Nicolette's Notebook

Breathe in the moment

2012-02-09T22:23:00.000Z

9 February 2012

Wow, I am into February... no idea where this year is going... it is flying by so fast...

so I thought it is time to remember to do what Shane loved to do even on a cold and frosty day...

and take time to breathe in the moment...

White Rose...

2011-11-16T14:01:00.000Z

Wednesday, 16th November 2011

Playing with the new camera again... this series of photos were taken of the white rose which still has a few blossoms even so late in the Autumn...

I liked the brown stamens and the sandy coloured dying petals... The photos are not quite as sharp as I would like but we have a slight breeze outside today... and a breeze always affects close-ups... I like the lovely soft bokeh in the background of the rose... the colours blend into each other in a way that doesn't detract from the subject of the photograph...

This is a particularly pretty white rose that grows in my shadiest flower bed near the neighbours garage wall...

A test close-up shot taken with the lens 1 cm from the rose... I like the sharp focal point and how the rest of the petals become beautifully blurry...

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 is a nice camera to hold... a solid feeling and weight in my hands...

Tiggy...

2011-11-15T13:46:00.001Z

Tuesday, 15th November 2011

The new Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 arrived just before lunch... I slotted the battery into the charger to allow it to charge for long enough to be able to take a few test shots...

This photograph and the one below are of my mum's cat Tiggy outside in the garden... I was trying out the macro setting as I wanted to see how it managed doing close-up photography. I have always loved taking close-up photos.

The camera took lovely clear photos outside. It is a dull late Autumn day and the light was mundane...

Then I moved indoors with Tiggy. I wanted to see how the camera would handle in-door lower light shots. This was one of the features that was most important for me when choosing the camera and having a point and shoot camera with a lens starting at f2 was important for me. My last point and shoot was not good at handling low light...

There is some noise in the background but it is not awful... and certainly not as bad as with the old P4. This photograph like the one above was taken from the shady angle with the light from the window behind Tiggy...

I am pleased with how this camera has handled a rather tricky setting and Tiggy is not a cat who likes to sit still for very long.

I am really looking forward to testing this camera's abilities on a walk...

New Point and Shoot...

2011-11-11T17:54:00.001Z

Friday 11th, November 2011

For months now, I have realised that the time to replace my late lamented Nikon P4 had arrived... Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my Nikon DSLR D3000 and the amazing selection of lenses, filters books and other camera related paraphernalia that have taken up residence here, since its arrival, last Autumn...

Without it I couldn't possibly have won a prize in the Zoo Photographic Competition...

1st Prize in the 'best funny caption' category

98, 99, 100, Ready or Not here I come!!!

Highly Commended in the 'best picture taken by a visitor' category...

But there is a lot of weight involved with taking a DSLR out for a walk... and I really wanted a great point and shoot camera that I could put in my coat pocket or my handbag and literally carry with me everywhere that I go. I used to take the P4 with me everywhere. Which meant I always had a camera when I saw something exciting or the light seemed to change just as I turned the corner or I met an animal in a strange place, there would be my trusty little camera ready and waiting...

The other problem I have with the DSLR is that I don't feel particularly comfortable wandering the lanes and byways with an expensive camera and assorted lenses hanging on my shoulder... So I tend to wait until Neil can go for a walk too and at this time of the year... well... apart from weekends... it is always dark by the time we can go out together which isn't ideal for photos...

The crunch came when I bought my ticket for going over to spend 3 weeks with family in Kent... I really didn't want to take so much valuable camera equipment in my luggage but nor did I want to miss taking photographs of my family over the festive season... Neil will be with his family and also wanted to be able to take photos over Christmas... so he will use the DSLR system and I have bought a new Point and Shoot...

Then I started trying to choose... I knew that the camera had to be good at taking photos in low light conditions as most of the photos over Christmas will be taken inside the cottage which has very small windows and not a lot of light even in Summer... My favourite types of photography are animals, close-up (can't call it macro because I have never actually had a macro lens but I do love to see the details in the hedgerow), and landscape... I have also begun reading about taking my photographs in RAW format and wanted the camera to have this option as well... Okay, I have become used to the DSLR and I wanted a point and shoot that could come as close to giving me DSLR functions as possible but with the light weight/pocket size of a compact camera.

After literally days of reading online reviews, browsing photography magazines, reading blogs, reading amazon reviews and gazing at image after image on Flickr... I finally narrowed it down to a choice of 4... okay, so only 3 were ever really in the race but a woman can dream...

Canon Powershot S95 - this was a major contender for me, even though I am not really a Canon fan... My last film camera was a Canon Powershot which replaced my beloved Nikon Coolpix (stolen from luggage between Russia and Northern Ireland) but since then I have moved through several Fuji Finepix (2 were stolen), Nikon P3 (stolen), replaced by Nikon P4, then the arrival of the Nikon DSLR and I was not completely convinced that I wanted to go back to Canon... Then I read that they are updating it to the Canon Powershot S100 in January 2012 and I decided no... not going there... as this happened to me when I bought my MacBook Pro, less than a month later, Apple brought out the new improved version at a lower price to my new purchase, and months later I am still irritated by this...
Nikon P7100 - this was very high on my contender list and I was so very very keen on this camera... I so love using Nikon... everything about Nikon... but on looking at the Flickr photos I was not completely convinced that this camera was the one for me even though on paper it seemed perfect... I just thought it was a little too big and chunky for what I want.
Leica D-LUX 5 - oh this came high on my dream list... I looked at it... I read about it... I drooled... but - the price - there was just no getting around the price - way too expensive for what I want or need...
Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 - came into the picture... Made in the same factory as the Leica D-LUX 5 and uses the same lens. But at half the price of the Leica. I looked at the photographs on Flickr... now granted I had to scroll through many amazing professional photographs before I started finding images taken by "ordinary folks" but when I did... I was so impressed... beautiful closeups of everything from leaves and peeling bark to cats claws... stunning colour... great indoor shots... I just knew this was the camera for me...

So the Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5 has been ordered on Amazon, along with a spare battery (yup - I take more than 400 photos on a walk), a 32gb Sandisk (noticed that taking photos in RAW take more memory and I have had my 16gb card flash up as full), a converter that will allow me to use some of my filters on the camera (pleasant surprise for a compact), and a book on getting the most out of this camera. I had noted that other buyers although loving the camera... were less than enamoured that the manual is on a CD... not so useful if you want to refer to it while standing knee high in wet grass...

I have never owned a Panasonic, nor has Neil, so this will be interesting. It is good, now and again, to stretch myself to look at the possibilities of using a different brand to my favourite, and as I said to Neil, I already have my Nikon DSLR system that can do everything plus a lot more than my little P4 could achieve, so it will be nice to see what a different camera can do.

Should arrive on Tuesday... so exciting...

Mystical Magical Belfast...

2011-11-06T00:11:00.000Z

Saturday, 5th November 2011

Magical, mystical Belfast...

The Mourne Mountains in the far distance...

The fog blankets the city...

With glints of sunlight breaking through...

And then... the fog gradually begins to fade away...

Waiting Patiently...

2011-11-05T09:50:00.000Z

Saturday, 5th November 2011

I have a wonderful group of feral pigeons who like to visit for their breakfast every morning...

