Now the clocks have gone back an hour and autumn has well and truly settled in, it’s frightfully inconvenient to be spending all my daylight hours at the ‘day job’. So when the weekend comes around it’s all a bit frantic – there’s a garden to be pottered around in, brisk walks to be trotted out and of course snap, snap, snapping with my ever-growing collection of cameras and lenses.

Saturday unfortunatey was a COMPLETE washout – severe weather warnings and so much rain. Sunday though, not too bad. By the time the weekend ritual of pots of coffee, dippy eggs and general laziness had transpired though, there was only a couple of hours of light left, so despite the slight misty drizzle we dashed to the nearest photogenic spot I could think of – Southampton’s “Old Cemetery” on The Common.

I think you’ll agree that the blurriness that the lensbaby adds to a photo has a very spooky effect when applied to shots of tombs and gravestones.

I also tried a couple of shots with my new (to me) ‘Polaroid Spirit’ – also pretty spooky. I’m totally loving this whole new world of Polaroid film, there’s something magical and intensly satisfying to someone as impatient as me to see your photo magically appear from your camera’s bottom. And look at how ethereal and ‘undigital’ the effect is. Expect to see lots more soon!

Happy Halloween! I’m hoping the neighbourhood kids don’t take all the sweeties tonight so I can have something nice instead of as well as my dinner – especially as we brought lots of retro sweets that they’ll never truly appreciate like I would; like Black Jacks, Fruit Salads and Drumsticks. Oh, and these which are my favorite (I’ve hidden a few. Shhhh).

This week’s PhotoFriday Challenge is ‘The Garden’. Well, thank goodness, because I have plenty of those piccies to choose from – here’s a little tableaux, through the viewfinder of my olde-fashionedy camera (I miss my little marigolds)…

At long last I’ve got hold of a Lensbaby 3G – I’ve wanted one for ages! I couldn’t wait to start using it, even though it was pouring in rain out and there was no light at all. Imaptient. So here’s my first rushed shot of the gladioli on my kitchen windowsill. Now the clocks have gone back and what with having to be at work all day (grr) natural daylight is going to be hard to get hold of. I wonder if they have any on ebay?

I love the way swan’s feet look – like a dragon wearing welly boots – so alien, yet practical looking compared with the refined elegance that goes on above the water…