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Leaving Belfast... the view from the plane! Another i-phone picture... but this is of the iconic Harland and Wolf Cranes... known as Samson and Goliath!

(Not a brilliant photo at all, but a very sentimental one for me. I love this place!)

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My sister's last Sunday at church. We were invited to some friends for dinner and the whole extended family were there... 12 adults and 13 children!! Delicious food.... and these were the desserts!

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More of Belfast's amazing public art.

This has to be a collage I'm afraid... I couldn't decide between two pictures! We went out to dinner at one of my favourite restaurants... I haven't been to it for years, cos I didn't know there was one in the UK!! Tony Romas! Yum.

After that we went for a little stroll to get pictures of some Night time Belfast. Both these pictures were taken within about 20 feet of each other.

Picture 1. This is officially the Angel of Thanksgiving, but known locally as Nuala with the Hula, or the Thing with the Ring! Very difficult to get a picture at night... as it has lamposts in the most inconvenient of places for photographers like me.

Picture 2. 'Nula' is positioned at the end of Queens Bridge.... this is a view from next to Nula across the river.

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After a VERY LONG couple of days with very little sleep, we spent the evening having dinner with some old friends. It was my first foray into Tapas... something I'd always avoided, because I had an irrational perception of it being oily and fishy.... and it was absolutely delicious.

Afterwards we went for a walk. Belfast has some amazing public art, and this is a picture I took in a mirrored surface of one such item. The top of this pillar has amazing lit blue stained glass and bronze sculpture of a woman ... positioned a bit like the women used to be on the front of old galleons!

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I had a spare 5 minutes or so while my sister popped out, and so I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the nicnacs which were accruing on the Dining Room table ready to be packed up.

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We had some brief respite from sorting and packing and popped to a local town seaside town ... I got a few pictures, of a lighthouse, a small castle on a hill, and a roadsign fora little street called 'Murder Lane'!.. I decided on this one in the end.

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I have been away visiting my sister and helping her pack up her house for a move... but I'm back now! I still took a picture a day, but was so busy that sometimes I didn't have much material to choose from! Also, I had no access to a computer... but will try and get all the pictures uploaded in the next couple of days.

This is the bedside table in her spare room, before the packing all started with a vengeance!!! It suddenly got to nearly midnight, and I realised I hadn't taken a picture yet!!!

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Had my second session in my photography course today! Running short on time, my friend and I were getting desperate for our shots, I more so cos the last two had been pretty unexciting. I got this one on the stairwell... I was drawn to the bolts on the wall all the way down, which appeared to be holding the tiles on the wall.... or were they just there for decoration?! Who knows!!!

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Today is another i-phone picture. :-( The twins had marshmallows this afternoon, and had great fun sticking them over their faces. You can see the residue on her lips.... after this, it ended up on her nose too!!

Tomorrow will be a better/proper picture... hopefully... have my class tomorrow afternoon! And will see if my new 50mm f1.4 lens works!!!

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Today has been a busy day... rushing here there and everywhere!! And each time, I forgot to take my camera! Typical! ... I've been carrying it around for the past 3 weeks... what happened today???!!!

This evening we went to dinner with a couple of our good friends... these are our desserts. They were DELICIOUS! (Sorry ... taken with the i-phone! Did a little playing around with it!)

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Thw Artist's Studio

The twins and I went round a friends house for tea this evening. She is an artist and her house is a veritable cornucopia of items to photograph!

She has recently set up a makeshift studio in her dining room .... the shed is a bit too cold at the moment!!

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Hands that I love.

These are the hands that nursed me,

These are the hands that fed me,

These are the hands that loved me,

These are the hands that clothed me,

These are the hands that cared for me,

These are the hands of my Mother!

Though they may be deformed and swollen by arthritis, they are still the hands that I love!

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Today was a really busy day and I didn't really stop! This morning I went visiting some friends with Alison; Toni took me to lunch; then I picked the twins up from nursery, fed them tea and then was off with some of my young women to the temple near East Grinstead.

This was them outside (minus the lovely Kate who had already left for home in another vehicle)! Not an amazing picture, but some amazing young women!

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Today we went to visit Dad in Hospital, and before-hand popped into the town to get him some goodies! We found an amazing shop full of bright, sparkly and attractive goodies. The majority of the products are Fair Trade items from Bali. I took pictures all over the place, and the ladies in there were lovely.

