Wednesday 23 November 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 19th November

Saturday 19th was the date chosen for November's photo an hour challenge. Here in Somerset, it was the last of the large carnivals for this year, taking place at Glastonbury. The carnival club I'm a member of were doing a walking entry this year, using costumes and a theme from a previous year, back when we did Alice in Wonderland in 2018. So my day was spent having a hearty breakfast, a bit of a rest and then getting ready to take part in the procession!



Here's what the day looked like...





12 lovely others joined in:

Sarah joined in on Instagram
Jennifer joined in on Instagram
Kezzie joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram
Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram
Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 


December's photo an hour date is Saturday 17th December - see you there!


Tuesday 25 October 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 22nd October 2022

Saturday 22nd was the date chosen for October's photo an hour. We spent the first half of it at home, doing some bits of housework and a bit of sewing. The second half was spent heading to my Mum's house, visiting the local recycling centre, taking her to see my Dad at his nursing home and in the evening, watching a local carnival (partly in the rain!). 


Here's what the day looked like...



15 lovely others joined in:

Sarah joined in on Instagram
Josie joined in on Instagram
Rebecca joined in on Instagram
Emma joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories
Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories
Alex joined in on Instagram Stories
Emma joined in on Instagram Stories
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Hazel from World of Joy joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram
Sharon from Sunshine and Celandines joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 


November's photo an hour date is Saturday 19th - see you there!

 
 

Wednesday 19 October 2022

Summer at the Duckpond

So, how is it October already!? Where has this year gone? 

We had quite a nice summer, pretty good weather and we managed to get out and about a fair few times plus do our annual road trip to Scotland and back. 

Here's a selection of what's been happening over the last three months:


  • We spent lots of time at one of our local outdoor swimming pools, Greenbank Pool in Street. We cancelled the Small Person's swimming lessons (doing them indoors was too high risk) so instead I attempted to teach her myself. Each time we went to the pool, we were able to spend several hours there, mixing swimming and playing in the kids pool with some snacks and a cuppa for me at the poolside. I wouldn't say she was able to swim perfectly but by the end of the summer, she could do breast stroke under the water, glide and do doggy paddle (and a bit of breast stroke) on top of the water so I reckon that's a win. We'll pick it up again next year when the pool opens for the season in May. 



  • We had a great road trip to Scotland, visiting the Helensburgh area in the first week and staying in Cramond, Edinburgh in the second week. We took my Mum and brother with us this year and hired a van so we could all fit in. We didn't see any shows at the Fringe (again, we didn't want to take the risk) but we did visit Edinburgh city centre to experience the atmosphere and watch some of the street performers. 





  • We went to visit Carters Steam Fair on their Farewell Tour a few times in Bath and also once in Basingstoke. It's sad they're no longer going to tour but also completely understandable as to why they've made that decision. We had great fun working for them and visiting them on lots of occassions so we'll keep lots of happy memories. 



  • Andrew took his 1952 Scammell lorry to the Great Dorset Steam Fair (for the first time since 2019). We camped in our usual place (behind the Freak Show) and when everyone had left at the end of the fair, Lily was able to go onto the stage and pretend to put on a performance. 



  • We went up to the north of Scotland at the beginning of September, staying near Lossiemouth. It was a holiday originally booked by my Dad for 2021 but I had to postpone it when he had his stroke. We were finally able to go this year and spent lots of time on the beach when we had sunny weather!




  • Carnivals are back this year, after being cancelled in 2020 and 2021. Lots of carnival clubs are smaller; it's been a hard few years for obvious reasons but people still seem to be enjoying it and it's fun to be back. The carnival club I'm in are taking part as a walking group, re-doing our Alice in Wonderland theme from a few years ago. My costume is the White Queen and Lily is able to take part with us on some of the nights, wearing an Alice costume. The big carnivals start on 5th November at Bridgwater and run through to 19th November finishing at Glastonbury (which is also a 'photo an hour' day!). I'm going to try and post on Instagram Stories over the season. 



