Monday's Odd Shot..... Round 2.

Photo of the Day
Scarborough Yesterday

This is my odd shot for a Monday start.

To see more Odd shots see Katney's Blog!

We drove to Scarborough and parked on the front, the marine parade.
When we parked up we had the place to ourselves.

When we returned from the fish and chop stall our bike was surrounded.....by other Honda's.

We had a walk along the harbour and when we returned there was a new arrival....
not a Honda!

Can you spot it?

We really felt as though Spring had finally arrived yesterday.
We had a lovely walk along the parade.

Yes, Flamborough Head, as spotted from Scarborough.
The White Cliffs so noticeable.

For the past few years Scarborough, like many other coastal resorts has been taking extra measures against coastal errosion.

The results can be seen here.....

A speed boat caught my attention as we made our way down the parade.

I certainly felt much better yesterday.
The penicillan was the culprit!
Once this was identified the sickness stopped immediately.

We had followed the weather forecast and knew Sunday was going to be a good day.
We made the most of it, together with the extra hour allowed due to the clocks going backwards for one hour.

A great weekend!

And James Toseland achieved a great 6th position in the Moto GP!

Saturday, Photohunt.

Subject...HIGH!

He knows when you're happy
He knows when you're comfortable
He knows when you're confident
And he always knows when you have carrots.

~Author Unknown

Loved this!
The fence you can just make out is between our drive and the racing stables next door!
Don't you just love the feeling of the horse looking down on us!
Yes.certainly a "high" start to the day!

To see more Saturday Photohunters see tnchick

The Moors, a few days ago.

A March Snow
Let the old snow be covered with the new:
The trampled snow, so soiled, and stained, and sodden.
Let it be hidden wholly from our view By pure white flakes, all trackless and untrodden.
When Winter dies, low at the sweet Spring's feet Let him be mantled in a clean, white sheet.
Let the old life be covered by the new:
The old past life so full of sad mistakes, Let it be wholly hidden from the view
By deeds as white and silent as snow-flakes.
Ere this earth life melts in the eternal Spring
Let the white mantle of repentance fling Soft drapery about it, fold on fold,
Even as the new snow covers up the old.

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Today the skies are grey and wintery.
Spring is nearly here I am led to believe.

A quiet weekend.

Visit Tom for Skywatch Friday's Participants.

A Photo of the Day
Wilma on the beach, last week.



"I think I could turn and live with animals, they are
so placid and self-contained,
I stand and look at them long and long."

~ Walt Whitman

It will be a while before I can run on the beach with Wilma again, but whilst I follow doctors orders and rest I can read to her.

Wonder if she will notice the difference!

anyway time for some thinking!

ABC Wednesday....J is for.....

JOURNEY! Just up the road!
I am often struck by the diverse places we all refer to....
here is ours.

On Monday, I wasn't feeling my best so Jon took me out in the pick-up.
We drove up the road and turned left.

We drove down the Moor Road,

and up onto the Moors.

We passed Ralph's Cross

passed some impressive scenery,

the moors were very bleak,

yet beautiful as ever!

We were about an hour, then we made our way back to home.

The next turning left takes us to our village.
You can see how close we are to both the sea and the Moors

The road home!




Hope you enjoyed your Journey!

Now you see how rural and issolated we are.

Please note....I would be grateful if next week people wait for me to post first.

IMPORTANT NOTICE...CHANGES TO ABC WEDNESDAY.

Important Notice.. Change to ABC Wednesday.

Over the past few weeks I have had comments about Mr Linky, ie some of you have not been able to use it or have access to it, this has brought about understandable frustration.

The initial concept of ABC Wednesday was to make it an exercise which was easy to use and operate.So I have decided not to use Mr Linky, at least for time being.

This is what I would like to try...

On Wednesday, if you have an ABC photograph on your blog, please leave a comment here on my blog saying "MINE IS UP" or words to that effect together with your comment...followed by a direct link back to your specific ABC post, which you can cut & paste from the navigation bar at the top of your computer. This will take other participants straight to your post. In some cases where people have several blogs, a comment alone will not do as it will simply take others back to a profile and not to the specifuc post. Please cut & paste the direct link.

I would also appreciate a link on your own blog, back to my blog.
Some are not doing this. ABC Wednesday was started in July 2007, by me! It really grew larger than I ever imagined and has been a great success. Last week when I posted a poll which you can still see on my sidebar it read an incredible 92% of those who voted think about the subject for ABC Wednesday for quite some time prior to posting. This is wonderful as it shows the enjoyment and committment people have to this project.

