photo practice

I was very very lazy yesterday and just sat on the beach all day watching Steven on his kayak, reading and sleeping. But I also had a little practice with my camera and took some nice photos - so this extra post is just to share these.

I have never taken silhouette shots before - but quite liked the shapes of these teenagers playing on the beach and I am pleased with how they came out.The sun looked beautiful glistening on the sea - so I tried to capture it - not sure where all the colour has gone though!Nice stones on the beach and then our lazy tea - a beach barbecue!

30th May photo - mucking about on the water!

The long journey to Bournemouth this week seems worth it now, to see the joy on Steven's face now he is actually out on the sea in his kayak!

Its a gorgeous sunny day at the coast - just right for mucking about on the water - and good for photo opps. as well!

I am not sure which photo to choose as my photo of the day - I quite like this action shot - but I should really have his face in I suppose.

29th May photo - Lions

But not real ones!! In an effort to find an interesting photo subject for today, I took a little walk, but I did not have to venture far - just down the road in fact, to the Shirehall - our local Council offices. Here is a very tall statue of Lord Hill overlooking the town, with 4 stones lions at the base. I thought the Lions would make an interesting view.

Taking a leaf out of Vicki & Karen's book I have gone for the close up shot and then moved further and further away to eventually get the whole picture.

Not really sure which one to choose for photo of the day - I like the detail of the lion and the true blue of the sky in these close up shots.



The column is open to the public a couple of times a year and after a little claustrophobic climb up a spiral staircase to the top, you are rewarded with 365 degree views all over the town

Just found this info about the colum on the net if anyone is interested ( I didn't know it was the World's tallest Doric column - so I have learnt something new today!)

:- Lord Hill's Column, outside the Shirehall (Shropshire County Council's headquarters), is one of the most notable features of the town of Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The tallest Doric column in the world, standing at 133ft 6ins (49.83m), it commemorates Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill, with a 17ft tall statue standing on the top of the column. The column was built between 1814 and 1816; its diameter is two feet wider than Nelson's Column, and, not including the pedestal, is 13 feet higher.
The architect was Edward Haycock, with modifications mainly to the pedestal by Thomas HARRISON. The pedestal is square with a pier of buttress at each angle, on which are placed recument lions, worked of Grinshill stone (the same as the column) by John Carline of Shrewsbury. The statue of Lord Hill was designed and executed by Messrs. Coade and Sealy of London, in their artificial stone (Coade stone), modelled by Joseph Panzetta.
The first stone was laid on 27 December 1814 by the Salopian Lodge of Free Masons assisted by deputies from adjoining lodges, on the festival of St. John the Evangelist. The last stone was laid on 18 June 1816, the anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. The total expense was 5,972 pounds, 13 shillings and 2 pence.
The structure once stood at the centre of the crossroads there, but the junction is now set aside from the column. The column also gives its name to a borough ward, which is simply "Column" ward. It is possible to climb within the column using steps to reach the top. The column is opened up to the public by Shropshire County Council on a few days each year.
The column has been listed by English Heritage as a Grade II* structure

28th May photo - dolly mixtures

I have been a good girl resting at home today - my foot is slightly better, so I am not going to face a 4 or more hour wait in A & E for an x - ray. It still hurts but the swelling is less so I am hoping I am on the mend.

I needed something to cheer me up - what better than Dolly Mixtures - I love these little sweeties. I ate most of them before I remembered that I did not have a photo for today - but phew - I stopped munching just in time.

So sorry not very exciting today - will try and get out of the house tomorrow.

enforced rest is good for creativity!

As I can't go anywhere today I have finished off 2 outstanding layouts.

This first one just needed the journalling changing from the horrific blob I put on the original - Its not perfect but I think it will do.

This second layout is rather strange - it is based on a pencil lines sketch 135 and as soon as I saw the sketch I knew which embellishments I wanted to use - some buttons which I had bought at the NEC. So the layout evolved from the colours of the buttons- onto papers etc. But oddly none of the photos have any pink or brown in!! I have never done a layout before where the papers did not match the photos. Anyway I quite like it so, I am popping it into Jessica's album.

Don't worry Eleanor I am going to do one for you as well - but I will find some papers that match your PJ's.

