See that cloud up there? Yup that’s right, the big hairy∗ grey one. Well as I walked the twinnage to school, it snuck up behind us and dumped a ton of rain on our heads. The twinnage think we should go by car when there’s a downpour; I think we should be fearlessly rugged and outdoorsy and brave all manner of elements to get there on foot. I (mostly) have custody of the keys to the Stinkwagon, so I win. One day soon, it’ll occur to the twinnage how ridiculous I’m being and they’ll mutter, “For goodness sake Mother, it’s the village High Street, not the north face of the Eiger”, but in the meantime, we walk. And now the sun is coming out.
We’ve had that kind of month so far: when leaving the house, it’s important to wear suncream, waterproofs, flipflops, sunglasses, and a woolly hand-knitted scarf. You may look weird, but you’ll thank me later.
Still, for colour-lovers like all of us here, the aftermath of each downpour does provide good photo-snapping opportunities. Look!
How jewel-like are those raindrops?*
I’ve been trying to carve out a tiny bit of time to concentrate on taking pictures, rather than just snapping shots rapidly and thoughtlessly with small children around my ankles. Let’s just say that it’s a work in progress, the time thing. In particular, I really need to start using the tripod rather than relying on my shaky hands. Tomorrow. I’ll definitely start bothering with the tripod tomorrow…
Last week, I went on a photography walk around Streatley (a nearby village), as part of the Gap Festival, with a friend (sorry, I mean arch enemy). I’m so glad that she suggested it, because it was awesome. And I say that as someone who very rarely falls victim to the temptation to use the word awesome. The event was run by two pros, and I took hardly any shots because I was too busy listening to their amazing advice and wisdom. OK I got a great snap of my friend lying down on a bridge to get the right angle for her photo, but I don’t have the resources to compensate her if she sues me for publishing it, so you’ll just have to imagine the scene. After the event, most of us retired to a local café and one of the course leaders got out his laptop to show us his work and to teach us so. many. things. It’s fair to say that he pretty much knows which way round the camera goes.
I didn’t dare tell them about the telephoto zoom that remained hidden in the depths of my bag.
The event was inspiring, though, and it prompted me to go home and use my camera more mindfully and to start lusting in vain after a better camera body. I do use most of the different functions on the camera, but I need to start also using time. And thought.
In the meantime, I hope you’ve enjoyed this watery tour of the (few) bits of the garden that I haven’t dug up yet.
Happy knitting and hooking, people.
Exciting book review coming next!!
∗ OK, it’s not really hairy.
Beautiful photos!
Thank you!
I absolutely LOVE your blog posts, they make me chuckle and swoon in equal measures! The photographs are gorgeous and well worthy of a magazine publication, if this is what you take without a tripod, then I’m looking forward to the photos taken with one!!
Big hugs and thank you for making me smile on a regular basis xx
Happy Hooker Kathryn
Thank you so much for such a generous comment. (It’s not deserved, but I’m grateful anyway.) And thank you for visiting.
Love love the buttercup one with the purple background. Great commentary colours. Knitting and hooking inspiration galore right there
Thank you, m’dear.
(Oops, that’s should’ve said A PLAGUE ON YOU, MINE ENEMY!) Must’ve been a typo…
Your photographs are just beautiful. You have captured those gorgeous flowers perfectly. I feel quite ashamed at my pathetic efforts now. X
That’s ridiculous! Your photos are gorgeous, especially the four across your header.
There is NOTHING pathetic about your beautiful shots.
Flowers and leaves with raindrops on them do look beautiful don’t they. Lovely photographs. I too have been going out with sunglasses and umbrella lately! Good for you to have your children walk to school I’m sure they will be all the better for it.
Sunglasses and umbrella sounds just about perfect, ridiculous though it is. And yes, raindrops on flowers/leaves can be like glistening jewels.
Great photos – and now I have ‘raindrops on roses’ going round in my head! I used to walk my children to school in all weathers and now they are able to face rain without needing to get in a car 😉
Oops, apologies for giving you an earworm!
And I’m so with you on the walking-in-all-weathers front. Glad yours don’t spontaneously explode if a drop of rain falls on their heads. You done good. 🙂
You hit the solstice and it’s all downhill now. Lubbly jubbly images by the way. Steve would die a happy man if he could have a telephoto lens. Take it out. Put it next to you when you have your morning hot beverage. Get used to the sheer size and scope of that thang. Get comfortable with it’s presence and then carefully, when you are brave enough, screw it on and take a single shot of the twins doing something funny. You can take it off then. You need to at least use it Ms T. You don’t want Steve to cry today do you?
Oh I do take it out. But now when professionals are watching me. It was a second hand bargain birthday present from the SS.
Second hand or not, he is a serious keeper 😉
You’ve taken some really fabulous shots! Wow, it makes rain…attractive and the colors on two of the sets of leaves, wowsers, and the rose!!!!
Thank you for your kindness. (All this rain might lose its appeal very soon though!)
Your photos are gorgeous. Congratulations on taking the time to slow down and capture the beauty.
Thank you. There aren’t many opportunities to slow down, sadly. But I am slowly working on the KonMari method thanks to your book recommendation. Very slowly. Too many projects…
As I recall, you have young twins, which is enough to put most of us off from any semblance of organization for awhile. As they age and need more stuff, I think it gets easier. I was happy to free up space when the various items (strollers, swings, bounce chair, crib) gave way to smaller items and when everyone could sit on the same sized furniture.
You work, you parent, you blog and you knit. That’s a lot of living.
I will say though, that once you’re organized, you naturally save time and that is a real bonus. I wish I could pop over to help. I never tire of organizing. Funny that.
Beautiful photos; you must have paid attention to the hosts of the walking tour…….or not?? And thank you for sending that dark, heavy cloud Down Under and it’s freezing too as well as very wet. Hope the sun shines for you over the weekend ‘cos it’s going to be extremely cold here.
Oh dear, I hope you have just a little warmth down there.
(And if it’s any consolation, our weekend forecast is rather rubbish.)
Those are absolutely gorgeous pictures! Might I have your permission to use them as inspiration for my hand-dyed yarns?
I’d be very, very honoured. And I’d love to see pictures of the results.
I used the photo of the green and purple leaf above the rose as inspiration and dyed my yarn purple, green with small patches of orange, which I’d actually hoped would be lighter like peach. I totally hated the yarn and over-dyed it with a violet dye, which is vibrant. I really like the result. I’ve posted it on my website gallery of yarns here: https://splashofcoloryarns.com/myyarns/#jp-carousel-166. I noticed it looks much better on a laptop/desktop or tablet vs. a phone because you can see the various colors and how they blend.
Lovely photos! I am envious of your opportunity to photo walk and focus on photography for a day. Thank you for sharing your work with us. 🙂
Believe me, this isn’t typical! And I felt guilty. And it was only part of a day.(Defensive, moi?!)