A few snaps...

Yesterday Nicola and I went to see the Vanity Fair exhibition on at the National Portrait Gallery - which was great. I quite often buy the mag so it was interesting to see some of the photos 'in the flesh' as it were.

After that we lunched then wandered around many shops - and Nicola showed me some really rather cool streets off the beaten track which I'd never found before. But it was rainy and cold and busy so our enthusiasm for shopping diminished as the day went on...

Henry Moore at Kew Gardens

Last Monday Julia and I went to Kew to see the Henry Moore sculptures which have been on display at Kew since September but which finished yesterday.

It was a freezing day, and in between the snow and sleet showers we wandered around and looked at the sculptures which I thought were fantastic. I did wish I had managed to go on a sunny day as I think they would have looked even better in brilliant sunshine.

But they still took my breath away - a couple of snaps here, and more in my Flickr account...

Large Upright Internal/External Form

Large Upright Internal/External Form
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

One of my absolute faves.

Double Oval

Double Oval
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

These were also very cool - hard to get a photo of them without someone's body parts in it though :-(

Glory of Snow

Glory of Snow
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Fantastic alpine flowers which made the grass look blue (as you can see!).

From South to North to South again...

via many transport means...

Shanks' pony
Train to Vauxhall, tube to Highbury & Islington, train from H&I to Homerton to collect a very swollen faced Maya from the hospital, back on the train to H&I, then tube to Vauxhall, then train to Wimbledon, then taxi to Maya's flat, then bus back to Wimbledon to get the train back to Surbs. Leaving poor old Maya to crawl into bed and feel very sorry for herself...

Oh - and its about 4 deg outside and I managed to be caught outside in two hail storms and one snow shower...

Gotta love this country - we have a really mild winter with no snow, when it gets to Easter and a 4 day weekend the temperature plummets and now we might get snow!

Birthdays!

Its been a week dominated by birthdays - Wednesday I was out to help Jackie celebrate her birthday at Lowlander. I'd never been before but it was a great wee cafe - definitely one I'll be going back to. We all had a lovely evening and I had a lovely bowl of Moules with Frites. Very nice!

Thursday it was off out to Rasa to help Julia celebrate her birthday. Another lovely evening - although I felt a bit sorry for the table sat behind ours... And the meal was absolutely delicious as well!

And still 3 days left of Easter - I love long weekends!

Firsts...

So in the last month I went to a podiatrist for the first time - where I learnt that I walk funny, and should be using innersoles... I'd been having 'toe issues' so thought I should get them checked out.

And today, after doing something horrendous to my neck on Saturday morning I paid my first visit to an Osteopath! Who did lots of moving my head and neck around, and it does seem to be a bit better. I think it was getting there anyhow, but it was nice to have it checked out - and I could really feel the bit that was unhappy when he zeroed in on it!

Oh - and he did acupuncture on it as well so that was another first as well!

Exploring the world of Skype

I have finally downloaded Skype - after a bit of encouragement from Eryn! My technology master (aka Mhairi) has been using it for ages (of course - where she goes I follow - eventually...), and it looks fab.

Free Skype to Skype calls (and video calls - which Eryn and I are going to check out), plus it has an instant messaging function as well which looks pretty cool. So I'm strongly encouraging people to download it - or let me know if you are on it already. Even if we can't video call (or even normal call), we can instant message each other!

Films still going well...

Went to see 'There Will Be Blood' last weekend which I thought was just fantastic. Should have got the best film Oscar in my opinion, even though I did also think 'No Country for Old Men' was good as well...

Photographer extraordinaire...

Well sort of...

I got an email a couple of weeks ago from Schmap.com saying one of my photos from my Flickr account had been shortlisted for their new Memphis online guide, and today I heard it had been included!

No money involved - just the kudos really. But if you look at the Memphis guide its one of the photos of the Rum Boogie Cafe - feeling smugly pleased with myself really...

Interesting as well as I hadn't come across these guides before but they have one for Salzburg so will have to check it out for mine and Tracey's upcoming adventure!

