Monty is poorly

Sneezing.... again and again and again.

Lazing around on a summer evening

Playing in the flower pots

Poor Monty, our Shorthaired Curly Selkirk Rex, is definitely under the weather. Head down looking sorry for himself, not eating much and when he does it sets off a fit of sneezing!! I think as his nasal passage is blocked to try and eat and swallow and breathe is causing him problems. With the nasal situation it seems it has also blocked his tear ducts therefore causing one eye to weep incessantly.

Poor boy, it doesn't help himself though as I have had to bring him inside from the wet rainy outdoors... again and again and again.

Therefore on the way back from taking my daughter to work I dropped in at the vets and we will kill two birds with one stone by getting Monty sorted and taking Bertie for his microchip later today.

My poor boy.......

Update - He came back having had a couple of injections. So this morning less sneezing, much happier within himself and ate a couple of bowls of food. Hopeful that he is better.

Playing with younger brother Bertie

Harvey, Reuben and Monty examing the snow

Hubby....where in the World is he today!!!

Family outside Harry Potter Warner Bros, Watford.

Reapplying Mosquito repellent and removing leeches again

Typical weekend!! Hubby, daughter and Monty, when he was little

When my husband first started in his line of work he stayed very much fixed on site for years. However as the years have gone by the necessity to be mobile has become even more important. This used to mean staying away within the country, down in London, up in Leeds, across in Derby. However this has now expanded to longer stays abroad. I know lots of people do it but we are still getting used to it. Initially it was staying in Germany all week then coming back at weekends however as time constraints pushed it meant we saw him once in 6 weeks and that was for a day, driving all the way to Gatwick on a Saturday to then take him back there on the Monday morning for 6.00 am. However now things have spiralled again and this time Indianapolis calls in the US. The next time we see him home is late September!!! I hope that I will push for a visit to him for his Birthday....let's see if we can pull it off.

Trying to keep the blog nice but aarrrgghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Here is a bird watcher!

Morning stroll

I better get the camera out for lots of incidental family photos to keep him in the loop......

Eyes up!!!!

Photography - Love it.... love my Canon

Taken at a falconry display when visiting Cotsworld Wildlife Park

How to compete with a Bird watching addict!! Well if you can't beat them join them so to speak....not exactly but going on long walks looking for birds does have its compensations in beautiful scenery and wildlife photos.

I always did like taking photos in the days of film, so long ago!!!! when the kids came along they became my main focus in the photographs I took.

The only issue I have ever found with the SLR cameras is the weight of them, it does put you off taking  it around all the time. I do find I have to plan when I am going to use my SLR as it is not just the weight of the camera but the lenses you have to carry which is the pain, especiallly those for wildlife.

In Morocco, Oasis Flint.

At the moment I have had my canon 5D Mark 2 for around three years so it is getting a bit long in the tooth when compared to the all singing and dancing new designs out there, and it has been through the wars. On holiday in Turkey last year I fell with all my weight with the camera and luckily it hit the one safe metal area on the camera but denting it quite severely.



On setting out with my photography I used Sigma lenses as they were within our price range, my favourite was the old Bigma Sigma!! 50-500mm - you needed the muscles of a wrestler to use it handheld but I managed it!! my other favourite was my 15-30 mm fish eye type, this gave me great photos. However all these meant you had to compromise with the light as they all needed bright summer sun to work at their best. I then lead onto my 100-400 L Canon lens, brilliant for wildlife. My only qualm was when the lens was still under warranty we had used the lens in a very steamy wet forest and this got into the lens even though they said it was waterproof!!! I thought it would be mended under warranty however they stated that STEAM did not count as water and so we had to pay for the new optics!!!! Not pleased. After this my wide angle lens I chose was the 17-40 L, I had been wanting the 16-35mm as it had low light use but this has been a good staple lens. My very very very best fun lens is the 50 mm Canon 1.8 mm lens, at £90 it is a cheap piece of plastic but oh what fun you can have with the depth of field and working in the evening and morning light. This is my stay on lens and I love it.

At a falconry site in Suffolk

To capture the photo is the first task and then to play with it on the computer. Initially I used Capture One which I did love and gave great tones to faces etc, I really only tinkered with boosting colours, straightening and removing dust sensor marks. On getting the Mac I went onto Aperture and I HATE it, it is so slow, if I see that whirly gig timer again, ughhhh but I'm stuck with it as I am not going to pay hundreds for Photoshop. I also hate the way I have to do a work round just to avoid Apple from taking over my photos, I have to keep working with reference copies etc, ughhhh.

Some more of my photos can be seen on Flickr, as can be seen on the blog below.

Around 5.00am in the Cairngorms, Scotland

Around 5.00 am in the Cairngorms , Scotland

In a Masai village in Amboseli, Kenya

Explore

Explore , a set on Flickr.

This is a set of photos that have been on the Explore page on Flickr

Start of the holidays.....Memories of Cornish teenage holidays

Kynance Cove - relaxing

Sennen after a very hot day sunbathing

It felt so odd today....usually at the beginning of the summer holidays we are getting ready to go away camping or abroad but this time no. The little ones are going independent on us!!! Really it was our fault... the cost of taking them away on my OHs birdwatching based holidays was getting tooooo steep for our purse. We have had some fantastic holidays where we have been able to get the best out of the scenery and the wildlife. I think they do realise they have been so fortunate.

We did always however also go camping for a couple of weeks every summer. No this wasn't glamping at all, good basic camping in a tent in a field. Wow, I am feeling so many pangs wishing I was there in that field now. Usually around February we would book the campsite as it was sheltered and extremely close to Sennen and all the beaches we wanted in Cornwall.

