01-JAN-2013
Promise
While I have been struggling with floods and associated problems Nature has been quietly working away, bringing
forth new life. Very soon these green shoots will be delicate little Snowdrops. They will flower through the winter to remind
us that Spring is on the way.
02-JAN-2013
Entangled
The love of Orchids has somehow grown on me over the years and now I have a small collection. It is a joy to watch the stem emerge where soon the blooms will appear. The first couple I bought, in flower, have never flowered again but I carefully feed and water them and live in hope. Others have flowered time and time again... it's a mystery to me but I do enjoy them.
I have heard them called "alien" "creepy" "prehistoric" I'll go for the fact that they may be an acquired taste.
03-JAN-2013
Left behind
I wonder if the owner wonders where it is?
04-JAN-2013
Me
At the start of the year I needed to decide if the Friday SP would continue. It's not an easy thing to do every week but I enjoy the challenge so we'll see how 2013 goes.
05-JAN-2013
On the swing
I bought 6 hens and, as you would expect, they all have different personalities. Frosty, on the swing is rarely doing whatever the other hens are doing. About the only things she has in common with them are her feathers and the fact that she lays an egg every day. She certainly likes the swing in the afternoon sunshine even if it is the wrong way up!
06-JAN-2013
Skeletal
Hydrangeas give such good value. The flowers are stunning whatever the type, mophead, lacecap, they are all so photogenic. It doesn't end when the flowers eventually lose their colour. They turn brown and then skeletal and at every stage they can look good in front of a lens. This one started life a deep maroon/red. Quite unusual for a hydrangea I think. Let's hope it does well next year. We have certainly had enough rain for it to thrive!
07-JAN-2013
Bodies everywhere
If you're an exif data checker you will know that these settings are way off
my normal range... hardly knew that they existed, but I was playing around with this rusty old lock full of dead spiders and this was the result. It really has been a case of... I wonder what I get if I turn this to...
I was supposed to be cleaning up the lock, not sure why but in any case it's much too good a photo subject to be cleaned :)
08-JAN-2013
Punch
Whilst wandering round Hatherleigh Market today I came across this box of old Punch magazines. I would love to have bought a couple but having spent my last bean on a chest of drawers I hadn't even got the required 50p. I hope that they'll be there next week. The market was low on stallholders, I expect they're having a well earned rest after the busy Christmas period.
If you want to know where all my money went have a look here:
http://anncourtney.com/?p=3005
09-JAN-2013
Dartmoor looking moody
This was one of those, quick pull up in a gateway and get a shot or two moments. The clouds were moving quite quickly and even the fields and hedges looked grey so the B & W processing was almost unnecessary. If I'd been able to stay where I was I'd have seen some sun chase the clouds off, but only for a few moments. That's the challenge with landscape photography, either chasing or waiting for the light.
10-JAN-2013
Tulip
Another drizzly day has brought on a few aches and pains and I didn't want to venture out so I moved my vase of tulips into a window and this is the result. They are at the wilting and bendy stage so close in was I think, a good choice. Tomorrow they will only be a heap of petals on the sill and the stems left in the vase.
11-JAN-2013
Petals & Me
After yesterday and my comment about nearly over, bendy tulips I was asked for petals. Sorry folks, it's Friday so you have to have me - with a few petals thrown in ;)
Have a great weekend one and all.
12-JAN-2013
Silver
All the disruption caused by the flooding has resulted in a great move to redecorate and tidy up the house. It started with the rooms affected by the water but has spread to the whole of the ground floor. Painting, sealing floors, sorting out "stuff" with heaps to go to a charity shop and heaps more to be sold, hopefully, on ebay. I shan't recognise the place! Today I emptied a dresser drawer and found a selection of spoons and forks, all badly tarnished but now they are all bright and shining... and back in the drawer! ;)
13-JAN-2013
Evening
On the way back from Eggesford where there is a good Garden centre with an extremely good Café I had to stop to admire and photography the sun going down over Dartmoor. What a lovely sky too.
14-JAN-2013
Rude to stare!
Our house is like a 3 ring circus at times as we have 3 cats who only get on together in varying degrees. Fuzz gets on well with Spike, Fuzz gets on ok with Roxie who tolerates him at a distance. Roxie and Spike are another matter - Spike is terrified of her and she uses it to full advantage. I've lost count of all the times I've found him trapped in a small corner or under a sofa while Roxie sits looking totally disinterested - until he moves and then the chase is on!
Roxie was growling quietly all the time I took this and several other shots.
15-JAN-2013
And then it went dark
I have to confess that I took this shot from the car. I'd been wandering along the lanes looking for a high spot to give me a good view over the Moor as I could see some sunbeams which looked interesting. As I rounded a bend everything "came together" as they say... a gateway, a good view, sunbeams and then the dark cloud. I wasn't going to risk getting out of the car so down came the window and voilà
All I have done is crop half a cm off the left hand side.
16-JAN-2013
Wires
Wires, no matter how you tie them up they have a talent for unravelling themselves and then turning into a bundle of knots the moment you pick them up. WiFi everything would be wonderful but will it ever happen?
17-JAN-2013
Falling
I was discussing the usefulness of tulips with a fellow PBaser only a day or so ago and here I am posting a photo of tulips. Truth be told I've spent a lot of the day catching up with a mountain of ironing - no idea where it all comes from but it appears almost overnight, so photography took a back seat and I didn't pick my camera up until late afternoon. There hasn't been any good light outside all day so I didn't miss anything there. (Now I've typed that a quote from a very famous photographer comes to mind about light. Something about any f!*!*!** light - you get the idea.) Well then it had to be the tulips. They're at least 2 weeks old and have flopped down onto the window sill… perfect.
