tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69618889374802576532024-03-04T20:57:45.483-08:00PootleNorthumberlandOwner of Welly, Mum, Photographer, Teacher, Nordic Walking Instructor
and Tourism Consultant.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-51963930819082732562014-08-31T04:16:00.000-07:002014-08-31T04:17:49.312-07:00The Coastal Challenge - photography commsion for Shepherds Walks<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><a href="http://www.shepherdswalks.co.uk/" target="_blank"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijPBZmzJ2STX72uiP2Z3hP_emal8O0eScEcrUZUgaCD9OmFAKcjluq2EGXRdiy7Fjw7HgppmTv4-vEsHe7tlwq4Fc3yEjFHnMVwvQyuISl4cyp6KW3hSHTMW5D9euwOmIaqn_HJbJIXEtR/s1600/Coastal+2014+329edit.jpg" height="402" width="640" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.shepherdswalks.co.uk/" target="_blank">Nordic Walkers take part in this 26mile challenge.</a></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Photographing Long Distance Challenge Walks</span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Coastal Challenge - May 4th 2014 - Budle Bay to Alnmouth</span></h4>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I have been photographing events for Shepherds Walks (based in Rothbury) for two years now but I always get the same feelings of anticipation and excitement each time. The first Challenge of the season was along a beautiful stretch of Northumberland's Coastal Path, from Budle Bay to Alnmouth, some 25 miles. A long walk, which cannot be done without considerable forethought and hopefully, some training. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Having photographed the same event last year I it was a little apprehensive as I hope the photographs would be as good and that the weather would present the right conditions to show Northumberland at its very best. This time I had to take my son with me, who got roped in to help out, and therefore due to teenage lie ins, I did not leave in time to catch sunrise on the beach. By the time I reached Alnmouth after an hours drive at 6am, Jane and Jon Monks were already setting up the check in tables and the participants had begun to arrive. No time for porridge and tea! The day started beautifully fresh, and promised to be dry. Phew!</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Check in - the participants are issued with a numbered tag and punch card which gets punched at each check point. Afterwhich they board a bus to the drop off at Budle Bay to start their walk. The 26mile route follows part of St Oswald's Way (96miles) the route taken by St Oswald from Linesfarne to Heavenfield near Hexham.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSZEK5xFjoUm9jYJXXhkF6umEgWlWVdwC5YtL3zh2JMuJA3Gz42VXB00sL4cmIK88XbA6e-lZNMV29KhvCr58XmoOu2vNDyAYKY6gbzmgWRemPqk8IRFr6Pi1Q2QFqPmkqU3Ed8EZmr73/s1600/Coastal+2014+165edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVSZEK5xFjoUm9jYJXXhkF6umEgWlWVdwC5YtL3zh2JMuJA3Gz42VXB00sL4cmIK88XbA6e-lZNMV29KhvCr58XmoOu2vNDyAYKY6gbzmgWRemPqk8IRFr6Pi1Q2QFqPmkqU3Ed8EZmr73/s1600/Coastal+2014+165edit.jpg" height="336" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The route does not follow the beach but laps behind the famous <a href="http://www.bamburghcastle.com/" target="_blank">Bamburgh Castle</a> which sits on the Whin Sill sock that spans Northumberland and was effectively used by the Romans to make that famous wall. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvO0kqb2yfAiwWzx8dxHjknKNu6xoyEhumaMq2jhTaOqB-T1oxM8i6zU8LGtBKMOi1cHYc4vFYb84weIKPBsRGRq3BKDfgEH8k9qyhGUgBzE-Fi3DVoDpcZu3i6otz_LTTEawe8s8zkM7i/s1600/Coastal+2014+174edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvO0kqb2yfAiwWzx8dxHjknKNu6xoyEhumaMq2jhTaOqB-T1oxM8i6zU8LGtBKMOi1cHYc4vFYb84weIKPBsRGRq3BKDfgEH8k9qyhGUgBzE-Fi3DVoDpcZu3i6otz_LTTEawe8s8zkM7i/s1600/Coastal+2014+174edit.jpg" height="334" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The young cows were a little curious at times of the dogs, which had to be kept on leads during this section through farmland. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDW5p8ooC2IN_n57V3e2pz80ZJp2G811Kgg9OnK90uqFGX9tBN8KaF6yUznRgwiytiHuHH-xmrlb1Od0ErUdsQv3BnYgZxOy6vj0WsuxrVTyez5l5XVy6U2meVDWHlaeUh8CSb-K1BterF/s1600/Coastal+2014+213edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDW5p8ooC2IN_n57V3e2pz80ZJp2G811Kgg9OnK90uqFGX9tBN8KaF6yUznRgwiytiHuHH-xmrlb1Od0ErUdsQv3BnYgZxOy6vj0WsuxrVTyez5l5XVy6U2meVDWHlaeUh8CSb-K1BterF/s1600/Coastal+2014+213edit.jpg" height="288" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A glimpse of the dunes and the photographer.... yes you've been togged!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_fX1y5s4VAA2mfzoNeELCH7zoHEVKUjYTmVcvpukCvTlyte1FK-2aDYUbMZer4CxrbP-Fxuki75ulG1_R60T7Y_VYOnp2mhMhMwKCMyk5B2NnsPknVoyit5RS3AmYzmfn33BgrpO6K3l/s1600/Coastal+2014+259edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0_fX1y5s4VAA2mfzoNeELCH7zoHEVKUjYTmVcvpukCvTlyte1FK-2aDYUbMZer4CxrbP-Fxuki75ulG1_R60T7Y_VYOnp2mhMhMwKCMyk5B2NnsPknVoyit5RS3AmYzmfn33BgrpO6K3l/s1600/Coastal+2014+259edit.jpg" height="276" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The challenge welcomes runners who do the route in about 4 hours. </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OLv8gHdWKxew0pi4aQRbuc_Y8Rgpk1hgOSnYQXirkpdDhrQVtaUTmDdhhR9tS-s_G8T7EIDkVjlFHHfJrAQ7-u8eXnKgF5sVKLYF1i4y-I_5eAoJsTJqyeRc8rJ31IpKVgF4UtkPePeS/s1600/Coastal+2014+293edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4OLv8gHdWKxew0pi4aQRbuc_Y8Rgpk1hgOSnYQXirkpdDhrQVtaUTmDdhhR9tS-s_G8T7EIDkVjlFHHfJrAQ7-u8eXnKgF5sVKLYF1i4y-I_5eAoJsTJqyeRc8rJ31IpKVgF4UtkPePeS/s1600/Coastal+2014+293edit.jpg" height="352" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another famous Northumbrain coastal castle. <a href="http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/dunstanburgh-castle/" target="_blank">Dunstanburgh </a>took on a ghostly look in the slight sea fret at this point.<br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Near the delightfully named Sugar Sands, a lesser known and rarely frequented beach!<br /></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BC7DGRKv6iyE2ntraEp6auoywYuasjB6dPDuft9jea8uNvCLmkbcZSvWHNsY3CJtnbbiFtMGuUVpc7mPSCrviB9oi4QmzT-F_91hl0CuRgb3iC8tvBAYUgsoiRSGxaS-ELPMHzIKXG7G/s1600/Coastal+2014+559edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9BC7DGRKv6iyE2ntraEp6auoywYuasjB6dPDuft9jea8uNvCLmkbcZSvWHNsY3CJtnbbiFtMGuUVpc7mPSCrviB9oi4QmzT-F_91hl0CuRgb3iC8tvBAYUgsoiRSGxaS-ELPMHzIKXG7G/s1600/Coastal+2014+559edit.jpg" height="246" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The route between Craster and Boulmer is a beautifully varied stretch with secret coves, rocky outcrops. Great for rock pooling!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYU5ND6ON3Xx1XNvGLTw9F40nSPehnmOKKn-c0VYBT_ft8IXZXkaPbwSsQOIjUhdi5sy5RJM-W6fC04PGRbUBmPIrp3kFSHm2Fsadya_KOEdo3HkR6q9t5kC90W5TNXGy_mYilkF-GX-Q/s1600/Coastal+2014+642edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiYU5ND6ON3Xx1XNvGLTw9F40nSPehnmOKKn-c0VYBT_ft8IXZXkaPbwSsQOIjUhdi5sy5RJM-W6fC04PGRbUBmPIrp3kFSHm2Fsadya_KOEdo3HkR6q9t5kC90W5TNXGy_mYilkF-GX-Q/s1600/Coastal+2014+642edit.jpg" height="442" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Taking a rest and dealing with sore feet!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6joSwDskyKtNrnAVmrgOgtPdqoYeOLOuQsfPwfoZQCNDkMQEXu6obhOVKBbUtuDw1ZpwesGu5GMejzKZm_yfTeJOTKz8chtCeeoF5xH12ApGTwQSZBMV7ErK99vIsqsbbqLGTrl4BHDcj/s1600/Coastal+2014+671edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6joSwDskyKtNrnAVmrgOgtPdqoYeOLOuQsfPwfoZQCNDkMQEXu6obhOVKBbUtuDw1ZpwesGu5GMejzKZm_yfTeJOTKz8chtCeeoF5xH12ApGTwQSZBMV7ErK99vIsqsbbqLGTrl4BHDcj/s1600/Coastal+2014+671edit.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A stunning location for a holiday rental new Boulmer, its called the <a href="http://www.northumbria-byways.com/viewitem.aspx?id=93" target="_blank">Bathing House House</a>!</span></td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-67207511216515870602014-02-22T08:26:00.003-08:002014-02-22T08:37:48.936-08:00A little bit of me time!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Woke up feeling frustrated at my seeming lack of ability and time recently to be able to get out and about to walk or to take pictures. Its due to my time being pulled in all directions to satisfy the needs of everyone else! However a quick texty conversation with <a href="http://martinthehills.co.uk/" target="_blank">MartinTheHills</a> an appropriate metaphorical kick up the backside reminded me how accessible the best walking country in the UK is for me, and that I didn't actually need to commit all day for a walk. The kids would survive without me being on their back for getting homework done. A quick, 10 minute drive up the road is all it takes for me to be on the <a href="http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrians-wall-path" target="_blank">Hadrians's Wall path,</a> one of the UK's best known National Trails. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACcFiKlblLf2xerk2u4VYSfDfZG3a3UbA2-6xLNn6q876HRbQLqCkAAWiS12H_vzl_4T6IrnoSFEQ7e0OfVLgLA8LAlaAPa4_dAqc7DIPezYrmThV6_Yxd-QAnjVFiiOTyitCyi08_oWq/s1600/hadrians+wall+walk+068edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgACcFiKlblLf2xerk2u4VYSfDfZG3a3UbA2-6xLNn6q876HRbQLqCkAAWiS12H_vzl_4T6IrnoSFEQ7e0OfVLgLA8LAlaAPa4_dAqc7DIPezYrmThV6_Yxd-QAnjVFiiOTyitCyi08_oWq/s1600/hadrians+wall+walk+068edit.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Photo taken in August 2013 from Highshield Crag looking east.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So I packed up a limited amount of kit, a map, a dog biscuit or four, my Nordic Poles should I feel the need for a "burn" and my favorite hat. I bundled Welly into the Pootmobile and off we went. Sunny but blustery and a little bit of a rain drizzle threat, but it felt good knowing that I was going to get a blast of fresh, Northumbrian air.