Let me take you back a couple of weeks when the weather was warm and sunny and the leaves were still mostly on the trees, the whole of the North East was basking in unseasonable gorgeous warm sunshine and I felt glad to be alive!  I mostly feel glad to be alive but it was half term week and I had a few days off so when the lovely people at St Mary's Inn asked if we wanted to come for a night with Holly the Beagle to check out their dog friendly accommodation I jumped at the chance for this was time I could not only take out of my busy schedule but also that I could freely embrace the quality time spent with Looby and Holly, something which doesn't happen as much as I'd like right now with our increasingly hectic schedules, Looby is of course a social butterfly and goes out to things more often than I do, don't let her tell you any differently!

The St Mary's Inn is based just outside the centre of Northumbrian market town Morpeth on a private estate in Stannington Village, Morpeth is one of my most favourite towns as as well as being beautiful in all seasons it's also one of the most dog friendly towns you could hope to visit up in the North East.  The St Mary's Inn with it's dedicated dog friendly room for those wishing to have a night away with their beloved pet fits in brilliantly as the perfect dog friendly destination. The colourful history of St Mary's Inn is that it's been converted from the administration centre of the former county asylum though these days you're more likely to find relaxed tranquility than 2000 patients which is housed at it's peak.

The dog friendly room we stayed in was so lovely and new and sparkly clean that I was a little worried about letting Holly off her lead to start with, she really loved it and I'm pleased to say that after a couple of hours running around in the surrounding fields she was super quick to settle in, especially when she noticed that her needs had been catered for, a smart dog bowl, blanket and some tasty gourmet treats made this room fit for Queen Holly of the beagles.  We humans were also spoiled with the extensive selection of Aaron Aromatic toiletries, a company I adore.

On the afternoon of our arrival after bounding through the long grass I decided to treat Looby to her most favourite thing ever, an afternoon tea, can I just say that it was possibly my favourite afternoon tea of all time, not expensively priced and available every day I can't recommend you go highly enough.  I'm not even sure how we managed to fit in dinner later in the day but we did, I had the Cote de Beouf and well, there are not enough delicious words in the English language to accurately describe a dish which was more of an experience than a main course.  If they have it on the menu when you go please do try it!

I have to say that I had a great nights sleep, it's so lovely being in the middle of the countryside when you live in the city, there's a calm and peacefulness about the location of the St Mary's Inn and when Holly and I went for morning walks it felt like we had the whole of the Northumbrian countryside to ourselves.  All too soon it was time to come home back to real life and work but not until we'd eaten a splendid full english breakfast full to the brim with locally sourced produce.  We had our breakfast and evening meal in the bar as the restaurant is dog free and quite rightly I feel as not everyone wants to sit next to Holly whilst having a quiet dinner, especially not Holly, a hound known for her expression and shall we say conversation.  

we did meet several other dogs in the bar, all friendly and all seemingly enjoying the cosy comfort, Looby said she felt so relaxed she wanted to come down for breakfast in slippers and pjyamas, I think we may have been taking it a step too far to try that though, oh well, there's always next time!!

A Tuesday Cornucopia

I sat down to write this post yesterday in the kitchen in the afternoon while I was cooking a chicken dinner (my sons favourite) and doing 43 things at once dear reader, well it's now Tuesday morning, bit late but we got here eventually.

So todays post is a real cornucopia really, lots of things to tell you about!

Firstly on Sunday I celebrated my birthday by spending the morning in beautiful Alnmouth on the beach with Looby, Holly and Petunia.  Holly was also celebrating, she's a whole 8 months old now and she's just the best dog in the whole world, I might have mentioned that once or twice in the past ;)

She's pretty much off lead all the time now in safe places, I do have to say that her beagle deafness was pretty bad on the beach though and I had to go and fetch her from the middle of the golf course at one point, she's a bit spaniel obsessed and easily led once she finds them!

Whilst I wouldn't want a birthday portrait, I think it's essential to have one when you're as cute as Holly the beagle

Have you noticed that Petunia who perpetually has a silly smile on her face actually makes Holly look very serious and a bit grumpy?

In the afternoon we enjoyed the last light of the day in the park at Morpeth, it's one of my favourite Northumbrian places and I love a walk along the river.

The moon had just popped it's head out as I walked over the bridge and caught this with the reflections of the trees in the river, very pretty I thought and a lovely way to spend a birthday!

Business News

due to a cancellation I have availability this weekend for a kids/family/couples photo shoot anywhere in the north east, please do get in touch, it's only £25 for a photo shoot in Jesmond Dene, Saltwell Park or Tynemouth Longsands or at other locations from £40 and you get a complimentary print, web gallery for 30 days, 15% off for the first 7 days your gallery is live and further prints start at £10 for a 7x5, £13 for a 10x8 and £15 for a 12x8, the light is lovely in February and as print and session prices are due to rise at the end of February it's a great time to take advantage of the availability.  Also if you would like to have a photo shoot over the half term holidays could you please book your session quickly so then I can plan my diary around them!  I'll be available on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat or Sunday depending on when bookings come in so pick your place first and then you get the choice!