I have been doing stuff....

Just have been being a bit slack about updating the blog to reflect it. But read on...

I'm at home at the mo - suffering from/fighting off cold number 2 for this winter which is a bit of a drag. I'm hoping this day under the duvet will enable me to fight it off. I'm sure its cos we haven't had a particularly cold winter - so the germs are multiplying and mutating...

My two favourite nieces...

OK - I only have two anyhow.... but they are still my favourite nieces...

Maya and Lucy in Opotiki, February 2008








(with thanks to Marilyn for posting the pic on her blog. If it wasn't for you I'd never see pictures of the Abrahams! Maurie's bike pics don't count...)

So what is a Black Hole exactly?

Sadly I'm none the wiser, despite going to the Black Holes show at the Planetarium on Saturday... My poor wee brain just struggled with all of the too big concepts for it... But it was great - narrated by Liam Neeson, fantastic visually, and I can now throw around words like wormholes (and others which I can't quite remember right now...) with confidence.

Then we (being Jackie and Mhairi) met Nicola, who took us to the fantastic Greenwich Union for lunch - delish food and great beer - and not bad puddings either!

Then we wandered around Greenwich Market for a wee while - which I love. But it was sooooo cold I made sure we headed off home before the sun went down cos I wanted to be home in the warmth before that happened!

Nicola has a birthday...

Which involved a double celebration - a quick drink after work on the actual day (Waitangi Day - if only she was a NZer...) and then the following Saturday we trooped off to Guanabara for a very enjoyable evening of sort of Brazilian music, some food, some Brazilian beer, and a great display of Capoeira.

I wore my 'date top' - so named for the unlikely event that I do ever go on a date, but I did get several compliments (from my friends I hasten to add) on it which was nice!

Musically...

Not much - but I did go and see The Hours who were great. They have been one of my fave bands for a while - so much so that their CD formed part of Thomas' very late 21st birthday present!

But it was a good gig to start the year on - next up is Band of Horses (who I'm fully expecting to be fantastic), and Hot Chip - which is a late show at Brixton so I'm a bit nervous about that!

First walk of 2008

Was undertaken by me, Julia, Craig and Kevin on February 2nd. Borough Green to Sevenoaks - 9.5miles.

Not a particularly outstanding walk scenery wise - we never really felt like we were that far away from anyone else, but it was a lovely day weatherwise, we had a great lunch at yet another fantastic country pub, and as it was quite short we were home quite early!

Although we did pass some quite fantastically posh houses and stables - oh how the other half live....

There are some photos on Flickr - which seems to be down at the mo so I can't blog them. Do take a look tho.

A film-ic life

I've been making a real attempt to get to the movies and actually see the films that I want to, instead of just saying 'Oh I want to see that' and then ending up watching it on DVD when it comes out.

So... Recently I've seen:

• 'Sweeney Todd' which I thought was fab. Another great Tim Burton film.
• 'In the Valley of Elah' - also fab. Tommy Lee Jones was great - and it just told the story in such an understated way. Made me think.
  
• 'No Country for Old Men' - new Coen brothers film. Another great TLJ performance - and looks like a sure bet for the Best Film Oscar.
• 'Control' - story of Ian Curtis from Joy Division (OK - that was on DVD at Kevin's, but he has a big tv and a great sound system so its like watching it at the movies anyhow...)

On my hit list are 'There Will Be Blood', 'The Diving Bell and the Butterfly' and the 'River Queen' - which is finally being released here!

Cushion Cover - 7 years in the making!

Cushion Cover - 7 years in the making!
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

So after 7 years I've finally finished it! Just need to get it made into a cushion cover now...

But I have done other projects in the interim - including 2 cross-stitches and another tapestry...

But I'm pleased to have this one done!

Pretty Thames view, Jan 2008

Thames, Jan 2008
Originally uploaded by Megan Shields.

Photo from my stroll last Sunday from Surbiton to Richmond via the Tow Path - making the most of the rarely seen sun!