Morocco Blue 2011 Calendar

While the rain was endlessly pouring yesterday, I was transported back to the bright clear African skies and blues of Morocco as I worked on the layout of my Morocco Blues 2011 Calendar.  After much tweaking of the numbers as I found that many of them were very hard to read on the sometimes busy backgrounds I was done.  Then I noticed that two of my months were wrong!  I had started May on the wrong day and somehow lost two days from November so I had to ungroup all the groupings in InDesign, make my adjustments and remake the PDFs.  Done.  Not done actually, as I luckily had my brain engaged and remembered that the layout for this current calendar had been made over the top of the Floral calender which I have listed in my shop.  So I had to delve into the layouts for those two (the one in the case and the loose leaf version), make the edits, remake the PDFs again, chuck out the wrong pages from my two fully made up versions, and for once be very grateful that I hadn't sold something.  It would have been extremely embarrassing to sell someone a calender where the dates were wrong.  Phew.

When I'd sorted out my errors I printed a test version and was very happy.  The next stage was to photograph the finished item but it was as dark as dusk at about 3pm as the rain bucketed and the thunder crashed and boomed.  So I gave up that plan for the day!  This morning although not exactly a blazing August day at least looked like daylight and I managed to take a few product shots when I returned home after my (hard) yoga class.

And after all that work here it is!

Morocco Blues 2011 Desk Calendar in a Clear Case by Eyeshoot Photography

The joys of the English Summer.....

We're in the middle of quite a storm at the moment!

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Location: Manchester, United Kingdom

Delicous and very wicked fish and chips.

We had an impromptu meet up with friends last night.  We ended up at the newish fish and chip shop down the road where Peter and I hadn't been before despite it getting very good reactions from friends.  I didn't really want to go as I'm in one of my sporadic trying not to be a total pig periods where I am generally careful about what I eat when I go out, try to exercise as much as possible and try to stay off the booze.  I've been at it for a week and it's all going well.  I went to the gym in the morning and been very productive and according to my heart rate monitor had burned a handy 900 calories or so (I don't usually go on a Tuesday, but as it turned out, it was just as well as no gym would have definitely been a no no for fish and chips!).  After a discussion lasting for about two minutes we ended up at Frankie's Fish Bar and it was really very good. 

The décor is nice and simple with a real feel of a traditional fish restaurant.  The menu is pleasingly small and there's a tiny offering of wine, but we had tea and ginger ale instead.  We all went for the cod and chips which came with home made Tartar sauce and a wedge of lemon - the (Heinz) ketchup, salt & vinegar were on the table.  The seats are at the front of the tiny shop, the hot and smelly frying stuff is right at the back which is a very thoughtful layout as you don't end up hot and smelly during your meal.  If you want a take away you just queue (and queue they did) down the side of the shop.

There's some serious frying history behind this modern chippy, Frank Hayes, the grandfather of the current Frankie's people opened his first fish and chip shop in Stockport in 1949 and served meals there for 19 years! From here he was in the business in one form or another for many years. I think that it's great to have the latest product from such a long and successful line of fryers just down the road!  My waistline might disagree though......


The meals when they arrived were seriously impressive, the fish was golden, crisp and BIG.  Inside the cod was perfectly white and steamy hot and the batter was very nice indeed.  The chips were perfect, no little slimy grey offering here, just golden yumminess.  I ate almost every morsel!

Frankie's Fish Bar
178 Burton Road
West Didsbury
M20 1LH
0161 445 3300

Yellow and White Daisy

Here's one of the pictures which I've included in my new Floral Calendar for 2011.  It's a photograph which I took a couple of years ago when I spent a lovely afternoon taking pictures in the beautiful garden of friends in Cheshire.  I've retreated it with some gentle textures to make it look a little battered which I think suits the flower (NOT a weed!) very well!  It's now available in my shop as a print as well as part of my calendar.

Yellow and White Daisy by Eyeshoot Photography

New 2011 Floral Desk Calendar

Today I've finished the layout and design for my first 2011 calendar.  It's a floral themed one with one sheet per month with a full sized image on each, it is available in a clear CD case, just like last years.  I've also been working on the layout for a loose leaf one which uses the same pictures in the same order, but each page is a little larger than the ones which fit in the case. 

2011 Floral Desk Calendar by Eyeshoot Photography - Introductory Price $25

Next up will be one with my Morocco Blue photos.

One day, Two Etsy Front Pages, Seven Sales!

