New Camera Course

 

So have made a tentative start on the above training having registered for free some time before Christmas. Built around the Canon EOS DSLRs some parts are pretty basic, but hey it's free and helps to keep me occupied over my Chrimbo break - especially as I can't exactly get out much right now.

Hoping to pick up a few gems along the way and may well pay for a year subscription to the follow on course. Not least because they do a whole module on flash photography - something I'd like to be better at and more confident with using external/wireless flash. Got a DVD on the subject from when the EOS shop was having a sale on their training DVDs and have watched parts of it already. It still sometimes seems like a black art even with my new fangled AI flash which I treated myself to last winter.

It also helps to plug the gap left behind by the fact that as most of us now work from home we are unable to hold our monthly camera club meets at work. We've had the odd social Zoom call but that isn't the same, especially as we'd had a new drip controller to play with early last year and I'm guessing it has been mothballed back into it's box for the foreseeable. The most we achieved last year was a brief session playing with the pixel stick and catching up with our best images taken in the previous year! Gonna miss that this January - although suspect many will have found it hard to keep their photographic hands on given the subjects they like to shoot. Although there were the odd social distanced model shoots going on and some travel during the middle part of the year. Even with my penchant of shooting table-top subjects and records of my walks around where I live and the changing of the seasons as my walks stretched well into the year, I have struggled at times to keep the mojo flowing. My usual haunts were either closed or involved using public transport, something I wasn't too enamoured with doing until things settled briefly in the summer months and I certainly don't want to be bussing anywhere right now 😨

So sitting at the laptop, in the warm and dry with a cup of coffee to hand isn't a bad way to still enjoy some photography!

Christmas Day

 

So this is my fav photo from a somewhat subdued Christmas Day due to the restrictions put upon us at lastminute.com by an infuriating BoJo. Because I'm in a support bubble with my daughter and son-in-law, it thankfully meant that we could still spend the day together, something I was extremely grateful for. But it still left a gap where other members of our families should have been 😥

We had a lush dinner, cooked mainly by James I think and then settled down to watch Annie open her myriad of presents. She likes to rip pieces off the paper and drop them on the floor before reaching for the next piece! Because she enjoys this more than what's actually inside the wrapping paper it didn't take her long to blitz through the pile 🤣 She has enough doggie treats down to last a seriously good portion of next year and of course some new toys!

We had a late pudding and then took Annie out for a walk around the Langley Park site, it's much bigger than I'd anticipated, lots of houses there now as the build nears completion. It was an uber chilly night but good to see people's festive lights on, some houses having put on awesome displays.

Home by 19:30 as James and Julia were going to do a family Zoom call with James's famalam, again it made me sad that I'd been allowed to meet up with them and other people hadn't. Whilst I am more than grateful for the support bubbles, they have helped to keep me sane, I still feel as though it's all so unfair and kinda makes me feel as though I am doing something wrong even though I'm not 😥

Prison Walks & Printers!

 

So today has been taken up with setting up yet another new printer after mine suddenly died yesterday. Some error suggesting it needed to be returned for repair. Yeah right because I'm gonna pay out to send the bloody thing somewhere! So managed to find something suitable and available for delivery today from the local Currys. Another Canon because generally they are much less fussy about compatible inks, this time it's a TS8351, still an all-in-one Wi-Fi machine and also prints on CDs not that I have reason to do too many of those these days - less so now that my new laptop no longer has an optical drive either ;-) Easy peasey to set up following an online set of instructions, even the connection to my router was dealt with by the installation process :-)

So having got the printer up and running again and printed out the Christmas TV guide which is what I'd tried to print yesterday when it fell over, thought I would make the most of the drier weather and head out for some much needed fresh air. Being cooped up because of the rain and this tier 4 rubbish means that fresh air is something distinctly lacking some days and so took myself off for a slightly longer circuitous route. Used the trusty mobile to snap a few pics along the way and fed these into Adobe Spark to create the collage. Mainly because the collage feature in Google Photos has no control over it. Usually I do this on the phone but as I was already on the laptop I thought I'd try and do it on there instead. Pretty sure I stumbled across something recently offering collages but can't for the life of me remember what it was. Might have to go a hunting!

New Christmas Lights

 

So here's a quick collage of the new lights that Mr Amazon delivered yesterday. Getting fed up feeding my snowman and disco ball batteries so opted for some main versions. Well not the snowman, couldn't get anything like that so opted for this awesome blue & white LED bonsai tree. Very pleased with it, it is very bright and looks amazeballs against the new multi-coloured net of lights. The disco ball is currently in the studio as I have run out of sockets on the little bedroom, but it helps to light up that end of the landing. Very impressed with this device also, not quite tried out the music option, think it's supposed to "dance" with the music, but the auto is still pretty funky :-)

Treats for Annie!

 So been busy making paper treat cones for my gawgus grandfurbaby Annie. Didn't realise quite how tricky they can be to make and whilst normally the sweet ones would be done using ready made cellophane bags, a) I don't have any and b) Annie will be able to smell the treats much better from a paper cone ;-)

So made a couple and filled them with various treats and also made a couple of treat boxes for her to play with, filled with treats so we may have to ration them out. Used a couple of empty tissue boxes with some paper over the hold to keep the treats in and then wrapped in Christmas paper. A few judicious pin holes to help the scent escape, not that she's likely to need help!

The other bigger pressie is a new Kong and a large box of treats, along with what I bought to stock up from Amazon she's got enough to last FOR AGES at this rate!

It's been "such fun" prepping these for her this year, we've had a whole year's notice this year rather than the week and a bit we had last year when we heard Julia & James had been successful in rehoming her.

Screwed Over by BoJo

 

So, this is my take on the latest crap coming out from No10 because Boris has once again set us up for a fall by doing "mass testing" in the Medway Towns and now they've found more people with the virus (oh there's a surprise, test more = find more) they've seen fit to cancel Christmas and bung us in a Tier 4 category WTF. So he's morphed into Scrooge & The Grinch literally overnight despite bleating earlier that to cancel Christmas would be "inhuman". Guess he didn't feel too bad about doing EXACTLY that in the end though - tosser!

