BLUE PUDGE IN A GREY WORLD

This is a photo technique I have always wanted to try, and just like cloning it is a ten minute affair with the GIMP software. I can´t wait to have a look through my photos this weekend to find something I can try to partially colour like this!

EUROPEAN BOOBS!

While reading his Danish newspaper this morning, Thomas came across an article about breast sizes in Europe. He was more than surprised to see it quoted none other than Glasgow's own Daily Record! Following the story up, he went back to the original article in the Daily Record. Apparently British women have the biggest breasts in Europe :-\ This fact, he said, did not surprise him! However it did make me wonder after a problematic few days shopping. You see I don't seem to be able to find my swimsuit. With both the older kids liking swimming and Pudgy being so at home in water I feel like I should just let him go because he'd be happy to attempt to swim already, I feel they are really missing out on their previous weekly visits to the pool. So about 4 days ago I set out to buy myself a new swimsuit. I tried the usual obvious shops, and they all had reasonably priced one-piece swimsuits, bikinis and even tankinis BUT and it's a bit BUT in my case, they all had non-removable padded breasts. Given I spend half my life trying unsuccessfully to stop my overlarge chest from falling out of an E-cup bra, why on earth would I want padding in a swimsuit? I would look utterly ridiculous! So if British women do indeed need a D cup or greater in general, could someone please pass this important information on to the swimwear manufacturers so we don't all end up looking stupid next time we dive into a pool, please?

CHARLOTTE'S BLOGGING TOO NOW

Charlotte decided today she needed a blog - I hadn't signed her up before because with her only being in p2 I didn't think her literary skills would be up to it...WRONG! She looks like she could become quite prolific!
(Oh and unlike her girlie mummy, Charlotte's blog isn't PINK, it's predictably BLACK.)

DON'T SAY THIS ISN'T CUTE!

Flicking through the BBC's in pictures section as always I came across this collection of baby panda shots. Now you have to admit these are heart-warming, no? It isn't often you see this many baby pandas together, is it?

THAT 'PARALLEL-UNIVERSE' CHILD AGAIN

I was sitting at the traffic lights in Rose street the other day with Charlotte in the car in the front passenger's seat. She spotted this sign and immediately came out with: Look mum, if you take the 's' off that and change the 'r' to a 'y', then swap round the vowels then that sign would say 'Monday'! What???? Whatwhatwhat? did you just say? How and why does anyone think like that?

LOTS AND LOTS!

I saw this staircase in Kelvingrove museum on Saturday and just knew it had to be the perfect setting for a clone photo! Given Charlotte hadn't had a clone shot done, she was more than happy to pose as soon as Thomas took out his tiny tripod!

PRICELESS COMPUTING

I am sitting here typing on my computer. Its new cable is plugged into its new DC socket :-) I wonder how long this will last :-\ It is amazing the different treatment you get when you start explaining you'll be happy to take your computer to be fixed elsewhere using your refund if they will simply admit they aren't competent enough to repair it!

But I'm sure you'll be the first to know if this repair also fails - you may need to shield your eyes from a barrage expletives if it breaks down again.

MORE CLONES

Marcels playing poker
Originally uploaded by viralbus.

After encountering the multiple Pudges this morning, Marcel was more than impressed, describing it as positively the coolest photo he had ever seen and begging for his very own set of cloned siblings. I guess from his reaction to the result, he was more than pleased with the outcome :-)

I JUST HAD TRIPLETS!

Triplets
Originally uploaded by viralbus.

Thomas has been playing about with cloning and come up with wonderful shot of multiple Pudges. Can you imagine if it was real? Marcel, Charlotte, Léon, Gordon, extra Léon, extra extra Léon all hurtling around the livingroom at Granny and Pumpa´s house spilling all 3 red cups of juice! Photography really is fun these days. What will the wee man think when he sees this photo at 16 - will he wonder if he was one of triplets and if so what happened to the other two pudgy guys or will photography be much more surreal by then? We're still old school I guess - believing to a certain extent that a camera never lies - well it didn't use to but then we went digital!

BACK TO THE BLOG

a bath together
Originally uploaded by phyl1.

Haven't blogged for a few days - it's been a busy few. (And the bloody laptop socket has come loose AGAIN)
First I did some DIY - I tiled a wall in the kitchen and am impressed by how straight I managed to make it! (Photos to follow once it is actually finished and grouted).
Then I had a birthday - that's me 39 - how can that be possible when I still only feel 23???? I think I'll cancel next year's for sure - I can almost deal with 39, but 40 is just unimaginable - I still remember when it was my dad's 40th! I think I'll try living by Amanda's philosophy. She explained to me on Sunday that she turns 35 in 3 weeks - she's going to stick there until she turns 50 when she then might start admitting to being 39! Cool :-)
On my birthday the wee guys had a bath together for the first time. There's a whole series of shots, if you want to see them. They had so much fun. Being born within week's of a cousin definitely seems to make for a closer than normal relationship. Let's hope they'll still be this close 20 years from now (though hopefully by then they'll have better ways of amusing themselves than chasing each other naked up and down the hall in Gordon's house!)