It's been a good few days in Etsy land!  Someone enquired about an enlarged print and I explained about my A3 and 20x30 inch prints which are sizes I've previously offered and then she asked if I could make a 40x60 inch print which is MASSIVE and the answer was 'yes'.  I'll be picking the print up from the lab on Monday or Tuesday and I can't wait to see how my Path Through Moss print will look.  I'm now offering this size in my shop - the listing is here should you be interested.

We had a very busy day yesterday making lunch (roast tomato soup with basil oil and olive croutons, salad Nicoise, cheese) which went on till about 5.30, then two sets of friends popped round and we didn't go out as planned as I wasn't in the mood to eat out, so we drank lots of wine, finished off the cheese and sourdough and I russled a few edibles togeterh from the fridge and we chatted and nibbled till midnight. 

When in bed I checked my email and discovered that my work had been on two Etsy Front Pages that evening and that I had made six sales to one person - hurrah!  I'll be busy making prints on Monday.....

Here are the Front Pages:

Before The Wish By Curbside Treasure

You can see my Lanterns and Star Note Card here

Etsy Manchester by Yellow Squirrel

You can see my Spring Cherry Blossoms Print here

Thanks to both clever curators for including my work in their lovely Treasuries!

Lavender Outside

Lavender Outside, originally uploaded by Eyeshoot Photography.

Lavender Jug and Pot

Lavender Jug and Pot, originally uploaded by Eyeshoot Photography.

The sun shone.....

Lavender Jug, originally uploaded by Eyeshoot Photography.

We had a lovely weekend with friends in Henley, much excellent food was consumed and wine imbibed. The sun shone, the dogs were friendly and the pool warm.

This pretty jug of lavender was in our bedroom - how could I resist!

Summertime, and the living is easy....

It's been a lovely afternoon by the pool!




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The weekend starts here....

Fizz on the terrace in the evening sunshine with friends. A very good way to end the week!




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Fish and chips for supper.

We've had a very nice, and very greedy evening with our young chums Victoria and Paul partaking in a fish and chips binge. I love fish and chips but it's one of those things (like Cadbury's Swiss Gateaux) of which I limit my intake to a couple of times a year. I always manage to eat all of my chips and any leftovers too. Heinz ketchup is essential, as is salt and vinegar. I'd rather poke my eyes out than eat mushy peas or gravy. Now I feel utterly stuffed, but I spy a big bag of Maltesers by the kettle....

I'm off for a lie down now.





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A beautiful Treasury.

How's this for a stunning Treasury!  I've stopped posting each one which features my work as to be honest, there are too many, but I'll still be showing off the ones I think really stand out and this one certainly does.  My Love in a Mist print has been featured.  I think that the colour palate here is stunning, really fresh and unusual.  Those coconut lime verbena soaps look good enough to eat, rather like coconut ice!

A Hint of Green

by Erica Daley

Lunch at Love 2 Eat on Burton Road - Take Two.

I posted a little review of a lunch at a local cafe - Love 2 Eat a while back, you can see it here.  It had been a nice enough pit stop, a first visit to a new venue, but there were a few little things which just stood out for me and spoiled what would been a pretty good lunch.  Anyway, recently I had an email from the owner who had read my review and wanted to invite me and some guests back for another try!  I was very impressed with her response and one day when we had a friend over on a work day, I booked us in and off we went.

We were greeted with great friendliness and shown to a table which had been reserved for us, just inside the door with lots of room to spread out.  The lovely array of cookery books were there and I did get a good look at the Moro one this time!

I went for a baguette which is what I had last time, but on this occasion I chose the hot roast chicken filling as I've always got a soft spot for a bit of roast chick, and I could see them slowly and juicily turning in the rotisserie at the back of the tiny shop.  The menu listing mentioned 'lashings of butter' so I asked for somewhat less than lashings and for the mayo to be served separately (which is how it came anyway).  The boys ordered pies.....any excuse for a pie!

While we were waiting, we were pleasantly surprised by a plate of very nice brown bread, butter and some seriously good olives.  I tried not to eat too much bread before I had my bready main course, but didn't resist very well.  I'll definitely order olives on my return visit, it's one of my pet hates at restaurants and cafes when they promise you deliciously marinated olives, and you can taste that they are just out of the jar with that sort of 'instant' flavour you get.  These had a good dose of cumin seeds.  I do like to taste real, whole seeds on my olives.  Luckily I remembered to take a photo before they all disappeared!