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I fairly quickly decided that I wanted to walk around the <a href="http://www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/visiting/placestovisit/hadrianswallvisiting/brocolitia" target="_blank">Brocolitia Fort</a> area as I have not visited that part yet and wondered what sort of archeological monument it was. So I parked the car in a layby, climbed over a stile and onto the route there. Welly managed this stile fine as it was a stone one with nice broad steps.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPDK0KrAH5mLb6MbVzBCDQfY3IBclufGVVWx5aGg2wI6aqUpoAc8ElWEPvxznIMbgKa2s15dgQDAAtJZKw17L-fzVsT0L2xyn4JHmBREITP_2KLYsnYxTFBO95EDTLLgxCEf0XhOOV_T0d/s1600/Christmas+-+Feb+2014+041.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPDK0KrAH5mLb6MbVzBCDQfY3IBclufGVVWx5aGg2wI6aqUpoAc8ElWEPvxznIMbgKa2s15dgQDAAtJZKw17L-fzVsT0L2xyn4JHmBREITP_2KLYsnYxTFBO95EDTLLgxCEf0XhOOV_T0d/s1600/Christmas+-+Feb+2014+041.JPG" height="151" width="320" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> We headed west into a very strong head wind and into some very boggy fields. Then I wished I had paid more attention to my kit and put my gators on!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fortunately there were no sheep initially which meant Welly didn't need to be on a lead, so off he trundled, eating as much sheep poo as he could stomach and scratching up mole hills looking for the elusive creature that makes them! Ears flapping, he was undeterred by the wind!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAGBbW5xNr_Beg4dq9QcBssMAO_DRot0BwrJA_sDIuNgisYJNjLC9umxPgv7UuUWYwUOM8Ty3jIwX_2sM52wkiZqSH5udA_zn5Pk4GDMh22TbYr9CsGTLZK8ybhf506N6kV2xjzg2nECR/s1600/046edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifAGBbW5xNr_Beg4dq9QcBssMAO_DRot0BwrJA_sDIuNgisYJNjLC9umxPgv7UuUWYwUOM8Ty3jIwX_2sM52wkiZqSH5udA_zn5Pk4GDMh22TbYr9CsGTLZK8ybhf506N6kV2xjzg2nECR/s1600/046edit.jpg" height="230" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">We had some challenging stiles to get over which were definitely not constructed to aid dog walkers (but this is sheep country so I forgive). I tried to show him how to cross the stiles by patting the steps, but he clearly felt that I should lift him over in places. Refusing to do this, generally he got over in a panic that I might leave him behind. And when there's gravy bones in my pocket this was definitely not a position he wished to be in.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Welly got the hang of the ladder stiles eventually.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This area is not the most dramatic part of the Wall to walk, and my mission was not to indulge in photography. It was purely to get a blast of air and get the old legs back into shape for the forthcoming <a href="http://shepherdswalks.co.uk/events" target="_blank">Challenge Walks</a> that I have been commissioned to photograph for a second year. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you are walking the Hadrian's Wall National trail from the west though, this pretty level section will probably be a welcome relief after the ascents and descents of the Steel Rigg and Houseteads area. Its interest is the massive landworks the Romans built - huge ditches to protect their border - it is incredible that they moved so much earth and stone! It certainly thwarted Welly and I from getting back to the car, as we were stuck on the wrong side of them after going off trail for a little peak!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I didn't Nordic Walk in the end either.... camera round neck, dog on lead, and far to many bogs to trudge through to contemplate getting in the zone!</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-38764225425214162842014-02-20T15:44:00.001-08:002014-02-21T01:45:35.062-08:00Get those endophines going!<br />
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<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I was chatting to my work colleague today about how giving Welly (my dog) a cuddle and a stroke before I got up in the morning set me up right for the day. "Its all about the endorphin release" I commented, to which she replied "if only we could bottle cuddles with our dogs, we'd be rich!"</span></li>
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<li><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYRvfW3jjYCep3OEVw0X0xvJNf8O9G1o5tgtR8CgobOqO25svyvfVmjpHws51BmsdCXtZvJwyYRDVQYXusxLc9pKmSLqXKPen4kWfyZoqitK_NnyAVRIHSnfFOOjoUStimamu7SzvdTVk/s1600/me+and+max.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrYRvfW3jjYCep3OEVw0X0xvJNf8O9G1o5tgtR8CgobOqO25svyvfVmjpHws51BmsdCXtZvJwyYRDVQYXusxLc9pKmSLqXKPen4kWfyZoqitK_NnyAVRIHSnfFOOjoUStimamu7SzvdTVk/s1600/me+and+max.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Which naturally led me onto the other things that help me lift my mood, especially in the winter. There's chocolate and the first taste of wine from a glass, that give me a rush of satisfaction.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9D4rpWzVHuxEMFfSrGI19b97X1z1VSHzrynl9PkBvwaeaoP6SvSWvwUD58OLPf1w3cZiTUVkcA4hd6l_LYEQY9kGC28anJ1NJdpCzOU-VpTMg5s6jpE5kt0eT01RdTikfjywyOX0e-LCJ/s1600/1607081_10152214775601838_682756091_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9D4rpWzVHuxEMFfSrGI19b97X1z1VSHzrynl9PkBvwaeaoP6SvSWvwUD58OLPf1w3cZiTUVkcA4hd6l_LYEQY9kGC28anJ1NJdpCzOU-VpTMg5s6jpE5kt0eT01RdTikfjywyOX0e-LCJ/s1600/1607081_10152214775601838_682756091_n.jpg" height="320" width="320" /></span></a></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">However the effect is very short lived! But walking, in particular Nordic Walking, really has immense power to make me smile and has a long lasting feel good effect! Even in the winter, heading out first thing for a brisk hour long walk completely changes my whole outlook on the day. If it's fresh and frosty all the better. Walking for well being is definitely backed up by research too.</span></li>
<li><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm79O51Ku0LRFDiZc19oJPTRw6YvbdJYp1jy3bCHgaP8V9SBj4szfAlH5vJKleO9MvqOEcAMzISCPKhFvNHQ_zLgK-j6UBGhP6SgNMs3C9b4R_1jVqe55cQtp2q3YsF7maZoz_x1uqBYcz/s1600/nordic+walkers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm79O51Ku0LRFDiZc19oJPTRw6YvbdJYp1jy3bCHgaP8V9SBj4szfAlH5vJKleO9MvqOEcAMzISCPKhFvNHQ_zLgK-j6UBGhP6SgNMs3C9b4R_1jVqe55cQtp2q3YsF7maZoz_x1uqBYcz/s1600/nordic+walkers.jpg" height="216" width="320" /></a></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Walking and other exercise leads to the release of the body's natural happy drugs -- endorphins. Walkers who walk at a higher heart rate pace will notice this effect more than those who walk at a slower heart rate pace. But even at a slower pace, most people notice an improvement in mood.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Many physicians recommend adding regular walking and exercise as a natural treatment to relieve a bout of depression. The cause of depression is related to brain chemistry. By getting your brain to release more of the happy chemicals -- the endorphins -- you achieve naturally what many prescription drugs and herbs try to do artificially.*</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Walking gives you time to think, as well as time to get away from stressors. Getting out of the stressful environment, breathing the air, and feeling your body move is natural stress-relief. Other ways walking can relieve stress:</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Put physical and mental distance between you and the stress-causing environment.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Many people carry stress by tensing their muscles. By getting into your correct walking posture and form, you un-knot those muscles and put them to work. Nordic Walking enhances walking posture by increasing your core strength, elongating your neck and making your shoulders move correctly while you walk. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Observe the environment around you; enjoy the trees, flowers, birds, gardens, sky, storefronts. Green exercise has enormous benefits. </span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Feel your body in motion and reconnect with yourself.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Wear off stress-eating calories.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Take time to work through problems and possible solutions as you walk.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Talk and laugh with your walking partner to relieve the stress. Walking with an organised group also increases motivation.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Let off steam and vent with your walking partner.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Lower your blood pressure and your heart health risk, which can be increased by stress.</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">So why NORDIC WALK rather than walking normally. Nordic Walking increases the effort and intensity of the walk and therefore increases the beneficial effects of walking. In addition learning a new way to walk, and especially with new acquaintances you may meet in a group, enhances enjoyment of the activity. It is very stimulating for the brain to learn new things, and doing so increases a sense of achievement. All the more reason to SMILE!</span></li>
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<li><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmvwv3ImggxYqcq7YwsCqEKYA7m4r4jcSkNKXWtb8jFdKRMEZZEQ4qE_3-poT2gdp-SOdhyxBbjklHZuSOJYpEjUeARnLWvk6AF2umc85GM9wLVCg4tXABK-JmIpEar3xysUnXrBWtWPg/s1600/964416_10151615065481838_129214631_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="background-color: #444444; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><span style="color: white;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKmvwv3ImggxYqcq7YwsCqEKYA7m4r4jcSkNKXWtb8jFdKRMEZZEQ4qE_3-poT2gdp-SOdhyxBbjklHZuSOJYpEjUeARnLWvk6AF2umc85GM9wLVCg4tXABK-JmIpEar3xysUnXrBWtWPg/s1600/964416_10151615065481838_129214631_o.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></span></a></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Nordic Walking with Janey Monks of Shepherds Walks</span></li>
