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We have a large hollybush in our garden which is home to some sparrows and starlings. There are plenty of cats round here and occassionaly we see a sparrowhawk in the garden. The sparrows and starlings must feel fairly safe in their prickly abode.
At least, they probably felt safe until today.
Can you see that brown splodge in the middle of the picture? I would love to know how he got there. Surely he deserves some award for his determination (and presumably fairly well pricked paws)? Maybe a sparrow or two for breakfast.
I love books.
I prefer fiction but will read pretty much anything I can get my hands on. I can’t think, off the top of my head, of a book that I’ve started and not finished, I’m fairly indiscriminate and will plough through to the end once I’ve started. Before we had children I used to read 3 or 4 books a week. I would read at every opportunity and have been known to stay up through the night to finish a particularly good book (pre-husband days of course).
I used to buy my books. A 3 for 2 sign in Waterstones would have me perusing their shelves and often coming out with 6 for 4 – pre-children not only did I have time to read but I had the income to buy books. Even after a harsh cull when we moved into our house, our bookshelves were groaning under the weight. Every shelf had it’s usual neat row of books and then more books stacked on top of and in front of the row. I’d started to spill onto the other set of shelves. The set of shelves that is behind the television and reserved for things like game consoles, a lava lamp, DVDs and games.
It had become apparent to me that something would have to give. I didn’t fancy my chances with trying to get the husband to sell the lava lamp so with a heavy heart this afternoon I started the big clear out. I couldn’t bear to take a picture beforehand – seeing it would only have reminded me of what I once had.
Here are my pristine, clear, although now that I look at this picture still quite cluttered, shelves. Having the “throwaway” books in piles on the floor somehow made them look less.
The only positive spin I can put on this is that now I have room for some new books. Not sure the husband will see it like that though!
I had a bit of a party here last night. The husband was out with work so it seemed rude not to invite some of the girls round. There were 6 of us, some snacks (possibly not enough) and rather a lot of Pimms. It was great fun and lovely to see some people that I don’t see often enough.
I wasn’t planning on doing too much today and photography was at the bottom of my list. Then I saw a ladybird sitting on one of the garden chairs in the sun and even with my shaky hands it seemed like some macro photography would be a good idea.
Obviously if I were any sort of photographer, I would have caught my reflection in the shiny wings but frankly I’m fairly gobsmacked that I managed to get such a clear shot. I’ve cropped it but otherwise left it alone.
The husband pointed out this evening that our Orchid was abundant with flower. It lives on the kitchen windowsill and seems to thrive on my type of plant tough love (which involves looking at it every now and then and thinking how beautiful it is but not actually doing anything constructive like watering it) and living in the path of the steam from the kettle .
Flushed with my earlier ladybird success I thought I’d try again with the macro setting this evening. I managed the next shot with still wobbly hands and moving flowers, having taken the Orchid into the breezy garden (nicer background).
Just think what I could do if I were really trying (or bothering to use a tripod).
Everytime I see this box I misread the label.
Once every 4 months I go somewhere on my own. When I get there I am always greeted like a hero. Everywhere I look there are beaming smiles and comments of “we’re so pleased to see you again”. I get to lie down for 20 minutes (on my own without a child trying to climb on me) and then I get made a drink and forced to eat biscuits. When I leave it’s to the sound of people thanking me and hoping for my return. Sounds great, don’t you think?
Once every 4 months all I have to do is endure a pretty insignificant pinching/scratching feeling in my arm. I wouldn’t say it hurts but it’s a little uncomfortable for about 3 seconds (I’ve counted it in my head, that’s all it takes).
Once every 4 months I give blood. It’s something that I’ve done for a while. I’ve made 15 donations so far, which I’m quietly proud of. It has, of course, become more important to me since I’ve had children.
It’s something that I’ve never really talked about to other people. I always assumed that most people that could, would. After all, it doesn’t really hurt and I’ve never suffered any ill effects. I also didn’t want people to think that I was either showing off or trying to push them into doing something they didn’t want to do.
