The Magician's Nephew: Photographs

Summer Challenge '13

Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire

Beaumaris Castle, Anglesey

Worcester College, Oxford

More Hedgehogs in Oxford

I went to Headington today to browse the charity shops. Here are a few more hedgehog things I found. I only bought the mug. The giant hedgie was only £5, but it would have been a challenge carrying him back to Oxford, difficult finding space in my room for him and impossible getting him back to SA :-P I was tempted by the slippers, but the heads are quite big and they felt like it would be difficult to walk in them.

Hedgie Slippers

The Giant Hedgehog

~ with regular sized mug

~ with my hand

My mug!

Hedgie riding tandem with a mouse

Baby's hedgehog toys

Hedgehogs in Oxford

Here are some pictures of hedgehogs and hedgehoggy things that I've seen around Oxford >'.'<

Advert for a cake made by Sinasbury's

I have since seen and eaten one of these

In shop window of Oxfam shop

At Boswells - a little too pricey for me

Also at Boswells

Hedgehog-kit - Also at Boswells

For sale at an antique & craft shop

At the Covered Market Hospice shop

No comment

Pin cushion - I might just buy one!

More brushes at Boswells

Mrs Tiggy!

Old collector's edition

PS I've changed this post to make the pictures easier to see. Hope you like them ^.^

Previous Winners

Liebster Awards Part III

I promise that this will be my last post in my Liebster award series. I wanted to draw attention to some of my other friend's blogs who had already won the award before I did. There isn't strictly a rule against re-awarding but I had decided to give mine to people who had not previously been awarded. So here is a list (grouped according to similarity) of previously awarded blogs.

Scribbles and Inkstains by Abigail Hartman

The Penslayer by Jenny Freitag

These sisters are both authors with one book published each and a couple more in the works. They have some very insightful and interesting posts on the craft of writing amongst other things. If any blogs are truly worthy of this award it is these two. Needless to say, they both have a gift for writing, be it in their novels or a simple blog post.

Whisperings of the Pen by Katie

The Poetry of Lost things by Megan

Insanity comes Naturally by Anna

A Spirit not of Fear by Sparrow

The Lamb and Lion by Marthe

These are all blogs by some wonderful girls I know from TLC. In the style of my TLC friends, they include musings on writing, faith, life and other stuff. Each of them have a unique and special way of expressing themselves and a gift for creatively spinning words. All enjoyable reads.

Define "Weird" by Hudson

An Autumn Day by Autumn Elizabeth

WriterFreak101's Writing and Other Things by WriterFreak101 (aka Wilf)

These three are some of my newer and younger TLC friends. Hudson is one of the most gifted photographers I have ever met; visit his blog to be awed by his photographs, particularly some amazing ones of running water. Autumn is an avid blogger, with this, her photography-oriented blog being just one of many which she has and contributes to. Wilf is a very good friend of mine (and would have been awarded by me had he not been co-awarded with me by Liz). He is an avid writer (as you can guess) particularly of fanfiction relating to Narnia and Star Wars amongst other things.

Last but not least, I should mention again the blog through which I was awarded:

Imaginational Wonders by Elizabeth LW. A lovely combination of thoughts, pictures and crafts.

Illustration from http://mashable.com/ via http://lifeasahuman.com/

The Liebster Award

So, there's this award that's been going 'round blogger for a while. I know about it because a couple of my friends were recently given the award. I got really excited yesterday when one of my friends, Elizabeth L W, put my dear Hedgepickle Blog on her list of awardees :-).

For those wondering exactly what this award is all about:

"The goal of the award is to spotlight up and coming bloggers who currently have less than 200 followers." 

The rules of the award are:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.

2. Reveal your top 5 picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.

3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

4. Have faith that your followers will spread the love to other bloggers.

5. And most of all - have fun!"

Thanks so much Liz for giving me the award. It means a lot and I'm so excited to be able to pass it on to others. You can check out her lovely blog Imaginational Wonders which includes photographs, crafts, pieces on writing and personal reflections.

Wow...picking 5 blogs to award isn't easy. I have some really great blogger friends on here. There were a few I knew that I would award immediately. But then the challenge got tough for a number of reasons. Firstly, a number of the candidates I considered have already been awarded before and I had decided not to re-award anyone. There are also a few whom I would have loved to award because I know that their blogs will be very good in the near future (based on what I know of their other writings), but as they are currently rather new blogs, they don't have very many posts yet.

In the end, however, I was able to pick the five. I hearby bestow the Liebster Award on the following wonderful blogs...

