November 2019 Photo Treasure Hunt

It will teach me not to leave finding photographs to fit the titles till the last minute - my computer wont let me access my stored photographs.  No idea why.  So what you are seeing are odd pictures I put on my blog page earlier in the month.  I normally do this then delete the ones I don't want and put in the description.

So please forgive my limited entries this month.

Seasonal  View

Autumn colours in the grounds of Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire.

Oops

A few years ago we awoke one morning to loud knocking on our  front door  after a very windy night. It was our son.  He had taken his dogs out early and seen  glass on the ground glinting in the sunshine. Not only were many panes of glass shattered but all the bubble wrap I always line the greenhouse with to help keep it warm was all ripped and everything blown over.  We do live in a very windy area so we replaced the glass with PVC panels which still blow out, but don't break.

Sea Shore

A view across the deserted beach on the far side of Lindisfarne or Holy Island in Northumberland.

Striped

What has more stripes than a couple of zebras?  I love the way the little foal is almost camouflaged
standing beside her mother.

My own choice

Our grand dog Roxy doing what she loves - lying in the snow.  This was taken some years ago, now she is a rather rheumatic old lady who survived a major illness,

Well that's all I can manage this month.  I will have to sort out my computer problem - well at least try.  Now to see what everyone else has done. 

As this is our last photo hunt for the year I would like to wish you all a very Happy Christmas and the best for the New Year.

October 2019 Photo Treasure Hunt

October: 'Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness.'  

My mother always quoted this line from 'To Autumn' by John Keats and for the first time today I looked up the poem to see if I had the quotation correct.  I am not a poetry lover but this one is too beautiful and describes this time of the year perfectly.  Now to find pictures to fit the words chosen by Kate and possibly of autumn too.

Umbrella

This picture was taken in our garden when Kate was about three years old. I have not looked at it close up for years and when I looked closely I saw it was one of my mothers, had red stripes and flowers on it.  Not thought of it for years.  This is what is special about using pictures from ones archives. Memories. 

This is my own much larger umbrella, one of those with hidden vents to prevent it turning inside out in the wind.  I used it one windy day this year and what did it do.....turned inside out!! Though to give it its due, it was exceptionally windy.

Wet

When we lived in South Africa we had a lovely ginger cat we called Thomas.  Like most cats in Southern Africa he wore a tick/flea collar under his regular one.  The trouble was he would not wash himself and as we had only one cat he did not have a companion to wash his ears and back of his neck. His hair under his collar was always full of red earth and the only way to get it out was to bath him; something he hated.  You can see from the photograph he is very wet and unhappy. Poor Thomas.

He was very tall, long legs and even his back seemed longer than usual. Impossible I know as he must have had the same number of vertebra as normal.  He could stretch up and try to steal food from your plate on the dining room table. 

Overflowing

I know that this should be a very autumnal/wet set of pictures but when I walked into the kitchen of a friend's house and saw her daughter trying to put glace icing on a still warm cake, the word that jumped out at me was 'overflowing'.  Now I think about it, it was a wet and windy day so maybe that could be the link with my watery pictures.

Splash

Here are two of my favourite pictures. the first is of 'Eldest Grandchild'  having fun on a very hot African day splashing in the birdbath.  The look on his face is priceless. 

              The second picture is another of my favourites.  It is of our son and son-in-law having fun in the swimming pool.  

My Own Choice

On a recent trip to Scotland to stay with our family there we went on our wedding anniversary  to see the Coffee Bothy just outside Stirling.  The car park was full of beautiful sculptures in wood and metal but what caught my eye was the cow on the roof.   What an advertisement for a coffee shop.  It was actually more than that, had beautiful homemade jams and a large selection of other gifts as well as beautiful wooden furniture and art.  We had a delicious lunch in one of the two restaurants.  It was so nice we went back again on the last day of our stay there.

Now to go and look at how everyone else has interpreted the selection of words this month.

September 2019 Photo Hunt

End of September already.  I can't believe how quickly the year is flying by.   Kate has given us a
really  autumnal selection of words this month.  Here are my selection.

 

Cosy.

My first thought for cosy was warm, glowing fires and as we don't have an open fire I remembered how our son and his wife's dogs, Jess and Roxy, took the warmest spot in front of the fire when we all went on holiday to Northumberland.

