MUGS

Ah!  Mugs - plain, patterned, rude, decorative, there is no end to the variety you can find!   But what really matters is what you put in them!

Personally I favour either a good strong black coffee, or, being British, a nice cup of tea.   And ordinary tea, not Earl Grey, which I am afraid I absolutely loathe!


However, over at Thematic Photography at writteninc. Carmi likes Earl Grey tea!   And has a great photograph to prove it.   See what others put around their drinks, and maybe add your own collection.

Round at ours, you always have a choice of mugs!

Actually, we have loads more - can feed and water up to 20 people, I think, which is just as well, as my Creative Writing group meets at my house and if all come there are about 15 avid writers drinking coffee and tea squashed into our sitting room.

Anyone for coffee?

SIGNAGE

Signs are all round us - every day we unconsciously follow signs.   Sometimes they are easy, simple signposts with words on - Exit, this way, Town Centre.   Sometimes just initials - ENT, X-Ray, PO, and sometimes just icons, logos, pictures or whatever you want to call them.

This week's Thematic Photographic subject is SIGNAGE.   Go to the link to see what others have come up with in the way of signs!

This is actually a fridge magnet (and an excellent one!) that I brought back from Svalbard in Norway (Spitzbergen, if you want the old name) when we visited a few years ago.   It is a very common sign on the roads in that part of North Norway - running into a large reindeer would not be recommended!

This label, complete with all the little logos, was slapped onto everyone's recycling bins the other week.   Just to make sure we didn't put anything in the wrong bin!

Motorists coming from Buxton down one of our steep hills are faced with so many signs and sign posts.    Hopefully those that are not local and know all this can take it in while they wait at the traffic lights!

Do go to the link above to see other signs, and leave a sign for me if you visit - I love to know if anyone has come!!

PARALLEL

This week's thematic Photographic subject is PARALLEL.  As Carmi says, most parallels are man made (though I daresay someone will come up with entirely natural parallels).   There is such a scope for photographing interesting parallels, so have a look at the link above, and shoot your own, and post them over at the link above.

A bridge in France, somewhere between Le Havre and Rouen - taken from inside a bus

A boulevard in Alicante, Spain.   And yes, those stripes are parallel, and the surface is quite flat.   Quite made me seasick walking down there!

The steps down to a very posh ladies' loo at a nice restaurant in Nerja, Spain.

The long, long corridor facing you on board a cruise ship as you come back tired after an outing, and find you are boarding at the opposite end to your cabin!

A Greater Spotted woodpecker on our nut basket.   The outside 'cage' (which, of course, has parallels) is to prevent squirrels helping themselves to the nuts!

Hope you enjoyed these, do leave a comment if you visit, I like to know you've been!

ROADSIDE

Can't imagine how I managed to miss last week's "Celebration" theme, but somehow my links didn't work.   So I hastily got out my camera phone while I was in town, and took a couple of roadside pics.   Not too sure about this camera yet, and the weather was distinctly unphotogenic, but here they are.

Looking down on a back road and the exit from a car park.   Yes, those are setts in the road, and I judder over them every time!

Not much side of the road to be seen here.   Workers in the town park in these little streets, and then walk into town to where they work.   So the cars stay here all day.   And anyone driving down here has difficulty should they meet an oncoming car/van/lorry.    The cars drive away at the end of the working day and are replaced by the cars of the people who live in the houses on the right.   They open directly onto the street, and have no parking space.   Roadsides are very valuable round these ways!

Go to this link to see what bedecks the roadsides of other towns.    And post some of your own.

ELECTRICITY

The Thematic Photographic theme this week is ELECTRICITY.    Unfortunately my blog must be short, but I can only post this one shot for the subject!

Do go to the link above to see other electrical, and far more interesting, subjects.

OLD, AND GROWING OLD

Its the end of the year, leaves, plants die, or go into hibernation.   (Now there's a thought - I've always thought hibernation would be a good idea when the ice and snow besets us!)

So here's a few things at the end of their lives.   To see other thoughts on the subject, go over to Carmi's Thematic Photographs - I'm sure there will be some interesting "takes" on this subject!

These are the roots of a lovely old beech tree that was cut down a few years back.   Well, half cut down, the Council left about 20ft still there, chopped off straight across, totally unnatural looking.   Now seedlings are growing in the cracks between the roots - holly, birch and various unidentified plants.  I think it looks rather odd!

