Duntrune Castle

Just a wee view from our recent holiday....click on the picture to see it in more detail.

Lock 15....

Our 2007 Christmas adventure took us to the village of Crinan. When we were not drinking we went for walks along the Crinan Canal. I'm told the canal was originally built for commercial Clyde puffers to travel between the industrialised region around Glasgow to the West Highland villages and islands and was designed in 1794 and completed in 1801.
It has 9 Locks...this is Lock 15....Gillian and I had 15 drinks to celebrate....

Scotland The Brave...

The 'Saltire'...also known as St Andrew's Cross.....or the Flag of Scotland...which, if you didn't know is the oldest continuously used sovereign flag in the world, having been in use since 732 AD!!!

I really liked the colour contrast in this picture....

A Wee Green Hut.....

Gillian and I went for a walk along the Crinan Canal today and I spotted this strange little thing on the banks of the canal. Don't know who owns it but I loved the colours on the drab day we have had today.
Who lives in a house like this?

Christmas Morning Wake Up Call.....

Gillian and I are spending Christmas alone this year in a wee cottage in Crinan. While we are missing all our friends and family it's great to have time to relax after what has been a very busy year for both of us.
This was our early morning alarm call today......don't think I need to say any more do I?
Merry Christmas.
xx

Edinburgh Castle by Night....amazing

Don't think I need to say much about this one.....I love having this in my home city! :-)

Sunset over North Berwick Beach...

So, Gillian and I went for a walk on Sunday to a lovely little town on the East Coast of Scotland called North Berwick........lots of fresh air, great views, lovely sunset.....oh yes, and not forgetting a few pints :-)

I particularly love the colour of the sky and the cloud formation in it...plus I love the fact that it made Gillian so happy being there for the day.

Grand Central Something..!

218 years ago today on this day, the 26th Nov. 1789, President George Washington proclaimed the first national Thanksgiving Day. To celebrate this I thought I'd post one of my pictures that inc. both the world famous USA Flag and a favourite place of mine, Grand Central Station. A slight problem with this is that I found out today that it is not actualy called Grand Central Station but is in fact Grand Central Terminal....how stupid do I feel!

First built in 1871, 'that place' (as I'm going to call it now) soon became obsolete when steam locomotives were banned after a catastrophic train collision in 1902. In 1913 the new version of 'that place' opened but over the years it went into decline and it was not until 1994 that extensive renovations were started to restore that 'place' to its 1913 splendor....and I love it!

Anyway, I was trying to capture the splendour of GCT (as it will now be called) plus the movement of the people. You need a tripod (I'm told) to do this properly as you need a long exposure (slow shutter speed)...but what with Gillian spending all our money of shoes handbags I had to make do with resting the camera on top of a local vagrant...otherwise known as a Begger in the UK! Hope you like it.

What....no Deer?

OK.....so the story behind this one is that I got up at 4am to get out early to take some pictures of Red Deer...the idea being you creep into the hide while it is still dark and then when the sun starts to come up you 'snap' away...obviously you hope the Deer don't know you are there otherwise they leg it.

The problem with this master plan is that nature don't always do what you want it to do...hence this picture!

I was struggling to get a decent shot and turned the camera West to look what else was worth snapping.......and this pic above is what was took my breath away. I love it as I like the light from the East.......I think the composition is good(ish)......and it's classic 'Scotland'. Hope you like it?

WATERFALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

This was taken on the Scottish Island of Mull which is a truly wonderful place. I love the contrast between the soft water in the background & the almost 'glass' like effect of water in the foreground....but enough of the waffle......I had to get my 'bits' wet lying in a freezing Scottish Burn to get this image. Let's just say the cold made my small thing even smaller! :-)