Tuesday Challenge #11 Copycat

Stu's Tuesday Challenge this week was about as tough as they come.


Our task was to create our own interpretation of Dali Atomicus by Phillipe Halsman

You see where I'm coming from when I say tough? Oh yeah.....

Well, my brother came for dinner today and as a scriptwriter by training, he has a brilliant imagination for bizarre things and I couldn't have done this without his help. Thanks Rob! So whilst my parents stood watching aghast and lost for words, we took several images and I finally came up with this......



OK, it's crap, I know it's crap but I tried and you know what I am really excited about? I finally get layers! If you use photoshop or PSP, you know what I mean by layers, and for the last two years, understanding layers has eluded me completely. After doing this little exercise, the penny has finally dropped! Thanks Stu!

Oh, and I promise you that no chickens were harmed in the making of this photo. Nora wasn't really thrown through the air, she was sitting quite happily sunbathing in the afternoon sunshine.

Tuesday Challenge #10 - Food - Eggs it is!

Stu's Tuesday Challenge for this week is Food.

You thought this week would be easy?

Food photography is difficult. Really difficult.

We don’t want a picture of your lunch. We want a picture that makes us want to eat your lunch. A picture that would appear in a menu. A picture that appeals.

If the viewers’ stomachs don’t rumble while perusing the results, we haven’t done our job properly.

Take care to arrange the food nicely, make it look fresh, make it look hot (if applicable). Make it look appetising. Like one of those burger shops where you absolutely know your burger isn’t going to look that nice. Watch out for the background, if it supports the image, emphasise it; if it doesn’t support the image, why is it there?

I’m tempted to put fruit/individual items on a hit list, but I’m not sure I like hit lists. So try to go for a complete meal, but if not, make your fruit look really juicy.

Stu wasn't wrong. Photographing food is not as eay as it might at first sound. That said, I have two images and I'm not sure which one to put forward. Whichever one you all prefer by Sunday evening is the one I'll put forward!

**UPDATE: EGGS IT IS!

First one is "Egg on toast"! I do quite like this one as I think it does make you want to reach for a toasted soldier and dip it in the yolk! Well, it does me anyway!

The second is "Pudding and custard"

Any thoughts!?

Tuesday Challenge #9 - Vertigo

Stu's Tuesday Challenge this week is Vertigo:

In this week’s challenge, your camera must be at least 30 feet (10 metres) above the subject of your photo. You could try a hill or tall building, a kite, or if you’re good at throwing things very high and catching them again, maybe a Camera Toss (note - I will not be held responsible for broken cameras!)


I had a cunning plan for this but then it was explained to me there was a certain amount of perilous climbing involved in getting high enough up my local windmill. So I scratched that idea. My offering this week is a little more urban than I would usually shoot, and urban is not one of my strong points but I'm relatively pleased with it. It possibly doesn't look like I'm 30 feet up above them but I definitely was!

WHY do I do it?

It's official. I do not have a life.

I cried over a Star Trek DS9 episode for heaven's sake.

I so need to get out more.

So why why why why why have I signed up to Twitter?

Are blogging, Facebook, Plurk, Skype and sundry message boards not enough to keep me in touch with people already?

How many ways do I need to tell the whole world that I do not have a life!?

And if anyone can answer that question.....then they need to get a life too!

Our Fun Monday Hostess this week is Sayre Smiles and this is our assignment


What are you and your family doing to deal with the current economic situation on a personal level? Obama's got a plan for the nation, but how do you/will you deal with your own economic stress?

I am in the fortunate position of not being immediately affected by the current economic situation. I am lucky enough to live in a rent-free house that comes with my job so I am not encumbered by a mortgage and several of my bills are also paid for me. But nonetheless, I am not being complacent.

I have to pay for my central-heating oil, which is not cheap these days, so I try to use the central heating as little as possible and instead use my wood-burning stove.

I cycle back and forth to work as I really have no reason to drive as it's quicker to cycle, plus it gives me some exercise!

I have my own chickens who lay enough eggs for me and also enough for me to give some to friends and colleagues in return for the odd favour.

I've started a compost heap which will hopefully save me having to buy fertiliser for the garden and enable me to grow some more of my own food this year. Last year I grew green beans, courgettes (zucchini) and tomatoes but this year I also want to try potatoes, sweet corn and pumpkins.

