I’ve been using the free image option here, but I think you have to be very specific about what you put in the search bar! I typed in “sore throat” and got this blue and yellow parrot! Whether it’s because they are loud are shout or squalk a lot? I don’t know!
Anyway I’m a bit under the weather, I have suddenly developed a sore throat and I’m aching. I hope it won’t last. I’ve been asleep for most of the day. Anyway that’s all I’ve got to say. Croak! My voice is very growly…
10x view of the moon with my phone. I wish I could have got a clearer view. I did think about changing the exposure, but I’m not exactly sure how as my phone is new and I don’t know how to change it to manual yet. Plus there was camera shake. It would be great to see some of the ‘seas’, or mare like the Sea of tranquility or the bay of rainbows. Also famous craters like Tycho, named after the astronomer Tycho Brahe. I could see darker areas visually but the exposure was on automatic. I will learn!
Just down the hill from the metal stag in the Dorothy Clive garden was another stag we found. It was made of willow withies I think.
There were plants growing up through it which looked like clematis. I guess it will look amazing when the flowers are in full bloom.
I have gone a bit botanical in these last few posts. I have enjoyed getting out. I don’t go to many places anymore, and with my new camera on my phone I have taken an excessive lot of photos.
You may notice there is a brown area towards the top right of the photo? That’s because I’m waiting for a phone case and the one I’m using is too big, so the edge of the cover is overlapping the camera lens.
Six years ago, the other girl cat and one of her brothers.
Facebook memories is great for reminding me of things like this. All four kittens went to good homes. I’m pleased with the contrast on this, it looks like an old painting. X
I saw a post on my friend Martha’s blog and I realised her lilac and ours are flowering at the same time despite being on different continents.
At the side of our house near the front door are several bushes and trees. These include a white buddlea (not in flower yet) and a tall white lilac which has ivy scrambling up through it. The lilac is two thirds the height of our house and is happy there, which is strange because the two purple lilac bushes we had in the garden died off because they were shaded out.
I can see the lilac bush as I’m driving home down our hill. The white flowers are all over it. It sparkles in the sunshine. The blossom should be there for a while. I only wish I could smell it, but a head injury several years ago means my sense of smell is limited. I will post a few garden photos soon.
Four years ago the microwave was on the other side of the kitchen and our boy cat used to lie in the sun here. Now he’s hot a spot on the other side of the kitchen where he watches the goings on in the garden, still a happy relaxed cat. The windowsill is full of overgrown Christmas cactuses and two large metal cat doorstops. I’m happier he’s away from the washing up! Thanks for the memories Facebook!
It looks like blossom, but it’s actually a puddle with trees reflecting in it then wind born bits of twig and flower petals floating on top. I thought it looked interesting and unless you look closely it’s really hard to tell what’s going on. Anyway this is from Rode Hall again. I also took lots of pictures of benches dotted around the grounds. I might post a few photos here. There is a Bench Appreciation group on Facebook that I shared them to. I wonder if there is an abstract nature page for this sort of photo?
Old window, light pouring through. Old packing room at Middleport pottery. It’s now the cafe. How different it must have been. I presume that plates and pots would have been packed in straw or hay so they didn’t move about too much. It would have then been put in packing cases so that the pottery could be transported on barges. The packs would have been lifted onto the boats using an old wooden crane which sits on the side of the canal. The crane was hand cranked and used a set of gears, a ratchet and a band brake to slow down the boxes of pottery as they were lowered down into the holds of the barges. I’m imagining the packing room bustling with people as the orders went out.
One advantage of the canals was that larger amounts of ceramics could be transported safely, with less breakages than would have happened on a rutted and uneven road in the back of an old horse drawn cart. It also helped speed up deliveries.
The smoke around the potteries must have caused a dark and gloomy atmosphere as the people worked there. The sunlight would not have shone into the window as it did today and the glass was probably filthy with soot and clay. The air was poor and people suffered from breathing difficulties and illnesses. The mortality rate was very bad. Life was difficult and short. I would like to suggest the book ‘When I was a child :Growing up in the potteries in the 1840’s’ by Charles Shaw, which gives an idea of the reality of the time.
What a job, to stoke a boiler like this. (Shovelling in coal). I asked my hubby to explain how it works and he tried, but all I got was ‘fire’, ‘water’ and ‘hot air’. I think a boiler full of water lies above the fire and a large tube of hot air sits in the water, somehow the hot air also circulates along the sides of the boiler and smoke goes up the chimney. The fire and hot air heat the water into steam, which then powers a piston, which has hot steam expanding, is pushed down, and is then cooled by water so the pressure releases. And that turns the wheel that turns the gears and belts….. This is a Cornish boiler that is old so it only runs at about 15 pounds per square inch…
So, I hope I got that right and I haven’t made any horrendous mistakes. But having a vague idea of how things work is important I think? Bored yet?