The end of the year at Tittesworth Reservoir in Staffordshire.   It was a beautiful day, but the leaves were falling fast, and winter felt just round the corner.

We all get old, its a fact of life.   None of us will live for ever.    This is me last year, on my 80th birthday.   I had a wonderful party at my daughter's home, with all the family there.   Now, I have to say that my mind feels a great deal younger than my body, and I am definitely not ready to die yet!!   Its hard to accept the fact that one day I simply will not be here any more, and that everyone else will just go on living without me!!  

Go on, go that link above, I'm sure there are some happier blogs to see!!

SIZE SMALL

I had a quick look at Carmi's writteninc Blog before I went out with the dog, took my camera with me, but it was too windy to find anything small on the flowers or in the park!    However, a couple of months ago I was tracking bees and other insects round the plants on our patio, so here are some results!

The bees loved my Echinaceas, which I grew in a big pot.   They have been trqansplanted to the garden now, so I hgope they flourish just as well!

Another bee, another echinacea.

Different sort of bee on a helenium.   "Thunder" tells me its a bee fly - disguised to look like a bee, but has only two wings.   He's good at info like that!   Thanks, Thunder!

I know I've posted this before, but you can't get much smaller than this tiny micro moth, the wings are about 4 or 5 mm long!

And I hope you are not eating your breakfast as you see this!   This snail was methodically climbing up my pink lobelia and munching all the flowers, leave, the lot!   I am not fond of snails!

Go to the link above and see what others have found of a small size!

AUTUMN

My favourite season!   I love the colours of the trees, and even plants turn yellow and orange.    A lovely frosty, sunny morning, and I long to walk in the beechwoods where we used to live over 20 years ago now!   Still, there is plenty round here once the season gets going.

Cotoneaster berries on a self-seeded bush down the end of our garden.    Very welcome to stay!

The Chinese Rowan tree I found in our garden as a tiny seedling, which, with a bit of TLC has grown very big and beautiful.   The yellow tree in the background is a silver birch.

Fallen leaves in the park.

To see what glorious autumns others have posted, go to writteninc - or post some of your own!

If you visit, do leave a comment, I have been without the internet for so long I have missed you all!

FROM A GREAT HEIGHT

Having at last got my internet back, by the route, after 6 long weeks, of a new router (sorry for pun!) I can join in again with the fun of Thematic Photography!

So a quick look through my archives, and I came up with this one, from the top of the cathedral in Gran Canaria.   I think you might have seen it before, but never mind!

And this one is from the top of the  Great Orme Llandudno, North Wales.   Gorgeous sunny day, but a bitter east wind, so we didn't stay long up there!

JUST A FEW INTERIM SHOTS

Still having to use the public computers at the Library, as no internet at home.   Don't know what Carmi has for us this week, so posing a couple of wildlife shots instead.

This wasn't what I expected to upload, but it will have to do!

Daisies earlier in the year.    They do flop so though!

WILDLIFE

Well, that is a really lucky title from Carmi!   I brought along a lovely shot of a teeny moth I found the other day, thinking there might be someone who had missed me and wanted to check on my blog!!

Still no internet at home, but can use the Library Computer, so hopefully all will load.   Crossing my fingers NOW!

This is one of the Pyralid micro moths.   Its wing length was no longer than 5 or 6 mm.   It was sitting on a small leaf, and I have never seen such a tiny moth still enough for me to photograph!

I also found a block and white photo buy was unable to upload it before, so here it is, a bit late!   It is frosted ivy from a few years ago.

Go to writteninc. to see other wildlife.

WHERE I WORK

Well, I work indoors - don't we all, but you don't want to see a boring photograph of my kitchen!    So as its supposed to be summer over here in the north west of the UK, I thought I'd show you photos of our garden.

I do most of the showy bits of the garden.   Mr. G mows the lawn, cuts bits off bushes (unless I can stop him!) and useful and essential bits like that.  The hedges are too much for him now, so we get A Man in to do them!

To see where others work, go over to HERE - and maybe post a shot of where you work!

                  

I have a lot of pots on the patio.   In the Spring, I have bulbs, polyanthus and daffodils, which brighten it up!

But in the summer, I have bedding plants.   I also have two big pots of gaillardias which attract loads of bees.   I also had this year some antirrhinums, which were a huge success.

