year.

Pain au chocolat

I know you’re meant to start a year how you mean to finish it, so of course there was croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast. No I didn’t make them. Why would anyone make their own when they’re freely available from any bakery? Heated up the oven and kept them in there long enough for the chocolate to go just that little bit gooey. Noice!

The rest of the day was pretty much a lazy one….rained plenty so not much to be said for it. I’m all for having a forced rest due to inclement weather but after a few weeks of rain already, it does get a little bit old. The boys were happy because they got about 10 minutes of RC Chopper flying in before the rain set back in. I played more Wii games than is generally considered healthy. And as for the cats? Meh, it was just a day like any other really with plenty of napping to be had. :lol:

New Years Day Brief break in the rain Sleeping in

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Merry Christmas, Bah Humbug

And we are in for a wet one. It doesn’t really bother me because we don’t have any trips or any outdoors activities planned. And to be honest, I wonder why anyone in Queensland plans an outdoors event at Christmas time. Every single Christmas Day in my living memory has had some form of rain. In fact, it is almost not Christmas if you get to 5pm and not have some kind of downpour. It might be a sprinkle or it could be a short lived downpour but it has always rained at some time.

This year is a little different in that we’ve had the rains around for a few weeks with only the odd day of sunshine in between. The outcome is that everyone seems to be pretty miserable – particularly if they are of the opinion that water does not have the same physical properties as the rest of us know it does (but that is another story for another day). There are no Christmas carols playing on the radio, the stores don’t have their usual festive appeal and most people I have encountered have been pretty bah humbug. That in itself is awesome, it would have been perfectly acceptable to wear my Bah Humbug tee to work today because I was the ONLY person in the whole department wearing a Christmas shirt! Ordinarily I’d be the only one in business wear.

The big man is on his way tonight and so that means a day of celebrating with family tomorrow. I’m extra lucky this year with two family Christmas celebrations a day apart. So if I don’t eat myself into a small bowel obstruction tomorrow, I can always have another crack at it on Boxing Day. :lol:

All Christmassed out

"I'm dreaming of a turkey dinner...just like the humans have each year"

Posted in Ramblings, Special occasions | 4 Comments

The last dozen…or so…

I have a notorious habit of leaving things to the last minute, so no surprises that I left almost half of the items on the list until the last three days of November. I’m pretty sure that others I know were doing exactly the same, looking at their Flickr accounts. :P

Sunday morning

“Sunday Morning” – To be honest, they do this every day that the sun is shining but this is where I found him when I woke up on the morning after my work Christmas party. Evidently the 8hrs of confined captivity out there while my colleagues invaded his house hadn’t bothered him in the slightest.

Hidden

“Hidden” – Not exactly hidden from me but Rosie couldn’t find him for quids

Upside down

“Upside Down” – It made it more ironic that the sign was upside down and on a skewed angle.

Spots

“Spots” – One of the flowers in a bouquet I got given for hosting the party this year

Weathered

“Weathered” – The patio table could use a lick of decking oil I think

Dirty

“Dirty” – My coffee pot filter after the weekend brew had gone through. Noice!

Busy

“Busy” – I spent most of the day on Sunday cleaning up and doing laundry, real fun times

Tomorrow

“Tomorrow” – The only way I could think of to photograph something that hasn’t happened yet and in effect never comes

Track

“Track” – Compulsory Christmas lighting for the work do – please don’t hate me Leigh, I didn’t want to do it! :P

Early

“Early” – Signifies early for me, part of my morning ritual

Watch out

“Watch Out” – Mojo just doesn’t know how to play at all….he’s easy to stir up with a fascinator

Key

“Key” – The lighting didn’t work out as well as I had hoped for this one but I kind of like the scratched up surface and reflection

Framed

“Framed” – One very precious memory from when Mischa was a puppy, she is missed very much

Shoes

“Shoes” – My favourite pair, probably not worn quite enough

I wouldn’t mind doing another one of these…perhaps using a little more imagination next time though. When is the next one Tracey? :lol:

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All isn’t lost yet

I still have 72 more hours for the 26 Things Scavenger Hunt for November. I’ve managed to knock a few more off the list in the last week or so but still have a scary number to go.

