         Camera critters, is a weekend photo meme all about animals/critters, whether they be pets, wildlife, domestic animals, insects, birds, etc. It’s a weekend meme both Saturday & Sunday and one I love because I love animal, bird and wildlife pictures. These beautiful contented birds are in my friend Gem's home garden. Gem lives in the Atherton Tablelands of North Queensland. I sure fill my camera’s micro sd memory card when I visit Gem’s place. There is so much to see. These birds are the Guinea Fowl. They are great hunters and protectors and watchdogs of the land. They LOVE eating white ants, ticks, and they ward of snakes. They forage all day looking for food. If they see something that is not normal they will be noisy critters, just like a goose. They do always travel in a pack and always very weary of anything and everything they are unfamiliar with, which makes them a flighty bird. Gem, added, "Their eggs are very low in cholesterol ...a very healthy egg. Their meat to eat apparently is divine. They are too precious for us to eat; we need all the tick and ant eaters that we can possible get....lol"   Pepina Falls is one of the less maintained access waterfalls in the Atherton Tablelands area east of Ravenshoe. They were pretty; the water sparkled over the rocks like certified diamonds. So worth visiting. You require shoes with a good tread as there is a lot of damp leaf litter over dirt and branch covered pathways and where there are man made, steps of earth held in place, by rocks, some of the rocks have broken away and frequently we needed to climb under or over a fallen tree to reach the falls. Parts of the walk was steep and there were no hand rails.    Definitely, not a place for the frail boned, elderly to visit, when the ground was damp and slippery, only suitabe for a couple of crazy seniors.  One for the GLEE Fans, Glee, the BOOK. 07/11/2010
 I only discovered, the TV show, Glee, for its second season and it became a firm favourite, as it seemed to be for many of my friends. I might buy Glee the book, for my granddaughter for Christmas and buy, a book about atv riding, for my grandson. Entertainment Weeklyreports that Fox has cut a deal with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers for a series of Glee novels. The first novel in the series, Glee: The Beginning, will arrive in bookstore on September 1st. The author of the first Glee novel is Sophia Lowell. The novel is a prequel to Fox's hit television show. Vitamins to Help Minimise Bruising. 07/09/2010
  Had a FABULOUS Day . lol, though I did fall out of the ‘troopy’ 4WD driver’s seat, instead of climbing out and have a bruise on one leg and skinned knee on the other. I caught my leg in the seatbelt, stepping out of the car and fell to the ground. Never done anything like that before. Only hurt my dignity, it looks worse than it feels. But when I think of how bad, it would have been, for the old me who had bad knees, a few years back, not the new 30 kilo lighter and fitter me with good knees who got up from that fall and walked for an hour including up and down steep steps, in a rainforest walk, at Paronella Park. I count myself very, fortunate and consider, I wasn’t hurt, not anything, that matters, anyhow. I bruised so quickly it suggests I might need to increase my vitamins, I find if I eat more citrus fruit, including some of the white pith from the rind, it always helps stop me bruising. It was a lovely day and it was spent with a new friend, Nikki I met through the Michelle Bridges, 12 Week Body transformation, and facebook. I have been enjoying lemon juice on the fresh fish we have been catching, lately so I had not been eating plenty of oranges with some of the pith, which contains the rutin, a bioflavonoid that was singled out, by researchers in the 1950s as the best way to strengthen fragile capillaries and minimize bruising. If you find you bruise easily, check if you are getting enough Vit, C and K in your diet and bioflavoids. I will start back on an orange a day, including some of the white, pith, tomorrow.   What can I give Reg for his 70th Birthday? I know I bought him his fishing rods and a fishing book, he is using now. but I would love to give him something special on the day. We are practical people, cannot be frivolous with money either. Not a lot he needs or wants I haven't already got him before he even asks for it, lol :-). Trying hard to think of anything he would use or need. I have until 25 August to think of something. One improvement for Reg as he enters his seventies, he is leaving a decade of eczema behind him. I never did share any of his eczema pictures. but he had it all over his, back, chest scalp, arms and legs at one stage. I decided that artificial sweeteners might have been the main cause and I stopped him from using artificially sweetened cordial he used every day and his rash cleared up completely. I like to let people know that these artificial sweeteners can create problems like this. At this stage I do not know where we will be on the 25th August. if we were near Cairns and could get Indigo minded I could take him on the Cairns to Kurrunda, Steam Train, up into the mountains giving him a very special memory, I could show him pictures of once we are home to refresh his memory. I know our two daughters would have loved him to be 'home', in Victoria so they could celebrate this occasion with him, but I do not think he would want to rush home while it is cold, when we have travelled so far north for the winter, we need to stay until it warms up, down south. I would love to hear any of your ideas.  FREE Giveaway, The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay, Unabridged Audio Book Twin Pack, DVD Set. 07/04/2010
