Look what I got..

I've been really lucky lately.   Firstly, I received a packet of lovely vintage patterns from Elaine at Ted and Bunny - beautifully packaged (I'd unpacked them before I had the camera so you'll have to imagine) with gingham ribbon and two lovely buttons.

Then I had a lovely Pay it Forward gift from Jane at Marmalade Jam - handcrafted and full of nice goodies..

Including this bookmark with one of her lovely handmade buttons.

And as if all that wasn't lucky enough, I then won a giveaway from Jill at Third Age Musings - a lovely hand made Moth book..

Links to all these blogs are on my right sidebar - go and have a look.  

Abandoned the latest set of accounts yesterday and popped round to Judith's (Relatively Retiring).  Lovely to sit in her garden and chat and catch up on her news.  Today I've been hard at work all day, determind to finish all this finance stuff and get on to something nicer - like taking my camera out and about.  We're waiting for M to get an appointment to have cataracts done so that will cause a fair amount of chaos when it happens and we shall be housebound much more for a while. Hope the weather holds for a few days - I still haven't had my birthday treat and H needs to go to London.

Wasted a fair amount of time trying to photo these two from our landing window - they kept disappearing over the hill.  We sometimes get as many as twenty floating above us but I guess it's too windy at present.  I expect the view from the air is spectacular.

Visiting cat is keeping us on our toes - 'where's the cat' is a constant cry before we open the front door or the door to the basement.  Hopefully, its people are having a nice time away.

Many of you will be all too familiar with the views from the top floor of this house, but it seemed a good test for the zoom on the new camera.  Above is the tower at Upton-on- Severn (about 7 miles away), and below, in the other direction, Worcester Cathedral (about 10 miles or so).  It wasn't the brightest of days but I'm quite impressed by the detail.

I also took these flowers, which my lovely brother-in-law in Australia sent for my birthday ,with the macro setting.

And lastly, a couple of outdoors shots. First, one of the Malvern Water fountains - of which there are many dotted around the hills, where you can collect the mineral water directly from the source.  It's absolutely lovely, very cold and fresh. The wells come in many shapes and sizes, from Victorian edificies to plain stand pipes, this is a more elaborate one that stands on the terrace at the top of the town by the Elgar statue which I 've mentioned before.  Near it is one of the Malvern gas lamps - one of which is reputed to have inspired C.S Lewis to include the lampost in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

I haven't cropped or edited any of these as I'm still finding out what the camera does, but I'm really enjoying having a good working camera again.   Hope you don't all get too fed up with me sharing my efforts!

Life is full of surprises

Had really decided this morning that I would go out and buy the Panasonic camera that I fancied - especially as, by coincidence, daughter has just bought one and I was able to have a go.  H said he'd come too, but could we wait till after lunch?  Didn't think too much about  this as I knew he was busy with some music project.
Around 11.00 the postman came with a parcel from Amazon.  H had done a bit of research and found  and purchased a camera that he thought would suit me rather well - it's an Olympus SP800-UZ, not one I'd considered.  It's a little bit heavier than the Panasonic and less user friendly at first sight but, in fact, very easy once you read the instructions.  It's most admirable feature is a massive x30 zoom, and it also has a large built in memory as well as the capacity to take an SD card, several fancy settings like a fish-eye lense, and it charges through the computer or through an adapter.  So, it's charging as I type and I should have some photos to show you soon.  It reminds me of our beloved Canon AE1 which myriad extra lenses and filters and served us well until digital arrived (it still works but film is such a hassle these days).
Anyone who hasn't already, do go and look at the site which Judith (Relatively Retiring) recommends, belonging to her nephew Pete .
His photos are breathtaking and he gives the specifications and other info, too.  The bird and wildlife ones are particularly stunning.

Thank you to the people who have emailed over the last few days, I do so appreciate your kind words and encouragement.  I've had a Pay it forward gift from Jane at Marigold Jam, some lovely vintage knitting patterns from Elaine at Ted and Bunny, and I've won a giveaway from Jill at Third Age Musings so all those things are to come in future posts now, hopefully, I can take some photos.