We woke up to sunny morning and blue skies for the first time in days... so after feeding the birds, small and large, the cats and ourselves, we will go for a walk on Cavehill... We have had such a wet summer and autumn that any sunny spell especially in November should not be missed...

My friendly pigeons are still being patient but they have noticed I am photographing them from the window instead of being down in the kitchen sorting out their food...

Even with the sunlight... there is a very definite autumn chill to the air.

Halloween...

2011-10-31T23:01:00.001Z

Monday, 31st October 2011

It is Halloween and the bangs, crackles, whistles and shrieks seem to be dying down.

On our evening walk last night on the Cavehill, Neil and I arrived at the viewpoint just in time to watch the whole of the Halloween Fireworks display by the river Lagan in Belfast. I didn't have a camera and Neil took some photos using his phone. The shots are a bit fuzzy but we were about 4-5 miles from the fireworks.

It was a magical display and amazing seeing the sheer scale of the fireworks over the city lights.

I must try out a few night shots with my camera and the tripod I received for Christmas. I have never actually taken the tripod out of its box yet... but with the winter nights drawing in, I am sure to have more opportunity for trying.

Garden Orb Weaver Spider

2011-09-22T09:09:00.000+01:00

22nd September 2011

We have an orb weaver spider in residence on the other side of our bedroom window...

This is a wonderful short BBC Wildlife video of an orb weaver spider spinning her web... Absolutely worth watching the beauty of the process...

Although I am a bit nervous around spiders... This morning when I opened the curtains, she was busy rebuilding part of her web... and I could not fail but to be amazed at how she was working...

My orb weaver spider has beautiful striped legs... I often see these spiders in the garden in Autumn...

I pretty much tried every lens that I own to take these photographs... and fervently wishing that I had a macro lens... In the end I had most success using the AF-S Nikkor 35 mm prime lens with the Canon 52mm close-up lens 500D attached.

Soon after taking these photographs, having finished her work, she vacated her web and headed off to the corner of the window frame to snooze...

Enjoying a Swim...

2011-09-21T06:57:00.001+01:00

21 September 2011

Yesterday I decided to go to the zoo with my camera and the Sigma 70-300 mm lense. Our zoo in Belfast is on the slopes of the Cavehill and there is a wonderful walk around the animal enclosures along a meandering path on rather steep gradients...

I thought this photo of the sea lion was perfect for Watery Wednesday...

I think this is sea lion is definitely blissed out...

Yellow Roses...

2011-09-19T12:11:00.000+01:00

Monday 19th September 2011

Macro Monday

Gosh it has been a while since I joined in with Macro Monday and it is fun to be back...

I just adore roses...

The sweet delicate perfume...

Delicate soft yellow petals...

And the gaudy showiness...

To me... roses are sheer perfection...

Strange Conversation...

2011-09-18T23:28:00.000+01:00

18th September 2011

For SOOC Sunday this week I have chosen a photograph (which has been cropped) that I took on a visit to the zoo with my two nieces in early September...

I would love to have known what these two were saying to each other...

Driftwood...

2011-09-12T10:52:00.000+01:00

Monday 12th September 2011

Macro Monday

I have had a very busy summer and look forward to sharing some of the different series of photographs that I have taken while on my many walks and visits to new places.

This series of photographs is of a wonderful section of tree trunk that drifted onto the beach.

I just adored the colours and textures on this wonderful piece of driftwood.

I've always loved driftwood. I love the way the time spent in the sea water smooths the rough edges.

Partly buried in the sand...

I love the contrast in texture between the wood and the sand and pebbles.

Wonderful textures and green algal growth...

The subtlety of the colours of charcoal, grey, sand, beige, olive greens, ochres... are just glorious.

Beautiful textural swirling patterns...

Sleeping at the Zoo...

2011-09-09T00:10:00.000+01:00

8th September 2011

My nieces and I spent a eventful day at the zoo before we travelled over to England.

As we arrived Maya said that her tooth was bleeding. It was a baby tooth. So I gave her a tissue and said she should wiggle it gently. By the time we reached the elephant enclosure the tooth was out. So I carefully wrapped it in tissue so that the tooth would not be lost. She was a little worried that the tooth fairy would not be able to find her on the ferry. I said that the tooth fairy was magical and would find her. When she expressed concern that the tooth fairy would be too tired to fly home, I said that she would be able to rest on the ferry and travel back with it to Belfast on the return trip.

There was general consternation that we could not locate the ring tailed lemurs. These sleeping black and white lemurs had to suffice.

I thought it was really cute...

When we reached the monkey house... we peered at the mass of monkeys all snuggled up together. My niece wondered how many legs and arms each monkey had.

I said two legs and two arms.

That they were just enjoying a group cuddle and a snooze in the warm sunshine.

Carnlough Harbour...

2011-07-13T10:44:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 13th July 2011

Watery Wednesday

Carnlough is a village on the coastal A2 route along the edge of Co. Antrim.

It has a wonderful enclosed harbour that was built to take the stone from the local quarry away (now closed). The quarry has grassed over and the high manmade cliffs have many birds nesting.

We went on the lovely walk along Glencloy to Cranny Falls last year.

The harbour is built using the limestone that was quarried in the area.

It is still a busy little harbour with boats coming in and going out.

We bought fish and chips and sat watching the boats and enjoying the smell of the sea.

The end of the tramline that carried the rock down to the harbour (now the walker's path to Glencloy, the disused quarry and Cranny Falls) was above the harbour (where the railings are in the photo).

Lovely views.

Just Hanging About...

2011-07-10T09:40:00.021+01:00

Sunday 10th July 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday

I loved this series of photographs of the squirrel

Showing his wonderful gymnastics skills

Nonchalantly hanging by two paws while holding a peanut with his front paws

Showing off a little?

Looking cool as the peanut feeder and squirrel sway in the breeze...

Amazing acrobatic abilities

As you can tell I really like grey squirrels

Just look at the beautiful feathery tail fluttering in the breeze...

"Wot, moi?"

"You really think I am acrobatic and cute?"

"Cool"

All Souls' Chapel...

2011-07-08T09:18:00.011+01:00

Friday 8th July 2011

When I was in Kent in May for my brother Paul's Memorial Service...

I walked around the churchyard trying to ease my mind...

The gate into the churchyard...

Beautiful old door handle... and weathered wood...

Paul is very much in my thoughts at the moment as the 12th of July fast approaches and I am sad that he will never have his 44th birthday and I think about how later this month...

We shall walk through the doors of All Souls' Chapel...

For a happy event...

When we visit for a combined family service...

When my nieces are baptised and my sister and her partner will be married in a combined service...

But my thoughts will also be with my brother Paul...

Stormy Sky Sweeping in From the Sea...

2011-07-06T07:51:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 6th July 2011

Watery Wednesday

On a walk along the shore at Crawfordsburn the sky began to darken... surprisingly quickly it began to hide the lovely blue sky we had been enjoying...

I loved the beauty of the dark approaching rain clouds...

I loved the contrast of the white daisies against the grey sky...

As the rainclouds neared... We picked up our pace...

Walking back towards the car park... before it began raining...

Jeepers Creepers...

2011-07-04T09:34:00.030+01:00

Monday 4th July 2011

Macro Monday

I particularly love the Virginia Creeper in Spring and Summer with its beautiful green leaves and blush coloured shoots...

