A walk - and swans - in the sun

Although the weather has not been good overall in the UK, with storms and high winds, flooding and all sorts of disruptions, here in Somerset we've had the odd nice sunny day in-between.

Sunday was one such day and we went for a walk around the town, taking in Wells Cathedral and the Bishop's Palace and moat.  The cathedral looked gorgeous in the sun.

There is a wrought-iron lamp by the cathedral, with sign-posting attached, telling visitors which way to go to see the various attractions.

The Bishop's Palace moat swans are famous for ringing a bell to ask for food.  But we have another, different swan in the moat now - it is a sculpture of a swan resting on a metal nest, by Ian Marlow, which was part of the artist-decorated swans which graced the streets of Wells to celebrate the Queen's 60th anniversary.  They were sold at auction, and the proceeds gone to charity. This swan was bought by a consortium of ordinary Wells people who wanted to keep it in the moat.  I contributed to the funds.

I love the patterns made by the ripples in the water, and the way they reflect the light, especially on a beautiful sunny day.

There were also some fascinating textures around - peeling chains, frosted leaves.

And after those observations, when I turned round to look at the swan again, he was off....

Good-bye swan!  I hope we will get some more sunny days to visit the moat this winter.

Happy New Year to everybody!

Alicia

A view from my street

From time to time I take photos of views from my street, often from just outside my front door.  I have taken images of the huge moon - with a tripod -, of wonderful rainbows; and interesting light effects.

Last night there were some of those - interesting light effects at the bottom of the street, soon after dusk.  I like the contrast between the dark trees, the light lower sky, and the yellow light of the lamp, illuminating some of the houses in the next street.  Here are a couple of the pictures I took.

Blue and orange are opposites in the colour wheel, so they complement each other very well. 

Alicia

Happy Solstice, Christmas and New Year!

I wish you all a warm and cosy Christmas and a creative and successful New Year!

Peace in the world and good weather!

Alicia

My gallery of map quilts at West Country Quilt Show 2013

Here are some photos of my gallery of map quilts at the West Country Quilt Show, at the end of November.

Two views of the same sky

Today there was one of those amazing sunset skies.  Here are two of the pictures I took, with my new small but powerful camera.

First there is a view of the whole sky from where I stood, taken with the widish angle of the camera lens.  The predominant colour, for me, is pink.

Then, I focused on the bottom right quadrant of the sky shown in the above photo, using the telephoto end of the lens.  This is what I got:

The predominant colour now is orange.  It all has to do with light levels and the way the camera perceives it.  It is a fascinating subject!  But for the moment, just enjoy the photos - it may rain tomorrow...

Alicia