Peter Miller My World

2011-08-03T15:50:00.001+01:00

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2011-05-16T10:12:00.001+01:00

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2011-05-10T16:11:00.001+01:00

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2011-05-09T09:18:00.001+01:00

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2011-05-07T11:53:00.001+01:00

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2011-05-04T10:49:00.001+01:00

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2011-05-03T16:29:00.001+01:00

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2011-05-02T10:03:00.001+01:00

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2011-04-30T10:52:00.001+01:00

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2011-01-17T13:21:00.001Z

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2011-01-14T11:17:00.001Z

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2011-01-01T12:54:00.001Z

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2010-12-05T15:51:00.001Z

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2010-11-27T09:09:00.001Z

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2010-11-25T15:34:00.001Z

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2010-11-23T16:18:00.001Z

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2010-11-21T11:54:00.001Z

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2010-11-20T18:07:00.001Z

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2010-11-18T15:20:00.001Z

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2010-11-15T15:34:00.001Z

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2010-11-13T13:31:00.001Z

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2010-11-11T11:12:00.001Z

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2010-11-08T14:33:00.001Z

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2010-11-07T08:18:00.001Z

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2010-11-05T15:37:00.001Z

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2010-11-04T10:07:00.001Z

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2010-11-03T16:34:00.001Z

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ABC Wednesday H Is For Heroes Alive And Dead

2008-03-12T01:15:00.008Z

This post is really just an acknowledgment of all the heroes who served in WWI and WWII be it British or otherwise. There are 2 photographs here separated by 66 years. The main photograph was take a few days ago at the German War Cemetery on Cannock Chase Staffordshire .

The German Cemetery near Broadhurst green, on Cannock Chase is a memorial to some 5,000 German war dead, where the servicemen's graves are marked by headstones of Belgian granite, set in plots of heather and tended by gardeners.

The photograph was taken in infrared to get the surreal effect. The second photo is one of my uncle taken in 1942 in Malta. I wanted to give the appearance that he was stepping into the photograph. In fact he was sitting down for an army portrait. By the way he is still alive.

Please click on the photo to get the full effect.....

ABC Wednesday, "F" For Frozen Plants Not Slime

2008-02-27T10:57:00.005Z

Okay, I admit I missed the "E" post and now don't really have enough time to catch up, busy, busy, busy. My "F" post, well an opportunity arose the other day to grab a shot of some frozen plants in my ornamental well. The ice almost looks like slime.

Pity i could not capture last nights episode of Your World Is being Shaken, did anyone else get that grumbling feeling about 1.00 in the morning, I was just sitting here, minding my own business, checking the news, when the desk started moving, the monitor started shaking, my chair wobbled, no, no, no it was not over consumption of Bulmers cider but an earth tremor ("E" for earth tremor if you see what I mean).

Here are a couple of pics of said frozen plants, at least the fish are ok though.

ABC Wednesday. "D". One Dreary, One Degenerated, One Dead And Two Dramatic

2008-02-13T11:51:00.011Z

Hi folks, hope everyone is ok. Well "D" gave me a lot to get my teeth into, so I thought I would post some photos I took a little while ago which were mainly used for exhibition at a photographic society. Only one of them was a winner and that was the last one that I have posted for "D".

This first one is of a water pump station house which I think is very foreboding and a little "Dreary", would you want to spend the night there.

The second is of a dilapidated barn in Shropshire which must surely have a lot of history behind it. It certainly has "Degenerated".

This one, I think almost speaks for itself, yes it is "Dead". I love the colours and contours in this photo, it looks just as good in mono

This is the first of the "Dramatic" photos. This is a classic shot of Ashness Bridge in the Lake District. I tried to give the water a cotton wool blurred effect.

The second of the "Dramatic" shots. A Peacock putting on a fantastic display, this one won me a medal in a nature section.

I will be around as many of you as I can to look at your "D" work. Bye For Now

ABC Wednesday C is for Caricature

2008-02-07T16:27:00.000Z

Short on time again this week and a little late with the ABC post, apologies for that. Hope everyone is ok, I will get to as many of you as I can, if i miss someone I apologise.

I thought I would give you all a laugh this week, well that at least is the intention. So, I have done a water colour caricature of myself, it may even be an improvement. The original is below, taken in Alaska last year.

Now before you say anything this is not the original. That is below.

Thats right, this is the original, with less hair than the one above.

If you get chance take a look at the post below which comments on my new three column blog layout. What do you think.

A Lot Of Sweat , Head Scratching, Hard Work, A New Layout And A New Header

2008-02-02T15:44:00.000Z

Please take a look at my new layout for my blog. I have always wanted a 3 column page but did not want to go through the stress of re writing the code. Then I thought, why not have a go, so after several hours and several attempts I finally managed it.

Oh yes, I have changed the header banner photo as well.

I think it looks pretty good and the web page is much more balanced. The one problem I have found by re writing some of the code is that it slightly cocks up the template page, there is no way to edit thew widgets. (See image 1 below). Therefore, if you wish to remove or edit the widgets on the right hand side you have to change the coding for which way the widgets float, then you have to change the coding back to realign the web page. It is quite simple and takes about 10 seconds.

