Shapes: Grids.

What horrible weather woke us at 4 am this morning until after 10 am. Rain and wind right in my kitchen entrance. . The first in that westerly direction as a lot of it has been from the north.

I had to take Kate to the bus but we leave later now as we have started going to Camborne which is closer so less time for her to travel and luckily her call centre job doesn't start til 10 .. buses have been more reliable than trains since the stormy weather means it is all local trains.

Then Lisa had her car tested so she came by and worked on the website with Col. He has so much to do we are going to do all his quotes tomorrow ..good that everyone is pulling out the stops as we are so busy.

Then a trip to drop Lisa home and after Lilly and collect Kate ..then Lisa back for her car! So my day has been pretty fragmented and along some waterlogged muddy roads..All the while thinking about Grid images..here are two I saw...One a chain link fence at a local school and the other a gate grid shape looking onto a winter field.

Shapes : Trapezium

Well I am running a day late here but with good reason.. appointments, meeting with business guys and also getting our planning through...yay!  So there will be two lovely built for purpose factory units in our field by the end of the year and it is all green lights for us now for a bit... not sure we can fit in a holiday.. so probably good we have no choice as it is booked!

Trapeziums here on the roof and our lovely builder Ryan has painted. I was thinking the plinth would be black but he suggested magnolia as it looks less stark against the granite.

There are plenty of other shapes too.. and oh look a grid in the window and some 'H' shapes too methinks!   

Now to go find a star shape.. maybe a pic of my lovely husband as this week he has excelled himself in drive and determination to see a job through to completion.. ..

Shapes outside : 'S' shape

I looked long and hard about an 'S' shape..

.. as I drove out and about this morning, delivering Kate to the bus and then popping past for the girls so I could help by dropping them to school... only to discover preschool was closed as one of the staff were sick.... which raised the Q what if the parents were working, for example in the health service, and if I was heading off to work somewhere (not at home) ...



Luckily we all work for ourselves... but childcare is such an underestimated stress..

.. and at times of stress think of holidays and snorkeling.. and Clams.. 'S' shaped clams.

Shapes in the outside : Semi circle

Well I think the net on the playground climbing frame hangs in a  semi-circle.

...but then again this picture of Torquay's Big Wheel last autumn is also a semi circle..

Windows ..of opportunity and a small window

Well I waited to picture this small window at St Levan Church today.. It was my Dad's birthday last week.. He would have been 92 ... and he died aged 47 so it has been a long time .. and his Anniversary is next week so I always make sure I have been this week, it was windy and blustery but we left carnations and chrysanthemums which will be quite hardy.  

 I plan.. as I have forever.. to get a headstone for him and Mum but somehow it always remains a plan and not an action.

I used to think it odd when my step-grandmother could tell you dates and ages of people no longer here but as I get older I understand .. Jordan and I sometimes say we should have a day of the Dead like in some Latin countries so we could celebrate their lives but somehow we are just too British, don't you think!

Daffodils are making an appearance 'out West' and I spotted a whole field of them near Penzance..I guess the Scilly Isles have been sending them to London markets for several weeks already..It is so mild down here.

Breezy though today and the kite surfers at Marazion took the chance .. or is that their 'windows of opportunity'

It is a phrase we also are aware of this week, things to decide on and plans to get sorted as our planning for two factory type units jn our field is up and the three objections are from our nearest neighbours .... but have been negated by the agencies concerned.. as I put it .. We and Cols dad live next to the workshops so if it's okay for us what would it affect someone 100 yards away?. and after all I am not planning to build a nuclear power station or a pig farm!

..and I thought this view of my special place in cartoon mode was cute.

Windows: Ornate

Sorry it's not a 'today' picture but thought I would get ahead.. this is a lovely picture I took in Lille in France a couple of summers ago.

I am off to Truro this afternoon with Lyla and maybe Zac.. maybe some more Cornish traditional windows to add then..?

