It is time
And about time too.

I took a little trip down Davis Lane and saw that at last the Blackthorn blossom was out.

Nearly April. What is happening to the flowers this year?

I have seen it blooming in February other years.

Foretelling the setting in of a cold spell.

The Blackthorn Winter as some old country folk used to call it; because it always seemed to bring with it 

a little frost and cold winds to remind us that it is not spring yet.

This time last year the Bullace tree sucker, that I rescued from my G.G.G. Grandmothers garden; (Mary's garden as it is marked on the Tickenham Tithe Map) on the hill just below Cadbury Camp. The family having moved over from Portbury and taken a 99 year lease from Clevedon Court in 1814. It had flowered and was way past its best.
This year the leaf buds are just beginning to show. Well over a month behind last years timing. Is it because the milder winters are resulting in later springs? 

Mainly I think because the leaves stayed on the trees for longer and it takes a time for the trees to sort themselves back into the time for the sap to start to rise.

Done, Done, Done.

Should I say At Last? After all it took only 5 days to perform the miracle. Miracle at least to myself, 4 days of doing the installation; then on Friday along came the man to lay the floor. Half an hour and it was done. He then offered to move the freezer, a job I had been dreading because of the lop sided weight.  Out came some little pads and freezer and box stand moved like magic along and into position. He then did the same for the fridge and tumble drier. Magic was the word for it; to me.

I contacted Clevedon Domestics and they will connect the washing machine Thursday. Noel had come up and put the pipe connections on Friday afternoon and so I am now complete. 

FWJ Property Maintenance Services you have done me a real favour as also has Alliance Housing.

Almost finished.

Almost done.

Electricians came this morning and fitted me a fluorescent light and extraction fan. Tiles were placed yesterday and the gaps between them filled this morning. The floor will be done Friday and then I can contact Clevedon Domestics and get the washing machine set up.
I now have three wall cupboards each with shelves whereas previously I had three with no shelves. 

Three spaces below for the washing machine, fridge and freezer. each with an electric socket. Plus two double sockets above.

A dropped section on the other side where I can place my Recycle box beneath.
The cooking etc. side; to accommodate my Vonshef griller oven and hot plates. Plus of course the microwave and the Halogen cooker and my bread maker. That side also with two double sockets . 

 

Why didn't I think of this before. 

Here are the top 15 of my downloads from Morguefile.
I have had the screen capture device for years and use it frequently. Yet it had never previously entered my mind to be able to capture the multiple pictures as a whole on morguefile.com
I must be slowing up mentally to have taken so long to realise the chances. 

Speedy work

                                 From the Tuesday arrival of the future contents

In three days I was amazed.

My Kitchen is being transformed. FWJ Property Maintenance Services who work for Alliance Homes don't hang about.
This is the third day of work and it still requires tiles setting round the middle sections of the wall and the electric light and an extractor fan installing but it is like a palace to me. 
I shan't recognise myself when I can start using it on Friday afternoon.
Having thrown out my old Electric cooker I am now using microwave and Homegear Halogen 
cookers for half the electricity costs with a Vonshef addition for brewing my coffee. 
They took this in their stride with a little shelf half way down to give me sight control with my Vonshef griller and oven. 
My conversion of the broom closet stayed without problems also the shelf I fitted years back above the door to carry all my cook books.
3 star works? More like 10 star.

Hoorah

Well the work has started on my kitchen refurbishment. The old stuff was ripped out very fast and new electric points installed.

The wall in the left corner shows a lot of trouble from the water leak from the bathroom stop tap and pipe. Seems the water must have been leaking for quite some time. If it had gone the other way to where there was a bare wall in the bathroom, it would have shown up a lot earlier.
Had a visit from the bosses and they say it will be finished by mid-day Friday.
Seems very odd to me - when they re-did the electric points they had to rip out the old wall points and switches because it was all buried in the wall. What are they doing now with the re-wiring?
Burying it in the wall again from the conduits on down.

Had a go at converting some pix I took a few years back into simulated watercolours of Crab Apple Blossom. 

I like trying different methods to diffuse the effect of sharpness.

I find that Paint Shop Pro's Salt and Pepper filter works well. Requires a little shuffling back and forth though to get the degree required.

Image is first reduced in size, then P & S filter is applied.
I can't make up my mind which is the better of pix 1 and 3.
I'll maybe have another go at the originals.

I joined a Royalty Free site just over 10 years ago. www.morguefile.com It had been started by 2 brothers as a commemoration site for their parents who were teachers at a care school. People could use the pictures at no cost for anything bar stand alone use. In other words they could put them on a website, use them for a leaflet; make them into book covers; or simlar. What they could not do was to use them as photo prints, or as posters for sale.

It very rapidly took on as a first class site for folk who wanted to use pictures but could not afford to pay out sums of money for the use of them; Charities, Church publications, Book Covers for first time publishers etc. When I got my first digital camera I decided that as it was costing me nothing – bar electricity – to take pictures I would join them.

Now as my friends know I am an inveterate taker of Steam Train pictures; and until age made me give up Rugby Union action shots. Selections from all my pictures rapidly followed, as well as photos of my home town and the general area.
Last autumn I realised that my downloads were approaching 500,000 and had hoped to have reached the half million mark by Christmas. This didn’t happen but now I find I am only a couple of hundred downloads from reaching my target. I feel I must mention here that although it seems a fabulous number to me, to the leaders of the field on the website it is nothing. They count in the million plus mark.

                                             Here is the top choice 4,088 downloads

Second is this shot of a country lane that has been used many times as a "Can you copy/paint this into a picture?" 

3,243 downloads

Third is this shot very similar to the first one. 2,477 downloads

Fourth the little "Toadstool" house at Druid Stoke  1982 downloads

and fifth is the shot of a double header steam loco 1,961 downloads.

Altogether I have 14 pix that have reached the thousand and over downloads, with a few more approaching them. 

I post under the pseudonym jusben so if by any chance you are looking for pictures you can use dive in.
I checked Saturday morning and find I have reached my Half-million downloads and 55 more.