Image 1

Web Page after correction of widget code

If anyone is interested in having a go at this let me know and I may be able to help you. (My rates are quite reasonable).

The page looks better in firefox than IE, the calendar does not load correctly in IE and the header does not show the border as it does in firefox. From checking other blogs, they seem to load and look better in firefox. You could always try firefox and uninstall if you don't like.

TTFN

ABC Wednesday B is For Bevy Of Boats

2008-01-29T21:50:00.000Z

I have always had a fascination with water and therefore this has led to a fascination with boats or ships. I am not and will not or probably never will profess to be an expert on boats it's just that I like looking at the various designs shapes and colours.

I love canals, lakes, rivers and seas, well I certainly like to look and travel on them and one cannot help to bump into various types of watercraft. So, this B thingy has given me the opportunity to show you a few forms of the watercraft I have seen and photographed. It was a difficult choice, there are some that I have not posted for example the HMS Victory which i am sure everyone has heard of, seen on TV or visited or should do at some stage in their life.

Draw your own conclusions and let me know what you think of the following photographs, once again from my point of view they are purely subjective impressions.

Everyone, please enjoy and be involved with ABC Wednesday.

Well, here they are with a small description, don't get too bored because there are several:

Three Pleasure Boats At Kassiopi, Corfu

Love The Colours of These Fishing Nets And Contrast With The Sky At Kassiopi, Corfu

A Classic View Of Rowing Boats On Derwentwater, The Lake District

College Fjord, Alaska, A Bear Hunt (Note Not A Real Bear)

Copenhagen, The Albert Maersk, The Largest Container Ship On The seas

Copenhagen, The Albert Maersk In Comparison With A Pilot Tug Boat (Little And large)

Gdansk, Poland, A Pilot Boat, I Like The Mute Colours in This

A Little Closer To Home, Five Boats At Low Tide At Cadgwith, Cornwall

Shardlow, A Local Beauty Spot With The Addition Of A Canal Narrow Boat

Three River Cruisers In St. Petersburg, Russia

A Working Ship, St. Petersburg, Russia

A Sailing Ship In Stockholm (Thanks to Ackworth for reminding me it is the af-Chapman and is a floating youth hostel)

Another Boat In Stockholm, Perhaps Mike If He Manages To Look this Week Can Tell Me What Type

Have a fruitful ABC Wednesday

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Last Alaska language speaker dies

2008-01-24T20:23:00.000Z

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Last Alaska language speaker dies

Just read this on the BBC News website. I have linked to it because it is quite poignant to me having recently been to Alaska. It is with regards to a woman believed to be the last native speaker of the Eyak language in the north-western US state of Alaska who has died at the age of 89. One never knows but this could one day happen to the English language. It is not just species of animals that are becoming extinct but the very fabric of some countries form of communication.

ABC Wednesday "A" Is For Abstract

2008-01-22T19:35:00.000Z

This is great, now I can start from "A", missed about 13 weeks probably by starting late in the project (if that is what it is). I keep looking out of the window hoping for a drop or spell of some decent weather, I guess it is a long way off. Never mind, I thought I would do something different as usual and conjure up some concoction.

I bet my post is not everybody's cup of tea but once again it is subjective. You could call it almost lazy, I have taken 3 of my favourite photos and turned them into abstract art or something resembling that word.

Here they are, be totally subjective in your comments, it gives me an idea of thoughts surrounding this type of art.

The original can be seen here Click Me Please

Have fun over the next few weeks and look forward to Spring and Summer and some good old fashioned Motorbiking

ABC Wednesday "Z" Is For Three Below Zero

2008-01-15T23:57:00.000Z

So here we are, yes we have finally arrived at "Z". Though this is not the end I hear, we will be keeping it going again from "A". That is good because i was not involved in the early stages so missed a few of the posts.

I have found it quite exhilarating and also testing at times when trying to find a suitable subject.

So for this post I have chosen Three Below Zero. A bit of twist again, basically three photos taken on our recent trip where the temperature was below zero.

Crowfoot Glacier, Banff National Park

Mendenhall Glacier

Glacier on Glacier Bay

The last photo was taken with 300mm zoom looking up to high in the mountains, it came out quite surreal, almost like an oil painting.

By the way, for those of you who could not properly see the photos on my last post, I have uploaded again.

See you all back at "A"

ABC Wednesday "Y" For Young At Heart

2008-01-09T04:58:00.000Z

James Henry Miller was born in Sunderland on the 23rd of October 1910. He did not know it then but he would eventually be the oldest of ten, with four brothers and five sisters. He was born into relative poverty.

Above is a photo of him when he was about 2 or 3 months old.

I have restored the above photo from a very poor original (Click here to see what I mean). As you may be able to imagine life was very tough during the years he was growing up into a young man in the East End of Sunderland. During and up until he left school he had several part time jobs in various trades.

In 1926 at the age of sixteen he decided to emigrate to Canada where he worked on farms for five years. (His sister emigrated to Australia at the same time).

The above photo shows him on board a ship taking him to Canada.

On his return he found there was not much to do and not much work about so in 1931 he decided to join the army, he joined the Durham Light Infantry.

