Can I Remember?

What I was going to tell you about yesterday?  It was all very clear at one o'clock this morning but by that time bed seemed a better option.  This morning yesterday seems so long ago and much less important.  It was, however, a very Good Day.  

The House is at the stage where all the alterations are coming to the point where the plasterers, electrician, builder and painters are all there together and there is nowhere to sit or think or eat allthough it's possible to cook and for some to sleep in their own bedrooms!

Even the pool builders have started on their bit of the job:

Martin, Jamie and Fraser are off camping with the Scouts so Wendy, David and Catriona came down for dinner (all prepared and sent down by Wendy to my oven).  After we'd eaten and watched Ice Road Truckers (if you ever get the opportunity it really is worth watching) the youngsters returned to watch DVDs or whatever in the safety of their bedrooms at The House whilst Wendy and I settled down with the cheese to watch The Girl Who Played With Fire - based on the second of the books by Stieg Larsson.  It is in Swedish with subtitles so one cannot even look away for a minute in case one misses an important point.  It's a very intense film and rather unusual in that the 'heroine' is not the most likeable of characters.  I thought I might have nightmares but I didn't and I'll watch the third film in the series very soon.

A piece of trivia for anyone who has seen the film.  The name on Salander's apartment door, V. Kulla, is a reference to Astrid Lindgren's character Pippi Longstocking and her house Villa Villekulla?

Misty was down, of course, and, having been newly shorn looks a fraction of the size she did a few days ago.

Newly shorn Misty and Catriona finishing her desert.

A more hairsuite Misty

After Wendy had returned to The House I decided to experiment with a few night shots.  There was some cloud and the moon was shining so I decided to see what I could do shooting North from the deck of The Cottage with Napier over the hill in front of me.  The result was quite interesting because the orange in the sky which is the result of the lights in Napier was not visible to the human eye (well not to mine anyway).  The visible stars were not very great either because I used a very low ISO and 30 sec exposure.  There's lots of fun to be had with these yet although I've discovered that my camera has severe limitations for nighttime use.

Experimenting

Gaz has been taking photos of the sky whilst he's been here.  There are lots of reasons why this is a good place to do that.  Primarily because there is a lot of sky with a lot of stars and very little light pollution.  So I decided to try some too.  I have taken the occasional night-time shot in the past but without any attempt at taking the sky at night so this is going to be a big learning curve.  My first shots are of The Cottage with the night sky behind.

ISO2500 30sec f3.2  Lots of noise despite noise reduction.

ISO1000 30 sec f3.2   Less noise and less stars.

There's lots more fun to be had with this lark.  Hopefully I post something better in due course.

A Picture Tells......

Perhaps we should not be going in there!

Body language.

I Thought I Could Take Photos Until…..

I know that my son Gaz can take fantastic photos.  I was, however, blown away by the few he took last week and has posted on Facebook today at ‘April In Scotland: Why go anywhere else?’  This is one of them:

In A Rut

Jen at Exquisite Junction said in her posting On Photography a few weeks ago "Sheesh. All my photos look the same to me: bland...blah...boring. I need to refresh, refocus (oh, BAD pun!) and get out of this jaded slump into which I have sunk."  I thought at the time that Jen really had nothing to be concerned about either in that Blog or her Photography Blog (which she has since put on hold).  I didn't think her photos were bland at all.

However, Jen, I have suddenly realised what you meant and although I'm still not sure that I see it as something you have to be  concerned about I am suddenly feeling that about mine.

I have been posting photos of the trip up to Northland. Pauline and I made.  I've been doing it diary fashion so that, not only can  friends in Blogland see what we were seeing, but in the future I would have a record as a reminder.

Few of my photos are, therefor, of any artistic merit although I would like to think that most are not too  displeasing to the eye.  But as I looked at the last post I suddenly thought.  "Hmm.  These are a bit samey."  

So I apologise if they are rather boring but until I have finished the record (one more day to go) I'm afraid that's all I have to offer.  I hope you'll bear with me.

I've Been Tagged

I have been tagged by Scriptor Senex at Rambles From My Chair with a picture tag.

The rules are:
Go to the 4th folder in your computer where you store your pictures
Pick the 4th picture in that folder
Explain the picture
Tag 4 people to do the same.

Firsly I had to decide which drive to use 'cos I keep my pictures on four drives. Having done that.... Oh just keep it simple I told myself. So here is the photo:

This is a view from the kitchen window, or possibly the Study, of my house on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. However I'd rather have shown you this which was the fifth picture in the fourth folder:

As for tagging I have a real dilemma. I have only just started visiting blogs other than those belonging to the family, so to pass this on could be a presumption that I should not be making. Perhaps I could lose a cyber friend or acquaintance before we have really become acquainted. Oh dear I suppose that I can be a party pooper or upset someone. Ah well, here goes: Simply Heather (because she has such a beautiful smile), and View From The Island (because it's an informative Blog I visit daily) and Ian's Place (simply 'cos I like his blog). Now I'm struggling because other bloggers whom I suspect may visit this site and pick up the tag are either few and far between or (like L'Archiduchesse) just too occupied with other things. Any volunteers?

It's 0200. Now to bed.