Pish and botheration

I'm struggling a bit with the software for my new camera. The process of saving to a file is very laborious and prone to user error (yes, I admit it) My hand can slip on the mouse wheel all to easily, and then I can't find where I have actually saved the image to. Frustrating. I have also just tried for the first time to use the editing software that comes with it - I took a charming picture of my two charming cats, not to mention the vegetables for our supper that I was preparing. Tried to use the red eye reduction tool and ended up with an image that looked like something out of a Stephen King movie, cats with their eyes.....obliterated. Ugh. It's part of the Adobe stable, and therefore not in the least intuitive to use and the help is useless.

Still, here is a photograph of where I went on Tuesday.



Gawthorpe Hall, in Lancashire. I would show you images of the mind-blowing embroidery collection if I could, but photography ain't allowed, and I didn't see a guide book. Probably there was one - I got a bit boggled by all that there was to see, or rather in my case not totally see. I can't cope very well with the extremely low light levels now de rigueur in museums, plus exhibits are always set at just the wrong distance for me to see only by contorting my protesting body. But despite all that, it was a good day and I am glad I went.

When I got a bit overwhelmed by all the aforementioned and the rather humid atmosphere inside, I abandoned my companions and went outside. Where I found a totally amazing fungus, one small section of which I offer here.



I think this is in fact the same type as the last one I saw. It is obviously a fantastic year for fungi - there were lots and lots of little tiddly ones as well, but I didn't fancy lying prone on wet grass, not even for the sake of art.

I have been out to lunch etc for three days in the last week, which is not getting the baby a new dress, as my maternal grandmother used to say. I finally yesterday managed to get my new AH programme drawn up, and spent a decent length of time trying out tunisian crochet stitches. I want to have a bag finished by next Friday. I also want to have dyed four small skeins of yarn with natural dyes and spun a ditto of a fancy yarn to put in for the classes at Masham Sheep Fair. Am I quite mad? All this and a trip to The Great Wen as well on Saturday. Ooh, scary.

OK, so back to the tunisian. The DSM is away until tomorrow evening, I've had lunch, I don;t need to cook, just get myself out to the Coven meeting this evening.

Oh, and I had better feed a cat or two.