Trees

And again, it's been an age since I last blogged.  Just as I was getting into the swing of it again, stuff happened.  Unfortunately my niece is in hospital, originally Margate now one of the London hospitals, and is likely to be there for a while.

The reason I mention this is that this weekend was the one planned for the tree removal.  The men were due at 10:30am but I was supposed to be catching a train for London at 10:47am - a bit of a clash.  However, my dad agreed to come round and supervise the workmen (and pay them - but with my money, in case you're wondering).  Then at 8am the front door rang.  I shot out of bed, convinced I'd overslept and it was my brother who was taking me to the station.  Instead, in the pouring rain, there were two men in high-visibility suits - they'd come two and a half hours early as their boss hadn't told them the agreed start time!  Still that did mean that by 9am, the tree was down, the rubbish cleared away and the men gone.

When my brother did turn up (at 10am as agreed) I'd showered, washed up, eaten breakfast, packed my bag and done a load of washing - I really must try this getting up early at the weekend malarky more often.  I spent the day in London, at the hospital trying to cheer my niece up, then travelled home with my brother's wife.  Even though I hadn't done much during the day, I was exhausted.  I'm not a fan of hospitals although this one smelt good (usually they smell of disinfectant and watery mashed potatoes but not this one).

In other news this week, at work I've been cataloging cassettes and books and disposing of those that don't match in preparation for the great staff room move.  Tensions have been running a little high but that is to be expected.  In general people don't like change and this is going to be quite a big upheaval.  Next week I'll be teaching in the morning and continuing with the admin work in the afternoon which is actually quite a nice mixture.

Monday night is judgment night in the Digital Assignment competition of the photog soc and I've got six images entered so keep your fingers crossed for me.  Apart from that my lovelies I have nothing else to report.

Labouring

So, what have I been up to this week?  Well it's been pretty full on.  Photog soc on Monday - hand in for the next competition, to be judged this coming Monday.  Then on Wednesday I was back at Tai Chi and, despite practicing and watching the DVD, I couldn't remember the moves.  Still I'll keep practicing and, who knows, maybe one day I'll get it right.  Not only are we walking backwards now, we're also balancing on one leg - this from the woman who finds it difficult to balance on two legs!

On Thursday we had the inaugural meeting of a new reading group (or book club, call it what you will).  We decided to call it Go With The Flow to show just how relaxed we're going to be about what we'll read.  We drew up a shortlist of books and, on Friday, I went to the library and made the whole thing official.

I am now the membership card holder and contact with the library.  There was a very friendly and helpful woman there who has sorted us out and reserved the necessary books for us (we're starting with The Sunday Philosophy Club by Alexander McCall Smith).  We'll have six weeks to read the books then tea and biscuits while we discuss them.  It will be a nice change to have adult conversation (in my family, conversation usually revolves around babies and children, how they are and what they are doing).

I spent the rest of  Friday afternoon window shopping and managed to prevent myself from spending £60 on a handbag (but it was beautiful) and instead spent £5 on a reed diffuser for my living room.  I had planned to spend the weekend in the garden, tidying up and disposing of the rubbish, cutting back shrubs and 'pruning' trees but it has rained all day.  Despite this, I did spent a couple of hours labouring, sorting out the mess left by various 'helpers' and clearing the side entrance.  I had to do this as the tree men are coming next Saturday.

If you look at this photo of my back garden...

...taken at the end of June last year, you can see that the tree is falling open.  I had three options

1. do nothing and hope it didn't cause any damage when it finally fell apart
2. rope the individual stems together to try and make it look neat and then cover with a net to retain the shape
3. chop it down

Originally I intended to keep the tree as it partially hid the house at the back but that house cuts out a lot of sunlight in the summer and I didn't need to lose more because of the tree.  In addition, the tree isn't native to this country so it doesn't really support much wildlife whereas the shrubs behind do.  The deciding factor was when I found a paved area around the base of the tree.  So the new plan is to chop the tree down leaving the trunks at about hip height and then to put a table top on those trunks for a permanent outside table.  I think it'll open out the garden and reveal several lovely shrubs that are currently hidden.

Anyway, this coming Saturday is when it happens so I had to clear a passage for the workmen.  Two hours in the pouring rain, three pairs of garden gloves soaked through and one very miserable Shiralee later and it was all done.  The rubbish is neatly stacked according to type, the potted plants have been moved and the various bits of brick, broken brick and broken paving slab have been moved to a more useful location.  Now I just need a new back to replace the aching one I have.

Remote Controlled

I cannot believe it's Sunday evening already.  Where has the weekend gone?  It's not as if I spent the morning(s) in bed, no siree, I was up and about bright and early on both of these weekend days... and yet the time, it has flown!

