Remembering the sunshine

It has been such a grey and gloomy day here in Watford that I just wanted to post up some photographs of the Acer tree taken just a couple of weeks back in the garden. It doesn't seem possible that the light was this beautiful but at least I have planted some bulbs now to start 2012 with some colour.

Back from Normandy

Back in Watford to blighted tomatoes and a rather dry garden after a late Summer break in Normandy with family. I sneaked every opportunity to take photographs in some of the churches in the region ( see http://redhenglass.blogspot.com/2011/09/normandy.html ) at one point making out I was following Rob but then slipping back through the church door. The local rural scenery was pretty fantastic, especially in the late afternoon light:





Evenings were spent being beaten at cards by Robert and Tim, Robert has a particularly dodgy shuffle:







.... and eating some rather splendid dinners harvested from E.Leclerc supermarches and prepared each evening by different guest chefs ...







A fantastic break and brilliant company, Au Revoir

Skye was truly beautiful again

P1050296 copy, originally uploaded by Ajay Jayne.

Travelled up to see my brother and his partner Debs again at the end of June. Despite news of lots of rain and more expected, Neist point late on a Friday evening after a spot of fishing was spectacular.

Lots of new creatures and fun as ever, lovely to catch up after such a long time.

Beautiful clouds over Watford

There were some amazing clouds over the garden yesterday, they changed very fast and I was surprised that they came out on the photos. They were wispy for about two hours and we watched them changing while eating our lunch outside.

View of the Matthew

IMGP7238 copy, originally uploaded by Ajay Jayne.

This is a better view of the Matthew, it looked fantastic out in the bay at Falmouth.

Fired on by the crew of the Matthew

IMGP7226, originally uploaded by Ajay Jayne.

Our friend Pete sailed around to get a better view of the ship Matthew in Falmouth. The crew thought it would be a good idea to fire on us, very pleased to get a good view of the blast from the cannon. The ship is a replica of John Cabot's ship more info here http://www.matthew.co.uk/new.php

Engine House at Chapel Porth

IMGP7412, originally uploaded by Ajay Jayne.

I always wanted to get a good photograph of this engine house above Chapel Porth. It was full of ravens and we saw a hawk resting on top of the engine house but far too fast to get a decent photograph of.

Steps through Kennall Vale

IMGP7276, originally uploaded by Ajay Jayne.

A very inviting walk up the steps through the woods, the bluebells were not quite out but plenty of new green leaves coming out.

Kennall Vale

IMGP7265 copy, originally uploaded by Ajay Jayne.

Been back from Cornwall for over a week now and I have finally managed to organise the photos. This is the stream that runs down the Kennall Vale in Ponsonooth that was used to run the watermills for the explosives factories. Amazing how tranquil it is now and imagine that some of the trees were just saplings when the factories were operating.

Yes, Watford had snow but La Thuile had ski slopes.

Finally sorted through the photographs from our trip to Italy with Ali, Chris, Robert and Tim. We were really glad that we managed at least a few lessons at Hemel Hempstead although the real snow was even better and the mountains in the sunshine quite breathtaking.

Robs finger is getting better now and although I had some nightmares before the trip and was terrified of breaking something, slow and steady meant that I got six days to ski and am now ready to try and overcome my total fear of going down anything steeper than 25 degrees.

For one day, the sky under the cloud was dark and looked like a wet day in Watford but surprisingly, as the lift took me up for my lesson (yes, bad day for Rob) I found myself on the other side of the cloud, similar to flying.

On the Friday, Rob got a good lesson and despite how the fog appears in this video, higher up where he had just come from, the sky was completely clear.