He can be seen here on the left during army training at Fenham Barracks in 1931

With the DLI he served in India (travelling much of this area) for five years and came home with many wonderful memories and photographs.

Here he can be seen in an army portrait taken in Calcutta in 1933.

After his stint in India, he came home on army reserve, he met my mother and then married and had a son in 1939. In 1939, you can all make a good guess what happened, yes of course the start of WWII. He was called up from army reserve and went to serve again for his country.

As part of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) he fought under the command of Captain R Annand who became the first WWII army VC on a mission James Miller fought in. Unfortunately James was injured, captured and spent the next five years courtesy of the Germans in Stalag VIIIB in what was then Sedetenland

Here he is (circled) with a bunch of POW's at Stalag VIIIB

In 1945 he managed to escape back to England, he went to the home of his wife who he had not seen for five years, she was still there.

Again, he had several jobs, when in 1963 and 1964 he became a father again. This was at the age of 53 and 54 respectively. Obviously this must of been a big shock for both him and of course his wife. Now he had to endure (if that is the right word) family life once more when he was entering his autumn years.

In 1982, he went to Australia to meet his sister whome he had not seen for 56 yaers, this was filmed for Australian Televison, a sort of Aussie Surprise Surprise (you remember the one with Cilla Black).

In the past few years he has endured a few health problems but still managed to make pilgrimages to Belgium and France with the Dunkirk Veterans Association.

In January 2008 at the grand old age of 98 (no, wait a minute, he is still with us) he is two and a half years away from his one hundredth birthday and much looking forward to it.

Below, he is pictured last year pictured sitting in his back garden. Not the house he is currently at because at the age of ninety seven he had to move home, still, he is (they are) settling in ok now.

As you may imagine I did not take the photographs above but I did take the one below (hopefully this will keep me within ABC rules).

Who is this guy you may ask, why, he is my dad, bless him. Still YOUNG at heart.

The story above is as you can imagine very abridged.

Happy New Year To Everyone

2008-01-05T18:06:00.000Z

Happy New Year To Everyone

Sorry I missed 2 ABC posts but have been away for a while (not in prison I may add) and have now started on a shift system at work. Back on an even keel I have drafted my Y post and have now posted it, it is one of great interest to me.

ABC Wednesday "V" For Venice

2007-12-18T19:59:00.000Z

The weather as once again not been too kind (usually when I am off work). I would love to be able to get out and take some fresh photos. Oh well! Christmas will soon be upon us and no doubt a few opportunities will arise. A few days away should do the trick as long as the weather is good.

ABC Wednesday is on Boxing Day next week so I will hopefully post a little earlier for "W". Are yes, W, that could be for weather be it good or bad.

I hope everyone is ready for the festive season and looking forward to it, presents, food, alcohol, rest, crap television, noisy kids if you have any (I don't) and preparing to return to work, Oh! so full of cheer I am. Just kidding, love this time of year, love any time of year when there is a holiday.

Well, here goes, for "V" I have picked Venice which we recently visited. This was on a cruise on the Ship Marco Polo (1st photo) parked in Venice harbour.

The 2nd installment is of part of the canal system taken at night and the 3rd of one of the colourful Gondoliers. I had the gondoliers once but a few tablets from my doctor soon put that right. Gondoliers (is there such thing as a Gondolmouth or a Gondolnose).

The 4th one is looking out to the Adriatic, the sea still has a colourful charm even in misty weather.

Thats all, but I will say if you ever get the opportunity then try to visit Venice, I am sure we will once more.

ABC Wednesday "U" For Uncertain And Oh Yes We HAve Had Another Photo Published For A Tourism Brochure.

2007-12-08T15:15:00.001Z

Uncertain, uncertain, uncertain, that is the nature of the beast this week. I have had hardly any chance this week to be creative this being mostly due to the weather, it has been terrible, well it has when I want to get my camera out.

I have had to scratch my head and I have to say i have gone down the route of something taken recently. The first shot I will call umbrella, as there are so many of them in this picture which was taken at Ephesus in Turkey. It was a very dull day so I have decided to desaturate but at the same time keep some of the coloured umbrellas as they were. Not everyones cup of tea but after the large amount of time and effort |I put into it, I hope it was worth it.

This second shot was taken in a church which was part of a palace in Copenhagen. I am going to call it Unbelievable architecture which indeed I believe it is, it is extremely ornate and beautiful.

I am sure you will have guessed that I have called this one Urn. This was taken at Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg in Russia. If you ever get the opportunity go here to to see the sheer opulence

Lastly this is called Up High In The Sky, taken as we were just departing from Stockholm. This guy or girl (not sure which) posed like a professional.

Before I go, just want to tell you, apart from the photographs we had published on this site here we have had another one published here on a site called Schmap which is for Worldwide Dynamic Travel Guides. I was asked by the company if they would allow it and of course I agreed, nothing financial just the exposure (to coin a phrase). There is a widget on the left hand side of the page, if you click on it it will take you to the particular guide which is for the westin Hotel in Calgary, Canada. The photo is nothing special but they wanted to use it. It is the fifth one out of six of the series.