......................but then as I was searching for the photographs I came across this picture.  I had not even thought of this but when I saw it I thought.....yes...a cosy....a tea cosy.

Changing Foliage

We went for a lovely walk along the River Wharf  where it flows through the grounds of Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire.  The colours were amazing.  I had so many pictures to choose from but this one with the stark whiteness of the tree trunks against the autumnal colours caught my eye.

   

We were lucky there was a sculpture exhibition all along the walk and I just adored these birds on the rock.

Scarf

Oh which one to choose.  I have many.  My favourite light weight ones hang on shower curtain hooks on a coat hanger and I have a drawer full of warm ones.  When the weather turns cold I have two favourite ones, both warm and cuddly, one from each of our families for Christmas over the last two years.

Cobweb

Frost on a cobweb on a leylandii hedge.

My Own Choice

There is something special about receiving a unexpected present, especially when it is so beautifully hand made.  This one was gifted to me by Susan Smith another blogger and faithful follower of Kate's blog.  It is  beautiful.  Thank you Susan.

Now to go and see who else has posted this month.

August 2019 photo treasure hunt

Another month, another list of words.  This month we have been to Alloa in Scotland to stay with our family  there.  I thought I would try and get most of my pictures from our Scottish break. So here goes.

Mark - down

Our son and his wife have been 'adopted' by a neighbour who loves to go to the  local supermarket  just down the road and get the end of day bargains. He does not like the fruit and vegetables on offer so always takes them for our family.  You cannot believe the mark downs.  Things we regard as treats like mangoes and avocados are just a few pence each.  That pile of vegetables below (organic potatoes - 10p; Mango - 5p;  2 packs of avocados - 9p each and a pawpaw (papaya) - 5p) that we were given to bring home cost just 38p.  That would not buy one item!!

Straw

One evening, on our way to give the dogs a swim in the nearby Black Devon River we parked by this field of straw coloured wheat just waiting to be harvested.  We did see a lot of straw bales waiting to be collected in fields as we drove along but never in places where we could stop for me to take a photograph.

Arm

One of the highlights of our visit was going to see the Falkirk Wheel.  For those who do not know about this amazing structure this boat lift was built to link two canals to save the barges using 11 locks as they had done previously and connect the Forth and Clyde Canal with the Union Canal and  was part of the Millennium Link project.  Today it is a tourist attraction. People sit in the red gondolas and then the large arms slowly rotate till the gondola is up at the top and then the gondola is able to move along the upper canal.  Amazing.  The whole operation takes 4 minutes.  

The Falkirk Wheel is the only rotating boat lift of its kind in the world . (Details thanks to Google).

An excellent YouTube video explaining the whole fascinating operation can been seen HERE.

 

Ducks

While in the Visitors Centre at the Wheel I was busy taking photographs such as this beautifully made wolf out of wire.  I completely forgot about needing a picture of ducks.  It was only when I got home I remembered and kicking myself I realised I had seen some in a yellow bath.  Then when looking at my photographs, there in the corner of the 'wolf picture' was the bath full of ducks.  The bath represents  the moment when Archimedes is supposed to have realised his body displaced water in the bath and leapt out shouting 'Eureka'.  (Not sure why the ducks are silver).

Window 

Below is a rather faded picture of Town House in the main street of  Hailsham, an East Sussex town where my mother lived for many years.  It was a lovely old house with a Granary, large garden with an orchard and a lawn tennis court.   Sadly it now has  been converted to offices, and the tennis court has been replaced by a modern dental surgery. 

What fascinated me when I first visited my mother's friends there were the bricked up windows.  I was told it was to do with the Window Tax, something I remembered from history lessons many years ago.  On looking it up I see it was done during the 18th and 19th centuries. To avoid the tax some houses from that period can been seen to have bricked up window spaces. 

I have just looked on Google Maps and see the windows have  been replaced and the whole house has been very sympathetically done up.  Looking at it again brought back memories of coffee and cake round the huge kitchen table and lovely meals in the dining room. 

My Own Choice

During am earlier visit to Scotland we went to see The Helix, a large water park honouring the horses as the power houses of the early industrial revolution, pulling the barges along the Forth and Clyde canal.

The Kelpies were modelled on two one and a half tonne Clydesdale horses that Andy Scott, the artist, chose as his models. Their names were Duke and Baron.  I mentioned them in my photo hunt post at the end of August 2018.

