April Photo a Day Challenge - Day Three.... "Mail"

Day 3 and today's theme is "Mail" so I thought I would take a snap of my letter-inspired money box which j'adore!!

April Photo a Day Challenge - Day Two.... "Colour"

Day Two and I thought this "colourful" shot of the back of my Kindle was perfect for colour....

April Photo a Day Challenge - Day One.... "Your Reflection"

A new month and a new photo-a-day challenge. Having just started back at work after gall-bladder-gate, I have been exhausted and didn't think I was up for another challenge but then I thought ... when has THAT ever stopped me before!

So here's Day 1's "Your Reflection" photo....
April? Photo-a-Day? BRING IT ON!!!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Thirty-One.... "Where You Relax"

Day 31.... I can't believe I've made it to the end of my first Photo-a-Day Challenge! Yeah me!
Today's theme is "Where You Relax" and for me that's only one place (which does that every time). My home. J'adore.

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Thirty.... "Toy"

Day 30's "Toy" was a no brainer... Introducing "Tubby", the teddy I was given the day I was born...

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Nine.... "Feet"

Day 29 ... Feet
Rather than my own feet, I went with the bottom cup of my stack-of-cups Geisha pattern featuring feet.....

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Eight.... "Trash"

Day 28's "Trash" theme had me visit my local tip for a snap. I like the way this one came out (and I love how clean my local tip is ....)

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Seven.... "Your Name"

Today's theme is "name" and after several different shots, I decided to simply snap the name off my birth certificate ... the piece of paper that actually made my name official. Where it all started.

The Hunger Games: The Book

I had a fleeting knowledge of “The Hunger Games” in only a way you can when the hype spills out onto magazines, tag lines and sneaks into conversation. It wasn’t as though I ignored the hype – it just wasn’t for me; a series of books, aimed at children, about some kind of macabre Olympics in an unknown time and an unrecognisable place? No thank you.

Exceptional books have a magic that allows for them to somehow weave in and out of your environment, often ignoring your own resistance to find themselves on your bedside table. So here I was. “The Hunger Games” downloaded to my Kindle and a determination not to like it one bit.

And I didn’t like it. I didn’t even adore it. There was a new level of adulation I have for “The Hunger Games” that I still don’t quite know how to describe it. The pure adoration I feel encompasses everything to an extent it devours it. I adored the characters and their authenticity and complexities. The adventure consumed me to a point where it’s easy to lose yourself and lose time as you turn the pages. The only reason I didn’t finish it in one sitting was the innate need for the story to live longer.

“The Hunger Games” has the extraordinary ability to never really leave you – it filled my dreams and my days are spent wondering how the journey will unfold for the characters I’ve grown to love.

I haven’t felt this way about a book in such a long time, I don’t really know if I have ever really felt this way.  Bereft at finishing “The Hunger Games”, my only salvation is I have the remaining books of the triology, “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay”, to console me.

Highly, highly recommended.

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Six.... "Key"

Day 26 and the theme is "Key". I was tempted to do something twee like a photo of my dog with the caption "Key to my heart" but I ended up choosing to snap a pic of these gorgeous, giant vintage keys which have been painted hanging at my Mum's house.

Now if I was still in Florida, I could have taken a photo of the "Keys" there for a different angle.... (I wonder if Photo-a-Day Challenge creator  #FatMumSlim would give me a travel budget to expand the scope for the photos I could take???!!)

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Five.... "Breakfast"

Nom nom.
Day 25 and the theme is (burp) "Breakfast". Times like this I wish I were a chef or in an American Diner somewhere so I could dazzle with a photo of some food wonder masterpiece. Instead it's a cup of coffee, some peanut butter toast and an Actimel. Not quite the breakfast of champions but it starts my day off right....

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Four.... "An Animal"

Day 24 and today's theme is "an animal".... that being said,  my cat Marshall is more than just any old animal. I adore him. Love this photo of Marshall looking at me through my bedroom mirror.

