Skywatch Friday

Lo everyone, well I haven't taken part in Skywatch for a few weeks. When I do take part I like to think that I am showing the moment so all my photos are from the preceding week. Last weekend we had some very strange cloud formations, so I took a few showing some odd clouds, the sunset and then where the clouds scattered into the evening sun.
Happy Skywatch :)
If you want to see other Skywtach photographs, please click here

A Blimin' Great Big Buzzard

I have so many images to share but find myself quite busy at the minute and seem to be getting very little done.
But, this was a photo I took at the weekend. In fact this buzzard's wing was a little clipped but the guys from the flying forum have been playing in photoshop and have managed to put him to rights. They also did a great job in sharpening him up, I think he looks quite cool now ;-)

Monthly Scrapbooking Pages

At the end of last year I had a period where every special offer in our local QVC outlet store was scrapbooking materials. Some of it really was a good deal, so I decided to get a few bits and determined to make "one" scrapbook page for Andy and myself for each month of the year.



Normally I try to achieve quite arty type pages. But, the focus here is to capture what is happening throughout the year so it becomes more of a journal to look back on. It is so easy to forget the little things and time flies by. So I have concentrated on adding little anecdotes .



I hope that doing just one page per month doesn't work out to be too onerous, I think it will be nice to look back at the end of the year.



P.S. My blogger spell checker changed anecdote to antidotes which has now been corrected again!. Andy reckons I need some of those (antidotes) too! ROFL

Robins and Other Things

I have had a lovely time with my camera and enjoyed having a bash at some wildlife shots. I do think it is restrictive at this time of year, there is a lack of flowers and even the countryside shots are a little lacking in colour..
I have also been a bit lacking in so far as my art and craft work has taken a second to getting to grips with my camera. In fact I still have a long way to go but thought I would share a few bit and pieces.



I took this shot last week and was quite proud of it. I have a long way to go but hey, he is looking our way. So I took the best of my photos and added some cuttlebug folders and let the pictures talk for themselves!




The next was is a Robin, some of you may have realised that Robin's are special to me. Some years ago, I used to feed loads of wildlife, I had a little time at home as well as work. I spent considerable time talking to the birds, so much so that the local Robin gradually over time began to eat from my hand. A little later, he also began to eat from my sons hand. In the end, if I was cooking he used to hop in the kitchen and wait for scraps. After a while, well he would perch on my ironing board to see what I was doing..:)He was a beaut and I will always have a special bit in my heart for those inquisitive feisty little things.



So after yet another image, I made a card with the rsult. I like it!



However, I have also been taking some pictures of some exotic birds...........but then I love going to the river and taking pics of ducks and geese, swans and seagulls, grebes( hey I am learning people hahaha ;) and some things I have yet to identify.

So how about this one, it is quite amazing but a duck, a mandarin duck!



I am so sad, you just wouldn't believe how pics I have taken of swans, geese and ducks. However, Andy did remind me that these things are not so good for making a greetings card. So I thought ha, ducks are good for a good luck wish time thing, so I made a postcard.



I don't have a clue what I am gonna do with it. Hahaha. But, at least you can see that I have got some crafting done ;)

Blue Ginger - Bridgnorth

For Valentines Day Andy and myself normally make a pact to do something we want to do but we don't buy cards or anything for each other. I think is because we both feel that the event is almost contrived and holds little meaning (Andy says besides, every day feel like Valentines day to him)...
I suppose it is a personal thing but instead we choose to go somewhere or have a meal somewhere that we both enjoy.
I am sure by now that you will of heard me mention the Blue Ginger before as being our favourite restaurant. It is Indian cuisine but the menu is a little different from some other Indian restaurants. I know for fact by talking to the guys that all the ingredients are sourced and carefully chosen for maximum flavour and quality..and it shows.
So I thought I would share the atmosphere of last night. We will start with the table which has a centrepiece consisting of water and roses, there were balloons at each table and little heart sprinkles.




There were several courses with some very inventive names, thankfully the portions had been reduced down a little because if they had been the normal size we would not have been able to get through the door at the end. But, I love the way that the food looks as good as some art!