 

My baguette when it arrived looked very tasty indeed, plenty of soft, just roasted chicken, no slimy bits in a slim brown baguette.  The salad was excellent, not a slimy letuce leaf in site, good green beans, little gem type leaves, nice ripe tomatoes and a few rather over rosted hazelnuts, which added a really good and unexpected depth.  The mayo was standard mayo which I don't eat, so I wasn't concerned with it.  I tried to stuff some salad leaves into the baguette as it only contained the chicken (and a very reasonable amount of butter!), but the bread sort of collapsed in a very messy and buttery manner, but I'm not afraid of getting myself messy by eating with my fingers so dug in and made a mess. I'd have liked to have seen some greenery bedded in under the chicken. But I am a pedant.  It was delicious and I ate every little bit.

The boys played with their food and made smiley pies!  They both had steak pies, one had very nice looking new potatoes and the other salad, they said they were very tasty.

Then is was greedy chocolate brownie and tea time for me.  The brownie was very good indeed and ate all of it.....My tea did not come with hot frothy milk this time!

 

So thanks, Penny for reading my original post and inviting me back for another lunch.  I hope you're more happy with this write up!  We'll see you again, perhaps for one of your evening meals next time?

Love 2 Eat
190a Burton Road
West Didsbury
0161 434 7077

Sunday in Harrogate - Toast and Macaroons.

We'd been at a homewares trade show in Harrogate for the afternoon on Sunday and were feeling a little worse for ware from the huge variety of junk and tacky we'd been looking at for several hours and we didn't want to head straight home as the weather had perked up and the early evening was lovely.  We rather conveniently parked near Toast where I indulged in a little retail therapy (spending some birthday money, thanks dad!) where I bought a fabulous long blue and white striped linen skirt

and an amazingly bright knitted linen top.

After this, we wandered up the hill to one of our long time favourites, the famous  Betty's of Harrogate.


We were in the new Montpellier Cafe Bar which has appeared since our last visit, it's in the area where the shop area used to be, on the ground floor at the front, the shop has now moved to the other side at the front where they have expanded into the next door shop.  It's what they are calling a 'Continental Cafe Bar' and it's great, just a smallish range of delicious open sandwiches - Peter had the crab, prawn and avocado one which was on a lovely thin sliced sourdough and came with some very nice, if slightly gritty leaves.  As well as the open sarnies, there's a small range of very delicate cakes and pastries and I chose the fresh raspberry macaroons which was one of the most yummy cakey things I've eaten;  the raspberries were rich red and soft and squishy with that lovely tartness mixed with rich sweetness that you don't often find in raspberries which I often find disappointing.  In the centre of the fruits, hidden, was a small but perfectly formed dollop of rich and delicious raspberry butter cream, just enough to give it a lift.  The macaroon itself was as light as a feather with a lovely fruity flavour and altogether it made one of the best cakey things I think I've every eaten!  It's not a cheap place for a bite, but the service is so perfect and and the setting so lovely that it really doesn't matter.  Top marks!

First post from iPhone to Blog

Has this first mobile post worked?


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Location:Nell Ln,Manchester,United Kingdom

More pink tulips!

Field of Pink., originally uploaded by Eyeshoot Photography.

Here's another of my brand new pink tulip prints.

It's titled 'Field of Pink' which is a little more creative than the previous one - and you can find it here.

New Floral Print

I've created a new set of spring tulip prints, two pretty in pink and two darker and greener. I really like the way that the textures have given interest and depth to the soft backgrounds.

I've called it Single Pink Tulip, which I know isn't the most creative title in the world, but at least it's descriptive.  You can find it here.

Clevedon Pier

Clevedon Pier - $35

I've reworked a photo which I shot way back in 2007. I love to rediscover photos which didn't really work for me at the time of shooting but have something to offer later. This was actually shot on a beautiful day with a perfect blue sky with fluffy white clouds and I really like how it's now moody and stormy!

Birthday Weekend

It was my birthday on Saturday and we had a great day!  We had booked a table for thirteen of my favourite people at our local choice for dim sum and when we were all finally seated a chopstick waving eating frenzy ensued, we had food arriving at the table from the steamer trolleys and the rather more unhealthy fried trolleys almost as fast as we could eat them.  There were some old favourites and a few new dishes as well as some delicious choi sum with garlic from the main menu.  The table looked like a bomb site by the time we had finished!  The only problem with these sorts of meals is that they're over all to swiftly with no pudding and wine to linger with, but then it just means that there's more of the day left to enjoy.