<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">For more photos of Nordic Walking in Northumberland click here.</span></li>
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<li><span style="background-color: #444444; color: white; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">* If you feel you are suffering from stress or depression, Pootle recommends that you visit your GP. </span></li>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-77729311031736437382014-02-19T17:30:00.000-08:002014-02-19T09:10:57.464-08:00Time to Resurrect the Blog.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfI-AVM5XbN0hhO_nbSWpTFrl0ZG_8rTL_iBR0KDLC1L4wbDX03PNlEKX6mW1GjIHYiSLdwvLCJDOme-RhXxWVg2JLFaJrQlCoe8ezE0c-asQ3S4GAxlYkfEDUcXWVFnKC033r8zWogJoB/s1600/Pootle+_Tx+(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfI-AVM5XbN0hhO_nbSWpTFrl0ZG_8rTL_iBR0KDLC1L4wbDX03PNlEKX6mW1GjIHYiSLdwvLCJDOme-RhXxWVg2JLFaJrQlCoe8ezE0c-asQ3S4GAxlYkfEDUcXWVFnKC033r8zWogJoB/s1600/Pootle+_Tx+(1).jpg" height="123" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A whirlwind year has passed with as many ups as downs, a few achievements and a fair share of set backs on my new(ish) life in Northumberland.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This time last year was hideous. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But 2013 developed into a year where I actually started living in the present, rather than bitterly trying to retrieve the past, purely because it was known.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">So these are what I consider to being my small, but significant achievements of the year:</span></div>
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<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Achievement</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> no.1 - qualifying as a Nordic Walking and Fitness Instructor.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Achievement no 2 - having a photographic commission to document Challenge Walks for </span><a href="http://shepherdswalks.co.uk/about_us/guides/gill_haves" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Shepherds Walks</a><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> in addition to other commissioned photography.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Achievement no. 3 - Gaining employing as a UK travel consultant with </span><a href="http://www.shepherdswalksholidays.co.uk/splash/index.rails" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;" target="_blank">Shepherds Walks Holidays</a></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Achievement no. 4 - Looking healthier (ie yes I finally put <b>on</b> some weight).</span></li>
<li style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Achievement no. 5 - returned to the classroom as a supply teacher on an occasional basis <b>AND</b> enjoying it! (occasional being the essential element here)</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have not blogged during the year at all as there were so many mixed up variables and "u" turns that really any readers would have got quite dizzy (and I would not want to inflict my dizziness on others.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">However I still am working on my next main step, which is the overall goal. I have the bank account and brand name. I have equipment and contacts. I still need a website however, and this I hope will be the step that opens up my window of opportunity to actually earning a living in the fitness and leisure sector.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK5i7lil9yTH-t2F7zNUPUH4tLDAjZyKi__PSoApzT32bwRzgNgDOEd2g-IXSGmFL5PuFVuchkY25dJtOqgqEEC4aGERToDd2-_yB3Oq7BUZKT_7CwpsvTwojDTlZPNfGw0LLH75nH3cy/s1600/555823_580855848617345_202520061_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilK5i7lil9yTH-t2F7zNUPUH4tLDAjZyKi__PSoApzT32bwRzgNgDOEd2g-IXSGmFL5PuFVuchkY25dJtOqgqEEC4aGERToDd2-_yB3Oq7BUZKT_7CwpsvTwojDTlZPNfGw0LLH75nH3cy/s1600/555823_580855848617345_202520061_n.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you have been watching my progress and waiting for the big launch... it is coming. I promise. You have been very patient! But all the little things I have done have been my little steps. You can only take little steps sometimes in life, but they can add up to a huge journey eventually!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why not visit my Facebook page for a gallery of images <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PootleNorthumberland" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1Northumberland, UK55.2082542 -2.078413800000021254.0510297 -4.6602008000000215 56.3654787 0.50337319999997865tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-82624067129009362852013-03-11T05:22:00.000-07:002013-03-11T05:22:01.409-07:00Nordic Walk with Shepherds Walks<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was absolutely pleased as punch when Jon emailed me to ask if I could do some promotional photos for their Nordic Walking program. The day of the walk from Bolam Lake to Shaftoe Crags had arrived and so it was an early start to get Welly walked before going to the start point. Unfortunately I couldn't take him with me as I didn't want to be watching where he was whilst trying to take pictures.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a beautiful drive up to Bolam. Heavy frost on the trees and glorious blue skies had me very excited for some really great landscape shots. However on arriving in the car park it was just plain foggy and cold. Jane was already instructing some new walkers in how to get the most out of the Nordic technique and had them squashing imaginary lemons underfoot and striding around the parking area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once the rest of the group arrived there was a proper warm up and a reminder about how to use the Nordic poles to enhance posture and walking. There was various comments about who had the silliest hat too and despite the cold everyone was keen to get walking. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a short walk through the woods before going out onto the road to make our way to the track that would take us up to Shaftoe Crags.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had to do a lot of running to get in front of the walkers who were able to stride at quite a pace on the easy road surface. I used a 55-200 lens so I could photograph them at a distance; I did not want anyone to feel uncomfortable about me sticking a camera in front of them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We quickly managed to get off the road and onto the public bridle path that would take us through some fields and onto the moors. Jane stopped the group just to chat about the route in a little more detail and help with any technique issues that she had spotted on the easy stretch of the road. It allowed anyone who was feeling at all uncomfortable to ask questions. A change of terrain also meant removing the paws from the poles. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfBxiFJRUZafV2HPPscAGc4-hO2C5aiEBIXh7fS7H1oXanQ-c5B6T024s-sfQWJiveHOPoV9iO0_qnGh9ujpvmpznIoqwOiFVUtnr-FexHl5SbRpgs8RtluSud9SdLRoeL1L8GPx4Ufji/s1600/043editlogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLfBxiFJRUZafV2HPPscAGc4-hO2C5aiEBIXh7fS7H1oXanQ-c5B6T024s-sfQWJiveHOPoV9iO0_qnGh9ujpvmpznIoqwOiFVUtnr-FexHl5SbRpgs8RtluSud9SdLRoeL1L8GPx4Ufji/s400/043editlogo.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The fog really came down in the fields but I think it made for nice atmospheric shots of the walkers coming through the mist!</span></div>
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA42dWMlDF-z0Fp7aIgVPmAte1K8Y5ZL_UKQdBEogrHOVS355hapLSCQA-nmM8YUe5NtZbE2F2_OEY7TnCyW2KQVTwDocbF1GZbhU-NkbgLSBJV09Lbcg2gKCM-WIeMz7K1WyJsAo5h0gm/s320/051editlogo.jpg" width="213" /><span style="text-align: right;"> </span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: right;"> I loved these massive trees. They must be hundreds of years old.</span><span style="text-align: right;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: center;">Jane is a very encouraging and enthusiastic about Nordic walking. This is perfect posture and technique below, leaning forward and driving the poles though with the shoulders to drive you forward. Its a great cross body work out so strengthens the core and back!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Across the field and then onto a track.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then we came to a farmyard!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygy1qEodvRneXcNzksGHUzIu4LCRKl2b5xyBbPY2dg4JCB1pXWirAlJ5FJ0AbTvyB_q8RbyW14hzkSvSutrkuQ1goQcSDCTrpLtdZJEAZKe4kodtTJYe2nN5G7WjKXU5u3Lf-heuDw_b_/s1600/bolam+shaftoe+181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjygy1qEodvRneXcNzksGHUzIu4LCRKl2b5xyBbPY2dg4JCB1pXWirAlJ5FJ0AbTvyB_q8RbyW14hzkSvSutrkuQ1goQcSDCTrpLtdZJEAZKe4kodtTJYe2nN5G7WjKXU5u3Lf-heuDw_b_/s320/bolam+shaftoe+181.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Once we were through the farmyard slurry (no pictures allowed as it would put you off) we stared to climb up onto Shaftoe Moor.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a very easy incline and again I did alot of uphill running to keep ahead for the pole users! They were quick. Jane suggested to everyone to lift their poles briefly the feel the difference in pace without the poles. Using them definitely helped with walking on an slope. