photo challenge

Every which way?
A quick getaway by jet ski?

A quick getaway by jet ski?

With that blue, blue water and matching sky, you could be excused for thinking I’m somewhere exotic.  Well, it’s a matter of definition.  Seaham, on England’s north east coast, was enjoying a rare balmy day.

You can walk along the cliff top, or the beachside walk

You can walk along the cliff top, or the promenade, down by the beach

It's a nice little town

It’s a nice little town

With an industrial heritage

With an industrial heritage

And it’s the start point for my venture into Cee’s Which Way photo challenge.  There’s so much more I could tell you about Seaham, but I’ll save it for another day.  I know Cee rather likes a sign.  I almost captured this one.

Don't you love a coastal footpath?

Don’t you love a coastal footpath?

I wonder where else Cee might take me.  Click on the logo below or the links and we’ll go and see.

Which-Way-Banner1

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Locks, knockers and handles
I've rarely seen a more extravagant door knocker

I’ve rarely seen a more elaborate door knocker, if a bit chipped!

I’m very often admiring of the door knockers and handles in the Algarve, and when I saw the subject of Cee’s photo challenge this week- well, you just knew I’d want to share them, didn’t you?  They’re so elegant.

Fish in Faro
Fatima’s very delicate hand
And then there were two!
Beautifully framed white doors.
Tightly clenched in Tavira

Thanks, Cee, for giving me another excuse to revisit a wonderful holiday.  That’s it!  No more. (well, not till the next time, anyway)

Off now to check out some more entries to Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge.  Click the link and come with me.

Thursday : Lingering look at Windows- 23
You'll have to excuse these windows for not being very clean. I'll have a word with the bosun.

Not too clean, these windows?  I’ll have a word with the ship’s bosun.

When I was a little girl, our town had docklands.  I remember being fascinated by the chain bridges that linked them all together.   I would walk with care over the wooden boards, water on either side of me.  Then we were no longer competitive at the shipbuilding game, and a wealth of skills were laid to waste.  Years passed, with the town in decline.  Still, we can be tenacious in this north eastern corner of England.

A happy ending, of sorts, is on display every day at Hartlepool’s Maritime Experience, our recreation of an 18th Century seaport.  The website incorporates a brief history of Hartlepool, and details of HMS Trincomalee, restored locally and the only British warship still afloat.

Come and gaze with me into the windows of an 18th Century seaport.

Let's walk round the quay together. I love this reflected windows shot.

Let’s walk round the quay together. I like this reflected windows shot.

The tailors first- you've got HMS Trincomalee too, of course

The tailor’s first- got to be suitably attired. (and HMS Trincomalee, clearly reflected! )

The swordsmith's- do take care in here!

The swordsmith’s- they’re pretty sharp in there!

Wax figures? A strange one this.

Wax figures? A little strange, this one.

Shadrach Moggridge- a fine name for a Chandler

Shadrach Moggridge- a fine name for a chandler!

The upstairs window looks good too

The upstairs window looks good too.

All very useful!

So many useful things!

A gunmakers, naturally!

A gunmaker’s, with shot, naturally!

The printer's- useful again!

The printer’s- useful again!

Head in hands- he must have got it wrong! (best yet reflection of the Trinc?)

Head in hands- he must have got it wrong! (best yet reflection of the Trinc?)

Turn around. There she is, HMS Trincomalee.

Turn around, and there she is, HMS Trincomalee.

The windows look a little cleaner from the outside. :)

Those windows look a little cleaner from the outside.

Hope you enjoyed my tour.  Come up and see us sometime.  It really is quite fascinating inside the shops.  I think I put my time to good use at Sunday’s visit to the Steampunk event.

Dawn, I hope you approve my choice of windows?   Many thanks for hosting Thursday : Lingering look at Windows.  I enjoy exploring your world too.

Lingering look at Windows- week 20

Who doesn’t love windows?  Looking out on a bright Summer’s day.  Looking in, when the lights are on, all cosy on an Autumn evening.  I’m always drawn by the lamplight.  Or by sunshine, of course.

But if you’re going to linger over them, the windows have to be a bit special, don’t they?  I think I can offer a few from my recent trip to Poland.

Beautiful stained glass yellow in the Ratusz in Krakow
Wonderfully shabby peeling windows on Ulica Grodzka
Another bell tower window
One plain, one fancy window on Ulica Kanonicza
The lovely Mariacki Church, from the bell tower
Love this trompe l’oeil window side by side with a real one at the bookshop

I climbed the narrow circular steps of the Ratusz with my cousin, Adam, and neice, Ula.  The views through the art nouveau windows were definitely special, even on a murky day.  Ula confessed to me that they’d never climbed the tower before, even though they live in Kraków.  I should show you how it looks from the outside.

You don't even know how beautiful the windows are from down below

You really can’t tell how beautiful the windows are from down below

I’ve enjoyed my first attempt at a lingering look at windows.  Thanks, Dawn, for a really nice idea, and sorry it’s taken me so long to join in.  I’m already thinking which windows I can use for next week’s challenge.   Off  I go to look through a few more.

Bridging the Gap

Some posts just kind of lure you in!  You could do a Challenge post every day of the week and two on Sundays, if you had the time.  Mostly I look, admire, make a mental note, blink twice and the next Challenge is there before me.  Somehow I’ve completed all my chores with time to spare this weekend, and without further ado, I present Bridges, at the kind invitation of Ailsa at Where’s My Backpack.

Fonte Pequena at Alte, has two little bridges
The Infinity Bridge, Stockton-on-Tees
The beautiful approach to Cordoba and the incomparable Mesquita
A bridge spanning 2 countries, Poland and Germany, at Zgorzelec
An alternative “Bridge of Sighs”, in Cambridge
The River Wear and Framwellgate Bridge, Durham
The Shard, still at construction stage, beyond Tower Bridge
My “Poohsticks bridge”, Valley Gardens, Saltburn-by-the Sea
Barcos rabelos below Dom Luis I Bridge, Porto
Similar but different, Newcastle’s famous Tyne Bridge
And it’s beautiful neighbour, Gateshead’s Millenium Bridge
The setting sun over one of the two road bridges, Tavira
And it wouldn’t be complete without my favourite bridge, and we’re back with the subtle colour.

The wonderful thing about bridges for me is that often they span my favourite element, water.  I love to lean over a bridge and gaze into the depths.  Sometimes they even create beautiful reflections as a bonus- two for the price of one.  Putting them side by side has taken longer than I expected, but now that I have, I’m taken with the contrast between my surly northern skies and the gentler images of Southern Europe.

Click on a photo to see them in gallery form.

Thanks, Ailsa.  I’ve enjoyed my Sunday leisure time.  Come bridge spotting with me over at Ailsa’s?

Weekly photo challenge : My 2012 in pictures

Last year when the Wordpress stats wizards compiled a review of my year, I hadn’t been blogging long and was clueless.  I was ecstatic to watch the fireworks, and share them in my little blogging world.  A year on, I’m still clueless, but I guess it’s time I took a little responsibility.  So here’s my first shot at the Weekly photo challenge- a hodge-podge of my year!

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How was yours?  It’s amazing what you can fit in, when you look back.

There are hundreds of participants in this challenge, so click here to see all the goodies.

It just remains to wish you “all you wish yourselves”.  Thanks for being there.  My life would be so much emptier without you.  Happy and peaceful times to all of you in 2013.