We made it back to ours to enjoy pink fizz with mum's famous chocolate cake in the sunshine on the terrace.  The cake was a surprise and a very nice on too, in fact it was so tasty that I totally forgot to take a picture, which is a shame but I won't forget!  Everyone stayed until we had to chuck them out as we plus two others were to drive to Liverpool to see Laura in her promenade performance of Walking Through Windows at Liverpool Cathedral which we hadn't managed to get to all week and Saturday night was the final night.  We made it in to the very last performance which started at 8pm and lasted for almost two hours after starting late.  It was a really interesting evening, highlighting the good works by the women who are commemorated in some famous stained glass windows at the cathedral.  We saw Kitty Wilkinson in her bath house (where I had to do some scrubbing!), Elizabeth Fry in a convincingly nasty prison cell, there was an encounter in the rather more comfortable surrounds of philanthropist Angela Burdett-Coutts' parlour as she told her story of massive inheritance and how she spent it! There was a rather lame piece of installation art about Dame Julien of Norwich which didn't really make much sense to me, it also looked a bit sad in such a spectacular location.

The show started and finished late and by just after 10.30 we were happy (if rather coldly) seated outside The Quarter which is rapidly turning into a Liverpool favourite for late night noshing. The menu is mainly pizza and pasta with a few 'proper' dishes on the specials board, but we all had pizzas which were very nice indeed. We were frozen by the time we had finished, so no pudding just a weary drive home. 

Sunday started with a frenzy of photography at the desperately unglamorous, slightly smell, itchy and damp Withington Pumping Station (I shoot at all the nicest places!). After a fun filled couple of hours there, we stumbled across the Beech Road festival in Chorlton where we grabbed some tasty Jerk Chicken from one of the many street cafes and had a good potter around. After a quickly restorative snooze at home, my parents came to collect us for a supper at Wagamama, which was, as usual, delicious. A leisurely Cointreau (of three) in Castlefield sent us to our beds.

Lost For Words?

It's been a while since my last blog post......quite a lot's happened since then and I've let things slip a bit on the blogging front!  Anyway as a small attempt to make up for it here's a photograph I shot on a grand day out in Liverpool last week.  We went with friends to see the Picasso exhibition at the Tate which was followed by a long and tasty lunch at the newly opened Jamie's Italian.  I've only just started to sort through the photos from that day and here's a taster!

Lost For Words - £23.26 ($35) in my Etsy Shop!

Lovely Treasuries!

Here's a great Treasury featuring one of my new prints from Crete:

Pastel by All Made With Love

And here's another by an expert and prolific Treasury curator!

Be Still My Heart by Rachel Lucie

Memories of Crete

I've not been back from my week in lovely Crete, but it already feels like ages!  I wasn't too enthusiastic about the photos which I took while there, but I found a spurt of inspiration from somewhere (helped by the splendid new Lightroom 3 software which I bought yesterday) and finally got started and here are some of the results!

This was taken at Elafonisi beach in the far south west corner of Crete, and was utterly stunning.  It was reached by about an hour and a half driving through mountains, gorges, chestnut groves and many pretty villages.

Also at Elafonisi, what a fantastic blue!  The water was quite cold as still early in the season, but so refreshing after a very hot drive.  It was one of those beaches where you can't possibly sit down and relax first, you just have to rip your clothes off and get in!

The next two are beautiful old doors in Chania, the main town in the area where we were staying.  We've been to Chania many times previously but this time was on a Sunday morning and it was really quiet which was fantastic as all previous visits had been very busy with tourists.  We also had someone with us from our yoga group who had never been before, so we (mum and I) saw it in a different way as we were showing the town off to a newbie!

It's a very Cretan thing to hang your octopus out to dry, I'd never come across this before.  

We saw several dried bouquets of flowers hanging outside houses, I don't know the significance but will find out.

Back from Yoga in Crete and on the Front Page of Etsy!

I had a great time in Crete, the yoga was excellent as was the weather (after a slightly dodgy start) and the food was outstanding!  I really could have done with another week.

I took about 200 photos which I'm sifting through gradually, there should be a few decent ones when I've finished with them.

I checked my Facebook this morning to find that my Love in a Mist print is in a Front Page Treasury, a really pretty one:

We're pottering into town to catch up with chums at lunchtime which will be splendid and then we've got a party in the evening which should be quite an event although at this point in time, I know very little about it - details will be arriving nearer the time;  how mysterious!

