April 22 ~ In the Pink

It's Sunday again; another weekend almost over. We didn't have the glorious weather we hoped for, just a lot of cloud and a fairly stiff breeze. As a result, I didn't get out anywhere with the camera but instead photographed this ranunculus. I love these flowers, with their myriad layers of petals - just so intricately put together.

Chris and I have had a lovely weekend just pottering about doing all the bits and pieces that we never seem to have time for during the week. Usually I dislike all these errands, but it was strangely restful this weekend. The only low point was having to get my new passport photo taken -- ICK! I hate the fact that the Canadian government is going to charge me £50 for the privilege of having an extremely horrid photo of myself as a legal document for the next 5 years. LOL

Hope you have all had a lovely weekend, and that the week ahead treats you well. {{{HUGS}}}

Playing Catch-Up -- AGAIN!

Hello once again from the vanishing Anna! I have been absent from my blogging routine due to niggles with the home network, but think we've got things sorted out now. As a result, I'm playing catch-up for the 2nd time with my PAD photos. These are from Wednesday the 18th through to yesterday (Saturday 21st).


April 18 ~ Tulip





April 19 ~ Opened





April 20 ~ Insides





April 21 ~ Ranunculus





I need to do some MAJOR catching up on all the blogs I visit - between internet niggles and some very busy times at work, I've fallen so far behind. Apologies to all of you, particularly those who take the time to comment on my blog. I'm a BAD blogging friend! Bad, bad! LOL I'll try and rectify this as soon as I can.


{{{HUGS}}}

April 17 ~ Told You So!

"Help me Flex, please!"

"Mini-Me, I told you so - if you insist on standing on my shoulder and leaning THAT far over to see inside the calla, you're going to have to accept that you will fall over and be IN the calla," Flex patiently explained.

I just KNEW Mini-Me's curiosity would get the better of him, despite Flex's words of warning.

I'm busy watching Nevaeh on the webcam eating her veggies; she's 5 months old today! She's getting so big so quickly, and I can't wait to cuddle her in December when we get to Canada. She'll be 13 months old then and into EVERYTHING! I am really looking forward to taking more photos of her, although from what I read, taking photos of a toddler is VERY challenging to say the least.

Been a busy day today, lots of customer queries, so the time flew by. I love days like that (okay, would prefer them with even more mortgage business being done, but some is better than none!). Tomorrow's shaping up to be at least as busy - hooray! Then the week will already be more than 1/2 done. Thursday I'm at a meeting in the afternoon with the other mortgage advisers in the area, then we're all off out to a group dinner at a local Italian restaurant. Should be a great night with a lot of laughs and more than a little bit of wine!

{{{HUGS}}} to all, see you tomorrow!

April 16 ~ Let Me See!

"C'mon Flex, can't you lift me any higher? Let me see the calla," Mini-Me implored.

"Hey short stuff, I've already got a crick in my neck from holding you on my shoulder like this," grumbled Flex. "If I get any closer, you'll fall in!"

Flex looks so pained in this photo, that I can't help wondering whether, if left to his own devices, he would have LET Mini-Me fall in! :D

Been a long day today - then again, most Mondays are! Things didn't go to plan with either of my client appointments today, neither of them made it to application stage at this point. Hopefully the rest of the week will be more productive.

I logged back onto the Net the other day to a wonderful surprise. Digital SLR User magazine had emailed me, saying that one of my photos has been shortlisted for the Readers' Photos section in the June issue, and could I please send them a large version of the image? OF COURSE I COULD! :D Here's the photo:

April 15 ~ Dog Violet

Finally! Back to normal daily posts. I've missed this a lot. I got to spend the morning rambling through the woods and wildlife reserve that's 5 minutes by car from our front door. It was about 21 degrees C here today, which is VERY warm for the NE of England, especially in April! Even our summers here don't get very much hotter than that, due to our close proximity to the North Sea coastline (about 3 miles away).

The violets and bluebells are out in the woods, so I thought I would make a Dog Violet the subject of today's photo:






I've also been given the Thinking Blogger Award from CG - thank you Julie, I'm honoured! :)You've brightened my day immeasurably. Julie's an inspiration to me; she works hard, is devoted to her family, and is an incredibly talented photographer. She's got a great sense of humour and loves a laugh. Thank you Julie!



You can read more about the Thinking Blogger Awards, too!

Now it's my turn to nominate 5 that I enjoy and admire. Here they are, in no particular order:


Pat

Pat is a very dear friend of mine, and I am constantly in awe of her strength and compassion and kindness. She owns and runs Photography Cafe, where I am on the admin team, and it is thanks to the Cafe that my love of photography was kindled. Pat is selfless and generous; she gives so much to so many, and is loved by all.


