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Baby S. SneakPeak

It has been about 2 and half years since the wedding of Karen and Wil, and a few weeks ago they welcomed the birth of their beautiful daughter. There are a few photos which I have to sort through but here is a sneak peak...

Dunoon.

By the time I came into the world, my Mum had been already been around for 38 years. One great sadness is that she sadly lost her mother, 'Granny Jean' 10 years previous to my arrival so I never got a chance to meet her, and her father 'Grandpa' died when I was about 7, so I didn't know him very well either.

One of the great things about this trip we had to Scotland to see cousin Marion and Auntie Margaret was that it brought Granny Jean and Grandpa alive for me. They sound like exceptional people and their memories live on in the stories these ladies tell. I'd like to be that kind of person - the kind that people remember so fondly 40 years after I have gone.

(The moral of the story is value your grandparents and the stories they tell!)

Mum, her sister Auntie Margaret, and Margaret's daughter, granddaughter and greatgrandson.

It rained. Oh, how it rained. Thankfully it didn't dampen our spirits, only our clothes.

And just to emphasise the rain...

Sisters in the park

Recently when I found myself with a day off I was able to take advantage of the fact they  my nieces are homeschool and go and spend some time with them, we went to the local park.

 What can I tell you about these girls? They are such a delightful pair.

- Like most other girls in the world they have succombed to stereotypes and like to look pink and pretty.
- They play just lovely together, most of the time! Drawing or writing, Cass has watched her sister and copies her letters and has learnt to keep between the lines.
- They like to superimpose themselves in to their books and pictures. They are reading Angelina Ballerina? They will identify each character as being one of themselves and their friends. 'Thats LissaLou, thats CassCass, thats Joel, etc' They do that with pretty much everything. 
- They do not look much like each other at the moment, although neither did Heather and I at their age but I think you can still tell they are sisters...
- They love to read books and be read too, an ideal fit for the family they were born into where there is a huge love of books. 

With homeschooling everyone says 'what about the socialisation?' Believe me thats not a problem, these girls get plenty of socialisation. Their BFF's live just around the corner, they go to ballet class and other things like that and sunday school at church. Socialisation. Not a problem.

One advantage of homeschool, an empty park during the day. Joy!

 

 

 

The Autumn Garden

Last week it was my pleasure to go and hang out with my sister and friend, whose kids you have seen on this blog many times, over at my sister's house and their beautiful garden which embodies the spirit of Autumn in an beautiful way. 

So to say I was gutted when I realised I had my camera etc and forgotten the memory card was a bit of an understatement and to find out that my sister had an old memory card of the right size was a big relief

There was however one catch, at 250mb, it would hold about 30 pictures. So that was my challenge, to make the photos good to start of with and delete as I went along. It made post processing a lot easier but boy it was hard to not get carried away taking as many photos as I liked!

  

At the end of the garden stands a summer house, which they are using as an activity room for the kids, especially useful with the homeschooling. At the moment it is a grocery shop, complete with oven (in case you order a panini and want it warmed up), a shoptil which reads credit cards, shelves, and seating area.

 

 

This lovely little bell was lying abandoned on the grass when Heather and Alberto moved in to the house, happily Alberto has given it a proper home at the garden door and is a great way of calling people into dinner. 

Heather made this lovely dish which accentuates the amazing autumn colours. At 20 degrees the weather was warm enough for us to eat in the garden.

  

 

LissaLou's Thyroid is Doing Well!

LissaLou wrote this out this afternoon, I have blurred out the first word - her name - (which was written perfectly). But the rest of it is an interesting example of phonetic spelling...

 

It will not suprise you that LissaLou was not intending to write about thyroids, thats just the first thing that came to mind when I read it. 

It actually says this 'Dora, LissaLou's child is 6 years old.'

 

And the girl herself as cute as always, and if you look closely you can see two adult teeth at the front!

The last thing you expect...

when opening council mail is to see a picture of your mum on the front cover!

After housesitting last week and narrowboating over the weekend, I find myself on the first day of half term with the uneviable task of tidying my room.

So although I knew that my mother was going to be in Islington's magazine this month I completely forgot and was suprised to see the above when I opened my post. I am ashamed to say I opened the envelope, and paying no attention went to put it in my recycling bin and actually had a second look before I realised the beautiful lady gracing the front cover was my mother. Go Mum!