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Three.... "Moon"

Day 23 and today's theme is "moon". I didn't think my trusty iPhone (no matter how good I think it is) would capture an amazing shot of the moon so I went with a photo of the "Mineral Moon".

The photo I took is of the image recorded by the Jupiter-bound Galileo spacecraft as it passed near our own large natural satellite in 1992 showing the different minerals on the moon. It still absolutely blows my mind away!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-Two.... "Kitchen Sink"

My interpretation of Day 22's "Kitchen Sink" theme......

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty-One.... "Delicious"

Day 21 (already!) and the theme is "Delicious". There are so many different ways to go with this but I went with delicious nosh and couldn't resist photographing this French Fruit Tart before then scoffing it down (with the help of my family who are suddenly extremely interested in what's next on my Photo Challenge, LOL!) ... Nom Nom!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twenty.... "Before / After"

Day 20's suggestion is "Before / After" and since it's a Photo-a-Day Challenge rather than PhotoS, I thought I would represent this in one photo (above) by combining the photos I took (below).

Green Thumb in Training!

My new Primula ... potted to "perfection" and brightening my kitchen window!



There's a lot of thinking you can do when you're off work for months on end. Evenmore when you're housebound and bed-ridden. Not being able to do anything soon has you dreaming when you're fighting fit and back in the "land of the living".

As the days passed, I would dream about travelling or redecorating or new hobbies. So much so I started writing a list.

Be a gardener. Be passionate about gardening.  These two small things surprisingly wheedled their way onto my list. Where did they come from? In 36 years, I've never shown an interest (besides picking the one lone daffodil Mum painstakingly grew for five years in Australia ... by the head alone! It's STILL a sore spot...)

Fortunately I come from a long line of accomplished gardeners and before I knew it, I was surrounded with magazines, books, planners and a whole host of tools ready for when I can hit the ground running! It could be part "cabin fever", part "frustration" (at not being able to do anything at all) and part the yearning of a secret gardener inside of me. Whatever it is, I am REALLY excited to tackle this new hobby and as for right now, well I can't to snuggle down tonight and read more about pruning roses and preparing soil in this month's Gardener's World!

April Photo-a-Day Challenge .... The List is Revealed!

April's list of Photo-a-Day Challenges has been unveiled by @FatMumSlim and I must admit I am equal parts excited and hyperventilating. Your Reflection (yikes!) Something you drew (Oh my word!) Still it's a CHALLENGE for a reason.... let me at 'em!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Nineteen.... "Funny"

Day 19 and today's theme for interpretation is "funny". After a lot of umming and ahhing, I decided to represent this with a list of "funny" DVDs.....

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Eighteen.... "Corner of your Home"

Day Eighteen of the Photo-a-Day Challenge and today's suggestion for interpretation and representation is "Corner of your Home" so here's a snap taken in my bedroom (the corner, naturally).

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Seventeen.... "Green"

Day 17 and the theme is "Green" (I guess it was WAY too obvious to wait until St Patrick's Day tomorrow to use this word!).

Everywhere is pretty green at the moment so I wasn't sure what to capture including whether to be literal or to go with the "green with envy" route but in the end this photo chose itself.  A copse filled with daffodils... I couldn't resist!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Sixteen .... "Sunglasses"

Day 16 .... "Sunglasses"
Yes you read that right, "sunglasses". Do I go with novelty over-sized glasses? What about some sunglasses on my pooch (well she didn't like that idea!) so after a few (unsuccessful) shots of my glasses on their own, Hello Kitty stepped in and saved the day.

Tomoggy, "green" ..... thinking, thinking....

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Fifteen .... "Car"

Day 15 ... almost halfway in my first Photo-a-Day Challenge!  Today's suggestion for interpretation was "car". I toyed with whether to go down the route of real car or model (get it??! toy ... oh ...) and my computer mouse won. Basically because it's so darn cute. A mini replica of my own Gino Ginnelli, a Fiat 500, WITH working headlights (the mouse although I'm pleased to say that Gino's lights also work).

