30 July 2010

I spotted this sign while at a well know DIY centre and couldn't help but see the irony as it was saying 'Caution we floor'. I'm sure there had been a need for the sign earlier in the day, but as it was currently chucking it down with rain, i thought it was rather stating the obvious!

29 July 2010

These sweets were brought back from Turkey and have been a major success with everyone who has visited us, so i thought i had better that a photo before they disappear completely!

28 July 2010

This is a photo of some cuttings i had taken last year. As green fingered as i would like to be, in reality is less than realistic, i've never really had any success with cuttings and only a small amount of achievement with seeds, so to see these cutting still alive is a real bonus for me, the only problem is that i took so many cutting last year (most of which have perished) that i can't actually remember what these cutting are!

27 July 2010

I had seen these boards advertising a duck race in Stoneleigh, and as i had never heard of it before, my imagination went into overdrive thinking it would be lots of rubber ducks floating along looking very cute and an excellent photo opportunity. It wasn't until i was talking to a friend who said it was a rubber duck race, and that you get given a number and if your duck wins you win a prize. How fantastic is that?! So on the 14 August i will be shouting at a rubber duck willing it to win!!

26 July 2010

This is a water fountain, it is located near to the War Memorial Park in Coventry. It has been here for as long as i can remember, although i have never seen it with water flowing from it. Apparently, the lower section was for dogs and the upper section for people. Unfortunately, now is it just a storage facility for empty cans and crisp packets.

25 July 2010

What would i do without my garden for inspiration? On another trip around the garden i noticed that the blackberries (which there are a lot of) were starting to ripen. Unfortunately, my bright idea about letting the borders grow and grow so that i could see what plants come up has backfired slightly as the brambles have flourished. One good thing it that this year we will have lots of blackberries, i just need some apples from the my neigbours garden then apple and blackberry crumble, here i come!

24 July 2010

Walking back from town i noticed a blue splog on a walL, only to see on closer inspection that it was in fact flowers growing through a wall! I have seen this before, but it always facinates me, how does this happen?!

23 July 2010

This is a memento from Turkey, it is a hand made night light made from China, not the China we all know, this is a turkish version pronounced 'chin-a'. We watched a demonstration of other items being made from China, then were led into a shop full of the stuff. While we were in the shop i developed a shadow who had a calculator and didn't leave my side until we bought something. We bought this piece which isn't something i would normally go for, but it is amazing what you will buy when there is a story attached to something. We paid a horrible amount of money for it, only to find loads of it in Marmaris at half the price! I'd like to think it was initation China, but there is that niggly feeling that we paid far more that we could have done, but hey, i'm happy with what we chose.

22 July 2010

Today my partner and i took the day off work. We pottered around in the morning, then went into town in the afternoon, and went to watch Toy Story 3 (the girls had seen it a few days before, so there was no need to feel guilty). After coming out of the cinema, we took a walk back to the car through Jephson Gardens. The park is beauitful and i spotted a tree that appeared to have green eggs all over it, ok, perhaps this was just my imagination running riot, but it made me smile. Anyway on closer inspection the 'eggs' were green cones approximately the size of a fist, but i still like to thing of them as eggs.

21 July 2010

I was up early this morning as my body clock still hasn't settled down since coming home from holiday, and i was in the garden looking to see what was new (yes this is a regular occurance, and no, i don't get bored of looking out for new things in the garden), when this white butterfly fluttered passed me and landed on a flower, i tried to get closer in the hope i would get a photo of it with it's wings open, unfortunately each time i got close enough it fluttered off to another flower, so i took a quick photo of it on this leaf. The stange this is, although the butterfly was white, it blended in perfectly with the leaf, and if i hadn't have seen it land there, i probably would have missed it altogether!

20 July 2010

Driving home after work with my youngest daughter in the car, i was yet again stuck in traffic, typically i couldn't have avoided it as both of the routes i would normally take home were having maintenance on them. Anyway, looking around at my surroundings that i would normally have zoomed by, i noticed lots of things i could have taken photos of, but that would have meant parking up, then getting back into the traffic further back than i currently was. Thankfully it was a nice day with lovely cloud formations, so while i kept an eye on the traffic, my daughter look a photograph of the sky, which looked much nicer than the car in front of me which i had been stuck behind for the past 20 minutes!

19 July 2010

After returning home from a fantastic holiday to the reality that is my life with a crash, i was feeling less than inspired to take any photos, but not to be beaten, i headed into the garden with my trusty camera to see what was new. There wasn't a great deal of difference apart from the fragrant roses that were in bloom outside my patio doors before i left had now finished flowering, and everything else had got bigger, then i spotted these huge daisy type flowers (i'm not sure of there proper name yet) that had emerged throughout the borders of my garden. What is not to love about daisies, big or small, so headed back in the house feeling happier than i had just a few minutes before.