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The reason this location was picked for a walk is because it is like a big walk in a little walk. The terrain was easy but mixed and the view from the top of the crags helped all the walkers realise why walking is so valuable, not only just for health but also because it gives us greater access to the landscape that you would not capture from the road. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just as we climbed, the mist began to lift and we ermerged on the "summit" to this stunning view of Northumberland below!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was still mist in the low ground ahead of use but we could see the wind turbines in the "wannies" rising out of the cloud.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Everyone on the walk was really impressed with the view and a long time was spent up there in the sunshine picking out what we could see. For some of the group this was their first every "summit" and they were suitably impressed. It was a remarkably easy walk for such a scene.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unfortunately during a "reccy" of the walk earlier in the week Jane had found that the planned circular route back down the crags was inaccessible due to the bog like conditions, so we had to return the same way. However this time it was warm and sunny so the landscape felt new all the same.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">What a difference 45minutes make, from going from fairly freezing temperatures to having to take a layer off! (Even removed my hat!)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On return to the starting point, Jane ensured that everyone stretched and cooled down properly to ensure that any muscular aches were eliminated! The group definitely felt as though they had a good work out and were all in high spirits!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The great thing about this Nordic Walking course is not just enthusing the participants to walk for health but definitely increased their desire to get out into Northumberland and walk more often, and in whatever weather conditions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(Nordic Walking courses and 5 mile walks can be booked with www.shepherdswalks.co.uk)</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-80972288814529040742013-03-07T05:39:00.001-08:002013-03-07T05:42:52.433-08:00An Invitation Part 1 - The Reccy<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was some time ago that I meet Jon and Jane Monks of Shepherds Walks. I knew about their walking holiday venture before I even knew I would be living in Northumberland, through research for diversifying what I could offer alongside my French accommodation. I have been lucky to get to know them since moving here as a "consumer" of their walks and their lovely Capricorn Socks!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was absolutely thrilled to be invited to take some photographs for them to help with the promotion of the initially the challenge walks and then the Nordic Walking Courses that Jane runs. Being a keen Nordic Walker myself I thought this was a great opportunity to be outside and learn some new routes used by Shepherds Walks for their walks and courses.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first shoot was to start at Bolam Lake near Belsay. So I thought I head up there and go for a pootle with Welly and work out some good points for making pictures. Jane rang while I was at Bolam and let me know the exact route which was out of the country park and up a bridle way to Shaftoe Crags. I made a mental note of the route, but decided a walk with the dog around the lake first in case I needed to put him on a lead up to the Crags (thinking there might be livestock up there).</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I got a bit distracted from the walk by the lake wildlife! </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OcYZNpIIcU29YwAqQc5rKLge6nfNjPbCrJEDeXfhGT3kQhFPH_I2J_jf6MsDQJD826fE1T9hfM2sTgq-wkdtkLF7ICrK2SBX8z0Z-7cM79CR3jE1DGRlsHVDI2DZu6qMUbEi1Kue__xD/s1600/051+copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3OcYZNpIIcU29YwAqQc5rKLge6nfNjPbCrJEDeXfhGT3kQhFPH_I2J_jf6MsDQJD826fE1T9hfM2sTgq-wkdtkLF7ICrK2SBX8z0Z-7cM79CR3jE1DGRlsHVDI2DZu6qMUbEi1Kue__xD/s320/051+copy.jpg" width="288" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I did not know there were so many swans at Bolam Country Park! I took the chance while I was by myself to take a few pictures of them. My favourite ones were when the swans were against the dark backdrop of vegetation.</span> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The swans were very obliging in the most but the opportunity didn't last long at this spot as they were agitated by Welly barking at them. To him swans are very, very scary. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was also minus temperatures and lying on my belly taking pictures of these majestic birds was getting nippy. So Welly and I made our way on the two mile walk up to Shaftoe Crags.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The first part of the trail was easy enough. The farmyard was a disgusting mess of slurry. But the onward walk gently uphill rewarded Welly and I with a marvellous Northumbrian View (despite the fog) for very little effort.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The highest point was marked by the triangulation marker, but the interest was really the sandstone rock formations that created this relatively small hill.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlimvHVwZGQ5Exa2TME5h_ODUix0scPnRh0BYQo-q747F0IW5DxrXTciFndSQdB60JeGYj69gHrllvnnpufo72tp6icbowfMZw8gt_MI1ET1oV-rgcn7hryurt_NWmMr2-nu8qjFzTJ17/s1600/bolam+shaftoe+151+edit+logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRlimvHVwZGQ5Exa2TME5h_ODUix0scPnRh0BYQo-q747F0IW5DxrXTciFndSQdB60JeGYj69gHrllvnnpufo72tp6icbowfMZw8gt_MI1ET1oV-rgcn7hryurt_NWmMr2-nu8qjFzTJ17/s320/bolam+shaftoe+151+edit+logo.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am sure the pathway must be an ancient track; there are lots of rock shelters here and I understand archeological digs have found bronze age flint weapon heads, from when hunter gatherers moved through the area.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was on the look out for interesting curves in the path or places which would make my pictures for the Nordic walk the following day have a little bit of flare. I hoped to capture the walkers in the landscape, not just the walkers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We headed back down the hill, through the slurry, and back to the car. The forecast for the walk day was to be sunnier than this day so I hoped for some good images!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrO9a0Sh_B_ZOGv_0WJp2Mt3ShruZ8yyGM8FlxpbLfjjAyQnnpq289FOSXZg34ngkyzPepoFI9ZEb3orvJZvjpRHLzVDgjQI-DGKE0BcMnagGKj_mzqPbeH8RulcZK6VF2D4LFMZjC9_R/s1600/bolam+shaftoe+191editlogo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjrO9a0Sh_B_ZOGv_0WJp2Mt3ShruZ8yyGM8FlxpbLfjjAyQnnpq289FOSXZg34ngkyzPepoFI9ZEb3orvJZvjpRHLzVDgjQI-DGKE0BcMnagGKj_mzqPbeH8RulcZK6VF2D4LFMZjC9_R/s320/bolam+shaftoe+191editlogo.jpg" width="205" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Of course isn't possible to go home easily when the blasted dog refuses to get in the car. He had thoroughly enjoyed scrambling over the rocks and the open space of the moors, which were surprisingly sheep free</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXLkDSM7TIzmiBLNGFIAok-5fzWOXocVbt9cUBY-uTkfMU8PjYcrqwrm25RKQ2NiOI28PmmlPwO5Gf8u0zwUNLXV2BI2gYri_HjaqXuhEA7ytRHdmjIx3QeXHi7GD5_cEj1r1dVw0nysUL/s1600/bolam+shaftoe+204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXLkDSM7TIzmiBLNGFIAok-5fzWOXocVbt9cUBY-uTkfMU8PjYcrqwrm25RKQ2NiOI28PmmlPwO5Gf8u0zwUNLXV2BI2gYri_HjaqXuhEA7ytRHdmjIx3QeXHi7GD5_cEj1r1dVw0nysUL/s400/bolam+shaftoe+204.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A classic Welly refusal to admit the care is the next move.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part 2 - The Nordic Walk to Shaftoe Crags Next.</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-83364686126912828312013-03-06T10:13:00.001-08:002013-03-06T10:13:25.875-08:00Some days are good.Some days aren't so good.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-79856123589491049012013-02-11T13:17:00.003-08:002013-02-12T01:11:22.511-08:00Blyth a blowin'<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I booked a photography course sometime ago in my optimism that I was working and could afford such treats. I love trying to improve my photography techniques and the coast is wonderful up here in Northumberland so what could be better: A crisp clear February day on the beach with my Canon and a tutor who comes with a bag of filter accessories and long exposure expertise! I have always wanted to capture a milky sea against St Mary's Lighthouse!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I didn't know then the situation I would be in now. Unemployed and a bit a sea. Emotionally adrift and mentally exhausted.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As the day approached I got more and more anxious about it. The weather has been bitter and just miserable. The forecast was for more snow and freezing winds. I tweeted my fears and wondered whether the course would go ahead in a blizzard. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Then I started thinking of excuses not to go: I'll cry if someone is nice to me. My camera battery isn't holding its charge. My head isn't holding information. Can I drive that far and maintain my concentration? The children need to do their homework. What if it snows... will I be sleeping in the car? And who am I kidding, I am hopeless at taking pictures. