Thursday 17 July 2008

Webs

Where we used to live in Scotland was very wooded and hilly, and not far from our house was a very large forest. It is a working forest, but also has a large proportion of broad leaved trees. The forest is home to all manner of wildlife and is popular with nature enthusiasts. Running from one side of the forest to the other is a rough road used by the forestry vehicles. This road is open to the public from April to September and is approximately 10 miles in length. The track is called the Raiders Road and we were frequent visitors to it, on one of our visits we were delighted to see spiders webs draped over quite a few tree's and I took a number of photographs. Below are some of the nicer ones.







It was a magical sight, and it made our visit so special.

Monday 7 July 2008

On The Beach

I love the sea and where we live is only five minutes from the beach. Every year there is a kite flying exhibition, and we went down to the beach to have a look at it. The weather was perfect for showing the kites in all their glory, and the sun shone all day. I took a few photographs that day, some of which are shown below.



The dog had no trouble getting airborne, the fish for some reason were a little reluctant.



Super Ted flies to the rescue.
These lobsters were almost Fifteen feet in length, an incredible feat of kite making.


Another view of the dog, perhaps wondering where the fish have gone.
This octopus was excellent, as it flew the tentacles moved quite realistically.
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These ladybirds are also kites, but they remained landlubbers and did not leave the safety of the beach.

Another weird and wonderful creation.



Yacht racing on the deep blue sea.
This was the start of a sand turtle created by a professional sand artist.
Two views of a sandcastle competition.

The finished sand turtle, quite impressive I thought.




Sunday 6 July 2008

Woolfest A Beginners Tour

Last year I dropped Amber off and returned to pick her up later. This year I came with her to help out on the Knitting and Crochet Guild stand. I did not know what to expect and it came as a very pleasant surprise to meet loads of really lovely people, and to see the enormous variety of colours and textures displayed on the stands. These photographs are of some of the things which I found interesting.
A view of the Guild stand, some of which I helped to put up.
Another discussion on the stand.
I think this sheep had been here before, he seemed quite unfazed and a little bored by all the activity going on around him.

I think this is the front end of these two, with all that wool it was not easy to tell.
These sheep and the ones in the next photograph had really lovely wool and looked like childrens cuddly toys.

When alpaca's are sheared they shrink to an astonishing degree and appear to be a completely different species.

I took this photograph because I am a bicycle freak and have been so from an extremely early age. When I was younger I was a racing cyclist taking part in time trials organised by my local club,of which I was a member.
This stand had an impressive display of woven baskets.
Untill I came to Woolfest I had no idea how many men were actively involved in the creative aspects of wool, spinning,carding,knitting etc.
Brightly coloured socks, who can resist them, not me.
Another man happy in his work.