Job news!

He has a job! A temporary agency job, but a job! It's an on-going contract, starts at 4.30 (with a half hour drive first) but we're now hoping this will see us through until the DVLA know how to re-issue his HGV licence. The money isn't brilliant compared to what he used to earn - barely above the legal minimum, but it's more than he's been getting in JSA (erm, nothing!) so result. At last! Such a relief. :-D *BIG cheesy grin* In fact HUGE cheesy grin. So why am I not jumping for joy too? Relief at something does very strange things to your mind/stomach, doesn't it?
Off shopping now to get him some boots, clothes and lunches.
Speak soon.
xxxx

ETA: Except that "on-going contract" doesn't really mean on-going.... :-( What it does mean is that the agency has an on-going contract to supply drivers when the company need them; and that the need can change, not on a weekly or even daily basis, but seemingly hourly! Ah well. R did a days work. He said it was hard (after a year of not going out to work) but that he enjoyed it. The agency called about 6.45 pm to say the company wanted him back. They then called about 9.00pm to say it was cancelled! It now seems that the agency called at 4.45am - to say they wanted him after all maybe? Who knows! We didn't hear the phone. xx

I lurve Autumn

No photo's, no long rambling speeches. Just saying! :-D
xx

Playing with camera settings

I've been reading Shimelle's camera school and finally taken my camera settings out of Automatic. It's a bridge Fuji 2750 that was bought for DH but that I've "stolen" because of the scratch on my camera lens. I'm loving it...

Here's what I took over the weekend:

First is the by-wash on the canal. The moving water has always stumped me and been out of focus. The settings on this were ISO 100 and aperture set at 9.00.

And then this one. The settings were at ISO 400, aperture 4.8

I'm so pleased with this. Once I really get used to using the settings I hoping it will look even better.
And then these:

The settings here were: ISO 64 and aperture 3.1
Then this one which is too dark (there was one that I couldn't even see the flower........ ISO was 100 and aperture was 6.4.

And finally this one where the aim was to get the raindrop in focus and the background out of focus - almost achieved! :-D The closest I've ever got so I'm delighted with this - wonder how far I can enlarge this? The settings were: ISO 64 and aperture 3.1 which, as I'm sure you've noticed, are the same as the first one and I think my other problem is that my hands have a tendency to shake when I'm taking photos, if I have nothing to rest on. I don't know what the answer is. I've thought, obviously, about a tripod, but don't want to have to cart one around with me everywhere; although you can get smaller ones I don't think I'd get some of the spontaneous photos if I had to set up a tripod first. I do try to tuck my elbows in to my body and it does seem to help a little. I know I have a long way to go yet, but do feel that I am finally getting there. It's odd because when we used a film SLR camera I had no problems!
I've taken a fair number of photos this week and beginning to feel like I need to scrap some of these, so who knows! I may even have some crafting to share next week!
I've been feeling more positive the last few days. Nothing in particular has changed, so I don't know what's happened to me, but I'm trying to find something positive in every day. Even if it's something as simple as a visitor thanking me - it's positive, isn't it? It's a good thing? It's not life changing on it's own, but added together over the week it can only be good?
Thanks for dropping by. Please feel free to leave a comment?
Speak soon. Jude.x

Just sharing a couple of photographs

Morning
Really need to be upstairs getting ready for work, but wanted to share these photos with you. After months of hardly any rain, in what is supposedly the coldest summer since 1993, although I remember quite a few days where it's been so hot when I got in the car I've had to open all the windows and wait for the car to cool down before I could bear to drive home, we finally had rain. This is memorable because the canal was getting very short of water; not helped by kids opening the paddles on the lock gates and emptying both the Tapton pound and the following week, doing the same at the Bluebank pound! We have them on CCTV, the EA told police they committed some offence or other, but we still don't hold out any hope of them ever being caught! :-(

Anyway! Here's a photo from the day after a whole night of heavy rain. There had been nothing over this by-wash for about three weeks, so we were almost jumping for joy at this sight!