Off on my holidays

I'm off to Crete today for a week's yoga so no posts for a while, but hopefully I'll come back with a nice batch of photos which will be popping up here very soon!

Here's an old 35mm photo from Santorini in 1992 to set the mood.

Thinking of the seaside.

It seems like such a long time since I've been to the sea.  I don't mean nice warm foreign sea where you can drink chilled white wine and eat octopus while moaning about the small size of the sunshades, I mean the English seaside, with warm cold drinks, rock, pebbles poking you in the back and bad toilets.

While feeling romantically nostalgic for something I don't like at all I have rediscovered some photos of beach huts I took on the Isle of Wight a few years ago and after hours and hours of trying to make them look beautiful, I think I have finally succeeded!

Here's my first one, a beautiful red and white example of the Great British Beach Hut, the place where you recover from the beach!  Click here for more beach huts.

Red and White Beach Hut

I'm the Featured Etsy Artist on Handmade Spark today!

I'm not known for my early start to the day with my radio alarm going off at 8.00 to the dulcet tones of Radio 4, when my eyes can focus the first thing I do is check my email and as regular as clockwork my Handmade Spark Today email with bing into view and I have a scroll through and usually find a couple of articles which hold my interest as my brain creaks into gear for the day.  This morning I had a lovely surprise to find my very own name in the titles at the top as my Etsy shop had been chosen and I was the Featured Etsy Seller of the day!  Here's how it looks:

The images which have been chosen are an interesting mixture, not the ones that I would have picked if I had been asked which is interesting.  So thanks to Tim and anyone else who picked me!

Lunch at Love 2 Eat on Burton Road

As the weather was unexpectedly delightful this afternoon with warm sunshine instead of the forecast rain that we popped out for lunch to sit in the sun and watch the world go by.

Silver Apples hadn't quite opened when we got there, so we went a few doors down to the lastest cafe on Burton Road, called Love 2 Eat where we've been meaning to go since it opened, but it's always been full.  It's a tiny little place with four tiny little tables outside and we were lucky enough to find one empty.

The menu is pretty small and on blackboards on the walls inside (there's a proper menu on the website) with sandwiches, soups, pies and the odd casserole.  There's a glass fronted deli counter with cakes and pies all looking tasty.  There's a great collection of cookery books dotted around (even in the tiny, very clean loo out at the back), I could have a jolly good browse through them and have my eye on Moro East for next time.

I went for a hot apple juice cured ham sandwich which came in a nice thin brown baguette and I narrowly avoided the horror of industirally produced coleslaw as I'd spotted it come out to the ladies next to us who also had baguettes.  Our kind waitress instead gave me a portion of really delicious tiny new potatoes drenched in butter with fresh herbs, much nicer than oniony coleslaw smothered in cheap mayo.  There were very nice salad leaves which were almost all manky which was a shame, but for some reason, I did eat them.  The ham was in nice big chunks like it had just been hacked from a propper piece of meat which was a pleasant surprise and was nicely appley but not too sweet.  Some rather odd orange chutney came in a wee espresso cup which once inside the bread with the sad leaves and tasty ham was good.

Being greedy we shared some 'bounty cake' which was a lovely light sponge with little coconutty bits and a rich chocolate icing on the top and in the middle, it was a bit dry but still enjoyable.  The tea somewhat bizarrely, came with little jugs of frothed warm milk, not exactly ideal for tea, but it was okay and we were running a bit late and didn't have time to ask for some more.

Love 2 Eat
190a Burton Road
West Didsbury
0161 434 7077

Three Treasuries This Morning.....

I woke up to three Treasuries today and to sunshine which was a very pleasant surprise as all the recent weather forecasts have been spreading doom and gloom about May Day rain.  For now it's fine.

Blue Flames 

 by Zion Shore

I'm actually an 'alternate' in the Treasury but it has been thoughtfully posted as a new Treasury East so that all of the selections can be seen.  As far as I'm concerned, that's the only use for this superfluous new style of Treasury.  I tend to post my Poster Sketch in my blog so that my alternates can see what I've chosen.  This is a nice and public way to make that clear.  Thanks!

House of Blues

by Rachel's Things

There's obviously a blue thing in the air at the moment.  I adore those little ceramic houses and was browsing through The Little Door's shop yesterday after seeing one on the Front Page/

Classical

by Elephant Dreams

You really can't go wrong with a good collection of black and white photos from the splendid Photographers of Etsy Team, they do seem to hit the spot pretty much every time.