Posting in the last minutes of 2009

This photo was taken of nibblies and shiny things at a friend's house this evening. We had a lovely evening but will see in the new year in the house with just two of us. That will be nice too.

Well what was 2009 like? My year began with the usual festive stuff and social things with some lovely people but there was also a lot of stress. I stopped working a bit into the year which has been difficult but   not so hard as it might have been without the wonderful people I have around me and especially without the support of a certain lovely man.

We celebrated four years together and they have passed so quickly. We have a lot of fun and are exceedingly silly when given the opportunity.

I started the year with a plan of posting at least one photo online every day. I missed one day. My project ended up spanning three sites though most photos are on Flickr. In the process, I have got to know many of you online who I count among my friends now. I have met some of you and am sure I will meet others. There are still more who I do not expect I will meet but who have still come to mean more to me than anonymous strangers. Thanks to all of you - especially those of you who look in here on my blog.

The lovely man has supplied me with much of my equipment in the way of presents and hand me downs. He has encouraged and taught me much of what I know about using an SLR.

I wish to continue posting most days but I won't make it a chore so I may miss some. I will also be looking in regularly on those of you I visit most days. I'll be catching up with you tomorrow.

In the meantime, I wish you a wonderful New Year. I have enjoyed your company this year and hope to see more of you in the year to come xxx

Plastic optic again

Well Mo, you're not the only one who was scraping about indoors for a photo today. I was too busy with too many bags travelling to Edinburgh to get the camera out. Here I am wearing my new hoody scarf which the lovely man was modelling for you a few days ago. Yes, it really was that chilly in his flat when we got there.

Hopefully, over the next couple of days, I'll get to play with my tripod and the other new lensbaby optics.

Oh, and a bit of news - I fell on my bum on the ice for the first time this year - not bad as it's the second last day of 2009. No harm done except for a bruised behind and bruised dignity. That was one time I was thankful for my large bottom.

Now to make another cuppa...

Not many photos today

We spent the afternoon in a cafe with friends. It was a really enjoyable and relaxing time. I didn't get all that many photos but again I was using the plastic optic on the lensbaby. Here is one of the lovely man.

This one is of a figure in the cafe which I've photographed before. The optic renders it like an apparition.

Tomorrow we head for Edinburgh. Not sure what we'll be doing once we get there but it's so lovely to get this chance to spend days at a time together.

Fun and games

The day started with both the lovely man and I playing games - him on his iPhone and me on my Wii. It was fun - a bit like the period after Christmas when I was a kid though the games were not electronic then!

After that we went out to meet our friend P. I took a lot of photos with lensbaby plastic optic. Here was my favourite:

This one of P was a close second:

Here's another for good measure:

Now I've got to get cooking - why did I ever let the servants go?

Have a great Monday folks.

We're having a quiet evening but braved the town in the sales as I wanted to spend my John Lewis tokens. I bought another couple of wii games. I took the lensbaby with one of the new optics for it - this is taken with the plastic optic. It will take me a while to get used to them all but I liked this one.

The snow has almost gone here and it's a lot warmer. It was raining today so it's slushy underfoot on the quieter pavements.

Happy Sunday to you all!

Two days for the price of one!

Christmas Eve is a big event in my family. My brother makes a delicious homemade lasagne and we all have wine and then open our presents at midnight. Here is the lasagne chef:

Here is the lovely man wearing one of my presents.

It's a scarf with a hood!

Christmas day, we returned to my brother's house and had the Christmas dinner and more of lovely company.

Now I know what the question on the tip of your tongue is. Did Santa encourage my photographic interests? You bet he did! I got a set of optics for the lensbaby and a wonderful, quality tripod which is bigger than I am!

Here are a couple of pictures taken with the lensbaby:

Hope you've been having as lovely a time as I have.

I love snow!

I went out this afternoon to enjoy the snow in our local park. I deliberated over which lens I should take and ended up taking the lensbaby. The woman in this shot had a great device for picking up and throwing the ball for the dog without having to touch it. I thought that was great. It's disgusting enough in good weather but I wouldn't want to handle a slobbery ball in the snow. Wonderful invention!

I wondered where all the birds were when I went to the park and found them in this little hole in one of the ponds - the other was totally frozen over. I felt for them. They must have been really hungry.