While at the  Visitor's Centre at the Wheel we discovered that no animals  had been hurt in the making of the Kelpies!! I was so relieved to find that out.  

This picture was on tea towels and coasters for sale in the shop!!! 

Now off to see what everyone else has done with the list of words. 

July Photo Scavenger Hunt.

Panic.........I've just realised it is the last Friday in the month.....there are none next week.  I have done no more than think about the words when they were first published by Kate.   So here is a most hurried selection of photographs and words.

Paddle

I have a few pictures of a certain daughter paddling in sea at Capetown but not sure if they would be met with approval so I have resorted to using a picture of our 'grand dogs' Roxy and Jess paddling in the sea at Northumberland.  Roxy, the chocolate lab only ever paddles, won't get wet beyond her elbows where as Jess so loves swimming she will swim out and then surf in on a wave.

Pink

I could have gone down the pretty pink flower route ...............

...........but decided to use rather a picture of a hippo sleeping in the sun, slowly going pink.  Tourists who see often this think they are turning pink because of the heat of the sun burning them but actually it is a natural sun screen. They secrete a reddish oily fluid from special glands in their skin which is very sensitive to sunburn.  I remember the first time we saw it we were most confused to see a pod of hippos lying on the river bank, all pink not dark grey.

E   is for

Elephant - what else.  Those who have followed my posts will remember that I watch the Africam.com site for hours.  Have it on all day when home and even at night casting an eye on it while watching television.  Last night we were lucky enough to see a pride of lions sleeping then gradually all waking up and going to the water's edge for a drink.  I take photographs of the computer screen with my smart phone which is why the colour is not quite right.

How to keep cool on a hot day - a mud bath!  

Roof 

Last year our landlord decided to cut down all the leylandii trees growing down one side of our garden.  They were getting too high and did make our garden very shady on that side but oh dear, what a big job it turned out to be especially as he decided to do it  himself with the help of a friend.    

As the trees were right next to B's shed and my greenhouse we watched anxiously as the trees alongside were chopped down.  Of course the inevitable happened and one branch of a large tree crashed down on the shed roof.  Fortunately very little damage was done.....a small tear in the roofing felt but the force of the falling branch hitting the roof made the contents on the shelves all bounce off onto the floor and  on another occasion  lost one pane of glass in the greenhouse!!! 

My Own Choice 

This is a picture I took of a zebra drinking late in the evening at Nkorho pan.  I just love the reflection in the water.  It is mid winter in South Africa now and you can see all the grass has either been grazed or died back till the rains start in October/November.  

Unfortunately Kate is having internet problems as she changes provider so I may have to wait a while to read others interpretation of the list of words but they will be worth waiting for, I am quite sure.  

June 2019 Photo Scavenger Hunt

The Merry Month of May was not too merry, soggy would be a better description and June not very flaming.  So this month I am using as many sunny, warm pictures as possible.

The list is interesting again with Notice, Spotted, Begins with a K, Cobweb and Step being the given titles and then My Own Choice too. So here goes........

Notice

B and I took our car to a local garage to have the wheels aligned.  It had been described as an old family business and what an interesting place it turned out to be; an old workshop in amongst all the hideous shiny units, all uninteresting, boring and identical.   We handed over the car and keys and went to pass the time in the waiting room.  It had a high desk with one of those counters that lift up to allow people to pass through and the lower part of that had a well used swing door with a gap at the bottom.  There sticking out, gazing longingly at us, were two pairs of eyes, two hairy noses and a blue ball.  Unfortunately I did not take the first photograph quickly enough as Molly the Collie wanted to play and I kicked the ball back to her and the spaniel moved away.  

After playing with Molly the Collie for a while I read the notice stuck on the door and quickly took out my camera to take a picture of it.  Just what I needed for this prompt. The dog in the photograph is Molly the Collie.

Here is her friend and partner in crime peeping under the swing door, waiting her turn. 

But now I had started something.  Molly was let out to join us and entertained us for the full half hour it took to get the wheels aligned. She even asked the Postman who called in to throw her ball and of course he obliged!

Who needed magazines to read when a dog and ball was supplied!!

