Well as you can see we almost all got there.

Hi Folk's,
What a lovely day it was yesterday, I think it caught us all by surprise.

Woke up at 7 am with Daisy singing in bed next door and thought this will be a nice day. Went in and got her up and gave her breakfast and she started to cry. This went on for about an hour with nothing we could do to pacify her. Eventually she stopped  with the help of  Sue's own bear Ernie which we will comment on later. We then continued on with the day as if nothing had happened, what was all that about, god only knows. Well this then delayed us going out to we took her to the park at Pennenden Heath for a swing on the way to Ashford, dutifully dropping her off we the made our way back to Leeds Castle to enjoy the sunshine.

Leeds Castle

What a smashing afternoon we had, the temperature rocketed to over 20  and the park was wonderful.

This is a scene looking down the stream on the way to the Castle which had loads of Ducks and a few swans on it.

The day could not be complete without  a Leeds Castle Peacock so here is one, sorry it is not showing its plumage

Well what a day we had, came home and dosed off in the chair after a cup of tea.

After sorting out another customer in distress we reflected on a day which did not start out to good but ended wonderful.

Well at popular request I could not finish without a picture for that lovely Eileen, after looking through the archives I found this of Daisy and OTL and just had to post it..

 Well that's it, 7.50 and now off to work as I have a long way to travel, have a good day everyone.

All the best Mike.

Out today to Leeds Castle again

Hi folk's

Well here we are again ,

As It was a grey day yesterday we, that is Sue , Daisy and myself would venture to Leeds Castle again as long as the sun shines,

Here is a ground shot at the weekend at Hythe with the 14-140mm

And a couple of ordinary kites from the weekend.

Two Deltas

As we are going for  along time I have decided to forgo Face book and use this blog instead, I will be getting friends to go on here as it is less public. I think this is the best way to approach this?, comments welcome.

Must go as Daisy is in the bath and has started to grumble.(Sue is with her of course).

Well, we got there in the end, What a lovely day it turned out to be, well worth the effort.

All the best Mike

Equipment used yesterday

Hi folks

Eileen has asked for some information on how images were taken in the air, well you first need a kite like the one below. Also a large field to fly it in, this one is a Delta.

The  kite is about 3 meters across and is staked to the ground once it is air bourne and aprox 200 ft  as you are not allowed to fly any higher unless you have authorisation from the CAA. The trick at this site is to get it above the houses on the sea front which can be a problem sometimes. Once the kite is at the right hight and stable you then attatch the camera rig as see below.

Here it is on the line, notice it is a small camera with little weight and that it is attached to the rig which allows the camera to take images at a set interval. This rig will also rotate 360 degrees and you can alter the cameras angle.

It's a bit like fishing, a lot of shots are deleted but a few are usable, you have to crop, and post process in Photo shop to get the desired effect. all the images are "free" as the camera is digital

I hope this helps Eileen and others.

All the best,  Mike

Flying High at Hythe

Hi all, after looking at the weather forecast Sue and  I decided to take a gamble and go out with the Kent Kite Flyers and have another go at K.A.P. (Kite Aerial Photography).  I already had all the gear so we loaded the car and set off.  After a bacon buttey and a walk along the promenade in the sunshine we met up with Len who was first to arrive and set the kite kit and camera into action.

This is a view of the Sports Pavilion, town of Hythe and the sea (top left).

This Kite Aerial Photography is all done by magic, if you are new to this, single click on the photo above and to have a better look single click again  you will see Sue and I standing by our car (second from the right by the path) afterwards you will need to click your left blue arrow at the top of the screen twice to return to the blog.
This is how to take a photograph and say, "look no hands", you do need to be in the right place at the right time or as in this instance happen to be in the right place.

By this time the light was fading and we all decided to try to get a picture of the BMX bike circuit on the other side of the hedge, from the ground you could not see it but we knew it was there.  You can even see the tennis courts that we didn't know about and also the lovely church on the hill.

Here we are at the end of the day after having a great load of fun and banter.  This is a picture looking in the opposite direction over the buildings to the beach and sea.

At five o'clock we packed up the car before wending our weary way home.

Kites and boats coming tomorrow, watch this space.

All the best, Mike

Early Mother's Day

Had our Mothers day lunch a day early as Claire is tied up with her other children, Maisey and Dylan tomorrow. We went to the Ship and Trades by St Mary's Island for lunch and had a lovely meal. Daisy was on her best behaviour.and in her best party dress and looked gorgeous.

Tomorrow we might venture to Hythe and join the Kent Kite Flyers for an afternoon in the sunshine.

Short and sweet today, hope to get some photographs tomorrow.

All the best, Mike

Funny Friday

Well what a funny day, work non existent, BUT got the gearbox sorted and the money should be back on my account.

Tried to sort out a car, now it has to be code read tomorrow, engine sounds like a bag of nails. Oh dear hope a new engine is not needed.

Spent the evening with Trev and sorted out his blog and I also learned how to set up a link. Hooray.

Just for good measure here's a Daisy pic to end the night.

Night all had a load of fun.

Mike

Short sharp day at Leeds Castle

Well as Sue was working today I was in charge of "little legs"and decided to go the famous Castle on the way to Ashford. Off we set complete with sandwiches drinks buggy and toilet seat, boy what a combination.

As we arrived the weather looked a bit grim as you can see in the first shot of the castle, but undetured we carried on up the path through all the nice Daffs by the stream.

We then stopped at a seat  by the stream to have lunch, It was all nice and peaceful until a Peacock decided to mussel in on Daisy's sandwich and instead of getting it's picture I ended up shooing it away and missed the shot.

It was nice by the stream and we continued to eat our lunch.

I have tried and tried to get good shots of  Daisy so I thought of a ploy. I changed to a long lens on the camera and left her on the seat and made out I was taking some flowers. I quickly turned around and got this shot, the only complaint is that she had a mouth full of food.

So as it got very cloudy I thought we should head back to the car before the rain came as got this rather nice white peacock. So all in all it was a good morning, well Daisy and I enjoyed it.

Back to the car Daisy wanted the toilet, so off we went, "nothing there" was the reply as we sat waiting in the loo waiting for something to happen, Back at the car she decided she wanted a wee, back to the toilet again, this tine success. Back to the car again, she then complained of a tummy ache, guess what, she wanted a Poo. I give up, back to the toilet we went, I was getting worried that someone would notice all these comings and goings to the toilet. After great jubilations she did it and we happily set off for Ashford, I thought we would have a sing song but she fell asleep. I felt a bit weary also.

All the best Mike