Some pictures must be taken, some things must be blogged. Photography and pop culture.
It’s actually only one canal–Rochdale Canal–but the plural sounds better as a title.
It runs between Sowerby Bridge in West Yorkshire and Manchester. I walked along part of it that flows through Manchester city centre and took some pictures.
Canal Street, aka Gay Village.
Lock in Canal Street.
Reflection of a typical Manchester architecture.
Tunnel.
Ducks, my old friends.
Goose posing for me.
So, what’s so special about a cloud, you’ve seen thousands of them. Hundreds of thousands of them.
Well, check it out:
It looks like a different world, a magical realm that exists in another dimension. Thanks to an incredible combination of factors and a good dose of luck, we got a glimpse of it on this Tuesday afternoon. And fortunately it happened in the time of camera phones.
But don’t attempt to look for this realm under any circumstances–you will be sucked into a void!
The nature is showing first signs of spring.
The first crocus:
And this:
That is future daffodils!
But I hear that it’s about to get cold again, of course we should have known it was too early. One thing you can’t trust is the weather.
I just hope the flowers and plants will survive it.
Snowdrops are out in my local park, which means there’s light at the end of the tunnel.
Happy February!
Photographed from my window, as usual.
Waxing crescent is my favourite moon phase.
It’s a D, as in Devil!
I was looking out of the window one day–as I do on most days–and I noticed that when a cloud covered the sun, it made it look like a white disc. I quickly grabbed my camera.
I felt so lucky I got to capture it. The clouds were moving fast.
I planned to post something else today, but then I saw this week’s Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge was Bend. I like this prompt (many, many moons ago there was a challenge like that from WordPress, remember when they used to do those?). I dug through my archives for a suitable picture; I was after one that captured a bend in the road. I found something even better:
It’s from my trip to Lyme Park in June 2021.
The reason I like this prompt is because it gives me a chance to quote my favourite heroine, Anne Shirley. At the end of the first book, Anne of Green Gables, Matthew dies and Marilla is left in a bad financial situation, in addition to her falling eyesight. Anne makes a decision to stay with her and teach school, instead of taking the scholarship to college. As she tells Marilla, before the trouble began, her life stretched in front of her like a straight road. But now there is a bend.
I don’t know what lies around the bend, but I’m going to believe that the best does. It has a fascination of its own, that bend, Marilla. I wonder how the road beyond it goes—what there is of green glory and soft, checkered light and shadows—what new landscapes—what new beauties—what curves and hills and valleys further on.
Anne Shirley, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
She continues to refer to the bend in the road throughout the rest of the series.
The Anne books are filled with so many gems, and this is just one of them.
(Also, they’re not children’s books, neither is majority of LMM’s work–but that is a topic for another day.)
I had an idea for a picture I would take if it snowed. It did snow (a bit), so I carried out my idea.
I’m partial to Elsa from Frozen. I don’t like winter or cold weather and I’m not a Disney person (I grew up in communism, we didn’t have Disney), but Elsa’s my favourite. She’s a bit distant and never had a love interest. Also, eldest daughter.
This is my contribution to this weekend’s Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge: Warning.
I had to check through my blog to see which pictures of warning signs I’ve posted already, to avoid duplication. (I like those.) This one is my latest one, from last autumn.
Funny that it’s a dangerous tree. They’re normally the good guys, and my favourites. But according to this sign, they can also be deadly!
Because I’ve not been taking pictures as I usually do, but still want to run the blog, here’s this silly snap from New Year’s Day:
If you’re gonna spray graffiti, at least make it positive! The shop the wall belongs to is a Chinese takeaway. Which should put a smile on your face just by existing.
The arrival of 2023 welcomes, among other things, all of Sherlock Holmes stories (and I think that means all of Arthur Conan Doyle’s works too, unless I’m missing some of the last ones) into public domain. You can now write and publish any Sherlock story of your own, without worrying about getting into trouble with the estate.
One of Agatha Christie’s best books, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, has also entered the public domain. All these works are available for free in digital format.
I hoped Kenneth Branagh would tackle the case for his third Hercule Poirot film, especially as he mentioned “wanting to retire to grow vegetable marrows” in last year’s Death on the Nile, but it is not so. The next instalment (which is being filmed now) is A Haunting in Venice, an adaptation of Halloween Party. It seems Poirot retired to grow vegetable marrows, not into an English village, but to Venice. (It will be a loose adaptation, as Halloween Party doesn’t take place in Venice.) Murder of Roger Ackroyd is a tricky one to adapt for screen, because of its unique twist, but it can be done. The David Suchet TV episode was unfortunately not good, but I still hope someone will do it well.
I’ve been thinking about writing a lot lately. More than usual, more than photography. Even the algorithms know, I keep seeing ads for writing classes on Facebook and Instagram. I posted three stories in quick succession over on my writing blog, to my own surprise. It turns out the secret to writing is… writing. As opposed to thinking about writing, daydreaming about fictional characters and noting down ideas. It was like discovering the pearl of wisdom. I hope to continue with it this year. I’d like to experiment with different genres.
It’s been raining almost constantly. No walks in the park, no taking pictures. I have to march in my living room to meet the steps target on my FitBit!
That’s about it for my random and weird thoughts. Have a good January.
Some Photoblog 