Showing posts with label The Gallery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Gallery. Show all posts

11.6.14

Invisible detail



It's the detail you can't see that often makes a picture stand out.

I love this one, not just for the setting, or the lucky break I got with the kids (wouldn't have been able to get them to stand like that if I tried..), but for the stories it tells; the happy thoughts captured in the sky, the sea and the sweep of sand at Rhossili Bay.

When I look I see a favourite place, family time, harmony, space to think, shell seeking, paddling, rock pool exploring, no school, no work, sand gardens, smooth stones, paragliders, fish and chips, wild garlic...

I want to go again - why don't we do it more often? All too few and far between, these family days out.

Seeing the kids together, but also standing apart: close yet independent; so different - the boy with the ball; the fearless girl and the strong-willed one wearing that green jacket he refused to take off for the best part of a year.

The more you look…..memories set off others, like ripples fanning out from a pebble dropped in a rock pool.

The Gallery theme this week is Detail

30.4.14

Merrymakers


Woof! possesses magical powers; he seems to be able to calm the nine year old down in a way none of the rest of us can.
My rascal is all over the place at the moment, bouncing from sweet to sour at breathtaking speed. And not so much of the sweet since school started. But a moment or two with Woof! somehow helps him snap out of it. You can almost see the anger ebb away.

Heaven help us when he eventually loses interest; makes me feel sad thinking about it. But no sign of that happening yet - in fact Woof! has a growing band of merry followers who go everywhere with him.


My husband has started making up stories about this motley crew, and they're obviously good because I often hear howls of laughter coming from the 9 year old's room.  So, next to Woof! we have Snuggly Duck, Duck - grey, worn and well chewed - her french name is Snoogalay Canard, Canard and she is trouble basically; then there's Aussie Bruce, the narcoleptic rabbit who never finishes his sentences, and his painfully shy second cousin Oscar.

All it takes is a story and a sniff of Snuggly or Woof and life is good again.

Wouldn't that be great?


The Gallery theme this week is Happy!

22.1.14

The Gallery - Something beautiful


...yes, I know, another sunrise - a few years of blogging and I'm getting pretty predictable! Give me a photo prompt like 'something beautiful' and I can't help thinking Sky. Again.

Thing is, if I see one like this I just want to try to catch it. To catch that beautiful, magical, fleeting moment. Always lifts my spirits, unless I've forgotten to bring the blinking camera.

It is another school run photo; another, 'Hurry up mum, we're going to be LATE!' photo. Definitely one of the benefits of being up and on the road so early, though not sure the kids would agree…


Many more beautiful things over at The Gallery

27.11.13

Early Bird


another school run photo, and when it comes to early morning skies, there have been some right stunners this month...obviously some pretty dismal, depressing ones too, but thought I'd focus on the good days, in a cup half full kind of way.

I know it doesn't get the best press, November - the first real icy blast of winter and fading autumn colour, yet for me it's more than just the dull inbetweener because it's my birthday month. Not that I get remotely excited about that anymore, but it's never a month I wish away either.

We pick up a friend's son a few times a week, and this is the sky view just past their house. Well, sometimes it is, when the clouds lift high enough to let the light shine through.When the weather's good there's that moment of anticipation as we turn onto the road heading due east, and get our first proper look at the sun rising behind the hills. Even more spectacular when the clouds catch the colours. For a minute on a chilly November morning it drowns out the racket in the back of the car and never fails to lift my spirits.
Hope ahead.


The Gallery theme this week is November

14.11.13

The Gallery: The turquoise trouser suit


I think it's fair to say my fashion sense has never been that great...

I remember loving this smart little nylon number - not sure who got it for me though - definitely wasn't my mum because she couldn't bear it.

I don't know why she didn't just make the suit mysteriously disappear. I've tried this a few times, but annoyingly my daughter has a knack of finding whatever it is before I've squirrelled it out of the house.

On the day the picture was taken, my cousins were coming to stay, and I was determined to show off my trouser suit. Of course as soon as mum caught a glimpse of turquoise, she told me in no uncertain terms to change - I point blank refused and was sent to my room…she really must have hated it!
When I heard the cousins arriving, I sneaked out and climbed through a small window at the side of the house, casually joining everyone outside by the car as if nothing had happened - and I was pretty certain mum would be too busy to make a fuss.

But she did make a point of taking this photo. Even though she knew it would be years before I actually got the point….

Now I have reasonably regular clothes battles with my 6 year old, which she usually wins - but I do take photos of her more memorable outfits.  For later.


Plenty more classic photos over at The Gallery - the theme this week is A Younger Me.

