Yesterday I went to the beach.

On the Queensland bloggers facebook group a call out was posted for anyone who would like to join Lisa and Jos for a coffee Wednesday morning. Being the bossy type I said, well, I could do later, any chance of that? And they said yes, and bit by bit a pretty big group formed. A lot like Gympie {I’ve found out lately} Redcliffe has a lot of bloggers under the surface, once you start to scratch.

So yesterday off I went parking on Redcliffe Parade. I walked into the park {I had some time to kill} and the first thing I came across was the war memorial. A happy coincidence I think, as yesterday would have been Ash’s birthday. I didn’t even know the connection until my brother posted about the date on his fb wall. Calming then that I spent a moment or two thinking of him as I sat there. I thought, Ash would be proud of such a beautiful memorial. And it’s part of his story now. That memorial is for him too now.

The sparkle of the water and the heat of the sun drew me out of my increasingly sombre mood and I decided to head over to the cafe. I was first to arrive, and quite early, so I plonked my stuff down on a small table and pulled out my phone. Bit by bit the ladies arrived. We had coffee {my single caffeine unit for the day} and then lunch. There were a few new faces there, lots of old familiar ones and some ladies I’ve met before who I was seeing for the second time. A rowdy bunch. Let me tell YOU.

I know that it is intimidating for people. I see it in their eyes. I try to make these events {whether I’m the host or not} comfortable for others. I know I don’t always succeed. But I’ll keep trying. As far as I’m concerned once you get past the awkward stage, whether it takes you one meet up or ten, you won’t see the people across the table from you, or even the ones all the way at the other end, as bloggers. They’ll be your friends. I know because it happened to me.

So now, check out some of my pics from the day. I do love taking my new camera out and about in full light. She’s a star in full light. These photos are entirely un-edited.