In The Pink

I have been planning my Blog Action Day posts for the 15th October as I want a different post for each of my blogs. The post for this blog is done and I am quite excited about getting it out there! I have an idea for The Green Man and have also started on my post for Evolved . It's been a very thought provoking process. I want the posts to reflect the purpose of each blog. The blog register for the day itself has increased by over 200 blogs since this time yesterday. Here is a little more information about the event.

I visited a local nature reserve a while back and got these shots of the Canada Geese that reside there for the summer. It was a great afternoon. Now that autumn has arrived the Geese are massing for their migration. They fly over our house in ever growing numbers collecting at the larger water holes to prepare for the off, and as usual I find myself wishing I was going with them. I love all four seasons for different reasons. Autumn displays stunning colours, fruit and leaf fall, and brings the sunrise back to the time of day when I am going out with the dogs for their morning walk. But I also yearn to follow the sun to warmer climates and longer daylight hours, and the birds will be missed during the winter. To join in or see other participants in Camera Critters click here !

The 15th October 2009 is Blog Action Day , powered by Change.org. In their words: ‘Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day on their own blogs with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance. Blog Action Day 2009 will be the largest-ever social change event on the web. One day. One issue. Thousands of voices.’ I have taken part in Blog Action Day for a couple of years now along with my Sister and Mum and it really is an amazing event. This year’s topic is climate change. I have begun to notice over the past few years while attending seminars and courses that we can be very good at getting together, uniting to a cause and planning action however a period of time elapses, nothing happens and then before you know it we are all sitting there again discussing the same issues and noticing that we didn’t actually take any action . This day to me is a day of communicating the wish for chang...

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These are the views we had of the church spire yesterday while hurtling parachute sporting teddy's off the roof! The tiles are made of wood which is quite common for old churches, something I did not know until yesterday. The black dots you can see are flies which were swarming around the steeple.

I have been looking at some old holiday snaps from the beginning of the Millennium, in particular shots of our old and first dogs. The brown dog is Pink, the black and white one is Mojo. When my fella and I first met we had a dog each. My fella got Mojo as a puppy. He exchanged a box of vegetables for him with a local farmer. I found Pink in Greece. I lived there for a year. Pink was a stray hanging out with the gang around the marina. She came over to the camper the first day I arrived in town and just sat with me. I decided to adopt her after that and the rest is history. Although things are considerably different in Greece now at the time strays did not have a great life and Pink, not being a very dominant dog, was hungry, thirsty and bullied by the other dogs. She took to adoption very well. When I moved on and eventually returned to the UK I of course brought her with me. The dogs were 5 years old when I met my fella and after a few initial grumbles when we moved in...

My fella and I helped out at a fund raising event today for a local play group. We launched 50 teddy bears off the church roof, all sporting parachutes! As tree folk we have harnesses and ropes which were needed to access the roof. The event went really well and we had a beautiful day for it. All in all £80 was raised from this one event! Here are some of the hero's of the day. (No teddy's were harmed during the event!)

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I have recently re-discovered Olbas Oil , an ointment that we used to use as children when we had colds. Inhaling it unblocks your nose. I bought some a while back when I had a cold and kept putting a few drops on my collar, since then I use it most days as it helps me breath easier all the time and smells really nice. I love all thinks minty and fresh. Olbas is eucalyptus, juniper berry, levomenthol, dementholised mint oil and wintergreen. I also put a few drops on my pillow each night and it helps me breath clearly. A few drops in the bath is also very relaxing. Finally it can help relieve migraines as it has a cooling action if rubbed on the skin, however do not get it in your eyes or a migraine will be the least of your worries!

I came home feeling a bit naff today. It's Monday for a start but also, in the words of another hero of mine, work is 'a bit of a bark' at the moment. (Del Boy - Only Fools and Horses) Anyway, there's no good being in a bad mood with no good reason so I sort out some classic comedy moments from some heros of mine to put things right. I hope that you enjoy seeing them, and that they bring as much joy to you.

Hot damn I love the internet! I have, thanks to my search for The Impossible Dream come across Reel Classics, a website dedicated to classic movies that has loads of MP3 files of classic songs. There is a whole heap of other stuff too so if you are a classic movie fan I recommend it! If you have a moment check it out here.

