My Christmas Eve day at Slimbridge

It is tradition for me and my son to have a visit to Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge as I just love the tranquillity there and also the photo opportunities.

I took approximately 50 pictures to H's 100+ but some of his are incredible standard it has to be said.

Today I focused more on colour and texture than just the birds so here are my favourite pictures from the trip.

Have a brilliant Christmas and I hope you all enjoy the festivities.

Winter is here!

Been a little while since doing an update on "Indie".  Really I should re name my blog from "Textureknit" to "Indie" but as I am currently working on a knitting project which is taking a while to produce I thought I would keep my blog going in the vain of the development of the new puppy in the family and general photography.

Today was again the weekly trip up the hill with the dogs. But it was far more blustery and wintery than it has been in previous weeks.  Winter has really come upon us but I guess not as bad as north of the country where they have snow and in two weeks time it will actually be Christmas day!! Goodness that does not seem possible although I did finish wrapping all my presents yesterday so that is a good sign and we put up the decorations so it is a festive feel in our house now.

So this picture is the 3 stooges as I like to chart how Indie is growing against his counter parts Ebony and Willow. 

The was still some lovely colour around the hill in terms of berries on the trees, vivid yellow coarse and the lovely browns of the discarded leaves.

This was on the journey home when Indie is way more chilled!

Last weekend we had a trip to Cheltenham town centre and the Christmas fair and came home with the most amazing "buy of the year" blanket that is pure wool and I truly adore.

To finally equip ourselves for the winter and many hours of dog walking we visited Go Outdoors and I purchased a pair of snow boots that are basically like wearing slippers but will be awesome if we get snow and ice and a Gore-Tex "Paprika" coloured jacket that is sure to keep out the harshest rain (or so it says!) time will tell.

Next week is a going to be a great build up to Christmas starting with a Christmas show at cubs for Harry, followed by a lovely carol service at the local church by all of Harry's school.  Then for the first time I shall be going to a carol service at Tewkesbury Abbey which I think will be a lovely atmosphere and amazing acoustics with the choir boys singing.

So until next time which could possibly be Christmas post itself have a lovely wintery time.



Craft projects around the home.

It has been a while since I have shown any of my "craft" work so I thought I would share some of the knitting and crotchet work I have done over the years and now use around the home thanks to lovely inspiration blogs like Attic 24 and According to Matt.

The last picture is my work in progress blanket that I am about half way through.

I do so love having crafty items around the house to brighten up what would otherwise be just a dull jam jar.

Some views of Cheltenham and the surroundings.

Today was the weekly family walk up Cleeve Hill.  So today I decided to show some of the views that can be seen from the hill as it was a lovely blustery day with a low lying mist over the valley.

Cheltenham is famous for the races and this weekend has been a three day festival The Open.  We had a lovely aireal shot of the course.

From the distance their is a good land mark that is often used called the "3 masts" these are television masts and can be seen from a long way in the distance.

From a walkers point of view when being on the hill the wind swept tree and the three seats beneath is also a good point to head too. 



The cloud formation was lovely this morning with a really strong blue sky and white clouds.

From Cleeve hill on a sunny day you can see for many many mile, but today it was shrouded in a lovely reddish mist.

At the moment my blog can't be complete without pictures of the beloved Indie who is growing rapidly and becoming more adorable every day.  Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Bonfire Night and Cleeve Hill Cheltenham

Remember remember the 5th of November!!

This year me and H decided to venture a little further afield to Tewkesbury for the bonfire extravagance.   It was organised by the Tewkesbury Round Table and hot dogs and burgers (which where yummy) were supplied by the 3rd Scout group.

H had never been (in his memory) to a night where they lite a bonfire prior to the fireworks, but to me this added to the whole experience of the night.

I love the effects you can get photographically with night photography and bright lights and the pleasure brought to the children by sparklers and glow in the dark toys.

Once the bonfire had started to die down it was time for the firework display which was enhanced by the fact that it had Tewkesbury Abbey as the backdrop!

Then for the weekend walk we decided to take the gang to Cleeve Hill for a beautiful autumnal walk.

Their was much running and chasing of balls but also a hugh amount of great behaviour by Indie who is only 14 weeks old and all legs!!



I also wanted to try and capture the "autumn" feel in my photography and on the homeward journey of our walk P discovered a fossil in the drystone wall.