“Curve” – I was given a few frangipani cuttings when we moved here and I wasn’t really sure what flowers they were going to produce. It turns out they are the usual white variety but these seem to have a different curve to their leaves than the last one we had.

Curve

“Strange” – an old tractor on the way home from work one day. Why is it strange? It wasn’t out of character for the area I was driving through but more because it is for sale. I can’t think what plausible reason anyone would want to buy it – it is old, rusted out and I doubt it has worked in a month of Sundays (if the other two old tractors were anything to go by). Perhaps it might make a good ornament for a rural garden. :P

Strange

“Round” – the first and only peach to be produced from our stone fruit tree this season. It was ripe, extremely juicy and possibly the best peach I have ever tasted. I guess that’s the result when your plant puts all it’s energy into producing just one single solitary fruit. :lol:

Round

“Indoors” – the very unusual decor at one of our local cinemas. Probably could have made this indoors and strange really.

Inside

“Arrow” – most unimaginative and obvious one I could find. :P

arrow

“Weather” – summer rain falling on the wind screen

Weather

“An animal” – Getting into the Christmas spirit….although probably begrudgingly

An animal

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Ceiling

Another day, another item off the scavenger hunt list. I was trying to find a more interesting ceiling, pity I don’t live anywhere near an old church with a fresco or something.

As it happens, my work Christmas party is next Saturday and I have been ordered to make the place look festive. Yeah bah humbug. Anyway I thought I would attempt to comply with the request. I bought a set of outdoor lights which can be staked in the ground near the patio even though having lights up at Christmas time strikes me as an insane waste of power. At least the ones I got are LEDs so they won’t chew up as much as the standard lights.

I even bought a wreath that is designed for my front door. Unfortunately we have a security screen so I’ve put it up on a hook where some silver wind chimes normally hang. I think it looks just as nice up there and the tinsel star shaped decoration that I got to hang there is now adorning the security screen. That’s problem solving for you. :P

Ceiling

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Reflection

Taken in celebration of the reclaiming of the bathtub! For the last year since we moved in here, I have had to share the main bathroom with the kittehs’ toilet. It somehow takes the relaxing vibe away from a nice soak in the tub when the atmosphere is accompanied by the furious scratching in the litter tray. :lol:

Reflection

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Finished and fully operational

I thought I’d post a few photos showing the cats house now that it is all up and running (so to speak). The last photo didn’t quite do it justice – the ledges weren’t in, we hadn’t finished staining it and it wasn’t connected to the house. The glazier came last week and after a whole 30 minutes, we had the flap installed and all we had left was to connect the tunnel linking both houses. It was a bit of a fiddly job but thankfully that sandstone retaining wall gave us something to support the tunnel on while we were attaching it.

The absolutely brilliant thing about this set up is that it is easily demountable. The last cat enclosure we had was fantastic for them but when it came time to move house, removing it was an utterly painstaking process because the new owners didn’t have cats and had no need for it. When we took it down, we discovered that parts of it had rusted out which is why we ended up going with this kind of structure. With this one, it isn’t really connected to our house and should we decide to move, all we need to disassemble is to take out the bolts holding it together.

Finished product

The cats are enjoying their new space outside, particularly when we’re outside pottering about. They can watch the birds, bask in the sun and jump around on the platforms that are up. Their litter tray is out there as well so they can go to the toilet in peace….or should I say, I can have a bath in peace without the accompanying noise of cat scratching around in hooded tray. ;)

one way only Weatherproof nookInside the cats house He's still got it!

There are still more things we’d like to do to make it a really fun place for them to be – more lounging spots, a few platforms lower down for Rosie so that she can get to the upper perches and maybe a swinging hammock that hangs from the ceiling. Even though it took several months, a painful freighting process and a few injuries along the way, I’m glad we decided to get this one. I’m sure the moggies are glad too. :lol:

Posted in Cats, Home & Lifestyle | 6 Comments