I have had this song in my head for a few days, I find it very moving. I know lots of versions of it and have been looking on You Tube this evening; there's Matt Monroe, Elvis, Andy Williams of course and then Peter O'Toole. (I would have posted the version from the Honda advert which is brilliant however they miss out some of the lyrics which is annoying.) I did not know that this song came from a musical and have since been learning all about The Man of La Mancha. I first heard a version of this song by Roger Whittaker. Anyway I could not decide on a version to post and so have opted for posting the lyrics however if you click on the title link below you can here Peter O'Toole singing it. "The Impossible Dream" from MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972) music by Mitch Leigh and lyrics by Joe Darion To dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe To bear with unbearable sorrow, to run where the brave dare not go To right the unrightable wrong, to love pure and chast...

As promised here is the answer to the identity of my subject matter for this weeks Sky Watch Friday. Although I would like to say, as suggested by T-Bone Travis , that it is can can dancers, I am afraid it is not and the actual answer is much less interesting! Just for a laugh though here is the image rotated...it really does look like dancing girls, with very well formed calf muscles! The picture is of a communications tower which had a vertical line of red lights. I tried to take a night shot of it without the aid of a tripod and this was the result. Anyway my thanks again to everyone for their comments and having a guess. Happy Sky Watch everyone and see you next week!

I have just responded to a comment from Eileen in MD posted on my Camera Critters shot below and went to investigate her blog. I came across these amazing shots of a Bald Eagle and wanted to send any visitors coming here her way as they are just stunning. Pop over and click on the images to enlarge, it is really worth it!

I grabbed this shot one day on our camping trip. The buzzard was a regular visitor to the field and had just delighted me with a close fly over. He hovered over my head for ages and I allowed myself the pleasure of just watching before I decided it was worth a mad dash for my camera and a quick lens change. My big lens takes better shots from the tripod as the small movements of my hand and breathing make for blurred images but I was pleased to be able to get this anyway. To join in or see other participants in Camera Critters click here !

It is with a heavy heart that I comment on the recently announced news that as of 18th December this year Terry Wogan will be retiring from the breakfast show 'Wake up to Wogan' on BBC Radio 2. Radio 2 is a big part of my day and I listen to much of the daily shows. In addition, like many, many people nationwide Terry Wogan has been part of my life since childhood. My parents used to have him on in the mornings as I was getting ready for school. He has in recent years brought a smile to my face on many mornings with his melodic, baritone voice and calming demeanor. I am absolutely gutted that he is going and find myself concerned about what I will listen to during my morning journey. I do not approve of the chosen replacement of Chris Evans. Although his success with the drivetime show is a tribute to him and the Radio 2 team I can only take him in small doses and cannot face the thought of him in the mornings. I have no doubt that he will make it a success and build his own mo...

Well as it is a lovely sunny day outside, and Saturday to boot, I don't think I have got it in me to sit here and make all the changes necessary to revert back to my old custom blog template so I have played about and found this one! I made a couple of text colour changes but thought I would cast aside my usual and favoured black and give this template and colour scheme ago. First impressions...its a lot easier to read!

Damn! Only hours after commenting to my good friend Kylita that I liked her recently changed blog format but was reluctant to change mine after my previous error which took me days to fix I have done it again! As I infrequently change my blog format now, I have become unfamiliar with the results of pressing one button. Actually I think I did the exact same thing again! I pressed save template on the change template page expecting to be able to save my current settings before I started editing and instead it saved the format to the selected style which has undone all of my personalised settings! Well that's my job for the day then! I will make the most of this opportunity to make a few changes while trying to regain my previous layout!

Ok, you may not believe me but this really is a Sky shot, taken at night, in Wales. I thought it might be fun to see what people guess it to be before I reveal the answer. Happy Sky Watch Everyone!! To join Sky Watch or see other participants click here

I have been a little reluctant to return to all of the normal routines since we returned from holiday. We had such a relaxing time, in fact it has been voted our best holiday ever! As a result it has taken me a while to get some pictures up on the blog but finally here they are! (Picture 1 - base camp with fire pit!) We stayed in the one place while away which is new for us, we were lucky enough to be able to stay on a friends land just outside of Caernarfon with mountain views, 25 acres to ourselves and the use of a farm house for washing ourselves and drying clothes. The dogs, needless to say, were in heaven and spent all day, when we were not off on a yomp, playing with their toys in the fields and exploring. This shot was taken at the summit of Moel Shiobod (872m). We were in the cloud and the wind kept blowing the camera over for the self timer shot. We did evenutally get one but you can't really make us out too well though the cloud! It was a testing day for leg muscles and w...

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