And then on Tuesday night DS2 came down wanting the camera.. He went outside and took this photo. I was almost expecting Will Smith to come walking down the road dragging an alien in a parachute! Look at that cloud. Doesn't it remind you of "Independence Day" just before the alien space ship appears from the cloud? LOL Wishful thinking maybe? :-D Unfortunately yesterdays weather didn't bear out the old saying "Red sky at night....." Yesterday was very dull and overcast!
Anyway. Must go and get ready for work. Thanks for looking. Speak soon
Jude.x

Bank Holiday Weekend Waffle!

First Bank Holiday Weekend this year that I haven't worked. Could have really done with the overtime I'd have got, but if I'd had to go in the bathroom once more I think I might have slit my wrists.... not that the blood would have been noticeable or anyone would have found me for months! :-) It was baaaaaad! Why do (MY) men not see the dirt? It's taken me most of the day - although admittedly I have stopped for 3 cups of tea - I needed a break! The floor area of this bathroom, by the way, is about 5' x 5'............... :o
I have a chicken in the oven for tea. Not decided yet what to do once it's cooked. R will probably be happy with chicken and chips, as will DS1. DS2 will be happy with pasta, sauce and chuck some chicken in it. Me? Actually I fancy rice - fed up of potatoes, and certainly chips; sometimes I think that's all R can cook! :-(  I could do a Roux sauce and throw the chicken in that. R would eat that with chips or mash. But we are getting into the realms of a bloomin' hotel restaurant again.
I've been doing some more on my family tree. Getting stuck now. I really need to get some certificates to get any further. One family seems to have appeared out of nowhere in the early 1840's! No births or marriage for the parents. Maybe they weren't married? Or married to other people? If I could afford the certificate for my GGgrandmother I'd find her mothers maiden name and hopefully that would give me a clue to follow.
R had an interview last week, for a driving job. I'm a bit annoyed as the employer interviewed everyone who applied based on ...."If people take the trouble to apply the least I can do is meet them" Unfortunately the same principle doesn't apply to letting people know they haven't got the job. Financially we really needed it, but as it was based over an hours drive, on the motorbike, away from here I'm a bit relieved. We're still waiting to hear what the system is going to be for R to get his Class 1 back, but are hopeful it's going to be soon.
The rain we have been needing for the canal finally arrived this week. We had got to the point that the Trip boat cancelled their last two trips last week, but everything seems to be fine again. And yet some people at work are now complaining that there is too much; as it's the same person who blamed me for letting a boat use the canal I've decided to just ignore him as much as possible. I could complain for England, but he would still beat me; he'd complain for the world and win gold - and get told how clever he was to win! :-p

And a couple of photos. We've had this little fella a year now. Look how he's changed!

In the first photo he's 2 months old, in the second he's a year old. His personality hasn't changed at all. Still as mad now as he was then. He's not grown very much as you can see. He is so like a dog we had a few years ago; like a miniature version except that Max was mostly brown with a bit of Alphies ginger colouring. Just like Max, Alphie can jump about five times his height, from the floor using all four legs straight up, flops on the floor on his side and uses his legs to push himself round the rug; chases cats (although Alph hasn't climbed a 6 foot fence yet) and protects us and "rounds us up" when we go out for a walk.
Thanks for popping by. Speak soon. Jude.x

Crafting..

Morning! And what a beautiful one it is too! The sun is shining; there are wispy clouds in the sky; but I have to work today! :-( Lets hope we don't get 'orrible kids in today who run riot while "mummies" sit outside drinking tea and gossiping! :o Kids were touching everything in the VC, standing by the customer counter passing their hand over the reflector to add up the numbers (well, I would have let two or three go, but I reckon they added 50 between them before I saw and stopped them - it's our justification for being there, and false numbers doesn't help because it reduces the "spend per customer"!) then I saw that they were hanging onto each other while they tried to reach the water in the canal! Was it so wrong of me to hope that one of them fell in?!!
Anyway! Enough. Had a fairly good week for a change. We had an art event and made our own version of a Well Dressing; Google if you don't know about Well Dressings; they are special to Derbyshire! We used clay, but tissue paper instead of flower petals. A colleague was running the event but I drew the pattern for her. It's a boat on the canal, and I think the kids got carried away with grass and flowers but we are really pleased with how well it turned out. See for yourself:

And then I was asked to make a card. For a young lady who likes ACDC, Queen and works in a perfume shop! Blimey! That wasn't easy. But the guy I made it for seemed pleased enough with it.

