Hobbies and Crafts

Morning all.

Jude, I think Auntie Goosie is an escapee from someone's garden flock. She's a white one that looks like she is one of the domesticated varieties. Also when we first saw her she was very definitely already adult.

Still need to upload photos - it's a bit more of a procedure with new camera, but I found out on the first few how to manipulate the pics so I can eventually send you an edited form of the best parts of the shot - still learning on that score.

I got an Olympus SP-800UZ with 30x zoom. Even so yesterday's treat of spotting green woodie at the bottom of the garden means he will need more blowing up (not explosively you understand!).

Good news about Madoc. We will be walking our prospective new dog this pm. I walked him on my own on Wednesday - he's a lovely lad and we hope to adopt him Wednesday, but we haven't had a home visit yet.

Ann - I've never tried a tripod. Never considered myself such a serious photographer to warrant the extra expense. But I hadn't heard of a monopod. Can you get short/small ones that could stand on a window ledge? And are they expensive? I suppose I should look on Amazon or something to find out.

Morning all
Magpies have just been in the garden, hadn't seen them for a while.
It is still the sunflower seeds that need refilling most.
Damp and miserable here this morning in Berkshire. Hope to fit in a walk this morning while hubby is at work. But only a mile or so.

Linda :o) XxX

It seems to me that many of the birds seem to have sunflower seeds as their favourite, especially if you give sunflower hearts. I think they have a lot of energy in them and obviously the hearts make it even more easy to access. We fill those the most too. We started giving sunflower hearts this autumn and with the speed they go we've decided that when the weather gets easier we'll go back to whole sunflower seeds which are cheaper and save buying the more expensive hearts for tough weather. Also I will grow some sunflowers again to produce some of my own seeds for them (and the squigs).

Just a quickie....New photo on Blog..Jeans stray cat Sweetie:o)

nite nite

jude

Hello DizzieLizzie:o)
Can't sleep, excited at seeing grandson tomorrow:o))
How did your doggie walk go, hope you soon get the home visit booked and good luck:o) How exciting:o) What breed is he/she?

That camera looks good, just been looking on amazon, mine is sort of held together with sellotape, bought it from lidl's about 3 yrs ago....it needs replacing now!
The Goose...bless him/her, she/he knows where he/she is better off...lol

jude

Hi Jude
Dog walk went fine, but still no home visit booked so I don't reckon we'll be able to bring him home tomorrow after the behaviourist appointment after all. Shame. We have reminded them that we haven't had a visit yet and they are confused because the lady the have that does it is usually pretty quick. They mostly work as volunteers so maybe she has a family issue going on - they said she normally says when she is unavailable. He's a black and white Border Collie and seems very sweet natured. He's obviously had some training and quickly knows if he does what he's asked he'll get a little treat. Have to watch that don't want him getting fat because of it. He could do sit and stay, and he could do down but he wouldn't stay down. I took him for a walk on my own Friday so I know he is not too strong or wayward for me to handle on my own (since it's me who'll be with him most of the time. He was fine with OH too when we went together on Sunday. Shame, he must havejust been lost by someone, but he obviously hasn't been mistreated as there didn't seem to be any handling difficulties at all. The people who took him to the centre said he travelled well too. Some of the other dogs there were obviously very suspicious of maybe men or women or people generally according to their past experience, poor things. I wonder how often we'll see our deer visitors in future once he arrives, and the ducks and swans? Sorry, waffling on in my excitement.

Gradually getting used to the camera. I got it for the more powerful zoom and chose it because it's not so different to my previous digital camera. It's not too big either so it will be able to come on certain days out with us though for quick shots we'll probably still just keep the old camera in my handbag. The new one won't fit in there, but it's not so big to take up too much space in a daybag, or carry with us on certain walks. Not one of the really serious (I think they're called) SLRs. Don't know what that stands for, but there you go. It has a lot more functions than I'll ever use, but I'm having a go at some of them bit by bit. Some I'll remembersome, and some I'll need reminding of. Others I may just forget entirely.

Have a great day with your grandson.

Hi Everyone
Lizzie SLR is Single Lens Reflex. Non the wiser me neither !!!!!!

Just had the camera out as the parakeets decided to stop and feed today.
One did at least and when another joined it was quickly given the heave ho.
The one that stopped stayed for a long time and was so delicate compared with the jackdaws in its feeding habits.

I have got a photo but it's not a close up as we didn't have the correct lens.
I changed the lens and all the birds flew away.

There were two magpies "kissing each other" but by the time I had changed the lens they too had gone. Another couple of magpies are building their nest and have made quite a substantial one so far.
Hope you all have a good day
Take care
Von

Lizzie.I had a dog from a Sanctuary .He was a Collie x.I took photos of my garden to show it was all fenced in .They let me take him home as I would have a home visit soon.I didn't get a visit for over 2 years!!!!!!!!!!.By that time poor Dodger was beginning to loose the use of his back legs.Two ladies just turned up to do the visit.They said he needed to loose a bit of weight !!and that would help his legs.I have to say I was bl**dy cross.It turned out he had collapsed vertabrae (sp) and they had compressed the nerves going to his legs.(nothing to do with weight).He had a major op on his back and then a further one which sadly had no effect.We had him for 4 wonderful years.
I hope you get your dog as I know he will be loved and in the lap of luxury with you.

