Category Archives: General Photography

Settling in; What I did in the meantime.

I’d been staring at my blogger layout for ages. I just wasn’t happy about it. I had all this ‘stuff’ on it and it seemed to detract from the whole point of why I started blogging. At first my blog was clean and simple looking, which I liked. It didn’t need a lot of graphics because it was the content I wanted people to focus on, I still do. I have to admit that the two changes to the layout/theme/user interface blogger went through tipped me off enough to want to move even back then. I was dithering about moving my blog because my readers had started going up, I was established and I’d added a custom domain name to my blog and had no idea how to move it or even if I could.

This weekend it just got to that point. You know that stage when you’re driven to make a decision because you can’t stand to be not moving anymore, in either direction, indecision is no longer an option. I was talking, well venting to my mum really while she was in the room doing the ironing and I was again staring at my blog just wondering what exactly what it was that was bugging me. Mums advice is always not to rush into anything, if you’re not sure, don’t do it. Which to me.. usually translates into, research, research, research till you know all the facts, what you can do, what you can’t do, and then if it feels right, do it.
Over the weekend I’d read a lot about different blogging platforms both free and paid, packages/bundles, pros and cons of moving or mapping domains as it seems to be termed, everything I needed to know to make sure it was the right decision. Also.. being the weekend, knowing these online changes would take time usually 3 days, that it would be the best time to jump for it, if I decided to. I don’t expect many people to be reading my blog on a Sunday evening/Monday morning.
So.. I jumped for it, as you can tell, or maybe not. Importing my blogger blog to wordpress was a pretty simple process. I knew moving my domain would be the time killer.

The instructions provided by WordPress for mapping your custom domain and GoDaddy’s step by step guide (if you’ve bought your domain through them and you’re settings are with them) it’s a straight forward process, just distract yourself like crazy and refrain from checking your website for at least 72 hours or it may lead to some kind of paranoia, frustration, insomnia and excessive tea drinking.

I am relieved and satisfied to have landed and I am much happier with my blog, which I think is really important. Having logged into my blog and attempted to write posts many times and just been instantly put off and unmotivated, which is really not the kind of attitude you want when you want to blog about something that’s important or interesting you, or sharing projects with friends. I’m also glad it didn’t take as long as I thought it would, around 48 hours if that so hopefully it hasn’t put any of you off, I’m hoping none of you noticed it, but that’s asking to much as I did post updates on FB, Twitter and Youtube keeping you posted on it’s process.

So, whilst I was waiting for changes to happen online I’ve been keeping myself busy with knitting and Bejewelled. I used to play it a lot on Yahoo but then it ate up all our internet data so I stopped. This past week I came across it as a game download in the app store so I downloaded it onto my mac mini and I’ve been playing it even more than before. It was a paid download, which I don’t usually do but I knew it would be worth it in this case. It wasn’t overly expensive when you think of what people pay for Xbox, PS3 and Wii games.

A rainbow suddenly appeared outside our front window this afternoon, I hadn’t noticed it raining or shining but there it was none the less, it’s the second I’ve seen so far this year. I got a few pictures of it.

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I’m a little blank for videos and visually impaired related posts at the moment so feedback from you guys would be most welcome. I do have a special something coming up, hopefully it will be here on Thursday and I can have a play around with it and have a video tutorial on it by the following week.

Did you have a good weekend?

Socks Spectacular!

I was gutted, absolutely gutted when I heard that Peacocks was going into administration. Ok.. so I haven’t been a very loyal customer but I do go there every now and then for some things, mainly a new set of PJ’s and dressing gown for Christmas, Leggings because that’s like my most basic thing I wear practically every day and of course SOCKS. I love socks, especially the over the knee and stripy variety. But now, my stripy, over the knee sock collection is in jeopardy. I ask you, WILL we even have a ‘high street’ to walk down in 5 years time. Will window shopping be condemned to an archaic term our grandchildren will miss out on and just not get.

