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Having discovered that piano lights are stupidly expensive, I've improvised by removing the base from this £20 floor standing LED lamp, and attaching it to the abstract canvas above my piano... solved! 😎👌
I'm currently working on the closing part of the middle section from Prelude 15, "Raindrop". Fiddly, although not as bad as I'd expected!! 🤣
Tiswas t-shirt in the style of the 1970s TV show. Never a day to miss 'coz... 🤣
Not sure whether to label this post as a sign of age, or a blast from the past? (Possibly accompanied by a blast from a foam cannon!!)
Sewingshields trig point from this morning... trying not to look cold!! 🤣 It was just fingers (mainly thumbs) that were the problem, and this could be related to a combo of strong/cold winds and Pacer-Poles? Fabulous route though, from Housesteads to Sewingshields, looping up around Haughton Common, and joining the Pennine Way back to the Wall. Beyond Housesteads, we only met farmers and sheepdogs all day! 😅
Gallow Hill, north of Corbridge this afternoon... whilst sneaking in a final 2025 (short) walk! 📷
I suppose I can't exactly claim this photo is much different to my last photo, but it 'IS' a different tree. 🤣📷
Yesterday afternoon's boxing day walk became a bit of a race against sunset! This is with my current default setup: Sony A7cII and a Viltrox 20mm prime fitted with a 1/8th black pro-mist filter. I find the filter very subtle most of the time, but here you can definitely see light spilling around the tree.📷
Chopin's Prelude no 6. Exquisite composition, goes without saying... insofar as I can attempt to do it justice anyway. 😅 From opus 28, composed somewhere between 1835 and 1839.
I like the nickname Hans von Bulow gave to it: "Tolling Bells". The melody mostly stays with the left hand, but you have that recurring melancholy note in the right hand accompaniment. (I perhaps ought to slow it down, a little. 🤔)
I don't think I've ever had such a popular post. Note to self: "Buy more cuddly toys!" 😅
In case you need "silent feet" to be even more of a challenge!! 🤣
Unusual choice of Christmas decor... it might have been a mistake to invite this pair into the house!! 🤣
I'd forgotten about this sunrise photo from last week. Found it after taking a photo of a laptop! (This is more interesting than the laptop.) 📷
Scaling the North Face of the advent calendar. (Graded: severe, 4a)
Hmm- those rascals!! 🤣 Mrs Elf grinding Mr Elf... actually, perhaps let me rephrase that!! 🤔
I don't want to overdo it, but I'm thinking maybe at least a couple more baubles for my Winter Solstice tree?! 🤔🌲
Fence on Hadrian's Wall, designed to deter barbaric invaders from walking along the wall?
The path does take you along the top of the wall for several hundred metres here, but either end of the designated section is blocked - presumably to protect more fragile sections of the wall. 📷
Another shot from yesterday afternoon, west of Housesteads along the wall. (Wall depicted here is not Hadrian's... other walls are available!) 📷
Not far from Housesteads, I stopped for a cup of tea on my way back to the car. The sky got more interesting, but this one caught the window reflections... ☕📷
The mistake might be to believe that most "Newspapers" are telling less of a pack of lies about every other topic they discuss. 🙄
From a walk through the dene behind Halton Castle this afternoon... just managed to get back to the car before the rain! 😅☔
I've watched two Irish films so far this week. They couldn't be more different... but both of them were excellent. 🎥 🍿
Oddity
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/oddity-horror-film-review-2024
That They May Face The Rising Sun
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/that-they-may-face-the-rising-sun-film-review-2025
Am I unique in my hatred of shirt labels? Someone creates a t-shirt and presumably thinks to themselves: "Yeah, nice shirt, but you know what would make it even better? A stiff plastic label to gouge our customers in the back of the neck... all day long. They're going to *love* that!" 🙄 (It is a good shirt though!!)
The notifications appeared to be impossible to mute, popping up on a 60 minute cycle. Uninstalled and switched to Bitdefender... so far, so good. 🤞
Same view as the last post, but taken on a 'real' camera. It's obviously better, although the mobile phone wasn't bad. 📷🤔
#HolyIsland #Lindisfarne #Northumberland #Photography #SonyA7C2 #Viltrox20mm
Back on the Pilgrim's Way... the last convenient Wednesday tide pattern for a while. I checked, of course!! 😂
"Enjoy the quiet..." while we plaster the FOURTH of these obnoxious notifications all across your screen!! 🙄
I started to feel like I'd downplayed the foreground too much in the original monochrome conversion. I liked the dark moodiness of it, but now I wished the barn was a little more prominent... 📷🤔
Derelict barn (or possibly an old mine building?) in Teesdale this afternoon. 📷
Can I still call this 'SilentSunday' if there's a slight buzz and my GPS watch throws a wobbly? 😂📷
View towards Aydon Castle, from below Halton Castle. A very nice walk... until my car battery gave up and I had to call a breakdown truck! 😲 I've now got an emergency boost pack, and jumper leads!! 🤣
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