Monday 18 April 2011

Almost Time!!

Well, my room is clean for the new carer, my bags are packed (almost) and I have just over 24 hrs until I am officially ON HOLIDAYS!! Handover starts in a few hours... Maddy is getting a Kiwi girl. Once I've finished tomorrow I am going back to Sidcup to stay with G&A overnight. On Wednesday I am catching up with Gillian, a friend from uni. We are going out for a meal (and probably some drinkies) at an AUSSIE pub in London. I am soooo looking forward to it :P From Gillian's I will make my way to the airport and spend the night there :S I have an early flight (with an even earlier check-in), so it is easier to get there earlier rather then take at least 3 buses...

Anyway, I'm getting pretty excited, and I CAN'T WAIT. Only 3 more days till I go to Turkey!!

Sunday 17 April 2011

About Time

I have finally finished three cross stitches - one I started before August! I finished a birth sampler, for one of my ex-clients, and now friend. Her son, Samuel was born in August and he is absolutely adorable. I think he looks very much like his daddy, but with his mummy's eyes :) I think the sampler will have to be a 1st bday present :p

The second one I finished was a bookmark of Scottish thistles that I picked up from Loch Ness. The thistle is the national flower of Scotland, as it helped alert some local clansman of an enemy army, who stood on a thistle in the dead of the night. This website explains it a bit better :) I currently keep the bookmark in my Kindle cover - even e-readers need a bookmark too!





The third one I finished isn't actually a cross stitch. It is a hardanger design. I have never done one of these before. I had a bit of trouble with the 'woven bars with picot and dove's eyes'. I didn't do the picot at all, as it was too difficult, and I didn't like how it looked when I did try it :P I'm not overly happy with the dove's eyes either, as they look a bit odd, where I have started and finished them. I took a picture of how much I completed everyday...






finished!!

Sunday 10 April 2011

The Sun is Shining :)

So, it's actually been warm the last few days! In fact, so warm that I haven't even worn a jumper for the last 4 days, just a vest in the mornings. It has been soooo nice!! (Just heard Maddy's mum say she has had snow on her birthday - which is today!!) On Wednesday, when I went to the gym I saw a mama duck and her 6 little ducklings. They were absolutely gorgeous! They put me in the a good mood all day :) The tulips have started to come out now. Most of them are the brightest red you have ever seen. I have also seem some white/cream ones, yellow ones, orange/coral ones and deep purple ones. Maddy and I went for a walk down to the pond yesterday. I had hope to get a picture of some tulips, but there were none around. There was also no bubba ducks, there weren't many ducks at all really.

On the walk down to the duckpond, Maddy and I blew some dandylions, there was a nice breeze blowing, so they flew off nicely. I tried to get a pic of Maddy blowing them, but couldn't get the timing quite right...


Looks like she's kissing it :p

some blossoms, not sure what tree this is though
Just a side note - I have booked my 4 day photography course in London, for the 9-13th May (The wednesday is a day off, so it runs over 5 days). I'm really looking forward to it! Just over a week left of work until I am holidays, and then I'm off to Turkey! Really looking forward to that too :)

Tuesday 5 April 2011

Caught up

Hooray, I have finally caught up to the present time! This means that I probably won't have any blog posts for a little while, until something exciting happens at least :P I do have lots plans for the future though, so stay tuned :) From 21 April - 6 May I am going to Turkey, including Gallipoli for Anzac Day. When I get back to London I am planning on doing a 5 day photography course to learn how to use my new camera from the 9th to the 13th May, and then go back to work after that. In June I am going to the Glee concert (all by myself, how sad!), and in September I am doing a diving holiday at the Cote d'Azur in France, then flying straight to Munich for the start of Oktoberfest. I also would like to go to Cologne and visit Kati, who I haven't seen since I stayed with her in Dec '03/Jan '04! So, once I go back to work in May I am going to be putting a lot of effort into saving - I have spent LOTS of money this last month, paying of holidays, holiday deposits, flights, and my new camera and associated equipment!

Birdy Portraits

28th March
I went to the Arundel Wetlands Centre with Maddy one weekend, and wanted to get some pics of the birds there (I love birds). However, Maddy is NOT the most patient person on earth... I do call her the queen of impatience for a reason! So, once I got my new camera (and new 70-300mm zoom lens - I am now broke by the way), I went back on one of my days off. There were some cute little baby Goslings, and I got some pictures of blue tits, great tits, golden finch, and a woodpecker! Another amateur photographer was there at the same time, and I started chatting to him. He was a nice enough bloke, and we walked around the wetlands together... It was nice having someone different to talk to!
lots of daffodils!






great tit flying, and a blue tit


gold finch

woodpecker

robin


young blue tit


pheasant

having a splash



A day out in Chichester

21st March
Maddy went out taking photos with her college class, and I came along. Here are some shots from the day. most of them are of Chichester Cathedral. As you can see, it was another beautiful, sunny day. I read today that it was the driest March in 60 years!








A beautiful day in Bognor Regis

19th March
Maddy and I caught up with her fiancĂ©, Matt,and his carer, Peter, for lunch and a walk in Bognor Regis. It was a beautiful day, as you can see from the photos.



The crazy love birds!



Spring has Sprung!

Well the days have started getting longer now (especially since daylight savings have now started), and it is very obvious that winter is OVER!! The first signs of spring began with the snow drops flowering, and then the daffodils. There is now lots of blooming flowers, and the place has definitely started looking much greener in the last week. It is also noticeably warmer, only having to wear a jumper, instead of jumper and jacket. There has even been a couple of times that I have been able to take even the jumper off, and just wear a shirt! The other day I went out and took some photos of the spring flowers with my new camera (Sony aplha a390 Digital SLR, I Love it!)


Not exactly a flower, but I like the picture, lol




Blossoms on the trees



I got Photoshop, so played around a bit... forgot to save the original of this before saving it