The lady knitting in the background of this picture showed me out to the back room where there was an amazing courtyard, completely surrounded by ancient buildings. This shop is actually housed in the oldest building in the town.. dating back to 1132AD. She informed me that it used to be a pharmacy, (and it still has the old drawers, that the medicines used to be stored in, in the shop) the back room where she took me used to be the funeral parlour where dead bodies were laid out! I later discovered from conversation that she is a psychic/medium who does readings in that room!! Lovely!!!

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Today, I was very excited to start my "advanced" photography course! This does not mean that I, in any way, expect to be advanced in my skills by the end of the 10 weeks, but I hope to learn something at least!

I am doing the course with a dear friend.... and we were together today for our photo of the day... a fun American Diner! I love American Diner food, but unfortunately, this one has let me down whenever I've dined there! Check out my friend's blog for her take! (Can't wait to see how/if we process them differently).

PostScript: The other thing I learned today was... make sure you take your tripod to use at night/in the dark!!!

F5.3 1/10s ISO HI-0.3

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Today was sunny... beautiful and fresh and not too cold. Hurrah!!

I took a few pictures in the grounds at church today and eventually decided on this one. We have a beautiful Beech tree in the grounds, and this is looking up into the branches... from underneath. I love the way it looks like a big hand reaching into the sky. I love trees... and I'm sure you will see many more amongst my pictures this year!

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Today there was no rain!! But there was cloud, cloud and more cloud! It was so dull all day... but my day was brightened by lunch at one of my favourite restaurants.... Pizza Express.... with my great friend Nikki, and then we browsed the shops! I took a few photos around town and loved this one, especially the reflection in the curved window. I love the way you can even see down to the end of the road in the reflection.

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Today the twins asked for T Rex's ... after a little discussion I realised they were talking about these!! They are my favourite biscuits, and I am happy to say are the twins as well! I didn't have any 'in stock' i.e. in my cupboards, so I promised them that I would get some when I went out to the shops tonight! Here is my replenished supply... don't want to run out again now do I??!!

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This is a plaintive look from my son who has been ill today... yes this is my son! (He has a fascination for all things 'princess' at the moment!!)

He was up in the night last night, and was feeling poorly all day today; with headaches, runny nose, a temperature and a painful ear! We took him to the doctors this evening and got some anti-biotics for him. Hope they soon start working.

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Today was spent looking at, and thinking about schools for the twins. We have to make the decision/application tomorrow. Also today, there was more rain! The river near us has been steadily rising over the last week or so... and is now less than a foot from overflowing its banks into the fields.!! How do I know this... well we drive over it every day taking the twins to nursery!

Anyway... what to take a picture of?! I went to the movies tonight with a friend, and decided that it was gonna have to be a picture of the goodies I had there!! So here it is! Taken with the mobile though... so not great! And just in case you were wondering, I shared..... and had lots left over!!!

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Tuesday/Treat Day!

Today's picture is nothing that special... just representative of my day in that the twins and I were all treated by Daddy today! I have been after some Uggs for ages, and although these aren't Uggs per se, they are a good quality other brand. I am a happy bunny! The other two items in the picture are treats Daddy bought for the twins whilst waiting for me to finish browsing the shop! Believe it or not, the 'pink baby dragon' is his, and the 'Timmy Time bag' (and matching water bottle!... the best bit as far as she's concerned!) are hers!

Hopefully I'll have something more exciting to take a picture of tomorrow.

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Today I took a friend to work in Folkestone, and hung around for a bit, did some shopping/mooching around the shops. I also walked down through the newly regenerating 'Artistic Quarter' to the harbour and got a few shots! I was torn between this one, and a close up of LOADS of shells which were in the mud/sand when I peered over the harbour wall... but this one won in the end.

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Today was sunny... hurrah! Not a drop of rain! I drove through the town I grew up in this afternoon, and stopped to get a picture of the local church.

I lived less than 300 yards, as the crow flies, from this church and it holds many happy memories. The churchyard was an oft-used short cut; all my school church services were held there; and some friends were married there. As a child I remember climbing the steps to the top of the tower and admiring the view from the very low castellations!

I particularly used to love hearing the bells, on Sundays, for weddings and other events, and every Wednesday evening when they practiced. I even got to have a go once! The sound of Church Bells ringing still brings back many happy recollections of my childhood and makes me very 'retrospective'.