In my travels I saw some sledgers.

There are couple of other pictures on Flickr if you want to follow my travels.

My pal F came up tonight and we exchanged presents. It was lovely to see him. He's a traditionalist when it comes to when presents get opened but I'm not. This means I can't open it till he's gone. It was a good pressie - as it always is! I've done my arithmetic and think we've know each other around 28 years. Gosh doesn't time fly!

More snow in Glasgow

Here is the lovely little garden my neighbour has created, looking lovely in the snow. It was snowing most of the afternoon here. I fought my way through it to do some last minute Christmas shopping.

Here's another shot of snow in Glasgow.

Here's a familiar face for you. He met me after my shopping was done and it was lovely to meet up with a pal.

Now for a quiet night with a bit of pressie wrapping....

Ain't Waitrose great!

Some of these went into tonight's dinner. Every time I get food from Waitrose I buy some variety of mushroom I've never heard of. I can't remember what these are called but I have the packet in the fridge. They were tasty.

It's a quick blog tonight as I'm watching Wallander on the BBC iPlayer and that requires all my attention due to the subtitles. There's not a lot on telly so that was my option for tonight. I'm planning on doing some Christmas shopping tomorrow out in the world - mad eh?

Have a lovely evening folks and I'll catch up with you all soon.

Long bus trip on the M8

This was the M8 between Glasgow and Edinburgh this evening. The poor driver had a bit of a nightmare drive but I thoroughly enjoyed it as I had faith in him. Still, it was tiring and the bus was 45 minutes late getting in.

Here's what the snow looked like at Harthill - not the same quality of photo this time as I took it with my phone.

The wheels really struggled here but the driver got us out of it and we didn't need to push once! There were a few casualties along the route - one accident and several cars stuck in the snow.

Now for some food!

Had to be fast to catch the snow!

This is what it looked like in Edinburgh today five minutes after it started snowing. It was so beautiful with no footprints. Sadly, it was mostly gone and slushy within the hour.

It's been a very sociable day where the lovely man and I did some visiting before Christmas. We saw one of our favourite small people. This picture illustrates just how fast a two year old moves.

It was very low light so I got a lot of blurry images but I kind of like them.

Here's one where he was still for long enough to get a more recognisable shot of him.

I'm beginning to get excited about Christmas. I used to hate it but when I started joining my brother and his family when the children were small, I got to like it. The youngest of those children will soon be 20 but it's still a pleasure to spend time with them. This year the lovely man will be with us too for the whole day  for the first time. I'm looking forward to that.

For now, I'm having a lovely weekend. I'm hoping that there's some pretty snow lying tomorrow so I can get better snowy pictures. Have a good Saturday folks.

Phone pictures

This picture was taken with my phone when I was out and about today. I haven't had time to take any more pictures. It is not an example of terribly pretty graffiti but it caught my eye as I passed it and I have no other photo today. I thought I'd give the lovely man a rest from being photographed though you may see him tomorrow.

When I was getting this image from my phone, I noticed a picture I'd taken some weeks ago on the Glasgow/Edinburgh train. I'd never done anything with it but I liked it so here it is.

It's the weekend folks! Hooray!

I thought I'd inject a bit of Christmas cheer for you all. Hope you're all having a great Friday.

Birthday celebration

It was my brother's birthday today (well yesterday as it's after midnight as I write). I went across to meet him at his daughter and son-in-law's house. This meant I got to see my lovely great-niece too. Here she is with her mum.

I also got to see my nephew who I haven't seen for a while. All in all, it was a lovely relaxed family evening. Thanks all!

Here are a few more photos from the night.

Here she is with my nephew.

Here she's on her dad's knee...

Today's reading material

I haven't been motivated to produce many photos today. I've been having an indoors day reading this book. It was recommended by someone who has adopted its principles and found it beneficial. I must admit she was looking very well when I saw her.

I have been struggling with weight and health for the last few years and regular dietary stuff hasn't done an awful lot to help me reduce weight without a phenomenal amount of effort that I find hard to sustain. I was initially resistant to checking out a seemingly miracle diet book as these seem to multiply and are generally peddled with great enthusiasm but it is making sense so far. I looked it up on Amazon and was surprised to see that out of 31 reviews, every one of them had given it a score of 5 out of 5 and said how it had been beneficial for them. I plan to adopt its methods once the festive season is out of the way. I'll let you know how I get on.

