New Pop-Up Tent

 

So Bank Holiday Monday saw me opening up the new pop-up tent that Julia and James bought me for Christmas.

This one poppers together at the side rather than Velcro, the big one I already have has the most awful cheap Velcro along the edges which is like running your fingers over a wire brush 😮 So this one should prove easier to put together and take down when I need it whereas the other one stays put because it's so much of a faff.

Both have four colour backdrops, black, white, grey and blue. This is the blue one with Tedster posing for me as a test buddy! Finding it hard to lose the line at the back and create a true infinity curve, suspect it might be easier with just the white backdrop?

This image is of my two tin boxes, bought containing gold chocolate coins, and the black backdrop. Again there's the "strip" through the middle, this image was front lit using just a torch.

The backdrops are PVC which means they are somewhat shiny, the tent has two rows of LEDs, alternate warm and bright white which gives a selection of different colour temperatures and various light levels. All I had to find myself was a USB to mains adapter but it also means the tent could be powered from a laptop/PC or a power bank should you find yourself with no access to a mains supply. Could be handy if/when camera club at work ever starts up again ;-)

Christmas Day @ Chez Bailey

 

So Christmas Day saw us all congregate at Chez Bailey for a festive dinner :-)

In spite of all the last minute DIY and general chaos, Julia & James threw everything into clearing away the power tools and setting up the most amazing dining table whereby James's Mum Annie had helped decorate it with table runners and floral arrangements.

It was awesome, after the Tier 4 restrictions last year, to be finally able to meet up and spend the day together as a somewhat extended family now. There was me and Dad, James's parents, sister and her partner, his other brother (Dom was poorly at home) and Julia's Dad and Step-Mum, eleven of us in all.

Julia & James cooked a lush traditional roast turkey dinner and we each took along items for tea & drinks throughout the day.

Lots of fun, presents and laughter, a real joy to spend some quality time together after yet another difficult year 💕🎄

Christmas Lights!

 

So Tuesday evening saw Dad and me pop out for a walk around the estate taking some photos of the very festive lights.

A chilly, frosty evening but we got some good ones I think. Hard sometimes when they are so widely spread and most of the image is dark. This little sleigh was perched atop a motorhome, love these inflatable characters, there are a few around the estate. They seem to need constant blowing up though as without it they tend to start drooping ;-)

Took the M50 out on a monopod but not too sure how much that actually helped! I'm not a tripod kind of girl, preferring to handhold and crank up the ISO.

Here's an accidental "arty" one, after having to change out the battery with my camera fixed in a chunky L bracket the lens seemed, for a brief moment, to be fussy about actually focusing. I must have pressed the shutter anyway and boom this is what it captured! Really like this bokeh effect.

And this final one is yet another arty take, shot through the front wall bushes of the gorgeous warm white lights which adorned this house.

Santa Run!

 

Finally got to see this year's Santa Run on the proper day it was due around our roads, compared to last year when they had to make a rush visit to all the roads because BoJo had cancelled Christmas for some of us.

Another crappy day weather wise, it always seems that way whenever they come round. But it was awesome to see the usual crowd walking around with Santa and it always marks the start of the festive season for us "Estate'ers".

Gathering For Christmas!

 

So Saturday saw my brother, Jo and the boys come down for a visit before Christmas. Dad cooked a lush roast dinner and Julia, James and Annie came over too and we had a good family day. Especially given last year was a total write-off as far as Christmas went.

These are Dad's lights, really pretty :-)

Foggy

 So this morning, my first day of the Chrimbo break, saw me wake up to thick fog. Having taken a few quick phone snaps from the windows I grabbed the 77D and took this. Focused on the fields outside whilst the LED light net and bonsai tree blurred in the foreground.

Really like this effect, it doesn't always appeal to me, think it depends on the subject matter. But it felt good to pick up the big camera for a change. I do miss it given most outings I'm using the M50 mirrorless or even the TZ90 like on Sunday for Leeds Castle because the weather wasn't supposed to be all that.

