splashes

there are a lot of splashing fruit&veg pictures around, but they are always fun to make, because the results are somewhat unpredictable. I like taking pictures of smoke for exactly the same reason.

knit fast, die warm

Couple of days ago a lady electrician came to check wiring and fitting in our house. She noticed that I have a stash of knitting yarns (I readily admit to compulsive yarn-buying, me) and mentioned a wool shop in Saffron Walden. It happened to be in one of the nooks you hardly go to, unless you have a specific place in mind - a passage between King Street and High Street where Mocha cafe is. It doesn't even show on the googlemap as a separate track.

Of course I felt I must go check it out, and today I did. The motto "Knit fast, die warm" was on a blackboard outside. The shop is small and cute, with a lot of interesting yarns, considering the available space. For example, the blue ruffle scarf is made of a pre-kitted strip of loose netting, which you crochet tightly on on side. I never seen one of those yarns before, and spent a minute trying to imagine how much time it must have taken to knit that much ruffle in what looks like a very fine yarn (came up with "an awful lot" figure ). With that strip thing, you can make two scarves a day, if you feel so inclined :)

Non flowering lake and more flowers

My visit to Norway was short (less than one full day), but there was no plan, only a vague idea that I want to see more white flowers (wood anemones that is). So when we went to a lake and didn't find any around, it was decided that we will go back to Tønsberg were they we in plenty. There were also lily-of-the-valley, just starting to bloom. We met a guy in his fifties who was collecting them. He probably was not supposed to do that (I know you were not supposed to pick them round Moscow when I was growing up), which probably explains why he produced some sort of vague mumble instead of articulated words. But I understood him - he just wanted a few for their beautiful smell :)

Egg tree of Stavern

We went to a little town (village?) of Stavern to have a little walk and some food. There is a fortress there, main building of which is on a small island (or maybe it's a peninsula, I am never sure with those scattered large rocks in the sea). The main visual impression on me was made by the row of large yellow sheds (maybe used to store ammunition, or maybe not. Sadly, I don't know Norwegian) and by a lilac bush branches hang by easter eggs, which somebody put on a bench just outside of them. Somehow, it seems sweet that they went into trouble of giving branches some soil to hold on to. Lilac responded well - you can see green leaves

white flowers and snakes

it's second year in a row that I go to Norway in early May, to visit my friend and to see wood anemones (hvitveis) everywhere. Last year I discovered that there were blue hepatica flowers there, too - not as many as anemonies, but still. And this year, lily-of-the-valley, wood-sorrel and violets suddenly caught my attention. I am sure they were there last year, too, I must have not been paying attention

yesterday's sunset

in Norway. Not sure what the name of this beach is, but, as so many other things in Norway, the place is connected to vikings. There are big piles of (big) boulders, and they are remains of burial mounds, unless I don't get the explanation right.

And you not only are not supposed to remove "beach material" (which could be tricky, considering the size of some of those boulders) but not even allowed to build cairns. Probably the idea is that somebody might confuse your creation with a real thing and rush their finding to a nearest archeological society. Or something

London marathon, part two - supporters

A few more pictures from the marathon - observers, charity support groups, police and ambulance. Para-marathon, so to speak.

Those ladies were really not supposed to sit like that - there's about 6 meters drop on the other side, into the Tower's moat.

Benmore Botanic Gardens

When we visited Benmore Botanic Gardens couple of days ago, rhododendrons were in bloom. Even without them, gardens would be great, but it was a big bonus. I definitely recommend a visit, if you are on Cowal. They are a little bit more expensive than Cambridge ones - £10 for family ticket against £8 for two adults - but then again, the parking is free at Benmore,  they are a lot bigger, more varied and have a lot better setting.

The only problem with them I see is that only part of the gardens is accessible for wheelchair users - the level one close to the river. Large portion of the grounds is one big steepish slope with many stairs and a viewpoint at the top

Puck's Valley and smoked salmon

London marathon

 Me and Yuri went to see London marathon today. I have a few hundred of pictures that I eventually will process (eventually, yes), but I just wanted to say - I worked it out, marathon is an equivalent of all-London carnival.

I completed London marathon a few years back - I hesitate to say "run", it was not running, more hobbling, especially towards the end. But I did complete it, which is a huge thing. What I could  remember from it (not very much, I must say, I concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other more or less) - the atmosphere was great. So, I decided to use what might be my last chance to see it as an observer. I wasn't dissapointed.

