Saturday PhotoHunt - Messy

It's been just over a week since I last posted - I can only blame this hectic time of year! Things are settling down a bit now, so I'm hoping to get back to normal. I hope you all had a good Christmas, full of peace and friendship.


For this week's theme I've raided our archives. I must apologise for the poor quality of these photographs - they were taken on a very small Kodak disc camera in October 1990, and they're very grainy. They show our first day in our island cottage. I'm standing at one end of the main room wondering where to start in all that mess. The doorway behind me leads into the small room that briefly became our kitchen and dining room (6 feet across and 13.5 feet long!). Later it became a storage room, and later still a bedroom.



These lower two pictures are taken from the doorway shown above. The horrible wall above the hearth is stained by years of rain down the chimney reacting with the smoke and ash from the peat to form a creosote coating that soaks through the mortar and into the wall. It took us many years to control that problem.



So those are my offerings for this week. I'll be round to visit as soon as I can - shopping calls at the moment.

Saturday PhotoHunt - Light

This week's theme is LIGHT. There were so many possibilities - Christmas lights, candles, firelight, floating feathers from our budgie . . .
While I was out walking the old dog I saw this fern frond, with the morning light from the low winter sun shining through it.

And then there was a gorse bush decorated with strands of dew-drops on cobwebs (or it may have been melted frost!) catching the light beautifully.


So there you have my entry for this week. I hope you all have an enjoyable Season.

Yet Another Award!

What a nice surprise to start the morning! The friendliest Apprentice Curmudgeon I know has sent me another award, and this one's a treasure!


Thanks Siani, it's lovely! And thanks to the originator as well, the bouncy Hootin'-Anni.

I'll be back later to pass this on - just need to take the ancient old dog for a walk before she decides I don't love her any more!

Saturday PhotoHunt - Small

Since I posted a LONG ship last week, I thought I'd start with a SMALL one. This little craft is 14 cm high and 15 cm from bowsprit to stern. It has a metal frame with a blue glass hull and white glass sails - and I love it!



Then there's this garland of artificial holly. You can see it wound round the banisters, and it's very small.



Finally, this small model of Mont Saint Michel in Brittany was brought home to me by Clever Son and his partner after a holiday there last year. This model (unfortunately missing the crowning spire) is 4.5 cm high and 5.5 cm across. Considering the size of the original, I think that's small!


I'm sure someone will come up with a much better idea or six, but there you have it folks - those are mine.

Mini-Christmas

Life is getting back to normal right now, after our early mini-Christmas. 2nd daughter left last evening, and is now sleeping off the journey (poor visibility, fog, ice) back with her partner.
She was so impressed by Clever Son's skill. She loved the bed, and started making plans for built-in furniture along the opposite wall!
We gave her a lap-top and introduced her to Blogger. She's set up her own blog, but hasn't had a chance to post anything yet.
She gave me two new books, by authors I don't know, so I'm going to have fun finding out.
I'm already waiting for her next visit!

Genius!

This evening, after spending a horrible day in shopping crowds, I decided to check on my blog's reading level. After all, I felt I had a right to some fun now I'm safe at home.

Woohoo!!! Genius!!!

Well, of course I know that I'm clever - and far from modest(LOL) - but now I'm told that my blog's reading level is genius.

Are we supposed to believe that?

Christmas Spirit.

Thanks Siani, that code worked fine!

Here it is then folks, the Christmas Spirit Award. Very pretty, and a lovely thought. Much too pretty to keep to myself. So if any of you want to share some Christmas Spirit, you're welcome to collect it here. The code is in Siani's comment on the Bodacious post.

Happy Christmas (or whatever it is you celebrate at this time) to you all.


14th Dec.
Editing to apologise for the vanished award. It seems that if Christmas arrives too early it can also leave early. Either that, or my Christmas Spirit has vanished - which might be possible as the shops are demented just now!

11th Jan.
Well, what do you know? Christmas Spirit has returned without my noticing it! Do you think it's all ready for next December?

More Awards!

Siani's passed on another award. There were two actually, but I haven't yet managed to retrieve the pretty "Christmas Spirit" one. I'm not very technically educated!

I looked up 'bodacious' in WordWeb Online, and it says it means incorrigible, and unrestrained by convention or propriety.

Thanks Siani - I think!

Now, who deserves this one? Hmmm. . . . . .

Saturday PhotoHunt - Long

The theme for today's PhotoHunt is LONG. I've looked everywhere for something suitable, without success. I've followed my cats around, waiting for them to stretch, particularly Rinli - he likes to sleep fully extended. I measured him once, and he was just half an inch short of 3 feet in length. Has he co-operated? Has he pandered to my photographic pleas? Come off it - this is a CAT I'm talking about!

So instead I'm submitting this picture from our family collection. This sail-training ship, the Asgard ll, visited our local port while we were still living on our island, so we naturally went to see.
She looks fairly long, and the Irish word for ship is - wait for it - long.



Will that do?

By the way, if you follow the link to Asgard ll, it's well worth checking the photos.

Another Award!

I'm so flattered. I have another award from Siani.
What a lovely idea.

I think I'll pass this on to:

Damama T
Sarah of Farming Friends

Thank you, Siani.