I have treated myself to a Thinktank cover for the camera and whilst it does fit the M50, it kind of swamps it. In fact it's plenty big enough, with room to spare, for the 77D. It's supposed to be useful for both handheld shooting and tripod, many are usually designed to be fitted over the camera when it's mounted on a tripod and so are hard to use if you are simply walking around. But thought it would be a step-up from the large sandwich bags which I usually use to keep the camera dry. Don't get me wrong, the sandwich bags are a perfect, cheap solution, if you can wedge them in place with the lens hood, in fact in 2019 when I went on a coach trip to Kew Gardens for their Christmas lights it rained most of the evening and my M5 stayed perfectly dry inside it's plastic bag. Had trouble actually seeing through the viewfinder but trusted the autofocus and tried not to listen to the rain drops hitting the plastic whilst videoing 🤣 

Maybe what I need is a waterproof compact and having got a free booklet with the latest Photography News I think, I've certainly been eyeing one little model up. But unsure if I can justify the cost? Maybe keep it in my back pocket for a birthday pressie, if I don't keep buying more handbags 😉

Leeds Castle - 12 Days of Christmas

 

So Sunday saw me and my girl head off around Leeds Castle for their 12 Days of Christmas celebrations. Given Covid-19 is still very much with us, once again the market was abandoned, and this year saw various scenes set up around the grounds, some interactive, to make the song 12 Days of Christmas.

It was really well done and we enjoyed the walk around in the fresh air and then a roast chicken dinner in the restaurant followed by a mooch around the castle itself to see the Christmas trees.

Tedster came along too, here he is in front of the Two Turtle Doves archway.

Little Glass Bauble Tree

 

So bought this little tree from the Dogs Trust Christmas catalogue - uber pretty and it's been handy as an "office desk" tree whilst I have been WFH, although the big tree is literally just alongside me anyway.

This has been processed in the phone app, a pencil sketch filter applied with 55% colour left in it. The baubles are a set of 2 each of yellow, turquoise, red and pink. It stands about 5.5" tall. 

Really pleased with the purchase and it wasn't that expensive either :-)

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

 

So this year's decs went up early again, normally I try and wait until around 12 days before Christmas to put the decs up but the last two years, what with Covid-19 and all have been depressing and so once again some early Christmas cheer was in order.

Bit of a collage of my tree, and some other ornaments around the lounge. I've settled on pretty much putting the same decs up each year and in the same place, far easier considering how long it takes me anyway. Up and down the steps, "is that straight?" moments, and then the packing away of empty bags and boxes.

Still am happy with the overall effect and on my long weekend's Monday off, having purchased another photo bauble whilst in town to get my booster, I produced this bauble collection of the other two Guide Dog boarders that Julia and James looked after, and obviously one of them is Annie who happily came back to live with them in December 2019.

Super pleased with how this one came out and it now completes the set with Willow & Grace in the star bauble.

Boosters...

 

So this is my little card confirming my Covid-19 booster, which I had Sunday 5th December exactly 6m from the 2nd jab. Obviously the rules have radically changed again in the wake of the Omicron variant and so people are being encouraged to get their boosters after only 3m instead.

Had Pfizer, a different beast to the AstraZeneca ones I had for the first two jabs but hey ho, still not too much in the way of side effects to write home about. Bit of the usual sore arm and sniffy and that's about it.

Not too sure just how many jabs we're still going to have to have before Covid-19 becomes less of a thing, if it ever does as this rate. It certainly feels never ending 😭 Think the government have bought enough for either the next 2 years or possibly the next two lots of 6m 😱 Beginning to feel like a human pin cushion given I had my flu jab too. Still I guess we've just got to suck it up and crack on.

Advent Calendars

 

So these are two of this year's advent calendars, along with a Dairy Milk version 😋

The more traditional one came from Dobbies and I had high hopes for this, I love a traditional advent calendar with really nice pictures in it... Unfortunately this wasn't one of those and at £4.99 seemed to end up being a bad purchase.

This is Day 1 as you can see, the image BEHIND the window is an almost duplicate of the front image with minor changes. That's not very exciting at all. In fact most mornings I end up playing spot the difference between the front of the window and underneath.

Not in the same class as last year's calendar which was a lovely street scene with the Salvation Army playing in the square and lots of really lovely, traditional images behind each window. Last year's calendar came from Clinton Cards and quite possibly cost a similar amount. I am definitely not buying one of these from Dobbies next year and hopefully next year's shopping trips might be easier than the last two years of Covid-19 "wear a mask, get in, get out" types of shopping trips.