Lunchtime Sunshine

My lunchtime stroll today took me through the Lace Market. A lovely sunny, autumnal day.

I decided to try out one of my vintage manual lenses, as I've not had a play with one for a while.

Here is St Mary's Church, bathed in sunshine, surrounded by some of the trees that are in the ancient churchyard.

Sundowner

Well I'm back after a few weeks' absence. Has anyone missed me at all?

Due to various things, I've taken a break from blogging. I haven't really missed doing it either, as sometimes it has got to be a bit of a chore.

But anyway, I'm back, and today's photo is of the sun setting behind a dandelion, taken in Highfields.

I had to take quite a few photos to try and get the dandelion in the right place, so that it covers the sun.

It certainly has been lovely and sunny recently. Almost like a proper summer. Although I must admit that I have found it a little too hot sometimes, especially at night, when I've tried to sleep.

If there are any photography geeks reading this, the shutter speed was 1/5000, f2.8 and ISO 100.

Digging Up The Past

There's some archeology going on in the castle grounds at the moment.

It's not on the scale of television's Time Team series, but they do seem to have dug a fair old bit of earth out from the area that they've chosen for the dig.

I have no idea of what they hope to find. Be good if they do dig up something really exciting like one of Robin Hood's arrows, or some of the Sheriff's gold coins.

Laid Out Like Lamb And Lettuce

Our little Oscar can always find somewhere to take it easy. And with this warm weather that we are currently getting, he obviously prefers to be outside.

So does Gail. And when I came home from work the other day, I found them both relaxing on the patio. Gail was sitting, eating an ice cream, while Oscar was stretched out on a large plastic box, where we store some of the garden tools.

He looked so comfortable and contented. So much so, that he didn't mind having his photo taken, yet again!

Wishful Thinking

Gail and I went on a bit of a ten day road trip around Devon and Cornwall a few weeks ago, but I haven't got around to editing many of my photos yet, due to other commitments. So I have two weeks missing from the blog. But hope to start filling in the missing days from tomorrow.

So I thought I would make a bit of a start tonight, with a street scene from St Ives in Cornwall. With it's quaint little streets, and of course the harbour and beaches, meant that I took an awful lot of photos. Gail did too.

One of the highlights was to see our dear friends Stewart & Julie renew their wedding vows after ten years of marriage. Stewart is a photographer and blogger like me, while Julie's main passion is textiles.

A few months we received our invitation to join them in St Ives for their celebration, and as both gail and I have never visited the west country, we jumped at the chance.
It was a lovely sunny day, and everything seemed to go perfectly, right down to the pub meal afterwards.

Wish we were back there, as it's a fabulous place.

Peace And Love

A glorious and sunny evening cycle ride home through Highfields.

Plenty of rowing boats still being enjoyed on the lake. The ice cream van still selling doing a roaring trade from hot students and visitors. Joggers still running, even with the bright sun shining down on them.

Getting towards the other end, I came across two female Asian students posing for photographs being taken by another Asian student. Not with a camera, but with a mobile phone.

So I thought that I would have a go myself. They found it amusing that I would want to take their picture. But we did a little photoshoot, and showed them the results. Which they seemed pleased with.

The girl with the handbag gave me her email address, so that I could send them on to her. Which I have done, as I think it is important to provide photos to people that you have taken their picture of.

I bet when they receive them, they will be excitedly emailing them home to their friends and relations, saying how great things are going in Nottingham and at the university, even if our studies are difficult.

You're Not Going Anywhere

A grand day, so I drove over to Wollaton Park to see the annual car show, that happens on the first weekend of June.

As it was such a lovely day, there seemed to be a thousand cars to look at, both old and new.  Some quite common like the Mini, to some really rare and valuable vehicles, that would set you back many thousands of pounds.

But me being me, I wanted to find something unusual to take. So what about a Dalek, strapped to an old American pick up truck? Now that's different. I have no idea about the what and why's, but it makes for an interesting photo, especially with Wayne Manor in the background.

Jimmy T

Beeston was certainly buzzing today with people, no doubt helped by the very fine and sunny weather.

There was also an event in the Square which was a mix of shopping, an auction and some music, which got people out and about.

Amongst the unusual and handmade items on sale, was this Jimmy Hendrix Tshirt. It certainly is very colourful and shows off his legendary left handed guitar style.

The stall had other colourful clothing on offer, but this certainly caught my eye.

Daisy, Daisy

A simple shot today of a daisy growing in the spring sunshine, during my cycle ride on my way home through Highfields.

Hello Ducky

Here's one of the Highfields' ducks enjoying a bit of sunbathing in the late afternoon sunshine.

The Spirit Of America

Wandering around Hockey yesterday with a pal from work, who also like photography, we came across this rather unusual motorbike.  Unusual, not in the sense of what it looks like, but the fact that it is red, as I tend to see most two wheelers painted black or silver.

Not being very interested in motorbikes, I didn't recognise the native American emblem, but looking it up on Google, it has been made by the Indian Motorcycle Company. I worked out from the UK numberplate that it was registered in the early 1990s, although it looks like a vintage model. So perhaps it's a reproduction.

We never saw the owner. So perhaps he was sitting in one of the nearby cafe's having his lunch. I just wonder how he was dressed. Black leathers perhaps?

Still Life

Marmalade chilling out on the drive, enjoying a little bit of sunshine.

A minute or two later and he was asleep. Oh to be a cat.

Heads Up

A lot of the poppies have now lost their colourful petals and the heads are slowly drying off in the summer sun, ready for the seeds to burst forth, to produce new plants next year.

I of course will be gathering up a lot of the heads and storing them, so that I can scatter them in other parts of the garden next year.

The Buck Stops Here

Passing through Wollaton Park, I noticed a group of deer enjoying the shade from the warm evening sunshine.

Shadow Lines

Some strong late afternoon sunshine has generated a number of shadow lines of trees in Highfields.

You may be able to spot a jogger running along the pathway in the top left hand corner.

Shining

A shot of Highfields basking in the spring sunshine.

Camouflage

The pond has been busy today with frogs enjoying themselves in the sunshine, as there were plenty popping up every so often from the water below. I keep trying to get rid of the duckweed, but with little success so far.

Marmalade

Marmalade enjoying a bit of early morning sunshine. Our little cat is getting on in years now, and he now has to have a pill each day to keep him well. But he still enjoys life in his own way, and is very dear to us.

A Little Ray Of Sunshine

The first daffodil to bloom in our garden, although a few more are slowly popping their heads up out of the soil.

I think it had a head start, as it's home is in the front garden, which gets most of the sun. Well when we get some that is. But at least we know that spring is still getting nearer by the day.

Clog Dancing Can Help You Fly

Beeston's heritage has been on display today in many forms; vehicles, talks, photographs and clog & morris dancing.

The sun has shined for most of the day and so it helped to make it a nice time for everyone who visited the events.