Have fun

ABC Wednesday "T" Is For A Train, A Dark Tower, A Tree And A Tense Moment In A Spooky Graveyard

2007-12-04T20:06:00.000Z

Once again a little bit of an assortment for the T Photographs. I wanted to do something a little different again so here are a few moments in time from the eye and perspective of this little old (not so old photographer).

The following photos have been taken over the past year at various venues in England. I thought I would leave the abroad theme alone for this one.

Here goes:

Train:

Well in fact an old steam train from the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway. I wanted to create the illusion of the golden age of steam so the first one is in monochrome with the engine letting off steam. The second is in sepia, I tried here to portray the feeling of looking from the inside of the train at the empty railway station with bags outside ready to be loaded, a Brief Encounter moment.

Dark Tower:

Sort of a Stephen King theme based on the Dark Tower series of books.

The Dark Tower is a series of seven books by American writer Stephen King that tells the tale of lead character Roland Deschain's quest for the "Dark Tower." The Dark Tower is often described in the novels as a real structure, and also as a metaphor. Part of Roland's fictional quest lies in discovering the true nature of the Tower. The series incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror, and western elements. King has described the series as his magnum opus; besides the seven novels that comprise the series proper, many of his other books are related to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses.

The series was mostly inspired by the poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, the full text of which was included in an appendix to the final volume. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger, King also identifies The Lord of the Rings, the Arthurian Legend, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's Man with No Name" character as one of the major inspirations for Roland. King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language abstract to our own, are also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's work. "

Can anyone guess where my Tower is, it is quite famous and quite awe inspiring, I will publish a colour photo of it some other time and let you know where it is.

A Tree:

Well a Christmas tree to be exact, this is sitting in the middle of the River Windrush in Bourton On The Water. The village looks magical during the Cristmas period.

Lastly, A Tense Moment In A Graveyard:

Here is a photograph of a graveyard taken through a fence at Charlecote Park, well two views of the same photo to be exact, done a little differently with a little jiggery pokery. I wanted to give the sense of a sinister tense moment that someone is seeing from a distance through a fence. By the way in the original photo the fence has a real nice texture and colour.

So, there you have it my ABC Wednesday.

ABC Wednesday "S"

2007-11-27T19:10:00.000Z

Thought I would keep the wildlife theme going at the moment plus a local beauty spot and a strange building in Skagway Alaska.

Firstly there a couple of photographs of a stag recently taken in Cannock Chase an area of outstanding natural beauty just on my doorstep, literally, I mean, just turn right out of my house go to the end of the road and there it is.

This first one shows the stag looking dark and mysterious

This one looking curiously back at me and saying "watch it pal"

My third offering is that of a soaring kestrel, it may not be the sharpest picture but I had to be quick to take it and out of the car as well.

Moving on here are a couple of photographs of another local beauty spot, this is Shardlow, taken not too long ago, I really love the canal villages.

I really like the contrasting colours in the 1st photo, the reds green and blues and there are 2 great pubs right on the towpath as well.

Here is the second one of Shardlow.

Finally a photograph taken in Skagway in Alaska. This place is great a real cowboy come pioneer town

This is the Arctic Brotherhood Building, this was built 1899, the outside of the building is covered entirely in driftwood.

Two weeks at work in the new job and need a holiday already. Oh! Good we have booked one

2007-11-24T10:59:00.001Z

Two weeks into the new job and I already need a holiday. Fortunately we have just booked the next cruise. It is a while away though, we set sail on the 10th October 2008. We are going somewhere a little warmer than our last cruise which was to to Canada and Alaska.

It will be a great trip for both of us as Lyn will be going to somewhere she has not been to before. I have already visited several of the places we are going to, however, this was quite a few years ago on a back packing expedition but it will be nice to see what changes have taken place in the various destinations.

The cruise itinerary is as follows:

Day 1		Friday, Liverpool - UK
Day 2		Saturday, Ship at Sea
Day 3		Sunday, Ship at Sea
Day 4		Monday, Lisbon - PORTUGAL 08:00 - 15:00
Day 5		Tuesday, Cadiz - SPAIN 09:00 - 20:00
Day 6		Wednesday, Malaga - SPAIN 09:00 - 20:00
Day 7		Thursday, Gibraltar - GIBRALTAR 08:00 - 19:00
Day 8		Friday, Casablanca - MOROCCO 08:00 - 19:00
Day 9		*Saturday, Portimao^ - PORTUGAL** 09:00 - 15:00
Day 10		Sunday, Porto - PORTUGAL 11:00 - 18:00
Day 11		Monday, La Coruna - SPAIN 08:00 - 18:00
Day 12		Tuesday, Ship at Sea
Day 13		Wednesday, Dublin - IRELAND 08:00 - 20:00
Day 14		Thursday, Liverpool - UK

Yes, this is a long time away but before that we have Christmas at Rothley in Leicestershire - see here then in May/June next year a week at the Derwentwater Hotel in the Lake District. I think we may also be going to Northumberland before the cruise. Might throw in a couple of days in London as well.

Just before I go here is a photo of a Robin taken at the same time as the post for ABC Wednesday "Q".

