Photos to follow.

What happened next is just weird. The guy that came round to measure up had us in fits of laughter from the start and it couldn’t have been a better experience. I was totally suprised at how casual it all was and it was no problem for him to help us choose for our taste and budget.

We have to wait for them to be made and he’ll be back to fit them soon. We went for piped decoration in a luxury cotton blend with all the extra cushions and it came to about £750 which we thought was a great deal. It sounds a lot but another company who offered a copy service with no piping or extra cushions were quoting around £1000 – no fittng just postal delivery.

Plumbs is simply massive – they buy all their fabric in bulk and everything is automated in a gigantic factory so the costs of materials is kept very low. The service is great and I would recommend them to anyone thinking of new covers as opposed to new settees. They look amazing and it keeps your old settees out of landfill for a few more years!

I hope to post before and after pics as soon as the covers arrive

We have two swallows nests happily nesting in the archway between our house and the neighbours. It is a moment of pure joy to see them arrive in the spring and very sad to see them go when it gets cold.
Swallows are fierce protectors of their nests and I have seen them on numerous occasions swooping down at an unsuspecting cat in an agressive fashion (including my own cat). Every morning I can see them through the bathroom window as the perch on the telephone wire preening themselves in readiness for the day’s hunt of flying insects.

Here is a marvellous peom about swallows from just over the boder.

The Swallow
The swallow, bonny birdie, comes sharp twittering o’er the sea,
And gladly is her carol heard for the sunny days to be;
She shares not with us wintry glooms, but yet, no faithless thing,
She hunts the summer o’er the earth with wearied little wing.

The lambs like snow all nibbling go upon the ferny hills;
Light winds are in the leafy woods, and birds, and bubbling rills;
Then welcome, little swallow, by our morning lattice heard,
Because thou com’st when Nature bids bright days be thy reward!

Thine be sweet mornings with the bee that’s out for honey-dew;
And glowing be the noontide for the grass-hopper and you;
And mellow shine, o’er day’s decline, the sun to light thee home:
What can molest thy airy nest? sleep till the day-spring come!

The river blue that rushes through the valley hears thee sing,
And murmurs much beneath the touch of thy light-dipping wing.
The thunder-cloud, over us bowed, in deeper gloom is seen,
When quick reliev’d it glances to thy bosom’s silvery sheen.

The silent Power, that brought thee back with leading-strings of love
To haunts where first the summer sun fell on thee from above,
Shall bind thee more to come aye to the music of our leaves,
For here thy young, where thou hast sprung, shall glad thee in our eaves.

Thomas Aird 1802 – 1876

The rooftop terrace is beginning to look more friendly with the addition of some furniture and plants are to follow.

Photo montage is basically merging more than one photograph together to make an entirely different photographic image.

You can have a lot of fun with this technique duping your friends and family!

Oh No! This wedding photo was a disaster but with the powers of Photoshop it can all be mended.

I can do an awful lot with old snaps. Get backgrounds enhanced, colours modified and improve the overall tone of  images.

Spent all day in a friend’s house after walking the dogs while he went snoozing. This is his artwork published today on you tube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSJaI_Bfhtg

I really hope you like it – it’s where I live and it’s totally wild.