It is an elegant plant as it drapes over the fence and across the doorway.

"Please may I come in?"

"No" we all say in unison looking at the state of her wet muddy paws and fur after her latest excursion into the pond.

This was my favourite photo. I loved the way the sunlight lit up the leaves and made them glow.

"Jeepers creepers, won't you let me come in?" she says, still hopeful, "anyway, I am much cuter than those silly virginia creeper leaves that you are photographing". "Pleeeeeease....."

St Annes Square...

2011-07-03T19:10:00.000+01:00

Sunday 3 July 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday

When we woke up, it was a beautiful sunny morning, so we decided to take the camera and go for a walk in Belfast City centre. I love walking around early in the morning on a Sunday when everywhere is so quiet and still. As this is for SOOC I have straightened any of the photos...

Our aim was to wander around the old cobbled streets near Hill Street... We turned a corner walked past the back of St Anne's Cathedral and there was a route into the new Saint Annes Square. The strange metal needle (very tall and shiny) is the replacement spire on St Annes Cathedral. They have matched the new buildings in the Square very nicely to St Annes Cathedral (a part of which can be seen behind the trees).

As we walked around this square it reminded Neil of the plazas in Barcelona but I found it more reminiscent of walks around Bath or Tunbridge Wells in England.

Part of it is not yet completed. The Mac will be a new arts centre/threatre.

It was a very peaceful place and many of the new very modern apartments were already lived in. A nice addition to Belfast in the Cathedral Quarter which really needed some much needed improvement.

Red Poppy...

2011-06-27T09:24:00.011+01:00

Tuesday 28th June 2011

I had intended to have this as my Macro Monday post for yesterday. But I was late and didn't get it posted in time. So I thought I would put it on today. I love these gorgeous poppies.

To be honest, I don't know the variety.

They have grown in Steffi's garden in Kent since she and Paul bought the house about 16 years ago.

I loved the richness of the plum and aubergine colours in the centre with the little bit of sage green...

Such a striking plant and every bit as beautiful when the petals fall and the poppy seed heads mature.

Sunset Over Strangford...

2011-06-22T08:11:00.017+01:00

Wednesday 22nd June 2011

Watery Wednesday

I took this series of photographs of the Sunset over Strangford Lough after we had spent a day wandering around Portaferry and visiting the Aquarium... As we travelled home the sun gradually set...

The car ferry at the dock in Portaferry, taking on cars, for the short trip across Strangford Lough to Strangford... As we left Portaferry the sun was beginning to set...

The sun was getting lower in the sky...

Reflecting beautifully across Strangford Lough...

We stop a bit further along the Coast for me to photograph the sunset over a small bay... The sun was almost on the Horizon at this point...

By the time we stopped near Mountstewart the sun had just disappeared...

And the sky was still full of colour...

And night was almost upon us...

How many books inhabit my To-Be-Read pile?...

2011-06-21T09:43:00.017+01:00

21st June 2011

Book Blogger Hop

I don't actually take part in this meme (mainly because I don't post reviews about all the books that I read) but I do think the questions posed can be interesting... and thought provoking...

This particular question made me laugh out loud...

Question:

“How many books are currently in your To-Be-Read (TBR) Pile?”

After all I live in a house that has at least one book case in every room (including the attic) except the kitchen and bathroom... The small bedroom which is nicknamed the book room... has a lovely blue futon sofa bed (very comfy to lounge on for reading) but which has long since ceased to be used as a spare bed as it cannot be opened up due to the number of bookshelves that now surround the walls.

Other than all the books packed onto every shelf usually lying on their sides (I discovered I could fit more books onto the sh

elf this way as I didn't like the wasted space above the books) usually two piles deep... so many novels, biographys, fascinating non fiction, historical tombs... a multitude read... many more waiting to be read...

imaginary and real worlds hidden within books of mythology... folklore... fairy tales... all of which I fully intend to explore and lose myself inside... when time allows...

So in answer to this hilarious question... too many to be counted...

I've even taken to borrowing books in the to-be-read pile from the library in audio book format so that I can "read" listen to them while I am working... new method of multi-tasking...

My mum taught me to read when I was 2 1/2 and by the time I started school a week before my 4th birthday I had already read all of the reading books for the first year...

The highlight of my world when I was tiny was the arrival of the mobile library bus at the parking area just beyond our gates... where I would proceed to read and browse most of the children's books before deciding upon which ones I wanted to take out to read again...

Kerria Japonica...

2011-06-20T09:21:00.040+01:00

Monday 20th June 2011

Macro Monday

I photographed the Kerria Japonica which grows by the fence in my mum's back garden in late Spring.

In the spring this part of mum's garden is a riot of colour... with the Kerria Japonica, the lovely pink Camelia, the two japanese azaleas which are just starting to flower when these photographs were taken and the lovely hellebore towards the front of the border...

The Kerria Japonica is starting run riot in its spot and will need to be pruned... I usually do this when it has stopped flowering for the season... no point in losing any of these glorious blooms... I thin out old stems after it finishes flowering for the season...

The Kerria Japonica is a deciduous shrub with very showy yellow flowers...

a blaze of sunshine in bloom...

Mum grows hers in partial shade, in well drained soil, beside the fence...

It is a graceful shrub with beautiful arching green stems and pretty serrated edged dainty green foliage...

This one has the lovely double blossoms in buttercup yellow... I think there are single varieties around...

The blossoms look like little yellow pompoms...

The petals start to fade to a pretty buttermilk yellow as the blossom ages... really beautiful...

This gorgeous shrub flowers from mid- to late- Spring...

This particular plant was given to mum as a young plant taken off an established plant in her friend Betty Smethurst's garden, when she visited her many years ago, in Cumbria... Betty passed away a few years after this and when we look at the Kerria Japonica in full bloom we think of Betty's sunny personality and mum's wonderful lifelong friendship with her...

Squirrel Eating at Bird Feeder...

2011-06-19T10:53:00.027+01:00

Sunday 19th June 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday

We are so lucky to share our lives and our world with beautiful intelligent wild animals...

Like the grey squirrel...

Acrobatic and fun to watch...

Their agility is inspiring...

They love nibbling the birdseed...

And the peanuts that are put into the open dish specially for them...

They are so pretty...

With their gorgeous fluffy tails and dark clear eyes... and dextrous little paws...

Fingerless Mitten...

2011-06-18T09:20:00.003+01:00

18 June 2011

At Christmas I quickly wrote out a pattern for my sister for a fingerless mitten as she wanted to knit a pair using the lovely soft Mini Mochi sock wool... unfortunately, her copy got mislaid... and as I had written it out for her without keeping a note of the pattern myself... her project had to be put on hold...

When we saw each other in May, I took notes from the fingerless mitten she had finished... counted rows... noted the gauge... and went home with every intention of writing the pattern asap...

But as per usual other things had to take presidence...

Then, on Tuesday, I had time... I took out the scribbled notes... and I cast on and started knitting a fingerless mitten for myself. I am using one of the Trekking sock yarns that I bought a while ago...

Gorgeous colours of shades of blue, taupe, grey and russet...

This photo is closer to the colours... It was a bit tricky holding the camera with the right hand and photographing the fingerless mitten on the left hand... the same mitten fits both hands perfectly but couldn't manage to take the photo and wear it on my right hand...

