Nicole's Scavenger Hunt

NicoleB's Scavenger Hunt.

I'm participating in NicoleB's Scavenger Hunt today.
The idea is to post pictures representing different aspects of your own country.
People from all over the world are participating in this challenge.
It will be a very interesting trip around the world.

And what does the winner get?

can choose between either 8 postcards, 3 Greeting Cards, 2 magnets or 2 key chains
Shipping is included

Here’s the list (it’s a bit focused on the “local” theme):

1) local currency

People in Belgium pay in Euro.

2) local flag

3) local food

Belgian waffles.

4) something rusty

5) local wildlife

Well, it IS wild and it's local. ;-)

6) local nature

7) local stamp

This was in the window of a stamp auctioneer.

8) part of your neighbourhood (it can be a very small part )

View from my patio.

9) traditional house

10) a local person

11) local weather

Capricious.

12) local transportation

13) traditional local clothing

14) night sky

Christmas lights in Bruges.

15) sunrise

16) local product non food

Art at the local garden show.

17) something furry

Yeah well, I just could NOT resist this! ;-)
It IS furry, right?

18) something feathery

19) a sign of the season

20) a part of you

21) your main hobby

Photography.
Just in case you're wondering, this has not been photoshopped.
The reflection is a real reflection. I took a zillion pictures before I got it right!

22) a local shop

23) a local restaurant

24) a street sign

No dogs allowed.
Even those on a leach.

25) a local mail box

Photo Hunt " Warm"

This week's theme for Photo Hunt is "warm".
When I started working on this post this morning, my initial idea was to upload a landscape from the Moroccan desert. It had been very warm when I took those, but when I saw the picture, I realized that was not what I was looking for. There are many more definitions of "warm" ...


(Click to enlarge the picture.)

1.	having or giving out a moderate degree of heat, as perceived by the senses: a warm bath.

2.	of or at a moderately high temperature; characterized by comparatively high temperature: a warm oven; a warm climate; a warm summer.

3.	having a sensation of bodily heat: to be warm from fast walking.

4.	conserving or maintaining warmth or heat: warm clothes.

5.	(of colors) suggestive of warmth; inclining toward red or orange rather than toward green or blue.

6.	characterized by or showing lively feelings, passions, emotions, sympathies, etc.: a warm heart; warm interest.

7.	strongly attached; intimate: warm friends.

8.	cordial or hearty: a warm welcome.

9.	heated, irritated, or angry: to become warm when contradicted.

10.	animated, lively, brisk, or vigorous: a warm debate.

11.	strong or fresh: a warm scent.

12.	close to something sought, as in a game.

13.	uncomfortable or unpleasant: His opponents made things so warm that he decided to quit.

14.	British Informal. well off; in easy circumstances.

–verb (used with object)

15.	to make warm; heat (often fol. by up): to warm one's hands; to warm up a room.

16.	to heat or cook (something) for reuse, as leftovers (usually fol. by over or up): to warm up yesterday's stew.

17.	to excite enthusiasm, ardor, cheerfulness, or vitality in (someone): The wine soon warmed the company.

18.	to inspire with kindly feeling; affect with lively pleasure: It warms my soul to hear you say that.

19.	to fill (a person, crowd, etc.) with strong feelings, as hatred, anger, or zeal: Restrictions had warmed the crew to the point of mutiny.

–verb (used without object)

20.	to become warm or warmer (often fol. by up): The room will warm up when the fire gets going.

21.	to become ardent, enthusiastic, animated, etc. (often fol. by up or to): The speaker quickly warmed to her subject.

22.	to grow kindly, friendly, or sympathetically disposed (often fol. by to or toward): My heart warms toward him.

–noun

23.	Informal. a warming: Sit by the fire and have a nice warm.

—Verb phrases

24.	warm down, to conclude or follow a period of strenuous physical exercise by walking or gentle stretching.

25.

warm up, a. to prepare for a game, sports contest, dance, etc., by moderate exercise or practice beforehand. b. to increase in excitement, intensity, violence, etc.: The racial situation was warming up. c. to become friendlier or more receptive: No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't warm up to that proposal. d. Radio and Television. to entertain (an audience) prior to a broadcast to increase receptiveness.

—Idiom

26.	warm the bench, Sports. to serve as a substitute who rarely plays in a game: The young outfielder warmed the bench for the Yankees last season.

Find more pictures with this theme here.

History Seen Thru my Eyes

History was written yesterday, and I was watching it happen.


While he was being sworn in his wife Mishelle was right there with him.
And I do mean WITH him.
She never took her eyes off him.
The third picture shows the little word struggle he had there
- only for the briefest moment-
At precisely that same moment the look on her face became so similar to his,
as she wanted to try and help him. As if she reflected him.
Stand by your man ...


Don't you just love how his daughter was taking pictures with her own digital camera?
I did!

Even though I could not really be there in the flesh,
I saw it ... Thru my Eyes.
I did not google these pictures, or steal them from the net.
I took them with my own camera straight from the television screen as I was watching CNN.

