Frank’s Photo Challenge – Street

Tags

Manchester, Mateus Ballon, Northern Quarter, street art, Tuesday Photo Challenge, West Didsbury

Frank, whose fab blog “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “Street” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge. 

See  https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/05/23/tuesday-photo-challenge-street/

Dare I say – this challenge is right up my street (Ha ha!!)

Even though I now live in a small town in Surrey (UK), surrounded by countryside, I’m still a city girl at heart, having been brought up in Manchester. I LOVE buildings and architecture and can walk my little socks off quite happily just treading pavements for hours!!  Street art is another fascination of mine so features a fair bit in this post.

Photos included: old fish market building in the Northern Quarter of Central Manchester plus some street art there. The last three photos are of birds painted recently in West Didsbury, a suburb of Manchester, by Brazilian artist Mateus Ballon.  

With the recent shocking and tragic news which has shaken Manchester, this post feels particularly poignant. Manchester is a great city, with fabulous people, but sadly others with their own agenda have done the unspeakable and sent shock waves round the world as a result. My heart goes out to all those affected.   

 

Frank’s Photo Challenge – Travel

Tags

Chiang Mai, Kamphaeng Phet, Thailand, travel, Tuesday Photo Challenge

Frank, whose fab blog “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “Travel” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge. 

See  https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/05/16/tuesday-photo-challenge-travel/

Travel to me means  …………….

Just being in the moment, a sense of freedom, a source of inspiration, a childlike excitement of new places, people and stories, a delight to all my senses, a gentle recharge.  

And let’s not forget the all important opportunity to take far too many photographs. Ha ha !!

Some of our happiest travels have been in Thailand, so I have included a collage of our trip back in 2012. Most of the images were taken in Chiang Mai,  but both the branch with the pretty flowers and the separate photo of me on the old bike were taken at the ancient site at  at Kamphaeng Phet.

 

Frank’s Photo Challenge – RGB

Tags

blue, bluebells, green, Polesden Lacey, red, Tuesday Photo Challenge

Frank, whose fab blog “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “RGB” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge.  What does this mean? Simply, he has set the challenge to post a photograph featuring red, green and blue.

See  https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/04/25/tuesday-photo-challenge-rgb/

Yesterday found me at the wonderful National Trust property “Polesden Lacey” in Surrey. The garden is quite a picture at the moment and I hoped to capture some red-green-blue shots. Wandering around it seemed increasingly unlikely and at one point I even considered stalking a robin to see if he would oblige in posing next to the forget-me-nots, but sadly it wasn’t to be. I came home thinking that I had failed.

Then I started reviewing my photos and was amazed to find two shots with the right colours showing. I just hadn’t realised at the time!!!

One is a shot of the cottage garden.

The other is of some old seed packets showing vibrant pictures of the flowers – and voila – red, green and blue are there. I’ve included a few more shots of these, as I was rather taken with them.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Finally , I’ve included a photo which I took last week in the late afternoon sun, featuring some BLUEbells, dandelion and the red brick of our house.

And there was me thinking when I first saw the challenge that I didn’t stand a chance!!  Nature has come up trumps. 😊

Bach Flower Essence – Gorse for HOPE

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Antrim, Bach, Bach Flower Essences, flower essences, Giant's Causeway, Gorse, Hope, hopelessness, optimism

Yellow is such an optimistic and hopeful colour. It’s therefore no coincidence that after the grey miserable days of late winter, Nature blesses us in early spring with plenty of yellows on her landscapes. Golden crocuses, fluttering daffodils, tufted dandelions, cheeky kerria japonica, delicate forsythia, and striking gorse.

I took the above photograph of gorse recently at the Giant’s Causeway, Co. Antrim, Northern Ireland.  

Dr Edward Bach chose Gorse as his flower of hope.

When all hope seems lost, when we choose to give up rather than fight, when life has lost its vitality, Gorse essence can inject some optimism and hope back into life. It’s like a ray of sunshine in an otherwise grey day.   

Our emotional and mental makeup plays such a big part in our healing, and hope is one of those bright beacons in life that makes all the difference between giving up and having a reason to get up in the morning.

Hope and optimism raise our vibration, thus helping to improve our overall wellbeing at all levels.

Frank’s photo challenge – Spring

Tags

daffodils, Dorking, Dorking cockerel, poem, spring, Tuesday Photo Challenge

Frank, whose fab blog is “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “SPRING” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge.

See  https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/03/21/tuesday-photo-challenge-spring/

Spring has sprung,

Birds have sung,

A ditty or two in the sun.

