Macro May 2020 - Day 8

Elderflower is starting to bloom. About to pop outside to raise a glass for the 75th VE celebrations with all our neighbours...suitably distanced of course.

Macro May 2020 - Day 7

We had a gorgeous day of sunshine, then out of the blue came the rain. It was totally unexpected and wasn't in the forecast. I hadn't yet taken my photo for today and it was time to start thinking about dinner by the time it had stopped. I knew though, that I wanted to find a droplet, so I went hunting. There were plenty of raindrops just sat on top of leaves but I was looking specifically for a hanging drop. That's something I love about macro photography, it sends me looking for details I so often miss at other times. It forces me to look in a new way, to notice all that I take for granted...all of the ordinary beauty that is right there in the details.

Macro May 2020 - Day 6

I think this might be a clematis? Someone who knows about these things will need to confirm for me :P

Macro May 2020 - Day 5

5th of May, or as we like to refer to it in our house 'Cinco de Mayo', even if we are back in the UK. Technically, it's a Mexican holiday celebrated in Mexico and many parts of the States honouring a military victory in 1862 over Napoleon's forces (for the record, I actually had to look that up as I knew it was a Mexican holiday but had no idea what for) many of us just appreciate it as a good excuse to eat Mexican food and drink Margaritas.

Unfortunately we didn't have ingredients to make margaritas but I did make horchata for the kids (hence the cinnamon) and mojitos for the grown ups, while my middle child made an assemble-your-own burrito spread. All in all it was a success and I managed one more photo to boot.

Macro May 2020 - Day 4

I'm on a roll. Not the best lighting conditions as this was harsh daylight, but I couldn't exactly ask him to swing by later. Also, he was much speedier than I anticipated, so I didn't have long to choose his best side.

Macro May 2020 - Day 3

I have a love/hate relationship with dandelions. They are so bright and cheery, like sunshine, then inevitably they morph into the most amazing, delicate puff balls that just beg to be picked and have their seeds blown far and wide and it's so much fun to watch our kids, big and small do that. But, I don't want them in my small patch of green, which is desperately trying, not very well, to be a lawn.

They were here before we moved in and then last year were rampant, but this year I am trying to dig them all up. It's a long process. I re-check every day and as soon as I see a yellow bloom I dig it up, before it can turn to a puff ball and spread it's seeds further. I'm not convinced I'm winning yet.

Anyway, this little guy caught my eye late this afternoon, not the usual full bloom, but getting ready to tuck in for the night and I liked the different take.

Macro May 2020 - Day 2

I managed two days in a row...woohoo! 

We got in the car as a family today for the first time in over 6 weeks, instead of just walking round the corner to our local park, which is what we had been doing and which we are SO over. We are allowed to drive short distances to exercise, as long as the exercise lasts longer than the drive to get there. Well our drive only took 12 minutes but we walked for over an hour and were surrounded by green and sunshine and it was just what we needed. 

This is a gorgeous English Bluebell and this is their season; which is always too short. There is nothing as spectacular as walking through woods, carpeted with bluebells, it is quite breathtaking. That wasn't today, we were more out in the open, but there were plenty of these growing along the hedgerows. 

At some point this month I'll show a Spanish Bluebell, also common here; similar but quite different.

Macro May 2020 - Day 1

This whole staying at home, working from home, kids doing school at home due to the current Covid-19 pandemic has been so weird. We are now ending our 6th week! I am grateful to be able to work from home and keep as safe and isolated as possible. At the same time I grieve for my 16 year old who will not get a Leavers' Assembly or get to attend Prom or say a real goodbye to so many friends. This is a real rite of passage year and it all seems like it has been snatched away. It's sad and disappointing.

All three kids are handling it all so well though. We know they miss seeing their friends in person, but we really have not had complaining, they have just got on with it. Of course there has been more screen time, especially as it is the one way they can still connect with peers and unfortunately the house is pretty disastrous with all of us here and all our stuff, be it school work or work I've brought home, but I am proud of the way we have been able to handle this whole crazy situation.

I, on the other hand, had high hopes of being creative at the outset, but I find myself constantly exhausted, unmotivated and uninspired. Even in times of boredom, with time on my hands, it feels like so much effort to rally and do anything with meaning. But it is May 1st and in years past I have taken part in Macro May, so will try again. I missed last year as hubby and I started the month travelling to Rome for a long weekend to meet up with friends celebrating their anniversary. Although I had taken my lens, I had opted not to carry my big camera around, due to weight and worries about theft, plus the scale of that city is the very opposite of tiny and close up.

This year feels like it could be harder, spending so much time at home and no pretty garden to shoot in, so no guarantees that I will complete the month. We are restricted in how far and how often we can leave the house; only once a day for exercise or for essential travel to buy food, help vulnerable people etc. so I will do what I can and not add pressure to myself, when life already feels intense enough for the moment.

So day 1 isn't hugely exciting but here it is:

If you decide to take part in Macro May this year, let me know, I'd love to follow along.

Blossom

There are signs of spring all around. I have a two week break from work and the weather is lovely...and we have to stay at home, allowed out only once a day for exercise. There is too much time and too little to do.

At Home Portraits

Like many, the world over, we in the UK are now in the midst of stay-at-home-measures in an attempt to slow the spread of covid-19. A few weeks ago we were hearing about the deaths in Wuhan and we appeared far removed. Now, we are asked to stay home, work from home, leave the house only for necessities or as a key worker...although currently we are allowed to walk locally or exercise once a day. Many older people and those with underlying health conditions cannot even do that and have been told to self-isolate for at lease 12 weeks, although it will likely be for much longer. A few months ago none of us could have envisioned how much life would change.

