Down in Devon - ooh arrh!

Okay, this post might seem a little fractious - it's simply a melange of bits and bobs that caught my eye this weekend, there aren't as many photos as I would have liked simply because I stupidly forgot to charge my camera battery and was balancing on one pip for the whole duration. Like flowers, I apologize in advance, there are a lot of flowers, Carole's flowers in fact - I'm obsessed with them right now....can you tell? There are dogs, yes I can't help myself photographing them, it's all good practice heh?. There are cupcakes, yes Carole was such a darling and made JP and I cupcakes and fairy cakes for our arrival - we were spoilt fact! More than anything else there are snapshots of in and around Greenway - the holiday home that Agatha Christie kept during the latter part of her life. She left the house to her daughter and son-in-law who both died around 5 years ago I think, hence the house was only opened last year unveiling countless amounts of memorabilia, nick nacks, books upon books, photographs I mean just a multitude of objects left behind by Agatha and her family. They were famous for hoarding things you see and never threw anything away. Here's an interesting fact - Agatha bought the house in 1938 for around £6000, however it took 5 million to restore it over the last few years incredible! This trip was a surprise by Carole, we were simply instructed that morning to be ready by a quarter to 2 where we then proceeded (in a brisk walk) towards a bus stop - bizarre I thought... Then out of nowhere a fantastic 1940's coach arrived to take us to Greenway - fabulous. Here are just a few snapshots of my weekend darlings! p.s you might find a photo of me with a sketch of Greenway, I was killing time while waiting for the bus - think I can give the kiddies are run for their money huh, I didn't win the colouring competition in 1986 at Pizza Hut for nothing!!! lol xx

My oh My - thank you for the love!!

Today has been a good day I tell you, not only am I having sooo much fun editing my images from Devon but I was also awarded with two blogger awards by my fellow bloggers which makes me tickled pink! What can I say except THANK YOU to the beautiful Cristina at 'Diva's and Dreams' & the lovely Sonia at 'Tous Les Garcons et Les Filles'!! This really means a lot as I am very new to this world and for such talented ladies to award me just gives me so much confidence! The rules are that I mention 7 surprising things you might not know about me - so here it goes!!!

1) I used to work in a little tearoom in France where I learnt how to make 15 different variants of tea (well thereabouts)! I worked for an English man and his French girlfriend, funnily enough we rarely spoke in English together, which is good as my French at the time needed practice!!

2) I have been every hair colour under the sun, brown, red, platinum, dirty blonde and then regular blonde again!

3) My parents are both Scottish and grew up 5 miles apart between Dundee and Carnoustie - sometimes my husband laughs at the way I pronounce things because I haven't realised there is a difference to the way certain words are said in my family - like 'Oven' he laughs every time I say it because I have quite an English accent but then I come out with something random in Scottish!

4) I can count up to 50 in German oh yes!!!

5) I have a tattoo near my hip of a lily, I had it done when I was 21 before I graduated from St Andrews - it was a little act of rebellion and freedom all at the same time (I had a protective childhood) I have never regretted it but may do if the middle age spread hits!

6) I was lucky to be born as my mother lost a baby before me and literally conceived me six months later - it makes me sad thinking about it but grateful too!

7) I'm 5ft 2inches and for years thought I was 5ft 4 - it was a shock when I found out!

Now I would like to pass on my big love for some fellow bloggers:

Diva's and Dreams Photography
Twitch Vintage
Tous Les Garcons Et Les Filles
My Baloney
Lulu Letty
Laughing with Broken Eyes
Old Hat Diary
Fashionista on tour
All That Glitters
La Isla Blogita
Kristybee The Blog
Kimberley Chorney Butterfly Photography

Much Love Monday - My Nikon D90

Yes for this 'Much Love Monday' and maybe this is a bit predictable - I love love love my Nikon D90 - this camera is my baby and my creative eyes on the world - it allows me to capture priceless moments that can be immortalized forever! We still have a long way to go but I'm going to enjoy every minute of it! xx

Off to Devon I go.....

