Thursday 31 December 2009

365/365 Here I am, this is me...


The final image for my 365 is a self portrait - one if the hardest images to produce as I am so much happier photographing than being photographed, even by myself!?! I have had a very interesting journey, I thank all those who have shared some or all of it with me, its been great having you along, I hope you have found it interesting too. Drop in on my new blog sometime, it isn't a 365, but you didn't think I could give up completely now, did you??

The title is inspired by a Bryan Adams song for the animated film Spirit. Read them here.

Posted by Picasa

364/365 Blizzard at Curbar Edge

Doesn't it look wintry? What you can't really see is the horizontal snow, the gale blowing, the stinging eyes and the fingers with no feeling in them... Can we go when the sun's out next time please?!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday 29 December 2009

363/365 Dad's little helper

Jodie likes to help us when we're painting. And we like to let her help. I always remember wanting to help my Dad with decorating when I was around Jodie's age, and he never let me. So we let Jodie help, on a bit that doesn't matter or can be easily rescued :0)
Posted by Picasa

Monday 28 December 2009

362/365 Hospital Corridor

This scene would usually conjour up nightmares for me. I don't mean my good friend Shelley in the wheelchair, I mean the hospital corridor. Since a childhood trauma in a casualty dept. (ER), I have been terrified of hospitals, (very long story, some of you know it already!) and that was the driving force behind my choice to have homebirths, which I did very successfully with my two girls, but sadly not so with my son.
Paradoxically, I have been able to visit Shelley over the last few weeks without freaking out. We think the reason for this is a combination of factors: I first arrived in the dark, and this little hospital does not look or smell like a hospital; and I was very busy in the run up to Christmas, but fitting in short visits which involved concentrating on Shelley - learning how to collapse a wheelchair, mastering the best approach to getting it in the boot (trunk) - all she had to do was chuck herself in the car! - and accomplishing the task set me for each visit. Really, I didn't have much time to think about where I was going. I am amazed at how chilled I have been when inside St Oswald's Hospital in Ashbourne. Of course, the real test will be when I next go to a particular acute hospital... but I feel encouraged, as I have set myself a personal challenge which requires me to be able to manage this irrational fear in the not too distant future.
Originally, St Oswalds was built as the Ashbourne Union Workhouse. Able bodied inmates in the workhouse performed stone-breaking - aggregate then sold for road-making, while the elderly were employed in picking oakum - rope fibres which were then mixed with tar to use as caulking on the hull of a ship.
See here and http://www.workhouses.org.uk/ for more details on Ashbourne Union Workhouse, including images.
View to St Oswald's Church from the hospital's drive.
Posted by Picasa

Sunday 27 December 2009

361/365 Susie

This is my wonderful sister-in-law, Susie. She is married to my eldest brother Steve. They have 3 girls, Holly, Katie & Thea, but lost their only son Harvey, between Holly & Katie. Harvey left a footprint on her heart, as Kim left one on mine. (See 96/365) We drove down to see them today and swap Christmas gifts. A long drive for a short visit, but worth it to see them.
Here's Katie!
Posted by Picasa

360/365 Christmas shadows

We had some winter sunshine today, it streamed in through the conservatory and fell upon our Christmas tree. I realise there are quite a few images on this blog featuring shadows... well, as has been said before, its all about the light, and shadows can be fascinating.
Posted by Picasa

Saturday 26 December 2009

359/365 Rip, rend, tear... !

Another tradition in my family: on Christmas morning, open presents first - before anything else, before breakfast, still in PJs, that's a rule!!! (I remember so many years when I was little of waiting and being so unhappy about it!) Oliver was thrilled to get his top two hopefuls, a phone and a particular PS2 game. Result! His phone has a camera function (I use the term 'camera' loosely here!) and once he found that, he immediately shot his game! LOL! Jodie got a pony game which she has played on the laptop, Playmobil (pony/unicorn!),
lots of arts and crafts things, and they both got lots of books. We had a very relaxed Christmas Day, we all got something we really wanted.
Posted by Picasa

358/365 Tradition

Since becoming a grown up and raising a family of my own, I have enjoyed establishing one or two traditions. On Christmas Eve we always leave a glass of milk, a mince pie, and a carrot on the hearth. When I was a child, we may have left sherry rather than milk, but the modern Father Christmas doesn't drink and drive ;0) The carrot is for the reindeer of course. The children delight in making these preparations. (Well, Jodie still does anyway!!)
Posted by Picasa

Wordle

My wordle - a word cloud about me by me.