The last day of the year

We had a slow start to the morning, I was feeling tired from not sleeping well while Gavin was full of energy and buzzed around the apartment hoovering and cleaning bathrooms!

We only went skiing after lunch as it was so cold this morning that we waited for the lovely sunshine to warm up the day. It was -3C on top of the mountain which sounds cold but when you are dressed up in all those skiing layers it is not bad at all.

I am finding that taking photos in the brilliant sunshine with cloudless blue skies and white snow more difficult than you would imagine - everything looks too blue and there are not many mid tones. In the afternoon with deep shadows from the mountains and sunshine it is a bit of an exposure nightmare. I guess the answer would be to bracket or use HDR...imagine if I asked Gavin to carry my tripod as well as my heavy camera on his back whilst skiing, I would not be popular. I already get a chorus of...oh no, not again every time I ask them to stop on the slope so that I can take a photo. Tomorrow is my 365th blip and this journal has been a commitment from me as well as from my 'long suffering' family, who often have to put up with all sorts of things all in aid of a blip!

I must confess that I am skiing with great hesitation after hearing the sad news about Schumi and other skiing accidents that have happened in the last few days. Admittedly they were all skiing off piste which is not advisable in the present snow conditions, which is not very deep and covers rocks so you don't see them but they are very close to the surface.