Extra time at home has meant many things; a different way of doing school or work, bouts of boredom, spurts of creativity, an increase in reaching out to others by way of technology as our connecting in person has been increasingly restricted.

Our girls have been experimenting. Our youngest asked our middle to cut her hair (big gulp)...and actually, thankfully, it did not turn out awful. Then they took it a step further and begged for hair dye, which daddy dutifully found on one of his grocery trips.

I talked them into letting me take a few photos, to document the outcome. It's rare to get more than snapshots these days so I just had to do a bit of editing with all this extra time on my hands and then of course, share. These girls are beautiful, inside and out and growing up far too quickly. I cherish this bit of extra time together, and as a homebody have not had as hard a time as I'm sure most extroverts have.

2019 My Life Project - Week 17

Last week started with a Monday off and more amazing weather. We headed over to Clevedon to walk along the pier, and then followed a trail away from the crowds and discovered an Iron Age Hill Fort, not quite as cool as it sounds and sadly full of rubbish/trash, but it was an adventure. On our way back to the car we popped into the penny arcade for a little bit before finishing off the afternoon with ice creams.

2019 My Life Project - Week 16

It's been a good couple of weeks with the break from school and some break from work. At the end of last week we took the girls to Funderworld, which was in Bristol for two weeks. They loved it; it's all about pushing the fear boundaries apparently...dad and I watched safely from the ground.
We ended the week celebrating Easter, with church, good food and glorious weather (which is about to disappear as we face rain for at least the next ten days - boo), it was wonderful whilst it lasted though and lifted everyone's mood.

( A zoom in to the faces as online resolution probably won't let you zoom in the same way, not super clear as they were so far away, but fun nonetheless)

2019 My Life Project - Week 15

We spent a few days away last week, in Cornwall, not far from Bude. It's always good to just get away as a family, to change up the routine and all the normals and explore new places. Of course the clotted cream and delicious ice cream are lovely bonuses when we go to Cornwall.

2019 My Life Project - Week 14

Daddy and daughter playing together. She wants to get better but doesn't practice enough and because she heard him playing an old Maroon 5 song which she thought was cool, she asked him to teach her. It was at night with gross indoor light...so black and white.

2019 My Life Project - Week 13

This one makes me laugh, but totally sums up this little doggie we occasionally get to dogsit for friends, as we did this weekend. So different from our Scout who is always on a mission to get to the park where he can run and chase his ball, this one has to stop every few feet to smell everything and pees at least 50 times on a walk...not even joking.

2019 My Life Project - Week 12

One of the hardest things about marrying someone from another country is that you can't be in two places at the same time, and someone is always far away from their family. My children have barely seen their grandparents over the years and it blesses me whenever we do get a little time together and to see them slowly strengthening the bonds that had to grow so slowly over the miles. 

This past weekend we got to celebrate an uncle's 40th birthday with some of the family and extra doggies and although it was brief, it's always good!

2019 My Life Project - Week 11

The kids and I made a flying visit to Kent this weekend, while daddy had a more literal flying visit to California. We got to briefly see both little cousins although it was over far too quickly. Even with the sizable age difference it's so cute to see the kids together.

2019 My Life Project - Week 10

Daddy will get to see some much missed friends before she does, so she's writing notes!

2019 My Life Project - Week 9

And we now officially have our second teenager in the house! This beauty turned thirteen last Thursday; it was an incredibly busy work week with daddy leaving on the evening of her birthday to go to a conference. We did a very quick morning opening of a gift before school, I raced to pick them up after school to shorten their journey home (which is normally by bus) then she opened the rest of her gifts and we had a fast dinner before heading off to youth club.

She did get to go shopping at the weekend with friends though, who then stayed for a sleepover (that didn't involve much sleep) and her second pavlova (birthday cake of choice as she doesn't like frosting/icing) as well as a family day yesterday. These years are passing by so quickly!

2019 My Life Project - Week 8

All of a sudden school break was about to end and the panic set in for back to school and back to work; it started to feel like the week had slipped away from us. We asked the kids if there was anything they'd like to do and they voted for Airhop, so off we went. It was terrible fluorescent lighting in a giant warehouse, with no flash allowed, so I had to whack up the ISO and embrace the grain, but that's ok, they had fun and I got a few shots...

2019 My Life Project - Week 7

A little late posting last week's photo(s). We were away visiting old friends for a long weekend near Derby. It's quite interesting to me the friendships we make in this life but more so the ones that survive.

I met my husband over a weekend away, we're from different continents and could never have seen each other again, yet it was meant to be and we've been married over 22 years. Our friendship with the Saxbys is one that has stood the test of time and international moves. Mark and I met the same year I met James, as part of a UK YWAM team heading to the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

When you get a group of young singles together there is unarguably an element of people wondering if they will meet that 'special someone' yet we both had already met ours and so a wonderful, uncomplicated friendship began
... here we are 23 years later hoping our kids will also become good friends and I am so grateful that this friendship has lasted. This was a weekend of wonderful walks and climbs, a cosy fire, lots of late night talking after the kids went down, music and wine. I always leave our time together encouraged and challenged and this weekend was no exception.

2019 My Life Project - Week 6

Our eldest turned 15 this weekend...how did we go from toddler to towering above me? I just don't know where the time goes! He is such a great kid and I couldn't love him any more than I do. We had a fun family day together: did our first Escape Room and went out for Pho and he was so genuinely grateful. There weren't a lot of gifts this time as the big gift (for Christmas and birthday) is to get to go back to the States with his sister for a couple of weeks this Summer, which is all he really wants anyway...well actually he might prefer to move back but a visit back is the strongest runner up.