theme thursday - surface

Well, what an appropriate theme for me as I surface from several weeks of not blogging.

I spent New Year in the Scottish Highlands and took loads of photos!
The surface of Loch Insh caught my eye - part snow, part ice and with clouds rippling on the water ..



If you look very closely you can see a cross etched into the surface of the glass in this window in the church in Kincraig.



Our friend Steve, hoping to surface from the snow (after we'd all done our best to bury him!)



And finally, my favourite track from Sarah McLachlan's album, Surfacing

theme thursday - telephone

Well, I have to admit that I'm a little bit stuck on this one. I could have a rant about how the phone is taking over our lives. About how you can't travel in peace and quiet on public transport anymore, because people insist on bellowing into their phones, I'm on the train. Yes. I said, I'm on the train. No, I'll be about 20 minutes. Yes please. 2 sugars. while I'm trying to read my newspaper. But that would be my husband's rant and not mine. I commute by car. Insulated from other commuters in my little metal box, I can ignore my phone, if it rings, as I don't have a hands-free-kit. Ha ha!

I could probably write a piece about the development of the telephone. Alexander Graham Bell, wasn't it? Nah. Can't be bothered to look it up.

When I phoned my brother the other day, my nephew had just bought an iPhone and was struggling with the instructions, trying to work out how to use it. Who would have thought that a telephone could take photos, play music and videos, access the internet, play games, convert currency, navigate you from one place to another? (Actually mine doesn't do all those things. I have a camera and an iPod and quite like the fact that I can't talk or text on either of them!)

So. Yes. Telephone. What to post?

A telephone rings, doesn't it? Well, mine does.

I found a song by Blondie

and a photo of a ring

happy birthday

Happy Birthday to my cats, Charlie & Coco. Wreckers of carpet, catchers of frogs, owners of very long whiskers and bringers of joy (and cat hair.)

We don't know their real birthday, as we got them from a rescue centre at New Year 2005. November 9th is a best guess!


charlie

Charlie often looks surprised. Either because I've caught him doing something bad (see above re carpets) or because he's puzzled by life. Charlie has lots of fur, but not a great deal of brain. He's quite skittish and nervous of strangers. He loves to have his fur brushed.



coco

Coco likes to eat, sleep, sit on window sills, sleep, catch flies and sleep. She has a long pink tongue, which sticks out when she's thinking (not often) or yawning. She has a gentle nature and is very affectionate.

theme thursday - castle

The Scots know well how to build castles. None of those battlements, crenellated towers and narrow windows for shooting arrows through here! This one is more like a country home - albeit a large one.

These photos were taken at Torosay Castle on the Isle of Mull, off the west coast of Scotland. It was a sunny(!) day in September. We were lovely and warm - probably because we were wearing several layers of clothing.

I love Scotland.





Also on Mull, this is Duart Castle. Older than Torosay, this one at least has a wall and battlements. And lots of chimneys!




As we all know, however, an Englishman's home is his castle.

So, here's mine, taken in the snow last winter.

on the beach

Autumn is here. Yes, the leaves are beautiful. Life and colour still cling to stem and branch.
But it's cold. And right now it's dark and wet, too.

So, where better to be than on the beach?


Tybee Island, Georgia

taking time

At home with a cold, I finally have time to sit down and read the blogs I follow and even put fingers to keyboard. Why is that, I wonder? It's not as if the computer isn't on all the time. And it's not that others are using it when I want to. There's just something about blogging that feels it shouldn't be a snatched few minutes - like an espresso, gulped down while standing at the counter - but a thing to take time over. A pot of fragrant tea. Warming my hands around the cup. Sipping slowly. Enjoying the moment.

I need to organise my time a little better.

So, here's to you if you manage to find time to blog each day, or even each week. I've just made tea and am looking forward to a morning of reading others thoughts and enjoying their take on life.
Bliss!

farmers market

Had a relaxing day yesterday. Slept late, then wandered down to the new farmers' market in nearby Penge. It's very small. We chatted to a couple of the stallholders, who were feeling a bit dispirited. The project started just a few months ago and is floundering already because of competion from the 'Pound Shops' in the High Street and also the local supermarkets. Apparently word has got around that the market is expensive and therefore people don't come.
I didn't think it was expensive at all. In fact I was concerned that some of the stallholders were charging too little, just to get rid of their produce.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me then, but I did take some photos of the farmers market in the Ferry Building in San Francisco recently ...


tomatoes


cosmos


shopping


squash