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow the day came there was no snow in Hexham. A tweet came in that the extreme weather would hold off until 3pm on the coast. So I made my way downstairs, made a flask up, buttered some cheese scones and packed the car up with spare clothes, camera gear and a sleeping bag. Surely the weather would be OK.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Oh my god. I had never experienced anything as cold as that North East Wind and a wild sea. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There were four of us booked on a course. A young chappie from toon and a lovely couple who had driven all the way up from Reading the night before who had not anticipated just how far away Northumberland was. They were from South Africa too... I think they found it all a bit bleak!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a bit of a prep talk from Jason, our tutor, about filters and f-stops and what bit of kit we all had we headed to some groynes that would provide the anchor for our milky seas!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I quickly found the spot I wanted to shoot from... but had to step back quickly as the spray and tide were heading inwards!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxoqMAUCVOvgXm9NRtH0l9QG46e6B-845upBvGvDwiUP7fLOnGdl90S5mfuqrxkKlqizwE5zIbXsSEHUVdjX8dRyjzUgtlhCxNQuEoxzvZtdXF1ME_V1lRIoz3EZxD-4qaE0dH14S_dluo/s1600/10.2.13+Blyth+001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxoqMAUCVOvgXm9NRtH0l9QG46e6B-845upBvGvDwiUP7fLOnGdl90S5mfuqrxkKlqizwE5zIbXsSEHUVdjX8dRyjzUgtlhCxNQuEoxzvZtdXF1ME_V1lRIoz3EZxD-4qaE0dH14S_dluo/s640/10.2.13+Blyth+001.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This was my basic composition... but without slowing the speed down too much. Conditions at this point were probably the best in the day (10.30am) although it was bitterly cold.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MqaBmLi93fWoBHEd_nZ1FL4U2861EQMdFG1-EBTdttx3KoS-_q3NKpgL7_7ygbepTMKm7ihFPIPaRnfBUUs6gu0ZyeMoh3B9x3STQfc_a7BRdsf041pWlE21aKnpOj-p63kOG-EsbEca/s1600/10.2.13+Blyth+006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4MqaBmLi93fWoBHEd_nZ1FL4U2861EQMdFG1-EBTdttx3KoS-_q3NKpgL7_7ygbepTMKm7ihFPIPaRnfBUUs6gu0ZyeMoh3B9x3STQfc_a7BRdsf041pWlE21aKnpOj-p63kOG-EsbEca/s640/10.2.13+Blyth+006.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Had to step back quickly as the tide was rushing in, but beginning to experiment with slowing the shutter speed down (0.8sec) having a ND0.6stop filter. (ISO100). I can assure you the sea was not flat!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The wind and spray was beginning to get out of hand, and my hands were beginning to have that out of body experience where actually you'd rather not have hands because they hurt so much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Decreasing the speed a little more. Its clear to see that the wind was beginning to hamper the clarity over a long exposure (now 3.2 sec exposure compensation+1). The white patches on the wooden posts show what level the sea was crashing through at.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">That image became this converting to BW and adding a post production polarizing filter. I am happy with the composition but cursing the wind and my flimsy tripod.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6UGF34rRRSnfOniNAevJjlfCTX53qR_jvrWIEod-SSeQq1B1g7tNtDkEyzeO214gVxuHMzQt3VobbfeCrn8_81MuUvFm83ftYwBKDZ6a_Frqv7wcY47mP9gl8CjkuDpiGbUmQvOLNx04/s1600/blyth+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO6UGF34rRRSnfOniNAevJjlfCTX53qR_jvrWIEod-SSeQq1B1g7tNtDkEyzeO214gVxuHMzQt3VobbfeCrn8_81MuUvFm83ftYwBKDZ6a_Frqv7wcY47mP9gl8CjkuDpiGbUmQvOLNx04/s400/blyth+2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wanted to time the exposure right to get the waves retreating to catch the reflection in the wet sand of the groynes. Cross that I cropped the full reflection of the post. I can only blame it on haste caused by the extreme cold!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFxaADF_kQCNtWZ_CYFYpgWZVHm5N5eLh-S3YgdOZzsIHxWmhJZMEegUNvQqL4CDExCIkXzzDM2DsSWBAyluW-bcK4CVkEGHtAYMg3v9bGXrgVopis0MrNbxRP9vTWsgkKggFEw_uJiA8/s1600/10.2.13+Blyth+033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyFxaADF_kQCNtWZ_CYFYpgWZVHm5N5eLh-S3YgdOZzsIHxWmhJZMEegUNvQqL4CDExCIkXzzDM2DsSWBAyluW-bcK4CVkEGHtAYMg3v9bGXrgVopis0MrNbxRP9vTWsgkKggFEw_uJiA8/s320/10.2.13+Blyth+033.JPG" width="229" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Battling the wind.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We moved down the beach a bit and Jason started getting his Canon MkII ready for us to try with the 10stop filter. Unfortunately he dropped the filter in the water so drying time was needed. The wind however was increasing and we, I think were all suffering from exposure on the beach. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We beat a hasty retreat to the beach hut and fish and chips to warm us up. Using the 10stop would have to wait until after the the sleet storm had passed.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After a feeble attempt at eating a massive box of fish'n'chips (enough for 3), we headed back into the wind to use Jason's Canon MkII with the 10stop filter. I haded straight for the jetty but wanted to bring more to the concrete that jutted into the sea.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I grabbed a few large pebbles from the beach and placed them in the middle of the jetty. I like the way it is possible to change the landscape with just a tweek of creativity. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqIkRy4AQWfoTL9tJK6cz7FQiSJYORBYAaVJFmc7JOsAqGKb4EiCtnvLxTRlh_IvuRC6AnoeKE4sd2T4QFlN08rI1MHCAfDKFwBZeyUb8y6_6ePj7msbbA7Y9TTnqS0ARof2hn5friCj2/s1600/blyth+5a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAqIkRy4AQWfoTL9tJK6cz7FQiSJYORBYAaVJFmc7JOsAqGKb4EiCtnvLxTRlh_IvuRC6AnoeKE4sd2T4QFlN08rI1MHCAfDKFwBZeyUb8y6_6ePj7msbbA7Y9TTnqS0ARof2hn5friCj2/s640/blyth+5a.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: start;">And that is the shot I wanted to learn to take. 150sec ND10stop. The sea is lying to our eyes as it was wild, but I love this milky smooth effect!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The final shot of the day. I wanted a do another shot of the jetty but with a visual full stop at the end of it. I tried in vain to heave some old lobster pots out of the sand, the weren't budging. So I though a deckchair would add a point of interest and a contrasting delicacy to the quite strong lines of the concrete jetty and the horizon. I suggested it but thought it impossible in the wind.... unless it was anchored with a person. Unsurprisingly no-one was prepared to sit in a deckchair at the end of the jetty with the waves now crashing over it. If I wanted this image, I was going to have to get very wet. Just trying to erect the deckchair in the wind was a challenge but I got there eventually and sat slightly anxiously as the waves washed around my feet. Jason the tutor set up the camera and started the exposure.It was a very long 90 secs, with the waves actually breeching my knees. I tried so hard to keep still but the shock of the cold north sea going through my clothes and down my shoes made me flinch. I wondered whether the exposure finished, but Jason signalled that there was still 30 seconds to go!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_UdyLfE6N92wKONTLQTbJlwu5_cWZONMqsYxRq6bW2P-sGLBb1sBi1DL68ftYi2ZPqZkF4XaLqiyM963g1d9t2LwqjPkFYw8f0ufjLmFbXtwAEd864ilxbHPnlMiTraBrZP90hkOl2Eqx/s1600/blyth+4a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_UdyLfE6N92wKONTLQTbJlwu5_cWZONMqsYxRq6bW2P-sGLBb1sBi1DL68ftYi2ZPqZkF4XaLqiyM963g1d9t2LwqjPkFYw8f0ufjLmFbXtwAEd864ilxbHPnlMiTraBrZP90hkOl2Eqx/s640/blyth+4a.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So there you are. Poots loves to be by the seaside, even in wind chill factor baltic. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We all returned to the beach hut to defrost again and look at using lightroom for adjusting out images (much easier than photoshop!) Everyone had created an image that they were really happy with and certainly would be proud to print and frame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Jason Friend is running more tutorials, I'd like to do some more, but will have to see what happens work wise. He has a lovely manner in the way he guides us and we all learnt so much not just about long exposures, but about our cameras too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gathering up my stuff and wet shoes I left in a much more positive frame of mind than I had started my day. But crikey I don't think I have ever been as cold.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When I look at Jason's picture above it make me smile about just how amazingly metaphorical it represents my life at the moment. Everything is crashing around me, wild and uncontrollable. But no-one but me can see it or feel it. All I want is some calm, and I'll stick my neck out for it. I will probably get criticised, or hospitalised, or classed a manic or something. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Art of Zen - I seek a balance, calmness in calamity. I can't control the sea, but I must get control of my mind.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Long exposure workshops can be booked with www.jasonfriend.co.uk)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-80058853657605270622013-02-07T04:50:00.002-08:002013-02-07T04:50:29.952-08:00A Walk with Welly, 7th February<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was determined to make carrot cake today. Thinking it would do me good to try a something new I went online to find a recipe, hopefully with ingredients that I would already have in. Walnuts, carrots, cream cheese, self raising flour are all in my cupboard just waiting to be in a carrot cake. I found a recipe and I had the ingredients... but the measures were in cups (for goodness sake USA the rest of us went imperial donkeys ago). Well thinking how silly, cup measures are for women's under- garments (and forever perplexing for me). That was it, I suddenly panicked that I would have to think about converting the measures. So the carrot cake project for today was shelved for a day when my head wants to think. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I diverted to my needed, "I don't need to think about this" routine, (ideal when ones head is in crisis) and decided to get Welly up and out for our normal walk in the woods by the river. He'd had his breakfast, so surely would be raring to go.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On the contrary, he had other ideas for his morning.....</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">refusing to believe its actually morning... a classic Welly pose.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Still in denial</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WqKczbJK3d0NY7vbH1tEYL41uUr5L2zjEm7VBr1F_EmMb2mSlqMhIrvY_o4pBRiX44Rp0NTSz0De1pMBrK9SJ8TmppnqLQX3Az3W_uZ7lYqfNX2QCGuQ_K13l0oqzFE_8YnjsXPau-vp/s1600/017editmed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7WqKczbJK3d0NY7vbH1tEYL41uUr5L2zjEm7VBr1F_EmMb2mSlqMhIrvY_o4pBRiX44Rp0NTSz0De1pMBrK9SJ8TmppnqLQX3Az3W_uZ7lYqfNX2QCGuQ_K13l0oqzFE_8YnjsXPau-vp/s640/017editmed.jpg" width="426" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyway I managed to persuade him that good things lay in store in the woods. He wasn't impressed by this young field spaniel.... a newbie on the block and with a weapon. So frightening, his heckles went up! And then he ran away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMVw7MxVZ1Uv4ilrKVMkkZjaAwPcTu4HeD57dE35PD64-fS78Ijjpb5xUHL0XIxTL7Xz4UfrfkM6dRMh-ONcNuD77CiklE8JHhkqOzNxtfnZIB-7LLWUZNWAaIcDAKpfUsQwz1jTulUnw0/s1600/047edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="281" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMVw7MxVZ1Uv4ilrKVMkkZjaAwPcTu4HeD57dE35PD64-fS78Ijjpb5xUHL0XIxTL7Xz4UfrfkM6dRMh-ONcNuD77CiklE8JHhkqOzNxtfnZIB-7LLWUZNWAaIcDAKpfUsQwz1jTulUnw0/s640/047edit+med.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Unusually he got his feet wet. He isn't one for puddles, or rivers or the sea!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SetmyYL7dqqVe_O9fN24II3QIJ_ROhIHPhsbb_m7PGgem26CLnIUWT6Q318D7jMaSh_Jb4ERITuVcHHhGSmtZjrxoWqtY0yIeuYq9pyGhvb0stndL4yGDJGNax8mSzhqbAn4b6xYFpbE/s1600/023edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1SetmyYL7dqqVe_O9fN24II3QIJ_ROhIHPhsbb_m7PGgem26CLnIUWT6Q318D7jMaSh_Jb4ERITuVcHHhGSmtZjrxoWqtY0yIeuYq9pyGhvb0stndL4yGDJGNax8mSzhqbAn4b6xYFpbE/s640/023edit+med.jpg" width="378" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBuvSfX71oMFJSdpQbpIZY_rCVaoBgOfHQst4RL-UGuWPcmIaTzZEyfquK7fJzUmwYWtqsw_RHU7T2mGbVXwm0fdfzqZLVw5yh5zOSLl_EEA9tgj4qB4lxU9fjS2AAjvEqUEBzO9I-WN-U/s1600/063.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBuvSfX71oMFJSdpQbpIZY_rCVaoBgOfHQst4RL-UGuWPcmIaTzZEyfquK7fJzUmwYWtqsw_RHU7T2mGbVXwm0fdfzqZLVw5yh5zOSLl_EEA9tgj4qB4lxU9fjS2AAjvEqUEBzO9I-WN-U/s400/063.JPG" width="266" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is his look when he wants a biscuit out of my pocket at the halfway mark. Sit dead in front of me and doesn't budge until post snack time. He is very predictable.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And this is the look when the biscuit is on top of the camera.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrR1gp5GMRDp2b4704KMLejddJ9QtegGQP1BmNPwGxQGtogMBbwIKd9o56-AjtLr5WMf3_hiWTSSi_wxpK1UM3jIsyTf-YgMx4Dg2_kpLio47iBlrHixf7B08DFaox8oTFL0DyrDYA2KOp/s1600/072edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrR1gp5GMRDp2b4704KMLejddJ9QtegGQP1BmNPwGxQGtogMBbwIKd9o56-AjtLr5WMf3_hiWTSSi_wxpK1UM3jIsyTf-YgMx4Dg2_kpLio47iBlrHixf7B08DFaox8oTFL0DyrDYA2KOp/s640/072edit+med.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqZru8M8pEsWOhALUMeBXsYfO5P1KTtANFZzf2XtcFY4DgZiMhN3moXolW4GP-p7fb7l5Kk6TPP7Wt1Pfx1OMr12IEcUWu94kBEFH5_ynH9B3lka-wFQ5P-HyZd9C2ABrSjmsqlvvF2XP/s1600/090edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEqZru8M8pEsWOhALUMeBXsYfO5P1KTtANFZzf2XtcFY4DgZiMhN3moXolW4GP-p7fb7l5Kk6TPP7Wt1Pfx1OMr12IEcUWu94kBEFH5_ynH9B3lka-wFQ5P-HyZd9C2ABrSjmsqlvvF2XP/s400/090edit+med.jpg" width="251" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I usually find it very hard to photograph Wellington as he is always ahead of me. I normally only see his little bum on a walk!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8BNGpEkLvRuPApZ_1-d1az2sfVyf9iM6eaW5rWAiRPrv1tuNstMKaFwmPY4IGCgjeKOxjc9zZnrC6qevfq8XUXtWSSeHl8MHVrVvdHPWuguUlWo3W-Guyj36qQ1vYp1oXJK-qSA17kLha/s1600/105edit+med_edited-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Welly with something disgusting. Probably a rabbit skin. "Don't even try and take it off me.... you'll have to catch me first"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG-ASp4ASymJOH64QLtywiBev6d0tJEzEqVnnADvJfsH4jL9pgAYkRXMVTpQ5xYB3k7B6yObn6yCo6Y85x2B9ev9_1D2aFeCi8uhDwSrlHeyv6y0Mt4pEnWYCEa8LpCTfIepPaU7t_BMj7/s1600/105edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjG-ASp4ASymJOH64QLtywiBev6d0tJEzEqVnnADvJfsH4jL9pgAYkRXMVTpQ5xYB3k7B6yObn6yCo6Y85x2B9ev9_1D2aFeCi8uhDwSrlHeyv6y0Mt4pEnWYCEa8LpCTfIepPaU7t_BMj7/s400/105edit+med.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"And when I do this puppy look you really don't mind if I eat it"</span></div>
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe330LwFBf1hKluoE-lVwEEmPP0dAD4oOvGpoq0mgVxo0hxRHh5pHUY_CLlwVp2mEh5P5FGJgkSUCH1v1afP8U-h3lKrJ3H6T1IHRs4RZs4VvrJw6nIvqCOQtOvEn78BLngPXOCTCMhkRq/s1600/109edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe330LwFBf1hKluoE-lVwEEmPP0dAD4oOvGpoq0mgVxo0hxRHh5pHUY_CLlwVp2mEh5P5FGJgkSUCH1v1afP8U-h3lKrJ3H6T1IHRs4RZs4VvrJw6nIvqCOQtOvEn78BLngPXOCTCMhkRq/s640/109edit+med.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now this was most unusual. A trick. Standing still on a mossy tree trunk. The problem was capturing the moment. Every time I stood back to snap him he jumped off. Even more bizarrely he was happy to keep getting back on. Eventually he got the hang of staying still (biscuit on top of camera again)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5G_gpQ2aJT0-imwMl7vERF6sCAezhnSpGzvwmoibwPMfQhuStyydeHqE8CajciWOywBflQHOUHbD1Pz0oXvb7BIOor21_pFdXJoD0ivX4XPWrE_NWQT1vWoHdN0rEIS_rQirxv26TneC/s1600/116edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-5G_gpQ2aJT0-imwMl7vERF6sCAezhnSpGzvwmoibwPMfQhuStyydeHqE8CajciWOywBflQHOUHbD1Pz0oXvb7BIOor21_pFdXJoD0ivX4XPWrE_NWQT1vWoHdN0rEIS_rQirxv26TneC/s400/116edit+med.jpg" width="266" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dog ahead alert... on my path! Another newbie (she was a lovely old girl)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhe330LwFBf1hKluoE-lVwEEmPP0dAD4oOvGpoq0mgVxo0hxRHh5pHUY_CLlwVp2mEh5P5FGJgkSUCH1v1afP8U-h3lKrJ3H6T1IHRs4RZs4VvrJw6nIvqCOQtOvEn78BLngPXOCTCMhkRq/s1600/109edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxDlXs4sXHkrR3GeMgksA30Z7rNgYc8eml1yNx8p_M9lLYLlNKsJkZ119GTzBM_5p_fbkre_cmtiKDS4GBgCzGMtw2N5_IPCPa0xrU9GSFHBYDP6_ya2CBCjCdsGs1N1MM8JAhUXtiriAa/s1600/130edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxDlXs4sXHkrR3GeMgksA30Z7rNgYc8eml1yNx8p_M9lLYLlNKsJkZ119GTzBM_5p_fbkre_cmtiKDS4GBgCzGMtw2N5_IPCPa0xrU9GSFHBYDP6_ya2CBCjCdsGs1N1MM8JAhUXtiriAa/s640/130edit+med.jpg" width="490" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And then she wandered off. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5KWQOoCiYN2bX2Rd32J5lTWJr3OJqW-41xoAvhJZnzvV2d8UQ7gpM_tKuJfYYGLkN81Hn8X3Edbe-UR_vnImEB0mLF0pZiO_X_yhLRV_vX9PqJID1t4w2PAwD3USVvS12fe4LjEzBwCcO/s1600/142edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiro0wMohBx-xWht-3XHM0nTcWFX5nuex0-JOHOQUoupR637EKhydfKkOg2q_sp0smyXkc6l1uMnKnR2r7HRgsGVL4zpwts8j9ecN-rdk3VfJuWS3eFwkzH9fABdDjGYLoCfnMGuq7btAxg/s1600/143edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiro0wMohBx-xWht-3XHM0nTcWFX5nuex0-JOHOQUoupR637EKhydfKkOg2q_sp0smyXkc6l1uMnKnR2r7HRgsGVL4zpwts8j9ecN-rdk3VfJuWS3eFwkzH9fABdDjGYLoCfnMGuq7btAxg/s640/143edit+med.jpg" width="426" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting the hang of posing for the camera.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_lP4u9lF9Ci4ll69QNvfgpt73e0cBDiVyyJMtX9Fh4mrV6_kqiSALLQ9R74exeCS77-PhBZ6XV9Ok0sXZf2MsIRli5MnWm-fsNQubtOQ98xIgiNitNh3ez0yJItLVIP-81sfkFYu-UsW/s1600/144edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP_lP4u9lF9Ci4ll69QNvfgpt73e0cBDiVyyJMtX9Fh4mrV6_kqiSALLQ9R74exeCS77-PhBZ6XV9Ok0sXZf2MsIRli5MnWm-fsNQubtOQ98xIgiNitNh3ez0yJItLVIP-81sfkFYu-UsW/s400/144edit+med.jpg" width="246" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is what you want in a dog... perfect poise</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">(Now he is just showing off his standing still skills learnt today)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyRoVIvukJU2hJfKZdNiEHOLzdkvE5a5tf5vWxYwx9TLIGlsPV2rfeZLndNqTKUx4bsVRcY8WFa3ShmD3wYp1ihs0PCkAUKqEF24I92QU936h4FiiOVnHqUc-tYeTHfwlrr94KTZU4eF3/s1600/149edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpyRoVIvukJU2hJfKZdNiEHOLzdkvE5a5tf5vWxYwx9TLIGlsPV2rfeZLndNqTKUx4bsVRcY8WFa3ShmD3wYp1ihs0PCkAUKqEF24I92QU936h4FiiOVnHqUc-tYeTHfwlrr94KTZU4eF3/s640/149edit+med.jpg" width="426" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tired now, but on the home straight.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBCrv46rC5Dhdm0ZNTCDiBhAoNBb-bZvVcuMt8mgvkVBb0B6iLIwdl7VqynLQXh_6zii95fRd7h7GGUGoA5drEPH1Mf3MD1UCtCdep4eQHlJYU6O_U3Zl2_6IsCOKEr61oKAMAxKFMWYzP/s1600/150edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBCrv46rC5Dhdm0ZNTCDiBhAoNBb-bZvVcuMt8mgvkVBb0B6iLIwdl7VqynLQXh_6zii95fRd7h7GGUGoA5drEPH1Mf3MD1UCtCdep4eQHlJYU6O_U3Zl2_6IsCOKEr61oKAMAxKFMWYzP/s320/150edit+med.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One last picture, again an unusual thing for him to do!