27th may photo - woe is me

oh dear how much bad luck can a girl have? What with the mud incident, getting lost in the woods incident and my numb foot - I am in the wars again - this time I have injured my ankle! I fell yesterday out walking on the top of a hill and I am hoping that it is just a really bad sprain and not broken. So today I am laid up in bed resting!!

I had got two Travel Bugs which wanted to be placed in caches on summits - I had 2 lovely mountains in Wales in mind that I wanted to put them in - so just to make sure that I was ready to start mountain walking again - I thought I would try out a medium sized hill on The Brieddens yesterday. I clearly am not ready to start again, as I fell and hurt my ankle very badly. Luckily I had both my walking poles with me so I could hobble down supported. I ended up leaving these 2 travel bugs at the cache on this hill - not as high as they wanted but with gorgeous views over to the Welsh Mountains that they do want to get to.

This is what I thought yesterday's photo would have been - Rodneys Pillar - not a beach photo! I am blaming Steven for my accident as he rang me when I was up here, saying he wanted to leave now to go to Bournemouth and where was I? So I had to rush to get back home and in my rush to find a quicker route back down, fell - so its all his fault! Anyway I drove 4 hours to Bournemouth and half the way back, hobbled around the beach and by the time we got home just after midnight I was in agony and my ankle was twice the size it should be. I have had it in this support overnight and the swelling has come down a bit and it is not quite so painful - I will see how the day goes but tomorrow's photo may be me in the X -ray dept. seeing if it is broken or not!!

here are some more of photos that I thought I would be posting yesterday.

not far to the top from here.

Fantastic views from the top - they never look as good through a lens.


The Welsh Mountains - where I won't be going for a while!

26th May photo - Bournemouth surprise

Well this is not the photo I thought I would be posting today - it is Steven on the beach at Bournemouth!!

We made an impromptu visit there today. Ever since his kayaking course he has been on the lookout for a second hand kayak and on Monday he found one on Ebay - buyer to collect though, from Ringwood! So he decides on Tuesday that we would go down and collect it and as it is only 10 miles from Bournemouth, we could not go that far and not pop in and see our favourite holiday place. We sat and ate fish & chips from Harry Ramsdens on the beach and just enjoyed ourselves in the evening sunshine.

We have not quite perfected the art of taking photos of ourselves at arms length!

25th May photo - Roundabout sculpture

This sculpture is to be found on the Column roundabout and I drive past it each day and admire its lovely sleek lines. I think initially it was a Millennium commission and when they went to remove it at the end of 2000 - there were lots of protests and so thankfully it stayed put.

24th May photo - what I am listening to now

I am not able to get out & about today so thought I would record the music that I am listening to at the moment.

Its Vaughan Williams - A London Symphony and I adore it, I listen to it over and over again. This recording is rather special as his late widow Ursula, gave permission for the performance and recording of the original 1913 version of The London Symphony (Symphony No. 2) to be made just once - so this is likely to be the only chance to hear it as VW first intended. The second & fourth movements are my favorite and at 16 & 18 minutes respectively - which is a lovely long time of bliss.

My Father always said the best way to appreciate music is to block out all your other senses, so that you can just absorb it totally - it so true - so I just close my eyes (not when I am driving !) and let it all sink in.

2 more layouts

I have had a productive day today and created 2 layouts.

I like this first one using the new Lime Ricky papers by Basic Grey. The photos are not very good quality, but they tell a lovely story, so I had to use them. When the girls came home for Dad's birthday last month - Jess thought it would be funny to lock me out of the house and had hysterics because she had been so naughty - luckily Eleanor captured this on film so that I could record this for posperity!

This second layout I am not so sure about - I definately don't like the journalling block and I will change that - but I can't think what else to use at the moment - so its staying until I can find something to replace it with. It show Jess and her Uni friends at the LCR Christmas bash about 2 years ago.

23rd May photo - Sutton Maddock Church

Today I visited this gorgeous Church in Sutton Maddock - I have never been here before and without geocaching I don't think I ever would have done as it is along a lane that does not go anywhere except to the church (and the most beautiful Vicarage - I would so love to live there!)

