Verbosity: A week of iPhone photos

selfies at the airport in Singapore

So, I did take my real camera to Tassie with me, and to be honest I almost wish I hadn't. Apart from one or two "photo shoots" it stayed in my bag. My iPhone, however, captured most of the action. And if you follow me on instagram, there's probably nothing new here.

waiting for our flight to leave (it was 1 1/2 hours late)

We missed our Tassie connection from Melbourne due to a late flight and really bad immigration lines at Tullamarine, so we hung out in at the airport in Melbourne for a good 6 hours before getting on a flight in the afternoon.

This breakfast we were desperate for as we'd not been served in on the plane, and by the time we got through, sorted our flights etc it was afternoon time (Singapore time).

But it was all ok in the end. The reason for the trip this time was to see this boy here. Only 3 or so months since we left him behind in Tassie to go to uni, but we've really missed him and his goofy photo faces.

We stayed at Matt's parent's house the first night and the last. I love being at Grandma's house for all the little reminders of my own kids' childhoods.

On Sunday we spent the day with Oscar (who wasn't very well the whole time we were down), and Ella rediscovered her love of "babycinos" (frothy milk in a cup)

We checked out Oscar's living arrangements (and I bought him a rug, bean bag and crockpot) and enjoyed some of the art work he's been producing.

We had a great time photographing Ella against walls....

In fact, it became a "thing"

On Monday we drove over to my old neighbourhood and caught up with my Dad who was doing some work on my step mum's unit. Dad has only moved back to Tassie in the last few weeks after YEARS away. Maggie's unit was whereMatt and I lived when we were married and Oscar's first home. Ella's already declared that she wants to live there when she goes to art school in Tassie. Unfortunately Maggie's not down there yet, but we did get to see an old friend...

And yes, another wall...

We had lunch with Dad, Siss (the dog) and Oscar outside the art school, and then Oscar showed us around. I LOVE this building; an old shipping warehouse which has kept a lot of the original features.

And I really wanted to jump through one of these studio windows and make myself at home in the print studio down there.

This is the scene out the front of the art school (the actual building is the red roofed one on the left hand side)

Talk about inspirational

After the tour, before Oscar had to go back to class, and because he had a sore throat, I took them out for an ice-cream.

Another day, another...well, not quite, wall. Behind this fence used to be a big department store that burnt down a few years ago. It was heritage listed, and apparently they've turned up some interesting artefacts while digging it out. I'm not sure what's going to happen there, but Ella and I stood there for about 20 minutes watching about 6 rats running in and out of holes!!!!!!!!!

On Wednesday night we met my mum, brother and niece for dinner down at the docks again. The sun set was nice, but later on we got to see the blood moon (and I managed to capture it on my big camera) which is where the earth passes between the sun and the moon, and the shadow of the earth eclipses the moon with a reddish shadow. Very cool. The last time I saw it I was standing on the lawn of our house in Queens, NYC when the kids were all very young.

For the most part we stayed down at my brother and sister in laws, Dave and Chelsea. They have 4 girls ranging from Kit's age (14) down to 6, so Kit and Ella always enjoy seeing their cousins. It's up quite high and it was COLD down there. We had a fire every night. And every day I would drive up over the Southern Outlet in my little Kia Rio hire car and be welcomed by this spectacular view coming into Hobart.

Fear not, Ella took the photos for me!

We did quite a bit of shopping, mainly clothes (I get so sick of the fashions here in Singapore and I was enjoying all the end of season sales). Which meant that we discovered lots of good walls...

On the Thursday, we picked Oscar up and drove the hour up to my dad's new house on the East coast of Tasmania. At Christmas time, I saw my dad briefly while he was down house hunting, and that was the first time I'd seen him in 6 years. And then he visited us. The last time I went to see him in his house was around 2003! I grew up in my Dad's house after mum and Dad split up, so it's the closest thing I have to "going home". I had a great time finding little treasures that I remembered about the place. I'd not realised that that was something I was missing.

Since I last saw my Dad, he's completed a Fine Arts degree with honours. And he had a great time pulling all his art work out of the shed and showing Oscar and I.

I love this photo here (although I'm not sure why Ella looks dead on the grass there)

Dad's house is really cute (and I have some photos that I took on my real camera that I'll share). It's not right on the beachy coast, but by a kind of inlet, or bay.

This is just 2 minutes down the street. That's Ella in the water there. She waded across to "Dead Man's Island" to see the old grave stones that are there.

That evening, Oscar, Ella and I went for a walk around the little town (with cameras - more photos later) while Kit finished his book.

I was quite taken with these old places... for sale....

Ella and I set up Maggie's room for her, and slept in her bed together...well Ella slept, I kept trying to escape her using me as a pillow/punching bag. She must have been possessed by an evil Egyptian spirit...

The next day it was COLD. Really cold, windy with light rain. Typical Tassie weather. So Kit decided he was up for a swim.

It's about a 5 minute drive around to this beach at Orford. That's the gorgeous Maria Island over there with the crown of clouds. I'd love to take the kids over, but that will have to wait for another trip.

Kit was quite slow getting in the water, and once under, quite quick to get out.

Oscar and I had a great time taking photos on the beach, however we were slightly better attired.

Even Ella got her feet wet.

We made it back Friday afternoon to see my niece for her 6th birthday, and to make sure we made it to Salamanca market on Saturday. Salamanca has become much more polished, but I still love it. Being Easter weekend, there were LOADS of tourists, but we still managed to get a few little treasures, especially once the crowds thinned out in the afternoon.

We did manage to catch up with my brother and niece for a coffee too (although they were getting food when I took this). I had to get sneaky photos of Oscar so he wouldn't pull his faces!

On the way back to the car we stopped to see my sister in law/awesome friend Chelsea (stunning photographer) who was waiting to do photos for a quiet wedding in the park. Love this girl to pieces.

Then we drove out to Grandma and Grandad's for dinner and to stay the night. Oscar had requested when I first got down on the Saturday before that I knit him a "hawks" scarf as he's taking his girlfriend, Erica, to a Hawthorn Aussie Rules football game in Melbourne when she comes over to visit him from the US in June. I literally finished it while he was waiting for me to give him a lift home.