My Sunday Photo

My Sunday Snapshot – in The Pink (or is it?)

Today I was going to share a photo of my latest crochet hat but it caused a bit of a stir on Facebook yesterday. I’ll explain more later but first I want to show you the pink sky we saw this morning. Maybe not that special but my Little Man seemed impressed so I took a photo. My Mom used to say, Pink Sky in the morning, Shepherd’s warning. (Red sky at night Shepherd’s delight.) It was a weather indicator, if it was red at night the next day would be fine (for grazing sheep) if it was pink in the morning the weather would not be so nice. It’s raining now.

The Crochet Hat

I took a photo of my latest crochet hat on the table in natural light. I thought it looked good so I posted it on Facebook. A local friend joked it would look better in blue and white. I live in Birmingham and the two main football teams are Aston Villa, claret and blue, and Birmingham City, blue and white. He had obviously thought my hat was claret and blue. I’d not even noticed! The hat is in fact cinnamon and grey, so I took another photo in a different light. Here is the same hat photographed in different lights, no filters.

The same hat photographed twice looking very different.

It’s certainly made me think twice about taking photgraphs for my Etsy shop. I would hate to think that someone was expecting a colour that was different to the one they’d ordered from my pictures.

Anyway, the correct colour is the one on the left cinnamon and grey, and it’s a kid’s sized hat (age 5 to 10) I’ll be putting it in my shop soon. I’m already working on my next hat which is a different pattern and very different colours.

My Sunday Snapshot – Prawn Donburi Take Out

by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

We have a fabulous Japanese restaurant/take out near us and this week we tried it out for the first time. This is what I had Prawn Donburi.

To me, it wasn’t a traditional donburi which is roughly translated as bowl and is any dish served over rice. This was more like a bento box with the little elements served in separate compartments, but the main part of the meal was indeed tempura prawns served over rice and mushrooms. It’s also served with a donburi sauce which is generally soy sauce and mirin based, but it can be different. My sauce was definitely different to my daughter’s pork donburi.

As well as the tempura prawns (which were utterly scrumptious) over rice, there was also a portion of kimchi and a little salad with mayonnaise.

We also had a sushi and sashimi platter which I didn’t take any photos of but it was simply stunning.

My daughter and I have always been big lovers of Japanese food and often used to visit Yo Sushi. We also enjoyed our bento boxes from Mount fuji in times when I was more mobile. For special treats we have visited Myako Teppanyaki restaurant where they cook the food in front of you and the make it into a really entertaining experience. (Egg snooker anyone?)

I really enjoyed the food from Ruga Fusion though and would definitely recommend to anyone local.

I found this recipe for Prawn Donburi on You Tube which looks vaguely similar to what I was served.

All restaurants mentioned in this post are mentioned because we have enjoyed eating there, I have no affiliation, neither have I been asked to link to them.

My Sunday Snapshot – Ash in a Basket

by Anne Sweet 9 Comments

For those that don’t know, Ash is our cat which we acquired from a rescue centre about 3 years ago. He was the cutest kitten, but he’s not a very loving cat. It’s rare for him to cuddle up next to you and will only give fuss if he wants feeding. I found Ash in a basket the other day. He could barely fit, but he did look cute so I took some photos.

Cats will amusing tolerate humans only until someone comes up with a can opener that can be operated with a paw.
Terry Pratchett

When we moved into this house 8 years ago we came with four cats, Salem and Sabrina (Brother and sister) Scribbles and Suzie. One by one they passed away until we were left with just Sabrina. She’s a real old lady now and looks it bless her.

We got Ash because it felt lonely with just one cat to cuddle. But he’s not the cuddling type, he’d rather be outside terrorising the birds. He’s pretty good at catching flies and spiders though.