The album covers were downloaded from the internet. The figure is a free "Litle Musings" by SJ, a while back. Click the word Musings to go to her website. I love her stuff, and once R is working again will be buying lots of her digital images. The figure was purple originally, but I think my printer must be out of an ink - probably blue - and it came out this deep pink. I was going to bin and start again, but realised that it would go perfectly with this colour card, and the album covers I'd printed. So happy mistake. But must remember to go and check those ink cartridges before I try to print anything else.

The other good news is that R has had an interview this week! Yay! In many ways I hope he doesn't get the job! Yes, I know he's been out of work for 9 months now, but we aren't costing the country anything because he no longer gets JSA. But it would mean a journey of an hour each way every day. That's on the bike, if he took the car (when the weather is bad I sometimes get the bus and he uses the car) it could be upwards of an hour and a half. The shifts are weird too - one week it seems he'd work 4 days, then the next two weeks 6 days and then..... well! I'd lost it by then and have no idea. I do know that it'd work out we only had a weekend together about every 6 or 8 weeks, with me doing alternate weekends. But. It's a job. With his Class 1 licence imminent I do think maybe we'd be better just hanging it out for another 6 weeks. A Class 1 job would be much better for him (he gets back problems). And more likely to find something closer to home too. I think he'll take it if it's offered though.... he's a useless housewife! :-)
Need to go and get ready for work. Speak soon.
Jude.x

Back again!

Hi there.
Thanks to everyone who pops by to see what I've been up to. It's rarely anything very exciting is it. But it's how my life is at the moment, and I am beginning to think that it's just a temporary blip in the grand scheme of things. I actually managed to drag myself, and R out of the house today. It was the "Official Grand Opening" of the canal trust's new building - very much "how good are we", but hey! Why not? There were the usual long boring speeches that no-one could hear, and probably wouldn't have listened to if they could - some people could 'drone' for England and win Gold... :-D We also have a bit of a wander along the canal, and it turned out to be a lovely way to spend a couple of hours on a Saturday morning.
Some photos to share again - taken with R's camera because of the scratch on mine. I just don't know what to do - I feel so bad that I didn't look after mine properly and now I can't use it. :-(
So here we go. Some of these will be in the August pages in my diary (which I've shown before and is similar to the Smash! books that are all the rage just now), just haven't decided which ones yet. Which are your favourites?

Here's Alphie playing at parrots - sat on R's shoulder! :-)

And Florence who used to do the same during thunder storms and now acts like a disapproving elderly Aunt - definitely not amused!

 My garden. I couldn't even begin to show photo's of the whole garden this year - as friends will know, it's been a bad year emotionally, and it's the garden that has really suffered. But every now and again I look out of the door and see things like these, which prompt me to get out and do a little bit - even if it's only 10 minutes.
This is a Patio Rose, and one of the first plants I bought when we moved here. Isn't it pretty?

And R took this photo. The "boys" didn't know what it was, or that the "eyes" aren't actually eyes, but marking to scare off predators. It's an Elephant Hawk Moth Caterpillar. Isn't it magnificent? Go and Google the Moth too.

And Then... a baby Ladybird. Honest. This ugly little thing turns into a Ladybird..... Amazing! Not sure if it'll be clearer if you double click because I always reduce (pixel-wise) my photos to discourage them from being stolen. It's there roughly middle of the photo, just to the left of the leaf, on a little piece of wood.

And then the opening. Sad.... I know who everyone is in this photo. Guys in Purple are my colleagues - and one of the bosses in the Khaki, wearing sunglasses, at the back. Then there are boat crew, local councillors, Trust members and the mayors driver! LOL

This is where we went for a walk. R not very well so we didn't go far - probably only about a mile, but it was nice to get out because I wanted to not because I had to for work.
It doesn't look it, but the canal towpath is actually very busy - I think I got lucky when I took this.

And then the boats in the lock waiting for the lock to drain so that they could go through. It was a bit of a nail-biting moment because we're waiting for new lock gates, and there was a chance that these weren't going to play nice and open today! They paddles were, apparently, a little stiff, but the gates opened like a dream. So I was told. The boats went through and everyone was happy. I think we'll be happier once the gates are built and replaced.

That's it for now. Thanks for looking. Back soon. Jude.x