Today was School photo day. Getting the kids to pose together is like getting blood from a stone and it's even harder when they have their school ties on. Hopefully the professional pics come out better than mine.
Jim.
Daisy played her 1st football tournament on Saturday. Their team finished 2nd in their group and she managed to score 2 goals. I did incentify the goals with a cash reward. All in all it cost me £13 this weekend as Henry scored a couple of goals in his game on the same morning.
Jim.
I'm finally getting some results with the grass growing in the back garden. It's been a mud pit for most of the winter with the kids playing football on it.
I've fed and seeded it several times, but of late, we've had a few warm wet days and now it's starting to come through. Soon it'll be as lush as Caley park.
Jim.
My fitness is slowly but surely coming back. Was out with the team last night and managed to bag a cup, so pretty chuffed.
I'm loving my bike set up at the moment. The Hunt wheels are amazing, I smacked a massive pot hole last night and got an instant deflation, but there wasn't a mark on the wheel. Super tough.
Jim.
I was down to do the Etape in Inverness, but because of covid, 2 colds and jiggering my back, my training wasn't sufficient. I went up anyway and did a smaller ride and headed to Paul's BBQ
Click on the image to see pics of the BBQ
Jim.
I'm trying my hand at a wee bit macro photography. The image across is Daisy eye.
If you look closely you can see the photographer in the reflection of her eye.
Click on the image to enlarge.
Jim.
It was a tense trip to Inverness, it's didn't start well, when we arrived Carol asked if we had left the immersion on, then Carol got sick, then Henry got sick and Daisy was in a foul mood all weekend.
Thankfully the images don't convey the tension.
Click on the image to see more pics.
Jim.
I'm pretty pleased with this image.
I'm still learning lots about astrophotography as there is a lot to learn. What I really need to do is get away from the city lights as they really hamper the night sky.
Jim.
Covid finally infected the family in mid-January. Carol was the only one not to catch it, but she's jibba jabbed to high heaven so probably why, saying that, most people I know jabbed have had it.
The kids felt ill for about 2 days and were fine after that. For me, I was ill for about a week and a half. It wasn't much fun, but not as bad as swine flu. It's been 2 weeks off the bike and I'm keen to get back cycling again.
Jim.
Daisy's growing up way too fast, she's now 11 and starts high school in 8 months, which is crazy!!
She had a fun day and lots of cool presents.
Click on the image across to see photos of the day.
Jim.
We had another session at World of Football again. It's great fun hiring the place out for only 4 of us to play on.
The last photo of Henry diving I sent to Mark Ridgers of ICTFC on twitter, he sent a nice reply - here
Click on the image across to see photos.
Jim.
A good Christmas day was had by all. Henry said his ICTFC goalkeeper kit was his best present ever...I got him that.
Click on the image across to see photos of the day.
Jim.
Sometimes its nice just to hire a pitch to yourself and have a kick about. Footbal luxury.
Click on the image across to see more.
Jim.
Henry's football bug has come back with ferocity. All he wants to do is play football, more precisely, be a goal keeper.
He's asked to join another team, so we'll be starting with The Crammond Lions in the new year. Let's hope the bugs sticks this time.
Jim.
Poor Sparkles died last night. She turned 2 years old only a few days ago.
Daisy was a bit upset but she's OK and was happy to go to school.
Jim.
Shit, getting shed lazy again, it's been over a month! My excuse is I'm trying to cycle as much as I can at the mo to try and keep the winter weight down, the past 2 winters I've gained weigh and it's been a pain to shift when the weather gets better. So the plan for 2022 is to start lean so I can fly up hill.
Anyhoo, my astro-photography is improving. I'm still pinching myself that I manage to get this image of Andromeda, I'm quite impressed with it...and...I know I can do better. Andromeda is an easy target as it's massive, it takes up more space in the night sky than the moon, so good to use for training.
Click on the image across to see the pics.
Jim.
Daisy and I went for a photography night walk around Blackball.
