Taking my girls out with their scooters is something that they really love to do. We are lucky enough to have micro-scooters for the kids which are so easy for the little ones to ride. Our smallest has been confident on her hand me down scooter since before she was 2!
I made a change to my usual camera and took my images with my little canon 400d, which was my very first Dslr and the one i now keep as a backup. I often carry it in my bag wen we are out and about as it take up much less space than its big brother and is much lighter! It takes some getting used to everything being a little bit smaller. But I am a firm believer in the theory that you don’t need the highest end of camera to take great pictures. The best camera is the one you have with you!!
We had a quick 20 minutes in between pick ups of the older ones and we headed to a rainy park and got the scooters out to burn off a bit of energy and let the woofer have a bit of a run. The girls has decided to wear my Doris designs skirts that i use for photoshoots. All my girls love these skirts and i can’t blame them, they are beautiful and most of the time they are off limits but now and again the girls grab them and wear them for the day. Often its a party or other such thing but sometimes its just the everyday.
Always good to have a bit of extraordinary in the ordinary? right 😉
The week leading up to the end of the school holidays we still had snow on the ground here. I know a lot of people were the same. Beginning to wonder if spring was ever going to show up. The temperatures had hit a bit of the dizzy heights of 9degrees earlier in the week and we all breathed a sigh of relief as we thought that this was it, spring was finally on its way.
But then we were plunged into freezing temperatures and snow flurries all over again. I get so frustrated with the lack of flexibility snow affords me for getting outside, my kids can usually just about cope with the school run before they start saying how cold they are and begging to go in. But after school one afternoon after I had, had a lousy day (dont ask) we piled into the car and took the dog for a walk.
Surprisingly no-one moaned and we bowled around a little local park in about 15 minutes, just long enough to jumps off and on some logs, run after the dog a few times and leave smiling with red rosey cheeks. Then home for a quick hot chocolate to warm up and maybe a little bit of a pick me up for me!!! *cough*
Now then, come on spring, get your best clothes on we are more than ready for you!
One of my favourite books when i was growing up was The Lorax, used to love the line ‘I am the Lorax and i speak for the trees’ It was one of those books that i can still remember reading as a kid. Recently the kids got the DVD version of the film that came out last year. They totally love it., it has big numbers in it and some big hollywood names voicing the characters. But what i love is that the message is still the same. Unless. Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better, its not – Dr. Seuss.
Now speaking of trees….As we live in a city sometimes trees can be a bit scarce. Well to be fair this city in itself isnt too bad. There are quite a lot of green areas. But in our own back yard its a bit different.
We don’t have a huge garden, when we moved in it had been fairly well landscaped with a family in mind and the only tree in the garden was a small, shocked, apple tree that had been hacked and trimmed within an inch of its life and its pretty much still trying to recover.
But the house that backed onto our neighbour was owned by an elderly lady and it had two beautiful, rambling and stunning pink blossom trees. Im sure there is a proper name for them but all i know that every spring we would all look forward to the bottom of the garden being accented with pink. The branches leaned over into our garden in such a generous way. Like the tree knew i would appreciate it. 🙂
I cannot count how many pictures i have of this tree. It was so pretty i used to go out and photograph it a lot….playing with settings, lenses and filters.
The girls would bounce up and down on the trampoline which was under the tree and grab the blooms, giggling and threading the pretty green leaves through their hair.
At the end of spring it would slowly loose all its blooms onto the tramp and the deck and we would have a pretty pink blanket.
Truly such a lovely tree, it bought us pleasure every year. We watched it, enjoyed it, interacted with it. It was part of our seasons.
Sadly the lady who lived in the house passed away and the house was sold and a few weeks ago we heard that high pitched squeal of a chainsaw and our beautiful neighbour tree was gone. 🙁
Just like that…
and being honest with you, and i do understand the reasons why the new owners have got rid of the tree, but i really miss it. Now its like looking at a picture and constantly wondering whats missing and then going ”oh yes…”
Even the kids have missed it. We miss our adopted pink tree. It had been largely uncared for by its owner but for years we loved it. It was part of our story and history in our garden.
thanks pink tree 🙂
Im going to finish with a clip from the movie, we all love this song. Watch out for ‘you greedy dirtbag!’ My giveaway this week is a copy of The Lorax on DVD. It really is a lovely family movie. So to be in with a chance head over to rafflecopter below and follow the instructions and be sure to check back next week to find out if its coming your way!!
Last weeks winner of the Captain Calamari developmental toy was Helen Dickenson Anette! Congratulations. Please get in touch to claim your prize 🙂
Sometimes you dont need to be hitting the country side to be enjoying a bit of the outside. Often, because we live in a city there can be some very unexpected places where you can connect with the outdoors!
I had to take one of my girls into the city for a piano exam the other week and as i was concerned that we had to park and get there we set off early and arrived about half an hour before her slot for her exam. Half and hour wait in the waiting room for a piano exam with two wriggly, lively and not asleep as planned, toddlers was not going to happen.
So we wondered further down the road to The Bluecoat chambers, which is an incredible building in the city, which i believe was an old school and is now home to uber trendy craft shops and a museum. We wondered in and used the ‘facilities’ and then went for a nose around their sensory garden area where they have some sweet little exhibits made by local school kids and habitats for insects. Flower beds and cute little baby saplings, no doubt planted to be the dominating great city trees of the future.
Was lovely to see this little garden in the city. It was a welcome distraction and took enough time that my stay in the waiting room with the little ones went quickly and without too much hassle.
and no im not talking about ball games! Last week we had one of those ‘pass the bug’ weeks as in tummy bugs and it was not much fun to be honest. On tuesday morning I got home from work, having done a 12 hour night shift to be greeted by my son who had spent large amounts of the night on the loo.
Yes I feel sorry for him, honestly. I do. But that is a curve ball for our childcare arrangements and when i usually am crawling into bed having dropped kids off here and there..i now had the pleasure of a 10 year old vomity kid instead. A long day of awake stretches ahead of me. *sigh*
I dropped the little girls off at school and having my son with me and the dog, who always leaps into the car these days. We stopped at a lovely little wooded area that is close to the kid’s school. It is largely unused except by dog walkers, a couple of stunt bmx-ers who have made a ramp and the odd time you might run into a film crew as it is quite close to a studio.
We might have made a funny sight that morning. A scraggy little dog, a ten year old who was looking a bit green and a mama in scrubs and boots shuffling along in a sleep starved manner!
Was a beautiful morning, cold but sunny and it couldn’t fail to lift my sprits a bit. Nice for the dog to have a run and for me to hang out with my boy for a bit!
Dark panda eyes bought to you this week by the NHS 🙂
oh and just in case folks are thinking im busting out the big camera guns for a post night shift walk round the woods. These are all iphone pics lovelies. 🙂
“the best camera is the one you have with you” Chase Jarvis