A letter is allocated each Wednesday, this week we are up to J. Post photos from your personal collection and not photos obtained from the web (please, no clip-art/web photos).
Just play along once a week by posting a photo for the said letter.

Note: I will post the weekly post each WEDNESDAY morning.
Please, hold your “Mine’s Up” comment ’til then. Thank You.

How to play ABC Wednesday:

Simple. You just play by posting a photo for the weekly letter on YOUR site - that’s it. Keep in mind, more will find you if you comment on my weekly ABC Wednesday posted on the main page.

How will you know who is playing? View my comments each week, comment when you play so others can find you. Again eventually you will be able to surf "ABC Wednesday" on Technarati!

Tip: For the title of your post use “ABC Wednesday” or something similar

Display the new ABC Wednesday Logo




It will allow others to find us and join! Place the button shown above on your sidebar. Right click and “save as” or “copy image location”. If you need help - just let me know.

It would be handy if you could let me have your e-mail address, should I ever need to contact the group due to unforseen circumstances or to get feedback.
Some e-mails I have, others I haven't.
My e-mail is
denisedotnesbittatbtinternetdotcom.
Just post subject ABC and this will be sufficient for me to add you to the list.

Thanks....see you on Wednesday.
D

OUCH!

Rocks by the Beach
25.03.08

The rocks and cliffs which have been a source of inspiration and invigoration dealt me a nasty and painful blow!
Whilst out walking with Wilma I slipped and fell oer, banging the back of my head in the process.
I became stuck amonst the sharp rocks and in pulling myself free have badly grazed my stomach.
Due to Easter Holidays I have not been able to get an appointment at our surgery.
Hopefully this will be rectified in about 30 minutes when I contact the surgery.

Watch this space!

Monday's Odd Shot!

For more Monday odd shots visit Katney's Blog!



Here is mine.....Wilma! who else.
She was sitting next to me and I had my camera handy!

A Dog's Best Friend

O Lord, don't let me once forget,
How I love my trusty pet -
Help me learn to disregard
canine craters in my yard.
Show me how to be a buddy
even when my sofa's muddy.
Don't allow my pooch to munch
postal carriers for lunch.
Shield my neighbor's cat from view,
guide my steps around the doo.
Train me not to curse and scowl
when it's puppy's night to howl.
Grant I shan't awake in fear
with a cold nose in my ear.
Give me patience without end -
Help me be "A DOG'S BEST FRIEND."

-Author Unknown

A Good Time Was Had By All

The Birthday Lady with Sisier in Law

Moi & Jon

Godson & His pal

Sister in Law Maureen & her partner Steve!

Later on, still Saturday!

Photo of the Day
22.03.08
Jo, 5pm tonight.

SOMETHING TOLD THE WILD GEESE

By Rachel Field

Something told the wild geese

It was time to go,

Though the fields lay golden

Something whispered, "snow."

Leaves were green and stirring,

Berries, luster-glossed,

But beneath warm feathers

Something cautioned, "frost."

All the sagging orchards

Steamed with amber spices,

But each wild breast stiffened

At remembered ice.

Something told the wild geese

It was time to fly,

Summer sun was on their wings,

Winter in their cry.

As you can see, we had snow this afternoon.
I was putting Jo to bed and thought he looked beautiful.


Have a good night!

Saturday, Photohunt.

Metal

Being married to a precision engineer, various metal components are often around our house.
I thought about one particular piece I know some of you who do ABC will remember.
Some weeks ago my washing machine broke down.
After a thorough investigation, hubby discovered that a bracket had snapped,
so he made another one at his workshop.
He fitted it and the machine was able to deal with the washing.

A couple of weeks later the washing machine broke down again.
The new bracket had snapped!
So it was back to the workshop to find a more durable material.

Here is the replacement.
Material - Plastic!
Can you guess what the original use was for the plastic?
A Hip Joint! LOL!
Indeed. Hubby does lots of research and development work.
Some months ago he had to make an artificial hip!

Being self-employed he has to work whenever. This means at the moment he has worked yesterday(Good Friday) and is working today.
As the weather forecast is poor and snow is on its way from our friends in Norway (thanks so much) it isn't a problem.
Of all the times for us to run out of central heating oil this was a bad time.
We do not have mains gas in our village, just electricity.
In the Doomsday book our village is described as a 'windy little hamlet' so we are infact going to look into wind powered turbine/generator.
We are in a conservation area so no doubt there will be lots of red tape....watch this space!
However this morning my heart leapt when I saw the oil tanker pull up outside the house.
I wasn't expecting a delivery until Tuesday so this was a wonderful sight.
I love surprises like that!