Anna

Anna - or "the other Anna" as I refer to her so as not to confuse myself! - has a wonderfully creative take on everyday life. Her blog is full of energy and fantastic photographs, and always provides a great source of inspiration. I so admire her and her love and devotion to her family, and this comes through so well in her blog.

Libby

Libby's blog is always a source of inspiration to me, and is guaranteed to put a smile on my face. She has such a sunny outlook on things, and always cheers me up.

Mark

Mark's an inspiration, and to me he embodies what is beautiful about the human spirit. Despite adversity, Mark remains cheerful and upbeat, and is always happy to blog chat. Thank you Mark for helping me look at life from a glass-is-half-full perspective!

Carmi

Carmi's blog ALWAYS is thought-provoking and insightful, and full of incredible photographs! He's an inspiration through and through, both in his photographic style and in his easy, conversational, and thoroughly engaging writing style.

Mrs Nesbitt

Denise, my "neighbour" has a great blog full of fun and music - after every visit, I find myself humming a new tune! Another really cheerful and optimistic view of life, and one which I find inspirational as well. Thank you for always making me grin.

Like Julie before me, I had a REALLY tough time just choosing 5, as there are many blogs I visit daily. Again, like Julie, I decided to choose 5 blogs apart from ones I knew had been chosen already (although they are just as deserving!)


Should you choose to participate, please make sure you pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging. I thought it would be appropriate to include them with the meme.

The participation rules are simple:


1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
3. Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).

That was that! Please, remember to tag blogs with real merits, i.e. relative content, and above all - blogs that really get you thinking!

Catch Up - April 10th to 14th

Here's another catch-up installment of PAD photos. I'll do a separate post for today's shot though :)

Hope you're all well!

April 10 ~ Elegance



April 11 ~ Ribbit!



Iggy has been startled; he was standing there, minding his own business, when something jumped onto his shoulder. Try as he might, even with his swivelling iguana eyes, he just can't quite see what's sitting on him. All he can hear is "Ribbit".

April 12 ~ Fork-Off



It's like a face-off, but with forks!

April 13 ~ Robodog



Since Mini-Me's disastrous attempts to teach Iggy to fetch, he's been wanting a dog. Enter Robodog; Mini-Me's smitten - at last, a member of the family that's smaller than he is! But will HE fetch?

April 14 ~ Not the Easter Bunny!



Mini-Me is struggling to get his camera; he's just come face to face with the Easter Bunny! I didn't have the heart to point out to him that he's about a week late, didn't want to ruin Mini-Me's excitement!

Playing Catch-Up!

Hi everyone :) Just realized I have OODLES of PAD photos to catch up on in here, so thought I'd get things started. Rather than have a post per day, I'll just catch up on April 1st through 9th in here, and then get the others up asap.

April 1 ~ Parrot Tulip



April 2 ~ Just Opening



April 3 ~ Last Daffodil



April 4 ~ Dandelion



April 5 ~ Muscari



April 6 ~ Alight



April 7 ~ Prayer



April 8 ~ Happy Easter!



April 9 ~ Callas

I'm Back!

... and boy, did I miss you all!

Been M.I.A. for almost 2 weeks now, and how those weeks go on when you're without the internet! We've been in the process of changing providers, and didn't get hooked up again until today, after been unceremoniously cut off late on Sunday the 1st. I have so missed blogging and checking out all your blogs - will be catching up over the next few days I hope ;)

{{{HUGE HUGS}}}

March 31 ~ Out of the Dark

I couldn't resist - we were out today, and I bought two bunches of tulips. These just seemed to glow from within with their own light, and I tried to do that justice here. I only used one lamp, off to the right of the flower, and then a gold reflector on the left instead of the other lamp I usually use - found the lighting looked too harsh when I used both lamps. I liked the feeling of this bloom emerging from the winter's darkness into the light of spring, and tried to emphasize that here.

It's official -- we're going to Toronto for Christmas again this year! :D :D :D Booked our tickets online this evening; we fly out via Paris on Air France on December 13th, and back home on January 4th. I can't wait!!!!!

{{{{HUGS}}}}

March 30 ~ Chicks Dig Birdseed!

"Wow, Iggy - look at all the chicks! They really DO dig birdseed," shouted Mini-Me in amazement. Iggy could do no more than look around incredulously. Maybe they weren't the kind of chicks he had in mind?

I'm a day behind in posting this; got home late from camera club on Friday and decided to go to sleep instead of doing my blog entry. Bad me!

It was the results of the first round of the Beginners' competition at the club; I just missed the entry deadline when I joined, so was eager to hear the judge's comments so that I would be ready to enter the 2nd round in a few weeks' time. The judge was great; very constructive feedback, found so many positive aspects to all the photos, but found excellent ways to improve them as well. I learned a lot, and am not quite so nervous about submitting my photos to the competition now.

