Winter morning magic

Heyheyhey! I'm going to pretend that I don't know anything about retina screens for the moment, because time's been tight, and the best workaround seems to be starting a new blog elsewhere, and that's something I need to spend a good chunk of time doing, and there's never enough of it at this end of the year. So, in the mean time, here's a phone pic from a morning stroll to the Ladies Pond on Hampstead Heath last week, with my friend Z who was in town. I've started winter swimming this year; I saw this film, and decided with a friend that it was something we should try, and it's been an amazing experience. When we started in September it was +21c degrees in the water, and I've swum a couple of times a week since then, with +4 degrees being the coldest that I've experienced so far - and it's been totally fine! Which, if you knew me, you'd find improbable as I'm always the coldest person in the room, but for some reason cold water isn't a problem. There's a strict no phones policy at the Ladies Pond, which I think is great, so I haven't been able to take pictures. Anyways, I got to rush off now, but hopefully I'll be back before the end of the year!

Greetings

Hey folks, just want to say that I'm still here, but am having all sorts of technical fudging crap going on behind the scenes with Blogger, Photoshop and a new computer (as well as retina screens - I had no idea!). I also can't reply to comments, nor does it seem that you guys can leave them if you're on a newish computer, so it's all a bit quiet here. Hopefully it will all get resolved soon; I'm googling the best that I can to try and figure it out, but I feel 136 years old and out of the loop with all the new internet/computer stuff that's happened since I last got a computer. If you have thoughts/solutions/experience that you could enlighten me with, please shoot me an email (find it through my user profile). I hope you're well and that I can resume posting here soon, as I have heaps of pictures to post. Peace out, and hope to be back sooner than soon! Famapa x

Just me, myself and I

30 years ago!!

Buddy pic of the week I

I thought it was about time that I started a Buddy series, just like I used to do with our old cat Little Mo. I used to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of her, and it struck me the other day that I hardly ever take pics of Buddy. I don't know why, as he's a much more social cat, but maybe it's just as a result of me generally forgetting to take pictures, especially at home. Well, me thinks it's time to change that.

Signs of the times

Back in June, President Trump was in town for a couple of days, and Londoners were not happy about it. Since then things have gone very strange politically in this country, and we're just waiting and waiting (and have been for the past three years) to see what's in store for us. My mum was visiting from France when this demonstration happened, and when I suggested we go down and check it out, she was a bit apprehensive. "Don't worry, the Brits don't protest like the French do!" I told her. I wasn't wrong.

Green days

You know I'm not currently blogging in real time right? That I'm perpetually behind? Good, because as we all know, it's now autumn here in the northern hemisphere, and it's not quite this green here anymore. In May we went to my father-in-law's place in the Cotswolds for a couple of nights, with friends, and it was so GREEN! Just wanted to reiterate that in case you missed it 😜

York randoms

Just a couple of days after getting back from Paris, it was time to hop on yet another train, but this time going north, to York, and hang out with our ex- London friends who now live there. Even though it's sad when friends move away, it's nice to be able to discover a new place, and to spend more concentrated time together. Last year when we were there in October it was really cold, so it was nice to be there in spring this time. 

I love S & P's home; it has such a great vibe, and is very pleasing on the eye, even when you've got someone aiming a Nerf gun at you.

Looking forward to the next time we hop on a train and head up there again!

Vermeer-ish

If Vermeer was alive now, do you reckon he'd paint this scene? Who knows, but the light when I took this certainly made me wonder.

Same same but different

A different view

Finally I think I've reached the end of my Paris pics from April. I took these from the top floor of Musée des Arts Decoratifs. Love how the Eiffel tower just fitted in perfectly like that. Au revoir Paris, you were effing brilliant. Bisous.

Off the wall

Sometimes walking below a wall gives you gifts.

Looking at Ren and Gio

We were lucky to catch the Ren Hang exhibition at MEP. I didn't know anything about him, but from just having a quick look at the gallery website, before our trip,  I knew we HAD TO go. His pictures are something else. So clean and graphic (some very graphic), shot with a point and shoot nothing fancy compact film camera on regular Fujicolour 200. Seeing how he worked, usually in his tiny bedroom, and more or less winging it during shoots was fascinating. You can see for yourself here.

We also made it to the Gio Ponti exhibition at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs on our last day. Same thing here, didn't know much about him, but came away with huge respect for his talent and productivity. He designed buildings, furniture, ceramics, silverware, and interiors amongst other things, as well as sending really cool letters to friends and family (2nd from last picture). He truly was a jack of all trades - master of all. Respect.