Camping site with added friends

Our set up

My beautiful Previa, it's even a washing line and a kitchen

Games night- swing ball, uno and cards

Our trip would start with our beloved old Toyota Previa, it would then take the strain of us all plus friends if coming. On would go the Thule box, the longest and biggest box they had, filled with sleeping bags, inflatable beds and boats, oars, cooking stuff, gas bottles, tent, extra tent etc etc etc etc. As we got to Penzance we would then shop and shop big for food for the hungry teenagers and this would sit on our laps until we got to the campsite. We would then spew out of the car, just like the scene on Harry Potter where the car ejects Harry and Ron when by the Whomping Willow.

The kids would have been primed, and primed again - when we go on holiday nobody makes any narky remarks whilst getting the site ready, that includes getting things out of the car, inflating beds and putting up the tent. Not a word...... not one word of criticism!!!!! My team, was a team to behold.....everyone knew their place and their job. We would have our blister tent plastered on the field, arranged so we did not all fall out of bed on the slope and not in line with the wind or the water flow if it rains. As soon as the food was in, pods and beds up, bags in - the swimming costumes would come out and off we went for our first dip  in the sea.

Youngest at Sennen

Youngest son teasing my daughter

Youngest son and friend slamming the waves

Eldest son body surfing

We loved many beaches but a good basic starter beach just to shake off the car journey is Sennen. Too many people sometimes but ice cream on tap, chips and drinks if you want them and if you are lucky a parking spot down by the beach. Yummmmmm.

Kynance at low tide and the walk to it

Two weeks we usually had down here, a lovely little informal campsite called Kelynack. It would be our base for visiting the Lizard peninsula, here we would visit Mullion, Church Cove and best of all Kynance. What a stunning, stunning beach.....yes it needs a walk UP and down, yes you have to know your tides!!!! but going on an ebbing tide would expose a sandy beach with massive monolith like rocks upon which you could rest. The little cafe also does the best prawn sandwiches EVER.

Eldest son and me at Kynance

Kynance on a rising tide

Portheras, yes my camera did get wet

Coming back to the Penrith area Portheras became our new secret best beach. To access you had to go down a farm lane and pay the farmer. Down a short walk and climb you came to a quiet beach, enclosed but facing the fullness of the Atlantic. This we experienced on one occasion when the waves were pulling out the sand from the beach exposing rotting seaweed but with no guards we did have heaps of dangerous fun. The waves crashing above us and dragging us back.

Portheras on a calm day!!

I think you're surrounded

Boat fun at St Levan

St Levan boat fights

Riding the waves at St Levan

Porthcurno is such a famous beach but I think we have never taken the kids there but we have gone to the quieter beaches either side!!!!!! Head into Porthcurno but do not stop keep heading forward to the Minack theatre, keep driving along a narrow narrow road until you reach the St Levan church car park. From here walk along a tiny path usually nettle covered for around 1/4 mile, then you come to the cliff edge, scramble down and you will have another quiet beach to laze on for hours. The scramble down is hard with inflatable boats , lunch, water, bats, and balls. 

Logan's rock beach

If you choose to go to the other side of Porthcurno, there is a beach which at low tide joins with this one however you have to take the signs to Logan's rock. Follow the road up and you will find by a tiny shop a car park. Follow the signs to the cliff edge.One way wil take you to Porthcurno but the other to the quiet secluded beach, however as it is secluded it has occasionally been taken over by nudists. The fantastic thing about this beach is the shallow sand banks which allow the tidal water to warm as it comes in. No large waves here, but sitting in the water as it laps around you at 4.00pm is a lovely way to finish a day.

Daughter checking on make up!!

Eldest in the warm shallows

Occasionally the kids would want a thrill which would mean we would have to head off near to Newquay. Close to and almost attached to that beach is an area which has steep rocks. To access you have to go down a series of small lanes and park in an isolated hotel car park. The fun of this beach is at high tide when you can jump off the rocks into the deep water however the skill is again knowing the tides and planning your holiday around this and the Kynance beach which are tide dependant. This is not a laying down on the sandy beach day but inflating the boat and jumping into it from a great height or just jumping from the rocks, again I will add we only ever did it within 1 hour of high tide either side.

Near Newquay, me and my youngest

Jumping at high tide, I do get a tide chart to check

Daughter going for the boat

A treat at Lamorna at the end of a walk

Ahhh Mousehole, what can I say about you....my family home. So much of our family history is here. It is a quaint fishing village that has roads half the time the width of a horse and is a nightmare in mid summer to drive through, so much so I eventually naturally went out two miles and back in again from the main road just to get to the other side. I had seen far too much paint  off cars and anger to bother. Mousehole has a lovely harbour which again when the tide is at it highest floats the fishing boats and means you can jump in from the harbour wall. Now that is fun!!!!! And then there is the loveliest of walks from here to Lamorna cove. Beautiful and gentle walk with the promise of a pasty or ice-cream or even a warm cocoa when you get there.

Mousehole harbour jumping, my father used to do this

One of our very special treats was just before 5 pm each evening to hit the very, very local B and B  to the camp site, all of 200 metres away, which did in its gardens the very, very, very best of cream teas, warm just made scones, home made jams, lashings of clotted cream and gorgeous tea. The kids, on a cold day or even not, would have a little piggy- a hot chocolate with cream, marsh mallows, and a chocolate flake in, yumm yumm.

The BEST cream teas in the world, in my opinion

These are my happy memories........ I love Cornwall