A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 21st March 2026

Saturday 21st was the date chosen for March's photo an hour challenge. It was a beautiful sunny day so after doing some spring cleaning at home, we decided to head out to the coast to finish the day with chips at the seaside. 

Here's what the day looked like...

12 lovely others joined in:

Josie joined in on Instagram Stories

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Jane joined in on Instagram Stories

Jennifer joined in on Instagram Stories

Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Naomi joined in on Instagram Stories

Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories

Ruth joined in on Instagram Stories

Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram Stories

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 :-) 

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

 

 

  

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 20th June 2025

Saturday 20th was June's photo an hour date - a hot day of sewing and swimming!

Here's what the day looked like...

11 lovely others joined in:

Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram

Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Jane joined in on Instagram Stories

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Alex joined in on Instagram Stories

Janet joined in on Instagram Stories

Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories

Sarah joined in on Instagram Stories

Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories

Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 

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

 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th May 2025

May's photo an hour date was Saturday 17th. I had a day of peace and quiet (spring cleaning!) as Andrew and Lily headed out to Castle Combe Steam Rally, coming back home in the evening to watch the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Here's what the day looked like...

10 lovely others joined in:

Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram

Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Janet joined in on Instagram Stories

Jane joined in on Instagram Stories

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Amy joined in on Instagram Stories

Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories

Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories

Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 

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

 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 19th October 2024

October's photo an hour day was Saturday 19th - another carnival day down here in Somerset! This time it was Trowbridge Carnival (just over the border into Wiltshire) and Lily was taking part in their evening procession. 

Here's what the day looked like...

11 lovely others joined in:

Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram

Christine from Christine Lucas joined in on Instagram

Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram
Jane joined in on Instagram Stories
Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories
Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories
Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories
Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories

Alex joined in on Instagram Stories

Lisa-Marie joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 

November's photo an hour date is Saturday 16th - see you there!

 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th August 2024

August's photo an hour day took place on Saturday 17th. We did some jobs at home, visited my Dad in his nursing home and then took a drive to deliver last year's carnival trophies back to their hometowns. 

Here's what the day looked like...

10 lovely others joined in:

Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram

Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Amy joined in on Instagram Stories

Jennifer joined in on Instagram Stories

Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Jane joined in on Instagram Stories

Jennifer from Pastry and Purls joined in on Instagram

Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 

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

 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 22nd June 2024

June's photo an hour date fell on Saturday 22nd - and it was a lovely sunny day! One of our local recycling centres recently opened a reuse shop and we had a shopping list of a comfy chair for Lily's bedroom and a bigger scooter for her so we explored there in the morning. We managed to find both items at a relatively good price! £15 for the chair and £3 for the scooter so that wasn't bad at all. In the afternoon we headed over to (what was) my Mum's house to do some sorting, clearing and tidying. And in the evening we visited my Dad in his nursing home and then headed home via some local share & reuse boxes. 

Here's what the day looked like...

10 lovely others joined in:

Valerie joined in on Instagram

Jennifer joined in on Instagram

Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram

Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram

Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Jane joined in on Instagram Stories

Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 

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

 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th February 2024

Saturday 17th was the date chosen for February's photo an hour. We had a day of spring cleaning and tidying with a morning trip to the library and an unexpected afternoon visit from the local ice cream van!

Here's what the day looked like...

12 lovely others joined in:

Naomi joined in on Instagram

Sarah joined in on Instagram

Josie joined in on Instagram

Jennifer joined in on Instagram Stories

Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram

Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Jane joined in on Instagram Stories

Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories

Hannah joined in on Instagram Stories

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Danielle from Underland to Wonderland joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 

March's photo an hour date is Saturday 23rd - see you there!

 

 

  

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 20th May 2023

Saturday 20th May was the date chosen for May's photo an hour. We did a bit of tidying, a bit of making, a bit of playing, collected some shopping and visited family members in two care homes. 

Here's what the day looked like...

8 lovely others joined in:

Josie joined in on Instagram

Jane joined in on Instagram

Hazel from World of Joy joined in on Instagram

Sharon from Sunshine and Celandines joined in on Instagram

Susie from Second Hand Susie joined in on Instagram

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Alex joined in on Instagram Stories

Nicky joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-)

June's photo an hour date is Saturday 24th June - see you there!

  

 

10 Years of This Space

10 years ago, eh? Back in the era when blogging was "a big thing". The very first post on this space was published on 24th March 2013. 

It kinda feels like the blogging world has moved onto Instagram and that's okay. It has its faults (chronological order, anyone?) but overall, I think Instagram's alright. I've been saying for ages though I'd like to learn more about how to use Stories and how to use Reels. Even if I never actually use them, I like learning new stuff. Need to make a mental note to have a Google and find out how to use them properly (maybe at some point before an '11 years' post?). Anyway, I suppose I should also "drop" my Instagram links while we're on the subject. 

You can find me and my life over at duckinadress

You can find our geocaching adventures over at familyduckadventures

And you can find stuff that I find interesting (mainly history things) over at archiveofinterestingthings

I'm still here on this 'ere blogging space too, albeit posting very very occasionally (and even then, it's mostly photo an hour round-ups).

But what's changed in 10 years though?

