long time no post......

I am not even going to look at when I or Sunny last posted as I know it is an age away.

Apologies for this... life is far to packed to the brim for both of us. Sunny is being creative as ever and juggling a zillion paid jobs and I am just becoming a deadline task orientated wage slave... this will never do!!

However, light is on the horizon ..... both Sunny and I are joining with some other lovely folk to exhibit some of our photographs in Ledbury, Hereford.

The exhibition is by 'Snapzology' organised by Ed... and the theme is music.

mmmm getting my thinking cap on as I am not off to any gigs in the near future... we have an electric guitar in the house oh and xylophone... there maybe a recorder, some castanettes and a drum somewhere .....

Will keep you posted :-)

Shrimping around

I have been rooting around on my SD cards since the death of my computer a few weeks ago and came across these photos I took last year.

Being brought up on the NW coast of England these guys were commonplace as I trotted down to the beach as a teenager.... the shrimper vehicles. Southport shrimps are to die for, so very tasty... a regional delicacy.

This is my favourite place to walk the dog these days. It is not popular with the locals as it has been given over to nature and the sands have almost gone.

but the vehicles that go out in season into the Irish Sea to catch their booty are beautiful in a quirky kind of way.. they are battered and worn and patched up to go out and do it again & again & again...

Also loving the local signs that have been put up .. no 'cockling' etc

However much I am loving where I stroll and love potted shrimps I was no way tempted by this load of discarded lot.. although the pup was straining at the leash!!

extensions are good.......

Today I should have been doing a there and back trip to Hereford to attend 'dismantle day'

Yes how quickly have the 6 weeks passed and the 'Unsung Heroes' exhibition had run its course. At a late hour the Gallery asked if we could extend the exhibition a further 2 weeks ....... fantastic. It is great for us exhibitors and very good for the gallery that would have been empty for 2 weeks!!

Personally I am particularly pleased as I have a tooth abscess from hell and the drive down there would have been so difficult if not impossible ... plus after all the lovely warm, dry spring weather we have had it hurled it down this morning ... so not the makings of a pleasant drive at all.

Met up with my friend 'H' this weekend, she accompanied down to Hereford to set my exhibits up. She gave me a lovely selection of photos she took at that time. You can check out some more of 'H's' photos here

In fact the weather this morning reminded me how it rained buckets the day we set the exhibition up hence the really bad hair do!!!

I took the photos to show my family .... suddenly there were roars of laughter from my 2 brothers and cousin.... what were they laughing at ??

It turns out it was this photo


Apparently it reminded them of these creatures ... and they think I have an imagination lol

product testing .. ..sunny's review........

Sunny was asked to test out some products by the team at FuelMyBlog.
As Sunny gets a bit stunned here and there with 21st Century technology ... plus her computer is older and slower than mine (I didn't think that was technologically possible) I agreed to post the review for her.

The products were from Aveeno by Johnson and Johnson

Aveeno Cream

The cream was a strange one, as there were occasional grains in the product, which was disconcerting. This was its main fault, as it wasn't labelled as having exfoliating qualities so made me feel they were grains who had sneaked in there.
The cream was effective on the drier parts of my legs and shins and seemed to be heavy enough to stay put and carry on moisturising. I did like the non perfume aspect and weight of the cream though.

Aveeno 24hour Moisturising Lotion

The lotion sank into my skin and was absorbed quickly which was good and importantly is wasn't sticky or claggy in any way. I liked the fact it was unperformed and seemed to be fine on my skin which is sensitive so I was happy with that. It didn't offer any particular attributes that would sway me away from the current products I use however.

Aveeno Bath Powder

It was daunting to sprinkle the product into the bath, I was dubious when the package recommended to sprinkle under fast running water - as my tap water is a slow running supply. The powder thankfully seemed to become absorbed into the water, but looked very unappealing.

I was worried that the powder would clog up the dra ins. The bath looked liked a Victorian water tub, dank and murky but I did tentatively step in.

All that aside, it was a nice relaxing bath, the water was softened, and I happily splashed around. I made sure my hair was cleaned with fresh tap water though, as I did wonder how much of the product would stick to my hair.
I didn't notice a huge difference in my skin when I dried myself after my bath though.

I was relieved that the bath wasn't coated in a muddy mess after the water drained away, it just simply needed to be rinsed.

Package Design

I didn't find the design on the packaging nor the product name Aveeno appealing.
There wasn't enough product information on the label and I didn't like the list of foreign writing on the front or reverse as it took up much of the packaging space so added nothing to the overall design.
I did, however, like the oatmeal colour background colour and botanical illustration, but not the chosen type face or the green heavy block of colour.

review by Sunny

liverpool in the spring ....

Whilst strolling from the station to our Liverpool office I spotted this.... not difficult to miss as it is huge. Apparently it has been on Paradise Street since November, but I have not been over that way since the summer.

It is a Pillar of Friendship and is spectacular.

Under the leadership of master smiths from nine countries, 300 blacksmiths from all over the world worked together to forge the 15 separate pieces that make up the pillar.

This is a blog entry from one of the blacksmiths ... Adrian Wood. This is his designed piece.
What a buzz that must have been to work on something like this

As I approached the dock area I notice these structures dated in the 1850s. They stand opposite the road where my ancestors settled after they cam over from Ireland in the early 1850s. They would have stood at one stage looking at these as I did this last week. It was a starnge feeling.
It passed through my mind what they would think of the regeneration and the fact that these massive trading warehouses are now apartments.... my ancestors lived about 15 to a house back then with no sanitation .....

Another place I managed to visit this last month was Sefton Park. A huge favourite of mine and I have happy memories of playing there as a kid.
The park is undergoing a transformation, the lake has been drained and the statue of Eros is back after a long absence as is the bandstand.

My favourite part of the park has a lways been the Palm House and this was renovated a few years ago now.

These images just had to be solarised... I love the way it has picked up the bird in the photo on the right

The Park was opened in 1872 another area where my ancestors would have strolled around too.

my gt aunt & uncle Sefton Park C1930

who said it was grim oop North ?........

Images that have struck me this week ... just look at that sky!!

Oh and a cat that wants attention

& here's sunny..............

And this is in my lounge....... thank you Sunny :-)
Love your new web page