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoiT32Fr_bCWS-QmzGSsxOGgDeKmjjWi3quK-9LCMIslUapAhHyldC9n1onL3zQVKrXpy6imlsjq_zosxPYhY1r92hFTTrHSGujjYOO3A3Pt6QyXsFwXjzMvWu_84pWKi7Uujs_IdONi-/s1600/156edit+med.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJoiT32Fr_bCWS-QmzGSsxOGgDeKmjjWi3quK-9LCMIslUapAhHyldC9n1onL3zQVKrXpy6imlsjq_zosxPYhY1r92hFTTrHSGujjYOO3A3Pt6QyXsFwXjzMvWu_84pWKi7Uujs_IdONi-/s640/156edit+med.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-86606084616285731992013-02-05T13:35:00.001-08:002013-02-05T13:35:04.438-08:00Well... I'm over that cliff.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not sure what to say.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My voice fumbles for words. I can't put socks on or tie my laces without it feeling like a mental battle. Sentences can't be strung together easily. I have forgotten so many things in my memory and my short term memory is shot to pieces. Making a meal seems like a triumph when I have done it. It used to be so automatic.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this is what a mental breakdown feels like.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So I went to my GP last week, crushed by the stress of work. He gave me a sick note.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I went back this week. He prescribe antidepressants and another sick note. For sure now I will be dismissed from school. Dispatched as a bad teacher when in fact its just a bad time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Not sure about taking the pills. Surely I can walk this off and leave it behind. On the other side of and at the bottom of that huge cliff. Its bizarre. Some things make me feel really positive down here whilst others make me want to run. Or hide.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qsU8MHtSZkBFgsvZVMEZnVih3pdSmxkJFRrzu84Cs0cDTBVIbJu_9bUJyuFoVcKALKolJikloc_mf2UXg3TONHd9P-TATZ0gQ_JbGmHhq7_FQ-HX0_eibvqbBH1wrk0ug2w_SL-p401A/s1600/120edit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1qsU8MHtSZkBFgsvZVMEZnVih3pdSmxkJFRrzu84Cs0cDTBVIbJu_9bUJyuFoVcKALKolJikloc_mf2UXg3TONHd9P-TATZ0gQ_JbGmHhq7_FQ-HX0_eibvqbBH1wrk0ug2w_SL-p401A/s320/120edit.jpg" width="235" /></a></div>
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Sunlight and clouds all at the same time.</div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I need sunlight. I need a rest. Admitting I need a break is the first art of the battle people say. I've been on an emotional bender for years. Well is it OK if I hibernate? Or should I walk it out? I can't decide. I have projects and ambitions in my mind that I really want to achieve. Think my way out of it, or have a rest? I can't decide.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-26691968485077516792013-02-03T13:19:00.000-08:002013-02-03T13:19:05.047-08:00I visited Paris. Once.<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I visited Paris. Once. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Passed through it many times en-route from La Roultiere to the UK.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ironically, although living in France, MrLR was adverse to travel. So we did not get around much.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Anyhow. Because I can't remember, I have to look at pictures to tell me I did it. Once.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnEjeX1Co77vFfyyRMqDYUSdwvnE0dVpRXjaGp8ZuQ3vy51gVyt_9fFfx8l0hcEG9Bt-J3gLZ9jtldx3hfTsXDAiUonQUsnmE5WCTt3XaNBNGfd6He9xi7qRJJrq-JpLu4Lt26s74tBTh/s1600/easter+11+022.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbnEjeX1Co77vFfyyRMqDYUSdwvnE0dVpRXjaGp8ZuQ3vy51gVyt_9fFfx8l0hcEG9Bt-J3gLZ9jtldx3hfTsXDAiUonQUsnmE5WCTt3XaNBNGfd6He9xi7qRJJrq-JpLu4Lt26s74tBTh/s320/easter+11+022.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizj36WSwAzdeTnT_ADRfhyphenhyphenw8b8fvUnbNAcDxIigDLtfdylBrYtFahfeHg6re5VOk2gEhopOMKi-K38c4nJdV8aWkOC2SI3t8-J0JRqxfS4hRx094J8umkhSfiH5GK-1fymqswJ4Bav68HL/s1600/easter+11+014.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizj36WSwAzdeTnT_ADRfhyphenhyphenw8b8fvUnbNAcDxIigDLtfdylBrYtFahfeHg6re5VOk2gEhopOMKi-K38c4nJdV8aWkOC2SI3t8-J0JRqxfS4hRx094J8umkhSfiH5GK-1fymqswJ4Bav68HL/s320/easter+11+014.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Easter and warm enough for this at Huttopia Versailles.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rGDHvZ91TmXCELH_CoeQkO7W_tVqBI6NMydV9FbgDsWj5-OgWI-LTkF2wVrWdvdrYqQZdRS-m2xIB2jBJxWKlN-YKBm7WXFeQn_aXQ781N7xiYjdTswe0oEIaO6BWw3zvKw4Giqun0Uq/s1600/2011_0427easter0033.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1rGDHvZ91TmXCELH_CoeQkO7W_tVqBI6NMydV9FbgDsWj5-OgWI-LTkF2wVrWdvdrYqQZdRS-m2xIB2jBJxWKlN-YKBm7WXFeQn_aXQ781N7xiYjdTswe0oEIaO6BWw3zvKw4Giqun0Uq/s320/2011_0427easter0033.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A much deserved biere blonde.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKmUDGFvD45f57qA1XoiFB9HIiAagQPeDixsmPjcuyjDqj5J9g5aMSHZz3etTs_DhkVONWYs2fVykjXJ6m0-cVinUuLSAd4MFhfN1kiSokBh_3xY-hYnLk1gbhB1jFF9GbATXS3MHEW7No/s1600/easter+11+023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="129" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKmUDGFvD45f57qA1XoiFB9HIiAagQPeDixsmPjcuyjDqj5J9g5aMSHZz3etTs_DhkVONWYs2fVykjXJ6m0-cVinUuLSAd4MFhfN1kiSokBh_3xY-hYnLk1gbhB1jFF9GbATXS3MHEW7No/s320/easter+11+023.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perfect engineering and design beauty</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD4Ox2tNHvQ3dxOwqinQe3FP05pTnMh9pWnmjudQkcdLpUywPGRfiYqEhdsui8oksgf0xXG5XzsNU9Kw1PRkXckH5Mrs4k6nZu6GZw6gs5UkOsel4ZE53xQ0llXTHxHpGsIfKz0kWlWCNY/s1600/easter+11+096bw.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD4Ox2tNHvQ3dxOwqinQe3FP05pTnMh9pWnmjudQkcdLpUywPGRfiYqEhdsui8oksgf0xXG5XzsNU9Kw1PRkXckH5Mrs4k6nZu6GZw6gs5UkOsel4ZE53xQ0llXTHxHpGsIfKz0kWlWCNY/s320/easter+11+096bw.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perfect offspring (occasionally)</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpm1PACEjFWDLP0d-9uNFHR4LdezNRtJ8qDTorWRV85Rx7e-w6r3CysnRJRYPKtK-eur_TBb4ssFn0RjfRDtLumnkEF4LwTtoFSn_K4_8hQxs9-hXn6URKLfYoQmGvelMA9aoxJXnROG8/s1600/easter+11+039bw2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpm1PACEjFWDLP0d-9uNFHR4LdezNRtJ8qDTorWRV85Rx7e-w6r3CysnRJRYPKtK-eur_TBb4ssFn0RjfRDtLumnkEF4LwTtoFSn_K4_8hQxs9-hXn6URKLfYoQmGvelMA9aoxJXnROG8/s320/easter+11+039bw2.jpg" width="226" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Taller than the Eiffel Tower</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjErL9P9yMnyC9CtzvgegIAXjCqtEocMFV60VHSYu8jAGyHMGXTUibdhCznytLvI6aGxADkuZdz-LCTn0KdjcMfmgLRvQLyhNlyWSkaJqlqDqJNsBpg72gpukmtKjrW6BzdNAkVgYL1zhnD/s1600/easter+11+126.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjErL9P9yMnyC9CtzvgegIAXjCqtEocMFV60VHSYu8jAGyHMGXTUibdhCznytLvI6aGxADkuZdz-LCTn0KdjcMfmgLRvQLyhNlyWSkaJqlqDqJNsBpg72gpukmtKjrW6BzdNAkVgYL1zhnD/s320/easter+11+126.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Where do the people end and de Vinci begin.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkHaYXloPskIgGqVDCOvNShAmUmzrSEzc7FWQkZjE2YxV3QpKMvmL8WNGlEHhVINRLffzXdGOE8c_VmSZ2FdqEVPqwl_cxUfgUs0SDO6L71WKOlPGZhg91HZ1fLnMYNL0Lq0SFkcxUYWA/s1600/easter+11+132.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLkHaYXloPskIgGqVDCOvNShAmUmzrSEzc7FWQkZjE2YxV3QpKMvmL8WNGlEHhVINRLffzXdGOE8c_VmSZ2FdqEVPqwl_cxUfgUs0SDO6L71WKOlPGZhg91HZ1fLnMYNL0Lq0SFkcxUYWA/s320/easter+11+132.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Form and orderly queue #MonaLisaMania</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpzfSU-oPj1g6pwZd22mmC9Zdvl8xVrN-NEBZ3WqpUYF_3phBRWPEjneY7KXP_kH9vRnv0VTVnr0HdYSv4UDhb_MGT_7GX7ZzSK0P-u2Aj3xCVgdV_Z-V64ad_8R4lGVybU1MZBqye1Q0/s1600/easter+11+139.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXpzfSU-oPj1g6pwZd22mmC9Zdvl8xVrN-NEBZ3WqpUYF_3phBRWPEjneY7KXP_kH9vRnv0VTVnr0HdYSv4UDhb_MGT_7GX7ZzSK0P-u2Aj3xCVgdV_Z-V64ad_8R4lGVybU1MZBqye1Q0/s320/easter+11+139.JPG" width="240" /></a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perfect stairs</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-9338494199835333532013-02-03T05:03:00.000-08:002013-02-03T05:03:08.448-08:00The coast is the place where I feel most calm.<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout my year in Northumberland, the one thing that has retrieved my believe in myself and any potential future I have here is my love of the glorious coastline here. Whenever I feel that all my worries are squashing the life out of me, if I can, Welly and I retreat to the coast. We walk, we sit, we watch the waves and I build silly little towers of stone. Its very restorative, and calming. It turns a day into a holiday. It empties my mind of my divorce and my lost french life. If the children come with me I am sure it helps them too. They have had the most enormous wrench imposed on them and I need them to survive.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had deleted many of my early blogs here which contained many of my coastal pictures because they felt like a feedback loop. Whilst the coast provides relieve, it also reminded me that I had very very dark days. Days when I felt the only escape was to wade into the water and let the tide consume me. However my pictures are now reminding me of what I have to do when the bleakness sets in. Walk, breathe and notice small details of nature. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I always knew the power that the sea had on me. But visiting Druridge for the first time since our return to the UK reminded me that I would need a strong relationship with the coast to survive this enormous stressfull change. It was March 23rd 2012. A beautiful day in Hexham. I needed a happy day with the children to remind them we would be OK. So we headed northeast, and straight into a sea fret!