Category: Photos

Lest We Forget

Normandy Veteran
Veterans at the ANZAC parade 2015
Veterans
Lest we forget
Vietnam Veterans
The Hobart Cenotaph

Today is ANZAC Day. I didn’t get up early to go to the dawn service or catch the bus to see the parade in Hobart but the above are some photos that I took of the 2015 march.

I don’t think of the march as a celebration of war so much as a day that we remember the fallen.

Years ago when I used to go Dawn Service and to see the march in Adelaide regularly I used to enjoy seeing the pleasure the veterans got out of seeing old friends that maybe they didn’t see very often and their determination to go the distance even though they were old and maybe disabled.

It was once felt that the ANZAC tradition would die once the men and women who served in the world wars were gone but instead it seems to have become bigger. Of course,  we’re never going to run out of conflicts to lose soldiers in.

The Waler horse is the type of horse used by the Light Horsemen
Riders forming up before the start.
Two of the horses in the riding demonstration.
A riding demonstration in WWI uniform.

I just hope that young people are commemorating the day for the right reasons. Many young Australians like to visit Turkey and spend ANZAC Day at Gallipoli but it was not meant to be about rock concerts and selfies. It’s a time to be solemn, reflect and do our best to make sure that no more young men have to die in a war.

Dark clouds looming over the Cenotaph in Hobart.
Don’t we have a lot of euphemisms for War?

Snapshot Sunday: Bend and Stretch

Polly stretching March 2019

The other day I was outside taking some doll photos on the front porch and Polly decided to join me. As she is an inside cat she only comes out if I am there and I know that she won’t wander too far away. She did take the opportunity to get a little fresh air and of course a good stretch.

Snapshot Sunday: Barbie’s Birthday

People who know me or read our doll blog will know that for the past week we’ve been celebrating the 60th Anniversary of Barbie. This iconic doll has been around for most of my life and all of Naomi’s although we didn’t meet her until she was already five or six years old.

Most of this weekend I’ve been busy dressing dolls and setting up displays to photograph which has been lots of fun even though it’s been very time-consuming Here’s one of the pictures I took.

Snapshot Sunday: Aerial Activity

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As I mentioned in my post about the bushfires we’ve seen a lot of water bombing helicopters around Geeveston recently. On Friday afternoon and into the early evening we had two seaplanes flying over continuously. It seems that they were also firefighting planes.

Usually by the time I get my camera I have missed these flyovers but these guys kept it up for several hours so I even had time to get my 100-300mm zoom lens.

This was apparently routine work. I can promise you that if there had been an increase in danger to my area I would have been busy packing things not taking photos. I don’t often get to see this type of aircraft so I was quite pleased with these photos.

Update: Saturday. It has been a very hot day with temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius and the firefighters are still hard at work keeping track of the spot fires. It has become very smoky and some people south of Geeveston are reporting cold ash falling but so far everything is OK.

The seaplanes are called Air Tractors. Here is a link to their specs.

https://airtractor.com/aircraft/at-802f-fire-boss/?fbclid=IwAR3VGC1QdqUEeOd-0ax7tilx9fMDhVIEDl0F5YWBNDf3kN6GGXDRN5NGdqc

Snapshot Sunday: Airstream Caravan

A catering van on the Hobart Waterfront.

I spotted this caravan being used as a wine bar at the race village on the Hobart waterfront last week. It is made by the US company Airstream and while it looks very retro they are still being made today although this is the first one I have seen.