1. Be Blessed by Nix

 

This blog belongs to my best friend from high school. She has a degree in Photography and uses her skills to make beautiful greetings cards. This blog showcases examples of her cards/photos and documents some of the craft sales and other events she has taken part in. It's worth a look just to gaze in awe of her beautiful photos. If you live outside of SA and are interested in buying any of her cards just enquire on the blog and she might be willing to make a plan.

2. Since I Found Serenity by Elspeth

 

This is a blog by one of my friends from TLC. It is relatively new but already has a good many posts. Her posts so far are chiefly about writing and personal reflections on life and faith. Her posts are enjoyable to read and she has a good way of thinking through and expressing things. She is not new to the blogging world as she also has another review blog on LJ and a business blog for the goods she sells on Etsy (A Whimsical Adventure)

3. The World of a Rhosewen White Rose 
by a lady I who goes by various names (I usually call her White Rose or Wrosie)

She's also a friend from TLC. She has a bleautiful blog where she writes about various things from reading to writing to sharing favourite songs to reflecting on life and faith. Wrosie is also creates beautiful graphics (a sample of which might be seen on the graphics page of her blog). She has recently started an Etsy shop where she sells prints of her photographs (Rhosewen Faerie).

4. Living to Love (formally "telling it as it is") by Shula

 

She is the daughter of Zambian missionaries to Mozambique and has joined her parents in their community and outreach work. I had the privilege of meeting and working alongside her and her family in 2007 when I went with a group from my church to visit them. Her family really knows what it means to serve God with their whole being and make a difference in the world by doing so. Her blog shares various adventures and thoughts relating to her exciting but challenging life. In the last few posts she shares a little about the recent miraculous recovery of her dad from near death; a story I was privileged to hear recounted from his own mouth.

5. The Wind on the Water by Jordan

 This blog is by another one of my TLC friends (also known as Petraverd).  The two of us make up the forum's pair of linguists, although he has a better knowledge of morphology and phonology while I've been trained largely in syntax and psycholinguistics (and am now shifting focus to historical linguistics). Unfortunately he hasn't posted recently on his blog, being particularly busy with life and his new job (here's to hoping the award will produce some further posts). He's also a writer of fiction and plays (having taken part in a good many "National Novel Month" and "Script Frenzy" competitions).

Well that's my list. I recommend you take some time to check out and browse these blogs. I'll be writing a follow-up post shortly in which I list and describe some of my other friends' blogs who didn't make the criteria for being given the award by me, but are worthy and worthwhile blogs none-the-less.

Reserved among nature

Living where I do, there are at least three nature reserves within a 10 minute drive from my house. These are "nature" and not "game" reserves, which means nothing larger than a dassie or small duiker will be seen, and they are rather a place for spotting birds and plants. But they are rather beautiful none-the-less. 

We used to frequent New Germany Nature Reserve more often when we were children. It was down the road from my grandparents house and was a favourite spot for parties. I think of the three, this has the most beautiful walks. Not being in a valley, the open grassland views are rather splendid. 

Paradise Valley, is even closer to home, and I have been there numerous times with friends and school groups. One of the pleasures there is taking the short walk to the waterfall. It is unfortunate that this reserve is spoiled by the two massive bridges which serve as on-ramps to the N3, but they are so insanely high above where you are walking, their presence creates a splendour if their own.

The third reserve is the Palmiet Reserve in Westville. As far as I can remember I had never been there (despite frequenting the shopping centre just up the road) until last Sunday. On Sunday we went to Palmiet for a Church braai lunch. (For my non-South African friends, a braai is kind of like a barbecue - but better). Despite threats of rain and miserable cold, and the braai almost being cancelled, the day turned out to be quite pleasant. Not many people came, put off by the weather and semi-long weekend, but for those who did, we had a rather nice time of fellowship.

The Braai

There was a river right next to where we had our braai, and so, inspired by Hudson (from Define Weird), I tried my hand at a few river shots. The red flower, unfortunately belonging to a canna (which I've been taught to consider a nuisance of a weed), was the only flower in sight. Alas, for it being winter and not spring!

The River

The Cliff

I've probably mentioned before that I am not a writer (i.e. a fiction writer). That distinction belongs to some of my more talented friends: Jenny, Abigail, Lilly, Wilf and Will (amongst others - forgive me for not including you all - there are too many). Similarly, I am not a photographer. I have three extrememly talented photographer friends: Nicola, Roswen and Hudson (I suggest you visit their blogs, which I've linked here, should you want to see real photography). But since last Sunday was one of the last times I'd be with my Church family before leaving for Oxford, I took along my camera. I am still rather proud of my new camera, and simple as it is and use every excuse I can to "practice" taking pictures before I leave :-p

p.s. If you click on the photos, you can see them enlarged - that gives you a slightly better feel of the river