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ZOVkREmXecsKBTxHhJq8uQcbIMJthhGYQeV8Ii_PHAi_qZoSKF6WNmko9S6GbrwYwo_3FLpxEsE2RwYppQHTY-X5kJnQGXJ-4lT3QTbNDmOE0NCZwbtWOL22skFQDNiK_8zYV2HDqr84/s1600/017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5ZOVkREmXecsKBTxHhJq8uQcbIMJthhGYQeV8Ii_PHAi_qZoSKF6WNmko9S6GbrwYwo_3FLpxEsE2RwYppQHTY-X5kJnQGXJ-4lT3QTbNDmOE0NCZwbtWOL22skFQDNiK_8zYV2HDqr84/s320/017.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welly had never seen the sea before and the kids havent grown up with it in the way that I had. The waves were fascinating to them and terrifying for Welly!</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRoIFXVB6skGwUO8_K59M8KKw1cnDTKyRH3OzkI-R6ju-LHmZv2oj73d7aMs0uyreSmrTSRkvq0Mty0kDgO8Y2KdhoaS2Kzpq3XiASzUNh0OjXTnD1cv4jGzSPum0M9cCwHsAGi6-OfyE/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuRoIFXVB6skGwUO8_K59M8KKw1cnDTKyRH3OzkI-R6ju-LHmZv2oj73d7aMs0uyreSmrTSRkvq0Mty0kDgO8Y2KdhoaS2Kzpq3XiASzUNh0OjXTnD1cv4jGzSPum0M9cCwHsAGi6-OfyE/s320/004.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welly can't make out what to do with the waves. Water you can't drink and it moves all the time!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cold north sea. Dont get wet I reminded them we have no spare clothes.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Getting wetter by the minute but he doesn't seem to mind! Yet.....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Wet clothes now caked in sand.... but look at the smile!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dune duty... one most tumble down them!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Now he's cold!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Welly strikes a bum pose in the family photo!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was a very happy dune day. The sea air had worked its magic on me and the kids! </span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-3720987730202741342013-01-30T11:23:00.002-08:002015-07-27T05:40:30.824-07:00Looking over a Cliff<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At this moment in time I am standing on the edge of a huge cliff. Behind me is a landscape I have come to know, but not always like. It has open spaces, and dark tangled forests. It has areas that pollute and areas that cleanse. It has roads that have criss-crossed, and I have had choices to take different routes, sometimes a left instead of a right. But here I am. At the edge of this god-damn cliff. And its a bit of a relief. Its going to force me to make a decision. Its a huge cliff. Step over it could be suicidal. But retreat back into that known but uncomfortable landscape could be too. It could bundle me back to another cliff in 4 weeks or 6 months time. It could hold me in a crowded place where I might be able to function but not actually breath.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I have been back in teaching since last April on and off, with various bits of long term supply. I've been lucky really to find the work. In the most I enjoyed it. Having friendly supportive colleagues and staff room banter was wonderful after the voiceless period in France. A chance to talk intelligently about the ideas for teaching our young children, and ultimately enabling them to have choices in life and to be able to make informed decisions. Teaching was a path that was kind of chosen for my by my circumstances. A path where there was old familiarity. A career that I could just pick up again (that makes it sound easy - it wasn't) and enjoy a reasonable salary. But what I increasingly found was that teaching was no longer a 200 count thread.. Its 600! And I can't pick up all the thread at once. Problem is that the school to which I have been appointed seems to be the luxury heavy duty 800 thread. A sign of luxury for some. A sign of weight for others. And for me, being a bedlinen obsessive, bloody impossible to iron, fold and conquer without reinforcing joinery in the linen cupboard. Trouble is I haven't had time to go to the timber yard. And sleeping under 800 thread linen should make you feel that you've achieved something in life. Actually it doesn't necessary give you a better nights sleep.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm guessing those of you not involved in beds might be wondering wtf I am talking about.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxiBklfdaKunnMv0hXYOAvZ7NwzKrIKRlyZK30WHHg89Pb7TsY9kFG4bWDFB6Yqf9RoWqJgZuW61QQ-tnBpzAtV43rB9lnw0oqVdjRYnerv8GL1Xf9mb9kEznMf2FSRhzMY7-xCtbFpzu1/s1600/bedlinen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxiBklfdaKunnMv0hXYOAvZ7NwzKrIKRlyZK30WHHg89Pb7TsY9kFG4bWDFB6Yqf9RoWqJgZuW61QQ-tnBpzAtV43rB9lnw0oqVdjRYnerv8GL1Xf9mb9kEznMf2FSRhzMY7-xCtbFpzu1/s320/bedlinen.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So this cliff. Do I hold my breath, step forward and away from the uncomfortable known, or be brave and say actually I can't sleep under that weight, all that singing all dancing bed linen. I don't believe it will make me perform as a better teacher; I think it will make me so stressed I will crack. I don't believe in all the data and compartments that out youngest generations are being squeezed into. Some say that children with S.E.N are square pegs in round holes in our mainstream school system. I say we, adults and children are all different irregular shapes. We can't all fit into that circular hole. I'm one of them. Definitely multi dimensional too.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Back to the cliff. I see this big empty landscape. Its rather scary. Its open and has no shelter. I has no lanes or routes to tell me which direction to go in. It definitely has no money trees. What it does have it time, space and my health. It holds my children in a place where I can actually have the mental and emotional capacity to care for them. They deserve my every attention. I know once over the cliff, this empty landscape will gradually fill with paths, lanes, dark forests and areas of honesty, like a watercolour gradually appearing in a picture capture movie.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But I still don't know whether to take that forward or backward move. Both have their insecurities and worries. Both have challenges. But which challenge am I prepared to face?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-78917801408231838142012-08-25T01:54:00.003-07:002012-08-25T01:54:56.286-07:00Retrieval...<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">What do I mean by retrieving my click.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its getting my eye back in and finding the confidence to use it. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its finding laughter with old friends and new ones. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its moving away from, "she's all right.... shame about her husband" and then losing the chance to interact intelligently but light heartedly with others.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its making something new and light out of something old and dark.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its capturing moments of landscape and people.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its being Pootle, who was magic, very ditsy, spontaneous, musical, artistic and warm. And actually quite clever.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-13420541059350495862012-08-24T09:10:00.001-07:002015-07-27T05:42:14.798-07:00Re-Launch<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Its been some time that I have felt like doing anything with my blog. I deleted it all as the words that I had written were hampering me from being able to move forward and re-emerge. That severe self editing has definitely helped; I still refer back to those awful dark days of the initial breakdown of my marriage and return to England, but its now a tidy corner of my mind, rather than a messy uncontrollable bundle of confusion, depression and loneliness.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">But I do need to just pick out some elements of that period here, because without them I would not have started to find Pootle again.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(The hummingbird is the Native American symbol for renewal and rebirth)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I am no longer directionless. Northumberland has been completely internalised and I have started on a path of learning and health that I will not be distracted from. I am doing my up most to ensure the children emerge from the changes with more vigour, rather than let the trauma of separation and cataclysmic change sap all their life force. I am encouraged by new friendships here and a welcome from strangers that I will be forever grateful. Some of those strangers are already friends and their belief in what Poots can do is just incredible!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">More later....</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6961888937480257653.post-36124214163204147962012-06-26T09:50:00.002-07:002012-06-26T09:55:29.832-07:00Clean Slate?<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I wiped out my blog history. Daft huh?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Fresh beginnings ?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or hiding from something ?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or hiding from someone ?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Perhaps hiding from myself ?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dismantling those feelings are harder when in solid writing I thought.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A feedback loop.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it seems not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Its still there inside me.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The gape in my being still hurts.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The White Noise is back. </span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1