So the new knitting pattern for a fingerless mitten has been emailed to my sister and hopefully when she knits it, it will turn out to be reasonably similar to her original mitten...

These mittens are destined to live in my camera bag for cold days snapping...

Homing Pigeon...

2011-06-17T21:38:00.000+01:00

17 June 2011

I was just turning off the pump for the Koi pond in mum's garden this evening...

When this beautiful homing pigeon shuffled up to me... I have a natural affinity with pigeons...

I've always loved them... this one has its racing number ring on its leg so we contacted TACT to get the phone number for the organiser in Lisburn... So we will hopefully hear from the owner soon...

In the meantime it is in the bedroom in a box with some grain and a deep dish of water as pigeons need to be able to submerge their beak in water to get a drink...

We were told it is important to keep the pigeon warm... hence the bedroom...

I couldn't leave the pigeon as it couldn't take off (probably exhausted) and my friend and neighbour has 7 cats under the age of 1 year so this beautiful bird was not safe to be left.

This is the second homing pigeon that I have rescued. This bird is in much better condition than the last one which had been attacked by the local peregrine and had bad damage on its back.

This bird just needs to go home to its loft...

Photos curtesy of Neil as I was holding and stroking the pigeon... Couldn't remember how to hold it properly although I was shown with the last homing pigeon I rescued.

Foxgloves...

2011-06-17T10:19:00.029+01:00

Friday 17th June 2011

The beautiful stately foxglove is one of my favourite wild plants...

Foxgloves are a native biennial common in woods, hedgerows and open places throughout Britain... Foxgloves are very pretty allowed to grow wild in our gardens...

A well loved plant but extremely poisonous...

The long tubular flowers are popular for bees who crawl inside to extract the nectar...

In folklore foxglove was credited with the ability to break fairy power over children and adults.

In Ireland, Scotland and Wales, the foxglove is surrounded by myth and magic, and country people refer to it as the king of herbs... the flower has often been celebrated in poetry...

The foxglove leaves are used as the source of the drug digitoxin, used in the treatment of heart disease, to slow the pace of the heart-beat... the plant was also used in ancient (if dangerous) herbal remedies...

The foxglove should not be picked and brought inside for flower arranging as it is said to cause people in the surrounding vicinity who breathe in the scent to become sleepy...

Earl grey for One...

2011-06-16T08:01:00.001+01:00

Thursday 16th June 2011

I have been searching for a quirky teapot/cup for one for drinking my earl grey and green tea for absolutely ages. Then yesterday, when I was in the garden centre to buy yet more niger seed for the goldfinches + their many friends, there it was... the most perfect one... sitting in among all the rose patterned ones... It was quickly picked up and carefully balanced in the trolley on top of the bags of niger seed...

As I have been working hard recently to finish my Pretty in Pink Collection for Sasha Doll Style...

and to reach the point where the Sasha Doll Style new website is ready to be uploaded to the web for the first time... hopefully without any difficulties... fingers crossed... will try on Saturday...

I decided as it was a nice day to take a little me time... I have been twitching to knit a pair of socks for myself using this lovely soft Regia cotton/wool sock yarn that my sister Pip gave me at Christmas...

Yep... it was a toss up...

Sasha sweater for the new Marmalade Compote Collection that I am working on now...

lovely new cool summer socks for me...

I am knitting these ones at the same time... so that for once I will actually have a pair of socks instead of yet another orphan... I have far too many orphan socks that I keep intending to complete... I think it would be nice to actually get to wear these ones this summer...

The Wave

2011-06-15T08:01:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 15th June 2011

Watery Wednesday...

For this week I have a series of photographs that I took of a wave while I was sitting on the rocks near the beach at Crawfordsburn Country Park... The photos were taken using my mobile phone so aren't quite as sharp as I would have liked... although it was a warm hazy day...

I have always loved watching the ebb and flow of the waves over the rocks...

Like the ebb and flow of our lives... I have thought much over the past weeks about the passage of time... how quickly it can speed by... the importance of living every single minute as though it is your last and not putting off until tomorrow that which needs done or said today...

It is soothing to the troubled spirit sitting listening to the sound of the water and sea birds...

Old Table...

2011-06-13T07:03:00.000+01:00

Monday 13th June 2011

Macro Monday

The old wooden table in the garden in Kent...

Lovely worn weathered wood...

I liked the two stones that were sitting on the table top...

I have always loved the warmth of these beautiful materials...

I liked the shadows cast by the evening sun...

The wood is covered by moss and lichen...

The weathered wood has warped and split over the years...

I love the warm mellow colours of the Kentish rock...

I love these types of natural still life...

Ziggy with Hickory...

2011-06-12T07:44:00.001+01:00

Sunday 12th June 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday

Ziggy (German Shepherd) playing with Hickory (Norwegian Forest Cat)...

Sometimes when I look at Ziggy's expression I wonder is she intending to play with Hickory or try making Hickory into her next meal...

Ziggy spends much time trying to follow Hickory to new heights...

Watching Hickory keenly...

Following her around the garden...

And making friends with each other...

Dogs and cats interact so well together...

And it looks like Ziggy and Hickory will be the best of friends...

Contemplation...

2011-06-10T08:25:00.001+01:00

Friday 10th June 2011

These photographs were taken as I sat alone in the early evening...

By my brothers burial spot...

I looked up and gazed around me...

And thought about the beautiful place in which he rests...

The views across the fields to the river where Ziggy likes to swim...

The lovely little church surrounded by the old worn tombstones...

The loveliness of the flowers...

The place exudes a peacefulness...

That is soothing to the troubled mind...

Then I roused myself to go and find my DH who was sitting beneath an old oak tree, with Ziggy, in the field... giving me some time alone in the old graveyard for contemplation...

Now What?

2011-06-08T09:29:00.000+01:00

8th June 2011

For Watery Wednesday...

"Was it something I said?"

Sweet Violets...

2011-06-06T07:00:00.011+01:00

Monday 6th June 2011

Macro Monday

These photographs of wild violets were taken on top of Cavehill on 25th April 2011...

On a wonderful sunny afternoon, with a picnic rug, a bottle of water and oaty biscuits...

Before my world changed forever... and became a before and an after...

I have always liked the dainty violets and they grow in abundance on sunny banks on Cavehill...

Sweet violet (Viola Odorata) is a dainty perennial growing from a thick, short rhizome bearing a crown of dark green leaves which have long stalks and heart shaped blades.

The subtly sweet scented flowers are borne on long slim stalks from February to April...

I love the blossoms as they start to die back...

lovely shades of purple...

The flowers are visited by bees for pollination...

There are many different species of violets in Britain.

It is difficult to tell them apart due to the differences of colour and hybridisation within all the species.

Such a dainty delicate blossom...

I loved the lovely violet colour with the green of the grass in the background...

Violet means modesty...

Squirrel in the Garden...

2011-06-05T06:11:00.001+01:00

Sunday 5th June 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday

Now one of the things I have always always wanted was to have a camera which was capable of taking photographs of grey squirrels. Thanks to my sister Pip, my mum and my sister-in-law Steffi, last Christmas I received my first DSLR and thanks to my DH I have a collection of lenses to use with my Nikon D3000 camera. This series of photographs was taken using my Sigma 70-300 lense.

