How Tickled I Am

I am now back in Germany.

But on one of my recent trips back to the UK

my sister and I had a thought to enter some photos in the county show.

My sister visits the show every year,

and I used to visit it when I lived in Cumbria.

One year I even worked at the show in one of the catering tents serving at tables.

The sort of thing you do when you are young.

But never before have either of us entered any of the classes.

Many's the time when visiting agricultural shows

admiring the exhibits in the industrial tent,

I have thought that it would be nice to enter some of the classes.

So this year I did!

I had to rely on my sister to stage the exhibits for me as I would be back in Germany.

Yesterday morning she phoned me to let me know how we got on.

There are a number of classes we could have entered;

jars of jam, cakes, wine, floral art, knitting.

There are lots to choose from.

My niece entered 3 classes in the junior section, 12 - 16 years.

She is 12.

She got second prize for two of them!

Decorated exercise book cover

and a photograph.

She entered a photo of their cat,

who has featured on my blog before now.

I think she did excellently.

Especially considering it was her first time at entering,

and that she was working on her exhibits the night before the show!

My sister got second prize for one of her photos in which there were 25 entries.

Then she told me how I had done.

By now I had thought I hadn't done very well.

Most of the photos I entered were taken in the UK over recent months.

Some photos that I would have liked to have entered,

I could not locate anywhere!

I have a lovely one of my grandson when he was younger wearing sunglasses upside down.

I love it!

And wanted to enter it for the humorous class.

But I don't know where it is.

We have photos on 3 different computers.

So looking for a specific photo takes time,

and patience,

and I'm afraid I ran out of both looking for it.

Especially when it has been so hot.

Especially when I couldn't print from one of the computers,

which it's also impossible to copy onto disc from.

(I had to copy onto a camera card and put it onto another computer to print from).

So how did I do ?

I entered the photo below in the black and white class.

Yes, I know it's in colour,

but I printed it in black and white.

Out of 20,

I got second.

The next photo was entered in the class,

'a touch of blue'.

Out of 25 photos,

it got a first!

This next photo got a first

in the coloured photo of a bridge.

I struggled with choosing the next photo.

It was for the class,

'Cumbrian Event'.

It was fortunate

that a steam rally was taking place in Carlisle

on one of my visits to the UK.

So my sister and I went armed with our cameras.

Try as I might,

I didn't seem able to capture

a photo I was happy with.

I reviewed the photos several times

before entering the one below.

So I was pleased when I got second!

 

When it came to choosing a photo for

'In the garden',

I thought I might find a suitable one from photos I'd taken in Sweden.

I spent many an hour

wandering round our garden

at all times of the day,

with camera poised at the ready.

I remember

loosing track of time watching the butterflies

on the wild flowers.

So that is where I looked for a photo.

And I chose this one.

I like it because the wings are clearly visible,

the butterfly and the flower that it rests on are central,

(amazingly),

and the background is all hazy.

(I think there is a term for the hazy background.)

You get a better view if you double click on it.

Well I have to say,

I am VERY pleased with this one

as not only did it get a first,

it also got

most outstanding photograph

out of all the eleven classes in the photography section.

I never expected that!

So I am well chuffed you might say.

And,

when all the points in the photography section were totalled,

I won a prize for

'exhibitor gaining most points in the section'!

So what can I say?

Well,

a big thank you to my sister for staging the photos for me.

As I wouldn't have got anywhere without her.

And just that I was thrilled with the outcome.

Now,

where's my camera?

Farmlife and Bridges

HELLOooooooooo!

Long time no see.

Though some of you have been kindly stopping by to check up on me.

And I appreciate that, thank you.

It's difficult to get going once you have a break.

But I've had these photos ready for a few days now

just waiting for me to find some words to go with them.

So what have I been up to on my unplanned blog break?

Well I have been working with hexagons.

Elongated hexagons.

An idea I saw a couple of years ago in a magazine

but only now am I following it up,

 I was able to buy the necessary template on my last visit to the UK.

I have to work from a template to make my pieces accurate.

I'm afraid everytime I try to draw a shape accurately,

it's never good enough.

I find these quite time consuming and more fiddly than the regular hexagons.

But I love the effect,

when pieced together.

What else has been happening?

Well flowers in the gardens seem to be blooming generally.

The flowers pictured here are taken in my sister's garden.
And from a garden we visited last weekend.
Yes I am on another visit to the UK!

Unusually,

we have had some lovely weather in Cumbria

since I arrived over a week ago.

My sister's garden is full of birds.

I enjoyed listening to this Blackbird singing his heart out one afternoon

as I sat reading my book below.

This little fellow came to join me for a while.

Last Sunday morning started off sunny and warm.

So I set off with my camera

for a walk along the river.

The county show is coming up in July.

Both my sister and I have been looking at the categories for entering

exhibits.

We both thought we might have a go at entering some photos.

One of the categories is 'Farmlife'.

Another is 'bridges'.

So both of us have been clicking away

trying our best to get some interesting shots.

We must have taken hundreds of photos

trying to capture the right one.

We're still looking.

But it's enjoyable.

And I'll be back with some more photos soon.