  • Photo an Hour over the summer took place on 23rd July (round-up here), 20th August (round-up here) and 17th September (round-up here). October's photo an hour is this Saturday, the 22nd!

  • We've all had our jabs for the winter - COVID boosters and flu jabs (being eligible as 'carers' and 'household contact of immunosuppressed'). We also made the decision to get Lily her chicken pox vaccine - she still hadn't had chicken pox yet and we just thought what's the point?, the older she gets, the more horrible it'll be. And she wanted it as well so we got her booked in. 

  • We watched 'The Sparks Brothers' on Netflix which was utterly wonderful. I tweeted about it the next day and had a like and retweet from its director, Edgar Wright! It's been taken off Netflix now unfortunately but I think you can still find it on other platforms. 


What have you been up to?


 

Wednesday 21 September 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th September 2022

Saturday 17th was September's photo an hour day - a day of mostly tidying and housework here at the duckpond! 


Here's what the day looked like...


13 lovely others joined in: 

Sarah joined in on Instagram
Valerie joined in on Instagram
Josie joined in on Instagram
Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories
Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Sharon from Sunshine and Celandines joined in on Instagram
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 


October's photo an hour day is Saturday 22nd - see you there!
 
 

Tuesday 23 August 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 20th August 2022

August's photo an hour day fell on Saturday 20th. The morning was spent doing odd jobs around the house but for the afternoon, we went out to Carters Steam Fair in Bath! 


Here's what the day looked like...





15 lovely others joined in:

Valerie joined in on Instagram
Naomi joined in on Instagram
Sarah joined in on Instagram
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Jennifer joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Alex joined in on Instagram Stories
Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories
Amy joined in on Instagram Stories
Emma joined in on Instagram Stories
Sarah joined in on Instagram Stories
Hazel from World of Joy joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 



September's photo an hour date is Saturday 17th - see you there!
 
 

Wednesday 27 July 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 23rd July 2022

July's photo an hour date fell on Saturday 23rd. We didn't do too much - some jobs around the house, a bit of cooking, some sewing and in the evening we went out for a drive to find some geocaches and have a look round a local church. 


Here's what the day looked like...





10 lovely others joined in:

Valerie joined in on Instagram
Sarah joined in on Instagram
Naomi joined in on Instagram
Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Hazel from World of Joy joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 



August's photo an hour date is Saturday 20th - see you there!
 
 

Monday 11 July 2022

May and June at the Duckpond

A two month round-up this time, as I didn't get round to actually writing a post at the end of May!


  • We went on holiday to Butlins in Bognor Regis; on a break which was booked back in 2019 and had been postponed twice. It wasn't quite the break we envisaged when we booked it as we steered clear of all the indoor activities (not wanting to risk catching Covid) but we certainly made the most of the outdoor fairground and childrens activities. 



  • Whilst we were in Bognor Regis we also explored the south coast area, doing an afternoon drive to Brighton on one day and a drive to Portsmouth and Southsea on another. And we also surprised Lily with a mystery tour to Paultons Park - which she loved!



  • TV - obviously we're 10 years behind everyone here but wow, 'Line of Duty' is rather good isn't it! We binge-watched it over about 2-3 weeks and probably ended up with far too many late nights as we wanted to keep watching the next episode. We watched 'Vigil' as well, which was also excellent - although watching it immediately after 'Line of Duty' meant than we suspected everyone in the show :-D


  • Music - I've been listening to Arcade Fire's new album, 'WE' which is brilliant. I've only seen them live once (Glastonbury 2014), I'd love to see them on their tour later in the year but it's not worth the Covid-risk. I'll stick to listening to the tunes on repeat!


  • After we'd finished in Bognor Regis we headed down to Cornwall for the weekend to see another show at the Minack Theatre, 'Calvino Nights' - which was fabulous. Lily asked to go to that theatre again so we've booked one of their October shows, 'Horrible Histories - Terrible Tudors'. 



  • We've been visiting one of our local outdoor swimming pools a lot recently so that Lily can practise her swimming. We decided to cancel her indoor swimming lessons; she hadn't been since last September (when the Covid rates started rising) and she didn't want to risk it herself. So we've been doing lots of afternoons out in the sunshine, taking a picnic and enjoying the water. 