So this is my Photoshop offering on what he can do with his Tier 4, I won't be dictated to by some hypocritical, lying little prick. Now that's not to say that I won't be sensible, I always am, I've been stuck working from home since fucking March with no return to the office on the foreseeable horizon and I'm careful to just take a walk outside. I shop online and only see my support bubble. So in essence I'm doing the right things - BUT BECAUSE I WANT TO and not because some bloody idiot politician is telling me I should.

Just wish they would pull their collective heads out of Sage's arse and get this vaccine administered amongst the public rather than the inevitable chosen few. Because if they think we're gonna accept 2021 as a continuation of the shite they've dumped us into this year then they can seriously think again 🤬

Santa Run

 Here's a quick pic I took off the Estate FB page because I'd anticipated the Santa Run being done the following day, 20th, and it arrived early because of the impending Tier 4 restrictions.

Got to hand it to these guys 'n' gals they pull out the stops every year to bring some festive cheer around the estate, usually delivering dropped off gifts to the kids. Sadly this year they weren't allowed to do that but they still came around in the atrocious rain to brighten our evening and mark the start of the Christmas Festivities. And it wouldn't be Christmas without them. Donated a tenner into their bucket on a stick and also donated online through the JustGiving page. Hopefully these funds will help to keep these things going for next year and many more to come. They had already missed out on the fundraising from the Fireworks evening. 

WELL DONE 25TH SCOUTS GROUP FOR CHEERING US UP ON WHAT IS GOING TO BE A WEIRD CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR!!

More Covid-19 Signage

Saw these rhymes posted on the school gates on my walk around this morning having had to venture out to the chemist for my prescription. As much as I hate all this Covid-19 signage everywhere I quite liked the humour behind these, well I found them funny anyway, and so as I have an ongoing album on Facebook with examples of this type of thing in it I thought I'd best snap these for prosperity. Because although it really doesn't feel like it right now, there will come a time when this crap is long gone, or we'll have learnt how to deal with it sensibly (and by that I mean the GOVERNMENT) and we'll look back on this and wonder how we needed to do this in order to get a grip on what amounts to a flu virus... A day when the GOVERNMENT stop trying to scare the crap out of everybody so they "do as they are told". I wouldn't mind if they also followed the "rules" but they don't. As per usual it's one rule for the rich and another for the poor. They fiddle the data on a daily basis to try and frighten people into coercion. I can't wait for the day when we'll ditch the face masks and 2m social distancing bollocks where you do a daily dance up and down the street trying to avoid everyone else who then don't even bother to acknowledge that you have given them space. A day where we can visit who we like when we like for as long as we like and actually HUG our friends and family. So much that we took for granted before the GOVERNMENT started panicking about something that for 99% of people isn't a problem.

I read a Norwegian folk story on FB the other day, posted by a friend, about the Black Death, in the form of an old woman called Pesta. Now the Black Death was indeed a deadly pandemic, wiping out 60% of the population, decimating whole towns and villages, where people literally died within three days of contracting it. Covid-19 IS NOT like that, not even vaguely close to being like that. So WHY are we being led to believe that this is a DEADLY virus?!!?? Yes its a problem for a small percentage of people, yes some people have died from it and of course that is tragic, but this is not killing even 1% of the total population. Big difference. Maybe our GOVERNMENT need to learn some statistics and dump the SAGE scientists for some of those who actually know what they are talking about. And there have been loads of scientists who have come forward to voice their concerns. Are they taken notice of? No because the GOVERNMENT don't want to be told they have been fobbed off by a load of crap information. And whilst they are at it maybe they should start putting some money back into the NHS instead of keep bleeding it dry because when all is said and done that's what this boils down to. An NHS that cannot cope because every bloody GOVERNMENT we ever have pinches the money from them and keeps them functioning on scraps and leftovers. Instead of putting people on furlough they should have ploughed that money back into the NHS, built more hospitals. Because they are always building new homes but no one builds more hospitals or GP surgeries.

She's Coming Home - Anniversary

 

So today, a year ago around lunchtime, Julia and James got the news they had both been waiting for - being told that they had been successful in their efforts to rehome Annie. A beautiful GSD/Goldie cross ex-Guide Dog they had boarded previously in the year and had reluctantly given up in September for her to be matched to her forever owner. As it transpired Annie wasn't very good at being a guide dog and so after much forcing on the guide dog charities part and a lot of angst on Annie's part (and indeed ours) they finally reached the decision to withdraw her and Julia and James got the nod to make an application to rehome her. And indeed we did want to get her back. Trying to explain why you want to rehome her, how much you can offer her and how much you understand her needs on some iddy-diddy form is very difficult and it went through countless iterations and reworks before finally being submitted. So much rested on these few sheets of paper. We had all undergone a total rollercoaster of emotions over Annie and not getting her back wasn't an option we wanted to even think about. She had already become so much a part of the family that none of us could think about a life without her in it. So when the call came in and Julia subsequently rang me, her first words, in amongst the sobbing, were "OMG Mum she's coming home". Annie was the best Christmas present we could all have had last year and even though this year has been tough for all of us on so many levels, it's not been anywhere near as bad as the prospect of facing life without Annie.

On the 20th December she was officially signed over to Julia and James and has been living in the doggie lap of luxury every since at Chez Bailey 😍 This photo is of her ready to join Julia on her work's Zoom call to have a pre-Christmas get together.

Christmas Lights

 

Took this on my way back home from an evening out shooting the lights around the Estate with the new M50. This is actually the Mother of the Bride photo of moi taken by Julia's official wedding photographer back in August 2016 and which hangs in the hallway. This is shooting through the hall window with the net lights forming a frame.

Had a good evening wandering around taking photos of the myriad of festive lights that have gone up around where I live. In fact I've recently done a second round tackling the streets I didn't get around to walking the first time. Took a few little video clips too of some of the displays where there was sufficient movement. Created a couple of slideshows and uploaded them to FB and shared with the Estate group. 

Taking photos of the lights is something I do most years weather permitting. Although I skipped it last year due to getting to visit Bedgebury and Kew Christmas Light displays. Both were awesome in their own way but think for me Bedgebury was the most enjoyable not only because of the more old-fashioned Christmas songs, like Bing Crosby's White Christmas, but because we went early enough to beat the crowds. My Kew visit was 18th Dec and by then it was heaving. Plus it was more laser light shows which were good but too modern for me. Maybe next year I'll get to re-visit...

