Photo 365+1

Today is day 52 of Photo 365+1. Already! That means Suzie has faithfully supplied over fifty words and we all have a steadily growing stack of pictures to scrapbook.

Today I have for you:

2nd. Button - on the boot of my car. It was about a year before I realised I could open the boot with this. I had been using my key. Then The (Not So Small) One spotted someone on TV ..she'll go far, that girl.

3rd. Interaction - I often get a phone call from Little E on a Friday. He likes a chat.

4th. Liquid - our white ceramic liquid soap holder on the kitchen window sill between two bulb planters.

5th. Rubbish - I'll tell you what's rubbish: too much half term homework and taking turns on the computer.

and:



6th. Packaging - Mickey Mouse parcel tape on a book sent from Japan.

7th. Damaged - I over-ground our salt grinder, so we're on basic plastic until I buy another one

8th. Fence - I like this one. It's our little ladybird house on the garden fence.

9th. Compact - The smaller Ariel fits in the cupboard. The bigger size doesn't.

..and eight is probably enough for now. Today's prompt?  Sky high! Now, let me think..

Thanks again to Suzie for the inspiration and to everyone who lets me have a peep into their world every day.

I'm Thinking of Marie

I've loved seeing The (Not So) Small One's photos of Paris. Along with the fun let's-all-waer-silly-hats-in-McDonalds ones, there are several beauties. She's old enough now to take pictures which reflect her own interests; and interested enough to enjoy looking at them with me. One in particular caught my eye.

A view from the Eiffel Tower. It's Paris spread out before us. But the focus is on those bars. Any other city, any other view and I wouldn't have thought of it - but I saw those bars and suddenly we both became Marie Antoinette. Of course the Eiffel Tower wasn't there when she was imprisoned. But we looked at that beautiful city through the bars and we wondered: did she see it too? Like that, through bars, many years ago?

I used some red, white and blue, lots of old Maya Road rub-ons and a cockerel, cut on The Slice, for France and the Revolution. Oh, and it's based on a sketch I spotted at Elle's Studio because it featured banners. Again.

Hurray for Humf - My Monthly Make

Hurray for Humf. Humf is finished. Don't know what a Humf is? No, neither did I until I visited Little E and my sister produced the knitting pattern.

"I thought you might help me with one," she said, "Actually, no, I thought you might like to make one."

So I did. Humf is short, round, purple and stars in his own TV show. He looks like this:

Pattern bought on Ebay. "Don't forget your Humf card," Little E said as I left, and he pressed it into my hand

I'm moving swiftly past a certain family member who thought Humf looked like a Barney the Dinosaur who had let himself go. And I'm putting my Little E's Humf forward for my Monthly Make with Annie the Felt Fairy (more details here - it's not too late to join in!). Then I'm parcelling him up for Little E's birthday and waving him off with a sigh of relief. Humfs are hard.

I'm a Big Girl Now

Do you ever have one of those moments when whatever you are doing pulls you up short and you think - I really am a grown-up now?

It happens to me when I'm driving our two about.We all moan about it, I know; the taxi-ing teenagers seem to require. But underneath it all? I quite like it.

When I was their age there was no one to give me a lift. We walked everywhere, the three of us; and we lived in town so, really, it was okay. But, if I wanted to go anywhere at night, to anything with a late finish, I had to persuade a friend to leave me home. I got pretty good at persuasion. Then I passed my driving test and I was the one with the car. It was my job to deliver my sister to her piano lesson or my brother to his shift at the Hospital Radio. But it still felt a little strange. Most of my friends thought I was very lucky to have a car I could use whenever I wanted. Few of them realised It was simply becasue my mum was no longer able to drive. I was a bit of a car owning fraud.

But now? Now I like to get that call - "Mum, the bus didn't come" or "Mum, hurry up, dancing starts in ten minutes." I'm doing it for real. I'm doing it right. I'm a big girl now.

layout has a mix of Amy Tan and October Afternoon and the first of my 365 photo to make it onto a page



Photo 365+1

Alright, I'll admit it. I have a little bit of catching up to do before I can show you this week's collection of 365+1 photos. My attention has wandered. But we have been busy and I have remembered to add a Photoshop app to my phone. I even (very) nearly signed up to Instagram. So I'm still thinking about taking more pictures.

Like these ones:

25th. Should be still, but I swapped it with motion when I took this picture of Little E and his windmill.
26th. Free Choice. Little E in his brand new glasses. He looks cuter than ever (and he's being a very good boy about keeping them on).
27th. Amazing. Time for The (Not So) Small One to set off on the long awaited schooltrip.
28th. Fluffy. Feeling rebellious, I went for a rat. Or maybe he's one of the three blind mice.



29th. Kitchen Utensil. Sent from a friend in the States for Christmas. I wish I hadn't taken the beautiful big red bow off before I decided I was going to take a picture.

30th. Collection. A shelf of old shirts, just waiting to be reused in a new project. The day after I took this, The Accountant had a clear out and I added three more to the pile.

31st. Wheels. Shopping trolleys. The worst wheels in the world.

1st Feb. Accessory. Back from Paris, with the latest Third Form must-have.

Again, thanks to Suzie for the prompts. That's eight more little stories I have to tell..