Photo from the commute

I haven't had much time or inclination for photos lately due to being kept busy with work at the moment. I am now on the train home and the elegance of this young woman's snooze caught my eye. I could do with a nap too. Hope all my fellow bloggers are doing well. Sorry for the lack of comments. I hope to look in on you all soon xxx

Wet holiday...

We've been having a nice time on our visit to London though it would be nice if it would stop raining. I've rediscovered my love of the lensbaby and have taken loads of photos. Some are up on Flickr (www.flickr.com/photos/impoftheyard) and more will appear as I process them. The one above was a favourite - rain in Chinatown.



Here's Picadilly Circus...



This was another favourite...

We're off to meet meet Biscuits_yum today!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

On our travels

The lovely man and I are on our travels and I am trying out a new ipad blogging app. Here is the view of Newcastle from the train window. I have been treated to a first class seat and am enjoying the adventure. More photos will follow!

New hobby...

Today's photo is not one of my most exciting but I've not been focussing on my photography lately. (Nor did I even focus properly in this shot!) I've been enjoying a new hobby of making jewellery. I'm learning stuff all the time and here you can see a little of the most recent necklaces I've been working on.

I'm missing my photos but I have to carry so much with me when I'm going to work in different cities that I haven't taken the SLR for a walk for some time. Hopefully I'll make up for it at the end of February when the lovely man and I head south to London. We are hoping to meet with a certain Mr Biscuits on our visit so how can we fail to get out our cameras when we are meeting a fellow photographer?

I'm not complaining about work though. I'm fortunate that I enjoy what I do. While a more steady and reliable income would be nice, I feel lucky to have any income in the current economic climate. The bonus is that I get to see a lot more of Mr Duck (aka the lovely man and a whole lot of other things). He has just bought a new sofa which I am sitting on right now. It's much more comfy than the last one. I shan't be moving for some time....

Hope you're all doing well. I shall pop in onsome of your blogs soon :-)

A day of the mundane

We have had a quiet day with the return of the ordinary weekend. Here is the lovely man doing the shopping while I harass him with a camera.

The snow came back last night and is lying in a most unspectacular manner on the pavements in Edinburgh though I gather that even this small amount brought disruption to the airport. I uploaded a couple of photos of the snowy street to Flickr, along with one of legs at the supermarket. They are fairly unremarkable but it is difficult to take interesting photos when your hands are full of shopping! I must get out to take photos with the big camera soon.

My first week back at work did not bring many hours for me as people are still shaking themselves out of festive inertia. Am hoping for more work next week though I have been enjoying getting through the Christmas reading. Hope you're all having a good weekend!

Happy New Year

I thought I'd start my blogging year with a silly portrait of the lovely man and I. You may notice that he has had strange genetic and surgical experiments done on him and where he once had an ear, he appears to have grown fingers. He doesn't talk about it much though.

I had a lovely time with family and the lovely man on Christmas day. Sadly, I got ill on Boxing day and so none of my plans for the holiday season came to fruition. I am only now well enough to leave the house and saw none of the friends I usually spend time with at this time of year. I was fortunate that the lovely Mr duck stayed with me and said "there there" with soothing regularity. 

One other plan which was not put into practice due to my being indisposed was getting out with my SLR and putting some effort into photos again. Here's hoping I can make up for that soon. 

Wishing all my regular visitors a very happy new year (both of you...)!

Christmas night

This is what the pavement looked like when we made our way home after Christmas dinner last night. This was not water but sheet ice covering all pavements due to the rain on top of the snow then freezing. Fortunately I had ordered ice grips for both Mr Duck and I at the beginning of the snowy weather and they had finally arrived. I was very impressed. We were both pretty secure on our pins.

We are now relaxing after having had a very pleasant Christmas with some of my family. I have a bit of a lurgy so I'm feeling a little sorry for myself but am overall content. Hope you had as nice a Christmas as we did.

