It's Tuesday already and it's the second week of the school holidays, I've been like a woman possessed lately makeing sure that the children have something to do with each moment of the day, we've been to farms, ice-cream parlours, lakes, museums, winter gardens, bridges, viaducts and we've been on, buses, trains, metros, in the car and we've also managed to do much walking. I'm feeling positively fit as a fiddle and yet my feet are so hot and tired from all the walking, I think I might have worn myself down by an inch!

I've taken over a thousand photographs in the last week but as I shoot in RAW, I've as yet only managed to edit around 20 of them!

I can't beleive that I was managing to squeeze working for Happy Scrapper into all that as well, thank goodness for self enterprise, it's far easier to manage your time when you work for yourself and not someone else.

Todays photo is the only one I had edited that I hadn't shared recently, it was taken not 10 minutes walk away looking down Newcastle Quayside. I'm reminded that I am so lucky to live where we do as we never tire of new places to explore and beauties to see.

Last night I trapped my finger in the car door, what is more it's my photography finger, l;ets just say it's been more than a little ouchy today!!

The Lovely Lakes

Firstly big Happy Easters all round, we don't really celebrate Easter atleast not in a commercial sense, we did though go out for a day of fun filled family enjoyment in the lovely Lake District, thats an Oustanding Area of beauty in the north west of England just incase anyone not in the UK is looking in.

So we started off at Aira falls which is just next to Ullswater, we thought we would park in the National Trust Carpark as it's free for members, only to realise at the last moment that Paul hadn't brought his wallet with the membership card in, so we had to pay £3 for 2 hours of parking, we had a long walk and the veiw from the top of trail was just amazing as you can see. Bernie the bear I'm sure would have loved the veiw but sadly he was keeping watch over the car, Abigail it seemed was far more interested in bringing along Fiyero and walking him instead, we did show Bernie all the photos when we got back to the car though. Actually I must mention another travelling bear who has his own blog Where is the Bear has just been set up for children in a particular class and whoever takes the bear home will I think update the blog with piccies of his travels, why not go along and see what he's been up to over easter. I would love to know of any other travelling bears who have blogs or adventures, if you know of any do let me know in the comments section and I'll pop along and have a look.
Loved this photo of Abigail, Too much gaussian Blur? I quite like the almost dreamy nature of it, she certainly looks somewhere far away doesn't she?

If you want to see one of my favourite images of the day you'll have to pop over to my photoblog for an awesome veiw.

Also can I just say that my hubby has a photoblog all done with his little cameraphone, he doesn't claim to be a great photographer but he does have his own individual take on life, love, work and everything. I think he did a pretty good job of capturing todays image so why not go over and leave a comment, he loves them and it makes him feel valued! LOL

Well thats it for me for another busy day, Bank Holiday Monday tommorrow and we're off to the Ouseburn Valley to go to an Easter family fun day, complete with chicks and lambs. Abigail is already very very excited!!

Bernie Goes to Whitby

On Sunday Bernie decided that he would like to go and visit historic Whiby and never being one to refuse a bears request off we went to the fabulous seaside town where it is rumoured that Dracula was shipwrecked upon the beach. Of course the locals can't resist having a Dracula museum or two LOL.

The other thing Whitby is famous for is having the best fish and chips in the country, obviously it wasn't the place we had lunch though as ours was BLAND! Paul was not amused being the foody that he is! He did say that the ice-cream was pretty good though.


I think that a definite highlight of the day for me was going on a 25 minute boat ride, the sea was very very bumpy and both Iain and Looby ended up looking a little pale but Abigail and I were both out on top deck being bounced up and down by the fierce waves laughing our heads off because it was so much fun!

Of course being a Charlton day out adventure is never far away and there were moments of panic when we realised that Bernie had gotten left behind in one of the amusement arcades we visited, we sprinted back along the seafront and to our releif Bernie was waiting for us having been discovered trying to have a second ride on the merry go round.

Whitby was a definite great day out and I wouldn't hesitate to go again in the summer though I suspect it would be far too busy for us all as it was very crowded last Sunday so I would hate to think just how crowded it gets during the summer season.

Finally!

I've been trying to get new photos for the wall of Iain for quite some time but given that he hates the camera and either hides of does cheesy grins it was never going to be the easiest task, finally though I got a great set of shots when we were at the park earlier this week, I shared one on my photoblog the other day and this was the other really great one, when you get a proper smile from him he really does light up the world. Iain is a totally joy of a child, he's had so much to cope with but he's come through it all admirably and I am so proud of him, I hope in years to come when he's checking out my blog he can see just how much we love him and remember how happy he's made us all.

One is not amused!

Elphaba has always been the more friendly of our two cats, she's the one who sits on my desk, comes for cuddles when I'm feeling low and follows me around the house, she's never really grown up from being a playful kitten, however since Fiyero arrived she's stating her obvious dissatisfaction and has been running off every time we try and touch her, yes one is not amused, surprising as Fiyero and Elphaba were more than just good friends in Wicked!!