10.7.13

Butterfly - The Gallery


Never think of myself being particularly patient, but the other day I spent a good hour happily chasing butterflies around a field, trying to catch one on camera. Definitely a challenge as they flit about so fast, and by the time I'd sneaked up close enough, holding my breath, they'd be off again, dancing above the wild flowers.
Most of my pictures are blurred or just of nothingness; but I really didn't mind that, or getting long grass stuck in my flip flops, or the pins and needles in my hand from holding the camera so tight. All worth it. I'd have clicked away for longer if I could.

Seeing them fluttering about is one of those joyful signs of summer (now we have one!) - and don't forget the Big Butterfly Count from the 20th July to the 11th August. Get involved if you can. Just 15 mins in a sunny spot, recording what you see. Such a great thing to be part of, and we learnt a lot doing it last year. I always look out for them now, which is probably why I ended up chasing butterflies around a field in the sunshine.

Linking up with The Gallery - this week's theme is SUN

5.6.13

I See You Two


The eyes have it,
wouldn't you say?
Whatever she's feeling
they give it away.
Excited, sad,
hard to disguise,
glinting there
in her big blue eyes.


The Gallery theme this week is Two

2.5.13

The Gallery - Self Portrait


This is me, or how I see me: wife, mum... and after that it gets blurry, foggy, uncertain. I mumble the next bit. Feel I should say something else, but don't know what.
I used to be clear, sharp, confident; sure of me: then marriage, army life, kids...and the 'me bit' went fuzzy. Not a bad kind of fuzzy - still happy most of the time; still positive. Most of the time. Still smiling.
And I'm working on the haze. Just taking longer than I thought to find my focus again.


The Gallery theme this week is Self Portrait

10.4.13

The Gallery - Happy!


I have more meaningful happy photos: places, occasions, memories; but couldn't resist this one of my daughter taking a big old bite out of Hello Kitty.

You just know she's happy - blissed out on cat shaped chocolate.

Food and happiness - so tightly wrapped together, especially when the food's sweet!

I'd have gone for the ears first too.
Isn't it always the ears?


Linking up with The Gallery 
 the theme this week is Happy

3.4.13

Bumbling along together - The Gallery



I love this picture of my daughter with her little ballet pals all colouring away, like busy bees around a honey pot.
The girls were waiting to dance in their annual performance - and what a performance it was: over a hundred children happily bouncing about in their colourful costumes: I've already posted a photo of the bumble bees about to buzz on stage.

As it was such a big show, there was a fair amount of hanging around, and just a handful of parents to keep the kids entertained. All I can say is thank goodness for a colouring-in book and a pencil case full of felt-tips. It may be classic stereotyping, but it did the trick. For a fleeting moment I remember thinking about my boys, and wondering what we'd have done to keep a gang of 4/5 year old lads quiet for a whole hour.

Seeing her with her friends also reminds me of a chat I had with the 8 year old in the car the other day. He told me he was going to ask his best mate for some money so he could buy a much-longed for computer game - I told him he really couldn't do that.
'Why not?'
'Well, you can't just ask for money, it's not very nice, and that's how you lose friends.'
All of a sudden my daughter piped up from the back,
'I'm never EVER going to lose any friends mummy,
and if I do I've got some spare ones.'

May she always have a case full of colours and plenty of spare friends..


Linking up with The Gallery - the theme is 'Together'
Apologies for the lack of commenting this week - we're away, and no
internet!  

27.3.13

Life changing walks - The Gallery

I used to be a reluctant walker. Never keen to go out anywhere. I remember when I was about 11 refusing point blank to join a family walk in Tollymore Forest Park, and sitting by the car for what felt like hours until they got back. On my own. Wouldn't happen now would it. Anyway, my lack of enthusiasm for moving any further than I had to, stayed with me well into my 20's. Then in my early 30's things started to unravel: love, work, friendships; and just as I was descending into the depths of despair, an opportunity arose to travel in South America. My family pushed me to go, and I'm so glad they did.
There was a lot of trekking: I walked my little legs off, and I can clearly remember one moment, along the Inca Trail in Peru, when I properly took in the beauty around me and felt truly happy for the first time in ages.
Hey thinny! Highest point on the Inca trail

bleak beauty of the Mournes
The clouds of self-pity started to lift, and by the time I got home I was stronger, more positive and a born again walker.