We also have a lot of shrubs!

And beneath the patio we have what I laughingly call our herbaceous border!

All this takes a fair amount of time, particularly watering the pots in the evenings!   But I love it, and hopefully Mr.G and I enjoy it!

RETRO

Its all things Retro in Thematic Photography this week.   When Carmi, over at writteninc suggested Retro for this weeks theme I looked round and thought "Oh, you mean all the stuff we've had for years and never got rid of!"    Not quite as silly as it sounds, as we've been married for nearly 55 years, and I've noticed that "The 60's" now count as retro!!

As they say, what goes round, comes round!   (Have I got that right?)

Anyway, I found some nice retro bits:-

This jug comes from my Aunt's house.   She was my favourite Aunt and I wanted something to remember her by.   The jug had stood on the front room window sill for as long as I can remember, and is probably older than me!   Its marked on the bottom "Trentham Art Ware"

The origin on this deer is obscure!   He was on the premises of the Consulting Opticians that my father took over in 1939, and stayed there until my father retired, when following the protests of my sister and I he was brought into the family home, and I collared him when both my parents died!   He is marked on the side "Skeaping Wedgwood" which dates him firmly into the early 1930's

And my own little bit of retro is "The Good Housekeeping Picture Cookery" which was first published in 1950, and which was given to me as a wedding present.   The cookery is as sound now as it was ever, but the presentation is delightfully 1950's!   The picture top left of the collage shows a lovely photograph of the 1930's Institute ladies hard at work!

Do go to the link above to see what other retro items others have come up with!  And thank you Carmi, for a great time I had going through the cookery book again!

SPONTANEOUS

Spontaneity is not always easy for photographers, especially if you have been trained by your Dad to wait, compose, think, before you press the shutter!

However, over at writteninc.  it's spontaneous photographs that Carmi is asking for!   Go over to the link to see how others have managed to be spontaneous!

As far as I am concerned, it is the natural world where I have managed to get spontaneous photographs.    I always feel awkward using a camera where there are people around!

I was in a coach travelling from Le Havre to Rouen when I spotted this bridge coming up.   Its taken through the coach window, and I have no idea where exactly it is!

We get Jays in our garden, but they don't often pose conveniently like this!

Nor do Herons usually sit on the railings by the lake in the park!   But I imagine he got a splendid view from up there! 

I had several 'spontaneous' shots of this bee before he posed in a more bee-like manner!

Enjoy more spontaneity at the link above!

FAR FROM HOME

How far have you been from home?   Much further than I have, I imagine!   But still, we've done some fairly far flung holidays in our time!

We live on the edge of the Peak District National Park.   This was the first National Park to be created in 1951.   It is mainly in Derbyshire, but we live in the East of Cheshire, and it is literally just down the road!

For those of you geographically minded, the co-ordinates of our town are 
53.25 N and 2.13 W

There are some lovely walks, right on our doorstep, with trails starting here, and the Pennine Way not too far away.

The furthest north we have ever been is Longyearbyen, Svalbard, 

78.2 N and 15.6 E, well beyond the Arctic Circle,   It was absolutely beautiful up there, but I imagine rather a different place in the winter!

The further east we have been is to the Greek Island of Kalymnos,

36.9 N and 26.0 E.   This wasn't the most successful of our many Greek holidays, as the island was very bare and bleak away from the town.   This is not my photograph, as I wasn't digital then.

And the furthest south?   Well, that was when we went to the Canary Islands.   Gran Canaria is not the furthers south, but we didn't go any further on our cruise.   Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, the main town, was a fascinating place, and the view from the Cathedral towers was fantastic.   And yes, I was digital then!

And my daughter and I went west a very long time ago, in 1979, to stay with some pen friends.   They lived near St. Louis and took us all over the place, including Chicago, but also a trip to the Ozarks, 35 N and 93 W, where we found chipmunks, to our delight.   And I don't think digital had been invented then!

To see where others have been, far from home, go to Carmi's Blog - and if you visit here, so leave a comment, I love hearing from you!   (I don't get out much!!)

SKY

I took my camera out as Carmi suggested - and found this:-

Lovely day at the back of the house, which faces east -

but clouds threatening at the front, which faces west.

But we do get lovely sunrises sometimes.   These are all different days.

Go to the link above to see lots of other lovely skies from across the world.