Sketch book challenge

Last month I Joined up with the sketch book challenge as I thought it would give some ideas for subjects to keep me going on my personal challenge of a sketch a day, which I've kept up since April last year.

The challenge for this month is close up, so when I was looking back at my photos from Suffolk I remembered this water aid clock that I'd seen on Southwold pier, this is how it looked last summer.



And last week it looked like this.



And I nearly got frostbite in my fingers getting this shot.

So sticking to the challenge I thought I'd crop the image to the details I liked best



......and gave it an ink filter in PS just for fun....... I thought it might help me sort out the shapes, when I sketched it, but it didn't and the sketch eneded up like this.



It was fun to do and made me think differently, so thanks to those at the sketchbook challenge.

Bits and bobs

When I was at Dungeness last time I spotted this container with a paint job on the side.

So I took a close up



And then I played



The following pics are for Karen whose work is amazing for those of you who don't know of her blog.

These are pics of a cutwork bedspread I saw in the Chateau Villandry last Autumn.

Shane Williams

Just watched this fabulous 'feel good' program on iplayer it's about the:

"Wales rugby legend Shane Williams reveals the inside story of his rugby career in a candid portrait of one of Wales's most treasured stars and the ups and downs of his life" .........and so worth the watch even if you don't 'do' rugby I'm sure you'll enjoy it.

Of course I'm biased as my very talented son was the editor.

Stole away to Suffolk

We decided to take a short break to Suffolk, where it's lovely and sunny but bitterly cold.



I call this the Gingerbread House, it sits right in the middle of the road at Aldeburgh.



The house plaque.



A High Street mural.



The sea and wind were so strong that we could't walk along the beach path.



And this was my mobile studio view for the afternoon.

Birthday celebrations and more walks

On Tuesday this week it was my DH's birthday, so over the weekend we had celebrations with the family.

We started off with DD3 and had a beautiful lamb roast and a little too much celebratory wine, so next morning we decided to take ourselves for a nice walk up the hill and down the other side.





And of course it was such hard work we had to have a birthday coffee and cake, well I didn't have the cake as our DD had served a wonderful full English breakfast less than 2 hours before.

On the way back I was looking for pattern shots and took this one in desperation ........



.......not knowing what was in the wood yard just round the next bend.





Apparently they made this in the quiet period, just for fun, isn't that wonderful, it even has inside accommodation.



On our way home, I spotted the "old man's beard" and couldn't resist this shot.



Our next visit was to DD2 who'd been very busy with her children making a birthday cake and cards.





Don't they look proud.

The following day it was the turn of DD1, but before we went there we had another walk and as I thought I'd left my camera with DD2 I had to use my phone to take the next 2 shots, I found it in my hand bag later, another senior moment.





We had a lovely visit to our DD who'd also been baking, and listening to Grandad's tall tales of how old he was to one of her sons.



We had a lovely roast dinner, so no cooking for me again, what a great weekend.

And there's more to come with a very special present soon to arrive from our son for his Dad.

So thank you all so much for a wonderful birthday weekend.

Dungeness again

The weather changed and the illnesses retreated so we've escaped to our favourite bolt hole, Dungeness, it's like coming home for me, I start relaxing the minute we drive up the road.

We had a lovely pink sky on Wednesday after we arrived at about 3.0pm



And then the following morning we woke to this sky



It's not a great pic because it was too cold to go outside, so I took it through a dirty window.

This one just epitomises the place.



As does this one



And this was in a deserted garden



and this isn't lace as I first thought, but a star fish !



See you all soon.

A walk in the mud

Well what a turn around in the weather. Yesterday was all sunshine and a blessed relief from the grey days of winter, and today was like the end of a hurricane, Im so glad we took advantage of the sun yesterday to get a very muddy walk.



When we saw the state of the path we should have been expecting what came next.



Why didn't I buy those wellies instead of snow boots.

But we trudged on over the field and were finally rewarded with this.



And a little further down the path there was this lovely collection on mini fungi.







I bet these aren't there today after that savage wind.



I couldn't resist these lovely old trees against the such a blue sky, I hope they're still standing.



And lastly on our way back home I spotted this lovely fence that they're laying opposite some very swish allotments that we have our name on the list for, maybe one day.



A belated happy New Year to all the bloggers and family who are kind enough to drop in and browse on my blogs.