Always

the sun.

Feeling like some balance has returned a little today. I know this because I have managed to do the housework, cook and clean, but have also found time to go out, walk and take some photos. I have since hit a wall and am now knackered, but it was nice to feel normal just for a few hours.

We haven't had the snowfall that everyone else seems to have had - we had rain and hail, which had frozen and had become really quite treacherous underfoot. HOwever, by mid-afternoon, the thaw had set in and despite the mist which lingered, the sun broke through as this shining white disk in the sky.

So I went a wandering. I played with the camera settings - changing the white balance and tinkering with manual mode taking complete control of exposure length and aperture. It was quite pleasing to know that I was able to make all the changes I wanted without even taking the camera from my eye.

Got some interesting shots when I changed the White Balance to the tungsten setting - I knew that it would add a blue cast to my shots, and I was quite pleased with the effect, particularly given the freezing temperatures I was shooting in.

James has been on the homework trail for about 3 hours today, but he has done well, completing his science (chemical and physical reactions), Maths (mental arithmetic involving decimals and/or negative numbers), Art (creating a colour wheel using a collage technique, which involved shredding a number of my magazines!) and Science (for his other teacher - creating a model of an animal cell - using polystyrene, plaster of paris and paint).

It's a good job I am arty farty as he has access to a whole pile of materials that I suspect most normal people don't have knocking around. As a result of the collage task, we have come up with a creative project for half term to do together...could be messy, but fun.

That's it - I need to go and iron James' uniform then get ready for bed.

Yes, I know it is 7.10pm on a Sunday night and bed seems a ridiculous thing to say, but I am tired, again.