31st July photo - apparently I am the biggest geek of all!

Well thats what Jessica thinks because I got so excited yesterday when this arrived in the post.

It is a CLICK FREE 500 GB external hard drive. (this is my POTD)


I have this thing about backing up my data - Its a bit of an obsession really. I already have 2 x 500 GB hard drives - one for my lap top and one for the desk top PC. But I still felt the need for another - hence this new one. The girls both have the older smaller version of it and they are so easy to use - it does what it says on the tin - you just plug it in and it automatically backs up with out me having to do anything.

This is the screen you see when you plug the USB cable in

And this is the screen that came up after it had backed everything up without me doing anything - it is so clever.


Its back ups are incremental as well, so after the first full back up - it only backs up new things that have been added or changed. It has a little button on the side - so if you leave it plugged in all the time - you just press this button and it backs up - handy when I am doing lots of work.

So its official - I am a geek - just spent the whole of this blog writing and getting excited about a piece of computer hardware.

3oth July photo - I have made a card!

It was so wet & miserable yesterday - that after consoling myself with J20 and chocolate cake - I ventured into my craft room and made some cards!! I am not a great card maker so it does not come easily, but I had some new Sugar Nelli stamps that I was itching to use - thanks Vicki for her post showcasing these new stamps - I have used your ideas - hope you don't mind!

After eventually getting them to stick to my block - I used Herma in the end - they stamped quite nicely and I spent an hour or so colouring and cutting and coming up with a few cards like this. This is my POTD.

Roll on sunny weather - so that I can get some nice outdoor photos again.

tagged

I have been tagged by Dorothy to type a particular sentence in a book. So here goes.

You have to:-

1) collect the book that is most handy - its in bed beside me - I read before I went to sleep this morning.

2) Turn to page 161

3) Find the 5th complete sentence

4) Cite the sentence on your blog

5) pass the tag onto 5 other blogger friends.

This sentence comes from Pablo Neruda : A Passion for Life by Adam Feinstein

It is still not clear how Neruda's head came to be cut open. It was variously ascribed to  a bullett or the but of a revolver, but what we do know is that the attackers were a group og German Nazis who had been infuriated by the pro-Allied cheers emerging from Neruda's table over lunch.

I will pass it on to 

1) Karen

2) Vicki

3) Joy

4) Linda 

5) Pam

Thanks Dorothy!

29th July photo - my new favourite drink

There is torrential rain outside so no chance of a walk today, so I am consoling myself with my new favourite drink - Apple & Raspberry J20 - lush! This is my POTD

28th July photo - my watch

Sorry its a bit dull today - but I am a bit photoed out after the last few days - but I actually love my watch!! Its a Timex Expedition and I have had it for years. Its has survived water and bashings about on my expeditions! I like it because it is very reliable and it also has a face that illuminates.

27th July photo - Angelsey

Today I found myself in Bangor - North Wales and very nice it was too. I had no doubt what my POTD would be - the Menai Bridge. It was the first time I had been over it so it was very exciting. Unfortunately all my photos were taken into the sun so have come out badly - just one I took from the other side seems to be OK - but it does not show all of the bridge. So I think this one will have to be my POTD.

Its very hard to take decent shots of a bridge whilst you are actually on it!

This lovely bridge was built by the famous Shropshire engineer Thomas Telford in 1826.

A good example of how NOT to take photos!! Despite 7 months of this - I don't seem to be getting any better!

Anyway there was a lovely view from the bridge.

After landing in Angelsey I went to the Village with the longest Welsh name (Lanfair PG for short) so of course had to have my photo taken there - but I look ghastly so am not very keen to use this one - even though I am unlikely to return there for another chance at a better photo.

If you fancy trying to pronounce it - here is a little lesson.

I did a little geocache here at the railway station which drove me mad. The clue was 'at the white wooden fence post' and there was 100's of little white fence posts!!! I found it in the end - I was not going to let it beat me.

26th July photo - Eleanor

As this weekend in Liverpool was all about Eleanor she really must be my photo of the day - but which one?

I love this one of Dad and his girls outside the Cathedral.

I also like this one but is not very sharp or focused - so I think I will have to rule this one out.

Always a daddie's girl! Even at 24 you are never too old to hold your dad's hand.

Eleanor's research is coming to an end so we had to take some photos of her in her beloved lab.

One of the smaller microscopes she works on - she also uses some supa dupa highly magnifing microscopes - in fact she has one of these booked for an over night session tonight.

In the stock room with the fly stocks!

So Eleanor - which photo would you like me to use as POTD?

25th July photo - Liverpool

Steven, Jess & I are spending the weekend in Liverpool with Eleanor.

Steven & I left the girls shopping today while we did some geocaching on Bidston Hill. It was a lovely hill to walk over and we managed to find lots of sneakily hidden geocaches. Apart from random plastic boxes hidden over the hill there were also other unusual surprises on top of the hill such as 1) a windmill! - this is my POTD.

2) an observatory!



3) a lighthouse (I forgot to take a photo of it - so I have borrowed this one from the net!)

!

Not the usual assortment of things you usually find on the top of a hill - but very interesting all the same. The hill also afforded fine views across the Mersey and the Liverpool skyline.

