SparkyFizz

Oxford...

I've spent some time in Oxford this summer with my family.  My eldest son has a student house there in a lovely part of Oxford called Jericho.  We're paying rent on this place, even though he doesn't go back until October!  So we decided to make use of the house for a while.  He is within walking distance of the city centre in one direction and  Port Meadow, the canal and the river in another.  Jericho is full of little deli's, a cinema, lots of lovely pubs, cafes, grocery stores, vintage shops and bookshops.  Down the road is a beautiful Byzantine style church, full of beautiful objects, and then there is the Ashmolean museum with its collection of Pre-Raphaelite pictures, and the Pitt Rivers Natural History Museum close by - just perfect, I could move there tomorrow!

I spent time wandering by the river and canal at dawn, and taking pictures everywhere.  I took quite a few photos at night after we'd eaten out, dragging my tripod with me to the restaurants!  Rosa was happy to pose for me in the above photo, I was practising 'bokeh' techniques, the little out of focus circles of light in the background.

I also took some 'traffic trails' with moving vehicles leaving their lights streaking through my photos.  This is what happens when the camera is set at a very slow shutter speed.  Most of these pictures were taken using a tripod on ISO 400, f16 for 10 seconds.  I set my tripod up on a roadside in St Giles in the centre of town.  The one above is an image of fire engines rushing through with their lights flashing.

 

You may be able to see the buses whizzing through the image above.

Teenager...

I am officially no longer the mother of children, only teenagers.  Tom had his 13th birthday today, and has just started his yet to be illustrious career as a Dance Music DJ...  Meet 'SoundMan Rush-T', pun intended.

His longed for present was a sound mixing machine and headphones.  He and Oscar tried to educate me on the difference between dub step, drum and bass, house, garage, trance, rave, techno... I like most dance music, but still got lots to learn.  Judging from today's volumes, I'm going to get a sound education. 

Happy Birthday Tom... you're such a life force and a pleasure to have around, but must invest in some earplugs.  He was so happy with this kit! 

Oscar...

The boys are on tequila and Mad Men....  Oscar's birthday.  He was born 19 years ago, On King Billy's (of Orange) Day, much to my Dad's horror - but he was so proud of him...  Happy Birthday Oscar, we're all very proud of you!

Blackpool...

My family visited Blackpool recently, on the occasion of a father/grandfather's 80th birthday.  Coming from Lancashire myself, it was a place I frequented during my teenage years, usually searching for boys!  I have fond memories of the place, the September 'illuminations' or 'lights' as they're known locally, the donkeys and 'kiss me quick hats', and especially the rock.  So I was quite looking forward to seeing the place again after 35 years or so.

I was quite sad to find Blackpool Tower falling down, literally, it seems.

The detail above, from the base of the tower, gives some idea of its plight.  I hope the current reconstruction will be completed soon, and the tower will be resplendent once again.

Wikipedia states that the tower was opened in 1894, and was inspired by the Eiffel Tower.  It is 158 metres high, and has a 'time capsule' buried beneath it.  It was built with 5 million bricks, 2,500 tonnes of iron, and 93 tonnes of cast steel.  The building is distributed in such a way that if it did ever collapse, it would fall into the sea!  Painting the Tower takes 7 years to complete and there are 563 steps from the roof of the tower building to the top of the tower.  If the wind exceeds 45mph, the top of the tower is closed.  There are 8 kilometeres of cables to feed the 10,000 light bulbs which are used to illuminate the tower. 

My children were most thrilled by the famous Pleasure Beach and the plethora of arcades for losing all their money.  Some things never change!

The whole place was under reconstruction, not just the tower.  Large parts of the beach were inaccessible for the same reason.  The whole place had a sad 'down at heel' feel to it.  The weather didn't help, wet, dull and very windy.

On the plus side, the Imperial Hotel, near the North Pier, was lovely.  A grand Victorian elegance inside, and predictably crumbling on the outside.  The staff were wonderful, the food very good, and the company of our extended family made the weekend.

Camera happy...

My other soon to be 15 years old daughter is desperate to learn photography (they both are actually), and likes to take pictures of all sorts of things.  My main problem is restraining her, insisting on radical pruning of her pictures, otherwise I would have hundreds on my computer!  This is, of course, a perpetual problem with digital images.  She loves the Fuji Finepix camera, and wants one of her own for her birthday.  

She took this in Canterbury, and I can't believe it's possible to open that door.

