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 ❤️