365/101: 31 May 2010: Didn’t we have a wonderful time…

..the day we went to Chester. First proper visit – had previously been on business and managed to see the inside of the hotel. Day return from Carlisle was cheaper than the petrol so it seemed like a good day out. Weather wasn’t great, but at least it didn’t rain.
Thought Chester was OK, but am beginning to think it is possible to see too many ‘historic towns’. That said the walls were interesting, the amphitheatre was inaccessible and the Cathedral was impressive – and also surprisingly empty. Perhaps something to do with the £5 per person they charged for entry. Call me odd, but I’d willingly have volunteered that amount – it is, after all a stunning building - but I do sort of resent being charged for access to a church.
Anyhow – here’s the nave:

365/100: 30 May 2010: Yeehaa! Got to 100 Days

Perhaps not the best shot to celebrate the first major milestone, but given the challenge in getting it at all I’m quite pleased with it.
Visited White Scar Cave at Ingleton today and took this shot on the tour round. As you can imagine, it was pretty dark, and it didn’t even seem worth asking if I could use a tripod – the walkways were to narrow for it to be either safe or sensible. So hand held it was - and hope that a combination of high sensitivity and image stabilisation would do the job.
Not sure if this feature had a name, but it was quite dramatic perched over the walkway.

365/99: 29 May 2010: Rain – at last

And kind of predictable as it’s a Bank Holiday weekend. Thought it was worth celebrating though as we haven’t had any proper rain for a while. This is the currant bush at the end of the garden. It’s deliberately over-sharpened because I like the effect.

365/98: 28 May 2010: More wine

Pattern beginning to form I think – hotels, flowers and wine – who knows? I could be a born romantic – or an itinerant drunk.

365/97: 27 May 2010: Red Campion

Another spring flower – the lanes are full of them. Actually they’re probably one of my favourites.

365/96: 26 May 2010: Another Hotel

The Brittania, Portland St Manchester this time. Amazing building, rather bizarre mixed colonial decor – buddhas, giant wooden zebras and Victorian balustrades – like these in fact:

The light at the bottom is the chandelier 4 floors below.

365/95: 25 May 2010: Apple Blossom

‘The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life’ – Katsumoto; The Last Samurai

365/94: 24 May 2010: Cow Parsley

A less traditional sign of early summer for today’s post. Given that Cow Parsley is never going to win any beauty competitions – other than ‘Best Tall Straggly Plant with Small White Flowers and a Slightly Iffy Smell’ – I though I’d try something a little more experimental. It looks OK on my screen – I hope it does on yours.

365/93: 23 May 2010: Bluebells

My front garden border is a mass of bluebells at the moment – a sure sign that summer is knocking at the door. Went for a close-up rather than a shot of the whole garden as it gave a better impression of the amount of blue we currently have.

365/92: 22 May 2010: It’s Barbecue Weather

What a delightful day for a barbecue and lashings of chilled white wine in the garden. Had a bottle of Alma Andina Torrontes – my first, and hopefully it wont be my last – absolutely gorgeous. In fact I got a sample case of a mix of Alma Andina wines from the wine club and they’ve all been good so far.
Anyway, enough of wine, and onwards to today's picture. Couldn’t resist this rather odd reflection in the dessert spoon while I was sitting at the barbie table.

365/91: 21 May 2010: Attitude…

..that's the difference between a weed and a flower. If this was rare and expensive no-one would dream of pulling it up, spraying it, poisoning it and generally giving it a bad time. And, am I the only person in the whole world who thinks those cheerful yellow flowers add a touch of brightness and fun to the lawn? And who can resist all this fluff – certainly not the  goldfinches in our garden.

365/90: 20 May 2010: For Ros and Bernie..

..who appear to have an in joke about tomatoes rumbling on.

365/89: 19 May 2010: Eccentric… Surely Not…

In Gloucester this evening ahead of a training course tomorrow. Found this on the wall of my room at the Holiday Inn. I remember seeing something similar in the Tate a few years back – that one was called ‘Oeuf sur la Table’. I guess this will be ‘Biscuits sur le Mur’. I am just left wondering ‘Why dudes, why?’

365/88: 18 May 2010: Splashing out..and some more owls

Rather obvious title for today’s planned shot which was this one of the garden fountain with the sun behind:

And I couldn’t resist adding this one. Ollie, or Sage, or Wol or whatever its name was, appears to have a sibling:
Seriously – how cute is this?

365/87: 17 May 2010: A rather fat, feathery, owl…

…but probably not called Sage, because as I recall Sage was green. This little guy, a young tawny owl I think, was sitting well up in an ash tree about 100 yards from our front door. It was quite dark by the time I’d spotted him, so I pressed my flashgun into action and was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. Mum was sitting in a tree nearby being mobbed by a couple of robins.

365/86: 16 May 2010: Taking a bath

This little guy decided to use one of the puddles (potholes) on our drive to take a bath. Given the depth I’m surprised he didn’t drown. Need to do something about the holes this year :(

365/85: 15 May 2010: A First Appearance for…

…Marmalade the family moggie. And, as usual, he’s curled up in the warmest spot he could find. He’s obviously being deliberately coy in this shot, as I was less than a foot from him when I took the photo.

365/84: 14 May 2010: Jack-by-the Hedge..

…or Garlic Mustard as it’s more often known, is one of those native weeds that has more than a little charm when massed in hedgerows, but which you probably wouldn’t want in your garden. A quick Google suggests that in the US of A that it’s regarded as a pestilence.
For the geeks its Latin name is Alliaria petiolata , and here’s a photo.