Lambs do bleat,

As they find their feet,

Nature is having some fun!

Mother Earth blessing,

And busy a-dressing,

With a range of beautiful hues.

Buds are a-teasing

Daffodils breezing

As spring makes her welcome debut.

 

Unfortunately, just as spring started, the unseasonably warmish weather of the week before disappeared and, in its place, came grey, rain, and a chill wind –  weather, not conducive to lots of photos (unless you are going for the blurred effect !!)

In a brief window of calm and sunshine, I took this photo of our local cockerel surrounded by a crowd of daffodils. Yellow is such an optimistic colour, and I am hopeful that there will be lots of warmer and sunnier days ahead 😊

Frank’s Photo Challenge – Curve

Tags

funicular, Lisbon, trams, travel, Tuesday Photo Challenge

Frank, whose fab blog is “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “CURVE” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge. 

See  https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/03/14/tuesday-photo-challenge-curve/

Instead of looking to nature, I’ve chosen a trio of manmade curves seen in Lisbon, a city served by a wonderful set of old trams and funiculars.

The first curve is of one of the many tram tracks in the city. The second curve is seen in the doorway to one of the funiculars, and finally there’s a detail to the entrance to the main railway station.

Frank’s Photo Challenge – Structure

Tags

hierarchy, Manchester, structure, Tuesday Photo Challenge, Victoria Baths

Frank, whose fab blog is “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “STRUCTURE” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge. 

See https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/02/28/tuesday-photo-challenge-structure/

One of my passions is for architecture. I don’t know a lot about the subject but I do know a good building when I see one!!

Manchester, UK is full of interesting buildings so I was rather spoilt for choice as to which photos to choose. I decided to show a few of Victoria Baths, because they showcase two different sorts of structure.

The first is the actual building itself, a robust but beautifully constructed brick structure, opened in 1906. It had a strong purpose – as municipal baths – but it must also have delighted the senses as it was highly decorated with mosaics and stained glass, and boasted Turkish Baths too!  

The other structure is that of hierarchy. It was designed when women were deemed to be second-class citizens.  In fact, not even that high!!! There were separate doorways for “Males First Class”, “Males Second Class” and finally “Females” (gee thanks !!). Entrance was the least of the insults. The women’s pool was graced not with fresh water, but water which had first been used in each of the men’s pools. Health and safety had yet to be invented!!

For some reason, I don’t have a picture of the building in its entirety outside, just the doorways. Mmmmmmmmm – I feel an expedition with my camera to explore further coming on ……………………

Monday Inspiration – pointless worrying

Tags

“Why worry if you can do something about your problem? And why worry if you cannot?”, Genoa, Inspiration, lion, Monday Inspiration, San Lorenzo, The Dalai Lama, travel, Worry, worry quote

I came across this lion at San Lorenzo Cathedral, Genoa the other week. He looked SO worried and made me think of this quote !!!

“Why worry if you can do something about your problem? And why worry if you cannot?”   The Dalai Lama

 

 

 

 

Frank’s Photo Challenge – Colour of Love

Tags

colour of love, coloured pencils, graffiti, Manchester, stationery, Tuesday Photo Challenge

Frank, whose fab blog is “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “COLOUR OF LOVE” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge. 

See https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/02/14/tuesday-photo-challenge-color-of-love/

I have a BIG love of stationery, especially pencils, so I think these 2 photos sum up the colour of love for me perfectly. Taken in Manchester a while back.

Frank’s Photo Challenge – Mirror

Tags

Brioche Falstaff, Fratelli Klainguti, Genoa, Giuseppe Verdi, mirror, Tuesday Photo Challenge, Verdi

Frank, whose fab blog is “Dutch Goes the Photo”, has set “MIRROR” as the topic for this week’s Photo Challenge. 

See https://dutchgoesthephoto.net/2017/02/07/tuesday-photo-challenge-mirror/

Coincidentally, only the day before the challenge was set, I had been photographing some mirrors in “Fratelli Klainguti” in Genoa. My husband and I were there for a few days and visited this old establishment because it had been frequented by one of my all-time heroes,  Giuseppe Verdi, who apparently enjoyed a “Brioche Falstaff” or two.

So here are a few photos of the place, including mirrors, featuring Don (hubbie) and myself (in one!) as well as my travelling bear, Andre, enjoying a spot of Brioche. (Mad? Most certainly – all the best people are!)

No selfie sticks or mobiles were used in the making of these images so hopefully I cannot be accused of taking selfies (gggggggggrh!!)