The English eccentric
Today’s picture is of the River Tame, here in the Black Country. There are millions of flowers growing down the sides in Spring; this was last May. Only an English eccentric would know something like that. I shall check again this year and see if they grow along the Tame in Sandwell Valley.
Another midweek moan
Today I have used a picture of the churches overlooking the town where I live. When I’m out taking photographs, I often look at them and know I’m still close to home. They stand on a hill with steep sides on this side. A 1,000 years ago a castle stood there and Princess Ethelfreda fought the Viking invaders from there.
Weekend review from the heart of England
I get a few local readers at the weekend and so I’ll explain about today’s picture. I took this at Easter at Forge Mill Farm in Sandwell Valley Country Park. From Walsall take the Birmingham Road, turn right at the Scott Arms and go up the Newton Road then left into Forge Lane. Forge Mill Farm is on the left, take the second entrance.
Neodigital Art | Forge Mill Farm
I’ve started today with a photo of Forge Mill Farm, I went there on Easter Sunday. It was cold! There is still some snow about and so I had to wrap up warm and try to cope with the poor light.
Treasure in the Black Country
This could be the only treasure map in existence with a motorway running through it. You may remember that I wrote about Princess Ethelfleda’s hoard of gold in my post just a year ago. We’re still looking for it. It could be buried at King’s Hill, there is a park there that’s suitable for scouring with a metal detector.
Sunday thoughts of sunshine
This week George Osborne told the world that the government wants to sell it’s shares in Royal Bank of Scotland, signalling intent to dump billion of pounds worth on the stock market. This was done to coincide with the bank announcing huge ‘paper’ losses. Not surprisingly the banks share price tanked on the stock market and so did Lloyd’s Banking Group. Well done George…
Saturday ideas and thoughts
I don’t usually do sky pictures, they’re boring, but this one is unusual and I’m a bit desperate today. If you look carefully you can see the moon breaking through the clouds. We had another week of financial bad news. Both banks that are partly owned by the tax payer posted losses. Not real losses that would send them into administration like so many High Street businesses; these are just millions and billions lost ‘on paper’.
Top 5 Ideas to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year
Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
A guest post by Angelina Lawson
Cooking dinner is a timeless Valentine’s Day tradition that’s always a winner. The main ideas are to cook at home or go to a fancy restaurant. Asking a friend to cook for you and ordering food to come to the home are other options. Cooking at home needs an extra touch for it to be romantic so add rose petals as a guide to their seat or make every dinner item red-themed. Going out to eat requires a reservation, so book it in advance. You can also take your lover to a picnic in the park. (more…)
How to start a blog
If you want to start a blog, you have to think about a few things. You are going to be publishing articles and maybe photographs too. You can choose a number of ways to do it. I use WordPress, but I have used Blogger. You also have to think about who will read your blog. Who will your articles appeal to?
Post Christmas thoughts
It’s nearly a year since I started this website and it keeps improving; albeit slowly. I always try to make some resolutions for the New Year; set goals and decide what I’m going to try to do. One year it was to write a novel. I did it!
Blogging ideas
I’ve used another moon picture to start today’s blog. On a Sunday, I either use a guest blog or I just ramble on about whatever is on my mind. Today I wrote my 600th blog on WordPress and I think that’s an achievement. It took over 2 years.
Imagination, writing and inspiration
Achieve something with writing
I took this photograph last Sunday and then for a bit of fun, turned it into a book cover. I was inspired by the photograph to do a book cover and the book cover could now inspire me to actually write the story. Whatever, you want to write, you need inspiration, imagination and a goal. You might want to achieve something, like getting a job.
Halloween help wanted
I’ve started with a really spooky picture of Moorcroft Wood today because it’s Halloween. I’ve been building this website up since February and it’s been a struggle. It’s not just about writing, I also have to do publicity. I need help today with publicity.
Summer time ends
British summer time ends this weekend. We change the clocks one hour (back) and so the nights will be darker and the mornings will be lighter for a while at least. The colours of nature are changing and the trees and changing colour as the leaves begin to fall.
Introduction, body and conclusion
When you’re writing anything, you have to make a start. Many writers find making the start difficult and suffer from writer’s block. That can caused by a simple lack of inspiration but other things can make it hard to write like distractions or not feeling well. I’ve got a cold and sore throat and so writing this isn’t easy. Although, if writing was easy everyone would do it! I’ve made a start though, I’ve written the introduction.
This week in review
I’ve struggled this summer to take decent pictures for my blogs. The constant rain and dark skies have made it challenging to say the least! Making the blogs interesting too is always difficult. I have been writing a dozen blogs since starting this one every week. My WordPress blog will be 2 years old next month and have page views in 5 figures and this one is still struggling because it’s only 6 months old. Most readers for this blog come from search and I don’t expect it to do well until we have more subscribers. You can subscribe using the box in the sidebar or tick the box when you comment.
Euro-millions what would you do?
It is a Euro-millions draw tonight with the added bonus of a millionaires raffle that will make 100 people millionaires in the UK. What would you do if you won the lottery? I think I would hire a lot of DVD films to get me through the next few weeks of mind numbing boredom while the Olympics is on. I suppose bribing the organisers to bugger off somewhere else is out of the question? It is all about money though…
Influence through blogging.
If you read an article in a newspaper, you have no opportunity to put your views, but on a website you can; you can comment. Do they listen though? We bloggers do listen to comments and try our best to be interactive. Moneysavingexpert.com sold this week for 87 million pounds and so there is hope for this website! I’ve had a WordPress blog on WordPress.com for nearly 2 years and I have posted over 400 blogs. That blog started off slow and I didn’t get any readers hardly for 6 months, this blog is doing much better with 100 posts and has a few readers. The site is only 4 months old and we have readers in 50 different countries, although most readers are in English speaking countries and obviously the top country is usually the UK. (more…)
Pinterest | Sharing more than just pictures
Source: mike10613.wordpress.com via Mike on Pinterest
URLs
The urls of a website is the Uniform Resource Locator; this is usually a web page but can be a file or a picture. I have used the URL of the picture above to share it with other users on Pinterest. I own the copyright, but if I didn’t would it be a breach of copyright? I’m not copying the picture, just using it’s url. The picture has been downloaded to your computer from a WordPress server, via Pinterest are you in breach of copyright for downloading this web page and the picture to your hard drive?
Room 101
Room 101
If you’re not familiar with Room 101, it’s a television programme and celebrities vanquish all the things they dislike or hate to Room 101. My fellow bloggers will like this idea because they too can write Room 101 blogs and tell the world their dislikes and hates. This is probably better than writing a bucket list of things you want to do before you kick it…
International Friends
Sunday afternoon photography
I took this photograph yesterday afternoon, we tend to go out on a Sunday because the roads are quiet; in theory. Yesterday, I got caught in a traffic jam and again trying to come back because of road works. I can share this information using my blogs and when I got back yesterday, I edited the photos and shared the best on Facebook with friends around the world. To make friends on an international scale you do have to find common interests. (more…)
Blogging | Be Positive
It snowed yesterday but that’s no reason for me to feel depressed. I saw it as a photo opportunity. Even after it had stopped and it was dark the light reflected off the snow to give me a good photograph. (more…)
Making a Start
This is my first blog on this site. I feel like those geese that I photographed the other day. They were slipping all over the place and this site is like that until I figure it all out and configure it. I have to submit to search engines, deal with spam, get the header right and so on before I can start doing what I enjoy; actually writing! There’s no real hurry though!
