Sylvia Jimenez 23/8/21 Sylvia Jimenez 23/8/21

What’s the lure of good design?

How does a good cover design influence you to buy?

Sylvia Jimenez 30/7/21 Sylvia Jimenez 30/7/21

Receiving a postcard was the best thing that happened to me today

Greetings from lockdown!

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Sylvia Jimenez 26/7/21 Sylvia Jimenez 26/7/21

Somewhere north of So-Ho – October 2000

Currently embracing the armchair traveller movement, more images of past trips emerge as I finally get to the end of a five-decade photographic journey. I won’t even begin to count the number of images I’ve paused, giggled, and sighed at. Come on Covid, go away so we can travel again! When this picture was taken, we were sans children and on a trip to NYC. We learnt about ‘tree rodents,’ the importance of tipping, that a hot dog from a corner street vendor makes for a great lunch and tourist companion, and that coffee made by Australian baristas in Australia will always be the best. Apologies to my U.S friends but hoping for a good coffee we realised was all but a dream…Passing the myriad of mirrored Starbucks coffee shops along W Broadway, we came across this madam who decided to have a snooze. While she was very much alive (yes, we went in to check) we loved the fact that she was not only a fashionista-coloured co-ordinated granny, but that on close inspection she had the smoothest complexion. (Remember we lent in to make sure she was breathing and not in a creepy sort of way.) And as we channelled our inner Samantha Jones we said ‘Girl Paleese!’

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Sylvia Jimenez 11/7/21 Sylvia Jimenez 11/7/21

It started with an 80s mix tape...

…and a Covid project that propelled me to pull out every single photo album and take out each photograph on a lockdown infused Sunday afternoon. The idea is to scan each and every pic so that it’s forever captured digitally. This will probably take years I know, but pausing at images, some I didn’t even remember, tested my long term memory to categorise scenarios into chronological order. Thank goodness for one of my besties. She just looks at an image and knows exactly when it occurred. She is now my official curator of memories!

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Sylvia Jimenez 3/7/21 Sylvia Jimenez 3/7/21

Should have, would have but couldn't

I’ve noticed lately, many of my FB friends have been posting where they ‘should be, where they wanted to be’, but alas, can’t.

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Sylvia Jimenez 22/6/21 Sylvia Jimenez 22/6/21

How one conversation took me back many decades...

I was sitting poolside watching the young master and his weekly training squad when (a relatively new friend, our boys play in the same team) and I started chatting. She is a recent inhabitant of our shores, but our family background is very similar, in that I too am an immigrant from the European continent and we love all things marzipan. We discussed her new home, the children and then we started talking about books. What you like, what motivates, what moves you? And as an avid reader, I suggested we swap books as a means of spreading good storytelling. She asked me what was my favourite book? A few titles popped into my subconscious, but one especially is the above mentioned. The Land Before Avocado, by Richard Glover.

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Sylvia Jimenez 14/6/21 Sylvia Jimenez 14/6/21

A little distraction...

I've never had a dog before. We were a family of felines. My grandfather always kept cats to help with the rodents and birds around the hens and the vegetable patch. So when our puppy came along, admittedly I didn't have a clue. Also, although he is 'our' puppy, the men in the family sold me the idea of having a puppy as being 'their' puppy. But with me working from home and everyone else out the door at work and school, the responsibility of caring, training and feeding ultimately fell onto me.

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Sylvia Jimenez 7/6/21 Sylvia Jimenez 7/6/21

An open letter to my offspring

To the millennials and the something i-generation, I’m (we are all) learning from you.

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Sylvia Jimenez 31/5/21 Sylvia Jimenez 31/5/21

'There is nothing unusual about that...'

On a Saturday afternoon, on the grounds of a very nice art gallery in the middle of New South Wales Wine Region, we found a rather large uninhabited spot of grass. It was manicured, soft and had very little contact with anything heavier that a bird, until we arrived.

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Sylvia Jimenez 24/5/21 Sylvia Jimenez 24/5/21

A pic in time

My sister and I were in Budapest a few years back and I remember we had to kill time before our scheduled train trip into the countryside. We passed a small convenience store where fresh produce winked from the wooden cart. I bought us a couple of bananas. The streets were empty except for the garbage collectors down the way. The sun was just peeking through the shadows. Apart from fog, cobblestone streets and textured city sidewalks, I also have a fascination with gaudy entrance doors. They tell a different story. If they could talk. Pictured, this door leads down underground. It could be a cellar, it could be an underground record store. I’m not sure. But my sister passed it nonetheless, oblivious that it was there. You wouldn’t have guessed we were on our way to a funeral.