Click on the image across to see the pics.
Jim.
Another shot of Jupiter and a couple of moons too.
Click on the image across to enlarge.
Jim.
Quite happy with this moon photo. I believe I can get a better one.
Click on the image across to enlarge.
Jim.
Daisy inherited a DLSR camera and has been busy taking photos.
Click on the image across to see a few of her photos.
I really hope she gets the photography bug.
Jim.
My best photo of Andromeda so far.
Click on the image across to enlarge.
Jim.
The kids and I tried our hands at light painting. Not bad for our first attempt.
Click on the image to see more.
Jim.
I've now figured out how to stack astro photos, so basically taking lots of long exposures and stitching them together to make one big, data intense, photo.
The image across is an hours worth of exposures. The sky wasn't very clear, very hazy, so the image isn't the best. Can't wait to try this system out on a crisp clear night.
Jim.
The gas giants are rising in the east this winter. 1st up is Jupiter.
Jim.
It's getting a bit darker out, so had an astro-photog sesh in the back garden last night. Didn't get much, broken clouds rolled in and wrecked the view. Managed to get Vega and a satellite though.
Jim.
Carols booked into the Roulotte Retreat in the borders for a few nights. It's a bunch of gypsy caravans in a meadow. It's quite idyllic, but not that great for kids, saying that, Daisy loved the chickens wondering around.
I popped down for a night as I was having to work. Click on the image to see some pics.
Jim.
A visit to East Links Family Fun Park always cheers me up, mixing with the general public reminds me that we are doing really really really really well.
Click on the image to see some pics of the trip.
Jim.
During our camping trip, I said to Carol that it was some sort of game theory she was playing with me, as the camping was precursor to our St Andrews trip, and knowing that I don't like holidays, the camping trip would make me want to go St Andrews, guess what, it worked.
Carol and I last stayed in St Andrews in 2008. So I was looking forward to going back. We visited the Secret Bunker as we did in 2008, though not the best idea given we were in an enclosed space with other people during a respiratory pandemic. The weather was good too, so walk around, spent a fortune on food and got sun burnt, visited the aquarium, went to the beach, chilled out...usual holiday stuff.
Click on the image to see some pics of the trip.
Jim.
I couldn't stand camping as a child. Still don't like it now.
We camped by LochLomond, in a tent and got eaten by midges.
Click on the image to see some pics of the trip.
Jim.
During the summer, especially in Scotland, astronomy is almost impossible, unless you don't like sleep. So it's a rare treat to get an eclipse. Today's was very partial, about 30%, but still very cool.
Click on the image across to see a bigger version of the photo.
Jim.
Each year I've been taking a photo of Henry in his Brazil shirt. Crazy to see how he's changed.
Click on the image across to see a bigger version of the pic
Jim.
Carol hit the big FIVE OH! Yup, she's 50. Even though stupid lock-down got in the way, she had a lovely day and was over the moon with all her birthday video greetings. I was expecting she would cry, but as Scotty said in Star Trek 6 'she never shed a bloody tear'.
Click on the image across to see pics of the day.
Jim.
I'm finding astrophotography amazing and extremely frustrating at the same time. The image across is the Whirlpool galaxy, you can find it near the top of the plough handle. I was pretty happy with this image I captured with my cheapo kids telescope, but trying to photograph it the next night with the same conditions and same gear, no chance, everything went wrong, couldn't focus, gear didn't work and I couldn't for the life of me find the galaxy!
When the 'vibe' is good, things go well and you get good images, when things go wrong, everything goes wrong and you get nothing. There's definitely a massive amount of luck involved.
Jim.
Henry turned 9 today. He got lots of cool stuff. In fact what was interesting was that the stuff he got was very sciencey, so maybe he's gearing up for being a scientist, which is pretty cool. He's into geodes and stones, so I'm advising him to get into finding diamonds and make us rich!
Click on the image to see photos from his last birthday of being a single number.
Jim.
Travel back in time with the shed