  • I did my usual shifts at Glastonbury festival. helping to look after a farm and a lane in Pilton village. I took Lily into the festival on Thursday when the Kidzfield opened and she had a fantastic time, I think her highlight was playing on the adventure castle and watching 'Andy and the Odd Socks' from CBBC. We didn't go on site the rest of the weekend though, there was just too many people and it wasn't worth the risk. 



  • The other half turned 44; we had an outdoor fish & chip supper at a local farm shop which was tasty. Not sure he's looking forward to next year though, being halfway through his forties!


  • The other half picked a birthday day trip out to the West Somerset Railway to see the steam trains and eat chips by the seaside. 



  • May's photo an hour was Saturday 21st (the day of our visit to the railway) and June's date was Saturday 18th. The next date is Saturday 23rd July. 


  • Andrew took his vintage lorry out to its first show since August 2019 - the Bath and West show. It rained quite a bit but he still enjoyed it. 


  • We watched some of the Jubilee celebrations on the television. It was brilliant to see the carnival cart from Bridgwater take part in the pageant parade (anyone involved in carnival has been following its build progress over the last year on social media!). If you want to see it all lit up, come and see it (and lots of others) during the Somerset carnival season in November. 


  • I've been eagerly making my spreadsheet of all the wonderful shows on at this year's Edinburgh Fringe. There seems to be lots worth seeing although I haven't actually booked anything yet - not sure if any of them are worth the risk. We'd be wearing our FFP3 masks anyway but still, I haven't decided yet what to do. 



What have you all been up to? 


 

Tuesday 21 June 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 18th June 2022

Saturday 18th was the date chosen for June's photo an hour. It was a day of sunshine and showers which meant I was dodging the rain trying to stick some plants in the garden! The rest of the day was taken up with fairly mundane jobs such as putting the laundry away and tidying. 



Here's what the day looked like...



10 lovely others joined in:

Jennifer joined in on Instagram
Andrea joined in on Instagram 
Josie joined in on Instagram
Sarah joined in on Instagram
Naomi joined in on Instagram
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Alex joined in on Instagram Stories
Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 



July's photo an hour date is Satuday 23rd  - see you there!
 
 

Thursday 26 May 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 21st May 2022

May's photo an hour date was Saturday 21st. It was the other half's birthday a few days previously so we went out for a birthday day trip with his choice of destination being the steam trains at West Somerset Railway!


Here's what the day looked like...



9 lovely others joined in:

Andrea joined in on Instagram 
Jennifer joined in on Instagram
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Sarah from Sarah Rooftops joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram
Jane from Is That You Darling joined in on Instagram Stories
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 



June's photo an hour date is Saturday 18th - see you there! 
 
 

Sunday 1 May 2022

March and April at the Duckpond

A two month round up this time, mainly because a proportion of 'March and April' were actually spent *not* at the duckpond. 




  • At the beginning of April we had a mini weekend break to Cornwall, staying with my sister in law who lives down there. We had great weather and even though it was the first weekend of the school holidays, it wasn't too busy! And the reason we were in Cornwall was to see...



  • Hetty Feather at the Minack Theatre - which was a fabulous show with great acting from the whole cast. It was a nice evening, not too cold and we took along blankets anyway. Lily loved the outdoor setting of the theatre I think! 



  • We managed to get both my Mum and Lily up to date with their COVID vaccinations. My Mum was due her 5th one (due to being immunosuppressed) and Lily was due her 2nd. We found a walk in clinic open to children whilst on holiday over Easter and they were more than happy to see us. 


  • Easter was spent in Anglesey in North Wales, at the same holiday park we've been to every year since 1987 (minus 2020 and 2021 of course). It was a bit different this year with my Dad not being able to come but we still had fun. Lots of ice creams were eaten, beaches were played on and geocaches were found. We did a mini Easter egg hunt in our chalet for Lily too and amazingly, she still has chocolate eggs left even now! 



