Month: June 2014

And before you lot start saying “lucky Girl”, it wasn’t that type of night!

This weekend our phone line died. Which meant no broadband. Sunday might night was the deadline for this month’s Photography assignment, and as per I was leaving it all till the last moment…note to self, do it before the weekend next month!

I suspect it is all my fault, but don’t tell the phone company! We have a pressure washer, and the front door step needed hosing down after the door had been painted…getting the picture? The wiring is old, and I assume water has got into the line. So now when you pick up the phone it is like someone else is on the line…nothing…not even have breathing.

On the plus side we might get better broadband if they put in a new line ( she said fingers crossed)

Add on to that a flat battery in my car from last Wednesday night (I think) when I left the keys in it…took me ages to find them too!!

So, when Son returned from the supermarket trip, and before he disappears up to London, we will jump start my trusty, if dusty, steed and I will go on a long journey to recharge my batteries….in both senses!

I have decided to go to Lewis in East Sussex as I haven’t been for decades! It is the county’s administrative centre, plus has loads to see and do. I didn’t know that .anne of Cleaves lived there, for example. Also the re is a shop of Polish Pottery that I keep seeing at the Country Living Fair and have always wanted to look at some more (ok, so I want to buy some too!)

I will make sure I have my AA card with me incase the car doesn’t start again when I return home though, as I’m not too sure I trust it…the battery. Googling how long it takes to recharge just gives you loads of different advice form “forget it, & get a new battery” to ” just drive for over 20minutes” It also depends on your car, the age of it and the age of the battery.
So, here’s to a better day after a very short night of brain fizzing; to new sights, sounds and discoveries.
I hope your days go well too.

Lx

I must try to use smaller titles than this!

As you may know I have joined a PC ( photo club) that meets in a pub ( where else!) once a month and we are given an assignment by Our Leader (photographer and teacher Andrew Newson ). Our first one was Movement.

 

I took to this one almost immediately as it meant I could explore doing blurry images on purpose instead of the usual accidental ones! The first thing I had to do tho was find the tripod…”Easily done, surely?” you ask? You don’t know me very well, do you! I had to give up and buy a new one in the end!!!

 

I really enjoyed finding new ways to get the countryside to blur…walking along holding the camera with a slow shutter speed…lost? So was I and probably still am, to be honest!

 

This is such a far cry form the good old Point and Shoot that I have loved. I am so used to doing the instant picture that I am still not very strong at setting the shot up. I need to practice on the delayed shot, using the timer as I still manage to get camera wobble on a tripod!

 

Anyway, long story short before you all go off for a coffee… one of my pictures was Commended and blown up ( to a larger size, not explosively!). I was so amazed, and thrilled! Little L inside was jumping up and down screaming “I WON, I WON” although it is Not, I repeat, NOT a competition, and I am in no way competitive!!! ( did you buy that?)

And here is that picture…The next assignment is to chose an iconic photographer and shoot in his/her style… I have spent years finding out what my style is, so this is a bit tricky…but I have chosen Elliott Erwitt.

Why? Because of his attitude of just take your camera out, wander around, and take pictures!

I am sure there is more to it than that, but we shall see.

I want to do black and white street scenes in London, Rye and Hastings, so we shall see what I come up with!

Is it really that long since I put fingers to keyboard on this site? I wonder why I have not been inspired to do it until now?
Who knows. I think we come to these things as and when we need them, don’t you? I have not seemed to have “needed” to blog for a while.

How have you been?

I have started with a new nutritionist who has introduced me to smoothies for breakfast (noisy to make but FABulous to drink/slurp), spices in more of my food, something called quinoa which is good at clogging up the drains and maddeningly difficult to get out of the sieve but has an interesting taste and texture, and the joys of coconut water and oil and everything thereof… I’m not going to mention how it clears you out in the morning, but guess!

Hubby is now captain of his golf club which is great for him and our son. He is so good at that sort of thing, and smoothing out any wrinkls…not that there are any, I hasten to type! Of course, my golf is coming back now that the knee is feeling better, and the ladies at his course are being very friendly and kind to this outsider.

At the mo I am in Tunbridge Wells pottering whilst His car gets a service etc…always a dangerous day to be honest, and it has started in a very expensive way…but oh so worth it! No, really! Ok, so I have spent a vast fortune on a top/dress and a scarf, but they are sooooo useful! I promise! The top is black (boring) but with a beautiful gentle neckline and two slits up the skirt bit at the front.
At first when Annie, the very glamorous, older-then-me, assistant showed it to me on the hanger I was not impressed to be honest. I inwardly groaned at more black, but had never heard of the designer… (Dives into the beautifully wrapped parcels to remind myself)
Annette Görtz
There…oh, so much for the beautifully packed parcels!
I HAD to buy the huge scarf that went with it, and then I have let Hubby buy a sliver/grey sort-of-seethrough jumper thingy which will look fab over some smart black trousers…
Do you think I’ll be hanged when he gets home? Naaagh! I bought the first two, and they are perfect for The Open in July.

Yes, we are heading off the the golf again as Hubby is refereeing, and will be for another two years after this. We wives are beautifully looked after and we are all royally wined and dined, so the clothes are ESSENTIAL to hold up my end!

If I’ve told you all this before skip to the next bit…who yawned??

Meanwhile (yup, I got bored as well!) Son I a still at home with his knee as it has not healed as well as it should have after the op. Bless him he is sending loads of emails off for jobs etc but is hesitant as he may have to have another op, so his future is still uncertain.
I am enjoying watching Game of Thrones with him, and feeling angry as all my fav folks are killed off, or about to be! The latest films get watched, politics argue de about and hints at helping with gardening and washing are actually being heard! To those of you with teenage boys I yell loudly
“IT GETS BETTER, PROMISE!”

A I sip my liquorice and peppermint tea in a fab tea shop called Juliet’s in the old High Street, listening to the late 30-early 40s on the table next door I am planning the rest of the day here, as I have now done the clothes shopping!
It is ages since I’ve been to The Pantiles so that is next, with a walk up the hill back to the main shopping area for lunch and hopefully being picked up by the garage at a reasonable time after lunch.

I just have to stop dreaming about a pair of white and a pair of red slim legged trousers to go under the new dress/top…luckily(?) I don’t think there is a large sized shop for that sort of thing here…that I know of…at the mo…!

I wonder if I should just Google them…

Lx