The Week That Had Snow When It Wasn't Wanted and Which Had Disappeared When It Was Required ...

Hello there! Many thanks for all your kind comments on my last post. Charlie has been back to the vets for his blood test results which thankfully have confirmed that he hasn't got an underactive thyroid. The blue bandage which had protected his paw after his operation has been removed but the collar of shame has to remain in place for another week to stop him licking.

The snow that had fallen a week ago had remained thick on the ground until Saturday morning when we awoke to once again see that we had a lawn and not a thick shag pile carpet made of snow!

I wish now that I had appreciated it more whilst it still was here.

The daffs that were purchased a week ago by the OH are still going strong - two bunches filling three vases!

On Friday I attended an Improvers Photography Course at Guildford. Having met a fellow enthusiast when on my previous course we both signed up to go on the Improvers. She is a far better photographer than I am but I suppose I'll learn something new at every lesson that I attend.  The other people on this new course had been on a Beginners Course together and we felt a bit like spare parts as clear friendships had been formed amongst the rest. We were taken to the Castle grounds. The photo above and below were taken during the lesson.

Having worked in Guildford for years I couldn't believe that I hadn't been here before. Anyhow, we were set some homework which was to take a photo of a snowball being hit by a bat. I thought that I wouldn't bother when KP came home from school on Friday and that I would do it on the Saturday - after all there was no chance of the snow disappearing overnight, right? Wrong! Following heavy rain I awoke on Saturday to find that virtually all the snow had disappeared. I was kicking myself for having not put my arse in gear on Friday.

On the way home on Friday I had deviated to some side roads to see the snow and, the landscape had looked spectacular - surreal, like Narnia.  I had been too afraid to park the car on the verge to take a photo in case I got stuck and so, hadn't stopped just driven slowly admiring  the scenery.

On Saturday morning I asked the OH and KP whether they would mind if we drove out to the country lanes as there was more likely to be snow there so that I could take the snowball photos. They kindly agreed. The snow was disappearing here too.

But at least there was more here than there had been  in the back garden where we didn't even have enough to make one snowball!

Some of the fields had more covering than others.

I liked the lone tree silhouetted against the grey sky.

Almost like a black and white photo.

On Friday afternoon this road had been very treacherous - hard to believe that the snow that had laid for 10 days had just gone so quickly.

We eventually found a place where we could stop where the snow was still fairly deep. KP gets ready to take aim!

I'm not overly impressed with my results but I will take them along to the Course next week. I'm sure that the others will have better photos than me.

It was really difficult to try and capture an image without the snow blocking KP's face or taking it too late after the snowball had been hit.

I think that the background is also competing too much with what is going on.

But we did have fun - KP liked whacking the snowballs, the OH liked throwing the balls at KP but after a while complained that his hands were too cold. I took that as the hint it was intended and we agreed that the best thing to do was to find a nice pub for some lunch.

Whilst showing you some of the doggy related things from around our home on the previous post I thought that I would share some more with you! Don't look too closely at the sofa - the cats over the years have used it as their scratch post!

A pull along cocker spaniel.

And an old fox terrier from the 1960's. I learnt to walk with one identical to this.

Hope that you have all had a good week.

Until next time,

June.