Beautiful sight

There are lots of beautiful things in the world. When I got home today there was a colourful package on the mat, inside were wristbands, camping passes and details for Camperjam. A weekend away in the Camper with good company, food and VWs, thats beautiful to me.

The many sides of me

Todays prompt was "your personality" thats a really difficult thing to photograph. What side should I go for? I played around with multiple exposed shots a few years ago so I thought I'd give it another go. As they take an age to do I'll be saving this for next week when I have plenty of time to work on it.

Edit: the sun was out on saturday afternoon, Kim & Lily were happy to help me so I fired off a load of shots.

Whats in a number?

There are an infinite number of numbers around. So I could choose literally anything. But I plumped for a number close to home. 1303. The unloved Beetle, many people consider it to be less trendy, less cool, not as pretty. However its the Beetle with proper suspension up front, that handles better than a 50s Bug. And its easier to lower too!

The forecast

For the last few days the temperatures have been right up, hitting 30°C most days and with clear blue skies. I'm sure its on the turn any day soon, but for now I'll enjoy the sunny weather we've been blessed with.

Afternoon tea

Our "something sweet" today was platefuls of cake. We were at Runnymede, down by the Thames with the rest of the family celebrating my Mums 65th birthday and enjoying a spot of afternoon tea.

12 o'clock and all is well

Pretty simple one today. Midday or midnight or noon it all looks the same.

Thats unusual

Not something you see everyday. A combination of sportscar and wildlife. The classic car meet I went to this evening was next to the river and it seemed to be mayfly night. There were hundreds of them flying around and getting everywhere. We even managed to transport a few back with us on the cars as I had one resting on the Camper the following morning!

Shiney and new

While high above the West Anglia countryside a fire alarm went off in the building we were working next door to. This rolled in, brand spanking new and gleaming.

High tech

With a prompt like "technology" it should be an easy photo to take, but its Kims birthday today and we took her to the Cotswold Wildlife Park, there isn't much tech at a zoo. This is the most sophisticated thing at the place after the marvel that is the animal kingdom!

Pink

Its Kims birthday tomorrow and I always like to get some funky wrapping paper for her presents. I spied this in Clintons and, well, its pink!

Where I stand

I was going to think of something deep and meaningful about my position in life, but I thought I'd answer the question literally. On my two feet.

I can't live without....

There are loads of things I can't do without. If Heinz Ketchup ceased to exist I'd be quite upset. Kim and Lily are everything to me as well. But as the photo is from today the thing I can't live without is motorsport. I try and get trackside at least one or twice a year, often a lot more(its four and counting in 2012) Todays trip saw myself and Malcs at Brands Hatch for the DTM. 500hp, RWD V8 beasts. It was awesome and reminded me why enjoy racing so much.

Favourite place

I have a lot of places I consider to be in my favourites. Chilling at home with the family, lazing on a nice campsite with some mates. But today's favourite place was the South Field at Bearwood College for their annual car show. Its all of five minutes from home so it seems rude not to take both our old Dubs along. In a convoy with me driving the Camper followed up by Kim and Lily in the Beetle I was in my favourite place

Build it up

I didn't technically make this, but the design work is all mine as is the final construction. To pay the bills and keep me in old VWs and cameras I'm an IT engineer. We set up network links all over the country when people don't want to pay BT or Virgin big bucks for a 10meg connection. This beast is firing a mile of Central London from 19 floors up.

Sneaky treats

I have a sweet tooth, I also have a savoury one too so snacks can come from either. I'm a fan of the pile of crisps in front of a good film. Chocolates whilst surfing the net. I found these in the sweety pile we have on the bench above the beer fridge. They will be mine later (and probably Kims too!)

Reading matter

I suspect that most people doing this photo a day will be displaying some profound works of literature. Classics from Dickens or Shakespeare. Some amazingly deep novel. Me, I have a reading pile by the side of the bed. On it gets lumped anything and everything from the latest car magazines, a biography or two, a geeky car history book or even the guide from the CAMRA festival we went to.

Love

Noun

a profoundly tender, passionate affection for another person

a feeling of warm personal attachment or deep affection, as for a parent, child or friend. 

sexual passion or desire.  

a person toward whom love is felt, beloved person or sweetheart.

Grass

Quite a simply one today. After several weeks of constant rain we had a couple of days of sunshine which meant the garden needed a trim. Following yet more rain today it looks like its never been done!

Fashionshoot

The May prompt list I am following is clearly an American version as today is supposed to celebrate Mother Day, as we've already had Mothers Day in the UK I've gone with the brilliant day at Brooklands I had. I offered the Beetle as a model for a photography course. In between moving the car around the site and chatting to the snappers and models I took the chance to take some photos too. I've never worked with a model before and its a little unnerving having somebody smile back and chat to you. As i don't know the first thing about poses I borrowed the shots when the students were taking theirs. I'm actually quite pleased with some of the results and with practise and actually being the person they are looking at I reckon I could achieve even better. Jason who runs the courses has another in the summer.....