24th July photo - Metric conversion fridge magnets.

When my mum moved into her new flat, I bought her a set of these metric consersion magnets as she had to change over from a life time cooking with gas to electricity. I thought they were ideal for the elderly struggling with conversion.

Well I must have become elderly now - because I had had to buy myself a set as my scales measure in lbs & oz, but all new recipes are in grams & kilos etc. I find myself referring to them frequently.

Sorry about the quality of this second photo - it was taken in the daylight, but the camera put the flash on - hence the bright spot.

23rd July photo - millionaires shortbread

Well first of all an admission - this photo is a photolift (is that the right term - like a scraplift?) of Jo's post of exactly the same thing last week!! Thanks Jo for the link to Lucy's blog and the recipe.

I have wanted to make these for ages - my first attempt many years ago with Jess, failed dismally because we used evaporated milk by mistake! So I was really pleased to see Jo's post and this time I used the proper ingredients!

Liam was so excited to see these piled up for the photo he grabbed one straight away.

They have come out fairly well - the shortbread is a bit to0 crispy - will bake it for a little less time next time ( my new cooker is very eficient!).

22nd July 2009 - Liam cycling to work - or a quick getaway!

Fergus was on his way to work at Starbucks and was in a good mood, so I thought I would grab my chance for a photo of him, as I had not had one lately - he's not the only one - there are other folks who owe me a photo for July as well!!

He posed on his bike in the driveway and I got this shot of him - but then I carried on clicking and got these action shots - which are nothing like Pam's super cycle shots in Barcelona - but not bad for a 5 second glimpse as he shot away as quickly as he could!

I think I might use one these last 3 as my POTD!

21st July photo - my new CD's

Oh dear Pablo Neruda's poetry should come with a health warning!! I am halfway through his biography (which I posted last week) and really enjoying it - he led a fascinating life. I am reading his poetry in tandem with this book - but many of his poems are so powerful that they are having quite an stirring effect on me! Never ever did I think that I would come to enjoy poetry.

So finding myself in quite an emotional state - I end up making it worse by discovering music which is having the same effect on me!

From the Northern Soul music scene, I have known a couple of tracks by Terry Callier but thanks to You tube, I have found some of his new romantic music which is so beautiful & emotive. Just listen to these 2 wonderful tracks below.

Terry Callier's story is equally as romantic - He began writing and recording music in 1963 but never reached a large audience. So he took a job as a computer programmer at the University of Chicago. In the 1990's a British Company contacted him for rights to use one of his tracks in the Northern Soul scene - his music went down a storm and DJ's at Northern Soul all-nighters all over the UK, started playing his music and he was 're-discovered', coming over to Britain to play at gigs in the university holidays. In the late 1990's he started recording again and this time has found such recognition from a wider audience that he no longer works as a computer programmer - concentrating on his soulful music. I am so gutted to find that we have missed a concert in Manchester that he did in June this year. He is performing at the Brighton Festival in August - so I am trying to persuade Steven that we need to go!

Anyway the point of this long post is to show my POTD - 5 new Terry Callier CD's that arrived this morning.

There were tracks on all these CD's that I liked and I could not make up my mind - so I ordered all 5! Some folks think that I am slightly insane - perhaps this is evidence that I am!

I am sure that a good old fashioned slap in the face will come along and kick me out of this emotional reverie - but for the moment I am thinking of taking out shares in the Kleenex company!

If you fancy hearing some of his great dance music - instead of this soppy stuff, just put Terry Callier Ordinary Joe and look at me now - into You tube and you will be treated to some lovely footstomping treats.

20th July photo - more summer flowers!!

I know I said no more flowers - but I am struggling for something for today and these are so pretty!!

There is something quite appealing about blue flowers - I like all these shots but I think the top one will be my POTD.

19th july photo -

Steven & I took a chance on the weather today and spent the day at the caravan and we were rewarded with nice sunny weather.

We had a lovely long walk through some woods planning where to site our next geocache - there plenty of places to choose from - as you can see, these woods behind Steven are quite extensive. I am quite excited about this one so I can't wait to get started on it.

The lovely weather bought the para gliders in force - they were lovely to watch - but I only had my compact camera on me - so I could not get close enough to produce good enough photos to be POTD which is a shame as they were fab to watch circling about in the skies.

Our exertions through the woods were rewarded with a 99 ice cream - yum. I must learn to speed up when taking photos like this as they melt so quickly!


Now the school summer holidays are here - the life guards are out on the beach. Though no one ventured into the sea today as the waves were quite rough.

Lots of photos - but which one to choose for POTD? I will decide when I have time to print it out tomorrow.

18th July photo - Eleanor at the railway station

I took Eleanor back to the railway station this morning for her journey back to Uni - but forgot my camera - shock horror!! As she is a very willing subject for POTD I had to use her camera - but all the shots I took bleached out her face completely. I have done my best to edit this one - but it is still poor - sorry Eleanor. Her time at uni is coming to an end soon. Her PhD has to be handed in by the end of September so she will have to come home to live then whilst she job hunts. So from quite an empty house we will be having a full one again.