My Christmas Tree

 So here's the tree in all it's glory, still really pleased with it's bushiness and built-in LED lights, it was a very good buy a few years ago to replace an aging fibre optic tree.

The usual silver star at the top and Mum's memory heart along with a star showing Willow & Grace, two other Guide Dogs boarded by Julia and James before Annie came along. Last year I made them a bauble with a photo of Ron in it to remember him by as he was off to his forever home just as they were rehoming Annie. Can't believe she'll have been here for a whole year come 20th Dec :-)

The decorations are all red/white, some made of wood, knitted, padded fabric and the odd decorated bauble plus coloured bells. I gave up on shiny baubles and tinsel a few years back although still have that in my vast stash, because never say never! A few old baubles that belonged to my Mum adorn the mirror where I'm sitting writing this, love these old style Christmas decs - they are very hard to come by now and very expensive to buy on eBay - I know I've looked ;-) But I guess they wouldn't be the same as having some of the decs around that we used to hang on the tree all those years ago when she decorated the house for Christmas.Well when I say we, I mean her, the tree was her thing and I cannot remember anyone else being "allowed" to do it :-) It's still my favourite time of year, or one of them, I like Halloween too, but always prefer to get past her anniversary before the decs go up. Again it's just one of my stipulations.

Christmas Decorating

 So, did the Christmas decs early this year, broke with the tradition of 12 days before because let's face it after the crap year we've had we could all do with a little early festive cheer! So started on my off Friday and pretty much got it all done in a day - aching back aside! This is a quick collage of a few bits from the porch and my Dockyard wreath hanging on the inside of the inner door again this year whilst the red rag one hangs on the other side, tied to the door knocker. Also the wind-up lit village on the hallway windowsill accompanied by one of the Avon light up penguins I bought a few years ago.

Really pleased with the decs and especially my tree, keep returning to the red/rustic/soft decorations for the tree and strictly no tinsel. Looks good despite killing my back trying to put the thing together ;-)

Lots of climbing on/off the folding steps because on my own I can't tell if something is hanging straight or central, the downside of living alone is no little helper!

Advent Calendars

This year's advent calendars up on the lounge door ready for tomorrow. The usual metal magnetic one which I bought a few years ago in Homebase and which has ended up being pretty handy. And a cardboard one purchased from Clinton Cards on a rare visit to Bluewater during this bloody pandemic. A trip I made with Julia and which was reasonably pleasant despite having to mask up like Lone Bloody Ranger!

The cardboard calendar has proved to be pretty awesome, very pleased with the quality of the pictures behind the windows. Call me old fashioned but I really love these calendars over the chocolate variety which have no pictures at all. But some of the calendars have totally un-Christmassey pictures too which is crap. So very impressed with not only the calendar itself but at just £3 it was a bargain compared to one I bought some years ago from eBay for almost a tenner 😱

The from picture is a lovely town scene of the Salvation Army Band playing carols. Will definitely look for calendars in Clinton Cards again next Christmas!

Mum's Anniversary

So this year marks 33yrs that Mum has been gone, where does the time go? Popped up to the crematorium on the Friday as the actual anniversary (30th Nov) was a working day, and had a chat with Mum. No flowers this year as getting to the shops is an experience I'd rather avoid because of this ridiculous Covid-19 shenanigans. So stood by her tree as usual and chatted away into my journal app so I can always go back and reminisce again afterwards. Have had quite a few visits with her this year what with Covid-19 keeping us all close to quarters, so in a way it's been quite nice to see the crematorium grounds in the better parts of the year with all the myriad of roses and flowers out in full bloom.

Lit the usual candle at 6pm to remember her, not that I need a candle to remember of course but it's kind of a tradition now. The two dried rose buds are from a previous bunch of red roses and they have naturally dried up on the shelf by her photo. 

As always she is gone but never forgotten, taken too soon due to cancer and missed out on sooo many family moments that it's hard to count them. I know she's keeping an eye on us all down here and probably keeping a watch on the other family members who are with her now having passed on too.

Love you Mum, now and for always xxXxx

 

Marilyn Twirl

 

This is another twirl example but using the original image superimposed over the top and finished with a creative border. Quite hard to blend the original with the twirl in this case, I have seen it done before but not quite sure if I've got the technique quite right? Still it makes a change to have a play with Photoshop for a change, most of the time it's Lightroom editing these days which is powerful in it's own right but not quite in the same vein as pixel editing in Photoshop.

Quite happy with how this has turned out anyway. Got to keep the creativeness going given we're all supposed to still be in some sort of Lockdown - not that you would know it...

Tedster Getting into The Christmas Spirit!

Did a little Christmas photo shoot with Tedster, he's definitely getting into the spirit, which after the year he's had, not being able to spend much time in his favourite place, is the only way to bring some cheer into life! 

Self - Tattoos Family Photo Challenge

So last weeks family photo challenge was self/tattoos. Relatively easy for moi! This is a selfie with a difference, part of my 50th b'day tatt which is in part an anime of moi, plus my Elvis profile on my right hand. Converted to black and white and toned in Lightroom. Given the larger tatt is located quite high up on my thigh, shooting one handed, in the wrong hand, wasn't easy. But I am, if nothing else, a slave to my photography, and got there in the end! 

Firework Memories...

 

Thought I would post a memory from Leeds Castle Fireworks from 2018, a) because Covid-19 has put paid to any firework celebrations this year, including the local Scouts Fireworks do and b) because we got rained out last year for Leeds Castle and it was cancelled at the last minute due to the crap weather. I love fireworks, especially these big displays and Leeds Castle is definitely one of the best. Everything choreographed to music it is very well done although now in their efforts to protect the Castle itself it's turned in to a two part show with some being let off by the Castle as you can see here and the others much farther over to the left hand side. This particular year Julia and I set up our photo camp just by the professional photography "paddock" and fortunately for us being so close by they moved the security people away from our field of view. With three cameras set up on tripods, we covered all the bases, the downside to this is having to arrive early and pretty much sit on site for around 3hr in the cold. But getting shots like this makes it worthwhile. Going to miss the fireworks this year, even the Scouts, whilst obviously a much smaller affair, there is a sense of community and they put on a good show with hot food and drinks on sale to munch on and sup as you watch the display and warm yourself by the mahousive bonfire. And a half hour in the cold night air is plenty for me ;-) 

Porch - Halloween Decorating!