Peacocks were having a sale between 20 and 70% the mood was somber and hushed, not even the familiar white shiny floor underfoot or the friendly yellow glow of the lights could cheer any of us up. I zoned in on the socks immediately hoping to stock up while I could and here is my bounty.





I did actually get a black pair that match the white ones, I’m wearing them now and they are so super soft and cosy!! Wish I had bought more. So if you are a sock fanatic like me, head over to your nearest Peacocks shop and stock up!!
I also have this really bad habit of not being able to pass a wool shop without buying any. I have tonnes that I need to use up of varying sizes, DK, Chunky and not Super Chunky!!! I started off with a lot more but managed to weadle it down to these 4. I have plans for chunky knits, but first I need my 7-9mm needles to arrive from Ebay but I’m itching to get started, maybe it would still be a chunky project with super chunky wool even on 6mm needles? Also.. I’ve started going more projects in the round and I keep losing the beginning of the row, leading me to only do one stitch, or one pattern. I like variation so if anyone has a clue where I can get some ‘spacers’ or whatever they are called. I’ve seen them on a youtube video but in my usual online hangouts and in the shop today, nothing like it or even called spacers are available.






I’m still getting the hang of wordpress, took me ages to get those pictures in there so it’s not as intuitive as blogger but I love just playing around and figuring things out by trial and error so wish me luck. And hurry up Domain name stop hanging in the air and land!

Braille King Walk Through

Braille King available from rnib.org.uk/shop £14.39 inc VAT £11.99 ex VAT 
I’m planning on doing a video of this when my new mic comes in the post enabling me to do voiceover work in iMovie. Until then I couldn’t wait to share my new gadget with you guys so here are a few pictures and info.

The Braille King is a lightweight, pocket braille writing frame. Perfect for short notes, phone numbers, shopping lists and to do’s. It’s perfect for sighted and blind users, especially those new to reading and writing braille. It has the full braille alphabet on the reverse enabling sighted users to copy and write a braille message to their blind/partially sighted friends without knowing a single letter or number of braille before hand. You write in the same way a sighted person would with a pen, left to right, unlike it’s predecessors where you had to write backwards and upside down. This is much easier, a lot of fun and way way cheaper than buying a traditional paper braille writer ie.. a Perkins for around £500. 

The Braille King frame holds 60 braille cells, four rows of 15 each. It produces single sided braille which I prefer and is great for newbies. There are also tactile markings at the top of the frame letting you know where you are in your message, also a couple of pins at the bottom of the frame to keep the paper in place so that you can lift the top frame, read your message and check for mistakes, then clip the top back down and continue your message, a nice touch!

The Braille King (Code BF21) comes nicely packaged and included are:
  • The plastic wallet that keeps it all together.
  • A Spiral bound brailon paper notebook. (Code BP63).
  • Braille alphabet on the reverse blue on white.
  • A plastic braille stylus (Code BS08). 
  • Blue plastic braille cell frame.
hello youtube
I’ve been making notes since it arrived this afternoon. I’ve been learning braille for just over a year and I still don’t feel very confident with reading it on paper. Reading and writing braille on my electronic refreshable braille device and writing/typing out on the Perkins brailler, no problem, but reading paper braille grade 1 and 2 I struggle with a lot. This pocket size gadget is perfect for me to write grade 1 notes to myself and get used to the different feel of paper braille, personally I think electronic, refreshable braille is more prominent and easier to read but reading paper braille is essential to any blind/partially sighted person especially when you need to read braille on medication. The whole thing is about 3” by 5” so takes up hardly any space at all. You don’t have to push down very hard on the stylus to make the braille but I do recommend using it on a flat surface so you can push down if you need to. Extra stylus and brailon notebooks are available from the rnib shop if you need them. 

The stylus is really comfortable to write with, there’s no rubber grip or anything but it fits nicely in the hand and I don’t think it would be a problem for lefties or righties. I’m ambidextrous and found it worked with both nicely. 

