Festive Photo Frenzy - Day 4

Today I am slightly irritated with myself - I had intended to take some pics of the lights along the Godstone Road on my way to Rob's (for x-factor worship - I know, I know!) The thing that put paid to this was forgetting my camera ... fail!

However, as I started to transfer photos into flickr from this morning's Junior parkrun at Bushy Park, I spotted this - and decided it would do!

The Santa hat is fetchingly sported by Trevor Cummings, a grass root volunteer for the junior event. (the 'tall bald bloke' is Danny Norman of the parkrun show - who was along to name a fox... and ended up smelling of dog poo... I could say more, but wouldn't want to spoil this week's broadcast)

'til tomorrow - sleep well!

Festive Photo Frenzy - Day 3

Today's picture was taken at the post parkrun coffee location - aptly named the Good Companions.

Gotta love sunshine on decorations 

Festive Photo Frenzy - Day 2

Today was a long day - which started at 7 in the morning and finished at 8 in the evening. 5 lessons and 4 performance exams... not for the faint hearted.

Once it was all over, I popped into the Site Staff Office to let Paul know we were leaving, and spotted this little fellow on the desk. He made me smile!

All ready for the snow!!

Festive Photo Frenzy : Welcome to the party!

And so, the fun has begun.
4 people are playing along so far:

Dani over at A Lime Less Ordinary hasn't let the fact that she too put up a post everyday in November (sometimes more than one!) and has put up her first festive photo, I'm looking forward to the next one...

Jenny, from JJ's Corner has also said she'll play - and as she is a very new blogger indeed, I think this is very cool! Pop over and have a look!



The third member of our merry band is, of course the lovely Amy.  I say of course, because if festive spirit had was made flesh, it would probably be made into Amy! Amy writes The Happy Daisy, and is also running her own festive special - click on the beautiful button to take a peak...
Amy says she's going to put her photos into flickr, and then do a weekly post with them all in. Part of me feels that this may be cheating - but that part is much smaller than the bit which just doesn't like rules!



And the 4th person?? Oh yes... Me!
The 'rules' are very simple. 1 photo a day everyday in December, of something festive in your world! If you want to play along, grab the button below, and get snapping!!




<a href="http://dqnic.blogspot.com/search/label/Festive%20Photo%20Frenzy"><img border="0" src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7021/6432411935_a284b608bd_m.jpg"/></a>

Festive Photo Frenzy - Day 1

Possibly the most festive person I know came round to panic about  show off her new outfit (for a Christmas Ball on Saturday, obviously!)  Anyway, I took full advantage of her finery (doesn't she look gorgeous, btw?) to grab today's photo.....

Amy has patent leather yellow shoes!

The tiny shiny tree is a label from a pressie a couple of Christmases ago - it has spent some time stuck onto the side of a mirror - all the year round. Not bad for a Grinch!

December's Project - The Festive Photo Frenzy.

Well, hello!

As promised this morning, I've been thinking about a project for December.
I am aware that I'm rapidly developing a reputation for being a Scrooge/Grinch type character, which feels a little bit unfair... I don't hate Christmas at all, but I do hate the commercialism which surrounds it, and the fact that the hype starts so early.

As far as I'm concerned, Christmas starts in December, and personally I wouldn't put the tree up until a fortnight before the big day, largely because of pine-needle hell (takes a tree, central heating and cats to create!) That aside, I love Christmas, and all is trappings. It's just not so much fun these days, and full of memories. Phil was a total Christmas fanatic, we had a loft full of decorations, all of which stir up emotions I tend to lock tightly away. So Christmas is ....difficult.

Over the last few years, I've ignored Christmas, volunteered at a Crisis Christmas Homeless Shelter, and avoided any of the places we went in the past. None of these made it better, but they did enable me to cope. Last year I had a Christmas Tree, and I decorated it. It nearly destroyed me, did that little tree. So many memories, so much happiness... so far away.

*sigh*

As December approaches, planning Christmas and New Year parkruns has pushed Christmas firmly into the picture, and it occurs to me that perhaps I should approach things differently this year. I'm not going to ignore Christmas, nor am I going to soak myself in it until I nearly drown.  I'm going to try to make some new memories, savour some of the old memories, and to enjoy what is happening around me.

One of the things that I'm going to do in order to try and ensure this happens, is to take photos of things which are festive - anything which makes me smile and has a vaguely festive theme. And I'd like to share this project:
One photo of something festive to be put up on my blog everyday in December - a record of the mission which regaining my Christmas Spirit will be.
I'm calling this project  Festive Photo Frenzy and you're all invited to join in.
One photo a day, of something festive in your world. If you like, a couple of lines of explanation!

I've made a button, and a grab box, and everything, so if you fancy it, please have a go - pop the button on your blog, leave a comment, and I'll .... be really grateful!!



GRAB THE BUTTON HERE - copy and paste the contents of the text box.....






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Day 30 - 3 wonderful things that happened this month

First things first - the most wonderful thing is that I actually completed the 30DHN project. OK, so some posts went up late, some were left with huge gaps in and filled in later, but they were all done. And possibly as a result, I have gone from having 3 followers to having 7. I can cross of one of the tasks from my '50' list, and I actually - for the most part - enjoyed it! It's surprising how difficult it is to find time everyday to put a few lines together, and it's very easy to leave the blog un-touched for days.  It really helped to have a focus for each day's post so a huge "Thank You!" to Desiree Fawn for her beautiful blog from which this idea originated.

And now for something which some people wouldn't give even a second glance to:

Photographer: Iain Morton

My companion for all 4 parkruns this month has been the lovely Matilda Stockwell. Possibly better known to the world at large as Lime, this little one actually seems to have perfectly content to spend 30 or so minutes at a frighteningly early hour every Saturday perched on my shoulders, or on my hip, or even tucked under my arm! I've really enjoyed looking after her, and feel kinda honoured that her Mama trusts me enough to leave her in my care - thanks Dani!

The reason that this is wonderful, other than the things I've said above, is that I don't generally like Baby children (they're fine once they can talk, and are responsible for their own toilet needs!) but this particular Babe has captivated me somewhat... and I'm looking forward to seeing her grow! 

Also, as the picture below shows, we've now reached the point where Lime is actually having fun whilst the parents punish themselves enjoy themselves on the parkrun course!

Photographer: Lucy Wernham

The Third wonderful thing that this month has held was the discovery of the mooncup. I'm not going to go into great details here - just want to say that as an alternative to tampons/sanitary towels, the mooncup is life-changingly fabulous. (and it's environmentally friendly!) if you want to know more, click here.

PMT - Jacky Fleming

And so we are at the end of November... but maybe not at the end of daily blogging... watch this space...