June 24th, 2007
I thought instead of a moan or groan it was about time I said something cheerful about my life.
This week sees the start of Wimbledon, my favourite time in the sports calender. I am an avid follower of the sport and thoroughly enjoy sitting down with some strawberries and evaporated milk (not a fan of cream) to watch this famous tennis fortnight. My Nan (who sadly passed away last year) was a great fan and I used to go round her flat and we used to watch as many matches as possible. My Nan was very hard of hearing so she used to have the TV really loud so it always felt that you were on Centre Court, she always had her firm favourites, we always had a good giggle and discuss the winners. I miss her especially round this time of year, wherever she is I am sure she will be watching Wimbledon with her bowl of tinned strawberries 
I wonder if they will get through the first week without too many postponed matches. I shall keep my fingers crossed for all British hopefuls and hope that we aren’t knocked out in the early stages.
Hope you’ll enjoy the tennis as much as me
Magenta x
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June 18th, 2007
Why do the weekends seem to go by so quickly? I think that we should have a shorter working week so that we can enjoy our weekend and have time to relax and chill. I for one cannot cope with getting up early in the morning and only having 2 lie-ins per week.
It feels that life in just passing me by, yet I have got another 33 years before I retire (that’s if they don’t increase the retirement age). It maybe just that I am unhappy at work and the moment and don’t have time to breath, but hopefully that will improve in the next few weeks. The Kman and I only have 10 weeks until we are off work again 
Keep Smiling
Magenta xx
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June 14th, 2007
It has been a very wet day in Northampton today, so much so that one of the main routes in Northampton was closed because the road had collapsed. My office at work has sprung a leak over the doorway, so I am currently stepping over a washing up bowl that is catching the raindrops
It looks as if we have got this weather for the rest of the weekend.
Its nearly Wimbledon (my favourite time of year) so we are guaranteed a downpour for that fortnight at least.
A few months ago they were talking about a heatwave hotter than last year, at the moment it looks as if that may not materialise, which doesn’t really bother me as I don’t cope too well in very hot weather, as long as it doesn’t rain too much I’ll be happy.
Must dash got to go and find my wellies
Magenta x
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June 11th, 2007
I finally found the time over the weekend to have a go at some HDR photography. I photographed in total 3 individual flowers, but found the one below to be the best one. You can click on the thumbnail image below to view the full size photograph. The photo was taken with a Nikon D70 digital SLR camera with a Tamron SP AF 90mm 1:1 macro lens attached, lighting was natural sunlight.
I took in total 7 differently exposed images to make up the one shown above. The images were HDR combined using Photoshop CS3. Initially I didn’t see a great difference between a regular photo and my HDR image. It wasn’t until I tried to create an image the same as the one above using any of the regular RAW photographs that I took. It just simply wasn’t possible. I either found that the Whites became burnt out or that the shadows were too dark, in short there just wasn’t enough Dynamic Range within one RAW image. So I am proud to say that my first HDR (High Dynamic Range) photo was a success and now I have the bug I will try and post some more as I take them. I want to try out some pictures with clouds in next.
Kman.
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June 6th, 2007
The Kman and I have just had a week off work. We have had a lovely break from the drudgery of our working lives. Kman has worked hard on the bathroom which is nearing completing after nearly a year ( we literally had to rebuild the walls and we had a problem with the new tiles). I have been pottering around the house and I managed to make a number of birthday cards as we have a lot of birthdays in June.
Yesterday (5th) as the weather was glorious we went to two country parks in the local area and had a fantastic afternoon walking round soaking up the sun, I managed to soak up more than the Kman (I burnt the back of my neck ). Today’s weather was not as good so we decided to do a spot of tidying up and making some important decisions about our house.
Not looking forward to gettng up early tomorrow, mind you it’s only for 2 days and then it’s the weekwnd and it’s forecast to be glorious.
Magenta x
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June 4th, 2007
This book was recommended to me by Kman’s sister who brought the book for a couple of friends as presents. This book is an account of Constance’s (Clare) life as child growing up in London. Constance was physically and mentally abused by her mother from a very early age and continued until Constance left to go to University aged 21.
It is hard to believe that a mother would be so cruel to one of her children and cause such horrendous injuries. This book finishes when Constance starts university but I have just looked on Play.com and the second book “Beyond Ugly” is being released early next year.
I found this book very moving and very hard to put down. I finished it in a couple of days.
Score: 8/10
Magenta x
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June 3rd, 2007
This book was bought for me by the Kman for Christmas and I have just got round to reading this. I found this book quite hard going and didn’t realise until the end that it was based in a true story.
The story is written around the event of the American Civil War and around two main characters; Carrie McGavock and Zachariah Caswell. Carrie lives in big house in a town called Franklin, which is taken over by the Confederate Army as a hospital, she has to deal with the horrors of the war as the injured soldiers are brought to her house for medical attention. Zachariah Caswell is an injured solider who wants to die but is saved by Carrie.
Again I don’t want to give too much away in this review but I did enjoy the book as it showed the courage of Carrie and how she dealt with the Civil War and how she is remembered to this day for work she did for those soldiers slain in the war.
I will give this book 6/10
Magenta x
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