Yes Jane I was wondering whether to take a few photos along with me. Whispers - when we've turned up at the desk and asked about him the last couple of times they've said "You've had your home visit haven't you?) -I have half a mind to say yes. They are very good in lots of ways, but I suppose there's only so far you can go when there are only a few employees and a huge number of volunteers (some of them thinking they own the place - I encountered one of those last week! Then I met the manager - a different kettle of fish entirely). Bound to be some crossed wires somewhere.

Just so you know, we were good people when we went to the rescue centre today and told them we still hadn't had our home visit. They were most apologetic and are trying to chase it up quickly so that we can get him home asap. We met the behaviourist today after walking him again, and he is keen for us to bring him home quickly too, as although he's fine when we walk him, he does get stressed after a while in the kennels. At least we'll have begun to build up a relationship before we bring him home.

Just looked at your camera on line. It looks good. I see it has a stabilizer but I would still thing you need some support for the longest zoom shots. I assume it has a screw mount underneath for tripod mounting? Yes you can get small tripods that you can stand on walls etc. The other way to do it is by bracing yourself against a wall.

SLR cameras are the larger cameras either film or digital. Often you can have interchangeable lenses of varying lengths and they usually have a viewfinder not a screen to take photos with, unlike most compacts which the Olympus 800 is that have just an LCD screen. Has yours got a viewfinder dizzie I forgot to look.

I have just ordered an inbetween camera, a hybrid, bigger than a compact but more like an SLR but smaller than a regular SLR. I do have two compacts and an SLR already, I am just greedy and love cameras Lol!!!!

My camera has a screen Ann. Its only since digital photography that I've really bothered much with photos except for particular occasions I'd want a pictorial memory of. In addition to having difficulty with camera shake I've never been very good at composition so having a screen view of what's going to come out the other end really helps. Also before digital so many of the really decent cameras could be quite bulky with their interchangeable lenses etc. It's not been something I've had the enthusiasm to learn. Even now when we go walking I tend to forget to put the camera in because I've never been used to having it on my mental list. Occasionally on a particularly special planned hike I revert to a written list and then it might go in. I have the advantage of a brother and cousin who both love photography (trouble is my bro also loves trains, buses and planes so the subjects can be a bit uninspiring for the masses, lol) and can be guaranteed to take a good selection at family dos. They each have their own dark room too so they are usually kind enough to pass on copies to relevant recipients. Other than them I come from a long line of head chopper-offers. You should see our collection of the decapitated! I've managed to learn not to do that, and bro and cousin obviously decided they were going to take the skill a lot further.

I might look into a small tripod to put on the window ledge in my bedroom from where I take a number of my photos of birds. It's the best place not to disturb them while I faff about. Bracing against a wall there seems fairly often to move me to a position where I can't adequately get what I want in the frame.

Never too late to learn Dizzie. I have had a camera since I was eleven years old and before that used my Dads. When we lived in Bedfordshire OH and I went to a 6 week basic photo course which was interesting, and also in that house we had a dark room, although only for black and white photos.

When composing the best thing to remember is the rule of thirds. Mentally divide the screen into six squares and place anything you want to be the main focal point on one of the places where the lines 'cross' (i.e. on the thirds.)

Anyway, just enjoy your camera, for me there is nothing like the feel of a new camera. Mine should arrive today sometime although we have to go out so will probably have to go to collect it from the R Mail centre later.

Enjoy your new camera Ann. I'm learning little bits at a time with mine and I daresay there are functions on it that I will never use. In fact I'm pretty certain I won't use the video function, but it is nice that these days there is the technology to help a klutz like me get reasonable results when I want them.

I'll enjoy it when I get it, at the moment it is still driving around in the post van I can't collect it from the depot until after 6 (and they shut at 7 so have a small 'window'.)

Collected it and finally got the battery charged and had a little 'familiarisation' play. But can't do a lot at night indoors. 24x zoom is impressive though as is the macro.

There is a MASSIVE nest in a tree a couple of gardens away.I am pretty sure it is a Magpies nest.I have just googled what a Magpies nest looks like and I think this is one.If the weather is clear with no fog tomorrow I will see if I can get a decent photo of it.

Afternoon Ladies
Well we've just had another lovely visit from the waxwings. There were about 35 of them. I hadn't realised they were so big. They are 7" long nearly as big as a starling. Their crest is noticeable even without binoculars once you know what to look for.

Linda :o) XxX

Past couple of days I've heard geese flying over somewhere nearby but not seen them. Thursday night/friday morning at about 2am when I couldn't sleep I heard them go over then! I've only heard them once a day. Previously when we've started hearing and seeing the geese they've tended to go in one direction at dawnish and the opposite direction at dusk.

Hi Ladies
The waxwing are around again today but I haven't seen as many. Had the collared dove down again too and magpies are sifting over the sunflower seed(hearts) that the finches and tits have dropped. A few blackbirds too and robins all singing their hearts out.
Maybe spring is on it's way.
Dizzie Lizzie I have been hearing the geese too.

Linda :o) XxX