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Guest User 17/5/21 Guest User 17/5/21

Make every minute count

I was sitting on an open top bus in London January 2020 when I took this photo. At the time I didn’t know what the billboard was advertising, however, the message resonated with me. LIke a call from the universe, we had stopped at a set of traffic lights and it yelled out to take a look. Was it in anticipation of what was about to come? We had heard some reports of a virus spreading in China, but in January, Australia was on fire. Literally. Naturally, our attention was focussed on what was happening back home.

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Sylvia Jimenez 26/4/21 Sylvia Jimenez 26/4/21

Everything has a story to tell

We hadn’t enjoyed a Saturday morning get together since I don’t know when. But whenever the three of us get together, it’s always going to be filled with lively and sometimes hilarious conversation. And when a bestie’s birthday falls on a weekend, there is no excuse to not celebrate all day, hence, we the three stooges as the birthday girls’ father affectionately calls us these past thirty-five years headed off to lively King Street in search of a hipster organic, fair trade and sustainably farmed breakfast slash lunch and then endeavoured to stroll along the bustling retail strip, weaving in and out of one concept store to another.

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Sylvia Jimenez 1/4/21 Sylvia Jimenez 1/4/21

Go on..try not to smile!

Sylvia Jimenez 14/3/21 Sylvia Jimenez 14/3/21

Turning 50 equals feeling fabulous

For the first time, I had a party, not just any party, but a house par-tay! I thought if we are still stuck in Covid purgatory and it’s hard to organise anything due to social distancing, then we may as well bring the folk to us. In my last post I talked about attitude and age, my part-ay was testament to that. My lounge room served as a dance floor while the kitchen was the makeshift bar. I was asked how I felt, and my answer rolled off my tongue quite easily… fantastic! We part-ayed better than people half our age. And while phones were present only for the camera use, no one sat in a corner checking their socials. Instead, Great catering, great conversation made way for a great atmosphere. And as my friends and family sang me happy birthday, I felt that 50 is fabulous! I have a voice that is heard, a mind in which to conceptualise and the motivation to be grateful each and every day!

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Sylvia Jimenez 1/3/21 Sylvia Jimenez 1/3/21

Let's talk about attitude...not age.

The other day I was driving my youngest to school and we happened to change the radio station, one which I don’t usually listen to, not because I’m not the ‘demographic’, rather, the announcers and their banter just don’t resonate with me. However the selection of tunes is great, my son enjoys it, so I left it on.

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Sylvia Jimenez 28/9/20 Sylvia Jimenez 28/9/20

Change the mind, you'll change the world.

Before I begin, let me just outline that while I’m not a clinical expert in the field of psychology or an advocate for violence, I do want to point out that dealing with the bully in the 80s was a lot easier than it is now. And I really feel for those kids who have to deal with the issue that seems to be repeated with every generation.

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Sylvia Jimenez 24/8/20 Sylvia Jimenez 24/8/20

When a part of your life needs to R.I.P

A week ago I was contacted through FB by my lovely friend and collegue, Madam S. We worked together at one of the countries largest magazine publishing organisations for many years and while it has been more than ten years since I treaded the well worn carpeted hallways the memory of the individuals, the very late nights, the unreasonable requests and the utmost disregard for personal time rose to the quivering surface of my subconscious. The now defunct organisation in question is dead and partially buried, but when one individual put the call out to all past employees, them hordes came a comin’.

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Sylvia Jimenez 17/8/20 Sylvia Jimenez 17/8/20

Never assume on a daily walk...

As a creature of habit, you will most likely find me taking my daily walk at the same time every weekday. I plan, it’s scheduled in my online diary, friends can catch me on the phone as I am most likely listening to a podcast or song, generally, it’s a green light for any future stalker. Contemplating now, perhaps, is not such a good idea. That being stated, there are others like me, who walk the same path around our area, albeit opposite, which, is another OCD moment on my behalf because I tend to walk the same path at the same time in the same direction.

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