Hands down winner for me!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Fourteen.... "Clouds"

Day 14 brings us the inspirational theme word of "Clouds" and after umming and ahhing, I went with this shot taken from my back bedroom early in the morning. I love it as it's so beautiful, colourful, calming and majestic that it looks false.

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Thirteen .... "A Sign"

Today's Photo for Day 13 of March's Photo-a-Day Challenge - the theme was "A Sign" and I went literal (as opposed to "a sign of the times" etc). I love the name of this lane so it came to mind as soon as I read the suggestion for today. There was another sign I would have loved to photograph but it was an hour away and I wasn't up for the drive today.

My runner-up was my beloved "Please remove your Choos" sign which still makes me smile (evident by the fact I have it up in my house but don't actual expect anyone to take their shoes off!!)

 The remaining three are signs capturing village life in Yorkshire - all of which I love. A fun assignment today!



March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Twelve.... "Fork"

Day Twelve asks for an interpretation or representation of "fork"... I finally went with "fork" in the road but I considered photos of cutlery, fork in a tree and even a real fork (cutlery) ON the road representing fork in the road in a slightly odd way.

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Eleven.... "Someone You Talked To Today"

Day Eleven and the thematic suggestion is Someone You Talked To Today and for me, it means my parents (if it was someone you talk to everyday, it would definitely be my Mum). I thought I would try and represent this in a different way other than a direct portrait.

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Ten.... "Loud"

First, someone get me a drink stat. My heart is still beating a million beats per minute!
Day Ten and the theme is "Loud" and (unexpected) popping balloons ARE loud! My thought was to IMPLY loud but balloon after balloon kept popping, I kept screaming and dropping my iPhone ..... How I suffer for my "art"... LOL. Still I got the shot I wanted.

Now where's that drink?

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Nine.... "Red"

Day Nine. NINE. Already?! Today's inspirational word and theme is "Red" and nothing says "red" to me like this 'phone box. J'adore (if I do say so myself).

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Eight.... "Window" ... plus those that didn't make it!

Day Eight ... "Window". I loved today's challenge as it seems I am surrounded by heaps of fabulous photo-worthy windows and found it hard to narrow it down to just one but in the end that's what I did by choosing the photo above. I loved the reflection of the trees in the glass as well as the weathered wood framing.



Contender One - Castle windows

Contender Two - Windows

Contender Three - Caged window

Contender Four - Arched windows feat. Georgie!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Seven .... "Something You Wore"

Here we are at Day Seven... already! Today's inspiration? "Something You Wore".

Now I know what you're thinking - there can only be one photo to represent this. Genuine wooden clogs from Amsterdam. So glad you agree. Now off I clomp ... *clomp*  *clomp* *clomp*

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Six .... "5pm"

Day Six of the March Photo-a-Day Challenge and today's inspirational word? "5pm". How best to illustrate this than a giant wine glass, filled with used corks and a 5pm somewhere sign?!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Five .... "Smile"

Presenting Day Five of the March Photo-a-Day Challenge .... "Smile" (a.k.a. The Happy Doughnut!) 'nough said!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Four .... "Bedside"

Before I start explaining today's Photo of the Day interpretation of the inspirational word (then again how hard is bedside?) I thought I would fill you in on my latest idea for this project. Since I started it at Mum's sans camera and only equipped with my iPhone, I thought I would take all March's photos with my iPhone (will be problematic at times) and look at using my "real" camera all next month, (already talking about next month .... whaaaaat???!!)

So the "explanation"? Well the word to inspire us was bedside so I decided to take a shot of my bedside table. Couldn't quite get the wow factor I wanted so decided to try and do a combined shot of the table from different angles and quite liked the outcome.

Love that each day's challenge makes me think what to shoot, when and how. Fab Photo Challenge. Big thumbs up so far!

March Photo a Day Challenge - Day Three .... "Your Neighbourhood"

Day Three of the March Photo a Day Challenge and today's instruction .... "Your neighbourhood". This also meant leaving my parent's house for the first time since the op (how I suffer for my art, LOL).

T'was painful but I think truly worth it!