Raindrops & Sunshine

Taken yesterday on a rainy/ sunny day. Mostly a rainy day I might add.

Originally uploaded by KTDEE....busy but will get there

Joan's Flower

We have been for a walk in the woods earlier this week and managed to get a few shots. On the way back, for a well earned cuppa, I passed a friend's garden and stopped for this one. Hand held with tongue hanging out for that cuppa.

Originally uploaded by KTDEE....busy but will get there

Home Made Bread & Jam

My home made bread ready for slicing and eating with Rhubarb & Ginger jam, home made of course. Mmmmmmmm.
Originally uploaded by KTDEE....busy but will get there

Three...........

Three small fungi hiding in the autumn leaves.

Originally uploaded by KTDEE....busy but will get there

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.
Feel free to click on the 'flickr' logo on the line above and see my photos in flickr.
Thanks for looking, leave a comment if you wish. Most appreciated.

A Red Crown

Taken at a garden centre, I believe it is called Monardo.
Looks like a crown.

Common Nettle

Common stinging nettle but I just liked the leaf shadow on the larger leaf.

Wild Berries

Wild berries taken on a day in the countryside

Grass going to Seed

Toad Lilly

Taken at a garden centre.

Butterfly Double

Taken in my greenhouse last month.
I seem to have missed September out.
Time passes quickly when you are having fun, they say.

Old Time Organ Grinder.

This is Patrick the organ grinder and his monkey who were at the Bygone Days Fair.
He was one of the old time attractions there. The children where amazed but to be honest I think they were paying more attention to the animated monkey with his banana rather than the organ which made a beautiful sound. By the way the organ is a "21 note Trueman".

Bathing Beauty

This beauty is one of the Bygone Bathing Belles.
Just what is she thinking? Something very pleasant!!

Bygone Bathing Belles in colour

Here are the Bathing Belles in colour.

Bygone Bathing Belles - sepia

A couple of weeks ago our local council organised a Bygone Days Fair in our little shopping precinct with olden times attractions. These lovely ladies posed for me in their swimwear of yesteryear. I tried to give this photo a feel that it had just come out of a photgraph album where it had been for some time. Hope you like it. I will also put the original colour shot up so you can see the lovely colours of these outfits.

Mammoth

A Mammoth is a large extinct elephant with a hairy coat and curved tusks.
On my day out 'photo hunting' with my friend Loretta I found this one on top of Mammoth Hill at the Watermead Country Park , Birstall. He was quite happy to pose for me, lol.

Watermead is a two mile long park, with a wetland area and lakes. An ideal spot for walking, fishing, cycling, picnics, birdwatching and watersports. Plenty ducks and swans on the lake, and loads of dragonflies. It is adjacent to the canal and a river.

Garden Corner

This is how this corner of the garden looks now after the removal of the hedge and the putting up of the fence. Earlier pics in the blog show how it looked a few months ago. It has been a lot of hard work and could have been achieved much earlier if the weather had been better. We have had a terrible year so far for rain. Hope we get some summer weather soon.

Hollyhock

In the front of the Unknown Garden there was a line up of hollyhocks in various colours.
I took this one because it looked a bit on the shy side and still not fully open.

Unknown Garden

While on a day out and about I saw this garden and thought it looked wonderful so I just had to take a photo of part of it.

Penicuik Kirk, Scotland

If I remember correctly this window is at the rear of the church.

Penicuik Kirk, Scotland

The front portals of the church.

Penicuik Kirk, Scotland

This is part of the front of the church.
See other photo for some church history.

Penicuik Kirk, Scotland

Side of Penicuik South Kirk in Scotland.I took this a few years ago on a visit to relations. We went into Edinburgh and had a good walk around, took a few photos there. This shot was taken in Penicuik which is near to Edinburgh, its a gorgeous building. More shots to follow of the church.

