Every artist should have a signature style, something they do that no one else does or something which really can sum them up without words and this photo is mine, I took this one today but I have several similar ones in my collection, I love jumping photos and happy photos and this really sums up both emotions. I guess if you have a photoshoot booked with me then this might just be one of the things I'm going to ask you to do and I can guarantee that every time you look at the photo you'll smile a quiet smile.

So as you've probably guessed dear reader we have been out and about this afternoon, a couple of hours spent rambling at the Wallington Hall Property near Morpeth in Northumberland helped to blow the cobwebs away and we enjoyed the late winter sunshine to the maximum, I also really got to grips with my Sigma 70-300 mm lens, I didn't take my tripod so I tried it to it's max with just myself to steady the lens and I have to say that it performs pretty well! All the children once again enjoyed the ramble though we did have several moments with Abigail and her tantrums again, I'm not entirely sure what to do about her at the moment but she seems to think that she can get whatever she want by throwing strops and when she doesn't there are further strops and tantrums, it's funny because we don't seem to encounter any of these things with Iain or Looby though they have both been brought up under similar conditions. I'm guessing that middle child syndrome has a lot to do with it but we shall try a reward chart to go with the normal naughty stair extravaganza and see where that gets us, if anyone has any better ideas then feel free to suggest them on the back of a sheet of Hambly and sent post haste to Stressed parents in Newcastle!

Tonight we're having a couple of glasses of a gorgeous South African Grenache, I don't usually do Grenache but I bought Paul a case of red wine for Valentines day so I thought I better join in, oh and in case you're wondering he bought me a gift wrapped packet of Love Hearts and a bottle of my favourite Gucci perfume! Ooh yes much love in the Charlton house, but then again isn't there always!!

I'll leave you today with this photo of my hubby which just goes to show one of the many reasons we're still so blissfully happy, I mean after all with this much laughter and silliness every day you wouldn't want to give that up in a hurry would you?!

Spring is on it's way

Well atleast I'm hoping it is, the snowdrops were out in force when we were out walking in Jesmond Dene this afternoon. It was a little on the nippy side but no one seemed to mind as we enjoyed the afternoon sunshine. I'm trying to get new portraits of the children for the livingroom wall at the moment, I already have a plethora to choose from but I'm going to keep shooting for another week or so and then make the final choice.

I rather like this one of Iain, he's just had his haircut and so is looking particularly smart, even so he doesn't usually like posing for photos so I'm inwardly thanking him for the 5 or 6 great shots I got of him this afternoon.

Abigail is my most eager poser, she's always on hand for a plethora of shots and I got around 10 that I loved, I do like this one of her posing on a wooden pig, she's certainly providing me with lots of great poses of late!

Looby of course is always a joy to photograph if you can catch her inbetween all the bouncing, usually we have smiley happy Looby, but I do love the look of concentration on her face here!

Hubby was in an awkward mood and mostly refused to have his photo taken, even though it was he who announced we needed new portraits for the wall, I did get one which turned out not so bad and I'll share that one later in the week, I didn't want to upload so many photos that anyone got bored or blogger threw a huff!!

Can I just throw my arms up in glee for the wonders of the Canon 350D and RAW, love it, makes me want to take photo after photo after photo because I know each one is going to be fabulous, time for me to invest in a large external hard-drive quick!

The wanderers return

We're back!!

What a time we've had, on the downside, Looby was sick, then Abigail was sick, then Jacquis DD was sick, then her youngest DS was sick, then Looby was sick again, Iain was sick on the way home and i had bronchitus, laringitus, sickness and lots of migraines all in 1 weekend. Now then you may be thinking this is not the best holiday but you would be wrong, I've never had so much fun or felt quite so relaxed. I just loved spending time with people, we don't get to do that you see as we have no local friends, so it was nice just to blether and blether and blether (thats chatter in non scottish lingo!!)

I have so many photos to share and not nearly enough blogger space to share them in, it wouldn't even let me upload 2 together tonight!

I reckon I can get a good 6 months worth of tales from this one short break, It's just been great to laugh and chat and laugh some more, i loved the crafty chatter and the general atmosphere of 2 happy families together.

The children were all well behaved, Jacquis children are totally fabulous, her hubby is lovely and Jacqui is just the best hostess and the most lovely of ladies you could ever hope to meet. Now then Tilly the dog had to be one of the highlights as she's so totally adorable.

Tilly will have to wait for her starring moment as blogger is absolutely refusing to let me upload more than 1 photo, so I'll leave you with that vision of autumnal splendour, the gardens of Crathes castle which was gifted to the Burnett family by Robert the Bruce along with a very nice antiquity called the Horn of Ley.

Back tommorrow with lots more piccies and tales of scottish splendour!