This weekend I shall be relaxed, well-fed, pro-active with my camera and 'hopefully' a pleasant and amusing person to be around (I promise Carole)! My coughing has subsided (a bit) and I'm much less of a zombie, so hey let's go to Devon!! Speak to you all when I get back - big kiss!

a wander through some sentiments

I have felt starved of photography of late mainly because I have been poorly and basically too zombied to even leave the house! Instead I have been re-working some of my older images - hence the post! I look forward to this weekend so much, I'll be out again with my D90 and actually breathing in some fresh air in Devon yay! xx

Much Love Monday - Louise Brooks

For this 'Much Love Monday' I would like to proclaim how much I LOVE Louise Brooks. I have been so fascinated by her recently and during my sickly weekend spent most of my time watching documentaries about her extraordinary life! She is to me the ultimate sex siren of the silver screen and the purest, original beauty to ever grace cinema. It startles me almost that while I watch her in movie stills I see someone far more real and relatable than I ever could in a Scarlet O'Hara or any other leading lady in the consequential talkie films. She is fearless, spirited, reckless and real in some way - she makes mistakes. Cinema was pure, unbridled and exciting when Louise Brooks emerged and she made it all the more fascinating for being a part of it! So to the truly original flapper girl, Louise Brooks I salute you darling!

This is who I am - print heaven!

The theme of this week's Diva's and Dreams' 'this is who I am' workshop we have been instructed to find/make/display a print that means something to us! Well I can never be restrained by just one thing and so in the usual 'lulu style' have found quite a few that mean a lot to me that lie about my house! Now I have practically all my walls covered and framed photos all over the place, but I also have a subordinate amount of little photos that just lie about my house with no frame to call for a home, yes it is very sad! I blame it on the lack of space but really I'm just incredibly disorganized - I call it 'controlled clutter'. Anyho, here are a number of prints that are special to me - I agree wholly with Cristina that in this digital age we can all too soon forget to print up our wonderful images and just fleetingly appreciate them on a laptop screen. Well this shouldn't be and I shall see that I print up many more of my photographs so that I can cherish them in a completely different way!

1) First up is a photo of my mother and father with their first baby, my eldest sister Susie! I love this photo, despite the fact I'm not the baby, because it shows the dawning of their life together 'as parents' and that new found excitement, fear and anticipation for the future. I also love the way they look, aren't they just divine? They were old hats at this parenting lark when I came along......I'm baby no 5 by the way!


2) Second up is an old and rather lacking in colour photograph of myself at the tender age of 2 perhaps. This was before my eyes went all wonky and I was subjected to eye patches eek! Yes this was a very special moment in time, and I look at this photo fondly! I think my mother dressed me well and that I was kinda cute. I see the beginnings to all new beginnings - I need to get this photo restored though!


3) Third up is another photo of me yawnnnn! No really the reason I included this is because this photo arrived in the post only recently with a thank you card! In it Anna (the bride) had included some snaps her wedding photographer had taken on the day. All of his photos were taken on a film camera (a rarity these days) and I just loved the soft grainy feel to it and how different it also felt as a print - not only do I love the composition of this photo but it makes me want to learn how to use a camera with film, I think there is a lot to be said for the old methods of photography!


4) Fourth up is another shot taken by a wedding photographer, this one is of me and my husband at our friend Susie's wedding. We were completely unaware the photo was being taken, and love it all the more because of that! We are scarily aligned in our body language which makes me smile. We did not hesitate to have this printed and framed and now it sits in pride of place in our bedroom. Don't you just love black and white, I do!!!


5) Finally I include a very special framed collection of my siblings and I all around the age of 12 months to two years! I love this more than you can imagine. Each one used to sit individually in it's own frame in my parent's house, but one x-mas they surprised us by having them all copied and mounted in a frame for each and everyone of us - a symbol of the Mackay clan to last eternally in our homes! Here's a question, can you guess which one is me?????


p.s here's one for all times sake - my husband getting some love from the two ladies in his life, Lulu and his mummy, ahhhh!


xx