ABC Wednesday "R" For A Right Old Mixed Bag

2007-11-20T19:54:00.000Z

A bit of a mixed bag this week I am afraid. I have struggled a little to get some up to date photos as I am dealing with a new job, drinking and the fact that someone ran into the back of my motorcycle on Saturday night while me and Lyn were on it. Thankfully we are ok and the driver of the offending vehicle is ok too. Not much damage I hope but I will have to have it checked out for any unseen damage.

So my "R's" in order are:-

1 A Russian Dancer taken at a St. Petersburg folk event

2 The Redmore, a local pub taken just after it snowed a couple or 3 years ago

3 A Rude Gorilla, this was taken again 3 or 4 years ago at a zoo in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just managed to catch him at the perfect moment

4 The Coliseum in Rome, this is one of my favourite shots of ancient ruins

5 Finally, a street scene in Rothenburg, Germany, taken a couple of years ago. I love the colours of the buildings here, although it was a dull day, I think it still came out OK.

I have my serious thinking head on for The X, Y and Z additions, although I have to get a S, T, U, V, and a W, It's all good fun and gets you out.

ABC Wednesday, Quarry and a Quiet place

2007-11-12T19:51:00.000Z

I thought "Q" was going to prove quite difficult but it quickly became apparent that I could do something Quirky. Question was, what was it? So I quizzed myself a few times and found I could get out of this quandry. I thought I would show a couple of photos of a local quarry and a few photos of a a hairy wee beasty and some feathered friends and a couple of deer, photographed in a quiet place on Cannock Chase.

Inquedible, I thought i would be stuck.

Quarry

To Me the 3rd photo looks like a moonscape

Quiet place for some of our animal and bird friends

In order:- Deer, A squirrel, Jay, Yellow Hammer, Blackbird, Chaffinch, Great Tit, Sparrow, Coal Tit

Deer

Grey Squirrel

Jay

Yellow Hammer

Blackbird

Chaffinch

Great Tit

Sparrow (well I thought it was but I have been informed that it is a Dunnock, thanks to anon)

Coal Tit

Hope you like my feathered and furry friends in my Quiet place

ABC Wednesday. "P" Is For Places and Parts Of The World

2007-11-06T22:40:00.000Z

Today my fellow ABC Wednesday bloggers I thought I would make "P" parts and places in the world, so here is a selection of recent places we have visited. All on a theme of "P".

The Philippaeon Olympia, Greece

Monastary Of John The Theologan Chora Patmos

Parliament Building Budapest

The Astronomical Clock Starometska Namesti Prague

The Pollio Fountain Ephesus Turkey

The Golden House Ulica Dluga Gdansk Poland

PeterHof Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia

"P" For Place In St. Petersburg, Russia

Peyto Lake, Canada

Pooley Bridge, Ullswater, Cumbria

Park Gate Staffordshire with Dumpy From Dumpy's Rusty Nuts

Hope you like the variations on a theme.

ABC Wednesday "O" is for obscure

2007-10-29T13:29:00.000Z

Once again I am having to write this post early as I may not be able to do it on Wednesday.

Good news for me is I have now been offered a position at a local engineering company. I have accepted but not yet signed the contract. The reason for this is because I have another interview today at second stage, then I have to travel to Manchester this afternoon for a 2 day seminar and interview, that is why I am posting today.

"O" is for obscure, The next few photos are from various places, Greece, Alaska, Westonbirt National Forest, Cannock Chase, Venice, Lake District, I have had a fiddle on photoshop, let me know what you think because I want to know if it is worth pursuing this avenue.

Korcula, Greece

Leaf In Pencil From Westonbirt

Nuclear Dawn, Lake District

One Of Those Glaciers Again

Dog At Derwentwater

Venice

Soldiers

Tree At Cannock Chase

That Dog Again

Fish From Windermere

ABC WEDNESDAY "N" IS FOR NEGATIVES AND DREAMSCAPES

2007-10-23T21:59:00.000+01:00

Here I go for "N" but before that I have a little whinge. Last week's ABC slot (M) did not appear to draw much attention or comments. I don't know if it was because of the content or the fact that it was below another post. I left comments on many peoples blogs, you know all the usual ones but many did not comment on mine. So, I feel a little dejected (it's a human emotion Jim).

If it was the content please let me know. As you are all aware blogging is a time consuming affair with writing your own and viewing other peoples blogs and commenting, OK like many people I am an attention seeker.

Therefore this week something a little different "N" IS FOR NEGATIVES AND DREAMSCAPES. These are shots taken from the Rocky Mountaineer on our Canada trip. I have inverted them in photoshop to negatives and added a moon that I got a shot of while on the cruise ship. The moon is quite clear because there is very little pollution in the sky. Hope you like. There are 2 versions of each shot, some slightly different. On the 2nd photo I have desaturated to remove all colour and turned them into mono negatives.

Autumn Is Here Again - Colours and Shadows. ABC Wednesday "M" Has Already Been Published Below

2007-10-15T12:18:00.000+01:00

It is that time of year again when the leaves are turning into the beautiful reds, yellows and browns. I love this time of year and find it an open doorway for the budding and professional photographer alike.

