The Year in Photos...

Another new year is almost upon us - and didn't the last one just fly by?  A time to take stock of what worked for me, what didn't, and decide upon a plan for the coming twelve months.  I'm thankful and pleased that I achieved more with my photography than in any other year, and met some great people through it.  I'm thrilled to bits that I could help my favourite local animal charity with the aid of my camera, and excited about doing more and progressing further with my photographic dabbling in 2014. 

I'm more thankful than a thankful thing that I found a Doctor who believes that acupuncture and chinese herbal medicines are better for the body than filling it full of prescription drugs.  I can't express how grateful I am for that. I'm happy that Ralph has moved in with us and doesn't have to be out in all weathers, just trying to survive.  He's a little star, as are my other three feline models of course.  Some friendships have ended this year, which is ok, things change and none of us stay the same.  Some friendships started, and I'm so glad to have met Corrie and her camera.

This seems to be turning into some sort of Oscar acceptance speech so I'll try and nip it in the bud - just a brief mention to David.  Thanks for the support, the fun (when you're not trying to out-curmudgeon Charlie), and for the Canon 6D!

So anyway, this is meant to be a review of the year in pics, so without further ado...

January...

A trip to Batsford and some

nifty post-editing to create a sunset...

... plus a winter wonderland at Bradgate Park.

February...

Signs of life renewed...

... but also of decay,

which is pretty much how I felt 

physically this month!

March...
'Be a light unto yourself';

realising that

Buddhism makes more sense to me

than any other philosophy...

April...

Fun in Brighton learning

how to be a pet photographer...

... and just loving being by the sea.

May...
Getting mad at dandelions.

We had to do this over and over and over again!

June... 

Mrs P finds sunshine in the hall...

 

...I find enough

courage to get close to some

rather lively horses...

... and Violet risks life and limb
standing on the wing of a plane
in platform shoes!

July...

That's when it got hot,

damn hot...

... our lovely models

Eva and Lizzie kept their cool

in some pretty dresses by Sally Sweetlove.

August...

August brought more dogs

than you could shake a stick at.

My photography pal Corrie and I

started taking pics for the local animal rescue,

Leicester and Leicestershire Animal Aid,
at their dog shows.

Hard work but great fun, and we

raised over £300 for them!

...and it also brought another shoot with the fab Lizzie.

September...

Land girls, planes...

...and ubiquitous hay bale shots.

October...

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

at Calke Abbey...

...then a new camera to shoot

wood nymphs...

... and highway women.

November...

A new addition to our felines,

as Ralph the young stray cat decided

to move in...

... plus shooting a Christening...

...and snapping

Cath at the Christmas Tree Festival.

December...

This saw our launch of Air-Time.

A chance for a retro make-over, 

and for some fab photos with 

vintage aircraft.

Of course it also meant Christmas,
so some seasonal decoration pics appeared...

... as well as night shots of Christmas lights.

Plus Christmas calls for nice poses from
cats who are old hands at this modelling lark...

... and others who are novices,

but learning fast :-)

Thanks for all who have commented and stuck around for my ramblings this year - we hope you all have a peaceful,  healthy and happy 2014 xx

Song-ography...

No Place like Home for the Holidays...

Hope everyone had an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas.  The UK has been bashed about a bit by storms but we were some of the lucky ones who didn't get flooded etc.  My heart goes out to those who were/are without power and heating over the last few days.

So back to Song-ography...  I spent years doing what I thought I should be doing at Christmas, or what I thought other people expected me to do, and so now it's a novelty and a luxury to do exactly what I want.  I'm at home with David and the kitties, we eat what we like with no pressure to have some full-on Christmas dinner if we don't want to.  Obviously the cats would eat turkey until it came out of their ears, but I'm a vegetarian, so yah boo sucks.  They won't eat nut roast so after tough negotiations we reached a compromise, and they get a smidgen of chicken cooked especially for them, then go and moan to the neighbourhood cats about how hard done to they are.  

On Christmas Day I headed over to Bradgate Park and was amazed at how many others had the same idea.  Some where drinking champagne at the top of the hill there, although they didn't offer me any - bah humbug.  On Boxing Day I went over to Bosworth Battlefield, again there were a lot of people around, all who were obviously avoiding the post-Christmas insanity of 'the sales'.  Yesterday I did actually venture out early to M&S with Cath and ended up buying a rather fab pink coat which I plan to wear today come rain, shine or gales.

No place like home for 

dropping your sartorial guard...

Christmas Eve...
Anyone else much prefer Christmas Eve to
Christmas Day?
We're very European in our house and
open our gifts on the evening of the 24th.
Here's one of mine, these are some
hand-blown glass earrings from
David.

... and some Lush smellies
from my sister...
gorgeous!

Christmas Day...

I was listening to the radio on the way

home from Bradgate Park.  Listeners

were texting in with their worst gifts:

porridge oats, jump-leads, and ant powder

seemed to be the winners!

Cats...

enjoying playing with a piece of ribbon

more than their presents ever

since ribbon was invented...

Boxing Day...

Yes that's the path.

Correction - that WAS the path.

... later that day,

this is Market Bosworth,

one of our local towns.

27th December...

No picture of the coat yet,

but these are some of the chocolates

I received but am not going to eat.

Anyone interested in swapping

for a few packets of ready salted

crisps please get in touch :-)

For more Song-ography interpretations click here.

Cats on Tuesday...

A week in which yet another small bird from the Christmas tree and some red tinsel fell victim to Ralph, Charlie wore a bow tie, Pepper was flighty, and Mrs P slept through it all.

Ralph, realising that time is running out in the 

naughty or nice stakes shows off his Christmas

collar and poses with some tinsel...

... still being good...

 But no!

He can't resist it and has to attack something!

Next goes the collar...

Charlie looks on appalled... 

... and shows how to pose

with Christmassy stuff like a pro.

But Ralph is on a roll and

soon Charlie's bow-tie becomes

attached to the claw of doom too.

Guess it's a lump of coal in someone's

stocking tomorrow!

Have a great Christmas everyone xxx

See more cats at Christmas over at Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Song-ography...

Silver Bells...

Not quite 'Christmas time in the city...', more like 'Christmas time in the small market town in which I work...'.

Linking to Kathy's Song-ography meme over at her blog...

Cats on Tuesday...

A week in which some of the cats helped with the Christmas preparations by critiquing the tree and my present-wrapping capabilities, and some just buggered about by lurking under the throw on the sofa.

More kitty news at Gattina's Cats on Tuesday.

Song-ography...

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I have to admit this was a last minute photo shoot and edit done this morning, so it ended up being a collection of random objects around the house.  From the top we have; my teapot; some small trees on the table; Santa; some presents underneath the tree (most of which aren't for me unfortunately but have yet to be given to their rightful owners); a reindeer pulling a sledge full of sweeties; our beanie nativity people (whom I'm amazed have made it this far without being mauled to death by Ralph/Charlie/Pepper/Mrs P); and our Portmeirion porcelain lithophane (which sits next to the Buddha and our angelic tea light holder that has a fan that spins around on top from the heat of the candle.  We have a bit of Christianity, Buddhism and pagan symbolism in this lot so we are nothing if not inclusive and diverse... :-)

The Christmas teapot and cups...

I am drinking that tea as I type - very nice too.

For more Crimbo pics visit Kathy's blog by clicking here.