General Chat

Annx I hope it doesn't rain too hard where your OH is as he could get wet feet. The things they do for sport!!

You didn't say if you got any photos when you went out the other day )landscapes?)

When OH goes for his scan our neighbour is taking us in the car. I don't think there is anything specific stopping that in this area and we will wear our masks.

I only lived in one three bed bungalow in Fareham Hampshire with my parents except for two years in the war when we evacuated away from where we lived right next to a RN establishment to a two bed bungalow in Purbrook Hampshire. After marriage OH and I lived in three rented flats and one rented house (the first flat was private, the other rented properties were RN Hirings) We then bought a 2 bed bungalow, then moved to a 3 bed house all in Fareham/Gosport area. OH then left the RN and we moved to Essex to a three bed house, then to The Forest of Dean Glos, bought another 3 bed house (all properties so far semis.) Next to a 3 bed detached in Bedfordshire and then to this four bed detached in Gloucestershire.

This is the govt advice AnnG. Yours is a necessary journey, unlike the trip to the footie match so you wouldn't be breaking any rules.

Car sharing
You should try not to share a vehicle with those outside your household or support bubble. If you need to do this, try to:

share the transport with the same people each time
keep to small groups of up to 6 people at any one time
open windows for ventilation
travel side by side or behind other people, rather than facing them, where seating arrangements allow
face away from each other
consider seating arrangements to maximise distance between people in the vehicle
clean your car between journeys using standard cleaning products - make sure you clean door handles and other areas that people may touch
ask the driver and passengers to wear a face covering.

Yes OH will be soaked to the skin I expect when he gets home. That's the trouble with outdoor winter hobbies.......dripping clothes around the house. :-S

I didn't get any suitable photos the other day, but the teacher clarified for that assignment that we pick photos from the landscape photographer we choose, not do our own versions. This week's homework is to do a square black and white photo that isn't 'traditional' and he suggested a couple of photographers for inspiration and said we can use existing photos we have and manipulate them if we wish. One does little intimate vignettes he referred to (Sally Gall) and the other does some sharp minimallist pictures. (Michael Kenna) Another option was to do low light morning or evening photos with a tripod to create emotion or mood!

Thanks for that info we will be fine then, no different to getting a taxi and cheaper.

Gosh that is quite advanced photography. Do you make the photo square by cropping or is there a more technical way?

Only just looked at your photos Anng. The garden does look wonderful and I love the combinations of daisies and marigolds and dahlias.

Thanks Mel looking a bit bedraggled now though

I just looked too and your garden is still looking very colourful AnnG. I love the sunflower and Dahlias. Ours still looks bright in patches due to the french marigolds and snapdragons but I still have some bare patches round those steps. Yes, for someone who didn't stray much from the AUTO setting I think I'm in at the deep end! The others are all more experienced, but I'm learning fast and the tutor says to email him about anything we don't understand which is good. Next week we are looking at 'light metering' which I know nothing about!. I found an adjustment on my camera to do square pictures. It is called 'aspect ratio' in the menu if you want to look and a square setting is 1:1. He did say you can also use low tac tape on your screen to make a square or to crop when you download instead.

Ah right thanks I shall have to check that out tomorrow. Was there a reason for taking a square photo? Proportion or something.

Not sunflowers in the garden but Rudbeckia. They have been marvellous this year and seem to go on and on.

good morning all, dark as night out there and tipping down with rain. I had a really good sleep, bed at 1045pm, woke at 0115 for the loo, opened my eyes and looked at the clock at 0615, next thing I knew it was 0815. Must have found a comfortable place for my arm. Swelling still not gone down so better not spend too much time on the net today straining my eyes. :-)

Morning Anng and all,

Glad you had a better nights sleep Anng. It makes so much difference. How did T sleep?

Its pouring here so no change there then and windy with it dull and dreary.

Hope others had a good nights sleep and feel refreshed this morning.

Ah, thanks Annx I have just checked and yes I found the Aspect ratio and 1:1 so will try that when the weather is more friendly. that will be interesting to try.

Afternoon all,

Dreary here again but son came with the three little ones as it's Colin's birthday so that brightened our day
It has been raining but has stopped at the moment .

I've put some elastic in another pair of Katie's school trousers and made her a mask with some Lady and the tramp material ,it has little dogs on it .

Easy meal tonight as there's stew left over from yesterday ,usually we go out for a meal on Colin's birthday but not this year but he's quite happy with the stew as it's one of his favourite meals .

Glad you've had a better nights sleep AnnG it makes you feel so much better when you get a good night .
I meant to say how good your garden is looking ,you still have lots of colour ,our hanging baskets are all over now and this week we will take the green house down ,we need a new one for next year as the zip has gone on one side of the door .

