Our House Guest.

Buddy and the boys.

Every now and then we look after a beautiful dog called Buddy.  His lovely owner lives at Mum in the South and she lets him take us all out for a walk and come for a little holiday.

As much as the boys and I would all love one of our own, it would really prohibit the number of Foreign Language Students who'd still wish to come and stay and seeing as they're a decent source of income and part of our lives for now, it's something we have to accept.

In this particular instance, one of them had been stealing from me and was shortly to be leaving us, so I didn't give a stuff about whether or not he likes pets.  In fact, I really hoped he didn't, but this wasn't the point.

We love Buddy, Buddy loves us and we were all very excited he was coming for five nights.

Generally speaking he's a very well behaved dog, but he refuses to 'sit' for me.  He'll do it for my eldest, but then he's the one with the biscuits, whereas I'm the one with the poo bags.

It makes people stare disapprovingly in the street, while I bark instructions he completely ignores, but that's nothing new.  My kids do the same.

And at night, he can't decide which of us he wants to sleep with, so he likes to share himself around and drive me mad.  We're like a proper family.

The first time he ever stayed over, he was locked in the kitchen and made his upset known, so ended up with me after less than half an hour - which was fine until he started farting.  After that, I stuck him on the landing between us all, but he was a bit too big for his basket and after checking up on us countless times, he finally took himself down to the sofa, arguably the most comfortable spot in the house, but where he wouldn't normally be allowed.

On this occasion, I put a blanket on there for him.  He'd stay with the kids while they went to sleep, then come and keep me company downstairs, which was wonderful.  Although he didn't like it once when I closed my bedroom door to lessen doggy disturbance, so learned to plonk himself down on the floor in there before bedtime.  He knew I wouldn't have the heart to kick him out.

He had his very own Christmas dinner and helped himself to the turkey accidentally left on the side to cool, despite it being covered with heavy bowls.  This meant the ham that was supposed to join it in a pie was served with something else, but we didn't mind.  He lived like a lord.

What he gave us back was better.  If he hadn't taken us for a walk every day, for example, we might have missed some spectacular sights.

 We hope it's not too long before he comes for another little holiday!

Just As She Thought It Was Safe To Go Near The Water ...

Do you see that blue sky? You'd be forgiven for thinking that Spring has arrived and that it's safe to go near the water after the recent storms, which is obviously what the lady in black was thinking!

[Insert the theme from Jaws if you're old enough to remember it and get the line!]

Couldn't resist sharing this with you. Her name is Gabi, she's a local lady and we had a rather nice chat after her dousing, during which she gave her permission.  These waves were really unexpected and it's only one of a series of shots which are now published on this post HERE now.  They tie in nicely with the celebration of Winter by Older Mum, something she does for about one week each season.  (#OneWeek).

Anyone can join in with anything that makes it special to them - a picture, poem or piece of writing and it's a genuine delight to see people's different interpretations and eye-popping contributions!   

This has been an extraordinary winter living on the South coast and as we edge out of it, this photograph sums it up beautifully.  I've added the cropped close up just for fun.

Clueless Comes Good - The Story of a Stroll in the Storms.

In my last post I promised to expand further on one of the tips my Turkish professional film maker language student gave me - using the HDR option to take better photos on our phones.    

I shall keep it quick and in simple language for clueless folk like me, because I want to be getting on with showing you pictures of the sea in the recent windy weather.  Those who know what they're doing can pass right on by this bit.

HDR stands for High Dynamic Range.  There are plenty of websites that go into the finer details, but the upshot is that your camera takes three different photographs of the same thing and superimposes them all so that you get the best bit of each to make the best possible one.  Here are a couple of examples:

Normal setting.

HDR setting.

Normal setting.

HDR setting.

It's to do with the different exposures - where the light is brought in better in different areas and it's brilliant for these outdoor ones where I'd previously found it frustrating that those of the sea appeared rather more gloomy than had actually seemed the case at the time.  My kindly teacher has gone on to explain about shutter speeds and how he uses three sources of light - including a flash during daylight sometimes to avoid a shadow like the one he took in this one, for example - 

Without flash.

With flash, using the sea and sky as the other two sources of light.

- but, to be honest, I'm happy with just pointing and shooting with the tips he's already given me and in one of these photographs below - where the details of the spray (which my sons refer to as 'fireworks') were lost against the light of the sky it has been better to keep the original picture rather than the HDR one for contrast.  The phone gives both versions of photographs magically (see 'Settings' otherwise, but you know better than to ask me).  

There endeth our lesson.  However, here's another tip that I discovered for myself after taking these and you won't get this on any posh photography sites (!) - when your phone gets stuck on its 'headphones' setting, even though you haven't used it and you can't get it to switch back to work normally, this will be because it has come into contact with water and you'll need to take a hairdryer to it.  If you're very lucky, once you've indulged in plenty of self-pitying panicking and learned your lesson sufficiently, it might sort itself out.  *Blushes*   

So without further ado, here is the story of a stroll I took when the tide was OUT but coming in.  In almost twenty years of living in and close to Brighton I have never seen the sea anywhere near as high.  Half an hour later, walking back along the cliff top, I could see it would have been downright dangerous to be down there still. Those high waves are carrying pebbles and those concourses are usually clear for walkers, cyclists, roller bladers and maniacal kids on scooters, not least and namely mine.  

Although it was awesome, I felt scared for those suffering in the floods.  The power of the water was incredible.

The tide is out, but coming in. 

I'm not the only one fascinated.

The morning after the night before.    

Walking further along. 

Can you see those pebbles?

The non-HDR.

'Fireworks.'

I got soaked!

My favourite.

Past the worst.

There's been no scooting since, but at least we're safe, warm and dry.

Continuing my walk.

Still very deep.

Heading up to the cliff top.

I'm aware these photos could be better.  I am not professing to be an expert.  On the contrary - they're just casually captured by a numpty with an iphone.   A proper camera, an additional lens even, could improve on them no end, but I do love this walk by the sea and take it regularly.  It's never before been remotely like this and the opportunity might never present itself again, so I hope you've enjoyed sharing my stroll with me.      

Don't forget to pop over to the Love All Blogs Better Photos Project for ideas and inspiration and tips and stuff from proper photography people! 

And I'm linking this up with Cas at Mummy Never Sleeps who helps us celebrate the small things in life.