Last pairs

My goodness, the last week of the year so the last pairs.  A big thank you to everyone who has joined me in sharing a linked pair of photos.  I have enjoyed the weekly challenge to watch out for a pair and I've loved seeing all of your lovely and varied pairs.  A weekly photo challenge is so much easier and more fun when shared.

My final pair is a before and after

My sister gave me this lovely sock creature kit for Christmas - making it was the perfect creative project for a grey and overcast Boxing day.  As my mum said - this is something I would have loved as a gift any year since I was 3! The kits are lovely and they have a great range of imaginative animals to make - I'd recommend them if you are looking for a gift for a crafty person who can use a needle - of any age - the company is sock creatures.

Looking forward to next week/year and the start of Snap.  What I have in mind is between 2 and 4 photos that create a visual set - so it might be 4 circles or 4 blue things or 4 cakes - but really part of the fun is seeing how people interpret the core idea.  I'll create a blog button for next week.

Looking forward to seeing the last round of pairs and again thank you for sharing.

Penultimate Pair

With only 2 set of pairs to go before we start on Snap next year, I was thinking if there were any kinds of pairs that I had intended to find but hadn't yet.  I have 'homophone' written on the whiteboard beside my computer because several times Miriam has shared a pair where the two images are described by the same word but with different meanings - I remember her rusty pad -lock and the lock on the canal.  So I was on the look out for a homophone pair and came across these

Looking forward to all sorts of pairs this week and wishing you all a merry Christmas.

me on Monday in December

you find me reminiscing about Christmas when the sky if bright blue and there is plenty of good light - as we approach the shortest day of the year when daylight is overcast I sought out photos of New Zealand Christmas where the daylight is longer and brighter at this time of year:

The tree is a pohutukawa and is covered in red November/December and is known as the Christmas tree in NZ and features on lots of Christmas cards.  The giant bauble was in the main square in town and provided lots of lovely reflections. The giant Santa winks - it has been displayed on that corner of the main street in Auckland for decades.

Waving to you all and hoping your build up to Christmas day is fun and stress free.

Winter photo hunt progress

I’ve been making good progress with the lovely winter photo hunt list that Eileen and Joy have created.  I’ve used items 3 (outside lighting), 8 (a wreath) and 9 (a tree that has lost all its leaves) for my last two pairs.  I’ve been collecting a few more so thought I’d share them today

I’m not sure I’ll see a living robin red breast long enough to get a good photo but 3 of the Christmas cards I’ve received feature a robin in different ways – item 1 done.

tinsel (item 2) is hard to photograph well – I’ll probably try this again in different light

another one that is hard to capture is 15 – candle light – I’ll be on the lookout for another opportunity to try this one too






I liked these stars decorating the window of a big high street story – love the cheeky style – item 4

For item 17 – a ladder – I decided to go for a different perspective and took this one looking down when I was up the ladder hanging lights in my living room.

Thanks to Eileen and Joy for the fun list.

Pair of doors

While looking for some interesting wreaths for the winter scavenger hunt I found a lovely range of styles and thought that I could use 2 for a nice pair

my own door has a gold tinsel circle because it is dark and when I tried a greenery wreath it disappeared into the shadows so I looked for something light and sparkly.

Only a pair of pairs left after this week. Several of you have wondered about next year - I'm thinking 'Snap' / '4 of a Kind'.  Some overlap with pairs but allowing for a few more photos some weeks.  What I was thinking was between 2 to 4 photos with a theme which might be a colour or a shape or an item - I could have used 4 of the wreaths that I found.  I'm sure as the year progresses we will discover other themes to use too.  what do you think?

Looking forward to all your lovely pairs this week and thank you for participating

Me on Monday in December

a big gloved wave to Sian and other Monday bloggers and readers.

I enjoyed some hot Pimms with apple juice and wander around the Christmas market in town on Saturday evening with some friends from my sign language class.

I’ve browsed the stalls a few times already, during the day so enjoyed all the lights as we wandered after dark.  The hot drinks are provided in a mug (you pay a deposit which you get back if you return the mug) so had a nice hand warmer as well as the tasty drink while wandering.  Lovely to see so many people out on a chilly evening enjoying the festive sights.

During the day on Saturday and again on Sunday I went to 2 different Christmas craft fairs – as a spectator not a vendor.  Both were so well attended that it was hard to move around and often hard to get up close to a stall for a good look without patient waiting and wriggling into any space that opened up.  Most of the stalls were either ‘things i could make’ or ‘things I don’t use’ or food.  One had some street food vans in their courtyard – I was surprised how small a niche this one was catering for – I do wonder if they can make enough selling one kind of desert

and I had to whip out my camera to capture this sight when out for a walk

look closely – did you notice the legs coming out of the bottom?  It is a man carrying a large tree – it did make me chuckle

Hope you all have a fun and festive week

Pair for the photo hunt

I managed to find a linked pair within the lovely new winter scavenger hunt created by Joy and Eileen

 

One of the few advantages of it getting dark by 4pm is that I see more of the lights on the trees by the river.  And  I do enjoy the dark branches of the bare trees on the days when we have a nice blue sky.

A good start to the hunt with 3 - outside lighting and 9 a tree that has lost all its leaves

Looking forward to all your lovely pairs

me on Monday in December

a big wave to you all and hope you are all warm and dry. 

Saturday was so wet and windy that I stayed inside but yesterday was clear so after a lovely family big breakfast at a well known garden centre cum ‘shopping experience’ I walked along the river which was full nearly to the brim

My sister, who has been flooded in the past, was on river watch but no water entered the house. 

I made good use of a day indoors, tidying away ornaments to make way for decorations

you might have noticed an unexpected selfie in there too.  Having put them all out I decided I need more tinsel so that’s where I’m off to as soon as I hit publish.

On a totally different topic – do any of my UK readers know of a supplier for guacamole without chilli?  I discovered a very tasty version when I was on holiday – heavy on garlic and lemon but no chilli and remembered that I could get it like that in NZ and loved it.  But the supermarkets that I shop in only do a version with chilli and I’d love to know if anyone in UK does a non-chilli version.  I tried searching online but only got recipes.  I know I could make my own but sometime I just want to buy it rather than play avocado roulette – I get tired of how many are not ripe or have large parts I can’t use because they are black.

Hope you all have a good week – now off on a tinsel hunt

5 in 5 at the aquarium

Another unusual sight, after the anteaters, at the parrot park in Tenerife was an aquarium featuring jellyfish – different types each with the appropriate water and light to replicate where it usually lives.  The shapes were amazing and an easy choice for my 5 in 5 this month – and thanks to Sandie for the lovely meme.  The white ones bottom right are young ones in the hatchery. 

and while we are talking things with tentacles in Tenerife – one morning when I was walking around the harbour I noticed a group of people watching something over the edge of the harbour wall so went to have a look and discovered this man preparing squid – fascinating to see the whole process and the fish in the harbour devouring the bits of skin that he threw to them

almost another 5 in 5 sneaking in here!!

pair of the peak

On my way to Tenerife I was looking out of the window, catching glimpses of ocean between the clouds when I noticed a black peak emerging from teh clouds up ahead - it was Mount Tilde - the mountain on the island and the highest peak in Spain.

Later when I was exploring the town, on clear days I could see the peack above the hills that surround the town - it looks closer than it is because of its size.

So I thought this was a type of look up and look down that I'm unlikely to achieve again - from the air and sealevel.

I enjoyed catching up on all of your pairs from the last week and know there will be lots more this week - perhaps even the start of festive pairs.