Time for change #review
You might have noticed that my blog posts have changed this week. I want my writing to be more successful and to be read by more people. I’ve decided to concentrate my efforts in one place on A Zillion Ideas and make better use of my photography too. I can optimise the SEO better on my other site using a plug-in as well.
Thrifty Thursday: January offers
The Aldi super-six today are iceberg lettuce, cooked beetroot (500g), spring onions (100g), celery, cherry tomatoes (300g) and cucumber. They are all 39p. (more…)
The review: Local community and events
I’ve had a strange week. I did finally manage to get to the hospital for my blood test. I was in and out in 10 minutes, which left 20 minutes on my 30 minutes parking. At a pound for 30 minutes, it seemed a shame to waste it. The car park was quite full though and so I decided not to join the Costa Coffee crowd, although the Taste Cafe was a little tempting. (more…)
The review: Too Black Country?
I’ve had an interesting week. I walked around the local market on Tuesday and took a few photographs. It wasn’t a good week on the stock market, the banks let the market down. Of course many other businesses depend upon banking and so confidence in the whole economy falls. Maybe, they should pay bankers a bonus when the bank actually makes a profit, rather than double pay on a loss? (more…)
Eccentric. Me?
Someone suggested this week that I’m eccentric; off centre. Different! Yes, the Black Country seems to have more than it’s fair share of eccentrics. We have to be a bit mad to live here; it’s not the prettiest place in the world. It could be so much better, without the graffiti and the primitive behaviour.
The weekend review
I read a really good article yesterday about how to take night pictures. They say you should consider the exposure triangle to set your camera for this type of picture. That is set the ISO, aperture and speed. While I was doing all that and setting up a tripod, I would probably get mugged for the camera. (more…)
Fags, faggots and Facebook
My local readers will recognise the shop in today’s picture. Teddy Grays is famous in the Black Country. They sell a delicious selection of sweets. When an International student visited me last Christmas, I gave her mice made of sugar from Teddy Grays, Cadbury’s miniatures and a few other delights that we used to find in our Christmas stockings as children. We’re never too old for Teddy Grays…
Keeping cool in summer
The weather improved over the weekend in the UK and after a cold winter that followed a wet summer last year; we finally have sunshine. We’re not used to it and so some people will complain. The pollen count is high too, so there will be people with asthma suffering and others sneezing.
Thrifty summer ideas.
I’ve been to Matalan this week and bought a few summer clothes. The weather seems to be improving in England. I was actually able to take a shower last night without putting the heating on. It was a cold Spring though, we even had snow!
Neodigital Art | Timeline pictures
This picture is my my cover picture on my Facebook Timeline. On the left of the picture is my profile photo, just underneath where the sun is in this picture. When you’re doing a photo like this it’s important to get the text in the right place.
Nightmares or just dreams?
I’ve used a photograph from the summer to start today’s post. We did have one or two sunny days, in between the rain. I went to Matalan this week and bought an umbrella amongst other things. You will notice that it hasn’t rained since. It’s cold but sunny today, I must remember never to buy sunglasses from Matalan…
Name that river!
I used a photo from last year to start today’s blog. We haven’t had very much sunshine this year. Locals can try to guess where it is and the name of the river. We only have one river though so if that isn’t enough of a challenge, check out the flood light in the background between the trees. Where is that? (more…)
You may fool all the people some of the time
“You may fool all the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all the time; but you cant fool all of the people all the time.” Abraham Lincoln.
I was thinking… I could ask the government for 12 billion pounds to organise some games. You know the sort of thing, have them running around in silly shorts and the fastest one gets a prize. With 12 billion quid I might run to medals! I could probably get the National Lottery to donate a few quid to train them. After all, 12 billion is a drop in the ocean. The country is 7.9 trillion in debt according to the Tax Payers Alliance.
My blogging journey so far
Many of my readers are also bloggers and so today I thought I would write about blogging. I started a few years ago on Blogspot, but WordPress is much better. I started this blog about 2 years ago and it has subscribers and the page views are into 7 figures. I have recently started a Zillion ideas and that’s making progress. One things I think I have done right is take a lot of photographs and use those in my blogs. I would consider doing things a little differently If I was doing it all again though. The different subjects was a good idea too, but I did make mistakes doing ‘pages’ on different subjects. I learnt from that mistake and avoided it on a zillion ideas.
The weeks review
I’ve started this post with a photo that I think is a little artistic. It was taken in Merrion’s Wood. I don’t think I would choose Merrion’s Wood for a picnic, it is a great place to take photographs and explore though. I would prefer Sandwell Valley for a picnic on a sunny day. Do you remember those sunny days we used to get in England? We do get breaks in the rain sometimes and that is a good time for a barbecue, garden party or a picnic. That was the subject of my blog yesterday.
Neodigital Art | Guest photos
On Sunday, Simon James came with me to Walsall Arboretum, to a historic vehicles show. I’ve used some of the photos that I took, on a blog on a Zillion ideas; so I’ll use some of Simon’s recent photos in this post. His pictures are more widescreen than mine. (more…)
Neodigital Art | Photons
Photons are little bundles of energy that we call light. They come from the sun (when we aren’t making our own), bounce around and get reflected off everything. They bounce around rather like a ball bounces off different surfaces, some surfaces make a ball bounce fast if it’s hard, soft surfaces slow it down. Light gets absorbed by dark colours and reflected more by light colours. You can see where it is being reflected most in this picture, by the lighter colours. Now why is the green and foliage so dark in the foreground? (more…)
One of those days…
I usually write about writing today or how to write a novel; but I’m having one of those days when things won’t go right. I’ve been trying to turn off the magnifier permanently on my laptop; it is a real pain. It keep coming on and changing the size of text at odd times. I think I did something yesterday and now all the thumbnails for my photos have disappeared! It makes it hard to select photos for my blogs. I’ve tried the help files, they were no help at all. I tried the Microsoft site and that is useless too. I wish they would go back to the old days when we had a book to go with the operating system and a way of programming our computers that was easy. (more…)
Finance Friday | Frugal skills
I made a shepherd’s pie this week (pictured) and that was nice. We have to try to cook frugal meals now. It looks a little burnt around the edge just it wasn’t. That was the reason for the foil tray to stop the edges burning. It is a good idea to pop in under the grill to brown the top a little. They are easy to make, a meal in themselves and can be frozen. (more…)
Finance Friday | Your own business
Starting a business is a big undertaking, but how about a part time business? I have known lots of people start part time businesses and make a success of them. Everything from selling on a car boot sale to offering gardening services. I don’t think my photography is good enough to make a business out of it, but there are photo libraries that buy pictures. Whatever your interest or skill, can you make money out of it? Check out my blog on a Zillion Ideas for more ideas!
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