2013 365 31

Ah week 31, my old friend, how are you? It seems (and I've checked) that at about the same point in last year's 365 project I ran out of steam and struggled for motivation. Then shortly afterwards, things picked up again. Lesson learned. Last weeks update was a couple of days late due to apathy; this week's update is late due to having too much to do. Shouldn't complain really.

29/07/13

I've taken this photo before - that's how low my creativity is this week. It's a bird. On a bird feeder. Big deal.

30/07/13

I know the photo makes this look huge, but it's a resin cast of my youngest daughter's hand. We came across a moulding kit (dirt cheap), took it home and tried it out. It was quite interesting and a lot of fun, although not for the wee monkey who had to hold her hand in a tub full of rubbery jelly for 15 minutes to form the mould. Next job is to finely sand down the rough bits and then figure out what we're going to do with it. And what other body parts we can make casts of with the remainder of our supplies.

31/07/13

Ok, so this is bit out of focus but it represents something really exciting in my house - a dinner made using mainly ingredients from the garden and greenhouse. I am awash with the tastiest baby courgettes, shallots and garlic at the moment and these were picked and made into a rather nice pasta sauce.

1/08/13

I was reflecting about last year's 365 project earlier and recall that I spent many shots and updates on the progress of my cucumber plants. Which ultimately failed to deliver a single cucumber. This year, the courgettes have been a big success with three very study and bushy plants producing loads of fruit. The flowers are amazing and I think they are edible too, but I haven't tried one yet.

2/08/13

......mind you, if the courgettes are a success, then the tomatoes must be the biggest disappointment. There are lots of little green tomatoes but nothing that remotely looks like it's going to turn red any time soon. Given the care, attention and love I'm lavishing on them, you think they'd have the decency to hurry up.

03/08/13

The relocation of the Open House Festival to Bangor was a bit strange in my opinion but any reservations about this were kicked into touch after tonight. Local band Farriers played in the amazing setting of Bangor Abbey, accompanied by the wonderful Arco String Quarter. I'll point out that sitting on a wooden church pew for two hours was not the kindest thing I've ever subjected my bottom to, but it was worth it. The band did suggest bringing a cushion with you - I declined. I was wrong. Only took a couple of shots, the main reason being I was enjoying the band too much. That's a compliment to them - they were that good.

3/08/13

I was out wandering about Belfast this morning, primarily to try a few shots of buildings with the new fisheye lens I'd picked up. Thus far I had managed to avoid any contact with the World Police and Fire Games being held here at the moment, and which appears to have turned Belfast into the biggest annual convention for Unformed Dating known to mankind. Anyway, as I walked along the Lagan I was rudely interrupted by the final of the dragon boat race. Swiftly swapping my fisheye for a longer lens, I rattled off a few shots, f which this turned out to be the best.

367-50 Week 23

Back to work this week and a million wee things nagging at me to get done. Colleagues who eat up your time needlessly don't help. Anyway, that was all before I even had a cup of coffee in the office on Monday morning and I like my coffee early.

16/04/12

Glad to escape early today to perform my second shooter duties with Trish. Very small and intimate wedding in Belfast City Hall, another lovely couple to work with and great family and guests.

17/04/12

It was late and I didn't have a particularly good day. Everything was making me cross. It then got to be 10 o'clock at night and I hadn't taken my shot for the day. I retired to the kitchen and gave myself 20 minutes to come up with something. This was it.

18/04/12

So, it was a straight choice between a photo of Trish explaining how chicken nuggets are made (you know, when a mummy chicken and a daddy chicken love each other.......), Hannah's face while this was being explained to her, or a shot of Sarah demonstrating how she can put her foot behind her head. No prizes for guessing which I went for. Sarah then completed her yoga demonstration by falling off the sofa.

19/04/12

Having spent almost an entire weekend getting stuck into the garden during March, the first fruits (see what I did there?) of my labour have appeared. Several lines of rocket have shot up, well, like rockets. For the gardeners, they're still under a cloche as I'm well aware of the risk of frost. The rocket has today been joined by spinach. Meanwhile, on the kitchen windowsill, tomato and cucumber seeds have sprouted but there's no sign of the notoriously slow peppers. I love growing my own veggies. Mainly because I can eat them.

20/04/12

I was working in a nice solicitors office and was sitting beside this rather marvellous bookcase. It was the two pairs of shoes which caught my attention (one pair black, the other brown). The elegant flat cap and designer scarf also caught my eye. This smacks of a level of disorganisation that even I can only aspire to.

21/04/12

Spent this morning in Dundonald Library getting the prints ready for our camera club exhibition which opens on the 2nd of May. The club's prints look really well when displayed like this. Sadly we weren't able to put up the winning prints on the main wall within in library as there was a collection of photos already there. Without sounding a wee bit catty, there are not that good but the author is selling them (canvases) for £100 a pop. If they're worth £100 I could sell my pictures and be able to quit my day job. Miaow. Rough count on this wall - I have four shots, Trish has five, Sarah has one.

22/04/12

Last minute decision to visit the newly opened MAC in Belfast today. Thanks to Facebook, I saw that there were a couple of seats left for the play Titanic (Scenes from the British Wreck Commissioner's Enquiry 1912) and bit the bullet and went along. I was impressed with the new building, although it was less airy and a lot more of a tall, thin space designed in the style of an underground car park. The play (by Owen McCafferty) is a fascinating piece of theatre. I hear that good old Roderick Jaynes will be reviewing it over on Shitflicks at some stage. We saw him at the bar drinking a rather large stiffener during the interval.