So That was 2012?

How was 2012 for each of you?  Of course I know some of the answers from those who are friends as well as readers – but if you are a reader who I haven’t yet ‘met’ I hope you might like to share your 2012.

I thought I would revisit my 2012 using quotes and photographs – but I have split this into two posts so that the gallery of photographs stands alone:

Before I started this blog I had earlier in the year spent some time taking pictures of:

Time spent discovering Dundee (City of Discovery) – this sculpture is hidden on the new Quay development; we should be showing it off

Underneath the Tay Road Bridge looking towards Fife … more brown than silvery that Tay!

Demolishing Tayside House

Preparing for a new iconic building – the new V&A

However, in parallel with the demolition of redundant bits of Dundee, my serenity was almost zero … stress was demolishing me

So I started a journey to find the serenity that was missing in my life using Stagecoach East Scotland Megarider tickets and my Camera and lots of walking.  Plus when it was windy enough taking along my kites.

Along the way I have been collecting quotes on my Pinterest Boards which you can visit if you wish here and making designs at MyDeco and of course sharing my photographs.

Although my bus travel is at a standstill just now I have anew energy dragging me along in life … young Pup has come to be a companion to getting older Dog and me.

And my camera has not had such a workout since it was new with my current challenge being taking good moon pictures when the biggest digital zoom I can get is 300mm and my tripod is out of commission.

Tomorrow I will share with you my hopes and dreams for 2013 but tonight I will close my 2012 blog with the last sunset of 2012 and the Moon tonight:

Moon only just clearing the house rooflines

The gallery post will follow in just a moment … Happy New year to you all and may 2013 bring you the love of family and friends, prosperity and good health.

Memory Lane – or a Visit to My Remote Hard Drive

Whilst thinking about memory I forgot to tell you an amusing little anecdote yesterday … you will recall how excited I was to see the Anstruther Lifeboat Launch a few months ago? so I saw an item in the online local paper about it being launched recently and was curious about the rescue, only to find when I read on that they had in fact rescued the civic Christmas Tree which had toppled into the sea.

So today has been lazy and slow – Pup has got over the excitement of his red tissue paper parcel and things have been much quieter.  The weather has been quiet too.  I was reading some blogs and then looking at photographs on deviantArt and several of them drew a response from me that I would look for some pictures of my daughter as a child – most of which are still on negative and scan them to respond to the item I had seen.

I have a remote hard drive and most of my photographs are stored on there once they are e-versions.  Due to the limitations of my PC I am not able to keep them on the PC too and I really need to get another medium for a second store  – but I am also loading some to cloud based storage on some of the sites I use regularly.  So I set off to look for something and as often happens found myself wandering around in my photo store reliving fond memories – so I thought I would share some with you all.

First up – when Dog met the last Pup (Otto) who you can see has attitude even at the same age that Pup is now.

All Change …

… it hasn’t rained at all … but having started cloudy it cleared up and we had freezing fog.  The temperature has noticeably dropped … brrrr … and tonight the sky is completely clear and starlit.

The other very noticeable change is there have been no buses all day … the drivers do get a day off for Christmas and another for New Year (and most of the rest of the holiday period it is either a Saturday, Sunday or a limited service) … but it is noticeable to me because I am tuned into hearing the engines those that whisper past and those that squeal which means I can not only tell the buses from other traffic, I can sometimes tell which member of the fleet it is and even sometimes which driver it is by the engine noise!  I miss them when they aren’t there.

So how did our Christmas Day go? well it was Pup’s first and he doesn’t really get the wrapping up bit which was funny.

Opening the Door: Day 2

Red sky in the morning … but that is okay because I don’t have any sheep so I needn’t heed a shepherds warning?

Opening the Door: Day 1

What an exciting day it has turned out to be … new discoveries and winsome ponderings.  Where shall I begin?

Perhaps with a question about the photo above – do windfarms blight our landscapes? If it is one as above I rather like to see them – I certainly don’t find they spoil the landscape – however if it was at the concentration they are at in some other areas of Scotland then yes I think they become intrusive.  For me though the bigger issues are around whether they are really efficient at generating power – if they are we do need to use alternatives to reliance on fossil fuels and I am not keen on nuclear power.

Stress Neutralisation 2 …

I returned to visit the Arbroath Penguins today and was treated to a display of Cormorants fishing in the inner harbour.  This one was just arriving to join the party.  I am now confident these are cormorants and not shags, since I can see no crests and they have a pale front and an orange patch under their eye, plus they adopt the classic wings outspread pose on the harbour breakwater.

Something rather strange happened today and I have no explanation so I will just enjoy it and share it here.  I was able to take photographs close to the edge of the harbour with no vertigo whatsoever and later I took some photographs from a higher walkway down into the water and again no sense of panic or vertigo.  It was a windy day so it isn’t as if still air makes a difference.  I know that tomorrow it might be back to the nausea and dizzyness – but today felt great.

This boat in Mackays boatyard and the silhouette is intriguing – I will have to find out more because I am curious.  I found this website about the harbour and boat building in Arbroath which you might like to read too.  This boatyard did the restoration of RSS  Discovery, berthed at Dundee and Reaper – the fishing boat I included on a thread about Anstruther.

As well as the Cormorants putting on the synchronised diving display the guillemots were in evidence too and I managed to get some better shots … they do look like penguins don’t you think?

I took these two sets of photos roughly half an hour apart; the first pair I was down on the small beach opposite the harbour entrance. I took photos towards the harbour and towards the breakwater.  I walked back up the slipway and ate my healthy lunch and then stood above the beach and took more photos.  You can see the tide has come right in and in fact the rock on which I stood to take the first photos is underwater in the second pair.

Here are a couple more of my photos from today

I finished up with an ice cream before leaving Arbroath and returning on the 73C to Dundee and then a 20 to Forfar.  A stop in Forfar to pick up some groceries and then eventually home.  A quiet restful day.

Today I:

• Did not suffer vertigo taking pictures of water below me;
• Just missed catching a photograph of a cormorant throwing it’s head back after surfacing from a dive in the harbour … there are fish in the harbour – or at least there were!
• Found out that the UK apple crop will be down about 17%; and
• Met the most persistent little dog who sat so nicely in front of me whilst I picnicked despite her owner repeatedly telling her to move before she got left there.

I have a little errand to complete and then I will be back with my week’s summary and my influencing thought for next week … don’t stray too far.

Today’s statistics: Cost: £0; Miles travelled: -93.6; Steps taken: 5,000;  Pictures Taken: 101

Day 13: 22 September 2012

I had decided earlier in the week that the weather forecast for Friday, Saturday, Sunday showed light winds with almost none on Friday or Saturday – so these were beach and visiting days – I have my fingers crossed that tomorrow will offer enough wind to get in a few flights … anyway what of today?  I had a day at the seaside … and what a beautiful day it was too!

I wanted to return to Elie and Earlsferry for several reasons but first I stopped off in Anstruther specifically to see the Isle of May trip set off – I would love to take this trip sometime and love being in boats – but my vertigo especially over moving water challenges me when it comes to embarking and disembarking.