So these were a few of the porch decorations from yesterday. Don't normally decorate for Halloween as I disagree with the whole trick or treat thing. You bring your kids up to not take things from strangers and then let them go knocking on people's doors accepting sweets and all sorts from people they don't know. It's an Americanism that is hard to justify given the whole Stranger Danger thing.

Anyhoo as Covid-19 has put a distinct dampener on all sorts of "fun" activities I thought it might be the one and only time I'd get to decorate without people subsequently knocking on my door after dark ;-)

And this was night time, various little LED battery lights hidden away inside the pumpkins and a set of pumpkin lights. Was quite pleased with the effect. 

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween 👻

This is Tedster and I dressed to party but with nowhere to go this year :-( Normally we'd have been at the Texas Moon CMC celebrating Halloween, but this year, along with EVERYTHING else, the club is cancelled, has been since March. So thought I'd dig out the costume, a black pop-up backdrop and my trusty 77D and take a few selfies. Thought this one came out rather well. Tedster is sporting his pumpkin outfit and mine is a well used witches dress, the hat and glove bought on one of my many Halloween shopping trips.

I love Halloween, gutted that there's no celebrations to be had this year, goodness knows we could do with something to look forward to what with all this Covid-19 shite, on the potential verge of another lockdown (unfair as we're doing OK in the South East) and shitty weather. Pity we can't just hibernate until the spring!
 

More Drips...

Now I finally figured out how to switch my flash into wireless mode I thought I would have another stab at the drip photography - with a few tweaks to make the setup easier. This time I used a smaller bag for the water and suspended it from the center column hook of a tripod - thanks Dad for the idea ;-)

Even though I still got far more misses than hits, I did get a couple like this, a type of corona I think it's called of the drip hitting the water in the tray below. Very happy with this. Used the Tungsten WB setting to get a blue tone to the image, slight edit and crop in LR.
 

That Time Again!

 

Regardless of what this Christmas will bring with Covid-19 still lurking around, some things are a given - and one of them is card writing. Not always a favourite thing of mine but it does signify the start of the festive season. Wouldn't normally be writing them quite this early but as already mentioned Covid-19 may well have an impact on the delivery of said cards plus I suspect, like me, many will be Christmas shopping online this year. So thought I would write them out, get them labelled up and just waiting for Julia to drop off the stamps. To make the task easier I always print a list and address labels, all I have to do is write in the card. 

Wondered what an ex-work colleague will do this year for the "This is What We Did This Year" A4 sheet they normally send out with their cards - pretty sure this year it'll be blank 🤣

Not sure this year's album will be burgeoning with photo entries, especially as all the precursor events have been binned off thanks to the plethora of panic over this virus. I can see 2020 quietly slipping out the back door come the New Year and whilst I'm sure it won't be quite over in the early part of next year, I cannot wait to see the back of this year. 

Jigsaw Puzzle!

Completed my first jigsaw puzzle in decades! I won't divulge how long it took, its embarrassing! My neighbour lent me it along with a second 500 piece puzzle. I'd purchased two 1000 piece ones from the MFPA, back when Lockdown started as they were in a sale and I stupidly thought they would keep me busy. Now puzzles such as these have never been a favourite of mine, even as a child. But I thought I might find them useful. I didn't even manage to complete the outside of one of the 1000 piece puzzles before throwing in the towel and chastising myself for having wasted an afternoon. I gave the puzzles to my neighbour as she's keen on doing them and she passed these two over as they are smaller and better defined pictures. Even then I struggled, a lot, if nothing else to find the room to lay all the middle pieces out. Still I'm pleased that I kept going with it, I did contemplate giving up initially, but thought I should persevere. 

And there you have the finished article. All that's left is to return it to its box 🤣

Annie's 3rd Birthday!!!

 

Here's the birthday girl - Annie, 3years old today! It's been amazeballs to be able to celebrate her birthday here in the family. When she came to us as a guide dog boarder in March 2019 her birthday had already passed and she went back into the guide dog system before her birthday came around again. So this year has been lots of celebrations, snuggles and TREATS!

Think she wasn't too keen on wearing the hat but kept her bandana on pretty much all day which earnt her more treats when she went shopping with Julia & James.

Here's to many more good birthdays with this amazeballs Furbaby 💖

Drip Photography

Been having a play with some drip photography today, trying to follow the instructions from a magazine article. Now I knew it wouldn't be easy but wow it's hard to get the timing right! More off target than on it. To start with the settings they recommended just gave me a black image, thought I'd be clever and fire my off-camera flash from the built-in flash on the 77D in Easy Wireless mode. Whilst I thought the flash was firing, now I'm not so sure. Fiddled around for ages trying to get something and then once I had I was up against the clock because I suspect the safety pin I used to make the hole in the bag of water was actually too thick and it achieved more of a constant dribble than a drip and so my already 2/3rds full tray started to fill up somewhat rapidly! Ended up having to bail it out into an old washing up bowl because I thought there's no way I'm going to be able to carry that into the bathroom without spilling it everywhere!

In the end, using just the built-in flash, I bagged a few good ones, or what I think are good ones anyway, where you can actually see the drips rather than just the left over ripples of water ;-) No wonder companies make and sell drip controllers - you definitely need to find the right momentum which is not what you are actually seeing but the space/time in between, because by the time you've seen it, the camera is too late. Camera club acquired a drip controller just before we went into Lockdown so we've not had a chance to try it out, gotta be easier than by hand that's for sure! Ages ago we did some splash photography, throwing water at a wine glass and trying to capture the water movement with off-camera flash. Even that is very much based on timing and again you end up with more rejects than keepers! Whiles away a Sunday afternoon though :-)

Closed for the Winter!

