A smile

I know that if we couldn't have children then I would have been enough for my husband. I know he loves me more than anything else in the whole wide world... nearly... except for Thomas (who he loves in a *different* way he tells me). No-one makes him smile like Thomas does, it makes my heart smile :)

Back then it was just pure love, nearly two years later they are proper pals...

This is my post for The Gallery this week - topic "A Smile". Head over to Tara at Sticky Fingers to see all of the other fabulous photos. Guaranteed to make you smile!!

Manual take two!

I didn't take part in The Gallery this week. I just didn't have time. Today Thomas is sleeping for a loooong time so I thought I'd update on my 'switch to manual' leap, which was dramatically helped by Jay. Thanks Jay :)

It's kind of good and bad. The worst photos are the ones which I know would have been brilliant if I'd got the focus right / ISO right / aperture right (delete as appropriate):

Ones which I'm mainly happy with, but still don't *quite* get what I did to get the photo:

Then the ones which really make me happy :)

I think it's a coincidence they're both black & white! I love the last one - my boys were drumming, singing songs... at this point, Thomas was screaming at the crocodile in Row Row Row Your Boat. It may not be technically brilliant, but it captured the moment perfectly.

Schooldays!

I wasn’t going to take part in The Gallery this week… Thomas is almost two so I don’t even want to think about his first day at school. I know it will be here in a second and I want to savour the next couple of years before he completely leaves me!

Then I remembered that on a recent visit home I had found this:

It’s a collage of photos from my last days at secondary school; we all said our goodbyes and went on to whatever came next. We all grew up and we all moved on. I stayed friends with a couple of people and found out about other people through them, so we all stayed interconnected but far apart until a couple of years ago...

Suddenly, Facebook made the whole school year accessible again! I wasn’t sure whether this would be a good thing but it’s turned out OK.

There are people I don’t want to be friends with, so I’m not. There are people who I’m not friends with, but who I can now look at as an adult and feel happy that they’re doing well. Then there are my friends, who will always be my friends, who I would keep in touch with anyway, but who I keep in touch with more because of Facebook. Some got married, some went travelling, some had babies, some have brilliant careers, some people really changed, and others have stayed the same. So much has happened to us all since these photos were taken, yet school will always tie me to these people, and I feel glad that Facebook has reunited me with most of them :)

(not the bare-chested boy who was my boyfriend at the time!)

One Day in August

This week's Gallery theme is One Day in August - inspired by Blipfoto, we all got to document a day (Sunday August 29th) in the life of an aspiring* photographer!

*insert amateur / brilliant/ crap / eager as appropriate…

Sunday was also the day three UK parenting bloggers flew to Bangladesh for a week to help raise awareness of the work Save the Children is doing with mothers and children in one of the most poverty-stricken places on the planet. In the words of @tara_cain "Let's mark this inspiring day for Josie, Sian and Eva.".

Armed with my camera, and my new obsession with manual settings (thank you Jay), I set out to take a photo which would depict a typical Sunday in the Welch household…

Thomas played with some stones, Makka Pakka stylee:

I took a photo of some flowers, Lindsey-stylee:

Thomas got daddy to run round the garden, Thomas-and-daddy-stylee:

And then we all stopped…

…

…

…

And the boys fell asleep, Sunday-stylee... Taken on my mobile, not an aperture or ISO in sight yet still my favourite photo of the day :)

A photo I am proud of!

I've been a bit quiet for a month but now I'm back! Here is my entry for The Gallery hosted by Tara @Sticky Fingers this week - the prompt is "A Photo I'm Proud Of"...

One day, a year ago, a friend came round and took the most amazing photos of Thomas, just like that, sitting on the floor in the lounge and I vowed to myself that I would have a camera just like his! A few months later, armed with MY new digital SLR, I sat down one day and took some photos (set to M - yes, I do try!) and this picture I just love:

I've probably taken better photos, but this was my first attempt at getting out of Auto mode and getting a bit 'arty'.

Taking the theme on a slightly different slant - this is a photo I am truly proud of - meeting my son for the first time...

:)

Welcome to Scotland!

Why did I move to Scotland?

It's a question I often ask myself in the summer, when the South of the UK bakes in glorious weather and I sit here contemplating whether it would be truly 'nesh' of me to put the central heating on…. In order to dry the washing of course, not because it is really that cold in Glasgow, but it IS very wet.

Before my job interview in November 2006, I'd never been to Scotland. I'd just turned 30, got my PhD, got out of a bad relationship and needed something new. It turned out that moving to Glasgow turned my life around. Three and a half years later - I still like my job, I met David (in Poland actually… more on that story at a later date maybe?), I got married, I had a baby, and I got used to all the rain. Most importantly, I discovered what an amazing place Scotland is! I felt so welcomed in Glasgow as soon as I arrived, I've met great friends and had some excellent times, and when the day comes for me to leave, I won't regret my time here at all.

Yesterday, for work, we spent the day at Ross Priory. It belongs to the University and sits on the South banks of Loch Lomond. This was my view for the day…

And this was my view at dusk…

Just two of the many reasons that I love Scotland.

Although I do miss things like this - one of my beautiful nieces upsetting Grandad by blowing dandelion seeds onto the garden :-)

This is my entry for Tara's Gallery this week. The subject being 'Nature'. There is a prize of chocolate! Who could resist such an offer?! Make sure you go and check out some of the other entries, the photos this week are exceptional!

Run Linz run!

I've struggled with losing the baby weight for many months. Struggled meaning I just can't stop eating! I try to stop for a while but then I only lose a pound or so, so I just start eating again. And drinking wine of course...

Anyway, instead of dieting, I decided to start running! Anyone who knows me knows what a crazy idea this is, as outlined in my post here. It's amazing what I can put my mind to when I want to. Some people would call it 'stubborn' :-D

So, four times a week, out I went, walking / running, huffing / puffing, and then I started to like it. Hang on, hang on... *I* started to *like* running? I think I've gone insane. We went to Portugal for two weeks and I carried on running. Then I realised I could actually run 5K! Wow, I'm still quite surprised about that!

Yesterday was run day and I was very nervous. David had told me he would run with me if I wanted but I wasn't sure; David is a born runner and regularly goes out for 5, 6, 7, 10K runs so I didn't want to feel stupid. It turns out he is the most brilliant running partner! He pushed Thomas in the jogging pushchair and maintained my pace, pushing me a little bit more than I would have done on my own. Around the track we went, across the park and towards the big hill... the big hill had been scaring me for a long time and I'd never actually run up it! Up we went, running all the way, and then down the other side. What a relief! Around the back of the park, past the House for an Art Lover, and onto the last 1K. That was hard and then I was done. I almost cried with relief!

Then David told me the time - 31 minutes and 50 seconds - and I did shed a little tear. I took 3 minutes off my previous 5K time AND I raised £275 for Sands. All in all, what a brilliant experience!

Oh - but I never lost any weight! I heard somewhere that diet AND exercise is the key... :-D

Beforehand...

The lovely David...Nervous!Run Linz run!Tired but proud!