September
Posted: September 19, 2015 Filed under: birds, coast, countryside, dogs, flowers, food & drink, food for free, holidays, life style, miscellaneous, Uncategorized, we love, weather and wildlife | Tags: bird watching, brambles, burghley horse trials, dog, food fairs, fruit, fungi, harvest, indian summers, jam, ludlow food festival, Max, minimoon, orchard, sandringham game & country fair, september, walking, wedding Leave a commentSeptember is my favourite month for many, many reasons.
The end of September always makes me a little sad but but I am always looking forward very much to the next one.
It is filled with lovely things for us:-
It is the month we take our main annual holiday
Walking – The Shropshire Way
It is the month of Burghley Horse Trials
Burghley Horse Trial – Burghley
It is the month of harvest
Harvest – Northumberland
It is the month of Sandringham Game Fair
Horse Boarding – Sandringham Game Fair
It is a month when we do most of our walking
Walking – The Lakes
It is the month when the best fungi appear.
Fungi – Fly Ageric
It is the month of Food Festivals across the country. Ludlow being our favourite.
Ludlow Castle
It is the month for Bramble picking & making Jam.
Brambles
It is the month of Indian Summers when the heat has left the sun but the cold months are not showing themselves yet.
September Sun – Ford Village
It is the month we got our hound and collected him when he was just 8 weeks old.
Max
And it is the month we got married
September Wedding – Rings
heart tart
Posted: May 3, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
When I made the love bugs for valentine’s day last year, I had been undecided about what I would make and bought some heart tart moulds.
With the ingredients required to make a couple of these, I recently had a go.
i’m not very patient with baking but these are really easy and delicious with custard or cream.
RECIPE
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400g/14oz golden syrup / treacle
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150g/5½oz fine fresh white breadcrumbs
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2 lemons, zest and juice
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1 free-range egg, beaten, to use as an egg wash
- ready made pastry of your preference (I used short)
New York, New York
Posted: March 7, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment
the guggenheim museum
I was taken to New York for my birthday at the beginning of the year and it was absolutely amazing.
the ramps at the guggenheim museum
I just knew we would love the place and we did. Neither of us has been before so it came with huge expectations having heard so many good things and lots of praise for the city that never sleeps.
grand central station
We weren’t disappointed.
We were based in Mid Town and we walked everywhere from there. In our explorations, we found that we were covering an average of 11 miles a day but those miles flew by in wonder at all the sites and soaking up the incredible atmosphere.
the oyster bar
There is so much to see and so many choices to make about what you spend your time looking at each day.
Everywhere we went, we were delighted by new things but what thrilled me most of all (apart from the food of course) was the architecture.
the streets are paved with gold
Our gorgeous hotel suite looked out onto the Empire State building and the silhouette of this against the sky greeted us every morning and saw us off to sleep each night. It became my favourite building in New York during our trip.
radio city
We didn’t go up the Empire State building but enjoyed the view from our hotel suite and then from the Top of The Rock.
The Top of The Rock is a great location to view 360 degrees of the Big Apple and we were lucky enough to get some lovely winter sun
flat iron
All the art deco buildings have been lovingly preserved and kept in proud use. They are wonderful feats of engineering and sit side by side with their more modern but no less wonderful young neighbours.
The Empire State Building
We took over 1000 photos and each one reminds us of something fantastic about the buildings and things around us be it our trip into manhattan, west village or hell’s kitchen. We loved it all.
view across midtown
New York is rightly proud of it’s city and I can’t wait to go back.
Statue of Liberty way off in the distance
Go Pro
Posted: January 31, 2015 Filed under: dogs, friends and family, photography, technology, Uncategorized, we love | Tags: go pro, harness, JRT, photography Leave a comment
Max the Go Pro Mule
JC bought a Go Pro Hero 3 + black edition in August 2014 and has been playing with it and buying bits for it ever since. He is officially in love with this little bit of tech heaven and now our friend’s daughter has one (from Santa) so they can be geeks together.
a few adjustments required
Geek aside, it is rather sweet to watch them getting over excited about a tiny box of tricks. There are a good few decades separating them.
nothing unusual about having a big black box on your back
Anyway, in the interest of Go Pro advancement in our household, our terrier Max has been persecuted with a cumbersome harness and a little camera recording his every move on some of our weekend walks.
camera position adjusted to front
To be fair, Max is completely ok with all of this and just takes it in his stride.
