Down on the Farm

As promised, here are some pics of our day at the farm. We chose a perfect day to visit - lots of sunshine but not too hot! Here's Mr W. and little W. milking Daisy the cow...

Sheep show:

A little sign on the way to a maize maze. We didn't even attampt the maze, just looking at it wore me out! Mind you, this was at the end of a long and exhausting day. I really didn't feel like getting lost in there!

New Sites I've Joined

I signed up to two new sites this week: byhand.me and RedBubble. The former gives you space to link all your sites - Etsy, Flickr and so on, alas no space for Folksy just yet. You can also link your own website. And at RedBubble you upload your photography or artwork, which people then comment on, similar to Flickr, but the fabulous thing is, you can sell too. Even better, you don't have to do anything - RedBubble print and deliver for you! I think this will be a great way for me to get my work out there. Well, that's the plan anyway!

I'm also looking at premiergallery.co.uk and artgallery.co.uk. Would love to hear people's experience of any of these sites.

Sorry no pics again today. We're off to Willows Farm tomorrow, near St. Albans, so I'll be sure to take some then.

Oh, by the way, where have all my followers gone??? It seems to be a problem a lot of users are having at the moment. Hope it gets sorted soon. I like to see all your pictures so I know you're there! This would be a good time to say thanks for all your comments so far. x

Funny things children say...

It was my last day at school yesterday. I've had a great two terms (and one not as enjoyable!) as a supply teacher and am now looking forward to a break and spending time with my son. Anyway, to celebrate the end of the year, I thought I'd share a few comments I've heard from kids over the past few years. Names have been changed!!

Michael, Year 5 - "Miss, when did we get colour?" Me - "Do you mean colour television?" Michael - "No, colour." Me - "I'm not sure I understand what you mean." Michael - "When did we get colour? You know, the sky and stuff." Me - "Oh. Well, everywhere's always been in colour. I suppose it's a bit confusing when you look at old photographs that are black and white." This went on a bit. It made me smile the rest of the day!

Sasha, Year 4, walking to the local Church for a Christmas activity, talking to a friend. Friend - "Do you know what direction we're going?" Sasha - "I think we're going north." Friend - "OK." Sasha - "That means it's going to get colder." Bless her, it was only a 10 minute walk!

Bethany, Year 3, class sitting on the carpet, a child from another class walked in and handed some Christmas cards to give out. I handed them out and then came across one with Sarah and our class name on the envelope. We didn't have a Sarah. Me - "Ooh, does anyone know a Sarah in another class?" Silence. Then Bethany says, "I know who she is." Me - "What class is she in?" Bethany - "She goes to high school." Me - "She's at high school?" Bethany - "Yes, she's my neighbour." Me - "Why does she have a card in the school post box?" Bethany - "I posted it to her." Me - "Ah, I see. Well, do you think you could ask Mum to post it in her letterbox on the way home tonight?" Bethany - "OK Miss." I laughed about that for ages!

How much more will we have to buy?!

Over the last couple of months we've had to buy: a new hoover, a new washing machine, a new mattress and a front door. On top of this, our landline phone's just started going funny and the little man decided to put Mr W's mobile in the toilet. Have been told it can't be fixed and isn't under warranty due to "water damage by the customer". Oh great! Okay, we didn't really expect them to fix it, but you can only try...


I'm also hoping that we won't need to put up a new fence too. Our neighbour's dog got into our garden the other day. Now, don't get me wrong, I love dogs. We used to have a beautiful yellow Labrador, Tiggy, who I really miss... But I don't want a strange dog coming in uninvited to play with my toddler! Oh and the shed's falling apart and the shower's either too hot or too cold, but I won't even start thinking about that.

Anyway, onto positive things... The porch is coming along. Here's my brother doing the brickwork:

Our veggie patch has shot up too:

Sorry, bad photo, but it's raining! Shh, photographers aren't allowed that excuse!

As for my online activities, I've now set up shop on Etsy. I found Etsy about a year ago, which then led me to Folksy. I've stuck with Folksy simply for ease in dealing with pound sterling, but I need to start promoting further afield and there are so many photographers on Etsy. Although that means more competition, it also means (hopefully) more people go to Etsy to buy photographs. Have joined Flickr too, but I'm not doing so well with that. Haven't worked out how to get any views yet!

Things I've learnt this week...

Had a couple of school trips this week. On Monday we took our Year 6 to a local secondary school for a Science Day. One of the lessons was about owls. I never knew that their eye colour tells us when they hunt. Orange eyes mean they hunt at sunrise or sunset, yellow during the day and black at night. Maybe this is common knowledge, but I really didn't know that!

Then the following day I went with Year 5 to a Victorian school museum and learnt how to add up pounds, shillings and pence. I'm very glad things have changed, although it was really interesting to learn how to add again!

Fun in the Park

It was Chico time on Sunday, when Fun in the Park got underway in aid of Fight for Sight. There were live bands, sports events, food and crafts and of course, Chico!

As for me, well, I was selling photos and for the first time, some polymer clay creations. I'm delighted to say that I made a profit! I also had lots of really lovely comments about my photos, which I was obviously rather pleased about. It makes it all worthwhile after all your efforts, when someone says something nice!

Here's my mum helping to arrange the stall. It had a few adjustments after this mind you. The cards were put further back and the bookmarks and mobile phone charms brought forward.

The weather was perfect in temperature terms, but as we were by the side of the lake and had no shelter, it was, let's say, rather windy. The stall next to us packed up and left early when her gazebo nearly took off and my mum and I were constantly taping things down and blu-tacking and holding on to anything loose! It didn't stop the twirly display thingy blowing over at one point though. Luckily, I came prepared with some extra pegs and some string and managed to secure it.

All in all, we had a good day. Hope to get a little bit of my life back now. It's amazing how much preparation exhibiting takes.

Rounders

I've been a bit slow with the blogs recently, so this is just a quick one about the rounders tournament the kids played today. Oh my goodness, it was so hot! We took a group of Year 6 children to take part in a local tournament. They were so well-behaved, I was really proud of them! But there was no shade whatsoever. What we would've done for a little gazebo and an ice lolly! Anyway, I'm nice and refreshed now I'm home and sitting indoors.

No work for the rest of the week. Looking forward to spending my birthday with my son and hubby in the evening. Then Friday I'll be getting ready for my stall at Fun in the Park on Sunday.