The original church is dated as 1843 and was much smaller. When by 1862 the congregation had outgrown the church, this newer church was designed by F T Pilkington. It is an extraordinarily striking structure, although if Pilkington's original ideas had been carried through, it would have been even more so. It was erected at a cost of £2,050, and was capable of seating some 700 worshippers. Characteristically, the maverick architect used dramatic contrasts of scale - the weighty entrance is supported on tiny shafts, and there was to have been a tall, dominant spire on the exisisting squat tower. Inside the complex form of the varnished wooden ceiling dominates the space. The plan is a square set diagonally to the main axis with its corners removed, apart from the east corner which extends into a galleried area. Shafts beside the pulpit (not original) are decorated with small polished bosses. At that time the bridge across the river had yet to be built - access on a Sunday morning was by ford (if you came by carriage) or across the stepping stones if you came on foot - times change!

Two Heads are Better than One

Taken at Bradgate Park, Leicester last weekend. This park is a busy place with the deer roaming all over the place, loads of trees and areas to walk and picnic on.. It also has historical interests like Old John Tower, ruins of the Grey family house, and info about Lady Jane Grey who was a queen of England for 9 days.

Clematis Stamens

Taken the other day and surprise , surprise it wasn't raining or windy. I thought I would try out the macro tubes on my camera to see what the results would be. I am very please with the results. More macro shots will foloow soon.

Sunshine before the Rain.

A view of the countryside near here. This is a field of rape ripening.

My Friend

Made a friend with this animal while out in the countryside. He was very curious....was it me or the camera that was the attraction?

Fox on Thatched Roof

This was taken in Birstall, Leicestershire on Saturday while on a day out with a friend. I thought it looked good especially the finishing touch of the fox on the roof.

Visitor

Pat and I went out into the country on Tuesday for a photoshoot morning. I found this wild flower but before I could snap it along came the visitor, that was an added bonus. Managed to get a few other pics and they may follow on in a few days time.

Aquilegia Bud

Taken in my garden a couple of days ago. If the weather stays warm and sunny it will not be long before it comes into bloom.

Now, The Fence

This is how it looks today, and its raining again. Taken from a slightly different angle to show where the other hedging was. I am now down as far as the bird bath and just a little short of the apple tree, and pleased so far with the result. Want it all done before the really good weather arrives as I like to relax in the recliner with a book and a cool glass of something. That's after all the housework is done of course!!!!!!

The hedge has gone

The dreaded hedge has gone and with 4 men tramping all over the garden removing it, there was a lot of clearing up work to be done. The weather has been so wet etc I have had to wait for some months before really tackling the garden work that was needed. I am now in the process of doing that and it will take another week or two to complete. I have cleared a lot of the area and planted some new shrubs and plants. There has been a lot of digging and moving of earth to this end but it is coming into shape. Thank goodness.
More photos to follow when I take them.
This will explain why I have not been posting in my blog just lately.
The last comment is specially for my blog friend Kathleen, lol.

The Hedge

A view of the back garden and the dreaded hedge before its removal.
There is also another hedge to the right which is also going to be removed.

Geranium Bud

This tiny bud was broken off the plant I bought at the garden centre recently.
I put in water and it is going strong now.

Spreading Tree

Here is another try on the silhouette theme. I know that people choose trees more than any other subject for silhouettes, but I had to give it a try.

Bicycle Silhouette

While out for a walk the other day I came across this abandonded bicycle. I was looking for suitable silhouette type pics to take so this did the trick for me, it got me started. This is a learning curve for me as I have never tried silhouette type photography before.

Tree in Winter

Trying a bit of Lucis on this photo to see what the effect is.
Quite pleased with my first try.

My Son who lives in Calgary, Canada sent this to me

It is called the Cochrane Mural..

For those not living in the west, Cochrane is NW of Calgary and east of Banff , in the foothillks of the Rockies .This mural was unveiled last week at the Cochrane Ranche House. Each tile is 1 foot square and has it's own individual picture. Each tile is by a different artist. All of them placed together form this huge mural.

You can click on each of the tiles to see them in detail, pay special attention to the horses eye.

Here it the site address:

http://www.muralmosaic.com/Cochrane.html

Blue Marble

Sunlight shining through a marble.

FLOWERS FROM 2003 - 2009