One of my favourite places to visit is The Westonbirt National Arboretum near to Tetbury in Gloucester. The National Arboretum is one of the most spectacular tree gardens in the world. An historical collection of over 3,000 different trees and shrub species many of which are rare or endangered in their native lands. Covering six hundred acres, the arboretum is an inspiring place to relax, get back to nature and indulge your senses...

Autumn Highlights

The autumn highlight pictures Here show what the autumn colour looks like in this period.

Really vibrant colours are showing now, both in the Old Arboretum and Silk Wood. Brilliant yellows, deep reds, pinks and oranges with some green and multi coloured trees as they begin to turn. From now on, the colour at Westonbirt is looking beautiful with even more to come in the coming weeks. Now is the perfect time to come and enjoy the spectacular display.

Here are some of the photographs that I took a couple of years ago:

I hope you like these, ABC Wednesday is below and all will be revealed.

ABC Wednesday "M" Is For More Will Be Revealed

2007-10-15T10:56:00.000+01:00

"M" was becoming a bit tricky for me. Yes, I could have used more of our last holiday photographs but I thought I would give everyone a break. I Don't want to squeeze the life out of them and will no doubt use others at a later date.

I have uploaded "M" early because this is going to be a busy week for me therefore I may not have enough time on Wednesday.

Before you go diving in to look at the "M" photographs, would you please take a moment to visit a website which is currently featuring some of my photographs, these are the ones taken at 37,000 feet flying over Greenland and Baffin Island. I had a message from a Flickr member asking if he could use them for comparisons to shots taken on Google Earth.

The description of the website Reads:

Not so green is the web site for everyone who has ever looked out an airplane window and wondered what they were looking at. We sort through the thousands of aerial photographs posted on photo-sharing sites like Flickr, and create a global map showing the locations of images from around the world. We present this information using tools like Google Maps, which allows you to see photo locations in your browser, and Google Earth, a standalone application that you install and run on your computer. Using Google Earth, we can show you the exact location and perspective of each image in our system.

We bring you images from around the world, but we have a particular focus on Greenland, whose clear air, stark landscapes, and location along many international air routes between North America and Europe make it a popular target for many aerial photographers.

The Website Link is Not So Green

OK, now for the "M" photographs and more will be revealed. I hope this set of photos will not appeal merely to the male section of blogger commenter's but to everyone that leaves comments on my blog.

A little while ago I had the opportunity to photograph an Amateur Model, these photos were taken at a private studio close to where I live and organised through Cannock Photographic Society. They are in no way pornographic and are presented more from an art point of view.

The rest of the set of photographs can be viewed at My Flickr. They certainly have aroused a fair bit of comment activity, more so than the normal holiday snaps, I cannot figure out why.

So, without further ado here they are:

Canada - Alaska And Flickr

2007-10-10T11:56:00.000+01:00

Have now managed to upload our photographs to flickr where they can be viewd singularly or a slideshow for each area visited. The speed of the slideshow can be altered by clicking a link at the bottom left hand corner of the viewing pain. Hope you like.

Link is: Canada - Alaska

ABC - Wednesday "L" Is For Lake Louise And Lunch

2007-10-10T09:12:00.000+01:00

First things first, I have created a new video blog, link on the left. Using You Tube I will post all of my favourite music videos by group if possible, you may care to take a look. I will be posting a video of a band I used to be in soon, Watch This Space.

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A bit like Mike (of Jangle Jangle and Photoxication) I too have been a little short of time to contribute any posts apart from last weeks ABC- Wednesday. I have interviews coming out of my ears but still no positive feedback, therefore I am still in limbo land where the job front is concerned.

So what is this weeks contribution, well it's a slightly mixed bag. I am continuing the Canada -Alaska theme because as previously stated there is a wealth of material. So, the first few photos are of Lake Louise in the Banff area of Canada. It is certainly worth clicking on the link to get an appreciation of this area of natural beauty. You may also wish to click on the Banff link for an insight of this area.

At the end of the Lake Louise set there is another small set of a lunch I prepared for myself a couple of days ago. I call it "Salmon Salad A Go Go" or more commonly termed "lunch"

Enough of the chit chat for now, let me show you the photographs.

A casual ski lift gondola ride from The Lake Louise Interpretive Centre takes us to a viewpoint of Lake Louise and it's surrounding mountains, a sight that brings out the Wow Factor in us.

This is a view of the top of Fairview Mountain taken from the gondola, not an easy shot to keep steady.

The next 3 shots are of Lake Louise (which can be seen way down in the valley) surrounded by what I consider some of the wonderfully lit Rocky Mountains. You may be able to catch a glimpse of the Lake Louise Inn which overlooks the lake.

This next view is from lakeside looking back at the Lake Louise Inn

Moving on, this is a shot of another nearby lake called Moraine Lake And The Valley Of The 10 Peaks, as you may have guessed there are 10 peaks surrounding the lake.

Finally, a photograph taken from outside our room at the Lake Louise Lodge with sunrise just lighting the mountain tops with a beautiful golden tint.