Love to Jane <3 hope she's comfortable .

I hope everything is ok with Gill and family and that Sandra is settling back in ok with them it's been a few days since we heard from her .

Right cuppa time now .

<3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY COLIN <3

Hope you've had a wonderful day with the little ones. Enjoy your dinner. x

Afternoon All,

Well I was slow dropping off last night (after 2.00am) but slept well and slept in! It rained all morning but is lovely and sunny now.

The square photo is because the teacher wants us to take a different shaped picture to make us look at the landscape and our composition in a different way than we are used to AnnG. I have adjusted one of my existing photos now and made it black and white. It's good your arm was better for sleeping last night. I was convinced that single, very tall vertical flower after the lovely white rose was a sunflower. I must get some more sedum as the butterflies love them and I want to attract more to the garden next year. I had wondered about one of those patio Buddlieas if they stay small as leaves and gravel aren't a good combination.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO COLIN!! Have you baked him a cake Mandy! That must have been nice to see the little ones. I expect they were full of chatter about school and Max would have been pleased to see them too. I love it when you can cook 2 days meals at once and find the second one seems to taste better! You are so handy being able to do things like adjust Katie's school trousers and I bet she loved her face mask with the dogs on! I expect the children enjoy seeing each other's masks with designs.

I thought David Attenborough with the Royal children was so nice. Little Louis asking him what his favourite 'amamal' was made me chuckle, bless him. :-D

It is annoying when you order something the wrong size Mel. You could always make some rag wreaths with them too, although you have plenty to do with making the others I expect. Yes, I find when I get up late, by the time lunch is got and our crosswords done and then the darker evenings, the day has gone!

Ah Annx yes, of course, that is a sunflower. I had not realised that you were looking at a previous set of photos to the latest. I had to go back and check, It was a sunflower that came up with the wild flowers, I have never been able to get them to grow here before so I was very surprised to see that one.

And yes I can see that making a landscape a square photo would change your way of thinking. Does the rule of thirds still aply?

I thought the interview with the royal children was sweet, lovely to hear them all speaking. such a different attitude to Meghan and Harry.

Hi everyone, sorry I haven't been on here for ages I've been trying to help Sandra sort out a social worker, she's got one now but he needed to speak to me as well, which I was surprised about. Sandra is hoping to get a flat off the social, an assisted living one so she's had to answer all sorts of question to see if she can cope on her own and of course once she's given her answer, her social worker asked me questions to.

It's a bit like a game of tennis going back and forth and seems to be taking ages for him to fill in a few forms. I've also got extra housework and washing, boy does Sandra like changing her clothes lol so the machine in on most days. Our boiler pressure went down the other day so I topped it up but went a bit to far, so now every time the heating goes on and the pressure goes up the boiler keeps cutting out and i don't know how to lower the pressure. It looks like I might have to get someone in to take a look at it. So at the moment I'm meeting myself coming back lol.

Thanks for all the emails, sorry I haven't commented on them but I've hardly been online lately with being so busy, so thought I'd mention them now incase you thought I hadn't seen them.

I've completely lost track of what's going on, on the thread so please excuse me for not commenting on anything. I will try to my best to catch up when I have five minutes.

I noticed it's Colin's birthday today, Happy birthday, hope he enjoys his stew.

I hope everyone is okay, I'll try to pop in more often once everything has calmed down a bit. Take care everyone and keep safe <3

Sorry Mandy I forgot to wish
H Colin a very happy birthday. Hope he has enjoyed his day

Apologies from me too Mandy. I’ve had one of those days and not had time to come on the thread but a belated Happy Birthday Colin. I hope you have had a lovely day and been spoilt.

Morning all,

I don't think its raining just yet but it looks likke the wind has dropped so thats one good thing about today. I am not saying it is'nt going to come up again later as that can happen here with the tides.

Olive is just gorgous Vera. She picks the right place to have a lie down with that blazing fire. Its god she has settled with the other two dogs and I am sure they will all be happy together.

Well it took me the best part of yesterday to dress a wreath ring to make an autumn wreath. I have covered it in string and put a pentacle in the center.

Did'nt mean to press submit.

Hope all slept well again last night and that Anng face is less swollen and T's back is easing off.

I am hoping Frank and Ros got down to Devon alright as we hav'nt heard from Frank so perhaps he did'nt take his laptop after all.

Sending wishes to our Jane and hope she had a good weekend with the family. <3 <3

Morning all
a quick whizz in and out.
we're off on a break, back at weekend
dizzies much better - I think it was eye strain - or the flu jab?

I hope you are all ok and ready for a good week.
~~~~~~~~@ Jane, I hope you are having a comfortable time of it.