Too Busy To Blog

So it seems, since the last blog was posted on the 28th September. In my mind I still think its September, everyday at work I write down 09 instead of 10 before correcting myself. 

Anyway so as inspiration I thought I would photograph the reason that I am too busy to blog and it's this...

A) I have joined a local Guide pack as an assistant leader... I even have a uniform! A polo shirt and a hoodie, blue with the Guide logo on it - very cool. The first session was last week and lots of fun, I have to remember all these things from way back when I was a guide. The girls are really sweet and its quite fun being with kids older than 3! 

 

B) Swimming. Each Sunday night I have my Beginners swimming lesson night after church. And I love it. Love it even more now I have a nose clip. The instructor thinks I should get used to swimming without it to which I replied I just wouldn't come at all without it. And apparently you are meant to kick from the hips and not the feet, hmm, HARD! But I get lots of compliments from the instructor which is good for the ego and encouraging too and have even made a friend there, just have to remember her name and how to pronounce it. We swim next to each other each week, its nice to have that moral support. I have just sent an email off to sign off for the next stage of swimming lessons, the Development lessons. Where I hopefully progress to the next level. Hoping to get that on a sunday night, because to me - that has become a perfect time to swim!

 

C) My friends Kath and Marcus married last week up in Liverpool. Like most southerners I have preconceptions about Liverpool and they are not all good,but I was quite pleasantly suprised. I must say even with the weather - the areas we were in were quite beautiful - I would live to go back to get some nice photos of the scenery. Kath looked amazing, possibly my favourite wedding dress of the year and the reception venue was stunning, The Conservatory at Stanley Park I think it was called. This was my first time in 4 weddings that I wasn't a photographer which was kind of fun. Taking the pictures for my own enjoyment knowing that I won't be handing them over at the end of the day and so don't have to worry how they look or what anyone else thinks of them. Its a good feeling. Anyway the photos for this wedding are on facebook if you would like to see...

  

D) Work. Obviously I can't picture this one, but believe me when I say it takes up far too much of my time, thoughts and energy. I am finishing this job in two weeks and hope to get my sanity back a bit after that before the next job begins. I think working with children is a lot harder in the winter, as there are more days we are cooped up inside, more cleaning, more illnesses. I have many moments of envying the people who are based in offices sometimes!

Well today is another wedding, the last of the year (I think!) and I'll be a guest for the first part and photographer for the reception which should be fun! Hope you all are having a good weekend too...

Sheerness

It was a Wednesday in the middle of the Summer holidays. The weather was hot and sunny and expected to be well into the 30's and everyone, but everyone decided to beach was the place to be. 

Including us. Our intention was to revisit Whitstable, a lovely little beach we had spent the previous year. On the road with the sun blaring down, the messages came about an accident ahead and closed roads. We had to rethink our journey. The relatives in the car behind made the most of the jams by popping out of the car to pick blackberries from the side of the road.

We decided to detour to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey, just of the coast of Kent. Sheerness is itself a lovely beach. Much bigger than the Whitstable, with a fish bar (that took a while to find). 

HIs uncle got this windmill toy that provided on the day and ever since, hours of entertainment!

The girls thought the sea was far too cold and ran away from it, they are too used to the warm caribbean waters!

My zoom lense helped me get this shot across the sea looking over at Southend

Look closely at the bottom left hand corner, yes you really do see a pet lizard being taken for a walk on the beach!

And the journey home...

A Day Out for the Family

When my sister and family came home, they were joined by her husband's family from France and as it fell during my summer holidays I got to join them on some days out. 

On this one we took the Tube to Trafalgar Square, walked along to Big Ben and got the boat down to the Thames Barrier. I have never even seen the Thames Barrier before, but it was a thoroughly enjoyable journey. The boat passes all the normal landmarks on the way down to Greenwich including the London Eye, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Hays Galleria and Canary Wharf to name but a few. Quite a few people get off at Greenwich, where the river also starts to get a lot wider, both meaning the journey from Greenwich to Thames Barrier feels a lot more peaceful. This part of the journey also passes the Millenium Done (the 02 Arena). 

Preparing for a Rochester Wedding