 WIN this Audio Book, FREE Postage WITHIN AUSTRALIA. I love offering, FREE Giveaways to my readers and kathy shell facebook page friends. "if you haven't learned what friendship means then you haven't learned anything" muhamid alli This is the July, "Giveaway" :-The Power Of One: [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Double box Audio CD] Pre listened to, once by myself, Kathy shell, cover is scratched, New value of this 18 compact disk set is over $150. value with FREE postage within Australia. You are welcome to enter the competition if outside of Australia but shipping cost must be paid before item will be sent. Bryce Courtenay, Author, Humphrey Bower, Narator. This great prize, Plus free postage within Australia, is our FREE Giveaway, for July. To be in the draw with one entry, just:- 1/ Leave a comment on this post saying why you would like to win this audio book. · Note, this Giveaway will be being offered from all ten blogs written by Kathy Shell, during the month of July 2010. There is only one prize to be given away and free postage is only for Australian delivery. All entries from each blog post, for this competition, from each of the ten blogs, will go into the one draw, and the winner will be announced at the end of July or start of August 2010. “The Power of One has everything: suspense, the exotic, violence; mysticism, psychology and magic; schoolboy adventures, drama.” –The New York Times “Unabashedly uplifting . . . asserts forcefully what all of us would like to believe: that the individual, armed with the spirit of independence–‘the power of one’–can prevail.” –Cleveland Plain Dealer In 1939, as Hitler casts his enormous, cruel shadow across the world, the seeds of apartheid take root in South Africa. There, a boy called Peekay is born. His childhood is marked by humiliation and abandonment, yet he vows to survive and conceives heroic dreams–which are nothing compared to what life actually has in store for him. He embarks on an epic journey through a land of tribal superstition and modern prejudice where he will learn the power of words, the power to transform lives, and the power of one. “Totally engrossing . . . [presents] the metamorphosis of a most remarkable young man and the almost spiritual influence he has on others . . . Peekay has both humor and a refreshingly earthy touch, and his adventures, at times, are hair-raising in their suspense.” –Los Angeles Times Book Review “Marvelous . . . It is the people of the sun-baked plains of Africa who tug at the heartstrings in this book. . . . [Bryce] Courtenay draws them all with a fierce and violent love.” –The Washington Post Book World “Impressive.” –Newsday “A compelling tale.” –The Christian Science Monitor · Publishers Weekly · ``Episodic and bursting with incident, this sprawling memoir of an English boy's lonely childhood in South Africa during WW II pays moderate attention to questions of race but concerns itself primarily with epic melodrama,'' noted PW. (Apr.)  Biography · Bryce Courtenay was born in South Africa, is an Australian, and has lived in Sydney for the major part of his life. Visit him on the web at www.brycecourtenay.com.  Blue Swimmer Crab 07/03/2010
  HOW TO CATCH CRABS The bait-on-a-line method is simple; just tie a bait to the end of a string and toss it into the water. Idea bait is pieces of chicken, fish scraps and apparently the oilier or smellier the better as crabs are attracted by the smell. A crab line can also help stop the crabs from stealing your fishing bait off your fishing line. Check the line every few minutes to see if there is a crab tugging on it. If there is, slowly pull the line up until you can see the crab just under the surface of the water, and then scoop him up in a net. BOILED CRABS Fill a large pot with half fresh and half sea water. Bring to a boil. Add Blue Spinner Crabs. Bring back to a boil, cover up to 20 minutes for large crabs, or until crabs turn red. Remove and drain. Serve with white wine vinigar and lemon juice to which you could add spices, celery, onion, and 1 teaspoon crushed red or black pepper to taste and serve with a crisp green salad. CRAB NUTRITION The good: Calorie value similar to white fish at close to one calorie per gram. A good choice for a restricted calorie diet. This food is low in Saturated Fat. It is also a good source of Niacin, Folate and Phosphorus, and a very good source of Protein, Vitamin B12, Zinc, Copper and Selenium. The bad: This food is high in Sodium, and very high in Cholesterol. Cooking it in fresh water will lower the sodium content. CRAB is MODERATELY, ANTI INFLAMITORY. Crab meat is ideal for arthritis sufferers like Reg and I. Reg has gone fishing again, he has a list of almost a dozen different fish he has caught here at flying fish point, he keeps updating with pride. He keeps up with joint pain supplements each morning but he is so much fitter than when we left Victoria in Autumn, this has been a great recovery year for him. Reg caught me a beautiful, Blue Swimmer Crab, yesterday, it caught him, too, lol J, the nippers got him on his little finger. He loses quite a few crabs as they jump back it the water after he gets them on shore. I suggested he get a small net to pick them up but he felt that would be, one more thing he would need to carry to the beach and back each day. I did some research on the web looking for ideas for people who have arthritis and fish and I found one handed fishing nets, and lever boosters, I will show them to Reg when he gets back with today’s catch J.  Morning Wakeup, Facebook and Coffee. 07/01/2010
