VEHICULAR - ETC.

I am not a great one for photographing cars.    To Mr.G's disgust I can't really tell one car from another.   I drive ours, not to make myself look big, desirable or anything I'm not, but to get from A to B.

see, told you I was boring.   And I have probably now enraged all red-blooded males who post on this site!

So, as Carmi, over at written inc. has challenged us to photograph anything vehicular, I've had to dig around in my archives for anything vehicular, and this is the best I can come up with!

This was taken from a coach window (hence the reflections) as we drove past this strange town, having been on a tour of the Carmargue.  The architecture was something else, but the French cars lined up along the road looked perfectly normal.   Sorry, don't know what make they are!

This was taken from the Castle in Lisbon, Portugal, looking down on one of the squares in that City.  One of those coaches there is the shuttle bus which will take us back to our ship.   There were also trams, but don't know if any are visible.

Out in the Derbyshire countryside, along one of the very narrow lanes, with gates that have to open and shut.   (They stop the sheep from escaping!)   We are stopped to admire the view, and the driver of the red car gallantly both opened the gate for us and shut it after his car had driven through.

Having checked that "vehicular" meant anything  that carried goods or people I've included this one of the "stop me and buy one" man with his tricycle and ice creams.   My father took this in about 1935 or 6 when I was a very tiny little girl, somewhere along our road, or one like it, in Harrow, part of the new building sprawl that was stretching out from London westward along the route of the new Metropolitan Railway .

FOOD FROM THE EARTH

An edible challenge from Carmi this week!   Food from the earth - sounds delicious to me, and I had a hard job choosing some photographs, as I always like taking shots of vegetables and fruits whenever I go to a market, either here in the UK or on holiday.

So I came up with these four - lovely familiar vegetables I can find any day, in season, of course.

Cauliflower

  

Sprouts ready for Christmas, sold on the stem.

Radishes - these were in Norway, but look just the same as ours!

And carrots - how could we manage without them in the winter?

Go to the link above to see what others have found ready for a fine dinner, and please leave a comment if you visit me - I do love to get them!

METALLICA

Its all things metallic this week.   Carmi, over at writteninc has posted a superb shot of a shiny train at night, and has challenged us to take anything metallic this week.   

Go over to the link, and see what others have come up with!

I don't have shiny trains round here, but have come up with these:

Mr. G used to collect Old Hall stainless steel ware, which has been going from the 1930's, until about the later years of last century (my, doesn't that sound a long time ago!)   We still have quite a lot on display, including this coffee jug and hot water pot.

Old Hall also did goblets and mugs.   Not very practical for hot liquids and maybe more for presentation purposes, but even so, Cheers!

Away from domestic items, I decided to play around with this!

Do let me know if you visit, I love getting comments - and go and see what others have taken!

ROUND AND ROUND

I sometimes feel as though all I am doing is going round and round!    But no, Carmi, over at writteninc.   wants us to find great photographs under the title of "Round and Round".   Go to the link to see what others have come up with in this circular challenge!

Firstly, I found this one in my archives:

Sliced courgettes (zucchini to you Canadians!)

And more food - tomatoes on the vine

Then I had to go down to our Garden Centre (who sell a great many more things than just garden items!) and found two lots of pots.

This little fellow, who I think is supposed to have plants growing out of those rather small holes.   He looked a bit sad and was languishing under a "50% off" card but I still didn't buy him and ............

  

............these rather cute little owls.   I made sure they were all facing the same way before I took their portrait!

Do leave a comment if you visit - I love knowing who has been here!

WHEN NIGHT FALLS

Now I am not a great one for going out at night!   For one thing, I don't see very well in the dark, and for another, being a Pensioner, I like my home comforts in the evenings!

So Carmi, over at writteninc. who has challenged us to take photos of When Night Falls has set me a bit of a poser!

I have come up with only two (though I am  making sure my camera is at hand now the days are drawing in)

The theatre on board the "Grand Princess" cruise liner, waiting for the evening show to begin later on.

Midnight on the same ship near North Cape, the northenmost point of Europe, waiting  for the midnight sun to come out from behind the clouds.   Yes, that is as dark as it got!

Go to the link above to see what other people have been up to as it gets dark!   And please leave comments, we all like to know you've visited!

PATTERNS

Over at writteninc. Carmi has got a Patterned mind, and asked us to find patterns and photograph them.  Either from the natural world, or from elsewhere.

I love looking for patterns, and found these.   Do leave a comment if you visit this site, I love to know you've been!

The pattern the wake of our cruise liner made as the evening sun caught it.

Fungus on the side of an old tree, which I made in Black and White to bring out the contrasts.

More fungus (I rather like fungus!) but this time such a gorgeous colour and layered up the tree.

A pineapple - the prickly bits, not the eating part!

Labels at a Garden Centre

And finally, not really natural, the pattern made by the pier at Greenock, Scotland.

Go to the link above to see other patterns - and leave a comment !

RUN DOWN

Run down, unloved, needing repair - so many things today seem like that.   Carmi has set us the challenge this week to find these unloved spots or items.   Go to the link above to see what other photographers have found in their countries.

Definitely unloved, though with that left hand window open I do wonder if the company next door is using the rooms?    Hope its not another cannabis factory!

Not recommended for using as a pier now, but we were told that it was the original boarding pier for liners carrying the hundreds of Irish people wanting to emigrate to the USA because of the potato famine.   It would also, in that case, have been used by the Titanic, but it doesn't look big enough to me!   Irish folk stories I think!

These apartments in Lisbon, Portugal looked very run down, with grass and even bushes growing in the gutters, and the fascia sadly in need of some paint.   But they were occupied, so maybe it was the landlords who were responsible.   Same the world over!

And this poor little specimen on the right was what was sent to me from a plant firm when  I ordered two Astrantia plants.   I complained and got my money back, but won't be using that firm again!