  • Whilst on holiday too, me and Andrew had our 15th wedding anniversary. Not quite sure how it's been so many years; I remember making a card and present for my parent's 15th wedding anniversary back in 1991 so that's a bit surreal. 


  • My Dad's finally out of hospital and has been moved to his new home, a nursing home close to where he used to live. Luckily it's not too far for me and my Mum to visit either. 



  • TV and film - we haven't managed to watch much TV recently although I did see that Edgar Wright's 'The Sparks Brothers' film is now on Netflix so we're looking forward to seeing that at some point. I did watch a great talk from last year on YouTube by Bellingcat founder, Eliot Higgins all about how they tracked down the Skripal's poisioners. Open source investigation is something that interests me so I found it fascinating. I'm pleased that the Great British Sewing Bee is back on again too!


  • Music - I'm looking forward to Arcade Fire's new album, out on May 6th (I've had 'The Lightning' on repeat since it was released) and I spotted Muse also have a new album out later in the year too. 


  • Our Geocaching Instagram account seems to be going quite well, lots of people seem to like our photos and I think it encourages us to get out more. Or perhaps it's just because we tend to do more caching whilst on holiday. 



  • We had an excellent day trip to Lyme Regis back in March, somewhere Lily's wanted to visit for ages as she loves dinaosaurs and knows all about Mary Anning. We did a bit of fossil hunting but didn't find anything too interesting. We will have to return and have another search sometime!



  • April's Photo an Hour took place on Saturday 23rd - we were driving back from Anglesey that day so a few hours of pictures were missed. Just after Easter, I also did a round up of all the lovely people who've taken part in photo an hour over the last year. May's photo an hour date is Saturday 21st - feel free to join in if you want. 


Tuesday 26 April 2022

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 23rd April 2022

April's photo an hour date was last Saturday, the 23rd. We'd been on holiday for the previous 10 days, up in Anglesey in North Wales and most of the day was spent driving back down to the south west with a few planned pit stops along the way. 


Here's what the day looked like...




11 lovely others joined in:

Josie joined in on Instagram
Jennifer joined in on Instagram
Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Naomi from What Naomi Did Next joined in on Instagram
Sarah from Sarah Rooftops joined in on Instagram
Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram
Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram
Hazel from World of Joy joined in on Instagram
Catherine joined in on Instagram
Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Jane from Is That You Darling joined in on Instagram Stories
And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 



May's photo an hour date is Saturday 21st - see you there!
 
 

Monday 18 April 2022

Meet the Photo an Hour-ers

So I've been taking part in 'Photo an Hour' for about 8 and a half years; the first one I ever did was back in September 2013. It was originally set up by Jane from Is That You Darling and she picked the dates but for the last 5 years or so, we've been sharing the job of choosing which dates and I've made a handy pic each January to remind everyone. 

Over the years there's been lots of different people who've joined in, some just for a few months, some who dip in now and again and some who take part almost every time. I thought it would be nice to share all the lovely people who've taken part over the last year - click on the pictures and check them out :-) 


Josie - thefinchsbeak



Jennifer - crochet.potato



Catherine - peasinourthyme











Susie - secondhandsusie (blog link is Second Hand Susie)



Naomi - whatnaomididnext (blog link is What Naomi Did Next)




Sarah - sarahrooftops (blog link is Sarah Rooftops)




Jennifer - pastryandpurls (blog link is Pastry and Purls)




Bev - confuzzledom (blog link is Confuzzledom)




Hazel - hazelxjoy (blog link is World of Joy)




Christine - christine_lucas_2017 (blog link is Christine Lucas)




Jane - itydarling (blog link is Is That You Darling)










If you've never taken part before, it's fairly simple - just post a photo every hour on the chosen date. I'd say nowdays most of us post on Instagram or Instagram Stories but you could post on Twitter or just do a summary on a blog afterwards if you like. And the beauty of the photo an hour challenge is often its mundaneness, everyone posting a cuppa at a similar time for example. Jane wrote this blog post all about it a few years ago, the dates are old but the information and instructions are the same. 

April's photo an hour date is this Saturday, the 23rd - see you there!

 







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