31/12/10 - ... and now the end is near ...

... and now the end is near ...

The end of an era ... well a year anyway ... 365 photographs taken, uploaded and in some way explained. It has not really been a chore but an experiment in perseverance and consistency, neither of which I am known for.

I have pondered carrying on or doing another 365 or having a theme but have decided that repetition is not good for me and so I must put my brain to something else.

But what I do have left is a photo record of the year 2010 to remind me of the way it was.

30/12/10 - Signs that Christmas is over ...

Signs that Christmas is over ...

Tesco Supermarkets have already got their Easter displays going and there is an incredible amount of recycling parked on all of the pavement edges

29/12/10 - Foggy trees

Foggy Trees

Snow all gone but so has visibility ... difficult to show just how foggy it really is

28/12/10 - Strange green ground cover sighted

 Strange green ground cover sighted

This strange green stuff seems, over-night, to have replaced the very white carpet that we had outside ... it appears to composed of short, green leaves ...

27/12/10 - Christmas card from Granddaughter

Christmas card from Granddaughter

26/12/1- Christmas Flowers

Christmas Flowers

Technology is a wonderful thing. The red flowers are from New Zealand via Edinburgh 

25/12/10 - Tweet , tweet

Tweet, tweet

Now just got to learn all of the tweets with a difference

24/12/10 -The North wind doth blow

The North wind doth blow

... and it plasters the trees with snow throwing their shape into relief ..

23/12/10 - Chocolate Sensation

Chocolate Sensation

Tesco shopping .. tempting - but at £18 we decided against it ..... :-(

22/12/10 - Let it snow, let it snow ....

 Let it snow, let it snow ....

In the Outwoods, above Loughborough, a large 'dump' of snow ... not the one in purple !!!

21/12/10 - Total Eclipse

Total Eclipse

Photo taken at 07.18 this morning of the first total eclipse on the winter solstice for 400 years ... don't think I will witness the next one

20/12/10 - Christmas Tree

Christmas Tree

It stands in the corner to mark the passing of another year ... the snowman on the top is now 32 years old .. it was made by Lara, daughter, to mark the year that the book/animated film 'The Snowman' first came out.

19/12/10 - Late afternoon sun

Late afternoon sun

At 3.00 in the afternoon with the temperature at -4 degrees the strength of the late afternoon sun shines warmth upon the bare trucks of the birch trees

18/12/10 - The moon

The moon

... a night mistiness captures me as it highlights the bare branches

17/12/10 - Strange birdbath

Strange Birdbath

The water in the birdbath is frozen with a large dome in the middle ... I have no idea why ...

16/12/10 - Destruction !

Destruction !

Following the line of the trees for about 100m there used to be a reed bed that took the overflow water from the houses about 500m away on the right. The reeds were home to many birds and other animals that took shelter there or used the materials for nests etc. But the reeds were not up to standard and the drainage was not good enough so they ha to go and a gravel drainage ditch had to be built.

I am told that it will, in time, re-grow ... but what of now ?

15/12/10 - Unrelenting encroachment ...

Unrelenting encroachment ...

A large field on one of my favourite walks has suffered the effects of unrelenting encroachment ... the bulldozers have marked out the new road and houses are beginning to sprout up on a daily basis ... need to find another route to walk !

14/12/10 - Why would you?

Why would you?

Just ... why would you go to the trouble of picking up your dog's mess and putting it in a bag and then throwing it in a bush when less than 5 paces way is a bin dedicated just for the purpose of keeping the paths clean?

13/12/10 - Roost

Roost

Just a small portion of a vast roost of crows silhouetted against a very, very grey sky

12/12/10 - Magnetism

Magnetism

Train and truck all ready for their staring role in my video to explain 'like poles repel - unlike poles attract'

11/12/10 - Rotational Symmetry

Rotational Symmetry

Another PGCE student demonstrates rotational symmetry with a previously drawn symmetrical image ...

10/12/10 - Christmas Symmetry

Christmas Symmetry

This is one of a large number of 'settings' produced by my PGCE students when tasks with depicting Christmas and symmetry. I love the way this one uses paper cutouts with the symmetry picture on her laptop in the background

09/12/10 - It's a Book

It's a Book

This is a book that should be read an enjoyed by everyone

08/12/10 - It looks like the end ...

