MOVEMENT

Carmi's challenge this week is MOVEMENT

This is a fairly conventional picture of movement - but it was rather funny to watch, as the Sailing Club here teach beginners, and more than one falls in the lake! It is a very popular spot too, as there are hundreds of water fowl there, including dozens of swans and greedy ducks. The Council (or whoever) has made a rough parking spot into a hard standing, and a proper pedestrian bit for duck feeders and small children to watch in safety.




On the other hand, this is not a very interesting photo until you know that is a tap running into soapsuds in the sunk! I had to draw running water for an Art Course I was doing on-line a while ago, and not being able to get out carrying all my materials, paper etc., I decided I could make running water quite nicely at home! And I used it for photographic purposes too.

I feel it should be called "HAVE YOU WASHED YOUR HANDS?"


STOP PRESS - I took another one this afternoon. He was just about to land, but still moving!

Carmi has asked us to GLOW in his challenge this week.

I didn't want to publish another of our mediocre sunsets, so I found this one I took a couple of Christmasses ago, at my daughter's home.

It was a great Christmas Day, and a beautiful glow!

AFTER DARK

Carmi's Challenge this week is AFTER DARK

Well, I don't go out after dark much nowadays (poor night vision, so afraid of falling, etc. etc.) but I do love looking out of windows. This photograph is of sunrise over Morecombe Bay, taken from our holiday cottage at Grange-over-sands. We had fantastic view across the Bay, and watching the sunrise, whilst the town was all dark, and mostly asleep, was an enormous pleasure.




The second photo is at the other end of the day. We don't get much of a view from the front of our house, but the sky one evening at sunset was so good I had to have a go!

FAVOURITES OF 2011

This week, Carmi is asking us for our favourite photos from 2011





This has got to be my all-time favourite, but only by a short head! Gereinger Fjord in Norway is quite spectacular, all the way along it. It was faintly misty the day we went there, and another liner can be seen preceding us in the distance. It was a wonderful place!




I fell in love with the Arctic! This is just as we left Longyearbyen, the only town on the Svalbard Islands. Formerly known as Spitzbergen, they are right in the High Arctic, and although we were extremely lucky to have a fine day there, it was still a day to wrap up warmly.




Not quite so cold, though nearly so, I managed to snap these tracks in the snow before the sledgers got all over them! You have seen this before, on Carmi's challenge in July this year.




I love taking close-up photographs, especially when there is texture involved. This is a bread stall at our local monthly market. It really makes your mouth water just standing there!




And lastly, another close-up - this time something you might not guess. Its a Savoy Cabbage leaf! One of the tough, outside ones. But beautiful, don't you think?

THE STRANGER AMONG US

Carmi's Challenge this week is THE STRANGER AMONG US. My two Strangers are here!



Who is she, that old woman in the mirror? Oh no! do I look like that? I don't see myself so old, so grumpy. She's a stranger to me!




What does he see, as he stands alone
Guarding the peas and salads?
His eyes are felt, and his hands are straw
And a felted bird sits on his head.
We laugh as we pass along the paths
Admiring the gardens so carefully tended.
But look again at his impassive face
A felt- and straw-made man.
An uncomfortable thought passes through my head
What does he do at night?

THE ONE

Carmi's theme this week is THE ONE



Wags was the only dog for me, and I was "her" human. Everyone else was just tolerated. I was guarded, accompanied, and generally looked after all the time. She was a beautiful dog, a Border Collie/Springer Spaniel cross and when she died I broke my heart. We've had other dogs since then, but I vowed never to give my heart to one again.

Here she is sitting by the Village Pond, knows she is the greatest, but modest with it!




Well, this gull knew he was the one, sitting on a handy perch in the middle of Windermere. And he was going to keep it and repel all boarders!

SEEING RED !

Carmi's Challenge this week is SEEING RED!

I was actually delighted to see the red of these very late roses in our Park when I took the dog out on a very cold and snowy morning.

The roses glowed against the grey of the stone wall, even though they were battered by the cold wind.

The dog remained unimpressed.