We didn't even try to catch the leaders - it takes a while to get there from our village, and leaders, by definition, are very, very fast. Whoosh - and they are gone. What we did catch is fast men race coming towards 23 miles mark and slow runners and walkers just passing under Tower bridge - half way mark, more or less. It's a magic spot by tower hill where marathon passes twice. And the slow crowd is much more interesting to watch - lots of costumes, lots of charity runners, less concern for speed.

Below is a little sample from the very tail of all the pictures I took today. Maybe I will do another little report with especially interesting costumes later

 runners

 and watchers

why vuvuzela? well, why not

Really liked those guys between the columns

Stripes are definitely back this season

guys from various charities are stationed along the whole route. as far as I understand, their task is to cheer "their" own runners - people who are raising money for them by running - but I think they cheered pretty much everybody. Not those two ladies, though, I think they are tired - main body of the marathon is past 23 miles mark by now

One more note - kids do get bored there. It's a looong event, and even if they manage to get a really good view, they eventually will find something else to do. Toddlers slept in their pushchairs, and this guys' fighting with those red clappers

Birchanger Wood

Went to Birchanger Wood today,  in search of alternative place to see bluebells. Small forest next to Littlebury is very beautiful, but private, you can't enter there and have to look over gates and fences.

bluebells

Photobucket was down for a day or so, and all the images dissappeared from my blog. So, this is me trying things inside blogger itself. If I understand correctly, images go to picasa album, but I might be totally wrong.

Anyway - bluebells were not yet fully open but already in bloom yesterday

Buddha's Birthday

Went to Milton Keynes to see Buddha's Birthday celebrations at Buddhist's Temple by Willen Lake. I won't pretend I understood the ceremony, but the location, the season, the temple, the gardens around it and the atmosphere were all very agreeable. Never been to Milton Keynes before and still can't say we've been really, what with the temple being on outskirts, but we liked the small part that we've seen







various UK photos on shutterstock

gardening's going to be difficult

As our move to Fuerteventura approaches, I start thinking about all the stuff that I'll miss. And plentiful supply of fresh water is going to be one. I like growing things. Granted, occasionally I neglect my plants, but I do like the fact that I can grow them.

Yes, I can grow cacti there, but, you know, somehow that doesn't seem like proper gardening.

There is water on Fuerteventura, of course, but not in plenty.

Anyway, I was thinking (mind you, I am no engineer, so what follows is probably completely impossible, but bear with me): You get a cold beer on Fuerteventura, you have a lot of condensation on the glass, so humidity's not zero, and this water can be used. But I can't possibly water my plants by getting a fresh beer every ten minutes or so. So, maybe some sort of solar-power operated device exists? Like of the doodle below - sun battery operates *something* that cools a surface where condensation is formed, water drops drip to the ground and there you are.

Now, it is entirely possible that it's not only doable, but is, in fact, done, and I can't find those things for sale because I don't know how they are called etc - looking in the wrong place (then please tell me if you know where to look). It is also possible that an efficient enough refrigerator (that's what it is, right?) is not possible. I would want to know that, too.



pics from Fuerteventura on shutterstock

directly overhead

today is the first time this year that I could give my right elbow a chance to tan by sticking it out of open car window while driving. And we had our late morning coffee outside. Maybe spring finally started for real. Or maybe not, if I look at bbc forecast for tomorrow

spring flowers on shutterstock

morning cuppa

I really liked the way steam was caught in paella picture, so we repeated the setup today with my morning cup of coffee. I am pleased with the steam, not so pleased with the burned-out area in upper left corner. Have to think of a quick setup where all the background, apart from the area immediately under the cup will be black. I know one, but it won't be very fast to set. Hm.

coffee images on shutterstock

paella

well, ok, maybe not quite. The pan's not right, there's no saffron in there and I added way too much liquid, but - it was delicious. Proof of the paella.

It's the first time we gave this cast-iron pan a try. It is a flattish wok, very nice looking (the reason for buying it in the first place). I think it worked beautifully

food images at shutterstock

Lucia and Althea

My little niece had a doll with her when she was visiting here. Doll's name is Althea and here she is for you to admire. I am guessing that an extremely pink and frilly skirt that my niece made her mum to buy can be seen as a consequence of an overly prolonged admiration session.

They brought another doll with them - this one was for me. Please welcome Lucia.





Both were hand-made by my sister's neighbour. Labels say that they were made by cтудия "Мама" (Studio "Mum"), but I can't find their site - maybe they don't have one.

PS For Russian readers - name "Лючия" on the label is written in such a way that I read it as "Люша" without any hesitation whatsoever.