I go to the supermarket less often, mainly because when I do go I end up buying stuff that I really don't need that goes to waste. I think more about what I'm buying and whether I really need it. If I just needed a pint of milk I'd go to the supermarket and come away having spent £50 so now if I just need a few staples, I use the local shops instead. Saves me money and helps the local economy too!

Now visit Sayre Smiles to read everyone's Fun Monday posts.

Tuesday Challenge #8 - Green

This week's Stu's Challenge is GREEN

I shall go to the Ball.

Unlike Cinderalla, I don't have a Fairy Godmother to turn the requisite pumpkin into a carriage or the mice that live in the shed into footmen but nonetheless, this girl has gotten her butt into gear and is going to the Ball.

Yes, you read that right. I AM GOING OUT!

There is no hot date (RC, did you get that? THERE IS NO HOT DATE!) but who knows? I do have a dress though. And that's a good start. And shoes. And given that about an hour into the evening my shoes will be giving my feet the kind of hell only heels can and they will have been kicked off under the table, some idiot may come running after me at midnight clutching my beaded evening shoe in his sweaty little hand.

Of such things are fairy tales made. Although I could do without the sweaty hands thank you all the same.

Friday Funnies

"ALL PUNS INTENDED "

1. Two antennas met on a roof, fell in love and got married. The ceremony wasn't much, but the reception was excellent.

2. A jumper cable walks into a bar. The bartender says, "I'll serve you, but don't start anything."

3. Two peanuts walk into a bar, and one was a salted.

4. A dyslexic man walked into a bra.

5. A man walks into a bar with a slab of asphalt under his arm, and says: "A beer please, and one for the road."

6. Two cannibals are eating a clown. One says to the other: "Does this taste funny to you?"

7. "Doc, I can't stop singing The Green, Green Grass of Home."
"That sounds like Tom Jones Syndrome."
"Is it common?"
"Well, It's Not Unusual."

8. Two cows are standing next to each other in a field.
Daisy says to Dolly, "I was artificially inseminated this morning."
"I don't believe you," says Dolly.
"It's true; no bull!" exclaims Daisy.

9. An invisible man marries an invisible woman. The kids were nothing to look at either.

10. Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

11. I went to buy some camouflage trousers the other day, but I couldn't find any.

12. A man woke up in a hospital after a serious accident.
He shouted, "Doctor, doctor, I can't feel my legs!"
The doctor replied, "I know, I amputated your arms!"
;
13. I went to a seafood disco last week... and pulled a mussel.

14. What do you call a fish with no eyes? A fsh.

15. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. The one turns to the other and says, "Dam!"

16. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Not surprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it too.

17. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel, and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office, and asked them to disperse.
"But why," they asked, as they moved off.
"Because," he said. "I can't stand chess-nuts boasting in an open foyer."

18. A woman has twins, and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt, and is named 'Ahmal.' The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him 'Juan.' Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds,
"They're twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

19. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him (oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) ... a
super-calloused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

20. A dwarf, who was a mystic, escaped from jail. The call went out that there was a small medium at large.

21. And finally, there was the person who sent twenty different puns to his friends, with the hope that at least ten of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Welcome!

It's just like the old place isn't it!?

I know it seems silly moving from one Blogger blog to another Blogger blog, but I do have my reasons.

I wanted the blog to reflect that we are now a multi-sighthound house, with a Greyhound as well as Lurchers. And yes, I know I could have just changed the title, and indeed I did do that, but some years ago, I did something a bit stupid with my Google account and since then I've always had to sign in using the ex-Himself's e-mail. Quite frankly, I wanted to move on from having to do that.

I did try out WordPress but, although I consider myself reasonably technically au fait, WordPress had me completely flummoxed.

So here we are! Do please comment and let me know you've found me!

What am I missing?

I've been having a play in WordPress but I'm finding it quite difficult to set up. I've imported all my blog posts with no problem but I can't find a theme that I like, so I've tried to pick the best and then adjust it - which is a pieceof cake in Blogger - but for the life of me I can't see how to do it in WordPress. I can find edit CSS but it doesn't seem to let me do anything.

Any help for an ignoramous please?

EDIT: OK, it seems if you want to change things in WordPress, you have to pay for the privilege. Unlike in Blogger, where you get to do all that for free. Not sure I'm going to be moving over there then.

We may be moving

I'm toying with moving my blog over to WordPress. I'm exporting everything over there at the moment and will have a play to see how it goes before making a final decision.

This blog is unwell

It has a temperature, a sore throat and it aches like hell. Now it's going back to bed.

My apologies for missing Fun Monday. Today's not really been much fun.