On the reverse with the alphabet, it’s a clear contrast with the blue text on a white background. The letters and cells are explained, however the numbers or number sign are not shown or explained so if someone is giving you their mobile number it will be better for you to write it out as they have no number references. Braille numbers  J – 0, A – 1, B – 2, C -3 …. I – 9. More info on Braille numbers here. 

I’m really glad I bought this gadget I’m sure it will help me a lot in my braille journey and I strongly recommend it if you are learning braille and struggling with paper reading. Stay tuned for my youtube video covering The Braille King where I’ll demo using it and talk more about it, if I can think of anything else to say about it other than to quote the Aldi Parrot ‘Like it, like it, like it, like it, likelikelikelikelikelikelikeit!’ If you can’t wait for my video here is a great demo from the RNIB team.


This is also on my too get list. I could get back into writing a paper diary and snail mail letters to blind friends. 

DAY SEVEN: VLOG-A-DAY CHALLENGE

Ok so throughout Jan I’ve decided to do a vlog-a-day. A vlog is a video blog, smash the word video and blog together, you get vlog. Even in the first week it’s been tricky to get something filmed and uploaded every day so I’m hoping I can get through this month without to many gaps. Today was Saturday so we ‘free ran’ Ellie and this time we decided to go to the beach. It was fun and I think she enjoyed herself too. Not so keen on the waves splashing into her or the taste of the salty tennis ball we were playing fetch with, but there you go.. 


Have a great weekend!!

Greetings. what’s new with you?

Hello! 

It feels like ages since I’ve written in my blog and it has probably been the longest gap between writings since it’s inception but what can you do when holidays come around? ditch the blog for presents and food of course. 

I don’t want to brag but I’m just so excited that I have my dream computer and I want to virtually yell that I AM COMING TO YOU LIVE FROM MY APPLE MAC MINI YAAAAAY!! Ok I’ve done it, you can all laugh, boo, crack up, face palm, look disappointed, shocked and give the virtual thumbs up … now. 

Yes – so it wasn’t technically a Christmas present as I got it yesterday but it feels like a Christmas present that’s been a long time coming. I will do a review of the Mac Mini when I’ve had time to play around with it, I was just excited that I’m finally using it that I had to mention it in this update. 

My Christmas was pretty strange but in a good way. My parents worked over Christmas so our Christmas Day didn’t really start till 3pm when they got home from work. I did open a couple of presents when I got up, Ellie and I sat in the front room with our caffeine fixes, well I had mine, Ellie just had her squeaky toy. I don’t recommend giving your pets caffeine unless the vet specifies it.  I’ve been watching a lot of Christmas haul video’s on youtube and I have no idea why I like them so much, why would listening and seeing a bunch of awesome things that you didn’t receive be something you choose to watch? who knows.. anyway they generally always started off with the line ‘I’m not doing this to brag, it was requested’ I did upload a Christmas day/week photo album up on Facebook which did feature photos of presents and list of who from.. but that was because my Facebook is made up mostly of family and friends who sent me the things in the first place, so I thought they might like to see that I got them and loved them :) as well as a bunch of photos of Ellie sporting the Christmas spirit and of course, food. I don’t plan on making a Christmas haul video but I might throw in some fav Christmas pictures in this post. 


Instead of buying or making a Christmas cake we decided to try out these Christmas Cupcakes with Brandy Butter Icing, we had passed them several times but we waited till they were half price right before Christmas to get them! I don’t recommend getting your icing sugar and flour packets mixed up which is what I did and the mixture turned out to be a lot more than the cases could handle, it worked out okay then, just a big volume! good job we had some regular icing sugar in the cupboard, the brandy butter was nice, but very rich so you don’t need a lot of it, we went a bit mad. 


So this is how they turned out, the bag made 12 as you can see they are huge, I don’t think they are supposed to be that big but they tasted good all the same, dad liked them especially. 