18 July 2010

This seemingly innocent photograph hides a dark secret, within each of these suitcases lies a torture every holiday maker must face. You guessed it, these suitcases contain all the clothes that we took on holiday, and that i will spend the next few days washing, drying and ironing. I say few days which is really being optoimistic as the British weather dictates that each time i try to hang some of the washing out, it will rain!

17 July 2010

These are the tombs of Caunos, and they were chiselled into the rocks for nobelmen, and it is thought, the richer you were the highter your tomb would be, and the closer you would be to the gods. To see the tombs were took a boat as this is the only way to get to them, the boat paused briefly while Yusuf (the same tour guide as we had for Ephesus) spoke about the tombs and their history. It was absolutely amazing being so close to something so ancient, i would love to have explored the area, but that was another excursion and this was our last day in Turkey.

The boat trip carried on to Dalyan Beach, a protected area where loggerhead turtles breed. You can only get to the beach by boat and it is closed betweem 8pm and 8am. Apparently David Attenborough was involved with ensuring the area became a protected site.

16 July 2010

Towards the end of the holiday, just like everyone else we went looking for presents and mementos to bring home. On this day we found this little treasure trove, secretly disguised as a shop where we found some fantastic things. We bought a hand made magic box (you have to figure out how to release the key before you can open the box), an intricate chess board, again hand made and a few other things too, but one of the highlights was when the shopkeepers son flicked a switch that turned on a shelf of lights, which caught us all by surprise and before we knew it we all made the same sound 'oooooooooooooooooooooh' just like the green aliens in Toy Story! The lights looked amazing, but the really interesting thing is that they are all made from the shells of butternut squash! To begin with i didn't even know you could get butternut squash that big, but also the fact that the shopkeeper hand drilled all the holes, and decorated them, was something to admire. Unfortunately i didn't buy one, but they were so amazing, i just had to get a photo of them. He seemed very pleased when i asked if i could take a photo, which showed he is very proud of his work, and so he sould be.

15 July 2010

Each day while we were on holiday, the cleaners would come in and tidy our room, and each day they would arrange the clean sheets in a different way. On this day we had boats! A simple thing, but a nice gesture to come back to and make you smile at the end of each day.

14 July 2010

Having discovered that it really is a small world and meeting up with a couple who live locally to us, we all decided to spend the day together at the local bazaar. However, after sampling the local buses (dolmuses) we thought we would be extravagant and go by taxi boat, not something you get to do that often in England! As you can see, the sun was shining and the water was the most beautiful blue. The bazaar was a bit scary with people shouting 'cheaper than Primark' at you, but it was good fun, and the company was fantastic.

13 July 2010

On this day we did an excursion called the Eco Tour which was a day trip in an open top jeep, with some stunning views and a few stop offs including to have lunch at a place which has a tree which is apparently over 800 years, and the story says that if you walk around it three times you will have good luck. My partner and i did this, but knowing our luck, we probably walked around it in the wrong direction! One of the other places we stopped off was a beautiful little beach with crystal clear water and a stunning view. The girls took a walk down the pier, and when they sat down, i took this photo. As you can see the colour of the water is amazing and the view is unspoilt.

The trip also turned out to be one big water fight throughout the day, we all got absolutely soaked, but it was so much fun. By the time we got back to the hotel, we all looked fantastically tanned, unfortunately by the time we had all had a shower (and for me two hair washes) the tan had gone. It's funny how being covered in dust can be mistaken for a tan!!

12 July 2010

It was inevitable that in a country with the daily temperature in the mid 40's i would get sunburnt! I don't know how i did it as i has put factor 30 suncream on, but i managed to get a stripe of sunburn up the front of my legs and up the back (and typically on my bum!), so on this day i spent my time in our hotel room, mainly on my own, with only my ipod, two magazines, soothing cream and the airconditioning to keep me going while i was feeling thoroughly miserable. I didn't even have a book as i thought i had left it on the plane (which i secretly blamed my partner), but in the chaos before leaving home for the airport, i had accidentally left it at home (just as well i didn't outright accuse him for leaving it on the plane!).

11 July 2010

On this day we managed to organise ourselves and secure a couple of sun loungers directly in front of the waters edge, this was so that we would have the perfect view of the sea and surrounding hills, without also having to see sun canopies, and people baking in the sun. And just to prove it, i took a photo of my feet on the end of the sun lounger!

10 July 2010

After our trip to Ephesus, we were told about the castle at Marmaris, so we got on a dolmus and explored Marmaris. After you have walked passed the shops and along the marina, you have to stumble across the original paths that take you up to the castle. Unfortunately, after we had followed a group of tourists (it is the easiest way to find your destination!), we got to the castle just in time for the doors to be closed! How were we to know that it closes for lunch, so we pottered around, came across a really scary man who in another life could have been a lepricorn. Then we came back. The castle has undergone a lot of restoration, with artifacts displayed throughout. It was definately worth the trip, but it was another really hot day so we headed back to the comfort of the airconditioner hotel room!

