Hopes for my week 'off'

  Although I do have a pile of Year 10 mocks to mark, what I hope I will be doing with my half term week is this...

...and this...

...and a bit of this...

...and, finally, this...

Hearth and Home // Orange Tree Progress

You may remember a while back I was having a few problems with our orange tree.

I was really worried it wasn't going to make it, but eventually new leaves sprouted.

And now this...

...flower buds!

What a reward for a perseverance. 

Analogue Love

For Christmas my wonderful beau B, who knows me very well, bought me a new toy.

An analogue camera.

To be precise, a Diana F+ by Lomography.

The Lomography philosophy can be most easily defined by their 10 Golden Rules:

1. Take your camera everywhere you go

2. Use it any time – day and night

3. Lomography is not an interference in your life, but part of it

4.Try the shot from the hip

5. Approach the objects of your Lomographic desire as close as possible

6. Don't think (William Firebrace)

7. Be fast

8.You don't have to know beforehand what you captured on film

9. Afterwards either

10. Don't worry about any rules

I absolutely love this ethos - it takes photography back to its roots and forces you to, once again, experience the wonderful mystery of developing a film and having no clue how your shots will emerge.

While there is now a permanent place in my life for digital photography, I also want to make space for analogue. Having seen my first 'test' reels of film, I think its going to have to be quite a big space!

So happy with how these came out.

These treats...

 ...were to be found in my letter-box today. What a lucky witch I am!

My birthday was actually in December, but my wonderful friend Zanna sent these gifts belatedly.

And I happen to think belated birthdays are the best kind of birthdays. 

You never expect they're coming so they're always a fabulous surprise!

Joyful blessings and thank you, Zanna. xx

Wheel of the Year // Belated Beltane Blessings

May 1st marks the beginning of Summer here in the Northern Hemisphere and this turn of the wheel is celebrated by the fire festival, Beltane.

A half turn of the wheel from Samhain (Hallowe'en, 31st October), this festival is its polar opposite in meaning  as well as seasonal position. Where Samhain symbolises death, the end of harvest and the arrival of winter and the 'dark' months, Beltane is a fertility festival, celebrating life, the beginning of the harvest season and the arrival of summer - we are almost at the 'lightest' point of the year. For more information about the origins and meaning of the sabbat, read last year's Beltane post, here

Beltane blessings - albeit belated - to you all.