Birthday Present day

Had a day out today, we went to Hereford. It was Eleanors birthday last week and this was one of her presents, an afternoon of Lampwork tuition with Laney, http://laney-izzybeads.blogspot.com/

The day started with Yoke going to work to do the Flu Clinic then we collected her and drove to Hereford getting there around midday. 

A very warm welcome later and after introductions to Ben, Iz, Defi and Gordy, and it has to be said, a great mug of tea, thanks Ben, Yoke and I departed leaving Eleanor in the safe hands of Laney. Not sure if Laney was quite prepared for the experience, we are a strange bunch so it was very brave of her to agree to this invasion.

After last months visit to the Malvern Show and picking up a leaflet for the Hop Pocket shopping centre, we decided as we were that close we would spend a bit of time there, well okay, the café was nice with good food, locally resourced. The Glass Design studio was nice, very engaging and happy to chat, serious kilns, as he does door panels, cooker splash back type of things, wall hangings light fittings etc.. Ah to have the bank balanced to allow our taste in craft ware. I could have easily spent a fortune if I had it, his work was good. The farm shop was good, just munched on some really nice sourdough bread we bought and had for dinner, most enjoyable. But, otherwise nothing that stood out really, nice for a short visit if you are in the area but that was it.

I did spot a ‘shepherds hut’ out the back that begged to be photographed, clearly it had been used as a hen house but personally I think Granny Aching would have been well at home in it ( Terry Pratchett - The Wee Free Men ) so,  off I went with camera while Yoke took a look around the garden centre etc. 

As you can see I took a few, will take me a while to decide which I like the best. The light kept changing and the colour of the wood varied depending on the light and the angle, at one time there had been a blue 'paint' applied and flat on with shaded light it showed up, once the sun came out fully it was pretty much invisible and had clearly worn / weathered away across most of the hut

 

On the way back to the garden centre, the fence was casting a strong shadow – interesting play on light 

Then in the garden centre – well it is October so we are in Autumn so autumn leaves!

 The shots were okay, a bit different from my normal photographic subjects, always worth taking a sideways move to experiment and learn from.

As it was a sunny day for the most of it, the views around the area were really nice, a few times while driving I wanted to stop and get the camera out but at the areas I could stop it was ‘that’s really nice, but .... as soon as I hear myself say the ‘but’ I know it is not worth getting the camera out. I know I would not be happy with it and will be frustrated and simply delete any I took so I saved some time and simply did not take them!

Back to Laneys and another tea and fun chat later we made our farewells and headed home. In all a really nice day, lovely to meet Laney at last and Eleanor really enjoyed her play on a big girls torch. 

Thank you Laney, something we will have to repeat in the future. You have our address so any time you are down this way feel free to pop in, you will be most welcome.