Mum and I went to visit Grandma today. She's in a nursing home in the country and though I'm not sure she knew who I was, she recognised mum and seemed to enjoy having us there.
We gave her chocolates and I showed her photos from my US trip so she could remember the snow from her younger days in Holland. Mum fondly recalled walking (skating and sliding) to school on the ice, and Will (one of Grandma's friends who also immigrated from Holland) remembered it with somewhat less fondness.
Grandma especially liked the photos of Crash and Lucky eating the cakes Em bought them in Chicago. She asked what type of dogs they were and how big they were. I had a photo of me hugging Crash, or was it him hugging me... anyway, she could then see how big he was from that.
Will and Mum got talking about dogs and Will said she has a Pomeranian too, and he seems to have similar tendencies to Chester. It was almost reassuring to know that Chester can't help being annoying... but then, neither can Paddy sometimes. ;-)
We also wandered through town a little, enjoying the warmth and sunshine. I had short sleeves on and it felt like summer again.
Though the river bank housed a number of introduced (weed) species, such as peppercorn and palm, it was still pretty to look at and photographs nicely. I'll just ignore the environmentalist in me that is screaming to hire a backhoe and haul those suckers out.
What can I say, i have a thing for fences. It's the perspective, I think, the way the lines lead into the distance, and with this fence the way it set a pattern of undulating shadow on the ground.
The crucifix at the local church. This is haunting, whether you're religious or not, and I had to capture a shot of it.
On the train back home, the sun set over the fields and I got some interesting shots.
Back in Melbourne, the moon rose over the city in a mottled ball of faded yellow. Between the buildings, low down and large in false perspective, it looked unreal -- a photoshopped image, one of those beautiful picture-perfect shots that are made into posters and sold as motivational tools, or hung in the foyers of office buildings.
I tried to capture it, but it was too dark, the inside of the train too light, and all I could manage to get in focus was the reflection of hair of the woman who sat in the seat ahead of us.
By the time we reached the station and got on another train, the moon had risen high above the city and it lacked that futuristic quality that had made the earlier view so special.
We got home at 8:30pm. It was a long day, 12 hours, with most of that being on the train, but it was worth it!
Back in Melbourne, the moon rose over the city in a mottled ball of faded yellow. Between the buildings, low down and large in false perspective, it looked unreal -- a photoshopped image, one of those beautiful picture-perfect shots that are made into posters and sold as motivational tools, or hung in the foyers of office buildings. 
