February Photography Club

Welcome to the Busy Nothings Photography Club for February! I'm so pleased you are here and ready to join in, dear friends. Do you have a favorite photo you shot this past month?  Good good!  Then pretty please scroll to the bottom of this post to share it with us.

While you scroll down, take a peak at our meager snow fall from earlier this month. The snow certainly makes everything pretty, but I can't tell you how happy I am to say good-bye to my two least favorite months of the year.  January and February - please take with you the gloomy skies, the wind and rain, the coughs and the snuffly noses.

The moment her feet touched the snow, this is what happened!

Photo on right:  the postman's red bike.  He delivers the post in our neighborhood by bike!

Photography Club Rules:
1. Everyone is welcome to participate, regardless of skill level.  Photos can be taken from any type of camera (SLR, point-and-shoot, mobile device)
2. Share a favorite photo that you took during the month of February.
3. Link directly to your blog post, or Flickr photo (not your blog's homepage or Flickr photo stream)
4. Be sure to visit a few of the other links and leave a comment.  It's much more fun that way!
5. Feel free to spread the love by linking back to me in your blog post, or grab my lovely button below.

<br /> <a href="http://krisgal.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7049/6793404250_48afbaa44a_o.png"/></a><br />

Looking forward to seeing your favorite photos!  I will be featuring a few of your photos in a separate blog post next week.

366 Days: 51-57

My self portrait for the week - moisturising my face as part of my nightly routine.

A cheese cake date and lots of girl talk is just what I needed on Tuesday evening.  Skype and phone calls are essential when you're an expat - however, nothing replaces real face time with a friend to discuss a few sorrows and upsets from the previous week.

I love love LOVE this girl.  Everyday she does something new that amazes me. (Oh gosh, but she has suddenly entered the dreaded tantrum phase of toddler-hood.  It's been an interesting week for us - with a big learning curve!)

Met up with a couple of my American gal pals for a morning out in Oxford exploring the antique market. 

Love these cute boots my friend is wearing

A quiet moment of scripture study, journal writing, prayer and reflection (during Tessa's nap time).  During a chaotic day, it's sometimes essential to stop everything and take time to soothe the soul a bit.

Miles and Tess eating pizza and watching Aladdin together on Saturday afternoon

We spent Sunday afternoon after church with our favorite Canadians.  It was a great afternoon for a few reasons: My friend is the best cook I know (seriously!) and served a most tasty dinner.  Despite a few rounds of Tess tantrums, she has super-duper-fun playing with the little boys in this family.  Miles and Canadian Dad discuss F1, while Canadian Mom and I discuss the latest episodes of 90210.  They are the perfect fit.

Thames River in Oxford*

*This photo has nothing to do with what we did on Sunday.  Here's a little secret: sometimes I cheat on my daily photos.  There, I finally admitted it!  This photo of the River Thames was actually taken on Thursday while I was out with my friends in Oxford.  I was without my camera all day Sunday, so I used one I took earlier in the week.  Don't hate me friends!

Linking up today with: The Creative Exchange, And Then She Snapped, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Communal Global)

366 Days: 44-50

Today is Ash Wednesday, which means yesterday all of England was eating pancakes for dinner! Yum! Mormons don't observe Lent (though we are Christian), but I really like the idea of giving something up for forty days in order to improve myself - so I'm jumping on board here.  I've decided to give up an hour of my computer time each day (and then using that hour to spend more time with my family, or doing things that help me draw closer to God and and his son Jesus.) 

Do you observe Lent?  What will you be giving up for forty days?

Power lines receding into the distance - taken while walking home from toddler play group last Monday.

Miles makes his girls pancakes on Valentines Day before heading off for work.  This was pretty much the extent of our Valentine's Day celebration

I took Tess to Millets Farm to play and look at the animals.  She was staring at a big noisy goose when I took this photo.

Oh boy, does this girl love books!

I've been inspired by my friend Sarah's weekly self portraits and have taken on the challenge to include myself in more of my photos.  Here I'm cleaning off some sort of goober left on my shirt by Tess.  It's a constant battle keeping that girls runny noses and sticky fingers from getting all over her mommy.

Saturday was dreadfully and rainy, but we all really needed to get out of the house.  We took a drive to the city of Reading where there's a big shopping center with lots of indoor shopping space (almost like a mall!  yay!) We stayed warm and dry, and Tess burned lots of energy running from shop to shop.

The Oracle Shopping Centre in Reading, England

Playing at the park with Daddy on Sunday afternoon.

(linking in with: Sweet Violet, Your Sunday Best, Simple as That )

Lyme Regis

Hello! Happy Monday everyone! Today I'd like to introduce you to a very pretty English coastal town.

Welcome to Lyme Regis!

(Yes, I finally got around to this blog post. I've left you in anticipation long enough.... or did you even notice?!)

This man was throwing a fresh coat of paint on this boat.

Left:  the main street slopes down toward the ocean -  if you look closely you can just spot the ocean beyond the buildings

A few of the shops on the main street

The ocean front is lined with shops on the upper level, and beach huts on the lower

Jane Austen visited Lyme often and was very fond of it.

In her novel Persuasion, she describes:

...the principal street almost hurrying into the water, the walk to the Cobb, skirting round the pleasant little bay, which in the season is animated with bathing-machines and company; the Cobb itself, its old wonders and new improvements, with the very beautiful line of cliffs stretching out to the east of the town, are what the stranger's eye will seek; and a very strange stranger it must be, who does not see charms in the immediate environs of Lyme, to make him wish to know it better.

The Cobb, as shown in the next several photos, is probably what Lyme Regis is most known for.  It's a sort of historic harbour wall that wriggles out into the English Channel.

The Cobb has a lower level, and an upper level

If  you've watched one of the movie adaptation of Jane Austen's Persuasion, the Cobb will look familiar to you. In the 1995 adaptation, these are the steps where silly Louisa Musgrove jumped from.

Miles and I took turns walking on the upper level of the Cobb.

The view of the calming ocean from the Cobb

Miles kept Tess entertained on the lower level of the Cobb.

The rocky beach

A residential area of Lyme

The town is set up slightly onto a large hill and overlooks the ocean

After our fulfilling day of exploring Lyme, we set out for home and enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way.



So please do tell me - what did you think of Lyme Regis?  It has most certainly captured my heart.


(Linking up today with: And then she Snapped, The Creative Exchange, Sweet Shot Tuesday, Communal Global )