The thaw begins

The thaw begins, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

Edinburgh was melting today. It was very slidey and all of the buildings were dribbling on passersby. It feels positively balmy compared to the -12 of last night.

Snowy Glasgow...

As you will have seen on the news, much of Scotland came to a halt yesterday with the wintry conditions. I was lucky enough to have nowhere I had to be, so I was able to cower at home for the entire day with the central heating on, and the oven on with the door open. Today there was no more snow but it was bitterly cold and beautifully sunny.

I ventured out today to meet a friend in a local cafe. I wish the snow would go away, especially as I need to get to Edinburgh tomorrow, but it still lifts my spirits being out in it on a sunny day. It was very beautiful and bright and to top it all, I had of a really nice lunch.

I took a couple of photos and may put others on Flickr later. This one just illustrates the state of the road with the hard packed ice. This is a main road in Glasgow. There are very few buses - I never saw any when I was out and there were none running between Glasgow and Edinburgh today. The highest temperature forecast for tomorrow during the day is -6. Keep your fingers crossed for me getting to Edinburgh tomorrow!

Still in the land of the living

I'm blogging from my phone so I'm not sure if this will work ok. Sorry I haven't been visiting my fellow bloggers or posting much here. I've been kept busy with my two jobs - especially since they spread me across three cities. I am not complaining though since I'm lucky enough to love my work.

I have fought all the way through the snow from Glasgow to Edinburgh today but I have no snowy pictures for you. This image is looking at my window through a little stick on optical filter on my phone. I forgot I had those and may playwith them a bit. I'm pining after my SLR but it's just too heavy with everything else I carry.

I hope you're all keeping cosy this weather. Bye for now...

Crossing...

Crossing..., originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

This photo was taken yesterday on Princes Street in Edinburgh. I liked the shadows and the colours. Notice the wonderful textured pavement so that blind and visually impaired people can find the crossing. Hm. Maybe that will make life too easy for them. I know! Let's put a heavy duty traffic cone in front of them for no particularly good reason. I get annoyed at things like this.

I posted a few other street shots on Flickr. I'm tending to blog from my iPad so it's limiting my to one picture at a time unless I fiddle with it. It's not a bad discipline though.

Hope your week is going well!

Autumn in Edinburgh

I'm really enjoying having part of my working week in Edinburgh and, yesterday, to top it all, it was the most beautiful autumn day. The autumn colours were gorgeous and the sky was an amazing clear blue. I love the long shadows too at this time of year. I'm blogging from my iPad so I could either show you the colours of the trees or these great shadows.

Now I'm having a quiet evening with the lovely man. Happy Thursday people!

A flower for you

photo, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

I rarely look up due to limitations in my neck but after work yesterday, I was in Costa's in Waverly station and leaned back. This is the magnificent skylight that was above me. I took a few photographs and may post some of the others to Flickr later.

I had a couple of very full days at work and was tired at the end of the week. I am fortunate to be doing something that I love. Between my two part-time jobs I will have a five day week next week which I'm very pleased about. My social life, photos and drawing are taking a back seat at the moment but life feels good - in spite of having caught a cold.

EDIT: I'm blogging from my iPad and have just spotted that the photo has been cropped and so is not the original composition but I still like it! You can see the original over on Flickr.

Now it is the weekend and the lovely man is here with me which is nice. Hope all is well with you all and I hope to pop in to your blogs this weekend. I've been missing all your photos.

Caledonian Hotel Edinburgh

Caledonian Hotel Edinburgh, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

This was taken last night when the lovely man and I were on our way to friends for a meal. It's an impressive building and I had passed it many times before I noticed all the figures on the front of it. I was enjoying the lights and colours of night-time Edinburgh last night.

We had a really lovely evening with our friends and excellent nosh! I want to try to blog a bit more often and focus on taking a picture a day again. I'm not carrying my SLR as much since I have a lot to carry when I'm going to Edinburgh these days but I have a perfectly good compact for just those occasions.