WHAT'S TODAY?

First D.J.: Okay, campers, rise and shine, and don't forget your booties 'cause it's cooooold out there today.
Second D.J.: It's coooold out there every day. What is this, Miami Beach?

CASPER & CO?

Just when the wee man got good enough at walking to walk outside without falling in a puddle I saw the three of them walking down the street one night in the dark so reached for my camera. Instead of using the flash I accidentally set the camera to the 'natural light' position and took it on a longer exposure than I had intended. What a bizarre effect! Somehow, while remaining sharp and in focus Charlotte has become transparent. Cool or what?

FALSE ECONOMY?

Just wee observation about kids' shoes! Have you ever bought any of Barrat's shoes for kids? They tend to be £10 to £15 in comparison to Clarks which charges a whacking great £25+. So you'd think we'd all rush to Barrat's? I have made that mistake 3 times. The pitiful offerings last between 1 and 3 weeks before the sole splits from the top and you have to take them back. Clark's on the other hand last up to a year, remaining totally waterproof. They are tough and resistant. I for one wouldn't go anywhere else for kiddie-proof shoes.

YUMMY CURRY SAUCE FROM TESCO

yummy curry sauce from tesco
Originally uploaded by phyl1.

Found this the other week shopping in Tesco - it makes a lovely beef curry. To be recommended!

INCOMPETENCE EXTRAORDINAIRE

I suppose if you are going to cock something up, you might as well do it spectacularly!

PASSPORT EXPIRED

07-01-23 004
Originally uploaded by phyl1.

I know I am not usually one to moan... ;-) But I have to say something about UK passport rules over the past 10 years.
When I had Marcel in 1997, I sent away my UK passport and he was added to it as my dependent child. This service was free of charge. He was also added to André's French passport at the time - thus he could travel abroad either together with both his parents or separately with either of them. When I had Charlotte in 2000, I asked for the same form to add her to my passport and was told that for security reasons this had been discontinued. Children now needed a separate passport so they could have a photo. Firstly I don't see why a photo couldn't have been added to my own passport given it has 32 unused pages inside but there you go. Secondly, what use is a photo of a 6 week old baby for the following 5 years anyway? I mean Charlotte had bright blue eyes and red fuzzy hair at 6 months but is now blonde with pale green eyes, so how the photo helps authorities from stopping you abducting someone else's kid, I don't know - I assume it was all a ruse to get more money into the government's passport coffers. So then in 2005 I had Léon, I applied for a passport for him - it cost me £28 last January. At the same time I had to get myself a new passport - £45. What a ridiculous price hike, I thought. Given Marcel also needed a new passport at that point (because he was on my passport that had just expired), I had to fork out for three passports - £28+£28+£45. Already I was majorly annoyed when I realized that in 10 years a UK child passport had gone from being free to being £56 - you see on paper £28 looks less than £45 but actually when you read the small print an adult passport lasts 10 years but a kid's on just 5. This, I thought then, was scandalous. Until this week when Lotsie's passport expired. I went through the same form as last January but was puzzled that the price information was no longer included. Instead they gave a web site to check current pricing. No bloody wonder - they were too embarrassed to print then - in one year they have gone up to £45 for kids and £66 for adults - what???? I for one would like a pay increase from my employer in line with the money my government expects me to be able to lay out!

SMILE!

photographing me
Originally uploaded by phyl1.

It's when you watch your babies using things you like to use yourself but that you have never actually shown them explicitly how to work, that you realize what observant little sponges they are. Yesterday Léon picked up my old camera, pointed it at me as if to take a few shots, then tried to photograph the ceiling, then picked up the USB cable and tried twice to attach it both to the camera and to the computer and finally put the lens cap back on and wandered off. Have a look at the whole set.

FREE PENICILLIN, ANYONE?

Forgot to blog this a couple of weeks ago, or rather I hadn't got round to uploading the photo: On Christmas Eve Charlotte and Thomas baked a Scandinavian rye bread. We ate a third of it then put it in the bread bin. We next discovered it on January 5th! Anyone for a slice?

TIME TO DIET? NAAAH, MAYBE NOT...

After Xmas in Denmark with lots of lovely food and perhaps one real Danish pastry too many, I was beginning to think I ought to go on a diet. I am not much of a dieter - I have been on only one in nearly 39 years (on which I managed to lose a pitiful 2kg before being drawn back by a lump or cheese, or maybe it was a steak in cream sauce...) My philosophy has always been - why would anyone want to diet anyway when the planet has so many good foods floating around it..? However, I am definitely not as young as I used to be so thought I should try not to gain 3kg every Xmas forever more. BUT just as I was moping around today trying to imagine what delicious morsels to cut out for the next few weeks, my beloved daddy sent me this useful picture - apparently I've been weighing myself wrongly and I don't need to diet at all! :-)

MORE DAFTNESS

I read this today. Has this country gone completely mad?