Day 292 - Setting Sun

underglow

Well, that worked out better than expected!

As I was driving home I realised that it's getting dark earlier and earlier, and I suppose we will be putting the clocks back in a few short weeks...available light for getting a decent Photo of the Day is fading daily...

So when I got home, I grabbed the camera and went for a wander around the garden, looking for subjects. 

I got a couple of shots of one of our robin's, but the light was poor...

I got a shot of a crow landing in the field, a lovely profile silhouette...and all blurred and out of focus because it was a true snapshot...

I got a vaguely interesting shot of the top 25% of a large tree over the road, all lit up in the golden evening sun...but it really was only vaguely interesting, and too similar to yesterday's photo to be a serious contender.

I was beginning to give up, and heading back in, hoping that one of the photo's of the robin would come out ok, when I realised the Sun was setting. 

For some reason I'd absently assumed that I couldn't point the camera straight at the Sun...I tried a few shots of trees, and a bird on the wire (avoiding including the sun in the shot), but they seemed a little washed out.  

Still, whilst I was there I figured I might as well take a few shots with the Sun, to see what they might come out like. 

I was really pleased to find they'd captured some of the warmth of the light, and I like the aura effect around the Sun too.

In fact, I found that of all the shots I took, I liked those that included the Sun the most.

bird on a wire

Here I decided to frame it a little differently, and catch a little more context.  Again, I'm pleased with the glare below the sun, and the crow sitting on the wire gives the shot some scale.

Maybe as the evenings draw in over the next few weeks, I'll take the opportunity to practise, and refine my sunset skills...

I'll keep you posted!

B-)

Day 189 - The Longest Day

yurt in the paddock

This is the lovely Yurt-in-the-Paddock, our home whilst we've been here in the Lake District.

A Yurt is a large, round tent, of a style used by nomads in Central Asia for thousands of years.

Inside, the decor is ethnic - I would have guessed Morrocan or similar, but maybe it is Mongolian or something.  In any case, it's cosy and welcoming, and a really lovely place to stay.

With a double bed, and a woodburner for warmth, this is what is known these days as glamping - glamorous camping.

cosy

The view out of the front door of the yurt (yep, it's a tent with an actual door!) looks across the valley of Wasdale.  Looking left from the doorway gives a spectacular view up the valley towards Scafell Pike (the highest point in England), which is a couple of miles distant.

how green is my valley

Last night at midnight, we could see the lights of walkers descending from the summit...perhaps they'd been up there so late to witness the setting sun on the longest day of the year?

The Yurt stands in a paddock (like it says on the tin), with a fenced off garden of its own.  In the main Paddock, a few metres from our door, there is a friesian cow and two young bulls. 

On the first evening we were here, we saw a local hare that lives in the immediate vicinity...Anna saw a deer shortly after that, followed by a rare sighting of a badger that seems to have taken up residence of late.  

During the night we can hear large deer barking around in the field just behind the yurt.

It's a lovely place! 


Today, as befits the date, we had a longest day all of our own.

Up at 8am for a very welcome full English breakfast in the farmhouse, we had a leisurely hour or two at the Yurt, before heading off to Eskdale for some trad climbing at Hare Crag.

It took us an hour or so to scramble and fight our way through thick bracken, and across boggy fells, just to get to the buttresses we were heading for!

I led a long slab route, which started a little nervously... with few opportunities to place protective gear in the rock, a new rock type (granite) to familiarise with, and a blustery wind, it all felt somewhat precarious for the first 15m or so...a bit like Anna's start to Little Chamonix yesterday.

But then the climbing eased, I started to feel more comfortable on the rock, and before long we were at the top, enjoying the lovely views up the valley.
 

rocky perch

We down-climbed an easier side route, which was great fun, then fought our way through more bracken to another buttress, where Anna bravely led a bold route, the brilliantly (although obscurely) named Fireball XL5 (MVS).  

MVS is an unusual grade, only used in the Lake District.   It means Mild Very Severe, which seems contradictory to me...in any case, it seemed like a full on VS as far as I could tell, and definitely a fine lead from Anna.
 

harder than it looks

  Here's a view looking back at the buttress as we made our way down off the crag. 
 

big rocks

For some reason, we were still up for more, so we stopped at the Eskdale Fisherground for some bouldering.  We did a few lovely little problems, before rapidly running out of steam in the warm sunshine.

Still, when we came across this curious little stone doorway on our walk back to the car, Anna couldn't resist trying to climb it!
 

how old is she?

Back at the yurt, we had an hour to take a very much needed shower and started to unwind for the evening.
 

evening in the paddock

There are some funky li'l chickens wandering around on the farm, and Anna took this lovely photo of them outside the main house. 

because chickens

I had a play on the swing because apparently I still don't know how old I am.  I might start a series of upside down photo's!

how old is he?

The hare was pottering about in the paddock, and I managed to get close enough for this nice shot.

hare today

As the evening started to fade, we bought takeaway pizza from a cool little pizzeria in Gosforth, and headed to the coast at Seascale, where we sat and watched the sun go down.

sunset over sellafield

As if that wasn't enough for one day, we then went to the dunes at Drigg, where there is a colony of the rare and protected NatterjackToad.  We didn't see any, as it was 10.30pm by this time (although still not fully dark, being the longest day and all that), although we're pretty sure we heard them croaking in the long dune grass.

By 11pm, we finally got back to yurt, where we were so tired it was a struggle just to walk up the embankment from the car.

