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Expressing my vision

Category Archives: Just because….

How much rain?

02 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Karen in 30DaysWild, 5 Minute Project, Just because....

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

children, learning, photoaday, Photography, science, weather

“Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” – Langston Hughes

It’s raining it’s pouring…….

Well I saw the weather this morning as I dropped my son off to school and then drove into work and knew immediately what we would start doing this afternoon. I found some great ideas online for building a weather station, so we are going to make a few instruments needed to start observing the weather over the next few days. Today it is a rain gauge, for this we followed the instructions on the Met Office website (a fantastic informative site for all things weather related).

As the rain had stopped by the time we returned home at 3.45pm we decided to sit outside and make the rain gauge. It was quite breezy and chilly, so my son decided he needed a small blanket to cover his legs as he sat on the patio 🙂

What you will need:

  • An empty plastic bottle (2 litre fizzy drink bottle would be ideal)
  • Scissors
  • Sticky tape
  • Ruler
  • Paper
  • Pencil
  1. Cut around the plastic bottle about two thirds of the way up.

2. Turn the top part of the bottle upside down and place it inside the bottom part – fix it in place using the tape.

3.  Make a scale in centimetres on a piece of tape, using a ruler, and fix it to the side of your bottle.

4.  Find a place outside to put your rain gauge. It must be open and away from trees.

We now need to check it every day at the same time, measure the amount of rain collected, and empty then bottle.

Tree hugging fun and games

01 Monday Jun 2015

Posted by Karen in 30DaysWild, Just because....

≈ 15 Comments

Tags

art, children, fun, nature, photo101, photoaday, Photography

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.             – Albert Einstein

After school we decided to go for a quick walk to Winkworth Arboretum through the glorious woodland scenery. According to the National Trust website Winkworth was “established in the 20th century, this hillside arboretum has now been maintained by the National Trust for 60 years and has built up a collection of more than 1,000 different shrubs and trees, many of them rare”.

As we arrived and showed our National Trust card at the desk, the lady asked our mini me’s (aged 12 and 10) if they would like to do the challenge “50 things to do before you’re 11 3/4“, my daughter promptly told them she was too old! The woman responded quickly and I totally agree with her response, you are never to old to enjoy nature! This spurred them both on so off they ran intending to complete at least one of the challenges on our walk.

We have been very busy as a family over the last few months with house renovations so it is bliss just to forget it all and spend some quality family time outdoors even though the rain was not far behind us! Last year I visited here with my daughter to see the bluebells which were just spectacular.

Alas, this year we were a little late as they were past there best, but it was still a wonderful walk. My kids had a great competition seeing who could see and name the most trees and bugs and running up and down the hills seeing who was the fastest

They even managed two of the 50 things and even “hugged a tree”!

Tree hugging, was often thought of as a hippy generation idea, but it has been shown to have scientific validity after all! Contrary to popular belief, touching a tree does make you healthier. In fact you don’t even have to touch the tree to get better, just being within its vicinity has the same effect. Countless studies have shown that children show significant psychological and physiological effects in terms of their health and well being when they interact with plants. They demonstrate that children function better cognitively and emotionally in green environments and have more creative play in green areas. Well I know for sure my two had beaming smiles as they climbed the tree and then hugged it, such a wonderful thing to see for any parent. While researching about tree hugging I found this site, dedicated to trees which really made me smile. It even gave these tips on how to tree hug:

  1. Find yourself a quiet park, forest, or woodland area
  2. Walk among the trees until you feel comfortable in their presence.
  3. Feel the different bark textures with the palms of your hands.
  4. Smell the scent of the various woods.
  5. Absorb their life’s energies as you look upwards to the sprawling branches overhead.
  6. Find the perfect tree that fits your mood. You will know which one is right for you.
  7. Vertical Tree Hug: Encircle it with your arms while gently pressing your cheek to the trunk being careful not to scratch your face. Squeeze tightly. Sigh deeply. Be one with your tree.
  8. Full Body Tree Hug: Sit upon the ground wrapping your legs around the base of the tree and at the same time embracing it with your arms.
  9. Up in the Air Tree Hug: Climb a tree. Sit upon a strong limb and straddle it with your legs. Bend forward and place your belly against it while wrapping your arms about it.

Why don’t you give it a go today and hug a tree, if nothing else it will make you smile.