Ever since I’ve had Ellie, almost two years now, she had been on a dry fish and potato diet to help her skin, she had some irritation as a pup so I haven’t taken her off it as her coat and skin is healthy now. But for a Christmas treat we thought we’d give her a change. A can of Beef in gravy by Pedigree which is the brand Guide Dogs recommend and it’s Yellow so easy to find in the supermarket, providing you are not down the butter isle, it’s Yellow city there. Ellie loved it and kept going back to check if there was any more, even after dad washed up her bowl. Bless her. 


Here are all my presents, I took pictures group pictures of presents from family and friends in my Facebook album. I got so much stuff and I love it all, it’s so pretty! I got a new shoulder bag with birds and butterflies on, a new Laura Ashley makeup bag and purse, butterfly umbrella, always handy! a notebook that says Can’t Sleep Write Now so I will def be using that for my midnight stories, some holy socks! they have sheep on and I can’t decide if it’s Moses’, Noah’s or St Peters crook. The final Harry Potter movie, ER season 4 to replace the one my chair rolled on, Laura Ashley notebook, 3D sudoko puzzle I love sudoko! a box of yummy biscuits with a cute tin, Hello Kitty necklace, Snow man (not in the shot) a hand knitted bunny from my braille tutor, pink Smarties, a head band and gloves from my family in America it’s from Walmart* which I’m geekily happy about so much so that I’ve kept the Walmart tag!! I don’t know why I like the name Walmart* just sounds so much better than our English version of Asda. 

All of Ellie’s presents, several toys, edible cards, special doggy chocolate and a candy cane all from the Dogalogue (guide dogs catalogue) 


Colour changing LED snowman. I love, love, love this. My best friends Liz, Matt and CJ gave me this and I adore it, I have it by my bed next to my Daisy Reader the batteries run out really quickly and they are the funny C something batteries so I’ve been raiding dad’s pound shop supply :) I think I need to get a fibre optic light to have on for the rest of the year next to my bed, something tactile and colourful. If you know where I can get something like that online or offline, recommend in the comments!

Ellie surrounded by paper and modelling a Christmas paper hat! you put up with so much from me thank you girl x 


My parents finished work around 3 ish so when they came home we jumped in the car and did our traditional forest walk which wasn’t the same without the snow we had last year, still it was nice, blew the cobwebs away. My wellies are having a 2nd Christmas photo in the mud :D  

I hope you all had a great holiday whatever you celebrated. 
Thanks for following, reading and listening. it means a lot. 
I hope to continue my journey and taking you along with me and Ellie over 2012. 

Happy New Years


That wasn’t quite how I planned it!

Today I was supposed to be meeting up with my best friends for a Birthday Treat day out in Exeter. However, Ellie was still feeling a bit under the weather and I didn’t want to risk any accidents so we had to cancel our plans. Although my dad did drop me off for a few minutes at the bus station so that I could give my huge gift bag of Christmas and Anniversary presents to them all and they gave me some beautiful flowers and some Birthday/Christmas pressies.

When I got home I decided to open my Birthday presents on camera and put it on youtube so that the guys could feel they were there with me. I know my Birthday isn’t until Saturday but I’m a grown up and I’ll say when I open my goodies!! by the way I absolutely adore the green wrapping paper :) .

I love, love, love the cards I will keep them in my treasure box :)

Cath Kidston the love affair lives on

Follow my blog with Bloglovin I wish I could remember when I first came across Cath Kidston and her amazing style, but I can’t. All I can say is that for as long as I can remember I’ve adored it and wanted to own some of it.

Now I own 2 things!! This feels so surreal actually because I don’t really remember ordering them, then completely forgot about it so it came as a really nice surprise in the post today. I was in the middle of my major Christmas and Anniversary shopping the last couple of weeks so the little bits and pieces I bought for myself, don’t stick out as much as the things I’ve bought for other people and been wrapping up and such. It almost felt like I was dreaming of going through her website and selecting items and buying them. But it wasn’t a dream, because here they are in my hand and even more supreme then all the pictures online and in magazines.