Things began slotting back into place in my life, and I went walking most weekends; usually in the Mournes and usually on my own.
Then I met a wonderful man who also liked to walk - and one glorious day, after a steady climb up Rocky Mountain, I was getting our picnic ready - goats cheese quiche; never forget food  - and turned round to find him on bended knee, holding a beautiful ring.
A perfect, magical moment; it really felt like we were on the top of the world, in this amazing, wild, empty space - the only people for miles...when out of nowhere we heard a voice,

'Did she say yes?' 

Three young lads appeared on the other side of the peak. Couldn't believe it. We hadn't seen a soul all day. What were the chances?

'Yes, she said YES!'

Makes me smile thinking about it - and there've been a few jokes over the years about his choice of mountain for the proposal..

I walked on air that day.


Linking up with The Gallery - the theme this week is Walks

13.3.13

Comic Relief, Carrots and Cake



'DAY 5 in the Comic Relief Charity Challenge house, and the housemates are getting restless...'


not really a massive surprise considering there's very little food left from my £12 shop. Just two more days to go now.
And in case you're wondering, £12 is all I've spent to feed the four of us for 7 days! Definitely a challenge. Possibly mad. Still, it's for a very good cause, as the rest of the money I'd normally spend on my weekly groceries is going to Comic Relief.

It's certainly keeping me on my toes and I'm baking like a dervish, trying to stay a step ahead. The kids are doing pretty well; they haven't gone hungry, but inevitably the lack of choice and empty fridge takes it's toll, and there's a rising wave of whinging! I'm doing my best to gee them along, and I've heard the older two talking to their friends about the Challenge and why we're doing it, which is encouraging. It's great they feel involved.

Now who'd have ever thought you could get bored of muffins? But I know the kids are tiring of them, and fair play really as muffins have been the only sweet treat on offer for the last 5 days. My supplies are limited: I haven't any butter and just enough marg left for sandwiches - the only thing I can use is vegetable oil. So my cunning plan was to make muffins that look like CAKE...and seeing as The Gallery theme this week is the letter 'C'.... I give you Comic Relief Charity Challenge Carrot Muffins Cake!


I just poured the carrot muffin mixture into a cake tin - and the shape change plus the absence of muffin cases seems to have done the trick! They loved them. Should get us through to friday. I'm sure the topping helped too, but only enough cream cheese spare for these three, and HUGE disappointment when they realised the carrot was made of plasticine..

There's more about our Comic Relief Charity Challenge here

and The Gallery theme this week is the letter 'C'

20.2.13

The Gallery - Boys


I remember standing next to a rather fraught mum in a supermarket who was trying unsuccessfully to stop her son whacking his brother with a roll of tin foil.  She looked at me wearily and said,   'Boys. They can make a weapon out of anything.'
I nodded and smiled and looked down at my then tiny little chubby cheeked gorgeous bundle of first born boy. I honestly hadn't a clue what she was talking about.
You see at that point I only knew about girls. I have three sisters, just about all my cousins are girls and our little baby was the first boy to join the family in years.

I now have two boys who can make weapons out of anything.


Typical boys really.


And as frustrating as these sometimes rough, grubby, lazy, messy little treasures can be, I think I've got the measure of them.
I know what makes them happy, sad, bored, helpful. I know what they'll listen to and what they'll probably ignore.
I know they won't dwell or be too devious - apart from stealing biscuits, which they're pretty useless at because they never hide the evidence. On the whole I feel I know where I am with my boys, and that makes things a little more straightforward. At the moment!

They do still surprise me though, with sudden spontaneous hugs, sweet little notes and the occasional disarming compliment. I'll never forget coming downstairs, dressed up for a night out, and my then 3 year old saying, 'nice shoes mummy!'
Sometimes my boys leave me speechless.
Just not always for the right reasons...

The Gallery theme this week is BOYS!

13.2.13

The Gallery - Girls

'Please can we go now?'
Not one to ever pass up a photo opportunity, my mum - and no amount of whinging/crying/general complaining was going to stop her getting a shot of her four girls in that field of sunflowers.
Just look at us.
What a bunch of miseries.
Apart from the sister who appears to have mysteriously shrunk.
It was the late 70's and we were trundling slowly through France to the coast; the four of us bouncing about in the back of our family camper - colouring in, fighting over felt tips and watching the world go by. I can just imagine how the sunflower photo stop would have seemed like a great idea. To my mother. And it makes me think of all the times I've done the same kind of thing to my kids - usually greeted with a similar degree of enthusiasm.

'Come on girls! Smile! PLEASE!!' I can hear mum, but I'm the sulky, slightly awkward almost pre-teen one in the tracksuit top, and I didn't do smiling - well not proper smiling, just a sort of clenched teeth, tight lipped scowl. Still, I wasn't anywhere near as grizzly as my youngest sister who was having none of it.  Another thing I found out later on. NEVER wake a toddler for the sake of a photo..