• New decade started - 40's rather than 30's now

• Plus 1 child (with an eventful IVF journey along the way)

• Same other half

• Same house and town

• Same job (with a 1 year secondment as a postgrad careers advisor)

• Still doing photo an hour each month

• Still taking part in carnivals each year

• Plus 3 screws and a titanium plate holding my right ankle together

• Plus 1 cancer diagnosis

• Minus 1 kidney, 1 adrenal gland and 1 tumour

I would hope the next decade would be less eventful but you know, famous last words and all that. 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 17th December 2022

The last photo an hour of 2022 (where did that year go!?) took place on Saturday 17th December. It was a rather chilly day with a mystery Christmas trip to see Father Christmas...

Here's what the day looked like...

11 lovely others joined in:

Jennifer joined in on Instagram

Naomi joined in on Instagram

Josie joined in on Instagram

Kezzie joined in on Instagram

Janet joined in on Instagram Stories

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Rebecca joined in on Instagram Stories

Alex joined in on Instagram Stories

Bev from Confuzzledom joined in on Instagram

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 :-) 

Jane and myself have picked the dates for 2023, feel free to steal the below image to keep track of everything :-) 

The first photo an hour date for 2023 is Saturday 21st January - see you there!

 

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!

 

 

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. 

• Good books I've read over the last few months - 'Nothing But The Truth: A Memoir' by The Secret Barrister; 'Never Greener' by Ruth Jones; '21 Miles: Swimming in Search of the Meaning of Motherhood' by Jessica Hepburn; 'We Shall Remember' by Emma Fraser; and 'Where Are The Women? A Guide to an Imagined Scotland' by Sara Sheridan. 

What have you been up to?

 

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? 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 19th March 2022

Saturday 19th was March's photo an hour date. It was a sunny day and was mainly spent doing jobs around the house and garden. 

Here's what the day looked like...

14 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 Stories

Lucy joined in on Instagram Stories

Denise joined in on Instagram Stories

Emma joined in on Instagram Stories

Jane from Is That You Darling joined in on Instagram Stories

Alex from Odd Socks and Pretty Frocks joined in on Instagram Stories

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-) 

An apology is needed as well - I don't always watch Instagram Stories and hadn't put 2 and 2 together to realise that searching #photoanhour to find out who took part wasn't going to show people who only took part on Stories! So apologies if I've missed you off the list of participants in previous months. I definitely need to learn how and when to use Stories a bit better.

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

 

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 19th February 2022

February's photo an hour day fell on Saturday 19th, the day after Storm Eunice. It was mostly a day of doing jobs at home with one outing to the local hospital to visit my Dad. 

Here's what the day looked like...

7 lovely others joined in:

Jennifer joined in on Instagram

Josie joined in on Instagram

Catherine joined in on Instagram

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

Naomi from What Naomi Did Next joined in on Instagram

And myself on Instagram and on this blog post :-)

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

 

 

New Year at the Duckpond

So here we are, in 2022 no less. Not quite sure how we're almost a quarter of the way through the 21st century and equally, not quite sure how it's February already. 

• My Dad's still recovering from his stroke. He spent a few months in a brain injury rehab unit (with occasional trips to hospital for infections) and is now waiting for a space at a nursing home. We haven't been able to visit that often (as the rehab unit closed to visitors whenever there was a COVID outbreak) but the staff at the unit were able to help him do video calls. 

• Christmas came and went. We took Lily to a couple of outdoor events with Santa - one festive-themed session of her usual sports class and one trip on an outdoor miniature railway. Both events were much safer than being indoors and she loved them anyway regardless of having to wear hats, gloves and scarves. 

• All of us adults have had our COVID booster and we took my Mum for her 4th vaccine back in January (she was eligible for a 3rd primary dose then her 4th one was her booster). Lily is eligible now as well (due to living in the same household as someone immunosuppressed), we're just waiting to see when we can actually take her to have it done. 

• I managed to overachive on my GoodReads Reading Challenge last year. I set a target of 39 books and managed to read 70 so that was good. This year though, I'm behind! 

• Good TV and film we've watched - obviously 'Don't Look Up' on Netflix :-) Such a good movie, very well put together and definitely worth watching if you've haven't already. 'Call the Midwife' which we watch every year is just as good as ever. We're also very much looking forward to 'This Is Going to Hurt' on BBC which starts this week. I've read Adam Kay's books and we've also seen him perform live twice so fingers crossed, the series should be equally good. 'Back to the Outback' on Netflix is also brilliant. It's a children's film but is still very funny. 

• Lily turned 6 - which is both great and horrifying (where did those years go!?). She asked for a birthday day trip (which ended up being 2 birthday day trips due to a last minute hospital appointment) and we had a lovely afternoon in the winter sun in Barry Island followed a week later by a car picnic in the New Forest with the ponies. 

• We went to a theatre show - Dr Semmelweis at the Bristol Old Vic - which was a magnificant performance by all the cast and such a interesting story. It was a show I booked back in January 2020 pre-COVID and after being postponed several times, it finally had its performances from January this year. We were in two minds whether to go but a) I'd been looking forward to this one for 2 years (it stars Sir Mark Rylance!) and b) the theatre was still requiring people to wear masks and they also had details of their ventilation system on their website. We donned our FFP3 masks for the entire time and they must've worked because we came through it COVID-free. 

• I've still been doing the photo an hour challenge every month over on Instagram but not actually getting round to writing them up on here. February's photo an hour date is Saturday 19th - feel free to join in if you want to!