Week 27 - Light

Two for the price of one here, 'light' as a feather, shot against the last rays of sun 'light' through the window...

Week 25 - HOT

and it certainly is.

By the time I was back from my walk this morning at 10, it was 27°C, and now we are hiding in the house because the temperature is up to 38°C.

Hence today's photo for this week's theme of hot - my poor tomato plants in the greenhouse, struggling to cope with the heat in there.

 

River seems to be enjoying the heat, adopting her favourite position of belly up in the sun on the doorstep.

Week 24 - People

Struggled with finding something to photograph that wasn't actual people.

I was going to do graffitti but didn't have time to go and find any, so had this idea instead, and found the perfect name.

How cool would it be to be called Mrs Cupcake?

Week 22 - Glass

This week's theme was glass and I was overwhelmed with inspiration - or at least I would have been if I had looked at the right week, instead of skipping ahead to next week's theme.  On the bright side, I have lots of ideas for week 23 - weather!

So today before heading off for Sunday lunch with friends, I took this:

 

the dusty tops of a couple of kilner jars of last year's produce, tucked away in the corner of the barn.  

Every year I try to find ways of preserving as much of my veggie harvest as I can, and kilner jars are one of my favourites.

There is something about the heavy glass lids and wire catches that just evokes authentic homegrown produce.

Flickr image updates..

For week 19 the theme was cold - and this is the image I chose, taken from our three day weekend / holiday trip.

 

Thea and I really enjoyed the beach at Séte, so much so that if we can save up enough pennies over the summer we shall try to grab another weekend this summer by the sea, leaving Brendan behind to take care of the animals.  

For Week 20 - the theme was the Seven Deadly Sins.

Now I started off with clever ideas for each of the sins and plans to depict them each day and build up a portfolio over the week.  In reality I only captured two of the seven sins, and chose this entry for Vanity.

Week 18 - Play - 52 images for 2011

I know I am a bit late but I do have a good reason - Brendan turned 40 last Friday so we took our first holiday together for over 5 years.  This shot was just a spontaneous rush to the sea.

week 17 - Animal Vegetable Mineral

Had a super day today, one of those days that I wish I could bottle and bring out and sniff on a not so good day.

Started out with a trip to my two lovely ladies that I care for on a Sunday morning, a bit of a chat then nip back to change my shoes for comfy boots for strolling around the car boot sale. The sun is shining and all is well with the world.

Found a parking spot and wandered up and down the stalls finding lots of bits and bobs, including fabric remnants for a couple of euros, another cast iron pan in a fantastic lime green colour, a pretty white top for a euro ready for my jolly holidays at the end of the week, and best of all these skeins of lambswool for .50€. So I bought a couple in every colour and a couple more crochet cotton skeins and then some more of what ever colour she had.

They are this weeks animal, vegetable and mineral - lambswool, cotton and dye.

Wow - that's a week gone by in the blink of an eye

I have posted nothing this week but can't believe that this week has already gone by.  In fact the shocking thing is that I need to do a photo for this week's image - and it is nine o'clock in the evening already.

So what have I been up to all week - gardening, gardening and gardening, then some more gardening.

We had a lovely dinner party on Friday - with more hand made pasta - I feel a bit of an obsession coming on.

We were up at the crack of dawn to head off for a car boot sale today, then had a lovely day in the sun messing about with the new timber for the terrace, then a surprise visit and drinks and nibbles in the garden with friends this afternoon - and in between I have been chasing down my pantry mouse - who has developed a real taste for noodles.

Week 14 - Curves

It can't be wrong to make something to photograph for this week's theme, when it tastes this good.....

 

Pasta lovingly made by hand, photographed then scoffed by the starving hordes for dinner!

Week 13 - Bokeh

Now it took me a while to get the hang of this.

Bokeh essentially means taking a photo with a very shallow depth of field, where the background is aesthetically pleasing.

After reading several websites of info, I found the most helpful thing was to go look at the Bokeh dedicated groups on flickr and read the comments.

So here is my entry for week 13.

 

I am obviously now looking for a catadioptric lens - ebay here I come!

Week 12 - Circles

Week 12 of the 52 images for 2011 and I was positively overwhelmed with ideas, buttons and logs featured predominantly, but I could not find that image that really jumped out at me.

Then this shot happened - in fact I only took 2 variations of this photo, and ended up choosing the first one.

I love it.

We still use this phone because it does not require a power point, so come winter and power cuts we can communicate with the world.

52 images for 2011 - Week 10 - Dreams

While gardening this week I was also musing about this week's theme of dreams, waiting (im)patiently for inspiration to strike.

When it occurred to me that the gardening I was doing was my dream, the soil at my feet contains all my dreams for the harvest to come, on my dream small holding, living the dreams of a self sufficient green life in a rural backwater.

Hence:

dreams - week 10 entry

Week 9 - Candid - 52 images for 2011

It occurred to me while thinking about how to portray this theme, that we are usually more candid with each other when not face to face, so with the assistance of my lovely but not so willing model, here is my image for this week's theme.

  

Just a bit of dabbling with the tone and it will be ready for submission

52 images for 2011 - week 8 'childhood'

I have been the queen of procrastination again this week.

Even though I decided early on in the week on my image for childhood, it has taken me all week to get round to photographing it, just in time for a last minute entry today.  Well I did have to charge the battery on the camera too, and go for several long walks to test my gadget.

Oh yes and spend some time in the studio to try to catch up with myself so I can reopen my little shop for March.

 This is my choice, some baby booties knitted for Thea on her birth by her great grandmother.

I have kept these in my memory box along with some clothes and shoes, newspapers from the day she was born, her bridesmaid dress and my wedding dress as well as some dried flowers, letters and other bits and pieces from various holidays we have taken.

This is the final image I used.

Now I just have to finish off my February C of creation, and I can get that written up later tonight or tomorrow.

week 5 - food - 52 images for 2011 flickr group

 

Torn between the two piccies again - finally decided on the one above.

 

I have struggled with the theme of food for the 52 images for 2011 flickr group this week, primarily because I take so many photos of food for the recipe items on my blog. I did not want to repeat myself so had to find something that I had not photographed before.
In end I have plumped for these butter beans, in macro.
They have just been fished out of the water they soaked in overnight, before going in the pot to simmer for an hour.
Later tonight they will be the main ingredient in my butter bean spicy curry.

Recipe will be here on my blog in the next couple of days.

New Beginnings - week 3 of 52 images for 2011

This morning walking home from work I ended up rushing back to grab my camera and running back up the road to try to capture the beautiful dawn.

Red skies behind the Puy de Dôme. I love living in France.

This was not originally going to be my entry for the 52 images for 2011, I was going to go for the newborn calf next door.

However the uplifting feeling and the spring in my step that this dawn gave me seemed more fitting for the theme of 'New Beginnings'.

 

I might just have to go and take some piccies of the cute calf anyway.

52 images for 2011 - week 2 reflections

Flick entry

My first entry for the flickr 52 images for 2011 group - theme for week 1 - aftermath.

This is my interpretation, the aftermath of plucking a duck for dinner.


This is the runner up.