I think the harness is designed for a larger dog and some adaptions will be needed to the straps but they get by and Max seems unaffected by it. On occasion, he does try to bury into a straw stack or some undergrowth and can’t quite seems to understand why his progress is limited.
returning with a little more than just the camera
JC doesn’t have much footage that he has chosen to keep yet but he is persevering and we have some half decent stills so far.
Cool as a cucumber and couldn’t care less
Watch this space, our little Go Pro mule might offer some interesting images to show you yet!
olloclip
Posted: January 3, 2015 Filed under: countryside, flowers, miscellaneous, photography, technology, Uncategorized, we love | Tags: 10x macro, 15x macro, fisheye lens, iphone, iphone 5, iphone camera, macro, olloclip, photography, wide angle lens Leave a comment
dandelion clock
I use an iPhone (5) and I love it.
I use it every day for emails, calls, texts, vibe, whatsapp, FB, instagram, twitter, maps, waze, evernote, pinterest, contacts, calendar….. you name it.
I didn’t think that the camera on the phone could be improved as it such good quality already. the iPhone 6 has probably managed to improve the camera further but until I have an iPhone 6, I will have to wait to see.
But I read somewhere ages and ages ago that there was a little attachable lens was available from a company called Olloclip to use with the phone as an attachment, providing more flexibility and giving you a tool that would truly explore the potential of the smashing lens in this little phone.
As an early christmas present to myself, I ordered the 4-in-1 combo. This provides you with a fish eye, wide angle and 2 strengths of macro lens.
I have a canon 6D that I use all the time and have a variety of different lenses for it. It provides such good quality shots that I use it for serious photography and pictures of my work but I have never really considered the iPhone to be a contender for serious shots. As good as it is, how could it possibly be used as a serious working camera?
The review were good but my true expectations for what the addition of the olloclip could do to the camera on the iPhone were limited, but the results have been amazing.
It is tiny attachment and a bit fiddly and would be very easy to lose but if you have the time and the patience along with helpful additions to your camera bag such as a gorilla pod and a clip for your phone, you can set it up to get great photos.
It is great fun and the results are very effective.
Olloclip has an instagram account where people share their images using the olloclip and some are truly incredible.
I need some time to get more interesting shots and I have not taken advantage of the wide angle fitting yet but I’m delighted with the macro results
See for yourself……… all taken with the phone hand held without the support or steadiness of a tripod, gorilla pod or surface
Fish Eye
at eye level
seated
10x Macro
flower head
daisy
rotting knot in fallen tree
15x Macro
drooping flower head
detail from flower
offset shot of flower – my favourite
dandelion clock
dandelion clock
dandelion clock
coffee adventures
Posted: November 23, 2014 Filed under: food & diet, food & drink, friends and family, home, interiors and design, life style, miscellaneous, technology, Uncategorized, we love | Tags: aerocino, capuccino, Coffee, coffee machine, coffee maker, coffee pods, espresso, frothy coffee, latte, Nespresso, pixie Leave a comment
it’s frothy man
After such excitement over our gorgeous new coffee machine, we have had some disappointments.
Our lovely machine blew something inside and was no longer safe to use with water and steam spewing out everywhere.
John Lewis were brilliant about it and because they had no De Longhi stock to replace it and it was dangerous, they refunded us in full and the pretty machine was condemned to the bin, unfortunately.
pixie!
We were back to our traditional italian stove top coffee maker for a while and still loving our coffee.
But we missed the frothy milk and the espressos that JC likes. Coffee and hot milk done the old fashioned way just wasn’t hacking it.
traditional stove top coffee maker
After all it is still a bit of a faff using the stove top and a milk pan and even a wonderful morning coffee we can get from our wonderfully seasoned old campaigner hasn’t hacked it really.
We are busy and things need to be as easy as possible really
So!!!!
Having taken full advantage of our lovely friends thorough research, we are now the proud owners of a Nespresso Pixie with aerochino!
And it is wonderful
And it is easy
And there is no mess
And it is cheaper than buying beans and ground.