I really love grey squirrels...

After my initial fuzzy shots of fluffy squirrel tails as the squirrel disappeared out of my shot...

I was fast coming to the realisation that photographing these speedy little animals is not as easy as the wonderful photographers out there make it look...

So here are my first photographs of the grey squirrels who visit Steffi's garden in Kent every morning for breakfast at the bird feeding station... these photos were taken from 6:10 am so the light wasn't as good as I would have hoped for...

These animals have so much character...

And I have not yet fully captured it...

But I do look forward to many more attempts...

I think this is my favourite of my squirrel photographs and I have used it for my twitter avatar...

Like my sister I love action shots when I am lucky enough to capture them...

But honestly...

Aren't these little fellows the very cutest...

Full of spirit...

character... ingenuity...

and zest for life...

Pheasant...

2011-06-03T10:19:00.010+01:00

Friday 3rd June 2011

This beautiful cock pheasant visits Steffi's garden in Kent in the early morning and again in the gloaming to nibble bird food that my mum has spread beneath the bird feeding stations...

These photographs were taken at 6:45 am...

Such an elegant bird with beautiful bronze coloured plumage...

He has two pretty fawn coloured hen pheasants but I missed photographing them.

I love watching wild birds...

So much fun...

Wonderful colours on his plumage on his back and head...

Rich colours...

A bird with heaps of personality...

Greylag Geese...

2011-06-01T09:18:00.000+01:00

Wednesday 1st June 2011

Happy Birthday Steffi...

Watery Wednesday returns to the Greylag geese living at the waterworks...

I really love these handsome geese who live in the reservoirs at the Waterworks...

Very strong willed...

We have rather a large gaggle of them living there all year round...

I have linked to the RSPB's page about the Greylag Goose at the top of this post. But I must disagree with one of their comments...

They describe this handsome goose in a less than complementary way

"found around gravel pits, lakes and reservoirs all year round in southern Britain tend to be semi-tame and uninspiring"

which I find rather unfair as I think that it is cool that these geese choose not to chase everything they meet... and enjoy being fed by children and visitors to the park...

Dog's Tooth Violet...

2011-05-30T09:08:00.003+01:00

Monday 30th May 2011

Macro Monday

Dog's Tooth Violet otherwise known as Erythronium and this variety is the beautiful yellow "Pagoda" one of my favourite varieties...

These plants were photographed in my mum's garden...

Beautiful recurved petals with long elegant stamens.

A beautiful clump forming perennial growing from long pointed bulbs.

It flowers in Spring with yellow pendant flowers on slender upright stems.

Broad elliptic dark green leaves marbled with bronze...

In mum's garden she has them growing beneath her Viburnum Bodnatense Dawn.

Gorgeous elegant sulphur yellow blossoms...

Horses on Cavehill...

2011-05-29T09:12:00.005+01:00

29th May 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday

For SOOC Sunday this week I am using a series of photographs I took on 23rd April 2011.

Now and again when I am walking on the Cavehill I see the horses in the field...

There are more photographs in this series than I intended but the horses were just so cool to photograph that I just got a little carried away...

Initially my eye was caught by the horses nibbling mountain grass with the lovely view of North Belfast in the background...

They were very relaxed...

Then I noticed this rather naughty horse pawing at his friend who was lying down relaxing in the sunshine...

"I'm bored... let's go over there..."

"No, go away, I'm snoozing"

"Pleeeeeease"... with a naughty nip...

"Go away... NOW"

"Nope... get up.... I'm bored"

"Ouch... what are you doing... don't nip me"

"Is it comfy down there, maybe I'll join you?"

"Don't bother... go away... pleeeeease..."

"Hmm... this isn't bad..."

"Good, maybe you will let me get back to my nap now?"

"Ooooooh... this does feel rather good."

"What are you doing now, why can't you just relax?"

"Mmm, can't... you know me."

"Ooooooh, itchy spot.... just have a quick roll"

"Good grief... now what?"

"Oh this is so nice... why didn't you just say how nice it was down here... lying in the sun..."

"Honestly!!!!! why can't you be like everyone else?"

"So nice.... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Woodpile...

2011-05-27T09:05:00.000+01:00

Friday 27th May 2011

When I was visiting Kent last week I found myself wandering around the large garden...

I photographed the large fresh pile of logs near the front entrance... neatly piled...

Ready to be used in the log burner during next winter...

Paul had recently cut a dead tree and part of a felled blackthorn thicket into logs...

I liked the texture on the surface of his cutting block where the hatchet left its mark...

His chopping block with another large pile of logs in the paddock...

Beautiful texture on the sides of the chopping block...

The surface is peeling off...

Pieces of wood waiting to be cut smaller and/or split...

The large pile of wood that Paul was working on in the paddock...

For replenishing the woodpile by the side of the house...

Ziggy Swimming in the River...

2011-05-25T11:08:00.003+01:00

Wednesday 25th May 2011

Watery Wednesday

I don't know where the last month has gone. Literally. The first 10 days went in a blur of forcing myself to continue. Making terrible phone calls. Greeting people. Serving biscuits. Making smalltalk. While my mind was swirling in a benumbed haze. Then we were organising for the Memorial Service booking the ferry journey, driving over a 1000 miles, to be with family and loved ones...
and now I am back home...

A month ago today, my brother Paul, drowned in an accident at his lake in Brittany, and for a while I never thought I would be able to bear looking at water again... it was an agony sitting on the ferry looking at the grey murky water as we travelled from Belfast to Stranraer...

Then we started taking Ziggy for walks... and her favourite destination was the river...

Ziggy was Paul's dog...

She is a year and 1 month old... just a big fluffy silly puppy...

His wife Steffi bought her for him after his beloved German Shepherd Roxy died...

For a while, he and Ziggy struggled to bond... all the grumbles he had about Roxy... became grumbles because Ziggy did not possess these qwerks of personality...

My brother Paul was born on 12th July 1967 with the music of the local Orange Band getting ready to march for the 12th July celebrations (they were starting that year next door from us)...

Paul was a typical Cancerian... and always loved water and was drawn to it as a child... it didn't matter if it was an ocean, a lake, a pond, a rock pool or a puddle... he would find pleasure in the water...

Ziggy also finds immense pleasure in going for a swim and cooling down...

She is a beautiful dog...

With a vibrant, warm, caring personality...

She was the last living creature with my brother...

As they walked around the lake together... a month ago...

and this is why she is featured today for my Watery Wednesday... as I think about him...

And Ziggy has a new life with Paul's gorgeous daughters and his wife Steffi...

"Who's a Scaredy Cat?"

2011-05-10T23:35:00.000+01:00

11 May 2011

For Watery Wednesday this week is another series of wet dog photos... I find that dogs seem to appear in my photographs very regularly these days...

Shell beach (as I nicknamed it) was surprisingly busy with people and dogs...

And then out of nowhere appeared this pair of little beauties... Flying along the beach...

"Last one into the water is a scaredy cat..."

"I'm no scaredy cat..."

"I won... No you didn't... Who won? Woz it a draw?"

"Uh... not sure... hey Fred... which of us won?"

Kingcups...

