Family, Photography and other misc news
Coffee Brewing, Equipment and fun; Fountain Pens, Notebooks and Shaving Equipments and misc fashion.
Yesterday was the Spring Bank Holiday here in England. It was very hot so little got done. Here in the UK hot weather also means high humidity and our old houses do not have air conditioning and tend to hold the heat.
I took Ted the greyhound for an early walk then it was a day in the house, relaxing, reading and trying to keep cool.
There is a lovely old brick church in the South Catherine’s area of Lincoln. It was disused for quite a while but has now become a lovely community facility.
They have hosted bands, markets, Jazz evenings and for even the local Lincolnshire Rapid Chess Championship. This May bank holiday it was the Lincoln Beer Festival.
With hundred of beers available, from Imperial Porters; Stouts, Milds which are hard to come by in modern pubs, to Bitters, Amber Ale, IPA,s and a selection of world beers and lagers.
I stuck to the dark ales and stouts, and when it came to refresh my palette I would have a fresh cider.
Luckily the drinks were available 1/3 pints so I was able to try a number of beers.
I enjoyed myself and it was a good day, great weather, good food and a wonderful location.
Whenever I am in a city or town, I look out for independent coffee shops. Away from the uniform chain shops that occupy the high street I find interesting record shops, coffee shops, secondhand shops and sometimes even camera shops, yes they still exist.
Often the buildings have more character and there are often photo opportunities.
More and more companies are asking their staff to come in. I usually find a need to head into a clients office or a clients data centre once a week. This week it was Lincoln and they have a great independent coffee shop just off the high street.
A good photograph does not necessary have to be correctly exposed or sharp. A Henri Carrier-Bresson said – “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept”.
Spring is finally here in the Northern hemisphere. Lots of local events starting this weekend, so I’ll be grabbing the camera and seeing what I can find. At least one local village is having a spring fair so hopefully there will be something to photograph.
This Sunday morning was a very indulgent one.
Saturday was spent working hard in the garden trimming trees and chopping wood.
So this Sunday morning we treated ourselves. After getting up and giving the chickens their food and fresh water, it was the normal Sunday morning long dog walk.
Once home we toasted some fresh bagels, added cream cheese and smoked salmon. Opened a bottle of fine riesling wine, light and not too alcoholic, and I brewed up a couple of large lattes.
It’s February now and time to review my whisky stash. I love good coffee, red wine, fine chocolate and good whisky. I generally drink Scotch but have particularly enjoyed some French whisky recently and a rather fine single cask of Welsh whisky that was selected and bottled by SWS (Scottish Whisky Society); and I always have some Irish pot stilled whisky ready to pour a dram.
Currently my stash consists of 28 bottles unopened not counting the little 30ml sample bottles I have and 15 open bottles.
I think this year I will concentrate on reducing the open bottles and add a few of the new distilleries to my collection. I was particularly impressed by a Welsh whisky recently so I’ll also try a few English whiskies this year.
If you are ever in Lincoln and our feel strong, to make the climb up steep hill, there is a fine independent whisky shop in the Bailgate that’s worth a visit. The picture at the top of this post really does not do the hill justice. Its quite a climb.
So how well does Nikon F glass work on Z cameras. Well the answer is very well. I am still in the early days of building my Z glass collection so portraits like this one above of Carla, are often shot with my F mount Nikon 105mm f/2.8.
One of my early tests was to pop my 300mm f/2.8 F lens onto my Nikon Z7 and try some wildlife photography in the back garden.
An easy subject, two of our chickens having a walk about, but it proved the concept. Nikon glass works well, if not better on Z cameras then on F cameras.
The future is rosy and looking good, and it’s looking like Nikon.
Our oldest chicken Brenda died last night, she was still boss of the coop right up to the end. Its always sad but she had a good life.
She had a good last summer, it was just a shame the last few months she has been stuck in a enclosed run due to bird flu restrictions.
Life had been getting very busy, things were getting dropped, photography was not going well as I lost focus and interest. Then Covid happened and we all got locked down. It was then decided we would not go back to the office but would work from home. I started heading up my own team with staff to look after. I started to focus on my photography.
Before Covid for the previous few years I kept myself organised and sane with planning diaries and journaling, whether it was planning the meetings and projects ahead or planning the veg plot.
Life is getting back to a new normal, I have started planning expansion of the chicken run now that chicken lock down seems to be a regular thing each winter.
So I need to get my planning back to to scratch. Note books, digital planners, Microsoft Notes, Outlook, my Apple iCalendar all have a place, but to get things physically down on paper with a nice fountain pen I find clears my mind and reduces my worry and concerns.
On the run up to December I got out some fresh note books and started to transfer the things I needed for the work ahead. My system does change from time to time, from just one large notebook, a home and work book plus journal and sometimes a Travellers notebook for carrying around when you need to jot things down.
I am note sure how things will altogether work but I am working on it.