I hope you're having a nice weekend all.

Made it back to class

20 Minute pose, originally uploaded by impoftheyard.

Last night was my first night at life drawing for a few weeks. I've just been busy with learning new things and travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow for work. I was pleased with this drawing as I thought I captured the lighting well in it. There are more drawings on Flickr if you want a look. I was quite pleased with my 5 minute sketches from last night too like the one below.

I'm still enjoying my work and getting more time to spend with the lovely man - not that either of us have much energy on "school nights" - but it is nice to see more of each other. Hope you're all well and I'll try to pop round to your blogs soon.

Quiet night in

Sorry I haven't been blogging or commenting lately but I've been pretty busy getting used to my new jobs. I haven't even been to my life drawing for a few weeks but I am enjoying myself nonetheless. In time I'll return to the life drawing and my photos and keep better touch with you all. In the meantime, here's a drawing I did on my iPad using my finger as the lovely man watched TV. Hope you're all having a great weekend.

What have I been up to?

Sorry for the lack of blogposts and comments but I've been pretty busy lately. What have I been up to? Well, I celebrated the first birthday of my great-niece. She is very big for her age. Here she is with her mum. 

I also went to visit friends and another youngster. This little girl is six months old and a lot of fun.

Life drawing was next. Another fine Tuesday was had.

Then I went to Edinburgh to visit Mr duck and get ready for work. I had my first day of work on Thursday. I thoroughly enjoyed it and my new colleagues were all very welcoming. I met my niece (not the one pictured above) and her partner after work for a blether before going home to babble in the ear of the lovely man.

I had no work on Friday and so, while sleepyduck was at work, I met friends and had a lovely meal. Thanks guys.

Today I met up with these three to visit the swans and have coffee and cake. It was great.

I also took a photograph of the Shelter shop window. I rather liked this mannequin wearing an octopus on her head.

It's been a fine week or so....

Who knows what's next?

I've been pretty busy with one thing and another lately and so am behind in uploading photos to Flickr. I have a lot from the weekend I'd like to sort through. The one above is from my wanderings a few weeks ago when the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was in full swing. I really liked it since, though it looks like selective colour, it's not. I also really liked the shadows. It also seemed to epitomise my feelings about my future at the moment. I have now got some part-time work in Edinburgh one or two days a week and will begin next week. I'm looking forward to it. I also have another interview on Friday for similar work which is in a field that I love. This represents movement where there has been none lately. Wish me luck!

You may have noticed missing Tuesday blogs the last couple of weeks. I was unwell and not fit to go to the life drawing classes but I returned last night. 

This was my favourite drawing in spite of some inaccuracy and distortion. Somehow I liked the feel of it. I did feel a little rusty from missing a few weeks. I had every intention to draw at home in the interim but never did.

Hope your week is going well. The weekend is getting closer people!

Sonic Soak at Govanhill Baths

I'm a little late in posting this. This event took place last weekend at Govanhill Baths in Glasgow - a disused swimming pool - two weeks ago. Sadly, I could only be there for the first couple of hours but I had great fun taking photos. It was a two day music festival with all sorts of contraptions, costumes and performances. This was my favourite photo, partly because I loved this woman's costume. 

Here you can see more of the old pool in all it's glory. You can learn a little more about the baths and about the group who organised the event from the links below. 

www.govanhillbaths.com/

www.85a.org.uk

Why are semi-derelict places so interesting? Here are couple of photos from my walkabout.

This place brought back so many memories!

You can see others in the set on Flickr if you want to see more of the place and of the event.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/impoftheyard/sets/72157624700694135/with/4934012165/

I have many photographs to sort out - even a few from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which has been over for a week and then some more so I shall be blogging again soon. Sorry for my absence but a lot has been going on the week and I've not been very well. Still coughing but on the mend...

Quiet Night In