Zac has slept the clock round, sorted our computer in the kitchen and eaten lots of meals.. and we have enjoyed having a good catch up.. looking forward to the weekend, i think I am cooking roast 'Christmas' dinner, as in 'all the family' together..

Windows : Traditional

 We always had sash windows in our house when I was a kid. I wanted them in my house but when we moved in 17 years ago they were wood and rotting and in some cases they would not open.

So we replaced them.. with PVC ones but they are sash and also open and flip so I can clean the outside from the inside.  they actually look good and from outside they could be wood.. but with so much less maintenance.

Some of you may have seen these pictures before. Kate modelling for Jordan and then Jordan photo shopping a beach scene outside.. I wish it was High Res and I would have it on my wall.

Windows : Modern

What could be more modern than a Pod which carries people to and from Terminal 5 at Heathrow to the Thistle hotel....

My Zac is home in UK..more to follow no doubt!

Windows: large building

Well I decided to feature a controversial place to picture for this prompt...This new Sainsbury's store us built on the site of the Penzance Heliport .. There was much ado about the demise of the heliport and many of us felt it was part of our heritage, part of what Penzance was about and a landmark to drive past with a whaft of aviation fuel if the wind was in the right direction.   The decision to close was really about the viability of the route to Scilly and also poor support from local council and poor business on the part of the owners but we were sad to see it go..sad also it had never really been given planning permission to develop a proper site and be a proper terminal.

So I was all set to not like the new development but actually I have to admit I like the look of the building..It has a wave like curve and faces the bay with a cafe upstairs so it is giving people a feature and also I think paying tribute to the fact that it is a landmark site and has style.. certainly a lot prettier than the Morrisons and Tesco stores a stone's throw either side.

So that's my large building windows.. but wanted to share another view of Newlyn and all its many and varied windows..taken from the Quay where barely a handful if boats remain..The rest have pushed out to sea to make the best of a few days respite ..x

Window : View

I used to live in the road into Mousehole as a teenager and loved that we could watch the world go by from our bungalow raised up beside the road.

You would see cars below but expecially nice was seeing boats thing and frying from Newlyn. In bad weather the Penlee Lifeboat would launch from about 200 yards away on the slipway and for some years my step-father and later my brother were on the crew. Mum and I never worried as they were much experienced local fishermen who knew what they were doing and where they were going even in shallow inland water.

I am a day late posting this view through a window but it reminds me of that view from my teen years ... .It is taken from my hairdresser's window and looks down on Newlyn Bridge and the life that comes and goes ... not so much this week as it is half term..

Shapes: Random fluid ones..

Brio rules!

Shapes : Ovals, hearts and diamonds..

Well I have been absent a couple of days. We went on a Business Growth Day in Exeter on Thursday and stayed over for Valentine’s eve..It was really nice..We stayed in an aparthotel so had a kitchen and.loungs so I took some snacks and breakfast and it was almost like a holiday..just days too short!

The weather in these parts was terrible again on Wednesday night and again yesterday, it is hard to believe some of the videos and pictures showing on Facebook..I should get some linked to here so in the future my family can link in to them.  There are many pictures of the sea damage to the promenade in Penzance..my temptation is to say it is an improvement ;-) .?in that maybe now the impetus and funds can be managed to really make a difference and regenerate our sad town which has fallen by the wayside where development and trendiness have been bestowed on the lovely St Ives and other towns.

We got back to the office and there was some catch up..but even the phones seem quiet with so much of the country distracted with weather and network disruption.

Today April and I have had the two girls and they are sleeping over ..baby is with the other Gran..divide and rule being the plan whilst there are 3 under 6 years old!

Colin came with us to the park..everyone's favourite if they are under ten years old! I pondered how to find an oval or sphere several times and offer a cartoon zebra head..Apologies if others found this prompt hard ..!

Hearts come easy as I share with you my Spring Valentine's decoration of the seasonal branch...lots of heart jewelry and also a gift from Kate 'Best Mum' .

Oh and I couldn't let the chat pass without a few pics of the girls. .and of Annabelle when she was here in the week..