And yes it did taste that good too :-) I think the nicest thing for me is the fact that we also have a laugh with all the guys. It makes for a good atmosphere. I took the next one to give you an idea of the scene, the people are deliberately blurry, I just thought I would show you all the balloons.



Now in conversation, I did say that I would put up a blog post and I asked some of them if it was OK to post their pictures up. Hmmm, it is a mystery that they all seemed to disappear or suddenly develop funny expressions on their faces. The only one I managed to take an OK photo of was the barman! Cos he was stuck there, LOL



Doing an excellent job though, *thumbs up*.
All in all, it is thoroughly recommended if you are in the area BUT advisable to book, they get pretty busy.
I hope you all had a lovely time whatever you did :-)

Blog Candy Recipients & Charles Darwin

Well my blog candy winners are quite easy..only four took part so everyone gets something, LOL
Robin, Tina, Robin TQM and The Doson
If you send me an address to send you blog candy to(my email addy is in my profile)...I will get you blog candy on it's way to you all... Thanks for taking part :-)
It was the celebration of Charles Darwin's birthday yesterday. I feel a special empathy here because Charles Darwin was born in Shrewsbury which is my hometown. It is also where I work.. So many of my photographs of the quarry are places he would have walked...
Like this:

Shrewsbury School is to the left..where Charles Darwin went to school.
I have always loved nature and can identify with this naturalist man and if you are going to have someone who made your birthplace famous, well it is good to have a worthwhile figure. I have to say after my recent jaunts to various places to take bird photographs, I did have another effort at my garden, I would love to encourage the birds/wildlife more (except for moles), I love to see it, record it, photograph it and paint and draw it. So I bought a new bird feeding station because I think our current feeders are a bit too low.
I came back home early yesterday (sadly I have his sickness lurgy thing). Anyway feeling grotty and dejected, I threw myself in the chair and thought, I do hope the birds have found the feeder.
Haha, as I watch a great big crow landed on the shed to pick at the bread, a local cat saw him off and next doors cat proceeded to see off the other cat.



To make matter worse, next doors cat then started to eat the bread off the shed roof!!!
I bet Charles Darwin didn't have these problems...lol
Have a good weekend all
Happy Valentine days for tomorrow :-)

Woodpeckers and more woodpeckers

Lo all,
Just a quick post from me. I thought that having spent a bit more time out with the camera, I should put up a few more of my takes. In fact the woodpeckers are Andy's takes! I have never seen four woodpeckers in the same tree before so I was just too busy watching. Just a small selection of Sunday's visit to Venus Pool.




I do think my blog is becoming rather pictorial...LOL

A Review of the Week

I don't know about others but sometimes, I sit here at the weekend and look back on my week that was seemingly unhappening. I then realise quite how eventful it really was. For those of you that don't know, my Mum is pretty ill. She has been ill for some time but was recently given some new tablets to delay the onset of her illness from getting any worse. I was told that I would see a small improvement but, I confess I did not really believe it. Therefore, it was lovely when I went to visit last Friday to see her in really good spirits. Seeing her smile raised a smile for me. I know it is shortlived but for now, it is enough.



Monday saw the onset of some pretty awful weather in the UK and for the first time in a few years, I left work early due to the snow! In actual fact, the drive home was fairly reasonable but there were a few bits that were a little dicey. I live 25 miles away from where I actually work and the weather can vary quite a lot along the way. The usual bad spot was not too bad though so was pleased about that.



Tuesday saw another visit to the theatre with M. We were accompanied by two more this time and I think everyone had a very enjoyable evening, I loved it. We went to see Evita. Actually as I really love musical productions, it is quite unusual to find one that I have not seen before, especially one as popular as this. But, it was one that had slipped the net for me, although for some reason I knew every bit of the music. I can only assume that I have been listening to one of my Mum's music track, this was a favourite of hers. It was a superb production, very well done and quite thought provoking!



Again we went to Wolverhampton Grand but we are planning something a little different for our next trip. We are going to the newly built theatre in Shrewsbury.
I have mixed views on the architecture, I wonder how I will feel about the theatre itself.



