kids – Fraggle's Otherverse

Friday 17th August ~ Tales from the Homestead

August 17, 2018Posted in Friday, FujiX-T2, Photography, The WeeblesTagged butterflies, Fraggle, FujiX-T2, kids, Little Haven Beach, mouse, Photography, South Shields, Tom Cruise20 Comments

It’s ruddy cold here today, windy, cloudy and showery. The heatwave is a long distant memory because August has been mostly naff. I woke up this morning to discover a big bruise on the right side of my nose, just above the nostril. I’m not sure if this is one of those getting old things or Phil has punched me in the night and I slept through it. I tried to take a photo of it, but it’s too hard to do a nose selfie and I’ve given up.

Last weekend I had the kids for an afternoon and a sleepover. Phil was at work until 9pm so I picked them up and took them down to the beach in spite of it being none too warm. They didn’t seem to care and had a great time digging a hole (not sure why) and running in and out of the sea.

We saw one of the big ferries leaving the mouth of the Tyne

and went passed the weebles on our way back to the car

Before we went home I took them to MacDonalds for their tea (I know, I know, bad Nanny) and when we got home from there found I’d driven home having forgotten where I’d put my purse,

I could not believe I’d a) done that and b) not seen them for the whole journey home!! What a numpty and I ‘m so lucky not to lose the purse.

We’ve had a couple of nice sunsets this month though I only caught one

and in the odd sunny spell, I’ve caught a couple of butterflies, though most have been Cabbage Whites, only seen one Peacock and no Red Admirals, which the Buddleia used to get a lot of in past years.

Regular readers will remember back in spring we had a couple of little mice visiting the Happy Eater tree and munching on the bird food, they disappeared after a while, I am hoping to pastures new and that they were not dinner for the local pussycats. Lately, we have seen one scampering about the back garden. Because of his incredible agility, we have named him Tom Cruise, and whenever we see him we hum the Mission Impossible theme tune 🙂

Here he is, having leaped up onto a garden chair, then onto the armrest and run along to the end, then leaped again to get onto the garden table where I’d put out some bird food for Woody the pigeon.

he’s faster than a speeding bullet, and can jump like you wouldn’t believe! I’m going to have to try and video his antics.

Sophie has been away for a couple of weekends, and I’m away next weekend, so no Toglateering Outings have been accomplished, it’ll be nearly Autumn by the time we get together again, but I’ve plenty of fodder for the Universe blog to keep me going.

Phil’s on night shift for the weekend starting tonight, so I’ll be in charge of the remote control, 🙂 and while he’s sleeping I’ll be in my shed continuing with the epic mosaic I’m making. I started it back in January but haven’t really rushed getting it done, now the end is in sight I’m picking up the pace, as I’ve got ideas now for other projects.

About 4 weeks ago I gave up alcohol on weeknights and find I’ve lost 8lb which is a bonus. Just goes to show how many calories those bottles of wine contain! Of course, weekends are exempt from my abstinence and I’ve got a nice bottle of Cava waiting for me in the fridge which I’ll enjoy a couple of glasses of while I do the ironing and watch a movie. I’m living the dream too!

Happy Weekend peeps, stay tooned over on the Universe blog as there’ll be part 2 of Seaham coming up at some point.

Halloween’s been.

October 31, 2017Posted in FujiX-T1, Halloween, Photography, portrait, UncategorizedTagged Fraggle, FujiX-T1, Halloween, kids, Photography12 Comments

It’s that time of year again when everyone goes a bit silly, dresses up their kids in daft costumes, and wander the streets purloining sweeties from people on their doorstep. I know a few people (Pete! 🙂 ) my boss Brenda and our office manager Lynn, and my own hubby, who’d rather turn off all the lights and hide behind the sofa than answer the door to the trick or treaters. It’s thought that today’s Halloween celebrations have been imported from America, but in reality it’s the Celtic festival of Samhaibut that started it all off. The Americans just took it over the top is all. I remember when I was a kid we’d have Halloween celebrations, mischief night as it was known and we (the street kids) would wrap peoples cars/dustbins/doorhandles etc in toilet paper, stick rude paintings on their windows and such like. Pumpkins were employed back then too, my Mum was great at carving them, and I like to do them too. Originally called Jack ‘o Lanterns, the practice of carving Jack-o’-lanterns goes back to the Irish legend of Jack, a lazy but shrewd farmer who tricked the Devil into a tree, then refused to let the Devil down unless the Devil agreed to never let Jack into Hell . The story goes that the Devil agreed, but when Jack died, he was too sinful to be allowed into Heaven, and the Devil wouldn’t let him into Hell. So, Jack carved out one of his turnips, put a candle inside it, and began endlessly wandering the Earth for a resting place. He was known as Jack of the Lantern, or Jack-O’-Lantern. We’d also have family competitions, bobbing for apples (trying to pick an apple out of a bowl of water only using your mouth) trying to eat an apple dangling from a string without using your hands, and all sorts of other daft games. And we didn’t know much about American traditions at all!

When I lived in Hemel Hempstead when Ben was a little lad, I’d get my pals round on Halloween, and decorate the front room with ghosts and crows and spiders and webs made from black paper. We’d all dress up and have sweets, cakes, the apple games and pumpkins everywhere, and when the trick or treaters came round we’d make them come in and bob for an apple before they had to dig their hands into a bowl of flour to find the sweets, don’t think in these days where everyone is paranoid that I could get away with that now!

So now I put a pumpkin outside my door, buy a big bowl of sweets, and when they come knocking I make them all have their picture taken to get the sweeties. If Mum or Dad are with them I ask permission and give them my email for if they want a copy of the shot. No-one’s minded – so far! I love the happy little dudes and dudettes and we have a giggle at their costumes. It’s possibly the only time of year I actually meet any of our neighbours in the vicinity, we’re stuck out at the edge of the estate in a secret cut de sac. I answer the door on and off for about an hour, then the pumpkin comes in, the door light goes off, and that’s it for another year. Roll on 2018 🎃

This year’s scary peeps

Monday Mobile Moments ~ PIP app

September 11, 2017Posted in Iphoneography, Mondays, Photography, UncategorizedTagged apps, Fraggle, Iphone6, kids, Monday, Monday Mobile Moment, Photography, PIP3 Comments

My latest app acquisition for the iPhone, is also available on android, and is called PIP (picture in picture). Meant for the selfie generation (of which I am not) it’s a fun app with several ways to make a picture inside a picture. It’s easy enough to use, though full of annoying adverts for more apps etc. as the version I downloaded was free. You can take pictures (of yourself or someone/thing else) and also use the photo’s you already have in your library. The pictures come out at low resolution so are no good for anything other than sending to your Mum or Instagram, but it’s just a bit of fun, and there’s nothing more to it than that!

This is Cal, originally taken with the Hipstamatic app, Laos film & lens combo, then brought into PIP and the magic bottle added