 It looks like the end ...

... of the cyclamen that was so beautiful before it was hit by 30 cm of snow and -12 deg C

07/12/10 - Filigree

Filigree

On the fence in the car park at Leicester University ... temperature -11 deg C

06/12/10 - oak

Oak

This oak tree appeared in a blog post on 20 October but my interest in it at this time is because it still has many of its leaves on in spite of the weather and the wind and some of them even look green !

05/12/10 - Winter sun

Winter sun

An almost ghostly light at mid-day. This photo taken with my iPhone looking back across the fields towards the end of a long walk from Loughborough towards the Outwoods. No sound, no people, no footprints ... beautiful 

4/12/10 - The road home

The road home

The last stretch of the road home from a long walk in the snow ... soft and peaceful with snow just gently falling all around ...

03/12/10 - The Ploughman homeward plods

The Ploughman homeward plods

... no more to say really ...

02/12/10 - Winter trees

Winter trees

Two for the price of one today ... just love the way that the snow outlines the branches

01/12/10 - Chimneys in the snow

Chimneys in the snow

Seen from the lane ... Beaumanor Hall, Woodhouse ... a real Victorian view of a Victorian building

30/11/10 - 'Snow' berries

'Snow' berries

Rich and vibrant ... just like me

:-)

29/11/10 - Halfway down the stairs ...

Halfway down the stairs

is a stair

where i sit.

there isn't any

other stair

quite like

it.

i'm not at the bottom,

i'm not at the top;

so this is the stair

where

I always

stop.

Halfway up the stairs

Isn't up

And it isn't down.

It isn't in the nursery,

It isn't in town.

And all sorts of funny thoughts

Run round my head.

It isn't really

Anywhere!

It's somewhere else

Instead!

by A.A. Milne

1882-1956,

28/11/10 - Second sighting

Second sighting

Obviously brought in by the snow !!

27/11/10 - We've got a little snow :-(

We've got a little snow :-(

5 o'clock in the morning and the street lights give the scene a soft blur ... an icing sugar coating makes things look good

26/11/10 - Delusions of grandeur

Delusions of grandeur

Had to buy a new 'Master Mind' chair ... previous one broke under the strain of it all

25/11/10 - Morning sun

Morning sun 

Blurred and fuzzy ... just like me

24/11/10 - I got folders !!

I got folders!!

Finished messing with my iPad and 4.2. Like the folders and the multitasking  ... not sure anything else is going to make my quality of life more excellent.

23/11/10 - The two of us

The two of us

These two pigeons have lived with us for three years now. They are always together/apart ... if you see what I mean

22/11/10 - Balancing act ...

Balancing act ...

The cleverness of this greenfinch to balance on the very end of the very last twig  at the top of the tree reminds me of something ...

21/11/10 - New Bike ...

New Bike

Not mine ... belongs to son who lives in Christchurch, NZ ... home to surfing 10 mins; home to skiing 30 mins; home to open country 10 mins; home to work/life balance ... all the time in the world !

This is what you grow them for ... so that they can fly.

20/11/10 - Misty

Misty

There is something about a soft fog in the morning

19/11/10 - Foggy morning

Foggy morning

The first real fog of November seen from a classy hotel near Durham 

18/11/10 - Resistance at a low ebb

Resistance at a low ebb

The morning had not gone as well as it could have and as I walked across the kitchen I caught a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye ... it just sat there looking at me ... in its crumpled M&S wrapper ... it was already two days old and its friend, the one it was manufactured with, had disappeared - somewhere.  The icing, glistening there began to play havoc with my saliva glands and the currants ... well the currants ... resistance was low, there was no contest ... all was lost ... mmmmmmmmmmm  !!!

17/11/10 - White elephant

White Elephant

An education debate worth having

16/11/10 - Blades

Blades

Shining in the Autumn sun against a backdrop of frosted grass

15/11/10 - Morning sun

Morning sun

The early morning, late autumn sun brings sparkle to the very last of the geraniums ... behind, the grass glistens with the first real frost and the bird bath shines hard frozen.

14/11/10 - Strange sighting

Strange sighting

For the second time in only a few days I have had sightings of strange objects ...