I'm hoping to get out and about tomorrow to take some nice pictures for you. In the meantime, I'm going back to my book. Have a good evening.

Had my meal cooked for me tonight

I went to visit friends and had a lovely meal cooked for me tonight. I'm playing with a new camera and lens too so I took a lot of photos on the way there which can be seen on Flickr.

Here's the Mitchell Librarty in Glasgow. I often take photos of it but not usually at such a wide angle.

The evening light was very beautiful. I'm too tired to write much more. I started preparing my photos well before midnight and it's well after now so it's time for big snoozes. Hope you've all had a lovely evening.

I must have looked scary...

... if you go by his expression! F came to visit today...

Here's another picture of him:

Julien asked me to say a hello from him too...

Now back to the Gadget Show...

Sunday walk

The lovely man and I went for a short walk this afternoon as we often do on a Sunday. I took lots of photos, none of which were all that exciting but I kind of liked this blurry one. We met a friend for coffee after that and had a lovely afternoon.

Last night's party was also great fun. Lots of lovely food and drink and great company. I'm kind of tired now after my travels. I'll catch up with all your blogs later. Hope your weekend has been good.

Still, calm evening

Just after sunset, the lovely man and I went to South Queensferry. It was a cold evening but not too cold and it was very still. It was so beautiful and quiet. I took a lot of pictures and some can be seen on Flickr.

I took some delightfully squiggly shots when we were in the car going over bumps. Here is a favourite:

I also took some lovely out of focus bokeh images like this one:

We're partying tonight and I'm looking forward to it. Hope you're having a great Saturday.

Lensbaby flare

Here's a lensbaby shot of the lovely man. I haven't changed it in any way. It's straight out of the camera. I like the strange flare effects that you sometimes get with the lensbaby.

I arrived in Edinburgh and met up with L. She took me home and fed me. I had a failed attempt at some IT stuff on her behalf. I'll keep trying to think of how to do it. L is a pretty new friend and we haven't met often but it was so lovely. It feels like we've known each other longer but we still have the fun of getting to know new things about each other. Thanks L for a lovely evening.

The lovely man had a work night out tonight. He says he's not drunk but I'm not so sure... He's heckling me as I write but in quite an entertaining way.

Hope you're all having a nice start to the weekend.

Thursday excursions

Here's my lovely cousin - we share a first name and much else besides. We are resting my aching feet in a corner of Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum which was made for me - and the under fives. It's the bit with all the noses and eyes you can try on.

The Glasgow Art Galleries is good for a visit and has a lot for children but sadly, the exhibitions seem dumbed down since my childhood. There are very short descriptions with no big words and if you look at the picture below, in the wildlife section they are showing us what happens to Scottish wildlife by putting a picture of Baxter's Royal Game soup in the exhibit. Is this really necessary?

Even as a six year old I preferred more meaty information and exhibits (if you'll pardon the pun!)

It's been a lovely couple of days. We even did a bit of communing with squirrels but sadly, we conned them as we had no grub.

Now it's the weekend and I'll be off to see the lovely man and a few other people in Auld Reekie. Looking forward to it! Hope you all have a great weekend.

Wednesday evening

I am just home (on Thursday evening) after going over to my brother's house on Wednesday. The occasion for my visit was that my cousin (pictured on the right) was visiting for a few days. We had a lovely evening - a great Italian restaurant meal and a late night chatting. On the left of the picture here is my lovely niece.

I have uploaded a lot of pictures to Flickr today so you might want to check them out. I will tell you a little more about my day today but not till tomorrow as I am tired and just about ready for bed now. I haven't had much internet access in the last couple of days so I'll catch up with what you've all been up to soon. In the meantime, have a lovely night.

Trip out with the lensbaby

Here he is again - my good friend K. We both headed into town to do some Christmas shopping and to drink lots of coffee. I took the lensbaby with me and took a few pictures.

All the colours of these bins caught my eye...

And here are some carnations for you...

It was a fairly fruitful shopping expedition and a pleasant morning. Now I'm back in my cosy house. I'm building up some Wii-fit and Samba. Happy Tuesday folks.