And we have found a fantastic clever devise for storing our pods that can be fixed to the underside of the kitchen wall cupboard. Right on hand but not seen. Marvellous.
pod holder
Or mounted on the wall like a piece of art.
wall mounted pod holder
Finding the flavours that are right for us but it is fun trying and we have had some very helpful tips.
shiney and brilliant
I feel coffee love again!!!
Water Baby
Posted: October 18, 2014 Filed under: countryside, dogs, friends and family, funny, Uncategorized, we love | Tags: dog, dog swimming, fetch, jack russell, jack russell terrier, JRT, pond, retrieve, Water Leave a comment
retrieve
It’s safe to say that Max does not like the water.
He’s spent an extraordinary amount of time getting wet with weekly baths to sort out his skin problem so I can understand the aversion to it.
not letting the stick go
But even before the allergy started, he wasn’t the first into the sea or any body of water that you’d throw a stick into.
He might venture into the shallows to retrieve a treat but we have lost a lot of balls and toys on the beaches of norfolk because he just won’t go in to get them if a swim or deep water of any kind is required.
Hamlet and Max waiting for the throw
Add a bit of competition though and that is a completely different matter as we found out recently.
fish eye olloclip lens on iPhone 5
We have my sis’s JRT, Hamlet with us for a while again and we took Max for a walk with him to a pond nearby and as soon as there was a chance that Hamlet might beat him to the retrieve, he was right in there.
I’ve got it!!
Swimming no less!!! (well, it actually looked a lot like drowning a lot of the time to be fair).
It was such a lovely evening that we stayed for ages, wearing out the boys and enjoying the sun set.
sun set
little blue ball
Posted: June 29, 2014 Filed under: Uncategorized Leave a comment
I have posted about Max and his little blue ball on the beach before.
We headed off to Norfolk again a few weekends ago and the opportunity for the little, rather tatty looking blue ball to come out again.
The weather could not have been better.
Max never tires of chasing and jumping for this bit of bouncy rubber and he can’t be tempted away by anything when his JRT focus is fully on the ball.
He won’t stop, even when he is fit to drop. We have to take charge and put it away sometimes.
I don’t think I will get sick of looking at picks of him having so much fun!
lovely lapwings
Posted: May 11, 2014 Filed under: birds, countryside, Uncategorized, we love, weather and wildlife | Tags: lapwing, lapwing behaviour, lapwing chick, lapwing habitat, lapwing nest, lapwings 2 Comments
arial acrobatics
One of my favourite birds next to the Wren is the Lapwing.
with a beautiful clear blue sky backdrop
Called peewits in the NE (& possibly elsewhere too) because of the sound they make, they are endlessly busy beauties that grace our skies with their amazing acrobatics.
endless activity in the sky
They are graceful, athletic, full of character and have such lovely markings.
swooping down to the ground
Their nesting habitat is easily ruined as they tend to nest in ground scrapes on flat farmland that is invariably ploughed, planted up and later harvested.
They are fierce defenders of their nest, eggs and youngsters; feigning a damaged wing if there is anyone or anything too close to the product of all their hard work and courtship.
wading – is that a banksy?
I never get sick of watch and listening to them. I could do it for hours.
deer damage
Posted: May 3, 2014 Filed under: countryside, Uncategorized, we love, weather and wildlife | Tags: deer, deer habitat, habitat, nature, tree damage, trees, wildlife Leave a comment
old deer damage to a sapling
We are lucky enough to see Roe Deer where we walk at the weekends and although they become harder to see when the crops get up, there is always a sign that they are about.
a healed area that has been nibbled in the past
We see slots in the mud, beds of flattened grass where they have slept at night, nibbles on crops but also damage to tree bark where they have been having a feast.
this sapling has been targeted all up it’s trunk until they have finally snapped it
It is inevitable and one of their many wild habits although it is not very popular with anyone growing saplings.
freshly planted fruit tree with no protection has already been targeted
I like seeing the secret signs that the deer are about and know that as long as the damage is not extensive the saplings will survive.
small areas of damage on low unprotected branches
A deer damaged sapling will never grow to be the perfect specimen but this is nature and this is what happens – good, bad and indifferent.
self seeded whitebeam being stripped
chezlah 