9 July 2010

As beautiful as this picture is, it isn't the picture i wanted to upload, but less about the memory card that has trapped the photos never to be seen again! This picture was taken by the photographer on the boat we were on. It was another gorgeous day, and we went on a VIP Boat Cruise, basically it was a few people (approx 30) on a boat with no under 16s, no loud music, just a really peaceful trip around the bays where we would stop and swim in the sea. It was amazing, although the water was so cold that i couldn't even speak!!

8 July 2010

This day was a lazy day, so we spent it on the beach. The beach was right behind the hotel, and there were always plenty of sun loungers, the only problem was the beach was so hot, you had to put something on your feet just to walk on it!

7 July 2010

This is the library at Ephesus. It is apparently one of the oldest library's in the world. Whether this is true or not, our day out at Ephesus was fantastic. We had a 6.20am start as it was a 31/2 hour journey to get there, so our guide, Yusuf, gave the coach a georgaphy/history lesson. He was very good and tried very had to get a sleepy bunch of Brits to be interested, but at least he kept our attention and we did learn a bit on the trip even before getting to Ephesus.

Ephesus, is the most amazing Roman ruin, apparently it was relocated four times before it remained where it is today. Much of the site is still being excavated, but there is still alot to see. Opposite the library was the brothel, it is thought that the men would say they were going to the library, but actually visit the brothel. There is a so much to see, and i was like a kid in a toy shop, apparently a number of stars have performed at the ampitheatre here without the need for speakers as the accustics are so good, there is no need for them. I took so many photos, i even ran to the top of the ampitheatre to take some photos as i couldn't go there and miss the opportunity, but these are never to be seen because of the problematic memory card, but enough said.

6 July 2010

This photo was of a thermometre that was out in the street just down from the hotel (there seemed to be lots of these throughout Marmaris). It was just before 4pm and the temperature was 42 degrees, slightly warmer than anything i had experienced at home!

5 July 2010

This photograph was of a sun rise. I have got out of bed at 6am (4am uk time) to take a photo of the sun rise as it came up over the hills surrounding Marmaris. By 6.20am the sun was above the hills and i had managed to get a photo of the first ray as it came over the hill, unfortunately the photo will never been seen because of the nuisance memory card, so you will just have to take my word for it. Boo, hoo.

4 July 2010

After arriving at our hotel in Marmaris 'The Sunrise Hotel and Resort' at 4am (2am uk time) we all just headed to bed. It had been a reasonably uneventful flight (which is just what you want) but it took a long time to get through Dalaman airport and even at that time of night it was extremely hot. Thankfully, in the light of day the hotel was fantastic, and there was a view of the sea! The photo i took was of the view, unfortunately it will never be seen as the memory card is damaged. Sob, sob.

3 July 2010

I am often accused of having my head in the clouds, but this time i really did! We were on the flight to Turkey and as my daughter was closer to the window i asked her to take a picture. I couldn't resist getting a photo of the clouds as there is just something so special about flying through or above them.

2 July 2010

Well, disaster has struck! Having been on holiday in Turkey for two weeks, we came home and tried to upload the pictures from the memory card, and you've guessed it, nothing, just one of those stomach turning error messages. Anyway, we took it to a specialist who said they had a programme that could sort out the formatting (hoorah). But alas four days later the bad news came back, the memory card was damaged, and no they couldn't retrieve the pictures. I was devastated as these were all of the pictures from the first few days of being away. Anyway, now that i have come to terms with the loss of the precious photos i have decided to carry on with my blog and try to cobble together some photos taken by my daughter, and other sources up to when we began using the other memory card, which, thankfully, is not damaged.

Sooooooo, the picture for today would have been a beautiful blue and pink evening sky as this was the lastnight we were going to spend at home before flying off to a warmer climate, for two whole weeks.

1 July 2010

I didn't take this photo, my daughter did, and it is so much better than anything i could have taken today. This butterfly was on a Hebe that my sister gave to me last year. I plan to grow as many plants as possible to encourage bees and butterflies into the garden, my partner even bought a bee hut and butterfly house for them to retreat into over the winter, but that is a photo for another day.

30 June 2010

I walk passed this path most days, blink and you would miss it as it is reasonably hidden. I'd like to think that it leads to a magical wood where you can hear the trees talk and there are magical folk all around, ok i admit one of my favorite childrens book was the Magic Faraway Tree (which has been reissued in a politically correct version, don't even get me started on that one). But in reality, it leads to the back of some houses, but maybe when the sun is high and the planets align, maybe it does lead to a magical place.

29 June 2010

I don't like spiders fact, but their webs facinate me. When i started this challenge i really liked the idea of photographing a web, either one that was really big, or covered in dew, you get the idea, then i saw this one. I didn't think the camera would actually capture the web as it was so fine, but thankfully it did. The reason i took the photo was that the web was so intricate, with no sense of rhyme or reason, it looks very haphazard, but clearly in spider world it works, and so now i have a photo of it. Enjoy!