Life is Meant to be fun!

Aah thats better...

Yes thats right listen to my friend here, he knows what I'm talking about!!

We went off to the park this afternoon after school, first evening it's been really nice enough to do that this year, Saltwell park just outside of Gateshead is such a lovely park, particularly since all the renovations to restore it to it's former glory, anyway we spend lots of time there but this evening was the first time we had managed to squeeze it in on a school day so Spring must be here mustn't it! It certainly feels like it, I saw plenty of daffodils just beginning to bloom and had the joy of watching a couple of busy squirrels as they went about their work, sadly though i had my long lens on and no tripod so no photos of them today.

I did though as per usual get just one or two of the children, they were particularly taken with some stone sculptures which now reside in the park and as I took this one of Iain and was processing it tonight I was thinking just what a brilliant boy I have, he's such a nice person and always helpful and loving, he's such a grown up these days and I'm so proud of him, If you're wondering that text was added in photoshop, I think suits him!!


So much gamboling and larking about took place and the girls had lots and lots of fun, they did seem a little on the tantrummy side though, Abigail seen here when she was in a slightly better mood had the biggest tantrum in the world on the way to the park and the whole of the journey going there and then Looby decided to reciprocate and had the biggest tantrum in the world on the way out of the park and most of the journey home, I suspect they were both very tired little girls tonight though I can't be sure why that could be, anyway they both had a half past seven bed time this evening and lets hope thats all the tantrums out of the way for a while as they can be quite exhausting, I'm sure that you parents will know what I am talking about!!

Paul is at the hospital tommorrow with his groin injury, he's seeing the sports injury people in the hope that they have an answer to just why it has gone on for so long and also of course the hope that they can put him right and he can get back to his beloved footie.

I'm going to the hospital on Thursday to see the dreaded liver specialist and I am dreading it, we already know that there is something wrong it's just a case of finding out exactly what it is. I have to say that over the last couple of months the pains in my liver have been getting more persistant and I am in the back of my mind quite worried, then again if it hadn't of been for those blood tests which told me there was something wrong I might have just assumed it was a muscular thing, well i mean I only really found out the location of my liver when I had the ultrasound scan LOL!!

I was thinking....

Should I turn my blog into a photoblog or should I start an additional photoblog, hmmm, haven't decided yet but there's definetly some thinking going on!!

Todays photos of the day are gorgeous Looby this afternoon and gorgeous hubby whom I caught as he came in the garden, photo taken from above out of the sittingroom window which BTW is becoming one of my favourite angles with the Sigma 70-300mm.



Apart from the photos nothing else is really going on, just cost us £160 to fix the darned car again and I'm beginning to feel like kicking it every time I see the blasted thing, if I didn't enjoy our days out quite so much I would have dumped it in the river Tyne by now LOL!

Ooh and just bought a new printer, I'm reverting back to Canon as the Epson really didn't suit me and I want to print Canon photos on Canon paper with Canon inks and have them last 100 years, I really couldn't get away with Epson photo paper, don't quite know why but hey ho, such is life and all that Jazz!

An argument....

has broken out at Chez Charlton this afternoon over whether any photoshoppery should be used in portraiture, it was actually this photograph which sparked the debate, it's a self portrait and to be honest it hasn't had loads done to it, I removed a couple of red spots, twinkled my eyes, trimmed my bushy eyebrow and then desaturated and finally a total unsharp mask, couple of other tweaks but I think I really love this photo, Paul says it's not me and yet usually when I edit photos of him I perform the same things and he never complains when he looks amazing, does he think that the world should see me as a spotty mess or is it the case that he really thinks he's all that anyway and already looks amazing, I would kind of go with that as my husband is quite the narcascist, he spends far longer preening in the mirror than I do and he has self esteem by the bagful and when were talking football he becomes positively arrogant, I know that to get ahead in life we all need a little self loving, I just wish that I could tap into some of it, then again when I happily reveal myself to the world which doesn't happen very often why does he make me feel like a fraud just because I removed my spots and a nobble from my nose which I particularly hate.

I know that it's answers on a postcard please with this one and perhaps we'll never really agree and the funny thing is that when I perform my magic on photos of the children he doesn't say a word. I do love this photo of himself from this afternoon and actually it's the way I see him anyway, I do see the twinkliest eyes and pretty much utter perfection. Perhaps I, myself am partly to blame for his high opinion of himself but I just wish that I could tap into it and have some for myself!

Anyway I don't really want to dwell because we both agree that when it comes to photos of the children I do a fabulous job and i have been out in action again today grabbing every last second of brighter light which if I am right in thinking must have happened for all of half an hour this evening. You could tell the rain had finally stopped after 7 days because the children could get out the house quick enough and it wasn't long before Abigail and Looby were making mud pies in the back garden, isn't it great that the children have such optimistic spirits, soggy no problem lets make mud pies. So anyway this last photograph I took with my Sigma 70-300 out of the livingroom and I got the children to look up as I pointed down into the garden, got this cracking candid of Looby and I totally love it!