What One Does For One's Craft!

 

So this week's family challenge, staying on the I Spy theme as we've still got a few letters to go, is "L".

My list of L words covered:

• Love
• Lion
• Light
• Letters
• Lighter
• Leather
• Language

And this one... 

• Litter 🤣 - An image shot of my kitchen bin. What one does to come up with an image, especially close to home! 

At least I take mine at a reasonable time of the day, not at bedtime or at the 11th hour like my 'bro ;-) How many times has Joanne said to us, oh yeah I was in bed when he was taking his photos, because he's up late snapping away!

Still it's kept the old grey matter ticking over during these difficult times and I'm amazed at how many images we all seem to find, rarely do we see much cross-over in ideas.

Hurstwood Woods

 

Friday saw me and Dad mooch along to Hurstwood Woods as we'd not been there for a while. Took the cameras as usual but ended up being more natter and less photography!

Dad found these chestnut pods and managed to prise one open, most seemed quite empty, and so we each took a shot. I've used my usual Lightroom profiles also adding a hint of blue to the shadows.

I used to collect the chestnuts whilst waiting for the bus home in my school days many moons ago. There are sweet chestnut trees at St Stephens Church where I used to wait. These nuts would line the pockets of my winter coat and provide a healthy snack 😋

Also something to do whilst waiting because there always seems to be more buses going where you aren't 🤔 In this case the buses to Walderslade were prolific compared to my humble Maidstone bus. In fact they still are :-(

That Time Of Year Again!

So Thursday saw the tractor rock up for the annual cut of the fields opposite my house. Last year we had a weird van with a cutter attached to the front to do the job, but this year normal service has been resumed 🚜

Watched as this youngish looking guy poodled around the fields, he didn't look old enough to drive a car let alone a tractor! Sitting there lotus style on the seat in just his shorts and trainers. I'm guessing there's little in the way of foot controls in a tractor???

Anyhoo he's cut everything but not yet baled it up - so there's a raft of long cut grass and wild flowers to wade through if one ventures a walk over there. Poor Anne is likely to bring most of it home stuck to her fur if she's let loose over there!

Even the bottom field past the Scouts Hut has been trimmed so that's out of bounds for her too!

It marks the end of the summer though and is a yearly tradition, like the Santa Run, so it was good to see the tractor back rather than last year's makeshift attempt to trim it.

 

Still Feel A Bit Like This

 

Saved this image from Facebook last year some time, posted by a lady I used to know at work.

At the time I thought it summed up the mental anguish caused by Covid-19 and I still feel that way now.

Anxious but not altogether sure what of.

Just wish I had a Bear...

Riverside Country Park

 

Saturday saw Dad and me take another trip over to Riverside Country Park to walk around with the cameras. Took the river side path this time and scrambled over rocks - well Dad rather than me, keep running out of beach left to walk on.

Even saw a keen lady go walking in the mud left behind by the tide, yuck, by the time she'd finished it looked like she was wearing wellies ;-) A bit dangerous too as you've no idea just how deep it is and you have a tendency to sink into it.

Anyways it was a good afternoon and it's nice to see some late summer sunshine after a rather wet August!

Kent Classic Car Show - Aylesford Priory

 

So today saw me and Dad at the Kent Classic Car Show @ Aylesford Priory. It felt strange being there after all this time, 5yrs ago Julia and James's wedding reception was held in the North Barn.

Anyhoo we went in and waited for Julia and James to rock up with Annie (dog) in tow. We had a good mooch around the cars and motor jumble, Julia bought a little toy Police Mini car for their collection. 

We found a grassy spot in some shade for lunch, time for Annie to have a lie down in the shade bless her. We were joined by James's sister Beth and her other half Ionel and then James's best mate Dima rocked up briefly.

Another mooch around the cars and we found the Mustang we rented for Julia and James's wedding day along with its owners Barbara and her other half. Didn't get chance to say hello as they were deep in conversation but the above image is part of the inside of the car. It still looks uber awesome and it was an amazing car to ride in for their big day!

Last on the list before heading home was ice-creams all round including a little pot for Annie which she thoroughly enjoyed.

Back home around 4pm for some LR editing...

Weyhey Our New Lamp Post - Finally!

 

So here it is, at last, the new replacement lamp post :-)

I can't tell you how pleased I am that it has finally arrived and been installed. Although it has very much been "how many departments does it take to install a lamp post"?

There were:

1. The folks who sprayed paint on the road, kind of X marks the spot!
2. The folks who came out to dig the hole and put up the barriers.
3. The folks who actually erect the lamp post.
4. Some other folks whose job was hidden behind their van...
5. Later some other dude to take a photo on his iPad.
6. Even later some more folks to fill in the hole and take the barrier away.

All this over the course of several weeks and for the installation and hole digging/filling back in, a couple of days.

