PMG

Ah so you do that dance too eh?! lol! And how do you rate yr acupuncture treatment - has it worked.. did it hurt???... problem solved? - sure hope so :)

Crikey a 28yr old telly!!!!!!.. has 'Auntie' contacted you to exhibit it in their museum??? lol! :D Life!!!!... I missed it yet again!... chuffin eck I really do need to get one eh?! :(

Well as you know Yam's car was found burnt out (as you predicted) in Tadcaster, and the wonderful Direct Line sent the cheque last week during the postal strike... yep... suprise suprise it's not turned up yet! So Yam is still car-less and I'm off to Sussex tomorrow with James to visit fave Auntie Di and my Grandma - sure hope she remembers me!

The show at Stafford last weekend was fruitfull though. Best one we've had yet and we were flat out selling our wares - bloomin knackering, but worth the effort ;)

Hi P... how ya doin?

Ha! Another gal like me who knows how to squeeze every ounce of joy from life :)

Thanks for the iPlayer tip. We have it, but hardly ever sit still for long enough to watch anything all the way through (we're great film fans though <g>). I'll see if they have any archive material that's still watchable.

And yes. The cup of tea first, of course :) But I admit to forgetting about food until I've at least had a once-over.

Telly? What's that? I haven't had one for the last three decades and the Spratlet's never wanted one. It's amazing the amount of other wonderful things that rush in to fill the time and space left when you throw the TV out

Enjoyed myself writing far too much yesterday.
Spent 3 + hours in my studio unsuccessfully looking for images to add to posts, and must continue search now or Chrissy will think I'm having her on.

Hope you got to relax today and take some time for yourself after all hard work yesterday.

I think you know me pretty well already :) Only two days after nearly falling off me perch I was running around yesterday making a surprise dinner for my daughter; only to collapse back by evening feeling dreadful.

We have so few trees. Very sad. I dream of ancient forests - Brocéliande and England's finest. I'd love to lose myself for days alone in forests like that. A dear friend has offered to guide me round the NZ bush, and I will go one day, but it's huge temperate deciduous forests that tempt me most of all.

We have no limestone, but our sand dunes stand in for those. We have luscious waxcaps, and I will post some pictures soon. Plenty of good edibles of all kinds though :)

So few of the stunners I've seen on your site though.

A friend was on Springwatch earlier, but we don't have a TV. Can copies be bought on DVD?

Pauline. I never get over that feeling of excitement when I get home and load the day's pictures onto the PC. I take it it's the same with you :)

Thanks for the sympathy, I'm hardly ever ill so I'm enjoying the attention to the hilt <g>

I'm only on the steroids for three more days. I think they suspected that I was suffering a rare allergic reaction to the clavulanic acid component of the antibiotic, but rather than switch me in mid-course, they elected to damp it down with the steroids instead.

I'm rabidly anti-smoking (used to work looking at cancer cells all day, and had a big pair of lungs in formaldehyde sitting next to me - all covered in inky tar it was).

We don't have the staggering range of fungi over here as you do in England, but I can't wait to catch the last of them when I get out. Hopefully next week, and the week after, my idea of heaven - a trip to the island of Herm alone, at the low springs :)

I adore the smaller islands (no cars). Must know how to use the camera by then! I'll be practising at home first as you suggested. I'm still a bit weak, but should be starting to play by tomorrow. Can't wait :)

After having a breathing crisis and being born off back to yet another doc yesterday, I’ve turned the corner with the somewhat artificial help of a high dose of steroids. Now I need to convalesce and I will be out there trying out my new toy :)

And I too know how to hold my breath at the critical moment – I have a weakness for sniper games :)

Thanks a million for all the help.

Cheers,

Andestine

P.S. Daughter and I greatly enjoyed the fungi pictures on your site today. Some of the more visceral ones were fascinating and truly beautiful :)

Glad you enjoyed the hairspray idea. Just hoping no one will try it out for real………or maybe they have! I always thought those picturesque globules clinging to insect hairs were rain or dew-born, but maybe not ;)

And didn’t the Victorian photographers pin people to chairs for their portraits? <g>

You’re dead on about my lack of concern for keeping my clothes clean. I usually arrive home on my bike after a day’s adventures with hair and clothes covered in muddy paw marks, wet sand, sticky seed pods, leaves and whatever else the wind chose to park on me that day ;)

(Part two to follow)

I completely agree with you about buying the best camera as soon as you can, but as I'll only buy what I can pay for cash in hand, I'm relying on the fact that both sides of my family tend to live into their eighties ;)

Apart from getting a small, low powered microscope I can't think of anything else I really want in life, so most of the excess can go on photographic gear from now on. Like you, I expect it to remain a major obsession <g>

And you're right. Life is short and very beautiful, and time's a very skillful thief. You never see him coming til he's gone.

I was fearing that I'd have to buy a tripod too. But I spend hours scrambling round rocks and pathways every morning, and only my bike for transport. How can I carry it all? And how can I ever get close to my subjects if I have to set too much up? I keep on thinking that all will have flown by the time I'm ready <g> So how is it done? hairspray, maybe? <g>

Many thanks for all the tips :)

Cheers,

Andestine

I used to get sick all the time when I was married. Not so much as a cold for the ten years since I rediscovered the joys of solitude :) Currently looking into recent past actions for clues as to the cause of this setback <g>

Our bodies certainly do seem to reflect whether we're on the right path in life :)

Just two hours ago my kind and generous GP friend arrived on my doorstep bearing gifts of things for me to suck, swallow and inhale. He said my doc had given me the right antibiotic, but that personally speaking, the clavulanic acid in it made him 'vomit violently'. Ah me; more joys to come <g>

However, my angelic friend is to thank for giving me the first hour of sleep in over three days :)

Funny to think that it was almost certainly my doc who gave me the bug that triggered this illness at my last checkup <g> And all the time I was boasting to him about my years of excellent health, his microbes were busy using my open mouth as a highway ;)

Hi Pauline,

Thanks for being a friend :)

I made a final decision, and my daughter's going to buy it on my behalf in Town today. I feel so wretched with this bug that I needed something to cheer me up <g>

Canon EOS 450D Digital SLR Camera Kit

Sigma 105mm f2.8 EX DG Macro Canon Fit Lens

I won't be able to save up for a decent zoom lens for some time, but I'm far more keen on macro photography at the moment :)

I know nothing about DSLR's and have everything to learn. I won't be competing with all the fine bird photographers out there. I love spiders, insects, fungi and small marine life, so macro photography suits me fine :)

I know what you mean about getting everything out of your Nikon Coolpix. I said that once I'd done the same with the finepix series, then I could treat myself to a DSLR :)

I'll probably be plaguing you with questions in future <g>

Cheers,

Andestine