2011-05-09T09:17:00.002+01:00

9 May 2011

Macro Monday... We have had a few very dry weeks of sunny weather... so this year it has been possible to walk in the early evening through the Kingcups...

Usually this area of ground is very wet and marshy but this year it has dried to a soggy mud...

I don't know of any other area on Cavehill where the Kingcups grow except here and I like to come to look at them at the end of April when they are in full bloom...

The Kingcup is a perennial herb with a short underground rhizome which gives rise to erect hollow stems up to 18" (45cm) high...

These beautiful blossoms are also known as Marsh Marigolds, Mary-buds (Shakespeare), Marygold (John Gay 18th century poet), and Soldier's Buttons...

They are usually found in ditches, wet meadows and shady places... I found that the photographs I took of the Kingcups in the shade of a hawthorne tree came out much better than those photographed in the bright sunshine... I used my Nikon 55-200 mm lens...

The dark green leaves have heart shaped blades on long stalks...

It is a member of the buttercup family and the blossoms look very similar although these are much larger.

In folklore they were hung upside down in doorways in May to ward off witches and were also used as a protection against lightning...

The blossoms are 1"-2" across...

They flower from March to July but I always find they are at their most spectacular towards the end of April when they are in full bloom and haven't started to die back...

Snooze time...

2011-05-08T09:57:00.010+01:00

Sunday 8th May 2011

SOOC Sunday...

Just time for a snooze before lunch...

Like Piccadilly Circus...

2011-05-01T09:47:00.003+01:00

1 May 2011

Straight out of the Camera Sunday...

It was a sunny weekend and we decided to go for a walk at Crawfordsburn Country Park...

The usually fairly quiet beach (when we walk here on cold days) was so very busy...

Wonderful to see so many people out enjoying the warm weather...

Well trodden paths... and only memories remain...

2011-04-26T03:10:00.000+01:00

26th April 2011

I love to walk along the well trodden paths that I have walked for most of my life...

I think of all the loved ones who have walked along this path with me through the years...

My brother Paul, died on Easter Monday afternoon in an accident on his farm in Brittany, he leaves behind his wife and two small daughters, his mum, his sisters and brother in laws... I am devastated. He was just too young at only 43 and so full of life, energy and plans... Paul lived his life as most of us only hope to do he was actually living out his hopes and dreams and not waiting for tomorrow... He believed that we could do anything if we put our minds to it... If something went wrong it was just a matter of redoing it until it came right... I didn't get to see him often as he was living in France and I am in Northern Ireland but I did see him for a day in March... I just wish it could have been for longer but I had to return for a hospital appointment and now there is no more time... I just always thought there would be more time and more opportunities but life can be so very short... I don't understand why this has happened... My mind struggles to accept he is gone... Sleep evades me...

Closeup Lichen...

2011-04-25T09:19:00.007+01:00

25 April 2011

Easter Monday...

Macro Monday... and The Power of Observation: Life in a Tiny Ecosystem...

I couldn't resist a few more closeup photos of lichen...

I just find something magical about lichens...

I really must look for a book that shows what the different varieties are...

The thorns on the hawthorne tree... I took these photographs before the leaves came out...

These photographs were taken while walking across the fields on Cavehill...

These gave a frosty look to the photo even though it was warm sunny morning...

They are like a forest within a forest...

Among the mass of silvery toned lichen was a little microcosm of yellow...

Young Love...

2011-04-23T21:35:00.000+01:00

24 April 2011

Happy Easter Everyone...

For Straight out of the Camera this week I have chosen a photograph that I took while walking at Crawfordsburn Country Park.

It was such a beautiful day and I saw this young couple sitting on the rocks looking out to sea. They looked very peaceful together and I loved that they were so colour coordinated with her hair the same shade as his tee shirt...

I thought about cropping this image a little but I really liked that they were a small part of a larger vista.

Red Dog...

2011-04-19T21:18:00.000+01:00

20 April 2011

For Watery Wednesday a series of photographs of a Red Dog that I photographed while walking at Crawfordsburn Country Park... It was one of the first truly warm days we have had this Spring...

Red Dog's owner threw a ball into the sea...

Red Dog obviously loves swimming and is a very powerful doggy paddler...

The ball comes into sight...

Red Dog is getting closer...

Success... Red Dog gets the ball and heads back for the beach...

Racing out of the surf towards the beach gripping his tennis ball...

Dripping wet and heading excitedly for his owner... What a beautiful dog...

Jelena and Diane...

2011-04-18T09:15:00.001+01:00

Monday 18 April 2011

Macro Monday... I thought that this week I would do a follow up on my Yellow Witch Hazel post...

Jelena

This orange blossomed Hamamelis was the first witch hazel that I bought 12 years ago.

It is truly beautiful... but not perfumed...

It has gorgeous orange blossoms in Winter...

and its foliage takes on an orange Autumn colour

The shrub has grown well in the acidic conditions of our garden

in a shady border beside the neighbours garage...

The blossoms glow in the early morning sunshine...

like tiny bright starbursts against the dark ivy and camelia backdrop...

Diane

Diane is the red witch hazel and has smaller spidery blossoms...

it is a beautiful and very dainty looking shrub...

but not as showy as the yellow or orange witch hazels... unfortunately, I planted this one quite close to the scented Pallida in my front garden so it gets a little overshone by the showier larger Pallida blossom.

Shepherd on the Road

2011-04-16T20:15:00.002+01:00

Sunday 17th April 2011

For SOOC Sunday this week... another of the wonderful sculptures we have in Belfast...

Photos that I took of the life size bronze scultptures of a Shepherd and his small flock of 6 sheep...

A wonderful sculpture called Sheep on the Road ...

by Deborah Brown...

It does seem strange to have a shepherd and sheep wandering past the Waterfront Hall.

Some of the sheep have a look of being slightly different breeds than others

The texture of the sheep gives a look of woolly fleece...

In July 2010 The Shepherd was given some knitted garments to wear as part of Craft Month

I really like the sheep...

Do You Think I'm Coot?

2011-04-13T09:31:00.032+01:00

Wednesday 13th April 2011

Watery Wednesday...

The coot is a cousin of the beautiful moorhen...

It is such an elegant bird... with its beautiful black plumage and pure white beak...

I really enjoyed photographing the coot at the upper reservoir at the Waterworks in North Belfast...

Swimming near the dead bullrushes...

I tried to get a closeup of the coot...

although its plumage is black it looks silvery grey in the sunlight...

I love this photo of the coot with the ripples surrounding it...

After paddling around in the bulrushes for a while...

It headed off to meet a couple of is friends...

And I definitely think the coot is more than a little cute...

Blackthorn Blossom...

2011-04-11T08:18:00.003+01:00

11 April 2011

For Macro Monday this week I have a series of photographs that I took of the delicate white blossom swathing the elegant thorny dark barked Blackthorn...

For Christmas Neil bought me a Sigma 70-300mm lens for my new DSLR camera...

I tried it out once and found that virtually none of the photos came out without being very blurry. I have diabetes and have a bit of handshake and this was more noticeable using this lens. I do have a tripod but for the type of snapping I like to do it isn't really for me...

So I decided it was time after all these months to give this lens a fair chance...

So I took it out for a walk...

I have always loved this beautiful blossom. I like that it comes out before the leaves and the thorny twigs are covered in a mass of stunning white blossom.

