Day 363 – Mackerel Sky

 

I was wondering what photograph I should take today but on looking out the window and seeing how lovely and blue the sky was with this mackerel effect I knew I should take pics of this! 

Since doing Project 365 I have become interested more in the clouds in the sky as sometimes they are just lovely to photograph and I’m pretty sure I haven’t yet taken a photo of a mackerel sky.  Now I have!!

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

The sky was the most beautiful blue today and the sun was shining when I took this but this afternoon has turned dull and bitterly cold.

You can see a little bit of our very large Rhododendron shrub reaching up to the sky.  It’s covered in buds and usually blooms in May so I probably will take a pic of that with it’s lovely mauve blossoms against a beautiful blue sky then, but sadly my Project 365 is over in a couple of days so it won’t be seen in this photo journal.

Shall I start another Project 365???   Ooooooh, I’ve got to have a loooooong think about that!!!  

Day 360 – So Early!

 

This is another of my flower photographs but I thought I should take  a pic of it as it is so early, certainly in my part of the world.

I hadn’t noticed it before but realise it must have been out several days already, as it was one of only two flowers out on a shrub that is absolutely covered in masses of buds so is going to look wonderful when it is supposed to be flowering!!

 

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

This Camellia shrub is usually flowering at any time between March and May, depending on what weather we have had, so to see it actually start to flower in January is amazing.  It is very cold, so it can’t be because we are having a mild winter!!

From the look of the flower it has probably been blooming for several days but there is only one other flower out at the moment on this shrub.  It’s really going to look wonderful when it all blooms, I don’t think I’ve seen quite so many buds on it before.

I wonder what happened to make two of the buds so much more advanced than all the others?

Day 359 – Camouflage!

 

I am finding as I come towards the end of my Project 365 that I am enjoying taking photos of particular things like clouds, flowers and birds although sometimes I don’t think they are great photographs!!

Consequently there have been a fair few of each of those things in the 300 + posts I have done in this photo journal.

Here is another!! 

 

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

This is, I think,  a female Chaffinch and she was just hopping about in this bare shrub so I took her photograph.

It wasn’t until I uploaded it to the computer and looked at it that I realised she is the same colour as the branches of this Lilac Tree (we call it a tree but it is a very big shrub), so she is well camouflaged!!  She’s just so cute. 

Day 357 – Assignment: Make A Self-Portrait …

 

Over the course of doing my Project 365 I have occasionally done one of the assignments from The Daily Shoot.  This site has an assignment set for each day and a couple of times I have done one of their assignments on a different day to the day they set it.

Unfortunately, they are no longer doing this site but have left a list of all the titles of their assigments, so I decided to go with one of those for today’s posts (and at last I am right up to date after having a backlog of so many photos)!!

The assignment I picked is:  Sunday Challenge – Make A Self-Portrait, with or without the camera in the frame.   As it is Sunday I thought it best to go with this, and before I took the photo I thought it might be a laugh to try to take a self-portrait of me!!! 

Here is the result!!

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

Ha ha, well I tried!!  I tried to take a self-portrait of me all sorts of ways and then had the idea of taking a pic of me looking out the window at our garden and then being clever, the reflection would show me holding the camera, so the camera would be in the frame.  But it didn’t work out that way as the reflection doesn’t show enough to include the camera in the frame.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter as the assignment states that the photo can be made with or without the camera in the frame!!  It was fun to do and it’s just a shame that I couldn’t get my arm/hand far enough back behind me because of my disabilities otherwise there might just have been a bit more of me on show in this pic!!

It’s probably better for anyone looking at this that they only see a little bit of the real me!!!!!     

Day 355 – Yeessssss!! At Lassssssst … It’s Taken 3 Years!!!!

 

Forgive me for being soooooooooooo very pleased about this news!! 

We have waited for about three years for this to happen:

 

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

The photograph of this plant might not look much, but if you look closely you will see a couple of buds!!  We are delighted.  This is a Red Hot Poker plant, a plant we’ve always wanted in our garden.

No matter how many times we have tried to grow one during the last 12 years or so, they have never come to anything.

