Rather Unexpected

Bought M a new cold-frame for Christmas but up until today it hadn't got unpacked. These days substantial items tend to come 'broken down' or even in complete kit form. When I ordered I knew that the latter was the case because I had already built a slightly larger version a couple of years back

But Spring is coming, it might be getting a bit drier and warmer, and this morning I plucked up courage to unpack and start assembling. The cold-frame was delivered in two packs - one contained all the metal parts, the second the safety glass. Starting on the parts package the components were checked against the instruction sheet list - everything present! An hour and a half later the frame was complete except for a final tightening of all the small bolts.

It wasn't very warm in the 'potting shed' and by this time I was cold and couldn't face the prospect of cutting and applying foam strip on which the glass lies in the frame. But I did tackle opening the glass box. This is a substantial item, wooden frame and clad with what I estimate as 6mm thick ply sheets - pretty heavy too but up on the bench top I could get at the screws holding down the opening side of the box - the other face is nailed down.

Nearly lunch time. I laid the sheet of ply back on top of the now open box, collected the screws together and put them on the top until I felt more like identifying a sensible place in the workshop so that I could hoard them away for a job that probably will never happen. Sometimes, just sometimes, items squirreled away like this do come in useful! I've even known it to happen!

By the time lunch was over and I was showing M how I had spent the morning, the sun had moved round to shine on the ply top, and those screws.
Went and grabbed the camera and then had to wait until the sun came out again! 

At least it's a different subject that I've captured - no cardboard box here!

Just Wandering

Mid morning on an indifferent weather day isn't the most inspiring time to take photographs. But that is just what I was doing at Barton Waters up near Lincoln. It wasn't too warm either and restaurant that I was walking round had been closed and the interior was clearly being ripped out - all a bit depressing?
Then this caught my eye!

If I didn't know what I was looking at I might now be wondering just what had been photographed. Is the surface vertical, horizontal, or even at an angle?

A square light fitting has been inserted into narrow wood strip decking which encircled the restaurant. That building had been erected on piles out into a marina basin waters. For safety reasons a handrail had been built on the water edge of the decking and it's some of the supports for this that are casting the weak shadows across the wood strips.

The wood is weathered, worn, split in parts, and acquired an uneven coating of green lichen to add some subtle colour. Small dried leaves have got caught between the slats - all to produce a rather odd and slightly unsettling photograph.

Has been thrown away ....

- but before I did I tried taking some photographs - here is one!

What I particularly liked here were the shapes and colours of the shadows cast by the box edge, and they happened by accident rather than by design.

Well worth a photograph I thought, and another for the collection.

Time soon to gather all my box photographs together and possibly there are enough for another book.
The trouble is that I always seem to find yet another interesting box!

Not to be thrown away!

It always seems a pity that all the boxes get thrown away when we have removed the contents. Obviously a lot of effort has gone into their design. Sometimes this effort just produces a utilitarian box. Sometimes the result is a real visual delight. Sometimes perhaps as a result of the materials used the result is surprising. 

I'm not quite sure into which category this box fits. Made out of corrugated material the chocolate colouring reflected the contents - bars of chocolate given to me by T & S and family. Not only did the contents please me but the box itself provided a challenge to try to capture its texture.

This is just one of the attempts I have made - and I think there must be more possibilities. The box hasn't been discarded and on another day it will come out of storage and who knows what I might see.

Sign of Past Times!

I can almost hear grandchildren asking what this is!

When I was growing up it was a very common place object. 

All members of the family had their own ring
At every meal time when we sat down together our serviette rolled into its silver ring was laid beside our place setting. Even if visitors were present the individual ring marked out where we were expected to be - no argument - that's where your ring is, that's where you are sitting.

This now is my ring. It belonged to my maternal grandfather and I adopted it, as it were, when on marrying my wife came without a serviette ring! Now she has my silver oval ring given to me by friends of the family when I was born.

The two of us still use our rings with serviettes. It's part of the routine of our life - as much as possible we eat at set times of the day and at a rather formally set table. You probably think, how very odd!

Kitchen Wanderings

I really went into the kitchen to see what was happening to the marmalade making. The last time I had popped in the preserving pan had been on the stove with the contents gently bubbling away. This time it looked very much the same! The only difference was that now I had my camera with me!
Looking round for inspiration there was a washed spoon on the plate rack.
Here it is!

It's the box not the contents!

Packages delivered to the door can be quite exciting especially if you don't know the contents. A not quite surprise box arrived last week and among other items was a Panettone! But perhaps I'm the very small boy always more fascinated by the packing, a box this time, rather than the contents. So no hasty ripping apart of the string and cardboard to get at the 'cake' but a study of the quite delightful box.

With a red top and lovely colourful multi strand 'string' - just look at those hairs - this was something I had to photograph. Pity the weather is so wet still and I had to use the kitchen table and available light with quite a high ISO to have any reasonable depth of field, but worth the effort I think.

I'm beginning to get quite a collection now of 'box pictures'. Do I get prints made, do I put them together into a BLURB book, or do I have small collections in something like 14 page concertina type folders?