Is this thing on?

See, here’s the thing. I don’t do gardening. Not even a little bit. We have a blike in a van who comes once a week to do the lawns and generally tidying up in the garden. The one place he’s never ventured though, and nor have I in at least a year, is the greenhouse.

You know the Eden project down in Cornwall, or perhaps Biosphere in the states? Well they’ve got nothing on the ‘experiment’ going on in out greenhouse.

See:




And yes, it really is *full* of natures wonders, completely untouched by human hands. As you can see, Callum was the most intrepid explorer..

et voila! a little over an hour later..

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I think we can chalk that one up to a productive afternoon then!

written by RiK \\ tags: family, home, Projects

Took a quick trip down to Severn Beach tonight to scope out some potential locations for some shots I wanted to take. Wasn’t really expecting to take anything decent as the weather wasn’t looking too good, but I’m really glad we went now as it turned out to be well worth the drive…

Click through to Flickr for the full size pics.

written by RiK \\ tags: Bridge, Bristol, Pictures, Projects, Severn

Had a vague plan this afternoon to go check out Clifton in the evening for some more bridge shots.

As the evening drew in it was looking less and less likely as the weather was shite, dark clouds overhead and raining intermittently all afternoon. It would have been easy to just bail and not go but I’d arranged to meet Stu and something was niggling away to make me want to go anyway.

I’m really glad I did now as the weather held out just long enough for us to both scout some great locations and also to grab a handful of surprisingly passable shots too. It was far from ideal conditions but I was very pleasantly surprised by what turned up when I got home.

Definitely looking forward to a few more trips out like that.

written by RiK \\ tags: Pictures, Projects

.. so, down in Bristol today with my friend Stu & our respective familes, we had a couple of hours in the Museum, which was cool. I was particular taken by their small but excellent Egyptian collection, and some of the oriental stuff including 700-year old ming vases.

After the Museum the girls headed back home and myselt, Stu and Callum decided to take a trip up to Clifton to scout some potential vantage points to get some shots of the bridge. We weren’t really intending to take any shots at the time as the weather was a bit dodgy and the plan was to get some night shots but we took the cameras anyway and I’m really glad we did as I got a few reasonable shots. Definitely looking forward to going back when the weathers better.

written by RiK \\ tags: Pictures, Projects

More noodlings for the Yakyak theme of ‘Open Spaces’.

These are taken from Coaley Peak

And another panorama from the same hill

Click through for the Flickr page, or again here for the massive original which is 22776 x 2340 pixels and about 6mb!

written by RiK \\ tags: A pic a day, Projects

A little wander down by the Canal at Slimbridge..

written by RiK \\ tags: A pic a day, Pictures, Projects

One of Emma’s latest arrivals. Cute little feller ain’t he (or she as the case may be).
Mad to think she’s probably worth more than my car!

written by RiK \\ tags: A pic a day, cat, Photo, Projects

Thursday; 5th June 2008

Here’s a couple from a walk this afternoon in search of something for the YakYak monthly photo comp. This month’s theme is ‘Open Spaces’

I’d never noticed this chair before, but there’s a little plaque to say it is dedicated to a local rambler who died a couple of years ago.


Not exactly the view from the bench, but just a little way up the hill looking in the same direction.

written by RiK \\ tags: A pic a day, Projects

Tuesday 3rd June

Playing around with a very narrow depth of field on the nifty fifty.

written by RiK \\ tags: A pic a day, Photo, Projects

Today’s pics came courtesy of a nice pub lunch down at The Ship Inn at Framilode..

Firstly, one of the local wildlife tarting with the landlord..

Swans always seem to get a bad rep but I’ve always found that they are no different to any other birds, especially if you’ve got food in your hand.

And a couple of the house opposite the pub..

written by RiK \\ tags: A pic a day, family, Projects