We are having a Family get together tonight.
My Mother-in Law's birthday.
We are all going out for dinner, so this should be fun.

Happy Birthday Mrs Nesbitt! LOL!



I am very fortunate in having a great Mother in Law. She has never tried to replace my mum whom I miss so much. AS is often the case in many marriages, I am the one who deals with family occasions, ie the card and present. For many years I would get upset when looking at cards for 'Mother' as I would think of my own mum. Now I design my own cards I can make a card which is appropriate for us all. Hence the card I made for Mavis is for a Mam, Mother in Law and friend. Jon has always referred to her as 'Mam' so again it was appropriate to use the word. I specifically used capital letter for 'Mam' and 'Friend' and a lower case for 'mother in law' just artisitic I guess.
I hope she will like it, I am sure she will!



Saturday PhotoHunt is hosted by TNChick - visit her to find more participants and to join in the fun.

Skywatch Friday..nearly at a Price!

A Photo a Day
21.03.08
Morning Walk a Couple of Days Ago

"Someone with his head in the clouds is seeing clouds, rather than what's going on way down here on earth.
If his head is in the clouds, he is way too distracted to know what's going on. He is in a rarefied and remote atmosphere."

Do you like my skywatch Friday photograph?
It didn't come easily or without a drama!

On Wednesday Wilma and I were out walking on the beach.
Throwing and fetching the ball, the usual stuff! Then I let Wilma have a go! LOL!

I was concentrating on the sky, deciding where was the best place to be to capture the angry sky!

I was standing on the rocks in view above.
They lie beween the beach and the sea.

I was suddenly aware of Wilma's stance!

What was she looking at?

She had dropped her ball down between the rocks.

The wind was building up and the sea was crashing against the rocks.
I put my camera into my pocket and had to lay on the rocks, roll my sleeve up and reach down into the icy water and rescue the ball.

Now I am only 5'2'' tall, so I was quite some time!

When I had the ball I turned to see the sea crashing over the rocks,into our path back to the beach!
We only had a few moments to scramble off the rocks and head back to the car!

Drama at Sea!

The Sea is unpedictable!
One of my favourite poems came to mind.
I remember reading this at school.

The Sea by James Reeves The sea is a hungry dog, Giant and grey. He rolls on the beach all day. With his clashing teeth ans shaggy jaws Hours upon hour he gnaws The rumnlin, tumbling stones, And ‘Bones, bones, bones, bones!’ The gaint sea-dog moans, Licking his greasy paws. And when the nigh wind roars And the moon rocks in the stormy cloud, He bound to his feet and snuffs and sniffs, Shaking his wet side over the cliffs, And howls and hollos long and loud. But on auite days in May or June, When even the grasses on the dune Play no more their reedy tune, With his head between his paws He likes on the sandy shores, So quiet, so quiet, he scarely snores.

The Oil Painting of the Storm on the Sea of Galilee seems so appropriate to, on this Easter Friday.
You can read more about it here

Later that night as I was looking out of the window the calm sunset did not give away any signs of drama....what a day!

Happy Easter!

For more Skywatch Friday Pictures visit Tom at Wigger's World

RAIN STOPS PLAY!

Photo of the Day
20.03.08
View from the window

Yes, raining and it is cold!
At least I have a very short reminder of our walk yesterday!

Yes, very short...I had the camera on the wrong setting.
I didn't delete it as I thought it was a nice glimpse of Wilma in her element!

The weather is particularly cold because we have ran out of heating oil.
Living where we do, we have no mains gas, so our central heating is powered by oil fired central heating boiler and a solid fuel Aga, which is housed in the kitchen.

When we have moments like today we have a portable electric heater.
It is just a case of dressing warm and working out what I need to do and where I can do it.

The kitchen is the warmest room so it would be sensible to spend time there, I may cook or bake!

My day was brightened when I saw this...

I received a Post of the Day award from David!
Thanks David...it brought a ray of sunshine to my cloudy day!
(cue for a song!)

Well I was thinking about a song for the day and went down memory lane.
One of my all time favourite groups is/was Roxy Music.
Bryan Ferry is just soooooooooooooooo cool!
He was born in Newcastle and went to the same school as somebody I once worked with.
She was a deputy head....later to become a Headteacher.
She dressed in crocheted waistcoats and always wore thick woolly tights, brougues and tartan skirt...........I use to giggle as I imagined her sitting next to Bryan Ferry in school!
LOL!
Now there's a picture! LOL!