It’s only lately that I’ve realised that a lot of people that I know don’t give blood and it seems that it’s mostly because it just hasn’t occurred to them, or they’ve thought about it but never quite got round to it.
Last year I started reading a blog called Three Ring Circus. Tiff’s past and ongoing story is amazing; sometimes funny, sometimes sad, but always inspiring. She is a fabulous and strong woman. Her youngest daughter, Ivy, has been diagnosed with immune deficiency and a monthly infusion of Intragam P makes her life liveable. I had never heard of this before I read Tiff’s blog. I always assumed that giving blood meant helping people that needed whole blood. Blood lost through an accident or operation. I didn’t know that my blood could help a little girl who is poorly. A little girl who needs anti-bodies. I’d like you to read Tiff’s speech to the Australian Red Cross (Ivy was their poster girl for a month – an advertisement for donating blood) rather than me twittering on about it any longer.
I don’t like to tell other people what to do but I just want to say that it’s easy, it doesn’t take much time, it doesn’t hurt that much and it helps so many people. And if you clicked the link, how could you not help that beautiful little girl?
I got the husb to take this picture. If you look really, really hard you can just about see the puncture mark – not that big really although I must ask why they use such a big plaster next time.
So, here’s me saying I won’t be posting everyday and here are two in a row. I’ve been wanting to post this for a while but I had to wait until after our holiday, otherwise it wouldn’t have been a surprise.
My parents-in-law are celebrating their ruby wedding anniversary in December of this year. Many congratulations and much love to you both. I made and decorated a cake, partly to congratulate them but also to say “thank you” for everything they do for us.
Our holiday seemed the perfect time to give it to them – it was a fruit cake and there’s always plenty of that around in December.
In other news, we had some weather this evening.
Here’s a close up of a hailstone for purpose of scale.
We’ve got some strawberry plants in the garden (thank you Grandma and Grandpa). They’ve got lovely flowers and tiny little strawberries on them. Unfortunately, they’re just the right size for the girl, or so she tells me. It’s going to be hard work stopping her scoffing the lot (which I have to do so that I can eat them).
It’s funny how things come together sometimes.
I’ve been thinking recently that this blog has become a photojournal of my children. While that’s no bad thing, it’s not what I intended for this little space of mine. It was also meant to be about improving my photography and having the confidence to put something of myself out there.
I feel like lately I’ve been snapping pics of the kids and slinging them online without really thinking about it. This feeling was compounded by someone commenting that they couldn’t believe I hadn’t used a particular title before. Maybe I’ve misconstrued the comment but I read it that the post was a bit samey and familiar (and yes, I am aware that I’ve just made up a word). I’m glad I got that comment. It was a well timed prod.
It’s funny that just this evening, when I was looking for something to photograph, and thinking about the blog, my husband (and now my muse) said to me “well, you did the lion yesterday so you should do the witch today”. It took me a minute to cotton on.
Following yesterday’s macro experiment, today I played about with focus. It might not seem like much but it isn’t anything I’ve really had the confidence to do before. I tend to believe that what the camera tells me is the best shot, is the best shot. Maybe not though. I made the camera do this, mostly because I could, and I think it looks ok.
The kids got one each of these in a party bag last week (from the lovely S). They love them and there are often fights over who owns which.
In my copious free time (ahahaha) I’ve been trying to try out a bit more macro photography and it struck me at tea-time that Lion would be a good subject (what with all those sticky out bits).
We’ve got a holly bush in our garden which is home to some sparrows (it used to have starlings as well but we haven’t seen any this year).
The husband pointed out a mother sparrow and her baby sitting on the fence yesterday (I’m a day late posting, sorry) so I made him go in and get the camera (I’m trying to train him as my assistant!) at which point the mother flew away. He said he’d seen them sitting on the fence while he had been hanging out the washing earlier (I know, isn’t he great? Hanging out the washing AND scoping out photo opps for me) and that the mother had been feeding the baby. I only had to wait for 5 minutes before the mother came back and started feeding her baby again.