This plant did grow though, and for about three years it has just been leaves.  Now, there are these buds.  There are about seven or eight buds in all so it looks like at long last, this year will see some Red Hot Pokers in our garden.

It will be a shame that when they finally flower, I won’t be doing Project 365 at the time, but I will take some photos of it anyway, just in case it only flowers the once!!

Day 352 – Shiny!

I have no idea why this caught my eye but assume it was because it was looking all shiny and sort of standing out more so than the other things near it, so I just grabbed the camera (which is almost glued to me now since I started Project 365) and took this photograph.

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

I know it’s only a plain green plant of some sort, but it stood out from the duller green ivy around it and seemed to be very shiny from the sunlight.  I just thought it looked nice and fresh!! 

Day 351 – Redwing

I was gazing out into our garden as there was a lot of activity going on amongst the many different types of birds who come by to eat some of our pet duck Demelza’s grain and the bread we throw out for her.

They were all having a very busy session to eat loads before they went off to bed for that night.

At the end of the garden I noticed a Thrush and was so pleased to see it because we really don’t see Thrushes much at all these days, so took some photos of it.

It wasn’t until I loaded the photo onto the computer that I realised that it wasn’t a Thrush at all, it was something completely different and a visitor I have not seen in our garden before!!

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

As you look at this photograph you will see there are another two Redwings behind the main one, although they sort of blend into the background more!!

I took quite a lot of photos of the bird, trying to get a good photograph of what I thought was a Thrush and again it wasn’t until I had the photos on the computer that I realised there were actually six or seven of what I now knew were Redwings.

I’m very pleased as these birds haven’t come here before, so hopefully they will come again and just maybe I might be able to get a better photo of them.

Day 343 – Spring Must Be Coming

 

We were on our way out and I suddenly noticed some flowers in one of our container pots.  I was amazed as it is so cold and although I don’t know what this is called, it doesn’t usually come out until March or April!!

 

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

I just hope that we will get some more of these at the usual time as they are more unusual and my favourite colour of yellow!! 

Day 341 – He’s Still Smiling!

 

He’s still smiling   …

 

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

 

buuuuuuuuuuuuuut …

Well, as I reported in my Day 314 post the wild wind had taken off his wheel and dumped it into our pet duck Demelza’s pond.  Paul retrieved it and fixed it back on so Froggie was all back to normal.  Until now …

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

Ooooooh poor Froggie!!  It wasn’t his wheel this time that was whipped off his post by the really wild wind, it was him!!

We found him all dumped and forlorn in Demelza’s pond, just where his wheel had previously been, so Froggie was retrieved but can’t be fixed back onto his post!!!

But, he’s still smiling even though he has also lost two of the petals on his flower, which we can’t find!!  Oh dear, this is such a shame as he has been such a cheery chap to have in the garden.

Day 339 – Soggy Demelza!

Awwwwww, poor Demelza!  As I have mentioned in other posts about our pet duck, Demelza was not blessed by nature when she was born.   We had her from an egg, but she was originally bred “for the table” as we have been told.  When she was born she started her life with a broken wing.  She has a plump body and little tiny legs which means that she easily trips over a twig as she wanders about in the garden.

Since she has now become older (so far a loooooooong life for a duck), she became blind in one eye virtually overnight and then not too long after that she appears to have scratched her other eye which although healed, has left her with virtually no sight in that good eye.  We know she can see something, maybe shadows but has to feel around with her beak on the floor to get any bread we put down as she can’t seem to see it.

Another problem she has had all her life is really not a good thing for ducks!  Ducks love to swim and float about on ponds, rivers and such and have no difficulties staying afloat.  Not poor Demelza though.  She sinks when in her pond!!!  She does not seem to have the oil that ducks have on their feathers to waterproof them, so Demelza sinks under the water rather than floats, so we make sure she has a rock to stand on so she does not sink too deeply and would then be unable to get out.

This photo was taken after she had had what is now becoming a very rare dip in her pond.

Original photograph taken by me - copyright 2012

She must get soaked to her skin unlike other ducks.  I worry now that the cold winter months are here but she still seems a happy gal no matter that she has been rather unlucky when she was made so to speak.