{{{HUGS}}}

March 29 ~ The Assistant

Mini-Me was supposed to be helping me sort out my camera gear. Instead, he spent ages staring through one of my close-up filters! He thinks it's pretty incredible to have his own personal magnifying glass - one the size of him almost! Needless to say, once he discovered his new "toy" he wasn't much help to me. Good thing it wasn't a mirror, or else I might have lost him forever to his own reflection (he loves himself just a little bit!)

Much quieter day at work today, but it was LONG. I only got in around 7pm, and had been at work since just after 8am. Good thing I love my job. I was thrilled to see a former client of mine come in for a chat with her little girl; I think I mentioned this customer before and how ill she is, but to my utter delight she is looking much stronger and healthier. I got a present from the little one, too - she's at nursery school now, and brought me in a stick from the playground! LOL I love kids.

One more day, and it's the weekend! Yippee! :D I'm looking forward to just hanging out with Chris and pottering around the house. Let's hope the weather is nice, so we can get out for a walk (along with the camera, of course!)

{{{HUGS}}} to you all!

March 28 ~ Ride 'Em Cowboy!

Mini-Me fancies himself to be a bit of a Wild West cowboy today (minus the Stetson, of course - don't have one to fit him!). Iggy, however, isn't quite sure what he makes of all this and Mini-Me's shouts of "Hi-yo, Iggy - awayyyyyyy!" leave him a bit bewildered. Iggy has decided just to dig in his heels for the time being. Mini-Me's trying to encourage Iggy by jiggling the reins, but to no avail. Iggy just isn't going anywhere. Looks like this wannabe cowboy is without a trusty steed.

Boy.... my mind's in overdrive today! Guess this photo proves that my brain works in mysterious ways (warped ones at that!) Been a busy day at work, with one branch preparing for a visit from a Compliance inspector (glad I won't be at that branch on the day itself) and the other seemingly full of folks with the weirdest queries. Looks like one customer was even using his mobile phone to record us talking with him today :O Will be interesting to see what comes of THAT.

Working week more than 1/2 done now, and it's been a hectic one yet again. Get to work late tomorrow - it's telephoning night. Yay :( Oh well, need to get my appointment diary filled. Mortgage, anyone? :D

{{{HUGS}}}

March 27 ~ Go Fish!

"Flex, do you have a ten?" Ayla asked.
"No, go fish!" Flex shouted back gleefully. He is already losing the game to Ayla and wants to win very badly - not that he's competitive or anything! :D

I've been rushed off my feet today at work - so pooped tonight that I almost didn't get this post done; I'm falling asleep at the computer. I am really loving the job, but find that it takes a lot of concentration, especially in these early stages while I'm still learning the ropes. I feel as if I'm getting all of the difficult cases right off the bat, which compounds the issue. Oh well, good to learn the hard way so that later on these might become more routine sorts of queries and lending issues.

Hoping for a nice weekend weather-wise as Chris and I want to get out and about to do something together. We didn't seem to spend as much time together this past weekend as I was off to Whitby on the Saturday and recovering from lugging all my gear around on the Sunday. This weekend will just be for us - hopefully the weather will be kind and I'll get some nice photos. The weekend after, I'm off for 4 whole days as it's Easter and I'm headed to Carlisle to meet up with M and R to take some photos on the Saturday. Should be a lot of fun, as I've not seen either of them since July.

Hope you've all had a good day - I send you {{{HUGS}}}

March 26 ~ Springtime

The second lovely day running here, and I just had to get out into the garden for a little while as supper was cooking. These little fellows are popping up all over the place in the garden now, and I love them. These just seem to shout "Spring" at me and I couldn't resist taking a shot for today's blog post.

Pfffft - nothing in this new branch is ever simple mortgage-wise. I've signed up three cases, and each one of them has a major issue attached to it. My old branch - nothing but smooth sailing case-wise; go figure. Oh well, nothing like learning the ropes the hard way :) Good practice.

Hope you all have had a good Monday - I know mine was!

{{{HUGS}}}

March 25 ~ Ladybug, Ladybug

GAAAAAH!!! I am a day behind on my blogging! I got myself all muddled over the weekend, with not posting either Friday's or Saturday's shots until Sunday - I then promptly forgot all about Sunday's.

It (typically) was a beautiful day, since Saturday was such a washout weather-wise for the meet. I was aching all over from my trekking round Whitby in the freezing dampness with a heavy tripod and camera bag strapped to my back, so took the day to recover. I ventured as far as the back yard in the bright spring sunshine, and was lucky enough to spot my first ladybug of the year having a meander through my daffodils :)

I'm off to work now - gotta love Mondays!

{{{HUGS}}}