This week's Gallery theme is Girls
Blog

30.1.13

Oh Brother!



I took this one without you knowing,
the closeness you're not used to showing.

Much of the time you tease and fight,
shouting and shoving, both always right.

Teasing and playing on each other's fears,
angry words that end in tears.

In truth you're lost without each other,
I know this being your wise old mother.

So I caught this moment to remind you
of the love that always binds you.



16.1.13

The Gallery - New




I love it when the kids get this excited about everything they open. No holding back, just pure spontaneous, fabulous joy.
It might only be a new pencil case; but at that moment, it was the most fantastic thing EVER...until she ripped open the next parcel...
And so begins the noisy unwrapping rollercoaster of excitement - can't bear the thought of it ending one day, but know it will.
The ten year old is already more grown up and sensible about the whole thing - now a quieter, slightly self-conscious present-opener.
Or maybe he's just getting harder to please??



The Gallery theme this week is NEW

17.10.12

The Gallery - Old




The school run, 70's style - when it was apparently quite normal to put your baby in a carrycot in the back, and have the kids climbing all over the seats. Seems strange now even thinking about no belts and no car seats - and not just from a safety point of view - you wouldn't be able to pin them down at all. Mine would never sit still if they weren't belted in. Long journeys must have been torture.

I'm the one wearing glasses. The one who looks like Velma from Scooby-Doo.

It's been fun flicking through my ageing album for this week's theme. I'm so glad my mum took the time to put it together - lovely to have a collection of old photos that spark countless memories.

I've been trying to do the same for my kids, so they each have a book. Needless to say I'm already behind. The eldest has done ok. He has two albums - one is full of baby photos and only goes up to when he was 6 months old! Easy to be snap happy with your first. They trail off after that.

The albums have been neglected, but I'm going to put them back on my to-do list, because I know it'll be worth it. The kids mightn't be all that bothered now, but they will be one day, when they're crinkly and a touch sentimental like me.


The Gallery theme this week is Old

10.10.12

The Gallery - Yellow



This is me in the mid 70's doing a pretty good impression of a lemon. The canary yellow trousers were my favourites - I remember they had an embroidered sunrise on the back pockets, and I didn't want to let them go, as you can probably tell from the high flare and strain around my middle...

It makes me laugh I was so coordinated - none of that's stayed with me!  Even a yellow clip - from memory it was the shape of a pencil. Funny how things come flooding back when you take the time to look.

I showed this photo to my 5 year old, and once I'd managed to convince her it was me (quite a leap for kids sometimes..) she said, 'You're all yellow mummy'.  Indeed.

There's no way she'd wear yellow trousers. 


The Gallery theme this week is Yellow

5.9.12

The Gallery: Back to School!



We're usually running for the bus, but the kids were so keen to go to school on the first day, they were down by the road half an hour early. The youngest has had her uniform lying next to her bed since sunday...
And bar the odd needy moment questioning why they're quite so desperately keen, I couldn't be happier that the kids are itching to get back to school. We've had a lovely summer, but now they need to be surrounded, and I need some space.

It's such a blessing being on the bus route - no school run or school gate for me. The only slight drawback is I'm out of touch with all the goings on. But I can live with that.
I need to make the most of it too, because the eldest leaves in the summer, so this is my last year of school run freedom.

As soon as I opened the bus door the kids were on in a flash; smiling shyly at friends. Quiet for a moment or two. No chatting. Yet. All three looked so smart in their still-shop-creased trousers and perfect new shoes. Beryl the driver laughed saying they wouldn't look like that on the ride home. They never do.
Then the minibus trundled up the lane, and I trundled down it, in my running kit. Because I could.


The Gallery theme this week is Back to School

15.8.12

The Photo Gallery: Emotion


I love this photo. In many ways it's fairly ordinary. But it gets me every time.
I took it when my husband was last with us in May. Just before he went back to Afghanistan.

It triggers such a mixture of emotions:
a perfect family day by the sea;
how much I miss him;
how much the kids miss him;
how much easier it is to share.

And it reminds me how much I wish he'd been here last week when the youngest had her scary bike tumble; and how a wave of crushing panic made me realise I'm closer to unravelling than I'd like to think.

I know all these feelings are probably heightened at the moment, because in a few days he'll be back with us for a bit. So, as always happens about now, my defences slip, I'm more emotional and time seems to be slowing down...

Just a few more days and I can stop feeling like I'm holding my breath.


The Gallery theme this week is Emotion.