Those who know me and read my blog regularly know I am a sucker for packing and presentation as well as the goodies inside the boxes and bags. Cath Kidston doesn’t let you down when you are this way inclined. The packaging is as beautiful and stylistically aesthetically pleasing as the products. Usually I’d bunch the pictures I take together in a collage to save space and loading time but I just couldn’t do that for this post. It’s all beautiful and needs to have their own picture and not bundled together. I realize I’m coming across as totally geeky here. I am a geek, so sue me.

I

Quilted make up bag for my growing collection of essentials. Love, love, love it!

It’s soft and quilted on the outside, but the inside has that really nice wipeable surface and it even has a pocket which I wasn’t expecting! nice touch, I’ve popped the mini compact I bought also in there for safe keeping.

I also have some really exciting news about a product I am dying to share with you but as it’s not finalized I can’t really talk about it. But it’s super exciting for me and for you guys I hope.. so stay tuned and if you’re on my facebook and twitter, chances are you probably know but yeah.. something fun is coming this way, can’t wait.

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On another note, Ellie is doing so much better since the medication from the Vet, we tried her with some food today and she’s kept it down so fingers crossed she’s on the mend! :) . Thanks for your comments and prayers, much appreciated.

The weather is grey, wet and foggy here but it is slightly warmer than the icy chill we had yesterday. I’m hoping tomorrow will just be dry and a little sunny, or snowy but it’s way to early for that.
No rain or icy wind please Lord. Thanks.

10 Things I Love: Birthday Month Edition.

As November is my Birthday month, I thought I’d kick of with a new section on my blog called ‘10 Things I Love‘ with my 10 Birthday wish list items. I was going to save this new section for the new year but I couldn’t resist the idea of kicking it off with a Birthday Wishlist Edition!
(N.B items in no particular order)

1. Red Doc Martens

3. MAC Cosmetics Powder Blush in Fleur Power
4. MAC Cosmetics Lipstick in Diva
6. Soap and Glory: The Breakfast Scrub
7. Accessorize Fairytale Pin

Dyslexie Font And Curly Hair

My hair is generally straight and flat but I thought I’d spice it up a bit and maybe wear it like that for my Birthday and Christmas, jazz it up with a head scarf or headband, undecided.
I can’t remember the last time I plaited my hair! it’s been so long, anyway. I don’t like putting heat or cream/mousse’s in my hair, I just don’t like how they feel, some can be quite sticky and you can’t put a brush through your hair after. Anyway this is all natural, no fuss, just washed and plaited while wet and left in over night. I like how light and bouncy it feels but it does feel a bit to much, so maybe just 2 plaits next time not 4!

I’ve never been diagnosed with Dyslexia my reading has always been fine, providing the font was big enough and bold enough. I gave up reading for a while because it was just too stressful and painful. But when I got bigger print or starting listening to it I got back into reading. In the last year I’ve had trouble again with reading, and now with numbers which I’ve never had before. We think (as a family) it must be to do with my vision or lack there off causing my brain to miss bits out, make letters jump or disappear leaving me utterly confused about what the text is actually saying. I think Dyslexia is fairly common in VI people. I know a few partially sighted people who’s spelling is rather humorous but not intentional.
Anyway my friend J forwarded an interesting email on to me today about a Dutch man called Boer who has created a font called ‘Dyslexie’ that’s helping suffers read normally without any floaty and mirror business. It’s not a cure, but it lowers the amount of errors made. The font is nicely spaced, the base of all letters have been emboldened to give them weight, telling the brain not to flip them, the j’s and y’s have been given longer tails to make them easier to distinguish from i’s. It sounds really good and I read a little piece of text and it really did improve my reading ability, to somewhere where it used to be about 10 years ago. You can read up more about it here and purchase it here.

Doro PhoneEasy 615

Doro PhoneEasy 615 review and mini tutorial.