Ruby Tuesday Thru my Eyes

"Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get"

"Thru my eyes" meets Ruby Tuesday.
I challenge myself to take at least one picture each day.
And since today is Tuesday, I went looking for rubies.
Macro rubies, since Mary asked us to try some macro shots today.

I did not have to look very far, my husband had just bought me a box of Mon Chéri cherry chocolates as a gift. Delicious dark chocolate with cherry liqueur and a cherry. Yum.
Mon Chéri in French means "my darling", and to us they're a cute way to say I love you.

So there, Ruby Tuesday seen Thru my Eyes ...

Don't forget to visit some of the other players?

A Photo a Day and a Review.

I stumbled across a neat idea for a post when I was catching up on my reading yesterday.
Well, actually there were two but I'll tell you more about the second one after this, okay?
I'll start with what I found on Willow's cottage.
She posted a review of the year using one picture a season.
Like the four seasons? I thought this was very inspiring.

My review will go back to when I first started taking pictures, which was Autumn 2007, through to Summer 2008. All of these pictures were taken with my previous camera, a Canon Powershot S45. I nicked it from my husband and took my first steps into Photography with it.
I discovered my camera AND myself along the way.
The encouragement I got from my readers made me try harder each week...

So here comes my review.



This was taken on one of the very first photowalks I made with my husband.
I had joined Nablopomo, and needed pictures for my very first photo meme, Weekly Winners.
Up until then I had always hated Autumn, this was the first time I discovered the beauty of it.


I hated Autumn, and Winter even more.
I would never have gone out on a cold Winter's day before if it had not been for the love of photography that became more important each week.
I was only just discovering my camera and had found new ways of looking at the world through pictures. I had seen lovely reflections on other people's blogs and started looking for them myself.

Ooooo, I love Spring. Spring has got to have a picture of the breeding Great Tits on my patio.
( Does that sound funny? )
This is one of the first times I could capture one as he/she flies to the nest.

Summer.
My favourite season. I had only recently discovered the macro function on my camera.
While on holiday in Provence, I practised a lot and this was one of my first successes.

Those were my first steps. After that I visited London in August, and that's when my beloved little camera died on me. Well, it turned out it did not really die, it just passed into a coma!
That was terrible, but my husband bought me a new one.
The small one still works after all, and I still use it (in the kitchen) every now and again.
I plan on doing another review, maybe next week or so.
I will then use pictures taken with the new camera.

Next up is a new meme Gail will be hosting called a photo a day 2009.
The idea is to post a picture a day, a great challenge to master your camera AND make some sort of a calender with images of the little and the big moments in your life.
I really like that idea.
So this is my first picture.
Yeah I know. It's FOOD! AGAIN!!
It was a chocolate heart, it tasted delicious and it was worth remembering.
The picture isn't. Nah. Not really, but hey?
I'll try better tomorrow?
Isn't that what this meme is all about?

Photo Hunt ' Squeaky"

This week's theme for Photo Hunt is "squeaky".
Now, you might know I like words, specifically cute ones like this one.
And what I love about this word is that it is used in many different ways,
some of them quite amusing.
Lots of different things can make squeaky sounds.
Anything from mice to hamsters, brakes on a car or wagon wheels, floors and carpets...
I should not forget to mention the squeaky beds, rusty hinges on old doors ....
and most annoyingly ... squeaky shoes, ewww!
So, it's really not too hard for me to imagine the squeaky sound of this gate.


But it also made me remember the "bubble and squeak" we had for lunch in London this summer.
There it is in the next picture, that round vegetable cake hidden underneath the lamb.
I had heard of that dish through BBC cooking programmes but I had never eaten it before I ordered it. It turned out to be very tasty.
The British often refer to it as "bubble" but I love the squeaky bit in the name of the dish!
It's made with left over vegetables and meat, mashed with potatoes.
The vegetables are being boiled, which accounts for the " bubble".
While "squeak" refers to the sizzling sound of this mash meeting the hot butter in the frying pan.
Squeaky vegetables, don't you just love the thought?



I managed to find yet another use for this word which is this:
squeak through/by To manage barely to pass, win, or survive: squeaked through the test; squeaks by on a limited income. This also makes sense, serving left over vegetables would manage you to squeak by on a limited budget, that's very true!



Oh, and I like this one by the American humorist Josh Billings (1818-1885)
from his poem, "The Kicker":
"I hate to be a kicker [complainer], I always long for peace,
But the wheel that does the squeaking is the one that gets the grease."

Don't you just love this? I do!

Go here to see other Photo Hunt pictures

Weekly Winners Playing inside

It was not a good week for pictures.
The weather did not cooperate, so we did not really get out much ...



The skyline of my village, this is my view from the patio.

This blackbird really likes the food I give him.
This picture was taken from inside, through the window,
and it was snowing at that time.

Playing inside ...

So desperate to get pictures that I spent hours ...

... and hours trying to capture something interesting!

I took pictures of anything... like this old eggbeater for instance.

Or my espresso!

This one is from last night when we had a bottle of Cava.

Talking hands ...


Listening ...

See more Weekly Winners at Sarcastic Mom's,
the home blog of Weekly winners.