Now for lunch, first 2 shots: meal prepared and ready to eat. Description: Alaskan Sockeye Salmon in white wine vinegar; a blend of red, yellow and green capsicums; a layered combination of thinly sliced tomato and cucumber; raw carrot on slices of cathedral city cheese; a handful of silverskin pickled onions; all served on a bed of iceberg lettuce.

What have I done, Oh! no, I have destroyed the aesthetics by introducing lashings of Heinz salad Cream (Mmmmmmmmmmm).

Finally, finally, finally, the end, I could not quite manage it all.

On more wafer-thin-mint Mr. Creosote

ABC - Wednesday, "K" Is For Ketchikan, A Bit Late I Know

2007-10-03T20:30:00.000+01:00

I am a bit late today, I have been swatting for interviews, had some chores to do and then had to work down the pub, now I am back, fed, watered and ready to go.

These few photos are part of the Alaskan part of the trip that we went on, they are concerned with Ketchikan today. Ketchikan is the fifth most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska and the southeastern most sizable city in that state.

Ketchikan's economy is based upon tourism and fishing, and the city is known as the "Salmon Capital of the World." The Misty Fjords National Monument is one of the area's major attractions.

Ketchikan is named after Ketchikan Creek, which flows through the town. Ketchikan comes from the Tlingit name for the creek, Kitschk-hin, the meaning of which is unclear, it may mean "the river belonging to Kitschk." Other accounts claim it means "Thundering Wings of an Eagle." [2] Ketchikan also has the world's largest collection of standing totem poles located at three major locations: Saxman Village, Totem Bight, and the Totem Heritage Center.

So there you have it a brief history. Now for the photos:

The first three photos are of Totem Poles at Saxman Native Village, see the link above.

The next five are of a place called Creek Street

This was originally where you would find most of the ladies of the night and other less fortunates.

The fifth one below is of a Creek Street spider I saw enjoying a meal.

The next one is of a house in Pine Street, I love the green colour

And this one is a photo of our ship The Sapphire Princess

Finally here is a photo of a singing Husky I spotted on the way back to the ship, I think he was singing I ain't nothing but a hound dog singing all the time.

OK, now it is time to sell on ebay the Pirelli calanders I have just acquired and which date back to the 80's. The guy who gave them to me said have 50% commission, what a guy, have you seen how much some of these go for!!!

Best Kept Secret Award

2007-10-01T20:06:00.000+01:00

I have been awarded a Best Kept Secret Award by WalksFarWoman on her site Kissing The Dogwood, many thanks for your comments, this award is hosted on Bobbarama dot cam

The award is a Best Kept Secret blogger or two we visit regularly — a blogger with great style and wit and warmth who hasn’t been discovered yet. Here’s our chance with this award to say, ‘Wow. Check out this blogger!’

If you’d like to select a blogger for this award, see Bobbarama dot cam.

It looks like the icon above

This is now the second award I have received, I have also now added the one awarded to me by mrsnesbitt in April 2007

Just Another Monday Morning, Or Is It

2007-10-01T11:20:00.001+01:00

Yep, got that Monday morning feeling, slightly tired from a weekend of non relaxation. Suppose it is all self inflicted really.

I am waiting for some information on potential jobs, I have been told I may hear something this week but I have heard it all before. OK, I am going to jump into positive mode, so yes I am waiting for job info and I have an unusual interview on Thursday morning. It is a telephone interview with the Tarmac Group, never had one of those before. Must be the new method, still I suppose it benefits them by not having to see lots of applicants.

Finally got down to sorting the holiday photos in earnest and will make a special effort to get them uploaded top my Flickr site this week. Then there is ABC Wednesday, so I need to find something for that, maybe with a twist.

Lyn has got me a list of jobs to do this week to keep me occupied (I think) so I had better go and start them in a while.

Christmas we will be staying at the Rothley Court Hotel in Leicestershire. This is the description and link:

Rothley Court itself is a rambling manor, with beautiful gardens, steeped in history and concepts of freedom. The Knights Templar used Rothley Court and the 13th century chapel in the building can still be visited.

Lord Macaulay was born at the court in 1800, a place frequented by William Wilberforce in the 18th century working with the owner Thomas Babington on the campaign to abolish the Slave Trade. Rothley Court Hotel

You may have heard of Rothley many times in the past few weeks it is the hometown of the Madeleine McCann family.

We have a possible holiday in Durham coming up and another in The Lake District, so many more photo opportunities.

The new car looks great, a Peugeot 207, black in colour:

Right,

I had better go and wash up
Change the light bulb in the oven
Clean the motorbike
Cut the grass
Plant the bluebells for next spring
Get dressed (best do this first)
Look for a job
Have a shower (best before I get dressed)
Sort some more photos out
Make a coffee (will do that now)

ABC Wednesday "J" Is For Jasper And Jeanau

2007-09-26T10:46:00.000+01:00

It might seem sad but I have to carry on the Canada - Alaska theme. There were just so many photo opportunities that it seems a shame to present anything else at the moment. Besides that it is taking me a considerable amount of time to wade through the photos I have to be ready for printing.

So, I hope you don't get bored of these, I don't think I ever will.

