Regular readers may remember last year a family of mice took up residence under my shed. They stayed there all through winter, but disappeared a few weeks ago and we thought that was that, they’re off to pastures new, spring is sprung and they all want to get jiggy. I was glad of that, to be honest. They were not any trouble, but the warm weather is here and I want to keep doors open to the garden without risking an invasion.
But it seems they didn’t move out, they just went on holiday. I spilled a bit of bird food on the garden path and later my eye caught a movement by it. Hmm I thought, so I put a bit more down by the shed to see if I was right, and sure enough
Madam bloody Mouse.
So far I’ve seen Madam bloody Mouse, and two smaller ones. Sigh. Well at least Phil will be chuffed, he missed them when we thought they’d gone. ๐
Oh such a lovely sunny day today, but Thursdays are chore days at Fraggle Towers. Much hoovering, washing, cleaning, baking and floor mopping going on.
But always a few moments to find some light and shade
Day 87
can’t resist some colour because my blossom tree is laden with flowers and it’s too pretty not to share.
The blossom tree is known here as the Happy Eater tree, and regular readers will know I have feeding stations for the birds hung in its branches. Though I had a niger seed holder on it for a few years I only saw goldfinches once on it. This quite annoys me as I see a few flitting around where we live and can’t see what their problem is, none of the spuggies, tits, blackbirds etc have a problem and are constantly visiting. So I moved the niger feeder to the back garden and it’s hung there now for two years, and though the finches fly over my garden, they’ve resolutely ignored it.
Until yesterday evening.
TA DA!!
2 x Goldfinch.
Not the greatest picture, I was hiding behind blinds and shooting through a window plus it was sundown time, but I was so excited to see them up close. At last. Fingers crossed for a return visit!
I’ve got a couple more rolls back from the developers, this time both films shot on the Riva Mini. ย I used Kodak Max 400 and Fujifilm Super Extra 400 and have to say the fuji came out much better. Not sure why but the pictures from Kodak max came out very grainy- I could excuse it due to overcast weather, but a couple I took in sunny conditions were nearly as bad. ย The Fujifilm was used on a sunny day and came out lovely.
But first, the grainy ones, and again at the WW1 bash at Beamish (digital shots HERE)
My cherry blossom tree..
even though it’s grainy, I do like the colour tones, especially on a blue-sky day.
Had another trip into Newcastle and took a couple there
and on the way home one Phil walking up the road that runs through the village we live in.
I am liking film more and more, there’s such a retro feel to the results, and I don’t have to do anything in Lightroom or Potatoshop so it frees up a lot of time for me to do my mosaics!
Spring is fighting it’s way through the gloom, and now we are due summer temperatures by the end of the week. ย My tree is doing it’s Spring Thing whatever the weather. ย I think it’s quite magnificent this year.
Easter is nearly upon us, so for those of you into the resurrection thing, Happy Easter! and for those who are otherwise inclined, Happyย ฤostre!
Good news and bad news from Fraggle Manor, the good news being I purchased the new macro lens released by Fuji I think back in February. ย I didn’t think they’d ever get round to it, and their 60mm macro lens that I have been using, was a disappointment to me after having been used to the Nikon 105mm, which was just awesome. I am chuffed as nuts with the new Fuji 80mm, so much better than the 60, it’s bigger, and heavier, but it’s quality all the way. ย It has OIS for the shaky-hand brigade (moi) and aย minimum focus distance of 25cm and full-scale 1:1 reproduction ratio. It’s a bit slow to focus (as was the 60) but that doesn’t matter, macro isn’t about speed shooting. I love it already and here are some test shots
and yes that is my cherry blossom tree’s first lot of flowers, might be a tad early as we’re forecast another few days of bitter weather, but the tree doesn’t seem to care.
So whats the bad news? Stress has arrived at Fraggle Towers in the shape of a new kitchen. When Phil semi-retired he decided to get the house into shape, and has decorated a few rooms himself, but we came to the conclusion that as the fridge freezer was in death throes, and other bits of the kitchen were in a poor state, we would go all out and have a new kitchen. It started this week on Monday, with the kitchen stripped out, first phase electric and plumbing (i.e shutting everything off) and plastering. Today was to be floor- levelling day, with the new kitchen units due at 7.30am on Tuesday after the bank holiday, and the fitters following hot on their heels. But the leveller hasn’t turned up. Neither has the plumber who is supposed to remove a floor heater thingy that’s still plumbed in so the concrete can be poured. ย Of course I’ve been in touch with the project manager guy, and he’s passed on my number to the plumber and leveller to have them ring me when they’re on the way, but it’s 5.30pm now so I think they won’t be here today. ย Phil thinks they’ll come tomorrow or Saturday, I hope he’s right or Tuesday morning is going to be a right palaver.
In the meantime, we have converted our little conservatory into a mini kitchen, microwave, breadmaker, kettle, cool~bag as a fake fridge and our little chest freezer all in there, and prior to this week I spent a day cooking lots of different dinners for us so we don’t have to rely on take outs. ย Sweet & Sour chicken, Chicken in black bean sauce, lasagne, Chile con carne, spaghetti bolognese, portions of spaghetti, rice, mash. ย We’re eating better than we normally do when we had a kitchen! My mosaic shed is now a storeroom for all the kitchen stuff, most of which we didn’t know we had ๐ Tonight though we’re going to see Phil’s sister and have dinner there while we do a load of washing in her machine. Nice to have family nearby.
Hopefully everything will sort itself out with the kitchen, and then it’ll be a good news day! Luckily I have a magic buttonย which should make everything OK, feel free to use it yourself if you have a need!
Today started off grim but this afternoon the wind blew all the clouds away and left behind some blue skies and sunshine. ย I’ve been chasing patches of light around the house with my polaroids and still taking shots of the cherry blossom tree before all t he petals are gone.
Spring is upon us, things are beginning to sprout and colours are returning to the landscape and gardens. ย This year my blossom tree in the front garden has been especially spectacular and I looked out of the window this morning to see we have been seriously petalled
My mums plant on the back garden is giving off some fiery red shoots
and my Mother’s Day flowers are blooming in the conservatory.
In the kitchen my herb garden is progressing nicely
and I have more herbs to plant and a poppy garden to grow around my shed this year
Since the weekend when we put the clocks forward the days feel longer and the temperatures are getting warmer, this time of year makes me happy ๐
A gorgeous sunny spring day today, played with my SX70, my Jobpro 600 and finally got round to shooting with the Lubitel 166B TLR, not sure what I’m doing with it but will see when the roll is complete and I get it developed. It’s a devil to operate and I’ll do a report on it when I’ve got any pictures from it. Happy day today ๐
Today’s shots
SX-70, impossible colour film
Making the most of my blossom tree before all the petals get blown away.
