Days 209-211/365: A Weekend with Granny L

You may recall that Granny L, my mother in law, moved house a few months ago. The last time we went to visit her we said goodbye to Jasmine Cottage, my husbands childhood home. This weekend we went to visit her in the new house. The journey takes about 3 hours and now that the kids are older we have decided that it is best to travel up on the Friday night after everyone has finished work and school. We get the kids into their PJs and encourage them to sleep in the car. This has been working really well! Travelling at night makes for a much more peaceful journey, the traffic is not so heavy and we have the whole of Saturday to relax and enjoy spending time with Granny L.

 

So, Friday (day 209) was hectic trying to get everything ready. The kids love travelling in their PJs. This is how things were looking just before getting into the car.

 

 

 

 

We took a very slow and lazy start to Saturday morning (day 210), which was absolute bliss. A much needed rest for us. The kids enjoyed some DVDs while I drank tea in bed and read a book. Unheard of!

 

We took the short train journey to Bath for lunch. We went to Giraffe, a family favourite. I cannot express what a joy it is to watch Bear dance in her chair when we go places like this. My girl can move!

 

I didn't hold out much hope for getting any good photos here as the light was so low. However, I just love how the light fell on my husband in this picture. I wasn't expecting it to come out like this. 

 

I really wanted to capture my husband and his mum together a bit more, but I don't like to ask people to move as it makes them feel like they have to pose. I prefer to capture natural moments like this. I like the picture but I often wish for a 35mm or a full frame camera... or both!

 

After lunch and a visit to some shops, we went to the Roman Baths. Roo has been learning about the Romans in school. He has been very interested so we thought that he would enjoy the Baths. He did enjoy it but actually Rexy enjoyed it even more. 

 

 

These hand held audio tour guides were a hit and kept them happy for ages. 

 

 

It is just such a joy to have new places to take photos and some light for a change. 

 





 This fine woman is the goddess Sulis Minerva. I have very little interest in history but I am very surprised by how much I enjoy taking pictures of stuff like this. 

 

I am also amazed to find that I am becoming much more interested in taking pictures of buildings. I would love to know more about how to capture them. I am thinking that it is all about the shadows and the light, with and interesting composition of course. 

 

I think that photographing people will always be my main interest though. Their stories are so much richer. 

 I think that this is my favourite from the weekend.

 

 I really struggled to take a good picture of the baths themselves. Mostly it was the focal length that let me down, but also I felt lacking in the knowledge to capture it well. I will have to read up on it sometime. 

 

It was another wonderful slow start this morning (day 211).

 

 I took a lot of photos of this window scene. I love little country windows. I wanted the wintery bare branches outside, the blue sky, the condensation on the window and the objects on the window sill. Of course I know that I can't have it all. This is the best I could manage. 

 

There was some Magic the Gathering. 

 

There was some toast in bed. 

 

Before the long journey home we took the opportunity to visit Granny P, my husband's grandmother. She is staying in a nursing home for a while but hopes to return home next week. Granny P is an amazing and inspirational woman. She raised 4 four children on her own as her husband died when they were young. She now has countless grandchildren and great grandchildren who adore her. She will be 90 in a few more weeks. While we were there, my husbands cousin and their two daughters arrived. This gave me the chance to take lots of family photos.



 The dog is named Bertie and belongs to Granny L.

The other one is named Alfie. Bear loves them. 

Bear loved meeting the girls and engaged them in girly talk. It was lovely to see. 

 Then on the way home, I amused myself with some slow shutter speed and car lights. 

 

 

We just loved everything about this weekend and I feel so grateful to have had the oportunity to take so many pictures to remember it. Back to normality now...