In Autumn the sloes can be picked to make sloe gin a rather enjoyable beverage on a cold winter night.

Once (when I was a child) I picked some blackthorn to bring into the house and my mother shooed me and my blackthorn out of the door before we had even crossed the threshold... Considered to be very unlucky to bring Blackthorn blossom into the house... odd really, as the wood is often used for walking sticks...

Blackthorn has very long elegant and sharp thorns... which if you get scratched by them the wound will often go septic... it was used in past times tipped with poison as a way of getting rid of enemies...

I have a couple of books about trees and the mythology surrounding them. One of my favourite is The Wisdom of Trees by Jane Gifford. The other I refer to often is Irish Trees - Myths, Legends & Folklore by Niall Mac Coitir. Both of these are packed with fascinating information about the Blackthorn. The Blackthorn like the Hawthorn is considered to be a fairy tree... It is a tree that has connotations with the practice of black magic.

The blossom is small and delicate ... with gorgeous long stamens...

The beautiful blossom has often been used to describe feminine beauty...

"My love is like the flower on the dark blackthorn"

Lichen...

2011-04-08T12:03:00.001+01:00

Sunday 10th April 2011

Oh I know... so naughty... but I just noticed that Murrieta365 had put up the posting for Straight Out of the Camera... and I couldn't resist the chance of being first to add to the McLinky... usually I am one of the last to arrive at these linky parties... How exciting...

For SOOC Sunday this week I have a series of photographs that I took of lichen on an old tree growing by the River Lagan... I photographed it before the leaves came as it allowed the lichen to be lit by the natural light... in a truly beautiful way...

Beautiful lichen which I know very little about...

I have always been a big fan of these gorgeous fungal growths.

I have always believed that Lichen prefers clean air for growing and usually grows on old trees...

It grows attached to the bark and surrounded by moss...

I have always thought that there is something very ancient looking about a tree covered with lichen...

beautiful silvery tufts...

I love these tiny little fungal organisms...

I think they are just so beautiful and ethereal...

I was kind of sad when I did a search for information on the lichen as I thought it would be interesting to find out what the botanical names were for the ones that I had photographed...

And they are not covered in any of my Natural History, Gardening or Wild Plant books...

But the majority of articles I came across seemed to be gardeners wanting rid of these beautiful funghi...

I would be truly delighted if my trees and shrubs started growing lichen... after all they do no harm... make the garden look mature (ours is still only a young garden at 13 years old) and would show that we had clean air to enjoy when we were sitting out in the garden reading or working...

Yellow Witch Hazel...

2011-04-04T10:54:00.020+01:00

Monday 4th April 2011

For Macro Monday... I just couldn't resist using a series of photographs that I took in February when I was offline for a while... The Witch Hazel was surprisingly difficult to photograph as it was hard to focus on the blossom. I think it was probably because any hint of a breeze caused all the narrow petals to move slightly. I often found when I looked at the photographs afterwards that the wrong flower or piece of twiggy stem was in focus and I had missed my mark. I love these flowers every year and I know I shall keep trying to get the best image of them that I can...

One of my very favourite shrubs is Hamamelis... commonly known as Witch Hazel...

I have several of these in my garden...

These images are of my sulphur yellow one called Pallida...

I have two of these and they are both very perfumed...

But I had noticed that when I was choosing them... most that I sniffed had no perfume at all...

So I spent several years sniffing every single yellow witch hazel that I cam across...

Until I had discovered one which had a very strong scent...

Which is particularly glorious on a sunny early spring day...

There is something very special about these wonderful fine crinkled blossoms...

Which the early bees always appreciate...

An amazing shrub that has wonderful blossoms from late winter to early spring, attractive foliage in the summer and fabulous Autumn colour... what more could I want...

Looks Hopeful...

2011-04-03T09:21:00.000+01:00

Sunday 3rd April 2011

SOOC Sunday... The tale of the hopeful geese...

Oi... wakeup sleepyhead... this looks hopeful...

They turn on their charm... looking their cutest...

Uh oh... no go... looks like they're heading for those showoffs over there... (the large group of swans)

Oh well... better luck next time... they turn on their tales and paddle away...

Agatha Raisin...

2011-03-31T11:57:00.015+01:00

Thursday 31st March 2011

Goodness... When it comes to my reading habits...

I always seem to get completely caught up in reading a whole series...

The most recent one that I have lost whole days reading is the Agatha Raisin series by M C Beaton.

I just happened to be browsing through Bargain Books and saw a few books from the Agatha Raisin series and I bought...

Agatha Raisin and the Wellspring of Death

Agatha Raisin and the Wizard of Evesham

Agatha Raisin and the Witch of Wyckhadden

Agatha Raisin and the Fairies of Fryfam

Agatha Raisin and the Love from Hell (truly hilarious)

Agatha Raisin and the Day the Floods Came

Now that I have finished reading these...

and I started the series in the middle (missed the first 6 books out of the series)...

Agatha Raisin and the Quiche of Death

Agatha Raisin and the Vicious Vet

Agatha Raisin and the Potted Gardener

Agatha Raisin and the Walkers of Dembley

Agatha Raisin and the Murderous Marriage

Agatha Raisin and the Terrible Tourist

Of course... I normally find myself going straight to Amazon.co.uk to find the rest of the series...

but there just seemed to be too many...

I have really enjoyed reading these books... she is a modern day... middle aged Miss Marple who happily blunders through and into the middle of murder cases...

So I am feeling rather self righteous and have reserved

Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House

Agatha Raisin and the Deadly Dance

Agatha Raisin and the Perfect Paragon

Agatha Raisin and the Love, Lies and Liquor

Agatha Raisin and the Kissing Christmas Goodbye

from my local library...

they even have a very useful email service to let me know when they arrive...

Of course all of them have arrived except for the one that I need to read next...

Agatha Raisin and the Haunted House...

This is always the way of things. I just have to find patience and get on with work that needs to be done.

Only two more in the series after I read the ones above...

Agatha Raisin and a Spoonful of Poison

and

Agatha Raisin: There Goes the Bride

I'm also holding my breath because when I went to look at the authors Website... which of course I couldn't resist doing... I discovered on her News page that the BBC are intending to repeat their Agatha Raisin series on BBC Radio 7 very soon... I am now checking the Radio 7 website on a daily basis...

Grey Heron in Waterworks...

2011-03-29T21:31:00.001+01:00

Wednesday 30th March 2011

For Watery Wednesday this week I have a series of photographs of the Grey Heron...

I took these photographs while walking in the Waterworks Park in North Belfast...

It is such a beautiful place... busy with lots of people walking... with prams... children... dogs...

Others like the heron are enjoying a little bit of fishing...

I love birds but with the heron it has been a little strained at times... when (possibly not this one although it is very local to us) it killed a couple of our precious Koi Carp... resulting in the pond having to be covered in a netting wire to keep our fish safe...

One of our favourite called Cloud was lost at this time... Cloud was our friendliest fish who always came to the surface to greet us when we went into the garden took its breakfast from our fingers...

While I stood and watched the Heron and photographed it it waded slowly behind the shrubs...

And gradually became obscured... I loved the way the heron was reflected in the lake water...

The grey heron is such a majestic bird...

