What a week! It’s been all happening, & I must report being grateful for a number of things namely;
Spray painted Herdies
One of the things I’ve been pleased about is that it’s not been raining so we’ve been able to get out on a few lovely local walks.
During one of said walks, I had a lot of fun photographing a flock of freshly spray painted Herdies. They’re coloured with what are called smit marks as an identifier otherwise the farmers don’t know who’s who & they could all get muddled up (the sheep & the farmers!). Sadly, I didn’t have the right lens for the job but I’m still hoping I got some good shots. They were very placid & patient as I took gazillions of pictures of them in their new coloured coats. Some of them had evidently ambled a little too close to their (still damp) neighbours; one had a red eyebrow, one looked like it had tried to apply lipstick while standing on a wobble board, & quite a few others had lovely red jaunty wigs. Quite comical but absolutely gorgeous the lot of them!
New Tripod
I also took delivery of my fabulous ‘new’ Manfrotto tripod (I can’t tell you how excited it makes me, the fact that it has a horizontal axis). However, it was lucky that I decided to take my old one out this week because it (rather than the Manfrotto) suffered an almost fatal dip into Coniston. We had been on the way home (me still smiling inwardly after my Herdy experience) & had to stop en route because the light was truly awesome looking back towards The Old Man. Since time is of the essence in these circumstances, I grabbed my camera equipment & headed down to the shore to try for a good shot. It was impossible to get on to a flat surface, so I gingerly picked my way down a steep incline, over boulders & tree roots until I found a little triangle on an outcrop about 3 feet above the water. Rushing to set the tripod up I placed it on the uneven rocks & let go for a moment while I rooted out my camera.
As it toppled sideways, I lunged to catch it but it was too far gone & as I looked at it lying there on its side I knew there was no way of getting it out without a good soaking (coupled with hypothermia & possibly a head injury). While I resigned myself to its loss, I found myself idly wondering whether future visitors might think it was a bit of posh fly tipping.
Then…. there was an almost miraculous coincidence. At the point at which I was saying my goodbyes an unbelievable thing happened. I heard someone ask….’Can I get that for you?’ There was one lone woman paddleboarder on the whole lake & she was paddling towards me! By this time, the damned thing had tipped upside down. Only the tops of its extended legs were visible with the centre column mockingly blowing bubbles. Any moment & it was going to do a good impersonation of the Titanic by sinking into its watery grave. Not on your Nellie! Off her board & into the freezing lake jumped the bobble-hatted saviour, promptly grabbed the tripod & handed it back to me on my rocky perch with a wide smile.
What an angel! I couldn’t thank her enough (although it didn’t stop me very selfishly hoping she would get out of the range of my next shot before the light changed). I want you to know I have been examining my character ever since.
The one picture I took before the light did change looks a good ‘un mind you & so I have added it here sans my little bobble-hatted angel. Thank you whoever you are!