My 56th Birthday

 

So to celebrate my 56th Birthday Julia booked us into Leeds Castle for a mooch around the grounds, albeit in the rain! In fact despite the weather it was really nice to wander around and shoot the breeze and catch up on the various topics of conversation. The impending house move being the prime focus. I've included the necklace bought for me by Julia and James, wearing it as I type this, such a simple but lovely design and the words on the little card sum up our Mother/Daughter relationship to a tee.

Family Photo Challenge - Age

 

This week's photo challenge for the famalam was Age - geez we don't 'arf pick 'em! Looked on Google for some inspiration but couldn't find much and out of the few different ideas I came up with, this was one of my favourites. Now I confess that I didn't take the black 'n' white image of moi when I was a toddler ;-) But needs must, so I set up the tripod and took a photo of myself holding an empty photo frame and then proceeded to Photoshop the old pic of me into the frame. Quite pleased with the final result even if I do say so myself!

Missing Paradise???

 

Took this snap on a weekend walk where I'd popped down to the green on Friston Way with the M50 to take a few snaps. This is the closest I've come to the office since March last year, although I had a fleeting visit in July to collect some bits and my flu jab in October. It feels weird being so close and yet so far away... Having spent 30+ years here on site even my visit back in July felt quite alien, looking around the office at a view I've seen for ages and yet had kind of forgotten since working from home. In October I couldn't wait to get in and get out again, the obvious Covid-19 precautions giving the place quite an unwelcome air. Still I'm sure once we've all been tagged, I mean vaccinated, then we'll no doubt be let back on site albeit in a perhaps more flexible style that the one we left back in March 2020!

Minimal Snow...

 

So having received weather warnings from the Met Office regarding "heavy snowfall" for my location, this is what I woke up to 🤣 In fact the top image I shot around quarter to six this morning using the night mode on the mobile - quite impressed with what it manages to capture given in the normal mode you can barely see anything! The other two I took later when I actually got up. Record the very light dusting we received before the continuous rain washed it all away.

Actually I was somewhat amused by a young family who rocked up over the play area with their sleds, it was mostly grass they were trying to sled on plus watching them trying to sit the smallest kid on the sled and pull it around was very amusing. The kid wouldn't bend his/her legs to sit up and then kept rolling off the sled - I don't think the snowsuit it was wearing aided movement of any kind 🤣 Think they were also unsuccessfully trying to scoop up whatever small amounts of snow lay trapped in the grass - not sure if they were trying to make a snowball but they'd have been there all day trying to find enough for one given the uber thin layer we had 🤣 

Anyways, later this morning, not unsurprisingly, the Met Office cancelled the weather warning. With wall to wall rain at the moment I don't think any snow would stand a chance of laying anyway!

Frosty Weather!

 

So, this lovely lone rose is in my neighbours garden and something I spied as I stepped outside to snap a few of the frosty plants in the garden this morning. Brrr but it was cold, even in my old winter coat and a pair of fingerless gloves, but managed a short while out there snapping away thus giving me some images to play with later in Lightroom.

This was probably the thickest frost we've seen this winter so far, the day before was uber foggy and in fact I snapped that from the bedroom window too on the mobile phone. At least it isn't snow ;-)

Would have maybe attempted a walk around the fields but was expecting a delivery from Mr Amazon so had to stay home and by the time he'd come the frost was already melting away. I'd like to say it was warming up outside but in truth it isn't, or doesn't feel like it anyway. Roll on the summer!!

So after some judicious editing it's time to return to my EOS Training Course before settling down in front of the TV, catch up with some of the stuff I recorded over Christmas.

Happy Birthday Mum!

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM!!!!!

7th January marks Mum's birthday, think she would have been 82yrs young this year, can't quite get my head around what she would have looked like at that age given that she went so young and so it's impossible to reconcile the two things.

In addition to it being her birthday it also marked the day my Dad got his first Covid-19 jab, the 15min observation variety, but grateful that he's at least jumped the first hurdle, although whether they will delay the 2nd doses as they have alluded to or not is still up for debate. Hopefully my Step-Mum will get her invite this week coming. 

The vaccine roll-out marks the start of our way out of this unholy mess - hopefully, that's indeed what they keep telling us, although quite when things will start to be relaxed is anyone's guess...

Lockdown No: 3

 

So, BoJo announced yet another Lockdown on Monday 4th January to kick off at midnight, so woke up to Lockdown Revisited III on Tuesday morning. Thought I would resurrect the image of Tedster and his "Stay Home" message albeit with a sepia tint this time around.

Realistically Tuesday morning wasn't any different to Monday morning, we're still all working from home, support bubbles are still allowed - thankfully, so for me it's the same old same old. Feel sorry for those with kids who are now back home for school e-learning. Hopefully with more structure than the last time around although equally it would have been better for everyone if BoJo got his act together and actually didn't wait until the 11th hour to make a decision. It's been obvious since the schools returned in Sept that whilst they probably aren't at risk from Covid-19 they are certainly one of the main groups spreading it around. Practically everyone I know who has caught it got it off their kids. So finally the penny dropped and the schools have closed, at least until half-term in February.

And the vaccine is starting to be rolled out, finally, although again nowhere near fast enough to reach the 14-15 million people that they hope to have vaccinated by half-term or end of Feb whatever the timeframe is supposed to be. They are gonna have to pull out all the stops to reach the 2 million a week that realistically they need to be doing to achieve that target. I'm expecting yet again for BoJo to disappoint us with yet another promise they just can't keep 😭

First Walk of 2021!

 

So, took myself out for a walk on New Year's Day, good to get some fresh air and with a wide-angle everything family photo challenge coming up I thought I might find some inspiration. Sadly apart from a clump of more wild grass growing in the bottom field I couldn't find much but it's always good to have the opportunity to go stretch my legs.

Came home and had better luck with the challenge in the studio with my two wide-angle lenses and in the end, the mobile phone in wide-angle mode perched on a tripod in front of the bedroom window! Even drew a wide-angle on some paper, 120° to be exact, and it was as I dug the protractor out of the cupboard! See where inspiration takes me ;-)

New Year's Eve!

So this was how Tedster and I spent this year's New Year's Eve - watching some TV after the weekly family video call! A far cry from the usual evening at The Texas Moon CMC which is something we've done pretty much every year since before Julia was born - so to be absent this year, regardless of the reasons, was totally weird 😱 Still needs must and after watching some TV I switched over to watch the countdown to the midnight chimes on BBC1 - Wow what a stunning show they put on in the city. Fireworks, lasers and choreographed drones lit up the night sky and at least helped 2020 to leave with a bang even though most of the year had been a very damp squib!

I then opened my front door to let the New Year in and opened the back door to let the old year out and then toddled off to bed, feeling a tad more optimistic about 2021 even though I appreciate that initially not much will change with most of the country now in Tier 4.

Happy New Year everyone and may 2021 be better for all of us, goodness knows we deserve a break!