Amelia's photos

SC80 - Post 28 January - Archive You may wonder why this is one of my favourite photos of 2023. After all, it is a fairly unremarkable coastal photo with not a lot to commend it. For me though, this takes me back to the late 40s and early 50s when I lived in St.Andrews. I passed this beach every day on the way to school, and visited it almost every day in the school holidays. It represents freedom and so many hours of pleasure, lost in my own little world of shells and seaweed, sounds and smells of the sea, and carefree days. I'd paint some of the shells I found here with water colour paints, and they would eventually return to the beach. Sandcastles with protective moats were built against the ravages of the tides as I stood, like Knut, wishing to control the inevitable destruction, only to start building again the next day. We walked along this pier so many times, my dad and I, never tiring of the view. Each day was different, the sky, the sea, the weather, the coastal flowers, the birds, and the inevitable crowds of summer visitors who came to play golf in the town and left the women to amuse the children for the day. Yes - it brings back so many happy memories, one of which was even the distinctive smell of calamine lotion, starting pink and soon turning to white on my sunburnt skin. No factor 40 in those days to prevent the UV rays. This is my favourite place in the world. Unremarkable to most, yet I still feel at home here, and lose myself in childhood memories. The East Sands in St.Andrews.

The Repton Oak in Attingham Park. While this oak is called The Repton Oak, tree surveys show that the tree is about 650 years old, so was here centuries before Repton arrived at Attingham. You can imagine Repton standing by the oak, surveying the landscape and contemplating how the tree would fit into his design. Humphry Repton (21 April 1752 – 24 March 1818) was the last great designer of the classic phase of the English landscape garden, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown. His style is thought of as the precursor of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the 19th century. Unlike Brown and other famous predecessors, he only worked as a designer, not the contractor for executing his designs, and therefore made much less money. Many of his famous sketches with folding sections survive; these gave "before and after" views for his clients. He appears to be the first person to describe himself (on his business card) as a landscape gardener. Courtesy of en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humphry_Repton

SC79 - Post 21 January - Diptych - triptych - polyptych A Herring Gull (May 2023), a Cormorant (October 2023) and a Robin (January 2024)

This little robin was sheltering inside the twisted canopy of an old yew tree.

We've had a smattering of snow here in Shropshire this morning. This sort of scene, photographed in Norway, is what I think of as proper snow. The 'whiteness' beyond the barrier of this restaurant is the frozen Drammenselva, Drammen's river. The pinkish tint was due to the early morning sunrise.

After 36 years in a long term relationship, Adrian and I decided to have a civil partnership ceremony yesterday, 13th January 2024. Our two witnesses, Sally and Bernard, have been our very loyal friends for over 50 years

The river Severn has now totally burst its banks in the town, this pavement and the road to the side are underwater and the road is now closed to traffic, and many properties will be pumping out water. Many other roads are also closed in town. It looks beautiful but there is a lot of damage and despair. Three of the town's car parks are closed, and buses have been rerouted. The cricket ground is flooded as are bowling greens and tennis courts. The floods are almost as bad as the record water levels of 2000. We live 8 miles from Shrewsbury, and although there is a small river running through our village, things would have to get a lot worse for flooding to affect us. There was a critical period for us mid-week when heavy rains brought mud and debris down from fields onto the road and the drains became blocked with leaves etc., but It's just a matter of getting outside and unblocking drain openings - getting soaked in the process. Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire seem to be suffering a lot more than Shropshire this time. .

A decaying tree trunk,

Look carefully and you may see adult seals on the beach, and the young pups with their mothers in the dune area. This fence is a temporary structure preventing humans and dogs from disturbing the seals, but sometimes we do silly things. Only last week a seal pup that looked a bit lost was picked up and wrapped in a coat by a well meaning lady, and taken to one of the wardens. The pup died very shortly afterwards, and should have remained near its mother. I used the zoom built in to the camera to achieve closeups.