Shapes:Triangles

Lilly came by after school as she has a film night there at 5 and it saves lots of coming and going home.. she is wearing her second favourite onesie and we found some triangles but we thought it would be nice to show Lilly making triangles too!

Shapes: Circles

What goes around comes around. .This Duplo must be 25 years old!  It's Tuesday and me and Lyla are playing for a while..though I have plans to do cleaning and make lasagne...All before 4pm. .

I won't ask you to count the circles in this picture!

Shapes: Squares

Ooops...I just posted this in Lucky Snapping by mistake!!

Loving these tea light holders Jordan brought downstairs last week during the power cut.

Amazing how squares and rectangles appear in so much home decor..

(Our Zac called this evening and Ross had a long chat with him...everyone is getting excited to have him home next week...Col is going to visit a few customers and them meet him at Heathrow..me, I am keeping the home fires burning..technically Ross does the fire lighting but I am keeping things busy here ..)

Media Catch Up..

Well life has been crazy the past few days. It's amazing how disorientated you can be when something as elementary as your desk is changed.. Our server in the office is being upgraded and consequently our own desk computers. My pal Sam, our book keeper, had my desk and I got busy doing other stuff..we were both quite lost, even the view from the desk is different using someone else's PC... oh well, change as good as a rest and all that.. it will be a good precursor for the big upgrade to a decent (not converted shed / farm outbuilding) office later this year I hope!

The wind was promised to return yesterday so we put off a trip out and Lisa and the girls came by, it was very chilled and nice to have them all here. The big girls are sleeping over next week so I am sure Colin will get busy on all the outdoor jobs that day! ;-)

On catch up I have been thinking about Adverts.. I love them and hate them.. I like to avoid them on TV, but I do appreciate a good ad.. Lidl's with the lady who advertises tea but then says she hates tea and loves gin!  Ads are always good if they can be related to someone you know!

My pet hate is the ad in food stores where 3 or 4 different formats of a product make you do so much mental maths it's like a GCSE refresher course.. take these 3 ads for beans from Tesco just after Christmas... I picked up 4 single tins at 50p each, then 6 for 60p each .. but wait a mo.. 7 for £3!!  I was cross enough to photograph the options..

 ....as for my Blog story, it began about 6 years ago as a supplement to my Scrapbooking, telling the stories behind the pictures I had used in layouts.. kind of online journalling..then I joined some challenges and the rest is history. t
Today I write as a diary and to keep in touch with our Zac who is often away as he trains to be a navigation officer in the Merchant Navy... and whooop! he is home in 10 days!! 

Final thought for the day.. Digital or Print..?

The jury is still out for me, I have a magazine each month in print but have failed to read it much the last few months..maybe online issues would be more portable?
I love to take a book on holiday but do like to have the book on my shelf afterwards.. but instead of 4 books maybe a e-reader would be good.. no sun oil on it, sand in the pages and leaving it in the pocket on the plane which was the fate of my last book.
I don't read newspapers really but when I do see online articles it is because I looked it up and not because I am browsing a whole edition..

So as I said, jury is out.. I am going back to Tenerife in March with the 3 youngest and Col, maybe I will be converted then (reading does make me quite anti-social though and as Col is not a great reader (he is a fab researcher though... when on a mission to find a new car / tool / application for manufacturing..) and I hate having my head in a book while he just sits pondering..

Media : our Favourite TV

Well I almost forgot to post today.. and I haven't got anything I have to watch at the moment but probably I like Comedy ..think Gavin & Stacey or Men Behaving Badly...and also good Drama especially if James Nesbitt is in it like Murphy's Law ..

Currently the only thing I record is Hostages and Col and I watch it with Kate on Sunday evenings.  It has Tony Collet in it and some good looking guy.. and it is similar to 24 in that it has lots of twists and turns.

Last year I was a big stand up comedy fan and watched so much I think I have maybe had just about enough ..Al Murray and Rhos Gilbert are just my favourites. .X

Colin loves airplane and some war programmes and Kate relaxes watching reality rubbish which I sometimes peek at to keep her company! Jordan likes Dr Who and unusual stuff..super heroes she said!