 

So the decking is all wrapped up again for the winter months. Seems like only yesterday I was unwrapping it! Gotta 'fess up that I haven't used it a great deal this summer, not especially an outdoors person and the main reason for the decking was to make better use of the dead ground in front of and around the laurels. Which it has done splendidly. This year I've tried to position the main furniture so that it doesn't create a pool on the sofa seat from the rain - something that happened last year and caused me to have to keep bailing it out periodically! Those more observant of you will notice a new higher back fence behind mine and the top of a new wooden structure... Having had to climb up on the storage box to rid my laurel of a creeping plant that has grown over the fence from my neighbour (don't even get me started on the mess of a garden he has) I took the opportunity to chat to the people over the back about their new build. Some sort of pergola/pagoda I believe they said - not sure they know which one it is ;-) Wishing that the fence they've erected wasn't quite so high, I suspect they may also have introduced some decking and popped the fence on the top of it, unless their garden now slopes upwards more than it did before. Looks like we've both left the old fence sandwiched in between as neither or us knows who exactly owns it. Something I tried to find out from the Land Registry when I had my new fence put in but unfortunately it doesn't list the boundary fences, or at least not the back fence :-( So for now it'll stay where it is as a boundary marker between the two properties - at least until it completely rots away!

Did some gardening too, mowed and tidied both front & back gardens, feeling uber stiff and achey today. Not used to all this physical activity. At least it was dry yesterday and gave me a pleasant distraction from the debacle that is my daughter and son-in-law's house moving. It also meant I wasn't holed up indoors having to put up with my old neighbour listening to the same bloody film AGAIN with the TV volume up louder than it should be. Most evenings become a TV war with me having mine on just so I can't hear his. Geez don't live next to an old person who is deaf and inconsiderate.

Rip Off!

So this is a photo proving that my new multipacks of fudge have smaller bars than they used to have 😭 3.5g smaller to be exact - what a swizz! Is this BoJo surreptitiously trying to get me to lose weight ⁉️ 

Furry Sleepover!

 

So guess who came for a furry sleepover on Friday evening as a bit of practice for moving day??? This gorgeous girl that's who - ANNIE!!!

She settled right in albeit on my bed for most of the night, whilst she seems happy to stay downstairs during the day time when you pop upstairs, bedtime seems like a different scenario. Every time I offered to take her bed upstairs she promptly jumped in it but then followed me back upstairs the minute I turned my back! She's a cheeky girl ;-)

Anyways at least it means she can stay overnight when Julia and James finally get to move house and therefore, hopefully, avoid some of the angst that everyone else will be facing on the day. Annie suffers with anxiety due to the constant moving around that she endured during her brief time with the Guide Dog association. Not only different boarders but then different families whilst they decided her fate as she never made the grade to be a fully fledged guide dog. Something that most of her various siblings over the years have also failed at. Probably something to do with the GSD in her, they don't generally have the right qualities for guide dog duty but unfortunately the charity continue breeding them which seems somewhat pointless. 

Took the opportunity here to take a quick snap and test out the new baby flash for the Canon M5 at the same time. Whilst most of Annie is typical GSD, the shape of her head and the fluffiness is all Golden Retriever. She is a striking combination and attracts a lot of attention when she is out and about. Given that this is not a popular combination of cross-breeding outside of the guide dog charity she makes for a very unusual pet. The guide dog's loss has been very much our family's gain 💕

Naughty Boiler!

So, having over-rode the heating last night when I went to bed to turn it off early, I woke with the tablet alarm this morning at 6am to find the house chilly and disturbingly quiet :-( Came downstairs to find that the timer clock stopped at 10:30pm last night - bollocks. How come it gives absolutely no warning that it's about to play up??? Fortunately the heating/hot water still comes on, but only manually. Had to go online and book a repair and a BAXI guy should be rocking up sometime on Tuesday - so not long to wait. Just hope he'll be able to keep to his 100% success rate for repairs... Given the system is 20+ years old and has only been having recent annual services since around 2016 when I think it broke down for the very first time, it's had more attention in these last four years than at any time previous. At least working from home means he can call and do his stuff whilst I work and I don't have to leave the office to let him in or fit it in to my day off schedule. It also means that whilst turning it on/off manually is a pain, at least I'm here all the time to do it ;-) Every cloud and all that.

Happy Birthday Julia!!

Happy 29th Birthday to my gorgeous girl! I can't put into words just how proud a Mum I am to this wonderful woman, and I'm so grateful that we have just the same kind of relationship that I had with my Mum. We're more best friends than Mother & Daughter, she is my everything and I would be lost without her.

So have a wonderful day in spite of Covid-19 and the current crappy weather, let's hope all is well next year for celebrating your 30th :-)

xxXxx
 

Bluewater Shopping

Me and Julia up at Bluewater for the first time since way back before Lockdown, good to be doing some retail therapy for a change! Albeit with face coverings, which is still seriously weird and I confess to being annoyed by those who wear them around their chin or underneath their nose, little point in wearing it at all if you can't wear it properly. And those who can't follow simple guidelines on the floor, have we all gone blind or lost the ability to read? We lasted longer than I thought we would, 5hrs, having pretty much arrived when it opened. Thought it best to beat the crowds - although we found them in Primark whilst queuing for the tills! Although to be fair they got through us fairly quickly. Popped in Costa in Waterstones and this is a big shout out for the young assistant in there who bagged us a table as we were being served, much to the chagrin of some woman who promptly threw her sandwiches at the assistant and stropped off muttering something about racism under her breath. I mean please, that card is so last year. We'd bought food and needed a table whilst her other half was still queuing - you snooze you lose. So well done young lady for standing up for your customers in the face of someone with extremely bad manners 😊 We had a good wander around the Christmas stuff, including the dedicated shop, I bought a set of ornaments, one of which is a camera, how cool is that? Oh and next year's calendar and this year's advent calendar - a fairly large one so I can read the numbers without a magnifying glass - hopefully! Bought Julia's birthday present, extra set of dinner service plates - she did request them, a sign that she is well and truly all grown up! We even bought a birthday cake, Connie the Caterpillar from M&S for her and James to nibble on - maybe not so grown up after all ❤️ 