365/83: 13 May 2010: As usual the weather was gone by the time I left the office

…which was particularly distressing because I’d travelled to Anglesey today and was quite looking forward to stopping on the way back to the hotel to do some shooting at Mynydd Parys. (Lest there be any misunderstanding the link is not to my photos)
Sadly by the time I got off site the light was the kind of gloomy grey that would have made Eyore look colourful. So I settled for another hotel room shot.
Have been reading about Minimalism recently so thought I’d give it a go. Here’s the lampshade.

365/82: 12 May 2010: And another night at Daresbury

There’s a rather pretty church at Stretton, less than a hundred yards from the hotel which I’d never visited before. Light was excellent – low sun through broken dark clouds – just loved the way it was playing on the leaves in this scene in the churchyard.

365/81: 11 May 2010: A spring evening in Cockermouth

Marion out tonight doing a charity collection, so I wandered around Cockermouth looking for likely subjects. This isn’t the greatest photo I’ve ever taken but I liked the colours, and the backlight on the leaves and flags.

365/80: 10 May 2010: Every home should have one

Time to introduce another of my pets – Colin the Crayfish. More accurately, it should be Coleen the Crayfish as she produced about 50 young 3 weeks after I got her – but she was already Colin by that time and it stuck.
Currently she’s about 3 inches long, and appears to have stopped moulting for a while.  She certainly adds a bit of personality to my tank – its fascinating watching her walk about on her 6 back legs while feeding with the front 4. Probably not ideal if you’ve got spider-phobia though.
Not really sure what variety she is – but the fish-shop guy assures me that this is about as big as she’ll get. According to the books I may have her for 20 years.

PS – She does have two fairly hefty claws at the front, but doesn’t appear to want to use them.

365/79: 09 May 2010: The ultimate boy gadget?

Invented in the late 1890s by a Swiss surgeon called Karl Elsener, whose key innovation was to make use of the same spring to put a blade at either end of the knife. It must be the ultimate boys toy (if you ignore a Lamborghini) as well as being genuinely useful. Anyhow, I’ve had one for ages, and I’m not sure how half the household jobs would get done without it – this version even has a pen and a pin in it.

365/78: 08 May 2010: Sunny Silloth

This is one of those things that just cries out to be photographed on a sunny day with a deep blue sky. What you can’t see in this photo is the delightful north-easterly that made it feel like winter all over again.

365/77: 07 May 2010: A bird of very little brain

As you may have noticed from a previous post, Mosher the Lovebird is pretty well accustomed to human company and habits – so much so in fact that during this evenings constitutional flap he decided to try fish and chips.  He eventually decided he didn’t like them – but hey – no-one’s perfect.

365/76: 06 May 2010: Election Special

For hopefully obvious reasons I thought I’d try a bit of satire today.

365/75: 05 May 2010: Home again

Took some rather nice shots of Hunterston A today but don’t really feel I can post them on a private blog given that they were taken in work time, for work reasons. So…waited ‘til I got home and did this one instead.

A wooden apple, made of apple wood. This wood came from a rather large apple tree which we used to have in our garden until the winter storms took it  a few years back. it fell on my car at the time, but fortunately did almost no damage. Our neighbour took a couple of decent logs from it and turned two of these and a small vase for us. The rest of the tree went off for firewood with the help of one of the farmers from the village.

365/74: 04 May 2010: I need to get out more…

..or at least get out of the hotel more. In Largs tonight, at the Brisbane House hotel, which has been done up very nicely since the last time I was here. Should really have gone into Largs and taken some photos across to Cumbrae, but the light was not great and i was a bit short of time so here’s another B&W of bathroom fittings:

Rather fancy shampoo bottles – don’t you think?

365/73: 03 May 2010: A Pig in a Poke…

…or perhaps more accurately Cockermouth Market Place. Was out this morning taking photos for my first degree assignment, and bought a copy of a guided walk around Cockermouth. I don’t know how many times I’ve walked past the stone bollards in the Market Place, but I’ve never noticed these little plaques that carry the toll charges for taking various animals through the street. Of course, there will be those who don’t know what 1/2d is – so for those to young to remember it’s about 1/4p.

365/72: 02 May 2010: Walking the Bunny

We have two dwarf lops. I’m not sure how a dwarf rabbit can be the size of a football – but apparently they are. And that despite the fact that they have a run in the garden and sometimes get taken for a little walkies – just like this.

365/71: 01 May 2010: Cherry Blossom in Cockermouth

When the cherry blossom bloomed
They brought beauty to my heart
Tatsu-jo

365/70: 30 April 2010: In a country churchyard

Popped into St Kentigern’s in the middle of Aspatria to photograph the sandstone tower at sunset, but was rather struck by the sunlight catching this memorial. Sometimes you just have to take what comes your way – I can always go back for another shot of the tower.
I love the way that the light has changed the colour of the stone so that it appears to be a different material to the base – which in this photo is closer to how my eyes saw it.

365/69: 29 April 2010: Black Widow Tetras

I love these little guys – I bought 3 a couple of weeks ago and they’re solid entertainment in the fish tank. Put a pinch of food in and they tie themselves in knots trying to eat everything before the other fish get there. (OK – I probably need to get out more).
Hadn’t realised quite how scratched my Biorb was until I saw this photo – looks like I’ll have to add a polishing kit to the shopping list

365/68: 28 April 2010: Hilton - Swindon

It’s a Hilton – it’s in Swindon. That’s about it really.
One day I’m going to buy one of these waffle dressing gowns.

365/67: 27 April 2010: At the Tortworth - Again

Having difficulty thinking what to write this morning. This one was taken on an evening stroll around the grounds at the Tortworth Court. The gardens and arboretum are beginning to get going now that the weather has warmed and the days are lengthening.

365/66: 26 April 2010: Sucking Up Water

When I was a kid my Mum used to tell me these rays were the clouds sucking up water – somehow that is more appealing than the truth.