No 1 of the 50 things completed, climb a tree

No 28 of the 50 things completed, climb a huge hill

Just a few of the other photos I took during this hour packed with nature filled fun are below, we are all looking forward to day two and beyond 🙂

IMG_7412
IMG_7447
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IMG_7424
IMG_7423
IMG_7420
IMG_7416
IMG_7393
IMG_7427
IMG_7433

To the moon and back……………

29 Friday May 2015

Posted by Karen in 30DaysWild, Just because....

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

art, black and white, moon, photoaday, Photography

“Aim for the moon. If you miss, you may hit a star. “
– W. Clement Stone

Another quick post today as this week is half term holiday time for my children and my husband and I also have had time off phone work 🙂

Have a great weekend and see you on the other side when I start my 30 Days Wild Challenge 🙂

30DAYSWILD_ID1 black

The wise old owl

28 Thursday May 2015

Posted by Karen in Just because....

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

art, birds, national trust, nature, photoaday, Photography

“A wise old owl sat on an oak; The more he saw the less he spoke; The less he spoke the more he heard; Why aren’t we like that wise old bird?”

I could not resist taking a photo of this owl carving when I saw it at Winkworth Arboretum as my daughter loves owls.

The sunshine is out

27 Wednesday May 2015

Posted by Karen in 30DaysWild, Just because....

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

art, butterfly, garden, photoaday, Photography, wildlife

On the edge

I so love it when the garden comes alive with butterflies and bees, it means my macro lens gets a good workout 🙂

I am counting down the days before my 30 Days Wild project starts, even my kids are looking forward to it as we have a few things planned.

Misty morning stroll

26 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by Karen in Just because....

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

art, birds, coast, photoaday, Photography, seaside, weather

“Beyond the fog lies clarity” – Anonymous

Broken beauties

25 Monday May 2015

Posted by Karen in Just because...., Weekly Photo Challenge

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

art, Broken, old, photoaday, Photography

A door to the unknown

The Daily Post photo challenge this week is “Broken” in which we are encouraged to capture something broken: an old window, a vintage sign, a toy never fixed, a contemplative friend. Or go deeper: find beauty in something broken.

I like wondering round taking photos (no surprises there then!), often I find abandoned buildings, like the one below which intrigue me, windows and doors broken or aged by weather, so full of character and each telling there own tales.

The red door above, I found at the bottom of a garden we visted and it just made me think of the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden. No secret garden here unfortunately but it did open up to a fantastic field with a gorgeous view 🙂

The Old Fire Station

Knock, Knock, who’s there?

This rusty of handle on this latch I found on an old shed, needed lots of oil to get it to turn, but inside there was a treasure trove of old tools that looked as though they had not seen the light of day for many many years. The light below no longer shone as the electrics had long been bitten through by the small mice that now lived in the corner and the spiders, well lets just say I was not brave enough to go in fully until some light was restored as the webs were just everywhere and I have an irrational fear of all spiders!

Last legs

I had a wonderful technology free weekend with my family, so much so that I have decided that I will only be posting from now onwards on Monday through to Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be family time only, spending as much of it as we can outside, especially now the summer months are upon us.

Bring your own sunshine

22 Friday May 2015

Posted by Karen in 30DaysWild, Just because....

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

art, Buttercup, fine art, flowers, photoaday, Photography, quote, Sunshine

I am going to take a break from posting this weekend to spend some quality time with my family outside away from technology for all of us. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and see you again on Monday.

Image

Wherever you go…….

21 Thursday May 2015

Tags

art, fruit, photoaday, Photography, quote, wildlife

Posted by Karen | Filed under Just because....

≈ 5 Comments

After the rain

19 Tuesday May 2015

Posted by Karen in 30DaysWild, Just because....

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

art, fine art, photoaday, Photography

Jewelled dandelion

Sometimes all it takes is a couple of minutes in the garden after the rain to find a little beauty and recharge the batteries.

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About Me

I am just an amateur photography enthusiast who enjoys experimenting with different genres in my quest to find my style. This blog is all about me sharing my photos and my love of photography.
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All photos are by me unless otherwise stated. Copyright © 2005-2015 by Karen Anderson. All rights reserved. No use of any photographs permitted in any form without the express, written consent of the copyright holder. Please DO NOT use my photographs for any purpose, or on any website, except via Wordpress's "Repost" feature, which means please do not download or screen grab images as in doing so you are stealing the image and infringing my copyright. Thank you.
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