Scary Face

Submitted for the Photo Friday challenge 'How I See Myself'.
This is probably one of the scariest pictures I've ever taken. It's inside a church on Iona. The carving is quite high up, near the roof.
And yes, that desperate stone-trapped face is exactly how I see myself. On the inside. But thankfully, only sometimes.

Planetoids?

Taken for the Photo Friday challenge 'Futuristic'. These stone balls are outside the Sheraton in Edinburgh.

Chimney

Taken for the PhotoFriday 'Smoke' challenge. The chimney of an old mill, no longer in operation. I hadn't noticed until looking at it just now, but the clouds behind the chimney almost look like smoke coming from it.

Bzzz

I'm sure I've posted this before, but it bears another look. Submitted for the Thursday Challenge, Wildlife.

Trees, Sheep and Water

Submitted for the Photo Friday 'The Country' challenge. Not taken this week, actually taken last summer. Three of the things which sum up the country round about me: trees, sheep and the river Tweed.

Branch Shadows

Submitted for the Photo Friday challenge 'The Blues'. Not the one I intended to submit, but I ran out of time for that one - so I'm feeling a bit blue about that.

Auld Not-So-Reekie

Taken for the Photo Friday challenge 'Blessing'. So what have chimneys got to do with it? Well, while trying to figure out what to take for this one, I was reminded of the Scottish blessing/toast 'Lang may your lum reek' - literally, 'long may your chimney smoke'. one of the nicknames for Edinburgh is Auld Reekie, both because it used to be very smokey from all the chimneys, and very smelly (reek can also mean strong or unpleasant smell). It's no longer quite as smokey or smelly as it used to be; another blessing.

Old Growth

Taken for this week's Photo Friday challenge, 'Growth'. I was going to take a picture of some of the new spring growth appearing, but out for a walk in the woods I see that a number of trees have been cut down. So I thought that the growth rings visible in the trunk might be a suitable subject for this one.

Spring Daffodil

Among the normal single-flowered daffodils appearing in the woods I spotted a couple of these double-flowered ones. That's one of the things about spring round here - one day you look around, and everywhere you see yellow: daffodils, broom, dandelions...

Thin No More

Taken for the Photo Friday challenge, 'Sentimental'. When I was a student in Edinburgh, one of my favourite ways to spend an evening was browsing the bookshops. James Thin on George Street was one of them, and definitely the one I had a soft spot for. Unfortunately, they were bought out by another company. This shop continued for a while as an Ottakars, but it closed down recently. I wonder what it will turn into?

Hot, Hotter, Hottest

One of the many photos I took trying to get a good picture for this week's Photo Friday challenge, 'Heat'. This one contains three types of chilli: jalapeno, scotch bonnet, and bird's eye.

Hot Teabag

One of the many photos I took trying to get a good picture for this week's Photo Friday challenge, 'Heat'. This one is of some hot tea. Well, OK, a hot teabag: black tea blended with chilli pieces. You get a pleasantly warm, but not excessive, chilli heat from it. Certainly nothing as hot as the bird's eye chilli sitting beside it.

Habit-forming

Taken for the Photo Friday 'Addiction' challenge. OK, so these little sweets aren't quite an addiction, but they're certainly one of my habits. I usually have a packet in my pocket, and I absolutely cannot drive without a pile of them sitting, easily accessible. Sucking on a Polo just seems to calm things down and allows me to concentrate on what I'm doing.

Odd One Out

This was taken for the Photo Friday 'Alone' challenge. Alone doesn't have to be on your own. As with this poor little white crocus, surrounded by purple crocuses (crocii?), you can be in a crowd and still be alone, if you're the odd one out.

Chain Sheet

This one's for the Photo Friday 'Textured' challenge. You'd think it would be easy to come up with something - after all, everything has a texture of some kind. I tried a bunch of different things, but didn't really like any of them. So in the end I went for this; a bunch of my bracelets all laid side by side. Similar in that they're all made with little metal rings (well, apart from the pink one on the top), but all with different resulting textures.

Self-Portrait 2007

Taken for this week's Photo Friday challenge. Supposed to be a self portrait. Well, I hate any picture of me where you can actually see me. So this is a reasonable one - my face is hidden by the camera, and it's a slightly distorted reflection.

Looking Up

Taken for the Photo Friday 'Sky' challenge. The first sunny day in a while, so I went out into the back garden and took a few pictures looking up through the trees. I liked this one best, with the sun through the branches.

Strange Flower

Taken for the PhotoFriday 'Strange' challenge. Closeup of the middle of a flower - anything you don't normally look at can be strange when you actually go and examine it.

Brothers

Taken for the Photo Friday 'Brother' challenge. Didn't want to take a picure of my brother, or another person. I had these little monk statuettes around, so it wasn't too much of a leap from brother to monks.
Taken by candlelight, and yes, they really did look that colour.

Scapa Bay (2 January 2007)

Looking out over Scapa Bay. Taken from the clifftop walk that goes part of the way around. I almost didn't take this picture, as I didn't think i'd be able to catch what I was seeing. I'm glad I tried though.