Hope you're having a good weekend.

Here be dragons

Went with H to Tewkesbury yesterday.  I don't normally go to these organ recitals but H is still feeling a bit off colour and a occasionally a bit dizzy so I went as driver.  There are so many fantastic buildings in Tewkesbury that you're spoilt for choice (lots more photos here) but it was quite busy and crowded on the pavements so I confined myself to just a few.  Firstly, doors from the Abbey - see the site above for pictures of the beautiful interior:

Then, wandering into the town to get some items for M from Boots, we suddenly noticed this:

Not a wonderful photo because to step back further I would have been in the road on a blind corner,  but I did get a bit more detail of the door frame:

And what, I hear you ask, is behind this impressive doorway?  Well if you've already enlarged the first picture, you'll know.  It's the outer door to a dentist's surgery!

I've been looking for gates and doors and door furniture to photograph for an art project .  I thought I was fairly familiar with Worcester city centre, but it's amazing what's there when you really look - especially through a camera lens.

I loved the way this little public right of way leads through a door of a medieval house.

This lovely little courtyard links to several others full of shops and cafes.  This still a bank -

But these aren't quite so lucky:

But this shop is still serving its purpose

And, unlike St Swithuns which is being lovingly preserved, this Georgian church has become a restaurant

Though it has been cleaned and some of its stonework preserved.

It has quite an interesting history - perhaps just as well if diners don't know about the body in the tower?

Oh dear, what can the matter be....

H hasn't been feeling well for the last few days - he often finds that damp, humid rainy weather gives him breathing problems and worries that his heart problem may be at the bottom of it. Last evening he had a slight scare but the spray he uses worked effectively and this morning he's been a bit better.  Mid morning I was reading this post by Wend at Ticking Stripes in my office room on the top floor, when he came puffing up the stairs to say he was going to our rather eccentric local shop for the bread (shop sales great bread and cakes, occasional local fruits, local free-range eggs and a range of other expensive/ eclectic goodies like Italian biscuits, Persephone books on cookery, ribbon from VV Rouleau, but don't expect to buy butter for your bread or run up there if you're out of milk. Oh, and it only opens Weds, Fri and Sat - but you can get a cup of coffee and a croissant!)
After he'd spent 10 minutes or so telling me why the Latin graffitti Wend photographed was incorrect in both English and Latin versions (better ingnore that, I usually do), he wandered off downstairs and I heard a door close.

M's phone rang so I couldn't hear anything else but her conversation for about 15 minutes and I assumed H was still chatting in the shop.  When M finished I heard what I thought was someone was knocking at the front door. I went down two flights of stairs to the hall - no-one at door?  I went outside in case someone was walking away - not a soul in sight.  I can back in and started back upstairs - the knocking started and I thought it was coming from the basement  and then I could hear H's voice calling.  Fearing the worst I rushed to the door to the basement - H is clumsy on stairs and has more than once tripped down the last step and banged his head .  Then I saw it - the screw that holds the locking mechanism to the downstairs loo was on the hall floor outside and H was locked in! 
Once he'd been released and we'd fallen about the place laughing, a thought suddenly occured to me: 'Why didn't you shout? I asked.
'I didn't want you to run down two flights of stairs and possibly trip and break your neck because you thought I was having a heart attack ' he said.
Now why didn't I think of that?
 

Pay it forward

You may have seen this logo before on other blogs.  The idea is that I promise to send a small gift to the first three people who comment on this post, on the understanding that they will 'pay it forward' in a similar way through their own blog.  It's a lovely, simple idea to spread a little kindness - gifts don't have to be expensive or elaborate, it's the thought that counts.  I saw this post at Marigold Jam, and for once I was in time to be one of the lucky three.

So, if you'd like to take part, leave a comment and I'll send a little something to the first three.  It has to be sent within the next 365 days.  Hopefully, it'll be a bit sooner than that!