I love this photo, just wish there was one more human leg in the procession.

My girls outside the Primrose Bakery, with their friend (centre), who spends a huge amount of her time taking photos.  Perhaps it's something about the current teenage generation who've grown up with cameras on mobile phones.  

The produce of the Primrose Bakery...

...and the aftermath!

Mothers' Day...

It's Mothers' Day on Sunday I believe.  I made these photo designs because I thought my youngest son might like to sell them at school as cards.  He goes to an all boys school, and most of them won't have organized themselves to buy cards for their mums, I'm sure.  He loves to sell sweets, illegally, for a small profit, but it always seems like a lot of effort for little return.  So I suggested I could make him a batch of cards to sell for a better profit.  You'd think he would have been delighted, but he's decided that it's just too 'neeky' and he won't do it!  He was horrified when I suggested he could also batch buy some nice sweets or chocolates, wrap them in cellophane and tie with a bow,  to sell with the cards.  Okay, maybe that is a step too far in a boys' school, but the cards...?  I tried to explain that a budding entrepreneur needs to be one step ahead of the pack, but I don't think we'll be seeing him on Junior Apprentice!

As for me, I hate breakfast in bed as a Mothers' Day treat.  I prefer to curl up on a sofa with a lovely plate of toast and marmalade, a pot of tea and a good book, left undisturbed for a couple of hours.  Moreover, nothing beats a card handmade by my children, I will encourage them to eschew all the above.  

St Patrick's Day...

Happy St Patrick's Day to all my Irish relatives and friends everywhere.  Wishing you all a wonderful day and lots of Guinness.  Sláinte!

National Schools Music Proms...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

...at the Royal Albert Hall (RAH) on Tuesday evening celebrating the wealth of musical talent across the country.  I was very proud to be watching my daughter, Kate, playing there with her group 'Forty Flutes'.  This is part of the Bromley Youth Music Trust, (BYMT) where Kate and her sister, Rosa, are lucky enough to attend to play and have lessons in flute and saxophone with wonderful teachers, Kerry Anne Searle and Charlotte Buxton.  There were three evenings of music altogether, and BYMT also had their symphony orchestra playing the following night.  

I think we are very lucky to have this facility funded by Bromley Council.  I presume not all councils are willing to fund this sort of activity.  One or the other of my girls attends BYMT every evening except one, and every Saturday morning to play in one of the many orchestras.  We are lucky enough to live within walking distance!  

One day I'd love to be able to take some pictures at BYMT, health and safety permitting...  At the RAH I only had my iPhone with me, and flash photography wasn't allowed.  The photos show the end of the performance, when ticker tape and balloons floated down to the stage accompanied by fireworks!   I couldn't take my eyes of the various official photographers, watching eagerly what they were doing.  I wasn't very impressed by the many unofficial photographers, clogging up the aisles, spoiling my view After all, I could have done that if I'd realized it was possible... hmm,  sour grapes I think!

Such a wonderful opportunity for the participants, I think they felt very special...

The Waiting Game...

Okay, I should have known he wouldn't be ringing me every day... still, I thought I might get a bit more attention!  Alas, he's having fun, and Mum comes pretty low down the list.  So, as I'm obviously thinking about him quite a lot I thought I'd post a photo he took in Lisbon this summer which I liked...

I remember when I went to college, long before computers and mobile phones, circa 1976.  The house that I shared with 11 girls in Coventry had no television or telephone.  That meant the tedious trip to the telephone kiosk and the correct coins to use it etc.  I started out phoning home each Sunday, but then it slipped... I am ashamed now to admit that on at least one occasion I didn't ring my parents for many weeks!  When you consider that this was the only contact they had with me, that they couldn't ring me, I have reason to be ashamed.  I suppose they could have written to me, but that wouldn't have elicited much of a response I suspect.  I was also the only child, so they must have been heartbroken...  Payback time for me...

Starting University...

Yes, I am bereft...  Today I took my eldest son to university for the first time, and now I feel that I've had a limb cut off...!

Why do I feel gloomy?  This is what I wanted for him, this is what he wanted... a paradox!  It rained hard all day which didn't help matters.  We got so wet dragging luggage from car to room, many journeys.  

His room exceeded my expectations completely which lifted my spirits a little.  It was a beautiful little mews style house with fabulous gardens directly outside his two windows, but still on college premises.  It was in better condition than his bedroom at home!  The gardens throughout the college were fantastic, even in the pouring rain, as my iPhone pictures show here.