 My morning routine is a leisurely start, spent in bed looking out at our current vista, usually trees and sky, visible through my caravan window, or when I am in my summer retreat, I head straight to the day lounge where I can gaze out over the rose garden to the oat field beyond, as I turn on the lap top computer. With water and good quality espresso coffee with skim milk in my favorite mugs and the dog on a pillow at my side, I start my morning routine. Reg might be fishing, walking, doing his Sudako or watching the morning shows on TV. My computer, like me, takes time for each section to 'warm up', and function. So my routine follows this pattern, as I am, not known, for my patience, in waiting for computer program, warm up time. I start before the internet has connected, by deleting yesterday ‘published photos from my computer files. Then I head into facebook to say hello to my friends, a few comments and ‘likes’, I will even apply the 80/20 rule and delete any new friend additions if their posts are constantly negative or using profanity, I don’t need that in my mornings, I head into facebook to be ‘uplifted’. My new acquaintances, on facebook are there because I add people with similar interests. My longer-term friends remain there, because they are good salt of the earth, people, or they impress me, with how they handle life’s issues, inspire me to lead my life as fully as I can, or people, I am learning, from. Facebook friends are an important part of my life. I must admit I do notice the sidebar adds, while I am on facebook, there are always promotions targeted at mid sixties ladies on my page, I guess teenagers get the adds about acne treatments that work. I am wary of most of the facebook sidebar adds, especially those offering free gifts, it is often a way to get your details and sell these on, resulting in a lot of email spam. Some of course are legitimate, lol, I even do a small side bar add for my own Kathy Shell page, you can find the link to this at the bottom of this blog post, I hope you will join my page. J. While I do a scan of comments that came through since I logged off last night, my emails flow in and I check these while having my first cup of coffee. Then I head back to facebook, looking especially for the news items and inspirational messages, as a comment can so easily trigger something I want to say, that will be longer than a comment, and becomes a blog...this blog post in fact, arose because of a comment that someone begins their day with facebook. In my emerging from sleep state, I love this little prod of my brain, from my friends, to get it buzzing and into writers/bloggers mode. Once ideas begin flowing into my brain, stimulated by the buzz of talk from my morning paper-facebook, and the great coffee, I am ready say, 'enough coffee and facebook chat' and switch over to a cup of tea, eat breakfast, then I am bursting with ideas to write and rearing to start my creative writing work. Is facebook a part of your morning wake up, routine?     Back from a great bush walk and along the side streets of Queenslander style homes backed by rainforest and mountains shrouded in a tropical mist. We had the pleasure of seeing lots of Pretty-faced Wallaby, (Macropus parryi), also known as the Whiptail Wallaby, and the stockier and larger, Agile Wallaby ( Macropus agilis ) also known as the Sandy Wallaby, Grass Wallaby, River Wallaby. The wallabies were grazing on the lawns of homes, and some were right up near the windows and on the decks, appearing quite tame. Quite a few of these homes had rvs for sale in the front yards and I visualized that these might be the sea change homes of former gray nomads like Reg and I, who having toured the country and on arriving at Flying Fish Point, they decided this was the perfect place to stay put. We walked via a circular route, walking along the beach on the final leg,, and watching three dolphins at play in the Coral Sea. It was a lovely afternoon together. On returning to our van, Reg grabbed the fishing gear and went back, to the beach and caught a whiting and I put my togs on and went swimming in the pool. I would not swim in the ocean here, I found out the reason there are very few water birds, is because there are many crocodiles. The Slimming Mirror. 06/20/2010
 Today I had a laugh that my gym is using slimming mirrors in the exercise room and scales that weigh considerably, underweight. I went back to the store where I bought a black dress, I love for only $45. a couple of weeks ago and looked for a size 12, pink and black cotton halter neck party dress they had on sale, it was still there and they said they would reduce it to $37.50 for me. Well I was thrilled, better buying in small country towns, for good clothing than I can do in Victoria. I noticed this when I was last in small country towns in Western Australia, no idea why Victorian shops never have quality dresses for these sorts of prices. Well at least, not when I am looking for them. Anyhow, I wanted to show you the mirror in the store. It looks like I have been working out 5 hours a day on treadmills. I was glad I had the camera with me, lol, talk about a slimming mirror, I am 158 cm tall, skittle shape, average size 12 top 14 lower half, (larger in some designer labels), certainly not a willowy slim figure as shown in this photo I took of how I looked in the store mirror. Good for a laugh I thought. J  | Kathy Shell on Facebook Author and Artist
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