Family Photo Fun

So with steps, stairs and ladders being this last week's family photo challenge I spent a few hours in the studio yesterday playing with some ideas. We've been doing this weekly photo challenge since more or less we started the weekly video chats after Lockdown. It covers my Dad & Step-Mum, Bro and his family, Julia and James and of course me. It's been quite good to have something to focus on each week and has helped to keep the creativeness flowing during what is probably the biggest photo drought I've come across in my years doing photography as a hobby. With places being more limited to get to and initially restrictions of how often and where you could go because of this bloody virus business, it's been a good way to stay focused on still using my camera. Sometimes one has to rely on some poetic license with the subject matter but I have a vast array of table top stuff which comes in handy most of the time. These are a set of wooden alphabet bricks I bought a few years ago on Ebay for some photography, reminding me of the larger bricks we used to push around in a trolley as kids. The pictures on the other sides are somewhat crude and not always obvious what they are exactly but it was mainly the letters/numbers I was interested in when I bought them! Each week we submit a handful of images each, shot hopefully in the previous week but not always, and then chat about them during the call. A simple pick a number from a bag of numbers provides the next week's subject matter. We've had all sorts from money to insects, worm's eye view to colours and many other things in between. Some subjects are easier than others, this coming week is animals, birds, feathers which is not so easy for me - should be a walk in the park - literally - for Julia and James with their gorgeous dog Annie :-)
 

Daytrip to Bexhill-on-sea - Sept 2020 Hollibobs

 

Had a good day out in Bexhill-on-sea after finally arriving around midday due to a breakdown with our coach just outside of Bewl Water Reservoir. We had to wait by the side of the road, not easy when it's just a mowed mess of brambles and other wild flora, for a replacement to arrive, which turned out to be a mini-bus given there were less than 10 of us on the trip, including the driver! Not so comfortable either when face coverings are expected to be worn, coming home I had the window open and felt like a dog with it's nose out of the window!! Anyway we got to stay later to make up for the 2hr delay which was kind of good and kind of bad. Good because we got the quota of time there that we should have had, bad because it meant staying until half six with everything closing up and the weather blowing up a bit more chilly of an evening. Also a late run back home from the station by bus once I got dropped off. Bexhill-on-sea is quite a quaint seaside town in between Hastings and Eastbourne, nearer Hastings really. The photo of the Colonnade is one I'd hoped to get and fortunately I managed to get a few without any people in them. I love these unusual architectural structures that are now dotted around the UK, few and far between. Unsure of their purpose but think they are very interesting. Spent most of the day walking along the front from end to end, although I did venture up to the Old Town gardens after arriving. Stood and watched some young lads videoing a newly married Indian couple, all dressed up in their finery which was good. Especially the gimbal one of them was using to keep the camera level. Very good but most likely very expensive ;-) Wished the happy couple many congratulations on their nuptials and once they'd finished filming went up to explore the colonnade myself. All in all a good day out and a pleasant way to round off my week's holiday - especially now that the weather has turned really cold and wet! Likely to be my last coach journey until this virus business is under some semblance of control. Just cannot be done with the early mornings to get the coach and the misery of wearing a face covering for several hours whilst on board. Looking to stay closer to home now we're heading into Autumn and as we're still being asked to work from home, at least for the remaining part of this year I'm looking forward to not having to wrap up in the waterproofs of a morning to get into work, or worrying about icy or worse still, snowy weather!!

Day Trip to Rye - Sept 2020 Hollibobs

 

So here's Tedster in front of the windmill we saw in Rye today. Had a belated day trip there via Chalkwell coaches which should have taken place in April this year but got delayed due to this crappy pandemic. Had a lovely sunny, albeit, breezy day there with Tedster and the TZ90 for company, very high contrast in the photos so not the ideal shooting conditions but we had a good mooch around for the 5.5hr we were there. Found some old cobbled streets, a sort of harbour but I'd somehow expected something more in keeping with the usual harbours but guessing the difference is that Rye is a river harbour and not sea! Still it was a good day out in the fresh air and whilst we all had to wear our face coverings on the coach, including our driver, there were only nine passengers including me on what I believe is a 50 seater coach - so plenty of room for social distancing! And the aircon helped to stop us all feeling too hot with the face coverings which is kind of what happens in a normal bus. All in all I'm glad we got to go after all, the beginning of the year when all my planned day trips started falling by the wayside because of this stupid virus was very depressing. As it is some were cancelled permanently this year by the venues, so all I can say is 2021 better be GOOD!!!

Bluebell Hill Picnic Site - Sept 2020 Hollibobs

Mooched along to the Bluebell Hill picnic site again today as an off day in my week's leave. Went via the crematorium and laid a rose off of Julia's rose tree at my Mum's tree and had a "chat" whilst we were there. Now the picnic site car park is open it was surprisingly busy for a weekday with lots of cars and me wondering where everyone had some from! There was I thinking I'd have the place to myself ;-) Had a wander along the path as far as I dare to go, which let's face it isn't that far, I'm not scrambling through the bushes and brambles for anyone! Took the Goldie along this time and it worked OK given that the weather wasn't quite as bright as suits infrared but bright enough that for the most part I could barely see the back screen for the reflections of Moi in it. Talk about point 'n' hope. Amazed that it is still happily running on the recharged AA batteries I put back in it a few weeks ago, obviously technology has moved on since the AA battery digital cameras that I first owned and swore I never own again. However with many already converted infrared cameras sometimes you don't get too many choices on the cameras that are available. And as I have learnt, no two cameras ever seem to produce the same kind of faux coloured image. So for now I'm hanging on to my little "chunky monkey" of a digital compact.
 

The British Tattoo Exhibition

 

Bit of an attempt to show a quick flavour from The British Tattoo Exhibition which is on at The Historic Dockyard Chatham until the end of this month. Originally the exhibition rocked up ready to open in March until Covid-19 caused the Dockyard to close it's doors to the public. Once the Dockyard re-opened in July the exhibition was still there as it hadn't been able to move on to it's next venue and so thankfully we got to see the exhibits. Which as tattoo aficionados was a real privilege. Especially as some of the artists featured were some of the best in Chatham back in the day! The 100 Hands is an awesome collection of tattooed latex hands showing all manner of different styles by many different artists. Not all to my taste but I can appreciate a good artist when I see one! There's a couple of old tattoo parlour set-ups showing just how much things have changed over the years and plenty of examples of the flash which used to be so common in the tattoo industry. Much of today's work tends to be far more bespoke. All in all well worth seeing if you are interested in tattoos and their history.