I think the entrance to the church is very impressive, so this top photo is my photo of the day but so that you can all see how lovely the whole of the church is , I have posted this one as well.

I actually went out without my camera today!! so these photos are taken with my mobile phone so apologies for the quality.

22nd May photo - my 500th find

Today I reached a small milestone - my 500th geo-cache find.

So today's photo is me holding my 500th find!

If I was a bit better at geocaching, I could have reached this point a while ago, but I have had quite a few 'did not find' caches lately. I needed 9 caches today to reach this target and I found a canal walk at Wolverhampton along the Shropshire Union canal that had 9 along a well marked route, so I headed over there this morning and thankfully found all 9.

It was a lovely walk along the canal with narrow boats to admire as I walked along.

21st May photo - old Shrewsbury sign

I love this old sign for Shrewsbury - It is on the London road as you leave the M54. I think its the only one left as the others seem to have been replaced with modern black & whites ones which are not very exciting - so I thought I would like to be my photo of the day in case this disappears as well.

20th may photo - horsey horsey

I had to go to the NEC today - but when the day finished, I just had to try and find a few Birmingham geocaches - I think I was the first one out of the car park - I was so eager to bag some caches.

(Steven relented and let me have my GPS back as I was coming to the NEC - he had threatened to keep it away from me for a week, but that threat turned me into a weeping & wailing mess - so he thought life would be easier if he just gave it back to me - heck I sound like a spoilt child screaming & stamping feet if I don't get my own way ! I am not like that really.)

Anyway it was quite a rushed walk - the rain was threatening - so not many pics, but on my travels I came across a field of horses and I was quite taken with the colours of this one. I have a full shot of him, but I like this photo with his tail swishing in - so am choosing this one for my photo of the day. I had to walk through their field but they didn't seem in the slightest interested in me - thank goodness - as I get quite nervous around animals.

19th May photo - Shrewsbury Shops again

This is one of my favourite shops in town - Spike Outdoor.

It is independently owned by 2 local chaps who are very willing to give advice and proper service. I like to support local shops especially this one after they were so helpful when we were trying to buy a back pack for Liam's Duke of Edinburgh's award expedition. Since then I tend to get most of my outdoor stuff from them. It is sited on Castle Gates just up from the railway station.

18th May photo - baby geese to cheer me up

What a dreadful day I have had! My Sat Nav took me down a steep, single track muddy bridle way and I got stuck in the mud and was stranded for hours!

It took the RAC 90 minutes to get to me and then he came in a transit van and was unable to tow me out, so between us we had to take it in turns to drive / push the car up the hill, slipping & sliding in the mud - it was a nightmare and how the car is still intact I don't know. Me, the RAC man and the car were completely covered in mud. I am sure pushing a car uphill is not what my Chiropractor meant when she said take it easy - I hope this incident will not put my recovery backwards - though I can't see how it will have helped at all.

Anyway before this horrid event - I had been geocaching in Telford and visited a lovely pool / nature reserve and taken some photos of some geese and goslings - so I am going to look at the cute little things to try and bring my blood pressure down now.

This first one is my photo of the day.

17th May photo - UEA campus

Jessica's time at UEA is coming to an end - she only has 6 weeks left! So today I spent time exploring the lovely campus.



The University was built in the 1960's so a lot of Concrete in the centre, like these World famous Zuggerats (accommodation) which are now Grade 2 listed.



But the later building show great architectural flair especially the curved accommodation blocks, like Jessica's here which overlook the lake.

The lake is a huge expanse of water with lovely walks all around it. This bridge here was a great sneaky place for a cache and I did not get wet luckily, even though the cache was hidden underneath it!

As well as the lake there are lovely woodlands and the bluebells are still in bloom.

It also has a secret garden! Jess has been here for 3 years and I did not know it was here until someone hid a geocache in it and I came to find it. It is a beautiful little oasis of calm and I sat and enjoyed a little quiet time in the sunshine here.

UEA campus is home to the Sainsbury Art gallery - a very modern piece of architecture but it was not open today so that is on my list of things to do on my final visit here in June.

Jessica's school of study is the Queens Building - another beautifully designed light and airy building - it was this building and the sports park (with its 50m swimming pool)that made up our minds that UEA would be the perfect place for Jess to study at.