The world according to Morgan, aged 6 years

I let Morgan play around with my camera the other day, and what a funny little snapshot into the mind of this quwirky little person.  It's interesting to see what's important to her, and what she thinks is worthy taking a photo of.  I had switched off the flash for the photos I was taking, so unfortunately, many of the pictures ended up a little blurry, but still lovely.  And now I'll shut up, because, well, I have no idea what was going through that mind as these portraits of Morgan's life were taken.

A frosty day

I seem to seldom post, and when I do it's generally about yarn and fibre in one form or the other.  But right now, I'm enjoying my post nights period, back in Derby with my friends.  It has been frightfully cold, but the world has been gloriously frosted with ice and the bright sun of the day has really made for beautiful pictures.  We went for a wonder around Attenborough in Nottingham, mainly to feed ducks.  But the light was beautiful, I couldn't help but take endless photos to capture a special day.

From ice tipped fences, rocks and grass - the crystals adding a touch of the magical to the everyday, usually ignored items.

 

 

To the lake, frozen over in places, resulting in special walking on water ducks.  The clear blue sky reflecting back, and the sun low in the sky adding a beautiful warm glow to the last of the autumn orange and yellows.  Beautiful silhouettes taken with that sun reflecting off the water for a breathtaking combination in a photo, belying the fact that it was lunchtime, not sunset.

And of course, portraits.  Who could ignore the somewhat aggressive swan, vainly ignoring all of the other creatures surrounding it?  That long neck making it taller than the toddlers and very intimidating, even to me.  And it didn't even want the seed we were throwing down.  It still stalked us and looked like it was going to attack us, oblivious to our attempts to shoo it away.

And the excitment of the small people, throwing the seed with glee and childful abandonment.  Birthday smiles for a dear little one year old who holds a very special place in my heart.  Is it really a year since I snuggled your newness under my cardigan as we wondered around Wirksworth?  It seems like a great metaphor for my life, to reflect on all the changes that have happened in our resepective lives since last Christmas.

A wonderful day, that inspired me to take lots of photos and capture the beauty of those surroundings and that warm golden glow. 

Ohhh! Squishy delights!

Waiting for me when I got home from a long day on call!

Memories of a summer picnic

I recently finally got round to uploading some photos from my camera, and found these shots, which brought a happy smile to my face - happy memories of a impromtu picnic back in early August with my girls.  The sun was shining, there was good food, great company, water fountains for the girls.  For me, it was mainly just quiet calm relaxation in the shade and playing with Tali.

Finding these photos that I had forgot I had taken brought their warm sunny brightness back to my chilly autumn evening and firmly planted a smile on my face.  :)

SpinIn

It may have taken me over a week to get round to posting about the SpinIn, but that is by no means a reflection of the awesomeness that was that weekend.

Having been a relative newbie to camping, I was surprised by just how much I enjoyed it.  Being out in a field with such clear skies.  I can't remember the last time I was under such a clear stary sky.  I've missed that experience.  I may be an utter city girl, but there's certain things like a star filled sky that just make my heart sing and provoke such primal feelings in me.  I could just stare for eons, completely lost in it, even if I can barely point out two constellations.  Just shear beauty.  And I love being cosy around a campfire, cider/wine/gingerbeer in hand, and good, even if a little abstract and random, conversation flowing. It kind of goes with the primal thing. It's definitely a reason to do it again.

However, those lovely clear skies which lead to me getting sunburnt during the days, and such beautiful sights at night, lead to very chilly temperatures at night.  I was really glad to have my snuggly Ryeland handspun shawl to wrap around my nose.  The first morning greeted us with a thick fog, which was certainly atmospheric before it burnt off.

I participated in several workshops, so there was plenty of fun shared experiences and chances to learn.  I was pretty tired following an eleven day stretch at work, including a week of long days on call, so I also really enjoyed just sitting back and soaking in the atmosphere.  I didn't get to take my wheel as there just wasn't enough room in the car, so I spindled a bit on my new club spindle, with my new club fibre, which is just the yummiest neutral stoney shades.

 And a dabbling dyer's dream - getting to play with a professional's palette:

This was the product of the the dying session.  It was so much fun and utterly fascinating to be around some many varied expressions of creativity and to see how differently people approached it.  We all got to do three things - mine were a random choice of "ooh, they look like pretty colours" on BFL, an experiment in gradient dying on Falkland, and a fun crazy rainbow attempt on some silk hankies.

There were trips to see the sheep:

And times of just admiring the scenery:

And just plan ol' sitting in a circle of crafting:

It was so much fun and such utter temptation!  My bags came back over flowing with goodies, so much fibre, I think I've pretty much replaced what I spun up during the Tour this year, which is a nice thought... now if only I had the time to actually use some of it up!

This is my confession

My confession that I have absolutely *no* self control - a couple of weekends full of fibrey goodness... But utter badness for the bank balance. This is my double bed, overflowing with squishiness. And the real confession? Is that I'm actually rather proud and smiley happy about my completely unnecessary fibre indulgence. Cant wait to play with it all, even if it takes years. :)