When we got there however, the interior of the yurt looked lovely in the soft lighting.

even cosier

And so ended one of the longest days I've ever had!   I'm hoping tomorrow is going to be quieter, or at least easier, but the plan is to go up the valley to the Wast Water to get some photo's, and then go bouldering at St Bees, on the coast...

So we'll see!

B-)

Day 86 - Doing It Wrong

cheap shot

I had a morning from hell today.   Mon(g)day if ever there was one!   

I woke up early, feeling horrible...bunged up, sore sinuses, whoozy head, throat raw, painful chest.

Giving up on the possibility of further sleep, I got up around 6am and prepared a lemsip, then sat and checked mails whilst I attempted to get my brain into gear for a busy day back at work.

After an hour or so, I felt up to getting dressed and heading out...so that's what I did.

I was out of the house by 7.45am...only to find that my car was completely dead...no hint of charge in the battery...the remote lock didn't work, and no lights came on when putting the key in the ignition. 

Sigh...

So I grabbed the jump leads, and Anna's car key, and pulled the bonnet release catch in the car. 

Nothing. 

Huh?!  Try again...nope, nothing happening there.   

A quick scan of Google revealed, with unhelpful vagueness, that some (unspecified) models have a movable Ford badge, under which there's a key lock.  

Nope, can't do it, not on this model, apparently.  

So Anna called the AA out (and had to bung them some cash to upgrade of course).  They came out fairly promptly, to be fair. 

But the AA man couldn't pop the bonnet either...

FFs, really?!

He had to jack the car up and remove the under-tray, after which, if he lay on the ground, he could just about apply a little juice.  

I switched the ignition on..Yay, lights!!

Turned the key, and the engine turned - but wouldn't ignite.  

I ended up having to have a nightmarish tow into a Ford dealer 10 miles away, trying to steer with no servo assistance, and bracing against the crash the AA man seemed determined to cause, repeatedly pulling out in front of cars that had to slam their brakes on to avoid side-swiping me.

And the dealer can't look at it until Wednesday. 

Yay.

So I eventually arrived at work flue-y, worn, and feeling somewhat dishevelled, at around 10.30am...after which, the day went fairly well!

Actual Yay!  :-)

Anna picked me up after work, and I spent the whole journey home trying to take photo's of the sunset from the moving car.  I'm almost never a passenger, so it was a rare opportunity to see over hedgerows, have a bit of a nose and whatnot.

Fortunately I wasn't too optimistic, as the photo's are all as poor as predicted.

But I quite liked two or three of them, and this one in particular just has something interesting about it, although I can't put my finger on quite what that something is. 

Anyway, all's well that ends well, and today definitely improved as it waned...

Life's like that, I think, don't you?

If this isn't your experience, then might I humbly suggest that you're doing it wrong?

:-p

Day 21 - Golden Glow

Not a Nuthatch

The weather is still wet and windy, the roof is still leaking, and the unsightly stain on our bedroom ceiling is growing by the day!

So I've been up in the loft trying to put down some plastic covering and a large tray to catch the leaks.  Of course, it's stopped raining now I've done that... 

I also spent quite a bit of time trying to get a decent photo of the birds on the feeders outside my window.  Failed completely...the digital zoom isn't all that, and the birds are so skittish that just standing near a window is liable to make them flit off.   

This afternoon we went and did the shopping at Sainsbury's.  As I was unloading the car back at home, I spied a gorgeous little nuthatch.   As I fumbled my phone out of my pocket, and tried to fire up the camera, it flew above me and over to the hedgerow in the garden.  Following through the gate, I picked my way across the soggy, muddy lawn.    I tried to spot him, but he'd faded into the undergrowth, even as the weak daylight was beginning to fade away.

I thought that was it, all chances missed and opportunities passed, and started to ponder whether there was anything else in the house I could get an interesting snap of. 

As I pondered, I noticed that a lovely sunset was developing off to the west, so nipped upstairs to try to get a decent shot over the top of the hawthorn.  I tried a variety of settings on my camera, still trying to get a feel for what works when...but when I got downstairs and plugged into my PC, none of the photos had really caught the beauty of it. 

I really thought it was all over now, when Anna pointed out that the sunset had rekindled itself and was now even more glorious than before.  

I rushed upstairs and as I leaned out of the window, trying to get a clear, steady shot, I noticed our next door neighbour Dave, out in his garden with his iPad, trying to capture the same shot.  We marvelled at the lovely warm light, and nattered for a minute whilst ineptly snapping away.

So I was really pleased to find that some of the pics had captured some of the warmth of the scene at least. 

I know I'm still a bumbling amateur when it comes to photography, and I'm doing all this on my phone...but I feel as though I'm making a little headway, and getting some nice shots now and then.   

It will be curious to look back over the year, come next Winter, to see whether I have made any clear, discernible progress.  

Of course, I'm under no illusions that any of this is of any particular value...the Earth will keep right on turning regardless, just as it should.

We are always hearing about legacy, about what we might leave behind, or how we might be remembered. 

I don't quite understand this.  Why do we want to leave our mark on the planet?  Isn't this just selfishly egotistical?   What makes us so special that the Earth (or the rest of us) should remember us for eternity?  What makes you so special that the Earth should forever remember you?   Can any individual be so significant?   Can any species be so significant?  

Surely not homo sapiens, in any case - destructive parasites that we are...

Shouldn't we rather be striving to adhere to the conservationists (and climbers) mantra - Leave No Trace?

Your conscience knows the answer to this...have a word with it and see what it says.

Ooh, that was all going so well, until I wandered off a bit at the end! 

That's how I roll...   Bo)