I went out yesterday to try and get some photos of trains from the bridge but, quel surprise! no trains.  They were doing some work on the lines so this is what I photographed instead

and this was fascinating.  Do you remember the big steam roller from A Fish Called Wanda?  Well here are it's baby brothers being remote controlled by the man in orange - fantastic!

Today, on the other hand, has been a pyjama day - which is to say I haven't changed out of my pjs.  That doesn't mean I've spent the day watching DVDs and eating chocolate.  No, I've spent the day trying to put together my entries for the next competition of the photog soc.  It has taken me the best part of a day and it's been a steep learning curve - I even had to RTFM!

Still it's done now and I can relax (not that I'm relaxed about these competitions) and catch up on some tv via the internet.  Ah the loving warm embrace of rubbish tv, you can't beat it.

Friday Tea

Ah Friday.  What a lovely day is Friday.  End of the week.  End of work. Got to love it.

Well yes, but...

You see, normally I don't work on Friday afternoons but this week I was doing a make-up class for a colleague so that meant a two and a half hour 1-1 lesson.  I have to admit the time flew past but I was stuck inside while the sun was (occasionally) shining outside.  When we finished, I grabbed my camera and raced up to the East Cliff to try for some 'moving object' photos and/or some sunset photos.  Not successful.  Still I did come to a better understanding of my tripod and some of the functions on the camera itself.

Then to home and a nice, hot cup of tea.  You cannot beat tea.  I say Boh! to your coffee, give me tea every time.

But wait, I haven't finished yet.

Last week was, you may remember, Chinese New Year and as I'm doing a Tai Chi course (it seems I'm now at intermediate level - that's what walking backwards does for you) we decided to go out for a Chinese meal to celebrate.  We went to an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant called Cosmo in Margate .  The food is very good and the atmosphere pleasant.  We didn't celebrate as such - we were too busy eating - but I had a good time.  Of course, I ate way too much and now I'm suffering.  I have a headache which is probably a combination of tiredness, too much salt and not enough liquid but I'm hoping it'll be cured but the judicious application of a nice cup of tea.

Now where is that kettle?

Fresh Air

Continuing on the photography theme, next week is hand-in for the Assignment Digital competition.  For this you have to submit six images each on a given topic.  I have images for all bar one of the topics and that is 'moving object'.  I've had great difficulty with this partly, I think, because the trick is to get a blur to indicate movement where you want it but sharp focus everywhere else.  I've tried photographing dogs and seagulls, neither of which worked well so now I'm trying to find something else.

The process isn't helped by the fact that it has been grey and overcast all week (except Tuesday which was the one day I couldn't go out in the early evening).  Grey and overcast means flat light which isn't good for the type of photo I'm trying to take.  However I still went out at lunchtime today to see if I'd get lucky (no) and, I tell you, within five minutes of taking the camera out my hands were so cold I couldn't hold it steady.

Despite this I'm going to try again tomorrow - if nothing else it's a good reason to get out at lunchtime and breath in some fresh air.

Result

So, do you remember here when I told you about the photos I entered for a competition?  Well, judging was tonight and guess what?  No, I didn't win (I didn't even come close) but  I scored sixteen, eighteen and sixteen (each out of twenty) which gives me three points towards my bronze award.  I found the feedback a little confusing - the set subject was texture but the judge kept talking about whether the photos were pictorial.  Some he marked down for being so, others he marked down for not be so.  He was also a little brutal in his assessments at times - he even called one of my photos a "so what" photo!  Still the feedback was useful in places.  I'm not sure I agree with the final top three - all were excellent photos but texture? hmmmm.

Anyway for your information and amusement, here are my photos

Evening Sunlight (16/20)

Red (18/20)

Stone (16/20)

Sunset

As part of my on-going plan to get to know my camera better, I went out this afternoon to take some pictures of the sunset.  It had, after all, been a beautifully sunny day so my hopes were high.  I went to the top of the West Cliff in Ramsgate where I could look out over Pegwell Bay to the Richborough Power Station Chimneys.  The wind was blowing quite hard and freezing cold but the sky was beautiful.. Here is one the photos I took (remember, it's straight out of the camera).

I've only got one question.  Is it still a sunset shot when you can't see the sun?

Still Life

So, inspired by last night's session, I downloaded both the basic AND the advanced manual for my camera (totalling 300 pages) - now all I have to do is print them off and read them!

I said I might post some of the still life photos I took last night so here we go.  Now remember these photos are as they came out of the camera, I have to do some work in photoshop, cropping and adjusting the colour balance but I haven't had time for that yet.

Any how, here you are:


a skull - don't know what animal, any suggestions?

ripples

a field mushroom

















As I said, all need some work but maybe I'll post pictures of the same set-up but with different camera settings and you'll see the difference the white balance setting makes.

Until then, enjoy.