I console myself that he will be home in eight weeks, that he will still spend more time at home than at university.  But it's not the same... it's the end of an era, and I miss his surly presence and unbearably loud dance music...

Photography: C&G Manipulation Picture #2...

This picture was possibly the most complicated for me...

Before...

This was taken at night at home without any 'white balance' alterations, so the whole thing came out with an orange tinge.  I liked the picture though, beautiful profile and lovely negative space, so I decided I would alter it in some way.

This is a piece of vintage Sanderson upholstery fabric I inherited.  I decided to use this as a background for the profile. 

After...

I blurred the background, so that the profile would stand out.  The skin tone has been altered quite a lot.  I cut out the profile and placed it on the background.  The cutting out was more difficult than I expected in order to get a clean cut without shadows or other markings.  I used several 'layers' in Photoshop to get the final result.  I had to draw her eyelashes on a separate layer and merge it with the photo, they were too difficult to cut out...!

 

Pom-Poms...

Are very popular on the High St at the moment.  My girls have decided to make their own...

...pom-pom scarves. They are so easy to do, but not, I hasten to add, any cheaper than those available to buy.  Obviously this depends to some extent on the wool chosen.  We did use good 100% wool, but not all expensive.  The expensive ones included fabulous multi-coloured Kaffe Fassett 'Colourscape' chunky and Debbie Bliss 'Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran'.  However, we also included a Twilley's wool which was much cheaper and my girls' favourite.  It seemed to create fluffier balls, but I preferred the other wools.

This made me realize that  the pom-pom scarves in the shops, which are much cheaper to buy, must be made using machines, cheap labour and presumably wholesale acrylic mix fibres.  Making home made versions look wonderful, including all the mistakes, are all slightly different in size and texture, look very individual, but are very costly... 

The shocking thing about pom-poms is how much wool they require.  This average size pom-pom uses about 21 metres of wool...!  I hardly dare admit this, but I tried, stupidly, to make a super fluffy pom-pom using over 30 metres of wool, I filled up the hole entirely, then found I couldn't get it off the plastic pom-pom template... Okay, lesson learnt, what a waste, I had to cut it all out.  So the advantage of using cardboard templates is that you can, in fact, cut it out, and therefore, create a much more luscious pom-pom.  It just means you have to create a new template for each pom-pom, which isn't difficult, and doesn't have to be perfect.  From my experience, it's best to make 2 cardboard templates with quite large central holes, and the outer section can be any size.  If anyone wants to know how to string them together securely, I can provide instructions.

Tom is the reluctant pom-pom swinger, as his expression testifies!  I was just trying to capture blurred movement using the shutter speed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Fizz is slightly less grumpy...

The scarves are growing daily, I think it's nice to use a mixture of wools, textures, and random autumnal colours...

Bank Holiday Weekend...

A country stroll...  Toys Hill, North Kent

 

 

Good place for flying a kite...

 

Bought some new Autumnal wool and sewing notions from John Lewis on Oxford St...

We all went to see this film, which was funny... but not so appropriate for my 12 year old!  I find that the Irish certification on most films is more accurate than the British one, if you're thinking about the little ones.

So now it's time to think about school uniform buying, shoes and stationery, haircuts and sticky back plastic, again...  Yet another rubbish summer, weather wise, just a few weeks of sun and we're supposed to be grateful.  I don't think we've had a decent summer in the UK since 2006!

'A' Levels Results...

Congratulations Oscar!  My son got into Oxford University with his A level results, but he's not really happy...  He got an 'A*' History; 'A' English (1 mark off an A*); 'A' Classics (2 marks off an A*).  He wants to have the last two remarked, but of course marks can go down as well as up...  He also got an 'A' for AS level Latin.  A remark won't make any difference to his university place, but, I suppose, it's just a matter of personal pride.  Anyway, I'm very proud of him!  He worked very hard and deserves this, so good luck.  He's just off on a three weeks jaunt around Europe, which makes me very jealous.

My Girls...

having fun, dressing up, going out with friends...

   

 

    
 
  

          

Birthday...

 

Happy 12th Birthday Tom...  still my baby... thank you for making my life so enjoyable!

   

That's my hectic birthday season finished now for another year, (phew).  I wasn't thinking very clearly when I gave birth to all four of my children in June and July... but I'm still delighted to have such stress!