Spotted

Look what we spotted!!  This photograph was taken at the Hoedspruit Cheetah Project and Breeding Centre where they take in young orphaned cheetahs and rehabilitate them so they could be returned to the wild.  Unfortunately some had been kept as pets before being given to the park so could not be returned to the wild. They had huge enclosures to enable them to live as normal a life as possible. Some, like this one, were tame and had been used in commercials and other photo shoots. She had been lying right next to the fence and when we spoke to her she purred just like a domestic cat but a hundred times louder!!  

It begins with a .......K

We were game watching but this Klipspringer was people watching that day.  He had a good vantage point here.  Klipspringer translates from Afrikaans as Rock Leaper.   It is one of the smallest antelope only about 24 in (60 cms) and its coat is good camouflage for its usual rocky habitat where it jumps from rock to rock on its little hooves.  It is nocturnal and rests up during the heat of the day so we were lucky to see this one out in the open.

Reading the distances here reminds me how large the Kruger National Park is, we had come 15 kms from the rest camp at Skukuza  (approx 10 miles) and still had 26 kms (just over 17 miles to Tshokwane which was just a safe rest point where you could get out of your car. There were toilets, shady sites, a small shop selling cold drinks and snacks and was about half way to the next rest camp.  As the speed limit was 30 mph on tar roads and 25 miles per hour on gravel  it was a long journey but always made enjoyable by seeing  the game in their natural habitat. 

I just had to include this lovely picture of a male Kudu, the antelope used as the logo for the KNP. I have used it before but felt I just had to have him here too. (Of course, he also begins with K)

Cobweb

This cobweb picture was taken many years ago.  It reminds me that Eldest, now 21, called them pasta webs when he was a toddler!! 

Step  (Ladder)

This picture is self explanatory!  I just stood and laughed, fetched my camera and took a few pictures of B standing in his spilled paint, trying to get it off his trousers, shoes and the step using the roller.  We had fortunately rolled back the carpet.  No paper or cloth down, though I must say in his defence, that B never spills or even splashes when he paints - well almost never!!  I was in the dog box for laughing and not helping!!

My Own Choice

I had searched and searched all my archive pictures as I knew I had this one somewhere and I wanted to use it for 'Notice' ..... eventually I found it in 'Back up' on my Tablet then remembered it must have been one of those I lost from my computer when Dropbox made some changes.  By then I had taken and used the pictures of Molly the Collie. But as I might not get the opportunity to use the picture again I have made it My Own Choice for this month.  

The sign was in the window of the local 'Pensioners' club and I just could not resist taking a picture.  I took it in 2016 - it is still there but very faded.

Now I'm off to check what everyone else has done this month. 

May 2019 Scavenger Photo Hunt

Another month, another selection of interesting topics to search out.  As we were away in Scotland for a week this month I wanted to try and use original pictures, not so many from my archives.  So here is my interpretation of the titles.

Seat 

We went to stay with our son and daughter-in-law and their two Labradors.  One day we went to Loch  Leven to give the dogs a run and a swim -  their best thing.  I am always amazed how all dogs here in the UK seem to get on with one another.  At one point we had 12 dogs running and playing together and our two labs were the only duplicates of a breed.  There was a Hungarian Vizsler, Border Collie, Spaniel, Basset, Grey Hound and various other dogs.  It was mayhem but fun to watch!!

I saw a suitable seat as we walked to the Loch but there were people  around it and when we returned a couple were sitting there having their lunch.  But then I found this beautiful bench but it was not overlooking the Loch, rather facing the farm field in the distance.

The spider on the side was so beautifully carved that I had to take a more detailed photograph of it.

View from the seat

The seat was facing away from Loch Leven overlooking farm fields and distant hills, also a lovely view, just not what I had planned.

Lunch

             Fish and chips in a restaurant in Seahouses, Northumberland, taken a few years ago.

Starts with a P

Nearby our son and daughter-in-law's house is this little Park and Playground.  It seems like a quiet corner of green but just behind that row of trees is a huge Supermarket!

Transport

Some years back we took our grandsons to see the Motor Museum in the Lake District.  It has the most amazing selection of vintage cars as well as a replica of Donald Campbell's Blue Bird speed boat.

My own choice

This  picture was taken from Stirling Castle towards the William Wallace Monument, an imposing Victorian tower built to honour the Scottish hero.  We visited it last time we were in Scotland. It was quite a walk to the top but fortunately  a mini bus was on hand to take up those who did not want the climb.

                           That's it for May. Now off to look at all the other photographs.