Dockyard Sept 2020 - Hollibobs

 

Quick collage of a few images of yesterday's trip back to The Yard as part of my week off this week. Trying to use up some more holiday as we're not allowed to carry over anymore than the usual 5 days, or in my case the prorate equivalent seeing as how I'm now part-time. So looks like I have picked a pretty good week weather wise, although the 29C today is a tad too warm for me hence the day post-processing yesterday's photos.

Tedster got a chance to try out the play area just outside the entrance whilst we waited for our booked time slot to come around, always hard to judge exactly what time we're likely to arrive given we're at the mercy of public transport, so I tend to err on the side of caution! Anyways we had a good day, I took the M5 around the Tattoo Exhibition one last time, which was better this time due to it being mostly empty apart for us and a member of staff. Wandered around the site from end to end using the M5 in Monochrome mode this time, apart from the gardens - plants in black 'n' white is a tad pointless ;-) Left around quarter past four and was back indoors just after 5pm, so a nice long day out of the house. Which is a novelty these past 5 months or so. Took some record shots of some of the Covid-19 signage for that day when this is all just a dim and distant nightmare ;-) To be fair the Dockyard have done really well, lots of hand sanitiser around the place - not that some people use it, face coverings to be worn indoors and some arrow signs where necessary to keep the flow going. HMS Ocelot is the only thing not open right now but there is a digital tour which you can follow using the QR codes which you can scan on your mobile devices. Most of what I enjoy seeing is outside anyway so the mask wearing is less onerous. It's been good to bag a few recent visits to our favourite place given it would have been almost a monthly event if not more often on my annual ticket.

Capstone Park with My Girl & Annie!

So, here we are at Capstone Park, me, Julia and Annie of course! We enjoyed some good weather wandering around the green trail at this rather lovely open space. The green trail took us up by the Ski Centre and across all manner of fields, at times we got a bit lost trying to hunt down the signposts or decide quite which direction they were pointing in. At one point we ended up on the red trail by mistake and had to retrace our steps! But it was a really good afternoon and good to get out somewhere different for a change. Annie was on constant squirrel alert through the woodland areas and kept threatening to drag Julia through the bushes! I'm not quite sure what she would do if she were to actually catch a squirrel, but given their speed it's probably highly unlikely ;-) Knowing Annie she would want to play with it! All in all a good time out in the fresh air with my girl and her furbaby 💕 

Day of the Dead

So my Day of the Dead bandana arrived today, along with it's skulls and roses counterpart. Now don't get me wrong, I still hate this whole idea of having to cover one's face in various places, despite people mostly adhering to it, I'm keen for it not to become the new norm - because it so clearly isn't and never will be a natural thing to be doing. But having bought an earlier pack of these bandanas we've found them better to wear and slightly less annoying on the hot & sweaty front. And if I'm going to have to wear something then I'd rather look cool and funky than waste my time on something else.

RNLI Launch a Memory Cushion

 

Having done a Launch a Memory donation in memory of my Mum, I received a small magazine from the RNLI peeps which said you could purchase a memento of the occasion. Although they mentioned mugs and I'd kind of hoped for maybe a lifeboat model or something, I opted for a 12x12 cushion with the number on it where her name is emblazoned with probably thousands of other memory names to mark the occasion. Granted given that the cushion is a faux suede the writing is kinda hard to read but it's a good keepsake. Her lifeboat is off to Invergordon, if it's not already there now, Covid-19 kind of got in the way - AGAIN. So it's good to know that a little part of her and lots of other people's loved ones will be forever remembered on such an important craft.

Back to St Mary's Island

So, having had my foray into Chatham, Tedster and I went along to one of our fav places, St Mary's Island, for a mooch along the Riverside Walk. Armed with the M5 and 18-150mm lens the river was fairly busy with all manner of craft and it was really good to get out and do some photography that didn't depend on how far I can walk from my front door. Have made a conscious decision that for my own sanity I have to start getting back to some degree of normality otherwise my mental health is suffering as I absorb all the negative online crap regarding Covid-19 and this constant scaremongering band wagon  that everyone seems only too happy to jump on. Mask this, social distance that, it's frustrating to keep being reminded 24/7 of what most of us sensible adults know what we need to be doing. Those who have never done it, never will no matter how much they are reminded and moaned at. All it does is serve to depress the rest of us still further. So we're getting out and about while we still can and while the weather holds - happy days!

Chatham Riverside

A few phone snaps of my first foray into Chatham Town centre since Lockdown back in March! Braved the crowds to go do some banking - I'm an online aficionado but you can't deposit cash with the app ;-) So sporting one of the bandanas I felt like a bank robber let out on a day trip! Whilst having a break after a small amount of shopping and somewhat reluctant to head off home on the first available bus I sat alongside the river (bit smelly with the tide going out) and had a chocolate snack and then walked the pathway as far as the wall the other side of the Dockyard and Anchor Wharf. It felt good to get outside and do something relatively normal and I'm definitely going to be getting out and about a bit more if BoJo doesn't put the kibosh on everything :-(
 

Historic Dockyard - British Tattoo Exhibition

These are the 100 hands, part of the British Tattoo Exhibition at Chatham Dockyard until the end of September. Had a fab day there with Julia, James and of course Tedster, having a wander around the exhibition itself and the Dockyard in general. Think James was suitably impressed with what's on show there as he's either never been before or certainly not for a good many years. Given it's Tedster and I's favourite place we were happy to show him around.
 

Coney Banks!

So, having had another dry day today, Sunday, Tedster and I set out again for the Coney Banks to get some fresh air. Not that I wanted to be going too far anyway and especially not by bus given they are not very good on a Sunday and probably even less so with Covid-19 and mask wearing, the Coney Banks has become a favourite place since we can't travel too far most of the time. Like our local fields the mowers have been round and cut all the long grass so it looks quite different now from the long wild grass and flowers areas that were there in the height of the summer months. Still we clocked up just over 9000 steps so not bad considering I'm not getting out every day now for the walk into work and not even after work sometimes if the weather is bad. Which it has been over the weekend so far. In fact indoors has felt chilly enough to pop the heating on this morning just to take the edge off the place! And as I'm the one paying the bills I don't feel the least bit guilty over this ;-) Took the M5 along with its 15-45mm kit lens, ran the images through LR when I got home and been experimenting with the Auto Tone - which works quite well most of the time, and also split toning in the form of a type of cinematic look. Using blues for the highlights and oranges for the shadows. It's very subtle and I think some investigation on Google or YouTube is in order, but I quite like the consistency it gives one's images.
 

