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As the garden is looking a wreck (wall is falling down so council have up scafolding before the great knock down this week, and there are huge piles of twings and branches from what they are pulled off the wall) so I thought I would go out in the garden and appreciate the beauty that is hidden out there...
Since I stated my desire to see Bluebells, people such as Elwira and more recently my Mum have been making that possible.
Cos I am not just looking for one or two bluebells, but fields of them...
So when we found ourselves with a free day on Monday, Mum whisked me off to Stanmore Country Park in Stanmore (funnily enough!) in the Lovely borough of Harrow. It is 35 hectares of grass, trees, bushes, ponds, trees and streams and oh yes, trees!
On the short walk from Stanmore Station to the woods there are the most amazing art deco houses, all square and angles apart from a curved bay window - like something out of Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot.
We didn't stay for too long in the Park, just a couple hours (or less?) to get some photos and have a picnic. But from what we didn't say would definitely make me recommend it to any of you London city dwellers. It is particularly attractive with the short walk from the station to the park itself (makes it a very accessible). Stanmore Station is easy to get to by the Jubilee Line (which we accessed with the London overground to West Hampsted).
Stanmore is an excellent place to catch your Bluebell fix, for a walk, to see the wildlife, and for something different...
The wedding season has begun and last weekend a bunch of us celebrated the hen weekend of the lovely Amy J... It was in Dorset, near Bridport rather near the border with Devon (for anyone who doesn't know - an awfully pretty part of Great Britain. Amy J's bridesmaids Caroline, Lauren and Sarah did an amazing job with the games. All based on a theme of Paris Hilton's BFF (Best Friend Forever)... there was a general knowledge quiz on Amy, a game where Amy sang the first line of a song and each person had to finish (really enjoyed that one - would have liked it more if I could remember the words to any songs that are not children's songs!) and 'Make an Amy' using a whole pile of boxes, papers, and props that had been brought for the purpose. And that is to name just a few...
Anyway here are some pix from the weekend, and a taste of Dorset...
So last week was my last in Basildon. You'll notice a bias in favour of Basildon Boy 3, who was much more into having his photo taken! Big thanks to the Basildon family, I had a great time there! And esp big thanks for letting me post photos here on the blog!
The children hunted eggs, I hunted photos!
Children's T.V can be pretty controversial, but one thing is for sure, children love it and as long as it makes money it isn't going anywhere.
There are numerous reasons for and against children watching television. This is about how to make it useful and use it to help your child's learning. Some of the benefits include giving children a wider knowledge of the world (turn on the Discovery channel), teaching children about other cultures and places they might never get to see otherwise. How else could a city kid learn about the jungles of South America or the Wild of Africa, let alone simple things like life on a farm (not all of us have access to city farms).
At an age where children are susceptible to what everyone else is doing it can be very encouraging to have a show like Lazy Town which is all about living healthy and being good, children want to imitate. Rather than just use a tv as something to keep the children from under your feet 24 hours a day, and risk their eyes actually turning in to squares (as your parents always promised would happen). Use it to your advantage...
Discuss: Everything in a show is up for a discussion, why did X do that, was that wrong or right? what should they do now? how do you think z feels?
Observe: Children learn by what they see, are they practicing their numbers, have them look out for numbers they see on screen, or look out for letters that match their name. You get the idea. Kind of like I Spy but for tv.
Use:Incorporate what they have seen on tv in their play else where, and vice versa. Basildon Boy 3 loves Wall-E and likes to make spaceships out of some magnet toys his mum bought for him. Seeing how much he enjoys it - she bought some more which he can use to extend his play learning opportunity. On the other hand he aslo loves Dinosaurs, so as you can imagine, getting to see a film about Dinosaurs was great for him. Another favourite is also Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear is a treasured toy.
Have an idea what your child is watching and their reactions to it. If you don't like it, or see what your child's behaviour changes as a result of watching it, then turn it off! Just because it was made for children doesn't mean it is appropriate (I'm thinking of the film : The Incredibles at that comment, which I just can't get to grips with).
Some of my personal favourites for young children at the moment include Lazy Town, Charlie and Lola (I am convinced that it convinced BB3 to eat tomatoes and sweet corn!) and Pocoyo (Stephen Fry narrates wonderfully).
With my time as a basildon nanny coming to an end I have been taking tons of photos, to add a little variety - I have even taken some in black and white in camera.
Previously I have avoided this, because I think if I take them in colour, I have more choice at the computer stage - but since rarely I convert afterwards I thought I should just go for it...
Advantages of shooting black and white in-camera
- Training your eye: Over time it will give you a better idea of what scenes would look good in black and white instantly.
- Filters: Many cameras allow a filter option, in the good old days you physically added a filter to the camera, now you can change the settings.
Disadvantages of shooting black and white in-camera
- You cannot change you mind afterwards as you could with colour (I have heard this can be overrided by shooting in RAW which I have yet to test).
2 For and 1 Against
The disadvantage is so significant to me I think I shall on occasion try black and white on my low risk images (photos I have loads off and want a different perspective) just in order to train my eye better. On the whole I think as a jpg user I shall stick with coversion in camera.
In case you have never heard of them, welcome to the world of 'lolcats' at icanhascheezburger.com. The idea is you have a funny picture of a cat to which you add a caption, the bad spelling is deliberate. (Cats can't spell properly!). The blog linked to has loads of these pictures and even has translations if you can't get the spelling, well worth a look cos its hilarious!
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