The pic shows some of the crazy mix we have recorded in the past couple of weeks...and for a moment I forgot I have a whole new series of Stella with Ruth Jones to watch soon..x

Media : Memorable Sculpture

Ahhh, don't you just love it when things come together.. 

..for my memorable piece of sculpture I have been thinking of a lovely statue over at Newlyn and wondering how it has borne the horrendous weather the last week or so...

..then a minute or two ago I see this picture on facebook.. Fisherman

Adam Gibbard (Site) has taken some amazing images the last week or two, he must go home soaking wet every day but has surely chronicled the weather in Penzance / Newlyn in a unique fashion..

Stormy days..

A few pictures .. 

Newlyn Green.. this hole is now a total breakaway ..

 and our garden.last week and this morning, though a bush down is nothing to the devastation all along the coast.

Media: my Craft Heaven

Well here we are .. me, Jordan and Pops, Colin's Dad..here amongst many and varied candles in a power cut. 

We have been promised the worst night of stormy weather with high tides and big squally rain passing through as I write..locally roads have holes in them, broken aged sewers giving way and walkways from Penzance to Newlyn with a gaping hole where the green met the tarmac beside the beach.. A seal was thrown up onto the grass yesterday beside a park bench near Newlyn and the Watering Hole bar beside the beach at Perranporth is threatened with losing the last 5 metres of sandbank being destroyed by the waves tonight.

Kate is working til 7pm and the trains are unreliable as so many delays up by the coast in Devon..so Ross has set off to collect her and buy chips for tea...gluten free for Pops too!

Jordan is writing labels for tomorrow's market using her calligraphy set; I think she likes the peacefulness of the candle lit kitchen with no whirring fridge or dishwasher..the only noise being Pops rummaging in the torch box to match good torches with working batteries!..accompanied by his odd reprise of Roy Orbisson's Only the Lonely...She has an ink bottle with scratchy pen and is now decorating a China teacup..whilst, she tells me, quietly panicking that if the power is not back on in the morning will she be able to bake for Thursday's markets.

In the sitting room the fire is glowing Red but the life of the room is on hold..no TV or corner lights..

It has been a mad couple of days. We had large boughs of the fir tree out the front removed as it seems the tree is leaning towards the road..and in the yard concrete wagons and heavy plant arriving to put right a 20 tonne load which didn't quite set just how we ordered. Imagine constant rain and pressure washing for 10 hours yesterday and almost the same this afternoon.. A baptism of fire for our lovely builder who has taken on our new smooth floor as his first big job!

And this is me.. blogging and depleting my mobile battery to tell my pals and Zac of our adventure as he has his own crossing to Hawaii to think of. . The last 15 day trip of the long 4 months he has been away..

..so I am off to preserve battery..my own Craft Heaven pic can wait til tomorrow. .meanwhile here is Jordan's. .

9pm..and power is back on..All is well..AND I didn't have to cook tea!

Media: A Picture I Love..

Even when I was setting this challenge this is the picture I knew I would choose.

I bought this for Colin quite a lot of years ago..I think I have always liked it best, you know when you get to the point when you just don't know what to buy your husband so you choose something you'd like instead...

I have it hanging in my scrap room but think I will bring it down to be in our new living room / kitchen as it is cream and has a.nice beachy feel with our fish ornament and the seal..more reminders of them as the week goes on..

Winter View : Feet!

Well it was lively to see blue skies and sunshine for the first time in ages. 

We laid in for a bit and then headed out west to see our favourite spaces...Small lunch beside a coal fire at the Logan Rock and some good pics at Sennen.

It was low tide so not quite the big seas which have been doing the rounds on Facebook...but hope you get the idea ..

I laughed a lot trying to get a 'feet first' picture; Colin was taking the pic but rather than making them a lesser item in the scene it became a full on pic of my boots!!