18-JAN-2013
Watching
I can't say that I much like snow. Of late staying vertical has become a problem for me on occasions and no, it's not alcohol related ! The prospect of snow and ice on the ground has prompted me to order some of those strap on studs (banish those mental images right now!) so if you don't hear from me for a while I'm probably oh so securely fastened to the floor, in the garden, surrounded by mud/snow/ice….sigh! Doubtless there will be pictures :)
Have a wonderful cosy and warm weekend everyone.
19-JAN-2013
Earring
It was a messy day yesterday so although I took photos they didn't get looked at until today (Sunday) More clearing, cleaning and decorating going on but then in a house with 13 rooms I suppose it could go on for ever.
Anyway today I have played a little in Silver Efex Pro2 and transformed my earring a little. It's great software which, as with much software, the more you use it the more you realise its potential - easy on the sliders though ;)
Now to start thinking of todays PaD, it's a bit like decorating!
20-JAN-2013
Floating
The garden always looks a bit sad at this time of year, though there's plenty to do and I was looking at one of my jobs to do here. All the windfalls have been eaten by Blackbirds and Fieldfares, the former are permanent residents the latter fleeting visitors and for a few weeks the orchard is full of them eating and squabbling. The only apples left now are the ones like this one which fell into the pond. The Blackbirds will have a nice surprise when I get them out. The Fieldfares don't wait around and have long ago moved to better pickings. Now... to find that old fishing net.........
21-JAN-2013
Lace and laces
Those of you who know me know about my love of jewellery, especially big silver rings. At this time of year I need gloves but gloves don't fit over my rings so I resort to arm warmers and they're brilliant - bring out the latent Goth in me ;)
22-JAN-2013
Single
It's been a cold wet day today but at least the snow has gone away in this little bit of Devon. It's milder too this evening but even so the late trip to a supermarket found it almost deserted. I made a good purchase - a bouquet of flowers in the reduced bucket - 45p Here's one of my favourites.
23-JAN-2013
Rickety fence.
Believe it or not but this fence has kept both sheep and cows out of the stream which runs own the side of our house ever since we have lived here - 16 years now. It also keeps them out of our garden which is good as my sheep/cow wrangling days are coming to an end! I have a feeling that after this winter some new posts will be needed in a few places. Fortunately we shall only have sheep as neighbours for quite some time and all they ever want to do is scratch an itch!
24-JAN-2013
Jimi
It's not very often I get the chance to photograph Jimi. He and Livs sat together in the sun room for a while as the light faded. I quite like this one - no prizes for guessing who he's looking at.
25-JAN-2013
Some hearts
I bought this necklace back in 2007 from a lovely Boutique in Scotland.
It was hellish expensive as it's all solid silver but it was a special treat to me from me. Occasionally you have to do that... It gets noticed for two reasons, one because it's quite stunning when worn over black, the chain is very long and the bottom locket reaches my waist easily and two because it makes such a noise!
Oh, the bow belongs to the bra not the necklace.
Have a lovely weekend everyone, keep warm/dry/cool, whatever suits you best. ;)
26-JAN-2013
Hydrangea
If I could only choose one plant to grow in my garden, apart from being a dreadful choice to have to make, I would choose the genus Hydrangea. It has over 70 species and two main flower arrangements, Mophead and Lacecap. Beyond that I know very little except that from a photography point of view you get year round photos. This is of some of the remaining flower heads of one of my Hydrangea petiolaris, which climbs with abandon over a shed.
27-JAN-2013
Gerbera
Bright sunlight one minute and rain+hail the next was the order of today's weather. I spent some time in our Sun Room, so called because it's south facing and has large patio doors which let in lots of light. It's a warm room too regardless of the state of the rest of the house. Strange really as it's the most modern bit of the building and doesn't have lovely thick stone walls.
Spike joined me, as you can imagine it's a cat magnet of a room too and so I had to work round his inquisitive little nose and paws. He though it great fun that I was lying on the floor and leaving "toys" ie. my flowers all over the place! It's a wonder I got a single in focus shot!
28-JAN-2013
Rusting away
Some years ago my Mum bought me a garden chair, but it's a garden chair with a difference, it's mostly metal and is very ornate, almost regal in it's look. It's been sitting in our porch for about 5 years and various bits are definitely past their best. Sadly I doubt it can be repaired but it's still ok to sit in for a while yet.
29-JAN-2013
Reeds
It was raining and blowing hard when I drove into Okehampton so I turned off the main road and explored another, as yet undriven lane. It's hard to believe that after living here for 16 years there are still bits of lanes I haven't driven along in search of a photo or two. I was about 4 miles from home when I found this field. The weather has taken it's toll and the ground is saturated so I couldn't get very near to the reeds which was a shame. The sharp eyed amongst you will see the raindrops on the filter . I left them there, cloning them all out would be a nightmare and at least you are seeing what I saw (apart from the change to mono of course!)
30-JAN-2013
Heading to sunset.
After a day of being busy but not achieving much I got in the car and headed towards Hatherleigh. There are a couple of places along the lane where there is a good view of the Moor and therefore hopefully the sunset. As I began the drive up the last rise in the road before the fabulous view I noticed this. Yes I was in the middle of the road but no I wasn't lying down ;)
31-JAN-2013
31
The end of the month...where has it gone?