A Trip To Hurstwood Woods

So, having gotten frustrated with the rain this week stopping me from venturing out after work most afternoons this week, I thought I would step along to Hurstwood Woods this Off Friday. Whilst there was a shower not long after I arrived, I was ensconced under the trees at this point and managed to avoid getting wet or having to break out the brolly! Took the Goldie along for the ride and am still enjoying using this camera again. Can't believe the rechargeable AA batteries are still holding up after my initial charge up the other week! Well impressed although I always make a point of carrying spares whatever camera I take out for the day. Anyhoo, enjoyed being out in the fresh air, some sunshine and the peace that comes with these sorts of natural "venues". A few dog walkers strolling around, including a very exuberant dog that raced around whilst his owner strolled along, talk about walking himself! I remember these woods from my school days at Horsted, sometimes we'd take an afternoon walk along there and look for stuff. I've been reacquainted with them during Lockdown and the need to find places to visit that are on my doorstep. Initially because we weren't supposed to travel too far for our daily "exercise" and now because most of my favourite haunts involve a bus journey or two and I'd rather avoid mixing with the great unwashed as often as possible. So places such as this and the Coney Banks have become my new favourite places. At least the seasons have caused their own changes in these areas and like most record photography no two days ever produce the same images. Plus for infrared, these places are just right if the weather holds up ;-) This particular image was shot whilst sitting on one of the few dry benches, underneath the tree who's foliage you can see at the top of the image. Processed in Lightroom using my own home grown presets, I preferred the cream colour of this one although I have a similar pink version too. Infrared is a very unusual style of photography and whilst in recent years I have loved my deep black and white camera images, it's been nice to get used to some faux colour again.
 

More Goldie Fun

 So, in spite of the heavy showers this morning Tedster and I braved the rain to go mooch down to the Coney Banks and took the Goldie infrared camera along for a spin.

Saw this deflated football lying on one of the paths and took a low shot. Somewhat ad hoc framing as the camera is too old for luxury like a flip screen, so it was more point and hope!

Used the revised pink Lightroom preset and then having played around with the calibration settings on another image of some graffiti on a side hoarding, I created a virtual copy of this image, applied the purple tweak and then brought both images into Photoshop to allow me to use the purple image to just colour the football. Really like this effect although it's time consuming and so not appropriate for the number of photos I take when I'm out and about! As I said on Facebook, any colours within these colourful infrared images isn't real, obviously, and so creative license isn't held back in any way because you can pretty much do whatever you want to them, colour wise.

Some people tend to leave them as they come out of the camera with the cyan foliage and brown skies, but I've seen all manner of other combinations, purple/green and blue/yellow to name but a few. There are quite a few filter options out there for anyone interested in conversions, or you can opt to go full spectrum and use an external filter to dictate what the camera captures. All good fun and brings a different viewpoint to one's photography.

Goldie Infrared

So, dug out the old Goldie Infrared camera in the week, charged up the AA batteries and amazed to find both the batteries and the camera still work happily!

I'd forgotten how interesting this camera is with it's colourful rendition of the infrared world around us. Prior to editing in Lightroom, the images have cyan coloured foliage and brown skies. Some judicious tweaking of colours using the calibration tab and the HSL tab in Lightroom allows me to convert it into something like this, choosing either pink or yellow foliage with blue skies. In Photoshop it would be classed as channel swapping but obviously in Lightroom that isn't possible so you have to come at it via a different approach. It's a technique I have honed over the few years that I've had my collection of converted infrared compact cameras. From the 720nm which I bought first, to the 850nm deep B&W which I really love and which is my infrared camera of choice more recently. Hence the reason why the Goldie had kind of been mothballed in the cupboard! It'll definitely start getting some use again now though.

Happy 4th Wedding Anniversary!

 Happy Anniversary to my daughter Julia and son-in-law James.

How can 4 years have gone so quickly?

Seems only yesterday we were putting on our glad rags for your big day :-)

And what a day it was, smiles all round and miles of happiness.

All the more poignant given that 2020 has tuned out to be a less than happy year.

Still we'll pause the celebrations until next year, when it'll be 5 years and hopefully a new house too 💕  

Evening Stroll

Popped out for an evening stroll yesterday as I'm getting a bit weary of walking the bottom field over and over again ;-)

Although it seems to be getting darker, quicker, these days it was pleasant enough to walk up through Horsted Park and down the Ridgeway. I love some of the houses on this street, one is a gorgeous thatched house and many are very different to their neighbours.

These were a couple of images that caught my eye and snapped on the Galaxy S20. A Teddy dressed in a Disney Princess dress fixed to the front of a works van up at Horsted Park and an abandoned hub cap leaning up against the wall.

Obviously the obligatory selfie too!

Enjoyed a good natter with my girl on the way home which was via the estate shops and Crescent Way. At  least it chalked up 6000+ steps which these days as I'm working from home and hardly going anywhere is not bad!

Coney Banks

 So on this week's off Friday, as the weather had thankfully cooled down, Tedster and I took a mooch along to the Coney Banks again, to walk the hillside which was too hot to do last week.

Think I am starting to remember the route ;-)

Couple of photos off the moby plus one of the obligatory selfies that are so much a part of our lives now. Even I have stopped feeling stupid shouting "Smile" at my phone in order to trigger the shutter when I cannot easily touch the screen shutter!

Saw some more evidence of a recent fire up near the top, no idea whether it was deliberate or not, but suspect, sadly, the answer is yes.

Think that the kids, teens especially have been off school for too long this year and they are so bored they end up causing trouble in their surroundings. And parenting is not like it used to be, for some anyway, kids being dragged up with no sense of right and wrong and no respect, for themselves, for their parents, for anyone really. They have been allowed to think the world revolves around them and that somehow the world owes them a living. I fear that when they finally emerge into the "Big Wide World" they are going to receive a mahousive shock that actually they are waayy down on the rungs of the ladder and in order to have all that cool stuff that Mummy & Daddy have been buying them they are going to have to WORK hard. Sadly for them they will have wasted their school years and realise that a continued education costs money.