And is Dad Proud ...

Another "Proud Parents" Moment....

Hi Guys, I hope everyone is fine?

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The UK Summer weather has broken like it always seems too. Several days of HOT, HOT, HOT weather - proper summer sun.

And then?

Thunder. Lightening. Rain. And then more Rain. And a little bit more rain - its still drizzling now, as I look to my left out of our front bay window - never mind. That's an English Summer for you. (For all those in North Yorkshire who have lost in the flash flood - please accept the prayers and moral support of a simple fella)

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I know that, for a lot of people, a "proud Parent" moment may seem a small thing to a lot of people, and this particular moment may well be one of those.

Our eldest, Liam (Mr "Tall and Lanky" to those who read my Soccer Blog -  )came back from school yesterday, with one of those "knowing smiles" spread mischievously across his face.

"well then?" came the question

"nothing much" came the answer, as he handed over, what seemed to be some sort of test paper.

"what’s this" Cathy asked

"my reading test paper" came the answer

Well, to cut a long story short, the result was that Liam has a reading age in excess of 15 years and 3 months (anything above this limit is not testable as such).

No great shakes in the scheme of things you might think. And in the normal run of things I would probably agree. But our Liam is Dyslexic. He has struggled with reading and writing all of his school life. He has done extra work at school to try an gain what other find so easy.

And now he has the proof that all that work, all that effort has gained reward

And I'm so so proud

       

It's me again .........

Morning one and all, I hope everyone feels a little better than I do.

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Chez Smudger has again been a place of illness. I could well imagine, in times past, the local populous being somewhat "wary" of our abode. It certainly seems that we get more than our fair share of "Bugs, Virus and Plague". Its not funny waking up, ready for work after a couple of days off; to find the next 48 hours a mixture of darkness and light (and the light hurt !! I shan't add the rest as it could well put you off your breakfast (or Dinner/ or Supper - delete as appropriate -  ).

Needless to say, I'm still NOT 100% (nor am i likely to be - EVER, but that's another story that has already been told to some extent)

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This “Blogging” morning is also, somewhat , of a trial. My Xanaga site (Smudgersworld – but ain't they all  ) keeps “disconnecting” ( that’s the polite way to put it).

Anyway, upwards and onwards:

This last week, I have received my yearly Mobile Phone upgrade, and I’m a very happy bunny.
I must admit, I'm normally a Nokia Man, but the lady on the O2 helpline was so helpful and constructive , that she persuaded me to try the Motorola V547 (left)
It was even better when she said I could have it, effectively, on seven days trail - not that it's going back, its fantastic.
Nokia's are still a very good piece of kit.
Last Years O2 X2 was swapped with Laura's phone (she loves it, I hate it - it's far to small) , but I don’t think that will happen this year.

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Here are some of the pictures that I taken as “test” shots with the new Nikon. I know they are not “David Bailey” standard, but I’m pretty happy for now, seeing as I’m still working my way back into photography.





Quite “Arty” for me, I tend to like to take what I can see, but as I said earlier, they will do.

The other thing I’ve been doing in the 24 hours ( Cathy wouldn’t let me do anything more useful – like the Ironing, Gardening, Cleaning and the like. That said – I did keep “wobbling”) is trying to fathom out Adobe Elements 3, which treated myself to a month or two ago, but never really used it. The automatic feature sort of work, but that’s just not enough, I want manual control (where have we heard that one before ????).

So I put my hand in my pocket, went onto Amazon.co.uk, and brought a couple of Camera Books. One as OK (40 Tips for Digital Processing), but the really good book is “The photoshop elements3 book for digital photographers” by Scott Kelby. It’s one of those, “Step by Step”, a spade is a spade, type books. It doesn't waste time telling you how to use your Camera and then take the picture to use in Elements, it just tells you how to use elements. And, on top of all that, you can use it as a “jump to the right page” type book. If you want to adjust a landscape, you find that page and ignore the rest. You want to resize an image, you jump to that page. Its pretty good.

<Please note: the last “Elements” link is to a support site, showing tutorials and the like, this first link goes to Adobe – just thought you would like to know>