So elegant in its lovely grey plumage and fine black crest... This bird still has a greyish coloured head so it may well be an young bird from last year...

The first Magnolia Blossoms...

2011-03-28T07:21:00.000+01:00

Monday 28th March 2011

For Macro Monday... I have taken a few photos of the first Magnolia Blossoms of the Spring...

These are probably some of my most favourite shrubs in the garden...

The pink Leonard Messell is situated just outside the kitchen window and the robin sits in it and tweets at me in the morning if I am tardy in bringing breakfast out to the birdtable...

We are still having frost at night and the first blossoms often get a little frostbitten...

The first stellata blossoms open surrounded by furry buds giving a hint of what is to come...

Last year I was away in Kent visiting my mum for 2 weeks at this time of year and missed the best of my magnolia's blossoming time... So I am really enjoying every moment of it this year...

My friendly garden Robin...

2011-03-27T09:02:00.001+01:00

Sunday 27th March 2011

For SOOC Sunday this week...

This is one of our friendly garden robins...

We are so very fond of these chirpy inquisitive little birds...

During the winter we usually have at least 5 robins feeding at the bird table and our resident robin spends much time chasing other robins. I think that our resident robin usually raises a healthy brood of young robins and they are the ones who we feed all winter and then by Spring our Robin expects the others to leave home and find somewhere new...

This one followed me around...

while I was taking photos in the garden of the newly coming out magnolia blossoms...

The robins have such a beautiful song and I really enjoy seeing them...

Turning on the Charm...

2011-03-26T10:07:00.004Z

Saturday 26th March 2011

Tiggy turning on the charm and hoping for some dried catnip...

Minnie and Neil...

2011-03-25T09:35:00.013Z

Friday 25th March 2011

Once upon a time... there were two sisters... now there is Minnie...

When Beryl was still with us she used to favour me...

And Minnie spent time with Neil...

She spends every evening impersonating a limpet...

with her very most favourite person in the whole world...

As soon as Neil sits down...

Moorhen...

2011-03-23T11:35:00.000Z

Wednesday 23 March 2011

I took this series photos of the Moorhen while walking along the tow path by the River Lagan.

I thought they would be nice for Watery Wednesday...

I love the elegant little moorhen... This one was paddling in the shallow water at the edge of the river...

She noticed me taking photographs of her...

Obviously decided that the best option was to ignore me completely...

I loved this photo showing her elegant golden toes...

She paused to take another look at me...

Decided I had been there for too long...

Turned her back on me...

And swam away...

Hellebores

2011-03-21T18:02:00.001Z

Monday 21st March 2011

Macro Monday... couldn't resist taking a few photographs of one of my white speckled hellebores...

These are some of my favourite blossoms in the Spring garden...

Wonderful stamens... deep maroon speckles...

Beautiful plump buds...

Glossy new leaves... I have cut off all of the old leaves from last year...

Everything about this plant appeals to me...

The blossoms turn a wonderful primrose yellow colour as they die off...

Beautiful ruffled petals...

SOOC Sunday - Wood Anemone

2011-03-20T19:23:00.000Z

Sunday 20th March 2011

For SOOC Sunday I have chosen a few photographs that I took of a clump of Wood Anemones that are truly beautiful at this time of year. These were taken a few years ago as there were a few photographs of Gillie and Shane within the batch. I find that I don't go out for walks as often without them.

I adore wood anemone. They have the most beautiful foliage...

And pure white blossoms...

There are some beautiful carpets of wood anemone on the hill in a few places...

I love how they light up in the sunlight...

Macro Monday - Pussy Willow...

2011-02-21T21:21:00.001Z

Monday 21 February 2011

For Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos this week I couldn't resist photographing the beautiful silver grey pussy willow...

I never feel that Spring has arrived until I see these lovely fluffy bits of silver...

It was difficult to get the close ups in focus because they were quite high in the tree...

So Beautiful.

I loved this image with the blurry willow in the background...

Love the colours of the twigs...

SOOC Sunday - A Walk in the Waterworks

2011-02-21T20:51:00.000Z

Sunday 20 February 2011

For Straight out of the Camera Sunday over at Murrieta365

I have chosen a few photographs that I took on a walk around the Waterworks Park in North Belfast.

This park is beautiful with two lakes and a small river with waterfalls...

Often when I am on a walk I find myself looking and photographing close up images but on this walk I found myself looking at vistas beyond the park... In this photo I have photographed Sampson and Goliath the two large cranes that were used to build the Titanic when Belfast used to have a ship yard.

This photograph was taken looking across the smaller lower lake where the swans love to congregate. I had seen a woman and two children feeding the birds a few minutes before and the seagulls were still circling hopefully but the geese were moving away...

I really liked this image of the cityscape looking across the upper lake towards the Cavehill Road.

I particularly liked the reflections of the buildings in the water.

This cheerful looking scruffy dog was walking with his owner a little ahead of us and I couldn't resist taking a photograph of him. He had such smiley face and the clearest blue eyes...

I couldn't decide whether I preferred the portrait or landscape composition of this image and in the end opted for the portrait. I really loved the reflected bullrushes in the lake with the Cavehill and Napoleon's Nose in the back ground.

I liked this view of the the dip between Black Mountain and Divis with the little bridge in the foreground. It is amazing to think that part of North Belfast and most of West Belfast lies beyond the trees between the park and the mountains. Belfast is surrounded by mountains and hills.

This view shows the Cliftonville Football Stadium with its lights reflected in the lake.

So many completely different vistas can be seen as I walk around the two lakes (which are on two different ground levels)

Macro Monday - Catkins

2011-02-14T08:20:00.003Z

Monday 14th February 2011

Valentine's Day - Happy Birthday Mum

We went out for a wonderful walk yesterday along the Lagan Towpath. I wouldn't call it peaceful as it was a little like trying to avoid being run over by the shoals of cyclists who expected walkers to jump onto the muddy verge to avoid being run over without giving even the warning sounds of a bell trilling to let us know they were almost on top of us.

Macro Monday at Lisa's Chaos

As we walked along, on what was actually a rather dull grey day, the sun suddenly came through a gap in the clouds and just lit up the hazel tree which was covered in beautiful new catkins or as I always think of them... lambs tails...

They were such beautiful golden green colours lit up against the greyish blue sky...

And just gave me the sense of Spring coming...

It is years since I have walked along the towpath. Mum and I used to walk along here on a very regular basis and spent many happy hours thinking, talking and planning our lives...

A wonderful Day and it is great to be getting back to my blog...

SOOC Sunday - Reflections

2011-02-13T23:08:00.001Z

Sunday 13 February 2011

Straight Out of the Camera Sunday over at Murrieta 365

I have finally been out for a walk with the camera. It feels like a long time ago that I was happily snapping away and working on my Sony laptop and Dell PC in much happy contentment.

Then the unimaginable and I lost both in the same week.

I am now trying to get used to using my new MacBook Pro and it has been a steep learning curve because everything works differently even little things like the shortcut commands that I have become so used to. Also trying to get used to new software so I am not quite sure if the photograph has retained its clarity with reducing the size for the web.

We went out for a lovely walk along the Lagan towpath today and this photograph was taken in the early afternoon. I loved the sky reflected on what was actually very dull grey looking water.