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This afternoon the twins and I went to a friends house while hubby went to a meeting with his mate (the friend's husband!)! We took tea for everyone with us, and dessert was doughnuts, ice lollies and ice cream. My daughter was the first to dig in to the dozen doughnuts... and quickly polished it off and picked up another one, which I managed to stop her starting!!

A flash picture I'm afraid! Lots of the pictures I took had shadows on the wall behind... but this one I managed to crop out from the top right hand corner, but was still able to show the top of the fourth column of doughnuts!

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Today I went on an impromptu shopping trip today with a dear friend and her daughter! I didn't want to take my DSLR with me, so decided I'd have to resort to my phone today! It was still rain, rain, raining when I left home, but as I got nearer to my shopping destination it started to clear and the sun came out!! Hurray! (It didn't last long though, but long enough!). As I was walking down the street to the restaurant where we were going to have lunch (and where I'd determined to take today's photo) we walked past this greengrocers! I love old fashioned greengrocers, and you see them so rarely now-a-days. The sun was hitting the produce so beautifully, I just had to take a picture! (Unfortunately, the i-phone can't compare to my camera :-( !)

(See Sazzle-snaps 365 for a great restaurant photo (taken with a proper camera!... my friend's hardcore and carried it with her!)

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Today was rain, rain, rain, rain and more rain!! It was ridiculous! But I had a plan! Tonight at my youth group meeting we were planning activities and goals for the next 3 months... so I thought I'd take a picture of the table in the middle of it all. It was lovely cos one of the girls had made cupcakes for us all too!

I think it turned out OKt.... though I'm not sure If I edited right. I didn't need to crop, but I did mute the colours a bit... They were so bright!!

I just hope tomorrow doesn't rain!!!

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Today I had to drop something off to a friend in Fokestone and I went off, armed with camera, to the 'seaside'. It was such a beautiful morning... a big change from the past few days (as you can tell from the blue sky) and I was excited as I approached, but somewhat unsure of what I was actually going to take a photograph off. I was almost there, and suddenly remembered the Leas Lift, which has just recently been refurbished and re-opened. It's a beautiful old Victorian building, and I am so glad they spent the money to refurbish it or it would have been lost forever. It was opened in 1885 and is one of the oldest water balance cliff lifts in England. Click HERE for more information on the lift.

I only took 3 or 4 pictures of this, and felt I had a good shot straight away... look at that blue sky!!! I have not played with the image very much... and did try it in B&W and Sepia.... but I just love the colour too much!!

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Well, today's picture was taken from the restaurant/cafe/coffee shop, whatever you want to call it, on the second floor in Debenhams.

The twins went back to nursery today so we had a free 3 hours to spare. We popped into town to do a few 'errands' and I carried my camera 'just in case' I spotted something!! (This is going to become the norm I fear.) We decided to treat ourself to a hot chocolate, and as I sat down (with the obligatory cake!) while waiting for hubby to bring the drinks, I looked out the window and this was the sight. I love all things Christmas, and am only too painfully aware that in a couple of days any vestige of Christmas will have disappeared for another 10 and a bit months!! In the background you can see some of the inevitable New Years Sales signs!

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I was more confident about today's picture when I woke up this morning... I fully intended on getting a picture of the fish and chips I was due to have for lunch today. But instead... I found this sight. Have had lots of trouble editing and uploading this today. It's a view off the coast from the Lees in Folkestone, Kent. (I'll save the fish and chip shot til later in the year.... todays shots weren't so good!!)

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It's only day two, and I found myself waking up this morning and thinking "what am I going to take a picture of today?!" Oh dear... gonna have to get more creative. My Christmas tree is still up, so as I didn't go out again after I got in from church, I thought I'd take a picture of something on the tree. I was already dark when I got round to taking the picture, so lighting was interesting. I've decided I really need to get a 50mm lens... the lowest I could get the aperture down to on my camera was F5. But anyway... I took over 30 pictures and ended up deciding on this one!! Love the Jingle ornament... it was the decoration on a present from my sister.

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Today we went to visit Leeds Castle. It's one of my favourite places and it still had it's Christmas Decorations up. The grounds are beautiful in their own right, (and I'm sure some other pictures in the 365 will be of those grounds) but today's picture just had to be this one. They had decorated the rooms in the castle on a fairy tale theme, and this room (the Queen's Bathroom) is the Peter Pan themed room. Tinkerbell has been caught in the cage and the room is filled with other fairys, fairy lights, bright and shiny things of all varieties and you can just see the tail of the crocodile on the RHS of the photo.

Happy New Year!