to Christmas…? Well, actually it’s still 44 days to go but Christmas totally dominates our local shops now. It may have started slowly back in September, but it’s at full pitch now…

to Christmas…? Well, actually it’s still 44 days to go but Christmas totally dominates our local shops now. It may have started slowly back in September, but it’s at full pitch now…

As well as being rather timid, sheep are also quite inquisitive. When they saw me at the gate, they came from the far side of the field, but only this far. I wonder what they were thinking?

I’m not known for being a ‘completer/finisher‘ – indeed some jobs and projects I start at home take a VERY long time to get finished. So here goes with another little model railway project, started of course before the last one is done…

We had ‘a lot of weather’ here today – a fine start, then rain, cloud, and very late in the afternoon a couple of minutes where the sun shone through from under the clouds. This is just up the hill from our house.

My day in Birmingham was super interesting – there is massive redevelopment going on all around the city, but there are still throwbacks to its industrial and commercial heritage. Its also seen lots of creative activity, where graffiti has evolved into street art such as this mural on the wall of a car park at Digbeth.

Tomorrow is a photo day in Birmingham with my brother. Plan is to meet for coffee and a catchup, then explore a few parts of the city and see what photos we can make. He will be tooled up with his Leica film and digital cameras, whereas I will just have my trusty Sony. Should be fun!

Its about this time of year that we see Advent Calendars for sale – traditionally 24 small doors hiding chocolate treats, one for each day in December before Christmas Day. In recent years a desire to widen the customer base has seen versions with small bottles of gin or wine behind the doors, but this version, a CHEESE Advent Calendar really takes the biscuit…

So today’s the day my beautiful Audi TT gets collected and is on its way to a new home. I’ve really enjoyed driving it, even if sometimes it’s been tricky getting in and out of such a low car. Good times…

This is the track that leads down to our house. Without sunshine it’s a dark and foreboding view, but when the sun shines it’s quite magical.

I’m not generally a fan of image manipulation, either in camera or using software, but am a sucker for a nice zoom burst photo. This ancient oak stands beyond the top of our garden, and was the perfect subject to test out my new 24-70mm lens…