UPD - well, what do you know. I misread the name of the studio too! It's actually "студия Тата" (Studio Tata). And all there is at the moment is an email - kyklatata@gmail.com

Ely cathedral

Ely cathedral (or, to be precise The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is one of the places we tend to bring our visitors to. It's beautiful and Ely town is cute, too. The only thing that I don't like about it is that they charge rather steep admission fees. Understandable, considering the costs, but it piles when it's a group of you. There's no charge to enter cathedral on Sunday though, something I might want to keep in mind next time somebody comes to visit.

There were some work being done inside - not sure what exactly, but builders silhouetted nicely against stained glass windows.

hot chocolate

went to Ely yesterday. It was sunny and cold, and we had hot chocolate in a tearoom. Here's my charming little niece, sporting chocolate moustache worthy of Salvador Dali himself. It was good chocolate, you can easily tell

moving and staying still

just two more pictures from Somerset (again, no particular order obeserved)

when we first came to Dulverton, there was a lot of old cars around, coming over the Barle bridge. Some of them stopped there, drivers presumably going for a nice cuppa. I've asked one of them what was going on. He said that these are "trials" - won't pretend I knew what it is up till few minutes ago - but now I sort of do. Looks like we saw something called "Exmoor Fringe" - you can click through if interested. The format of those events explains why the cars were so dirty, anyways. There were apparently over a hundred cars participating, and we saw a few since our road coincided with theirs for a while



What was unexpected for me about this shot is that I did a following with the lens without realizing it. It's probably not visible at this resolution, but everybody in the car is in perfect focus - including the kid on the backseat making a victory sign. Everything else - including, strangely, the car itself - is motion-blurred. Another surprise was the make of the car - it was an old Ford apparently. I would have never guessed.



there's no particular reason for pairing moving car picture with this one. but let me

River Barle

this is an almost mandatory long-exposure shot of moving water - Barle river upstream from Dulverton. We went for a walk, aiming to get to the next village along the riverside path, and trying to figure out if we can get to Tarr Steps, but turned back when a small stream crossed the path. I readily admit to lack of perseverance on my part - we could have crossed that little stream, but I was worried there are more along the way.

Anyway. Camera on timer sitting on my backpack (no tripod being at hand). Backpack lying on the ground so sort of difficult to aim and this is more or less the best shot out of fifteen or so I made. I would have stayed for another while, but kids were getting impatient.

Somerset, old cottage - bit of brekky

Cottage we stayed in was full of old things. Some of them were just old, like the frying pan below - it had uneven bottom, so all the eggs tended to congregate in one spot. They are not all for me, btw, in case you are wondering





Some of the stuff though were real retro-antique-what-have-you. Don't know if old books that we saw there have any monetary value, but they definitely had bags of charm



Illustrator who drew this probably never had a chance to look at a real shark, or even a good picture of a real one, but aaaah! - transparent paper covering the next illustration and the blue of the sea when it's lifted

Chinese New Year - few more pics

A few more pictures from Sunday and that's it (it was dark).

Those guys were clinging to a post of the last gates (Paifang) we passed before moving on to Trafalgar square. Don't know if the guy with the camera is anything to do with television.



Unexpected variation on "year of the rabbit" theme :)



This hat was being passed from one person to another and pictures taken by pretty much everybody around - don't know if it was a photography spot or sort of installation project for somebody, we were dragged along by two hungry kids in search of a place to eat



Musician in front of National portrait gallery



We must have missed some sort of parade with balloons - got the moment of one of them being taken away



There was a big scene on Trafalgar square itself, facing National Gallery and steps, and there was a big screen as well. It was a lot less crowded there, and I think I can see why - looking at this more official and organized performance was not as interesting as being in the crown in Chinatown itself.

portrait - conversion to monochrome

although I prefer color photographs to monochrome, monochrome has its points. When I look at those two portraits of Natalia Bull, I find it hard to choose which one I prefer - it really depends on the purpose. Color one has more information in it and would look great in a color layout, monochrome is probably more suitable for printing out and hanging on a wall.

I don't have full photoshop, but photoshop elements once again proved to be an adequate tool for the purpose. To get the soft skin tones, I had a lot of red and very little of green and blue in the mix during the conversion. If it was a freckly child portrait and I wanted to emphasize the freckles, I would have done the opposite - lots of green, less red.

One consequence of this conversion if that lips were de-emphasized. There was a thin layer of pale gloss on them, and contrast with skin is even lower in monochrome. Funnily enough, fire-engine red lipstick would would go as pale, so if we repeat the session at some point and want a higher contrast, we'd need a colder tone with less red - plum shade will work.

Toning was done with gradient map layer.

Natalia Bull is zumba instructor, and we had a lot more colorful zumba session with her as well - you can find it here