Colour & Contrast.

Some more wintry photos from another walk. Before this one we ate far too much cake in a very nice cafe. The portion sizes were ridiculous, but we weren't daunted.

The top two photos are the same, but different. The first is with the old camera, the second with the new one. I prefer the first image - the colours are more true and the contrast is better. Unfortunately, the old camera is really past its best - the grain of dust stuck in the lense is refusing to budge meaning I need to crop a good section off most photos, also the zoom button is now sticking regularly. But I really don't like the quality of picture from the new camera. I'll try playing around with the settings to see if I can get better colour & contrast.

I can't believe it's hogmany already today, where is the time going?

A Very Happy New Year to all,

Anne x

Brrr.

Some more seasonal photos. We went for a cycle ride to the loch. It was freezing cold, espcially when coming home - my toes were like blocks of ice. It has been lovely and frosty these last few days. I managed to get some photos from the garden, but didn't venture further afield as I was doing another big tidy and clean - this time for the parents' inspection visit yesterday. It was a foggy, frosty day and I kept interupting meal preparations to take photos of the setting sun and roosting jackdaws. Later, arbout 11pm, I looked out the window and was surprised to see the frost had gone - all was drippy and wet. It somehow seems odd when a warm front arrives and ice melts without the help of the sun. Anyway, that's all done and dusted now and we have a few quiet days to enjoy until New Year...

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a lovely Christmas. We managed to get everything organised in time but it was pretty busy - hence the lack of posts.

This year...

• We have a real tree.
• I cut right back on the baking - just a Christmas cake and some iced biscuits.
• We attempted gingerbread house building - never again! It tastes lovely though (kit from Ikea).
• We managed to eat Christmas pudding with our Christmas dinner - usually we're too full. Must have judged it better this time.
• The roast parsnips were the best part of the Christmas meal - delicious.

Enjoy the rest of the festive season!

Anne.

Random Stuff.

 An owl underway. Now complete and handed over for the craft stall at the nursery Christmas fair.

The Kelpies. Taken from the car, we've yet to visit them properly.

These are two lino prints by Barbara Robertson. They are shown in the condition they arrived - ie not great, and I can't believe they were just displayed by the previous owner in clip frames. Anyway, I've taken them in to a local gallery to get them framed properly - which will cost more than the prints did themselves, eek! However, I think they're worth it. I love them! They were a lucky on-line find. I have a greeting card print of the top picture which I've had in a frame and on display for about twenty years so I was quite excited to find the original. The second picture features an umbellifer so of course I like it!
 

Huge cocktail from yesterday afternoon, consumed during a small get-together of last years PGDE students.

The Duke of Wellington, still sporting his hat.

Sunrise this morning.

Now we're going back a couple of weeks to a Sunday afternoon walk round a nearby beauty spot. We went further than we'd intended and hadn't realised how large the site was - I did start to get a little concerned we wouldn't get back to the car while daylight lasted, but we did, phew.

Now for some sunset shots from the garden:-

 

And lastly... I remembered sorting out some butterfly photos in August but never getting round to posting them at the time. Here they are now - a little pop of late summer colour to brighten your day:-