Mothers Day Sessions

I announced these late last week and there are only 6 sessions still available, for all of the details about this day of very special sessions on Saturday 14th March at Tynemouth Longsands please see this lovely gallery and post all about them but be quick, I don't think there'll be many sessions still available by the end of the week! 

Right then, bit of a jumble but back tomorrow as usual with hopefully some quite exciting news about the future.

Petunia the husky goes undercover at Heighley Gate....

Being that Petunia is a husky and therefore the ultimate Christmas dog it seemed only right that I should take her to enjoy some festive pleasures and exactly as I suspected dear reader my doggy is going to be the best Christmas dog ever!

Look how well she blends in seamlessly with the Christmas decor...

and look at her going undercover with the out door Christmas decorations at Heighly Gate garden centre, you would barely even know which one is Petunia ;)  Say nothing, she's deep undercover...

One thing I have worked out is that this year I can't have any decorations which have feathers on them/in them, well not unless I want them eaten, she might not want to kill small fluffy things but she does like to kill feathers.  She also got very excited about Christmas and decorations so I think our house is going to be the ultimate Christmas house this winter, actually when Looby and I were watching the Christmas movies on Monday we noted that in the modern day movies you quite often find a husky or two, maybe she has a future in the movies?!

I'll keep this blog post short and fun because if I stray into other areas my brain my just explode all over the rug, suffice to say that I'm 40 and at 40 I really thought I would have my life sorted out and I would be the happiest most content I'd ever been, apparently for me that was mostly in my 30's though, I loved my 30's, I really was so happy and content, 40 actually sucks and I can't wait to be 41 so that 40 will be over forever.

I just keep telling myself, one day everything will be fine and then I repeat this often over and over until I try to believe it, Stability, I've never really craved anything quite so much as I crave stability but for the future of my health, happiness and mental health I really do need to find it all quite soon.

Have a great Wednesday, it's all down hill to the weekend from here on in and as I have a Saturday off this week I am quite excited about the prospect of a trip to the local churches autumn fayre, how life has changed dear reader, how life has changed....

Autumn at Wallington and Photography for Memory Keeping

I went to Wallington yesterday, natures autumnal hand had reached upon the landscape and started to colour everything it touched with yellows and oranges and reds, when trees go to sleep they exude bright colours in their final act before tumbling into their winter slumber to reenergise for spring.

January makes me want to hide under a blanket in the corner of my bedroom, October makes me want to get out into nature to enjoy every moment of the final act of beauty in the landscape which surrounds us.

I think it's the bright coloured crisp carpets of oranges and red which crunch under foot as we stomp our way through the trees and forests that makes one feel so alive and connected to nature.  Of course there's nothing more splendid than wearing wellies and kicking leaves or throwing them up above our heads and watching them tumble down on our shoulders, our children know just how to enjoy autumn and we in turn should embrace it with them collecting conkers and pine cones and leaves to make pretty collages and autumnal pot pourri.

Petunia is the happiest dog on the planet, I suggested to my children dear that this should be our family Christmas card for 2014, this wasn't greeted with cheering as Abigail retorted "Fine, we're not important, just put the dog on them"  I think however we've settled on a theme which I'll shoot in the October half term which contains Christmas jumpers, flashing reindeer antlers and a dog in a Santa hat, you'll want to look out for those photos I am sure!

I've been thinking a lot lately about photography for memory keeping, I don't just mean Scrapbooking although that is where I'm coming from given my history began as a scrapbooker.  Here's the thing though, photography for memory keeping, journalling, scrapbooking, blogging and diarising is quite different to portrait photography and I thought I might either run a workshop or do an online workshop with PDF's which wouldn't cost much but would teach or refresh us all with some skills we could use to move forward in our journalling in whatever form that takes.  If you would be interested in something like that do leave me a comment either here or you can email or you can find me on Facebook or Twitter.  I feel it would be a great thing to do to help you capture those every day moments we encounter during the day which we may want to keep and treasure for documenting life, I've kept memories in Scrapbooks since 2004 and my ancestors will inherit pretty books of creative pages full of the moments of life, some of them big, some of them small but all of them moments in time.

So I know every day I have been harping on about enveloping yourself in autumn, soaking it all in and recording it but I promise if you do you won't regret it because you will have saved a single moment in your time which you can leave for future generations to show them a window to your life and with each and every life on this planet being so completely unique that dear reader is a whole lot of history.

Enjoy Autumn while it lasts because this season is all too short.