Theme 117 - Mountain

High Pike 

This is part of Rydal Fell and is 656 metres.  A beautiful cold sunny day.

Theme 84 - Cafe

Best Cafe

Ok, this may look like the most boring shot ever - but it is my favourite cafe even though it is a service station.  

I travel south for work and pleasure, the journey is about 5 hours and this little oasis is about 3 hours on my way south so I think "great, only another 2 hours to go".  On my return journey, of course it is about 2 hours into my journey but just before I get onto the M6 (it's on the M6 toll road), so I think " great, on the road home now".

If we all travel down together (hubby and dogs) then it is a great place to stop for them, there is a large area for them to run around.

Not only that, it is Costa Coffee and they serve great coffee.

Btw, yes, I did feel silly taking a picture of a service station!!

Theme 274 - Puddles

Just one of many

Always plenty of these where I live.  This was taken a couple of months ago.  Yesterday I walked the dogs along here and the beck was overflowing in a few places and the puddles had become part of the beck - unfortunately I chose to wear my walking boots rather than my wellies which resulted in some interesting antics to try and continue down the path without submerging my feet - I succeeded, much to the bafflement of my dogs ("why doesn't she just walk through it like we do?").  I clambered through the gorse (very prickly) and hopped on little islands (precariously) and used my hiking stick as balance to leap across the wider areas.  Who needs a gym? - lol

Theme 236 - Dog

The Observer

This rather splendid fellow is a St Bernard puppy - I am guessing around 7 or 8 months old.  We were walking on the beach and he was looking down on us from his garden.  He didn't make a sound, just watched us pass, clearly keeping a good eye on our girls.  I wish his owners had been around, I would love to have gone to see him, he was absolutely beautiful.

Taken with my P&S and zoomed in as close as I could get.  Used Matt's preset: 300 Soft and then changed some more.  Very difficult to get the effect I would really have liked as his eyes were so dark and easy to lose the detail.

Theme 4 - Hat

What a Turkey!

OK, I have to be honest, this photo was taken on 30 December, so doesn't really meet the Challenge "rules". But hey, am I ever going to find a better "hat" shot for this Blog?!! I don't think so, therefore it has to go in.

This was a Christmas/New Year Hare Hash Harrier run (google "Hare Hash Harriers" for more details). I used to do these when I lived in the south and when I lived abroad. Thought I would try again here - but wow, very hilly, very hard and I don't think I have the knees or years on my side anymore. This was a good day though even though I was in the walking group :-).

Theme 322 - Portrait

Model Sister

This is my first attempt at a portrait shot. I have a long way to go, but this session was fun and my sister was very patient.

Been busy, but not forgotten the Challenge

Just in case anyone is reading this I thought I would drop a note of explanation for my long absence.  

Life is busy at the moment (as it seems to be for everyone these days).  I am in the throes of setting up a new business.  When we moved to the Lake District, my plan always was to run a health retreat. We then bought a house that needed a little more work doing to it than we planned - that done I am now back on track.  I am a Nutritional Therapist (same as Nutritionist in the States) and along with a friend and fellow Nutritional Therapist we will be running our first Weight Loss Retreat.  The company is "Weight in Mind" and our website is: 

www.weight-in-mind.com

The weight bit speaks for itself.  The mind element of our name is because we will be dealing with the psychological aspects of weight loss.  I am also a NLP Practitioner.

All very exciting and sometimes downright scary - but it will be good for us and our paying guests.

No doubt I will post more here as it develops.

My photography life continues.  I would like to use my photos on our website, but they are just not up to standard yet, so I have contacted a local photographer whom I greatly admire, and we will be using his photos.

However, I want to get some photos up in the retreat - which is a great opportunity for me to use my shots.

I still plan to complete this challenge, not sure how at this stage, but we have until December 31!!

I have signed up for 3 EOS seminars this year, so no doubt motivation will be high after each one.