Merry Christmas!

Because I've since long stopped sending Christmas cards, this will be my holiday greeting this year. Nothing says Christmas like Freya in front of a Christmas tree :), and yes, it's still standing, even if she's tried to climb it a bit. After all, she's not a kitten any longer, so I'm crossing my fingers for this year. But something tells me she's not gonna break her Christmas tradition haha.


Merry Christmas dear friends!

/MrsHjort

Stillness

Oh if I could describe to you the wonderful feelings I get as Christmas break draws close. The last lesson has ended and tomorrow all that is left is to enjoy the end of term ceremony. Then I'll finally be able to do nothing at all, which is something I've come to value highly, since I seldom get to do it. I want to stand quietly, and look at the horizon, just like this fisherman, whom I shot candidly last
summer :)

/MrsHjort

Winter Walks

The snow has come, the first real one that is - the kind that stays for more than a few hours. Last Friday the flakes were ginormous, and all of a sudden, the boring browns were covered by a blanket of white.

I love the idea of snow - it brightens everything up a bit, during this dark time of the year, and I love sitting inside with a hot cuppa by a window. I can't say that I'm overly exited about the days when I have to actually get out in it though; I hate when its slippery! My workplace is down hill from where I live, and you really have to watch your step, or you'll start sliding uncontrollably. Wouldn't that be a sight for my students? Their teacher skidding down hill, whilst wailing squeakily and flapping her arms, falling nose first into a snow covered bush. Maybe I should buy crampons for my boots, just in case haha.

Don't get me wrong though, there are instances when I really enjoy a walk in the snow. Like when I have a camera in my hands, or when we bring bread down to the stream and feed the ducks, or, even better, both!

I just found these pictures from two years ago hiding away in my computer, and thought to myself, it would be fun to compere my best shots from back then, to what I can come up with now, after two years of shooting and competing at W1K. So stay tuned for more winter bird shots. I don't have the time to go shooting today, but hopefully the snow will stay a while, and I'll try to manage a troll soon.

/MrsHjort

Looking, Searching, Hunting

Today I tried my luck at finding this month's calendar shot. I's not an easy task since about 95 % of all that is usually green has turned brown and wilted. I've been fortunate to actually having found something today, and we'll see if I end up choosing it, or if I'me lucky enough to find something else to choose from later on.

This shot is from a year ago. It's one of those that didn't quite make it to the calender last year. It sort of expresses how nature is right now too, except this year, the process of wilting has gone a
bit farther, and the brown colors have
more or less taken over.

I already miss color...

/MrsHjort

Blanket Flower - November's Citrine

I was pleasantly surprised by how well this picture did in the monthly competition. I shot it early this month - so that I could be sure to get a both a pretty flower (they're wilting away) and acceptable lighting (it is really dark here now).

It's not my favorite out of the set, but good enough, and I didn't have the opportunity to shoot something else this month. The end of the school term is a very busy time for me - there are loads of assessments to correct, grades to set and meetings to go to. And so I had to "make due".

It's funny how some pictures do better than you expect, and some do worse. For example, I like last months shot more than this one, and yet its average score was lower... But hey, that's the fun of competing - you never know what will happen :)

Now I just hope I can find a flower to shoot this month... Wish me good luck!

/MrsHjort

Count to 10

I just hate it when my computer won't do what I want. No! Scratch that! I just hate it when you install new things on your computer and all manner of other crap gets installed as well, without your permission or knowledge. Groan...

Today is my fist day with my new computer, which is awesome! I cannot wait until I get it all up and running again. The down part though, is that installing everything you use all over again involves some serious pains. Install one program and some mumbo jumbo computer fixer program gets installed as well. Install something else and some incredibly annoying search engine takes over your web browser, and, at the same time, a dingdong app adds 100 commercials to everything.

Furthermore, As if the numb nut programs weren't irritating enough themselves, the process of removing them is riddled by confirmations requests, and verification codes. YES I wand to remove this garbage from my computer, YES I am fully aware that I will not have this crap on it anymore, and YES remove
it now, do it fast, or else!

Sorry for today's complaints, but this nonsense really grinds my gears. I mean, don't people have anything better to do than inventing these bogus programs? I almost miss the good old days when you installed everything from piles of diskettes. Sigh...

/MrsHjort