Photo hunting...

Oh dear! I have struggled this month! I am really enjoying the challenge of Kathy's list of photos to find each month but May has been a tricky month! The list was not easy in itself and the last few weeks have been completely mad both at home and at work - I feel like it has been hard to get out and take photos at all! You can look at the lovely photos others have come up with on the Flickr group via the link in my side bar.

So here goes, a day late (nearly 2 days late!) but I guess that's OK?!

A butterfly...

I don't know why, but I have seen hardly any butterflies yet this year - maybe I've not been looking properly?! So, this is a bit of a cheat, but is a little shop I spotted in Norwich (to the embarrassment of son 3, who was with me when I said "Ah! stop! I have to take a picture!!!").

A bicycle...

My poor bike has not had as much fresh air as it should have done this year! But a friend and I have just made 'mid-year resolutions' (not sure I have a good track record on resolutions but can but try!) one of which is more exercise! So get ready for it bike!

A red door...

I kept seeing red doors when I either didn't have the camera, couldn't stop or felt I looked a bit dodgy snapping! Then I just spotted this one and had to snap because the battery was going on the camera...

A cartoon character...

Why did I find this so tricky?! Maybe because my boys are more or less grown up and we don't have toys all over the place any more? Then in 'The Flood' on Monday this video was one of the casualties that got soggy and as I fished it out I remembered that this was always the family favourite - the kids loved it as much as I did, great songs to sing along to! Which is probably why it was lurking in the cupboard under the stairs because even though we don't have a video player I couldn't bring myself to throw it away! Given that it was soaked in plaster-y yukky water, I have now given myself a talking to and binned it!

An emergency vehicle...

I work in a hospital! There are emergency vehicles around all the time! Our office looks out over the helipad! But I couldn't bring myself to run out in uniform snapping - might not have been very professional! So this was the best I could do - much excitement in Norwich the evening the team paraded round the city to celebrate promotion to the Championship. I have to confess to not being a big football fan but with a houseful of boys, its difficult to miss it! Although this particular evening I was just nipping into town for a birthday present and couldn't get in anywhere for barriers and people in yellow and green!!

Think vintage...

I love this tablecloth. My family on my Mum's side were originally from the East End of London and this was started by my great-grandmother before the war. During the blitz apparently my Nannie took it down into the air aid shelters and worked on it and I think my Mum finished it after the war. The embroidery is so neat - the back is almost as neat as the front. I have pretty much stopped using it because the stitching is getting so worn and I don't want it to be completely ruined. I'd love to make one myself one day - I can't find a pattern similar, so if anyone has any thoughts of where you can get them I'd love to know.

Something blue...

This was nearly my vintage picture - over the years my parents, who are in the antiques business, have given me various pieces of vintage jewellery. I love these blue pieces.

A street light..

Failed with this one! We have no street lights at all in our village and I just never got a chance to look for one elsewhere this month!

Texture...

There is so much texture around when you start looking! But in the end I plumped for this shiny, bobbly leaf on a plant called Heuchera.

A sign of the zodiac...

I'm a Gemini and when I saw this display in a remainder bookshop in the city, I had to snap it! I'm sure the guy in the shop thought I was nuts and I scurried out nearly the same colour as the cover of the book! Why is taking 'public' photos so difficult?!!

An interesting local building...

This is the Forum building in Norwich which was built to replace the city library which burnt down in 1994. It houses the Millenium Library and has cafe and exhibition space as well as the BBC studios. I think its a great social space and an impressive building.

A portrait in black & white...

I thought this would be the hardest to get but a chance moment with my lovely eldest son and Basil, the cat (they have a bit of a special relationship!) just captured the two of them exactly in the way that I think of them!

So that's my lot for today...except to say a huge thankyou to Andrea at Apples & Pears for given me a blog award! What a lovely gesture, it is nice to know that there are some lovely people out there in blog land who enjoy looking at the stuff I ramble about on here! Not entirely sure what the blog award etiquette is but think I need to give it some thought before I post about it, so watch this space! Do have a look at Andrea's blog (if you don't already!) it is full of quirky colourfulness and I think its great!

Til next time then,

Sx