I’ve had my Doro PhoneEasy 615 for almost a week now and I’m very happy with my decision to move away from the Apple iPhone 3gs. The reason for me swapping was because I just needed to get back to a basic phone, one that just phones and texts without all the apps and internet distractions. The iPhone 3gs was fine for the whole time I had it, I used to VO or VoiceOver function on it and got along fine. I was just getting a bit annoyed with how slow the VO buffer seemed to be in conjunction with a refreshable braille display unit such as a BraillePen12. Anyone will tell you, if they know me that is, that I am the least patient person on the planet and I just wasn’t patient enough to wait for her to catch up, it made checking for mistakes a very long and slow process. VO on it’s own, perfect.

Now the Doro PhoneEasy 615 isn’t a smartphone but it is a smart phone. It has some really cool features such as ICE app which goes more in depth than just sticking ICE in front of your ‘need to contact in case of emergency nunbers’. It enables you to give more information such as name, age, height, weight, language, insurance, contact numbers, doctor’s number, allergies, medical information and blood type. The A, B, C keys are perfect for speed dial and the extra security button on the reverse is a great idea, especially for the elderly if they take a tumble or something, just a push of a button can call designated numbers down the list till someone picks up and activates the speed dial letting you get help asap. It’s also hearing aid complaint! with extra loud settings as well as a choice of 4 high contrast themes. White on Black, Black on White, Yellow on Black and Yellow on Blue. I watched a video review about it so it would save time with the manual and it paid off because I was using it straight out of the box and mum didn’t even have to pick the manual up!.

It came set up on White on Black which I prefer so I didn’t have to change anything except the text size, normal was fairly big to begin with but I prefer the large setting and it’s easily done. It has bluetooth and FM radio which is great, the ear phones, lanyard, mains charger and usb lead are provided in box. Colour choices are Black and Red. Black was the only one available from the RNIB website. The 3.2 mp camera is centralized, which always helps, the iPhones wasn’t and it isn’t on the iPad either which is just a plain nuisance. It’s a nice clear picture and makes taking pictures and setting them as contacts or wallpapers, fun. The flash and option for red eye reduction is good one for pet pics. At the moment Vodafone doesn’t have any picture message settings to send to me so I am unable to send pictures I take, but I can transfer them off to a computer using the USB lead and I could use the bluetooth option to send to a friend.

The text size is 26pt and nicely spaced for easy reading, the buttons are well contrasted and soft to the touch. I find I do have to press down quite hard to push the buttons, but I think it may just be because I’m used to touch screens that are highly sensitive. The choice of polyphonic ringtones are good there is something for everyone, it’s not all pop/rock or classical there’s a good mixture. I find the fact you can’t turn of the vibrate is a little downer, but you can shorten the length of it. I love the design of the stand up charger, it’s neat and compact, if you have the sound on it will beep when you put the phone into charge and when you take it out, it also flashes red, if you have it on silent, you will just see the light which changes to green when fully charged. The screen at the front displays the clock, but I haven’t discovered how to get it to last for more than a few seconds when you close the screen. The blue envelope is cool when you receive a message! I can’t read the name or the number that it displays when I receive a phone call but that is also a nice little touch if you have the sight to see it.

It took me awhile to figure out where the space was and it’s on ZERO other things will pop up but if you don’t select those it will space out for the next word. Star * is punctuation and Hash # switches from abc, ABC and 123.

When you flip the phone open the top left is ‘ok’ then you camera button in the middle, very easy one click to open the camera, another click on the same button to take a picture – that’s it!, top right is ‘back’.
Underneath that you have the green ‘pick up’ phone followed by the up and down arrow menu navigation buttons and the red ‘put down’ phone.
Underneath that you have A B C which can be used as speed dial, you can of course use the rest of 1-9 buttons as speed dials, but who seriously has that many speed dials? The message button follows that, it’s another quick key, like the camera key. One click and your in messages.

I did do a quick video on youtube but I’ve taken some pictures here, step by step of how to change the text and the colour theme. As always if you have any question or queries you can email or leave a comment.