It’s an interesting fact that fewer than 17 % of Real cats end their lives with the same name they started with. Much family effort goes into selecting one at the start (“She looks like a Winnifred to me”), and the as the years roll by it suddenly finds itself being called Meepo or Ratbag.
Terry Pratchett

We kept all our cat names apart from Sabrina, who often gets shortened to Sabby. We could have changed Ash’s name when we got him as he was only a kitten, but we thought it suited it and as Pokemon fans it worked for us. (Ash Ketchum is the original main character of the Pokemon series.) You can really shorten Ash, but we have called him other names…like ‘murderer!’

Maybe when he gets a little older he will become more cuddly? Salem and Sabrina were always fussy cats but Scribbles and Suzie were not so until they became old. When we had Salem and Sabrina, Scribbles objected and moved in with a neighbour. She did come back eventually though. When we moved house she became a house cat and lived mostly on the stairs and slept outside the Little Man’s bedroom door.

Will we get another cat at some point? I doubt it. I love cats but it’s a myth that they are not hard work, especially when you have a home with no cat flaps. They can’t be fitted in our doors so I have to get up 50 million times a day to let Ash in and out.

Sabrina doesn’t go out anymore but she’s not very good at finding the cat litter and I’m always cleaning up after her. I’m glad she is restricted to where she goes in the house. She doesn’t even attempt going upstairs.

Are you a cat person?

The Day of Virtual Reality – My Sunday Snapshot

by Anne Sweet 10 Comments

Sunday is the day I share a photo of my choice. It can be anything from a flower to food, scenery to cats. Anything goes. This week I’m sharing photos of my two youngest enjoying some virtual reality fun.

If you are here from Blogtober21 then do check out the photo sharing linky over on Rachel’s blog. There is a badge below too.

First up is The Little Man. They were both playing Beat Sabre which is a music game and they have to hit the blocks with the sabres. It looks extremely hard to do and they got plenty of exercise. The view on the headset is a lot more real than the one we see on the screen.

The Little Man playing a Virtual Reality game

My eldest daughter had to bring her computer and Oculas headset down for them to play. You can see my daughter’s computer in the left hand corner of this photo. She built it herself from scratch.

The second photo is Boo enjoying a game. She plays music games like this all the time so she was really good, but it took her a while to actually get into moving anything other than her wrists. She’s so laid back.

Boo playing Beat sabre on the virtual reality headset.

Have you ever tried virtual reality? It really is a strange experience. I had a go once, I sat on a chair and enjoyed some amazing scenery. Then I was able to build a snowman right in front of me. I don’t think I’d get on with most of the games though. I don’t have the mobility for starters.

My eldest daughter plays scary games along with her friends from all over the world. They meet up together in virtual reality and go and fight zombies and such like. I’d be terrified!

I’m also hosting a linky party for Blogtober 21 if you want to add your post. Just click this link or the badge below.

My Sunday Snapshot – The Lizard and the Axolotl

by Anne Sweet 8 Comments

I don’t have anything new to share, but I do still have lots of photos from Summer. This is a lizard from our day out to the Wildlife Conservation Centre. We have never actually owned a lizard as a pet but Star really wants a Leopard Gecko and the Little Man wants an axolotl so maybe one day we will.

This time of year always feels kind of difficult. We know that Summer is over and it’s a while until Christmas. The first half term at school seems to go on forever as we get used to our new routines. The trees change, the weather changes and even if you like Autumn, it still feels like a transition to something worse. In comparison Spring is the transition to something nice. I used to be a winter person, but since getting sick I do find the pains are a little more difficult to deal with when cold and my very rare days out of the house become even rarer.

I always feel that we didn’t make the most of summer and then I look back on my photos, and my blog, and I see it was good. I really must get on with making my Summer Photo book.

If you don’t know what an axolotl is, here is a pic my Little man took at the Bournemouth Aquarium. I couldn’t quite see in the tank properly from my wheelchair but the Little Man spent ages staring at his favourite creature.

The axolotl is not a lizard but more like a salamander so it’s an amphibian. They do have similar shapes and features to lizards though.