Wow no wonder my Council Tax is so high 🤣

And here it is in all it's night time glory !!!

New Lamp Post???

 

So saw a street lighting contractor rock up this morning and place these barriers around where the old, damaged lamp post got removed from. Given how long it's been MIA I'm really hopeful that this signifies that it will be replaced sooner rather than later.

It's like the black hole of Calcutta outside of an evening and the remaining lights fail abysmally to light the area outside of my house to any useful degree. Mainly because they are now the new LED variety which illuminate downwards and in very little other directions.

Tried to ring the Council to try and ascertain when exactly they would be looking to replace it. I appreciate that it's possibly the subject of an insurance claim given that it was a car that took it out back in June, but even so with winter not that far away and the clocks changing next month I was keen to find out how much longer we'd have to wait. In the end I abandoned the call, fed up with pressing numbers all the time to wend my way through the myriad of options - how come no one ever just answers the phone anymore?? Interestingly I found no email address on their Contact Us page, just the phone number and postal address. Wasn't sure I wanted to waste a stamp just yet so decided to wait a bit longer. Hopefully now I won't have to put pen to paper and ask when are you fixing the light?

The fencing was fixed some time ago now and then I thought weyhey they will do the lamp too, but sadly not. Just two wooden posts, no real substitute for the old concrete ones they replaced, were unceremoniously cemented into the holes and the wire fence reattached.

Let's hope the local drivers are a little more careful when they drive down the road in allowing time to meet oncoming traffic. The fact that there is a mahousive SLOW sign painted across the road exactly where this lamp seems to keep being hit is somewhat ironic.

Webs In The Fog!

 

So Monday morning I woke up for work to see wall to wall fog outside my bedroom window. I spotted these wet spider webs clinging to the telephone pole outside and thought do I have time to grab the camera as I get ready for work...

Given that these things, once noticed, either don't last for long or never seem to be repeated I thought yeah I'll grab the 77D and fit the Sigma 18-250mm lens and get a few shots before the fog starts to burn off.

The dark foliage behind the pole helped to accentuate the threads of the webs and obviously the moisture from the fog had made them glisten in places like mini jewels.

Glad I took the time to snap these, have never noticed them before even on other foggy days and I've learnt over the years of snapping that one must seize the opportunity to take a photo when it presents itself otherwise there's a good chance it will never come again. Or at least not in the same vein as before.

Each photo represents a small moment in time that can rarely be repeated, work will still be there, the webs less likely to be...

Sunny Sunday @ Leybourne Lakes

 

So Sunday saw me, Dad & Tedster pop out to Leybourne Lakes for a mooch around with the cameras on a sunny afternoon.

This is quite a nice, circular walk around the lake where people come to swim, paddle board and generally do some outdoorsey water sports!

As it was quite a hot afternoon, the sun having popped back for a late summer heatwave the lakes were uber busy with all manner of water sports going on. 

Time for a coffee and cake/biscuits at the end of our route made for a peaceful Sunday afternoon...

"Uni" Blanket Complete!!

 

So this is sections of the crochet blanket I started back when Julia was off to Uni as something to have from home...

Sadly my interest in this waned over the next 12 years - shocking I know, and I've only recently picked it up again and decided to finally complete it. Not as a blanket for her bed, it's a bit old fashioned for that, but maybe something to keep for any little Baileys that might come along.

Having done another few rows of the treble crochets I used YouTube to figure out the best way to edge it knowing that ultimately I wanted a fan edge. Found a good, clear video which showed me what to do, so a couple of rows of white, plain half trebles I think they were called (yarn through all three loops at the same time) I then switched to a baby blue wool for the fan edge.

I'm so proud that I've finally completed it, it's only the second blanket I've made, the first being one I made for my own bed when my Nan Alice decided to help me learn crochet as knitting was waayy too difficult.

Popped it round to Julia and James who were pleased to have it for any potential little ones. Other than that it'll make a bit of a lap warmer or something ;-)

Mooch Around Trosley Country Park

 

So this off Friday saw me and Dad head along to Trosley Country Park after lunch as the sun attempted to breakthrough the clouds.

Not a bad afternoon wandering through the woodland, kinda following the red trail which ultimately led back to the car park having started from the café.

We both took the mirrorless cameras along, Dad's is a Sony Alpha, mine obviously the M50 and fitted the usual 18-150mm lens so I can get a decent reach.

Trosley Park has a few quirky areas including a Woodland Orchestra, this is Dad below tinkering on the xylophone.

Did a little impromptu video of him playing the glockenspiel but a bit on the large file size to post here. All good fun though and the kids love this area, there always seems to be some around every time we come to this park. 

It's not too far to walk the circular route but can be uneven ground underfoot and some areas are quite muddy despite the lack of much rain. All churned up either by park vehicles or more than likely motorbikes.

Anyway it helped to pass an afternoon and gets me some well needed exercise.