Wednesday, I was exhausted but it did bring a call from my son. Now, I love my son but I have to say he causes me sleepness nights and has done since he reached his teenage years, I will willingly admit that I despair sometimes! We had actually not spoken for a couple of weeks and I will also say that this was mainly down to me. I simply decided that I could not cope with any more worry...
Despite this it was good to speak to him, although I have reached a decision that I have to back off when I can no longer reach him. Sadly, no matter how much I love the ratbag, I have to accept that we walk different paths!

Thursday brought further snowfall overnight and again caused traffic disruption...This did allow me a little time to practice snowy shots with my new camera :-) This was lovely in some ways but does add to my stress levels, I am getting a work backlog, I confess to bringing some home this weekend! *Shock horror*



Friday, I went to see a very good friend of mine who it was just lovely to see. We had a lovely lunch and a really nice chat about life in general. I did leave work early and went back to my birdwatch area just for a little while. Sometimes, it is good to wind down doing something very different.



Today, well Andy and I had a couple of things to pick up (like, my Dad is 80 next week). We then went off to Ironbridge.
I love Ironbridge but have to say that I would sooner go at this time of year, the summer sees a huge influx of tourists from all over the world and for me is a little too busy. I think that I can be a little anti-social sometimes. But, hey today was reasonably quiet, we took some photographs and went for hot chocolate with marshmallows and coffee and walnut cake. Yum ;-)



Then, we went off to the flying field for a chat with the guys, but not for too long, it has been so bitingly cold today. These are the nutters out in it, ROFL



So here I am on a Saturday evening, sitting here wondering why I feel tired!! I really would like to do some art/crafting...............
But the sun has set over Bridgnorth



Have a good weekend! :-D

One or two for the boys

I haven't made too many cards lately, I confess that every available bit of spare time I am using to increase my camera knowledge! However, two or three weeks ago I did spend some time at our local steam railway station. This will be the subject of a future blog post but for now, I used one of my photographs to make a man's card.



I also used some of the new paper from Crafty Individuals and teamed it up with one of their tree images to make another card suitable for a man for a change.



Meanwhile, we have had quite a lot of snow in Shropshire this week so I am getting plenty of opportunities for Christmas Card material for next year.



Here I was playing with the manual settings of my old camera, so we have a black nd white shot, although I confess there is little difference between these and the ones I took in colour! I hope those of you that are in the UK are keeping warm :-D

Sunday Birdwatching

Yesterday was pretty cold but at the flying club I was told about a local birdwatching hide. Now as you know I am into my bird photography so decided to go and check it out.
It was the prefect excuse to play with the new camera :-) We only managed about an hour because it was just so cold but Andy and I took it in turns to snap lots of shots. I am sure in time, our expertise at catching nice natural shots will increase but for now here is a selection of the days photographs.


This little blue tit is just a little out of focus, the day was very overcast with snow showers which didn't help. But, the good thing is that you learn sometimes from not getting things quite right and a knowledgeable chap has since provided me some good advice. So today I have been reading up on spot metering, hey what ;)



I am pretty certain that this is a chaffinch. A while a go I used to have a couple of bird books but we are talking some years. I am a little rusty on my identification so if anyone more enlightened that myself, spots a mistake, I do hope you will leave a comment.



I think that this one is a coal tit. I really didn't know that there were so many types and it seems even the experts argue about some of these.



I am not going to even try identifying this one. I think it is a female finch though, LOL



This is a Great tit, methinks. I think I ought to leave that statement as is...

And finally this is a great spotted woodpecker.



It would have been lovely if we could have got a more natural shot on a branch...but, he was a difficult chappie to capture. They are supposed to be quite common but NOT in my garden so I liked seeing him. I do think I could be come a twitcher very easily...not sure that Andy could cope with a treehugging twitcher!
I was amazed at how many birds were at the feeder, it was an awesome sight and I can seeing me spending some time there.

Finally, I got my old camera out to take this one today, I can't be getting my new one all full of snow!



I do think that there will be a lot of snow filled images around the UK!