Number challenge week 2

Following on the challenge from last week I have been keeping my eyes peeled whilst out and about to carry it on. It is always the way that you see the next but one number and can't spot the next! My rule about not using consecutive numbers from the same source also means you can't have a straight run. However, it is amazing where numbers are if you keep your eyes peeled:

15 - log pile in Grizedale forest

16 - map in Grizedale forest

17 - date on a moving sign from Maya Maya in Kendal

18 - age to play Game of Thrones Monopoly from a shop in Ambleside

19 - COVID-19 sign which are on all Kendal pedestrian crossings

20 - speed limit sign

21 - a list on a community notice board

22 - car park bay number

23 - example house plaque

24 - map in a shop window in Kendal for Lake District Monopoly

I have seen 25 in town so just need to get back there! Is anyone else playing along?

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Review: Saal Photobook

Sponsored Post

I was offered a voucher so that I could try out and review a Saal Photobook. Regular readers will know that I take loads of photographs but hardly ever get them off the digital version and into a hard copy... So this was a golden opportunity for me to rectify that.

To start with I had to download and install the software to my laptop. This was a trouble free process. Then I had to decide which of the many photobooks to choose from. In the end I chose the 15 x 21 glossy book with 26 pages for £24.95. 

The hard bit was choosing which photos to put in it! At least getting them in was pretty straightforward with a little bit of trying things out. I sometimes used the auto features and at others adjusted the photos to fit myself. I was able to save the progress and come back to it and didn't have to create it all in one go.

Once completed I processed the order which again was very simple. Then I just had to wait a few days for the photobook to arrive. I am certainly impressed with the quality and feel of the book (I should probably have come up with a better title!):

The pictures that have spanned over a double spread still look amazing:

Reasons to be Cheerful: a soggy one #R2BC

The hop is being hosted by the lovely Jo at Ojo's World who like me has found that sharing the little happy things makes everything seem better! Here are my reasons this week:

1) Parkrun Photography

As it was my son's birthday I volunteered to be official photographer on what turned out to be a monsoon kind of day! It could have been a reason to be miserable but when regulars like Conrad (who is in his 80s) take the time to smile and wave at the camera it lifts the spirits! (More photos on Facebook)

2) Running in the dark

Birthday boy was dead chuffed that the National Trust laid on a Night Run at Fell Foot on his birthday! He invited a running club friend to come and join him running around the park in the dark. His friend's dad used to work with me so he and I trailed behind the boys in a very much fun event:

3) Proud Mummy

It was my son's first parents' evening at his new school this week. Apparently it is like he has always been in the class as he fits in so well. So glad he is finding friends and continuing to do amazingly well at maths.

4) Clever/Lucky Mummy

I'm a bit of Words with Friends addict and scored my highest ever single word score this week with 144 for this turn:

What is making you happy this week?

100 Days of Happy #100daysofhappy

As regular readers know I like to focus on the positive things in life especially with the reasons to be cheerful linky that I now co-host. To boost this I've joined in with 100 days of happy to try to post a photo of something that's made me happy each day. Here is what I've done so far:

A new 10km official personal best

 

The latest in one of my favourite book series:

A glimpse of blue sky:

 

A good run:

 

A beautiful sun rise:

 

Why don't you try?

 

Flowery Friday

I spent a couple of hours at a charity open garden evening tonight in a local village. I now have serious garden envy! But 1) I can't afford a garden that size 2) I am not green fingered! So I will have to make do with taking photographs of some of the wonderful flowers in the garden:

Teeny tiny fingers

Glad so many of you loved the 3 generation hand shot from yesterday! Amazing what you can do on an iPhone with Camera+. To follow on I give you my daughter holding hands with my friend's gorgeous baby who isn't even a month old:

Again taken on the iPhone then tweaked in Camera+.

#SilentSunday

 

#TheGallery Youth

Not joined in for a while so time to have a go! This is me back in 1993 at my graduation from Swansea University having just scraped a 2.1 in Geography:

 

I look so pleased with myself! Three years of hard work had paid off and I was going to be starting an MA at Leeds University in Human Geography in the autumn. University was a great experience with not only studying geography, geology and Italian in my first year but taking up rugby too! Not sure I have really used my degrees since then as I fell into working in IT but a fascinating subject to study. The fact I got field trips to Portsmouth & Tunisia and a term in Paris were definite bonuses.

 

Who knows if my children will follow in my footsteps. I was lucky to go before tuition fees went through the roof. Such a shame if future generations are priced out of university. This was my amazing 21st birthday cake which celebrated my love of rugby and the university:

 

#CountryKids An Early Spring Day at Whinlatter #WeLoveForests

We haven't managed a trip up to Whinlatter since the autumn as my car and winter roads aren't a good combination. Today was finally a chance to get up there as the snow has old cleared from the roads and its warm enough not to be icy. The children had missed the Wild Play area and I had missed the whole outdoor relaxation. Here are some photos to show what we got up to today:

Playing in Wild Play

Gravel Fun

Bird spotting and Whose Egg trail 

Following a trail looking for evidence of red squirrels

Loving mix nature and adrenaline (wish that was our bike!)

If you want evidence that my children had fun today here are their happy faces:

So make the most of this sunny spring and wrap up warm and head off to your nearest forest. 

#WordlessWednesday Kentmere Mill

#SilentSunday

Reasons to be Cheerful week 9

Here are my reasons to be cheerful this week:
1) Fab family time
We have had lots of fun together this week with days out and just enjoying ourselves in the park whilst the sun is shining:

It's been so relaxing being outside and just chilling together.

2) Family

We live near extended family up here and this week they were brilliant by helping out with a school run and baby sitting. Its lovely having people close by that care about us enough to disrupt their lives for us. As my children said its great to have a truly great great aunt!

3) Blue skies

Its been a bit of a shock to have all these days of sunshine back to back. But its lovely to wake up each day and see the blue sky:

Every day I think its the last one and things will revert to the rain that was an almost constant feature of 2012! However whilst it lasts I am not being put off my running as its lovely to be outdoors in the fresh air on days like this. Long may I want to do mad things like this route:

Create Maps or search from 80 million at MapMyRun

4) My children

This week mornings have been a lot less stressful. My daughter has set her own alarm and has been getting herself up 40 minutes before she used to wake up. She now gets herself all dressed and finds herself breakfast before I've made it downstairs myself! There are signs that little brother is marginally better in the mornings too though its early days yet and we still don't leave for school on time..

5) Photography

It's been fabulous to get such wonderful feedback about a couple of photographs this week including Astrid and My Girl. Definitely makes me cheerful to know that people love some of the photographs I take!  

What's making you smile this week?

#WordlessWednesday: My Girl

St James' Church, Staveley

Its funny I never realised that the windows in St James' church Staveley were designed by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones until I Googled them for my daily photograph yesterday! No wonder they are so glorious. They show the Crucifixion and Ascension of Christ surrounded by angels and stars. I knew that one of the angels had been used for the Royal Mail's second class Christmas stamp in 2009. 

I am really pleased with the way my photographs of them from yesterday turned out so I thought I would share them with you all:

Not sure which one is my favourite but they are just so beautifully designed and made.