A definate better start to the day!

ABC Wednesday! ....I is for....

Welcome to ABC Wednesday!

How to participate in ABC Wednesday.

1. Post your I picture on your blog.

2. Come to my blog and sign in on Mr. Linky

3. Enjoy the beautiful I pictures of the other bloggers.

There is a new Mr. Linky each week so you always have to sign up on the current one.
Please do not sign your name on Mr. Linky unless you have an I picture posted on your blog

Please leave a comment here and a link back to this blog.

Also, please vote in my poll...at the top of the sidebar! Thank You

We reached 80+ participants last week, so please be assured we will do our best to visit each blog, not necessarily on Wednesday, but it would help if you did leave a comment here

I is for.........

INVITATION 1.



Come into my kitchen.....dinner is served.

Every Saturday night I cook a special meal for Jon & I. I love white linen & simple flowers.
This was the only flower remaining from a bunch I bought to brighten up the house.
If I could have 2 luxuries they would be fresh flowers every day and fresh bed linen too.

Melon marrinated in a crisp white savaignon blanc!

Salmon cooked in Rocket Salad Leaves! I ADORE Rocket!

I made this recipe....
simply place a good handful of rocket salad leaves into the casserole dish. Place salmon fillet on top, cover with more Rocket leaves.

After 10 minutes turn over the fillet and add more salad leaves. Cook for further 5 minutes

Serve with New Potatoes and fresh seasonal vegetables. Oh and plenty of ice cold savaignon blanc!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

No deserts.....we don't do deserts on a Saturday....I am on a diet remember!
BUT if I did indulge it would be a selection of cheese and biscuits.

I am passionate about food. I love the whole art of the meal. The table, flowers, presentation. Love it.


I is for Invitation 2


This is my latest commission!

What do you think?

Enlarged to show the detail of the crystal butterfly.

The completed calligraphy one.....the bride chose 4 hearts.

I have to say I absolutely ADORED designing the butterfly commission.
I LOVE the boundaries I can push just to get the one design which made the bride cry in awe.

The calligraphy one was straight forward calligraphy. The colour chosen to match the dresses of the bridesmaids. I am passionate about handwriting too. As a child I would pracitse writing for hours on end., inventing and creating my own calligraphy styles.I guess being an arty type of person I am so passionate about art in most forms.

One of the wonderful joys of teaching young children is the various forms and mediums we can introduce them to.

Teaching is 99% passion & enthusiasm 1% knowledge, just my thoughts.

Predominantly I have taught in under-privileged schools. My main subject was always Art.

I had a mission to introduce the children to art and it's visions, often they did not have the experience at home.

When I taught in the city centre of Nottingham in a very socially disadvantaged school I often would take the children to the National Gallery in London, on a Saturday.



On one occasion, following on from a study of the impressionist movement we were queueing outside the Gallery in London.

I was standing with my charges, about 8 in all.

One member of the public standing just in front of us turned round, looked at the small children and "Tutted" loudly with an air of disgust and disdain.

One of my pupils picked this gesture up and said,

"Shouldn't we be here Miss?"

I had to fight the disgust rising in my stomach as I replied, in a somewhat raised tone....

"Ian, ( I remember his name to this day) this gallery belongs to the nation, particularly young people like you!

The lady in question looked right at me and tutted again.

I held her stare.....for quite a while, probably longer than necessary.



We filed into the gallery.

We were looking at one of Van Gogh's paintings, when the same Ian stated in a confident , resounding tone..

"You know Miss, you can tell this was one of Van Gough's early paintings!"

"Why is that Ian?" I replied.

"Well Miss, look at the dark colours. These were the colours he used before his brother Theo introduced him to the brighter colours which greatly influenced his works!"

"Well Done Ian!" I replied. (Tears of pride were welling in my eyes at the time, but I composed myself, and guiding my charges out of the room, I turned to see the member of the public who had behaved in such a disgraceful manner earlier. She was standing transfixed at what she had just overheard....

As I passed her, I once again nailed her with one of my stares and said "You tell me these children shouldn't be here now!

She looked away and bowed her head as I led my wonderful group of pupils into the next room!

My head held high with pride and emotion.

I strive to give to others a sense of sacredness,

because an art event is not just a formal fact but also a momentwhere you put a mark on your dedication.

You must have a feeling of joining a tribe where there is the stick of command, because you are in a sacred place with its rules.

Enzo Cucchi