The Gallery - Black and White

I am not a very technical photographer. As I commented to someone only this afternoon, I probably take more photos with my phone now than I do with the camera. I like taking pictures but I am not in the finer details of it. I therefore don't do take many pictures in black and white, but thanks to the wizardry of photo editing software, I can turn anything I like monochrome. So, I've been looking through my archives, given as I'm enjoying child-free time this week and not spending too much time on the blog, fiddling with the settings and turning things black and white. After lots of messing around, I found this made the nicest picture.

Flowers to make your day

I love getting flowers. They never cease to make you smile. I guess it is the simple extravagance of receiving something that is beautiful but ephemeral. They are fleetingly at their best but they have so much to add. Yes, slightly extravagant, but so beautiful. If someone buys you flowers, it's a rare honour indeed. It makes you feel special, doesn't it?

The lovely people at Interflora have sent me flowers before but when they asked me if I'd like to receive some more, there was no way I could say no. They allowed me to choose what I wanted, so for me, it was all about one flower: the lily.

I love lilies. I adore the cala lilies but they were rather expensive. So I settled on these, which were delivered to my house the other day. Aren't they gorgeous? They are absolutely stunning and arrived in that lovely vase - a genius idea because I am forever hunting around for some big vases when I get big flowers such as these (not that that is a common occurrence, you understand!). As you can see, they made a nice centrepiece on my new coffee table. Don't get excited - the flowers actually cost a lot more than the table. (God bless Swedish furniture stores!) They have filled the room with a fantastic smell too.

If you're interested, the bouquet that I was sent was the Extra Large Scented Lily Vase, which is also available in pink. And it's also worth remembering that if you do order from the Interflora website before 3pm on any day except Sunday, they can be delivered the same day. You can also find local florists, like florists in London. Great if you need to save the day because an occasion has slipped your mind. And as all orders get sent to a local florist to make up and deliver your flowers, they will always be as fresh as possible. These arrived last Thursday and five days on, they still look good as new.

Now I just have to have the income to afford lilies sent to my home weekly. That'd be nice! This is my little pat on the back to myself for surviving the holidays so far.

(I was sent these flowers for the purposes of writing a review. I have not received any further compensation and all opinions are my own. )

The Gallery - White

Much as I hate driving around in it, I love the way fog gives your surroundings an unreal quality, like they've been shifted to another world. It was clear as a bell on Sunday when suddenly, the fog rolled in from nowhere and changed our day within about 20 minutes. I snapped this with my phone as I left the house to take Monkey to a party. If I had had the camera and a bit more skill, I would have been able to capture the way the fog was beginning to obscure the sun a bit better. The fog cleared a few miles from home and was fine in town but about an hour later, the fog rolled in - but by the time we left, it had cleared at home.

Why not visit the Gallery at Sticky Fingers to see some more of the entries in this week's Gallery?

The Gallery - Black and White

So, the theme for Week 36 of the Gallery at Sticky Fingers is Black and White. Not being anything more than an amateur photographer, I don't really do arty photographs in monochrome. So I've taken one of my pictures and converted it. The picture I have chosen was already had a lot of black and white in it. It's of Monkey aged about 19 months, dressed up in a cat costume for a Hallowe'en party, sat in the double buggy. I am not sure why I have not used this picture before because I love his - as usual - cheeky grin.

If you want to have a go yourself at the Gallery, there is another prize on offer this week of a canvas print of the winner's favourite photo. Or you can just visit a few of the other entries and see the different interpretations. Why not take a look?