Thanks to Paul and Rob over the last week in their efforts with additional promotion. Much appreciated.

Well done to Strade choir in their latest venture in Paris last weekend. Shaun and crew arrived back safely, if not very tired, last Sunday night but another feather in the cap for their reputation.

Had a good evening out with the bats last week! Thanks to Dominic anad Pam for leading the group. That will be a challenge for photography in the summer...

Art / photo bits:
Sad to see the hall where I used to do my midweek art now being encroached by development. Having to use my cramped desk at home at the moment until another venue comes up.

I have now added D-rings to all work currently for sale, a task that seemed to take forever. At least everything is ready. I`m just waiting for the final enlargements to arrive from Germany then will have that framed & ready for April.

I would be interested in trialing any softboxes that might be coming up for sale (along with chromo screens etc). Please let me know if you have anything in good condition that might be going up for sale.

Will be doing some more photo work for a website over the next week or so. Tried to take some shots of Venus & Jupiter together the other night (the one night with no cloud cover or fog), but the windy conditions were not ideal for the tripod work. I am often jinxed with night work!

Last weekend I knotched up another year by celebrating my birthday with my family, tucking into a lovely carvery at the Old Bridge Inn. Letting yourself go a bit for a day or two does you no harm, so it was downhill all the way from then on.
Clearing out muck, up to my thighs, from the deep water unit at Penclacwydd on Sunday afternoon was a good bit of exercise following the hefty meal the night before, and brought me back down to earth.

As always it`s been difficult to find free time during this week, but I have framed three new enlarged photos that i`ve had back from Germany and pleased with the results. I plan to hang these at the exhibition in April. Quite a number of people have been asking me about this, and I am grateful for the feature being considered by Llanelli Town Council.

I managed to get my strawberries and raspberries in the garden this week, but had to go out with the torch in the night fog to get any gardening done! The neighbours must think i`m mad, but at least they`re in - the plants not the neighbours of course! Hope to beat last year`s limited success, as i`m no gardener.

Congratulations to local Scout master Chris Reed on being awarded his MBE by the Queen this week in recognition of 45 years working for the Scout movement. Chris is connected to Greenfield, a real character, and this award is well deserved.

April exhibition

`Lettuce plod on`

Another hectic week just gone, and some work to do over the weekend, so it looks like Friday is going to melt into Monday without having the opportunity to do any painting or photography. I am looking forward though to receiving new enlargements from a company i`m trying out for the first time. If the quality is as good as I am anticipating I will probably start using them for framing to order.

Now beginning to put together a balanced list of work to display in April. Dates will be confirmed soon.

Planted my lettuce, spring onion and carrot salad seeds by torchlight last night, along with some potatoes, as it was a "do it now before I forget again" moment!! No, not going mad, but just have been so busy doing other things. Odds on the frosts will be back soon knowing my luck!

Back to office work now in prep for Monday .....

local exhibition

It looks as though I will be able to display some photographic and art work locally now throughout the whole of April, which will be good for visitors during Easter holidays. This will be confirmed shortly.

Good luck to Strade choir in their competition and filming today in Manchester! Safe trip back tonight.

poorly bunny

This week`s weird happening ........... went to bed early on Wednesday full of cold, head pounding, etc. After managing to get some sleep I got up very disorientated, head still pounding, and wandered in to the shower.
Having come out of the shower I started to get changed for work, head still thick, then noticed that the clock showed 12.30. I was getting changed to go to work in the middle of the night! `Earth to Russ - anyone there?`

Back on planet Earth i`ve managed to do a bit of painting today, with the weather being so lousy out there. This is a `stage two` pic of a Sedge Warbler which I am painting from a photo I took the summer before last. My Daylight bulb blew, but I made some progress before the light got a a bit too poor to continue.

Back to the Lemsips and inhaling Olbas Oil tonight.

Did a bit of photography at Swiss Valley lake and then the WWT Centre yesterday morning while it was cold and crisp. New filter holder cracked on first use, so hoping to get it replaced from where it came from.

Have a busy few weeks ahead now, but when I have chance I am re-reading a biography on Queen and, believe it or not, a book on the history of Airfix! I used to love making kits when I was younger, saving my pocket money, then eventually hanging the planes from the ceiling on fishing line! Those were the days.

Should be firming up the dates for the local exhibition very soon now, and plan to put together a mix of art and photography.