Surprise, surprise!

Helen turned up where I work yesterday with a belated birthday gift for Tuesday - a kit for the charity walk!  It consisted of a rather nifty rucksac, a bottle of tonic water, a torch, and a lilac coloured feather boa.  I had to put the feather boa on immediately and would probably have worn it all day if it weren't for the fact it was rather warm and I thought I might develop prickly heat it I wore it any longer.  Now I just have to keep it safely away from prying paws until next Saturday...

My cunning plan is foiled! Posky takes an unhealthy interest in the feather boa...

Et tu Pepper?

How to have a good birthday...

Yesterday both my bosses were out of the office all day (thanks guys!) and we made sure there were cream cakes in the fridge for coffee break... :O)

Birthday bows...

and some colourful candles that my sister gave me

Tony and Cleo...

As I'm at work on Tuesday for my birthday, yesterday was my birthday treat.  Cath and I went into Stratford, started with a posh breakfast then went up to the theatre for a behind the scenes look at some of the techniques used at the RSC.  They concentrated on movement and had people up on stage to show how they developed the scene for the battle of Actium in Antony and Cleopatra using paper boats and polonaise dance moves!  It was fascinating... especially as we got to see the final version in the afternoon as we went to the matinee performance.  Despite the seats in the Courtyard Theatre being enough to give you a square backside for the rest of the day, we really enjoyed it!  Excellent performances from the whole cast, especially the two leads, (although Harriet Walter and Patrick Stewart are still way out in front of everyone else in the roles - they just brought the poetry to life). 

Infamy, infamy...

Brief moment of excitement this week.  Our local paper publishes readers' photos now an again and this week they printed a large image of a brass vase I'd taken a while ago, plus a smaller one of Posky.

The brass vase (one of a pair) is one that my Dad brought back from India when he was stationed there with the army.  These two little vases are some of the few things I have that belonged to him so it was nice to see one have a moment of fame!  Posky has now had his photo published locally and nationally (a cat magazine published a story and photo about him), and is thinking of wearing dark glasses when he goes out to avoid the paparazzi.  Otherwise the only other photos of note this week have been a monotone pic of an apple with some nifty shadows caused by the kitchen blind (it wasn't a set-up shot, I was getting my lunch ready to take to work and noticing the shadows, decided it was too good a shot to let pass by), and one of my earring.  I love the colour of these so put one on a piece of white paper at the window to catch the light and used the close-up filter so I could get the detail.

As for books, amazingly, this week I've finished reading John Connolly's The Whisperers which was an early birthday present and R J Ellory's The Anniversary Man.  I'm now in that unsettling state of having nothing else I REALLY want to read next, although have to say I did see an interesting looking book called The Quincunx in Waterstones last week.  That might be another early birthday present when I get to Stratford tomorrow...

Ouch...

Decided to walk home from work yesterday, thinking it would be easier than my normal walk in the opposite direction (it's uphill going, downhill coming back, apart from one viscious hill right at the end...), but so regretted it.  My calf muscles seized up as soon as I started out and I had to stop on a traffic island to try and stretch them out.  I made it home but it was such hard work.  Think I've been overdoing the training - and probably too many uphill walks so am giving it a rest until Sunday.  Helen is now talking about us doing a marathon or half marathon next year - good grief... 

Seemed like a good idea at the time...

Pretty quiet on the photography front this week - just seemed to have worked and walked!  The walking is in preparation for a 10km Moonlit Walk in aid of the Shakespeare Hospice on 5th June that my friend Helen and I are taking part in.  It became scarily real on Friday when I picked up our official tee-shirts (very purple), and Helen has promised to organise contrasting feather boas.  I am hoping to take my camera on the night - although the weather may veto that.  For training I've been walking to work, which is about 3 miles, then yesterday did 4.5 miles.  Today I am doing nothing apart from go for breakfast with Cath in Stratford (yes there's another Grande Prix today so D obviously can't venture out of the house all weekend...) and hope the stiffness in my calf muscles wears off.

Views of Stratford we won't be seeing when we're walking around it at 10pm!

In the Woods

Taking advantage of the sunny weather yesterday, we nipped down to the woods in search of bluebells to photograph. There weren't nearly as many as I was hoping for so the search goes on. Catherine stepped in to fill the photographic void by sitting on a log.

The elusive bluebells

The less elusive Catherine