Sunday, 14 November 2010

Poppies, poppies everywhere...

I went up to Yorkshire today to spend the day with Graham and we ended up driving through some beautiful countryside and pretty villages just as the sun was beginning to set. At the first village we came to, we saw the village war memorial covered in poppy wreaths that would have been left earlier today in one of the thousands and thousands of Remembrance Day parades that took place in every corner of the country and in every town in between. In total, we drove through five villages/small towns and we stopped at each and every one to take photos of the wreaths and individual poppies that had been left by schools, clubs, political parties, veterans associations and just about every other kind of group you could imagine. We may only be a small country and I often think that the fact that we tend to remember and commemorate in quieter, less obvious and altogether more low key ways than other countries is mistaken for not caring. Make no mistake though, we do care. Every bit as much as those who choose to remember in a much more 'bold' and obvious fashion. Sometimes reserved, dignified and proud is all that is needed. Not better, not worse...just different.















"At the setting of the sun...we will remember them.." and this was a perfect, fitting and beautiful Yorkshire sunset at the end of a perfect, and poignant, day.

Friday, 29 October 2010

Majorca holiday - October 2010

The beaufiful view from the bedroom balcony....

The walk down along the cove to the pool area...






He seemed rather relaxed in the sun :)


With Graham just before dinner one evening...

 I decided to play around with the exposures on my camera. It was really dark when I took the next couple...


Jan - the dorable Belgian entertainer that Lara and I first met here two years ago...

I WONDER who I though of when they did a Bert and Mary song :)

The beach, with the hotel to the right. It is built along the whole length of the cove. Beautiful...







Graham had rather a lot of fun in the pool with the other kids!

Early evening...

Night time...more playing around with the camera. Again, it was too dark to see the end of the cove and I love that I managed to even pick out the waves hitting the rocks...

Early morning sun reflecting off the sea....


Crazy golf course looking through to the sea....


The hotel a few miles away where Deana nd I spent our honeymoon. Happy memories...




An outcrop on the top of a mountain. I was standing with a beautiful medieval monastery behind me when I took this....

There was a thunder storm one night and I tried to get a photo of the lightning. Because I needed such a long exposure due to the darkness I could only take a photo every 5 seconds or so but I did catch a LITTLE bit of lightning in the second picture...if you compare the two you will see the flash in the clouds...



The men went to watch football and we and the kids took part in a music quiz. We won, hence champagne prize :)

The beautiful Charlotte...

Another lovely family who we met and had lots of laughs with.

We spent pretty much every evening with this lovely family and will definitely keep in touch....



Peter and Eric...yes...ERIC :)

Sunrise from the balcony....


Sunrise over Porto Petro....