Something that makes you happy

There are lots of things that make me happy. But when my family are happy, then I'm happy. Picked up for £15, this eBay bargain Little Tikes kitchen has been a complete hit with Lily. We gave it a wipe over and set it up and for an hour she was playing at "cook" in the garden. Theres a car boot sale near us tomorrow so additional food and accessories are on the list to add to the few bits that came with it.

Kitchen

In our previous little one bed house the kitchen was a skinny galley affair. Barely room for one let alone two. There was stuff all over the place and not much room for any of it. When we moved one of the things we looked for was a good sized kitchen. With four times the cupboard space and three times the worktop length its meant that we can actually enjoy cooking in it. This does mean that we need more gadgets and gizmos. But out of everything we have I would be lost without the big orange "Le Creuset" cast iron pan. Its so versatile and sits right along side the cooker coming out several times a week.

Favourite words

I really struggled to think of one word that I class as my favourite. But heading towards the end of a frankly rubbish week the word "weekend" seemed most appropriate.

Repetitive actions

Some thing you do every day. There are a few things I do every day. Eat, sleep, drink....But something that I do everyday and lots of different times is check my iPod. Kim bought it for me as a new dad present when Lily was born. I got her one for Christmas and after she found out she was pregnant it became a companion for her. Late nights when she couldn't sleep she could listen to her music or do more baby research. Mine lives by the side of the bed in a docking station. First thing in the morning I check emails and Facebook. A couple of forums get a look in too. During the day if I'm home it gets games and films played on it and into the evening its a social networking hub and font of all knowledge. IMBD the internet movie database can get hammered if I'm watching something, finding out who is who or where the locations are. I couldn't live with out my Pod for very long. Its sad I guess, but its the way the world is moving, ever more reliant on technology.

Mmmm, smells nice

There are lots of things that smell nice, steak always smells nice. Classic cars have a certain aroma that can evoke amazing memories. People often claim that babies smell nice. I've changed Lily enough times to know thats not always true. But as the photo had to come from today I picked the first major smell of the day. Coffee. I never use to be a coffee drinker and I still don't down gallons of the stuff, but first thing in the morning in the office a nice hot brew and the whiff of coffee goes down well.

My inspiration

Inspiration comes from all over the place. Some people get theres from parents or siblings. Some from famous people or historical figures. Me, I get mine from my family. Kim has inspired me since we first met (not the first first time when we were only 4 years old) she is always there and willing to help people and to forgive and forget and just get on with it. I have got a lot better over the years at helping and forgiving, I still find it difficult to forget and never suffer fools. Lily also inspires me, every day she learns something new. A word, an action. I know all children are like this, but she just seems to amaze me every day.

Cheers

Todays theme was "you" There are very few photos of me in the blog, infact there are not that many photos of me fullstop. I prefer to be behind the lens most of the time. SO I took a few drinks at the local ale festival with some friends before I was brave enough to allow the shutter to point at me!

Everybodies heard about the bird

We get a fair few birds through our garden. One of Lily's first words was "bird" and she really enjoys watching them out the window of the kitchen when she is eating or often running in from the lounge to see the feeding. With a suggestion for birds today we decided to throw some left over bread out to see what we could encourage in. The Pigeons were camera shy, the Blue Tits hiding away and our unusual visitors of recent weeks, the Red Kits and Heron no where to be seen so I relied on the old faithful, the Blackbird.

May the 4th be with you

Its a rubbish pun, but the prompt for today was "fun" and as its Star Wars Day I thought I'd get the LEGO out again to play with.

These boots were made for walking

Something you wore today was the prompt. I wear these hefty steelies daily and get through a pair every six months as they get battered and worn from the sites we go on. They are warm, waterproof and surprisingly comfortable despite the plated sole and armoured tops.

Skyline

Todays theme was skylines, there are some impressive skylines around the world. Reading is trying to get in on the act with its Blade building that now dominates the view from the office window.

At peace

Slight change this month. There are people all over the internet doing photo a day blogs. Lots of people work from a predefined list provided by a website. While hunting around for ideas for future photos I found a blog called Fat Mum Slim She has provided a list of ideas for the whole of May so I thought I would give it a go. It does mean I can look ahead and plan what I'm going to take instead of my usual "oh that looks interesting....snap" approach. So, onto the challenge.

At peace: untroubled; tranquil; content.

Its a slight cheat as I took this yesterday while planning for this months challenge, but as it covers the subject so well its going in. She may run around, leap on the sofa and grab anything she can find, at times Lily quietens right down and you'd barely know she was there. While I was getting tea ready for the two of us (Kim was out) I gave her a magazine I'd bought at the weekend so she could flick through it whilst sat in her chair. For five whole minutes there was complete silence as she turned the pages and was away in a world of Peppa Pig.