Picked up our new car today, there is no J in it though, it is a brand new shiny black Peugeot 207. Not mine really it belongs to Lyn (my wife), you never know she may allow me to drive it.

Also, got 2 job interviews to attend, one on Thursday the other on Friday, so, I had better swat up on these.

OK back to the photographs.

This first one is of the Athabasca Falls in Jasper National Park. You have to be there to appreciate the full force and noise of the water.

The second one is again of the Athabasca Falls taken from a slightly different angle as it passes through the ravine. The lovely colour of the water is a result of minerals deposited from glacial melt, at this time of year it is not so vibrant but still has really nice aesthetic qualities

The third installment is arriving at Jeunau very early in the morning, there was not much light about, the birds were just starting to sing.

The fourth photograph is one taken at Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau, the colours here wer very vibrant and we managed to see a couple of bears, brown ones I think. I used a polarizer to enhance the colours, some areas may appear a little dark but from a subjective point of view that is what I wanted.

This last one was taken on a whale seeing expedition, did not see too many and one has to be quick to get a good photo. The whales will not pose to order (shame). This is the disappearing tail of a Humpback, this was taken from some distance using a 300 mm zoom lense and oh yes it was very cold on the boat deck.

So, there you have it until next week, so what will "K" be, I will leave you to guess.

Ding dong on the doorbell, great my new scanner has arrived, the other one packed up through overuse.

It Has Been A Busy Week

2007-09-22T08:44:00.001+01:00

The title says it all, don't know why I am up this time on a Saturday morning after all of the activity of the week.

Blog Aesthetics

I have had a play about with the look of my blog and added a few new features, let me know what you think, mainly they are link graphics so when you click on a particular link it should now hover with a different colour, plus I have added a recent comments section.

Job Interviews

In brief it goes like this: Spent most of the week swatting up for job interviews I had on Thursday and Friday (I have already had a couple and am awaiting the results). This has entailed going through the job specs and researching all about the companies on the internet. One of them was very interesting, the position being Process Technician for a military defence unit. I would dearly love this job, this place is tucked away in a little rural location by a river, great surroundings and oh! yes what appears to be a very interesting and challenging role.

Most of the positions I have been interviewed for are not close to home ranging from a 40 to 50 mile radius, so there will be a certain amount of commuting, this is not so bad depending on what roads you have to use. The first job interview this week was at Kidsgrove near Stoke whereby I had to use the M6, the M6 can be a pain especially between junctions 14 and 15 which is about a 12 mile stretch of road with no other get offs and it is notorious for accidents, if you get stuck on there you may as well get out the sleeping bag.

Good job most of these interviews are in the morning because I then have to do a part time job in the afternoon to evening, then again what more can you ask for it happens to be behind a bar.

Trauma

Some of you may or may not have seen photographs of me (they are on my old blog or websites, check links on blog). In most of the recent ones I have fairly long hair (in most places). Of course when one is trying to get professional positions this may be an issue, therefore I decided to get it chopped off. It took me 14 months to get it to a 12 inch length and 5 minutes to reduce it to a former shadow of itself.

Hospital

Went into hospital on Thursday night for a routine Angiogram, Cardiac Catheterization

Click on the links for an explanation. This is part of the ongoing treatment I have for Congenital Heart Disease. Not a particularly nice procedure but fortunately carried out under a general anaesthetic. One has to shave one's groin, it now has the appearance of a chicken with its neck pulled. The following link gives a little bit of history about mon condition poorly peter

I was hoping that the above link would take you directly to the paragraph on the page but my website provider will not allow me to insert a anchor or tag without upgrading my subscription, so you will just have to scroll down the page a little.

Still, as one has too, I managed a couple of glasses of wine last night.

ABC Wednesday. "I" Is For Icefields From 37,000 Feet

2007-09-18T09:09:00.002+01:00

This weeks attempt comes from space, well almost, these photographs were taken at 37,000 ft above the earth. The 1st photo shows an ice field of Baffin Island and the next 4 show the ice fields of Greenland

It is difficult to imagine the enormity of these glaciers when viewed from this height, they must be miles across.

I left the plane wing in some of them for purposes of scaling, although it probably would not make any difference and oh! yes the plane wing was in the way.

It was a great flight with manly clear skies. The colours I think are very bold especially the sky in contrast with the ground which is a little tamer.

Blog Index

2007-09-13T11:36:00.000+01:00

Hi there folks, just wondered, the people that look at this blog, have you added it to your blog page and removed my old blog link, please do so. This will speed up my blog indexing in search engines and also if you are inclined, to get to my blog much quicker.

I have added the people from my previous blog.

Thank You

By the way I am sure most of you will be familiar with this webpage, if not take a look around.

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Blogger tips and tricks

Intro Post

2007-09-13T01:11:00.000+01:00

First one, yes first post on here. See the reason why, Been Having A Think, basically I wanted to start afresh and have some flexibility with my blog. I have moved from wordpress and my last post on there was: The Time Has Come To Move To Blogger

So bare with me for a while and let me get my bearings, hopefully it will all become apparent.

I will start the photo part of it with a piccie of my now deceased cat (almost 3 years ago) Felix. Hope you like. Just thought I would give him some recognition.