Santa's Little Helper

I can't decide which I like the best.












Can you help? Votes in the comments, please.

Maybe I should have him do something, rather than just pose? Any suggestions?

Shopping

Morning walk in Stanmer Park. Still no sign of other birds than magpies! Where are all the song birds?



I shopped for the first time in about six or ten months today. First I kind of got into it, but after about an hour and a half the novelty started to wear off. With the help of a pint of cider I managed to get through the last hour or so, and was happy at the end that I got almost all the things that I set out to buy. And got a glimpse of the sunset, as well.

The Bays

Went to The Bays gig today at the Corn Exchange. Interesting experience!



The gig was described thus:

The Bays have established themselves internationally with their improvised shows; the band don't write, rehearse or record, they only perform live, playing sounds from electonica to jazz. These shows see them come together with orchestral ensemble The Heritage Orchestra.

John Metcalfe and Simon Hale compose music live on laptops and the scores are sent to a network of flatscreen monitors, where the orchestra read the newly written parts and play them instantly. Conductor Jules Buckley cues The Heritage Orchestra and then The Bays join in. From then on the improvised rhythm section parts of The Bays prompt the composers to write new hooks and themes and the music heads off into uncharted territory...

The Brute

Every time I let Zebedee run off the lead recently, I regret it. Today he caught another rabbit. I tried to coax him to let it go when I saw it was still alive, but it didn't take him many seconds to kill it. And then he played with it. And ate its brains. The brute.

Bodiam Castle

I woke up very early this morning and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to drive to Bodiam and take more photos of the castle and surroundings.

Canine hydrotherapy

We went to the Sussex Canine Centre today for Zebedee's first hydrotherapy session. Zeb has never swam before (well, not voluntarily... he's fallen into a lake a couple of times and scrambled back on dry land in shock) so he was quite afraid at first, but after a few swirls around the pool fetching the ball, he started to get the hang of it.

At first he was splashing all over the place by lifting his front paws way too high. He was also too stiff and rigid to move his hind legs at all.



But it didn't take long for him to relax a little and start swimming properly with front legs as well as back legs doing the right movements. Here the hydrotherapist is holding him back while he swims. (Hmm, I hope that doesn't put him off swimming, actually, when he feels that he can't get anywhere no matter how fast he swims!)



And then it was time to wash off the chlorine water.



While he was being towel dried, he started wagging his tail again, so all in all it wasn't that terrifying experience for the "springer spaniel that doesn't swim"... Well, we will find out on Thursday when we go back for a second session.

[em]

The day started with a walk amongst autumn leaves in Stanmer Park.












In the evening we went up in town to see and hear [em], which is a fantastic, young jazz trio of Michael Wollny (piano), Eva Kruse (bass) and Eric Schaeffer (drums), all from Berlin. I may have said this once or twice before during this year, but this was the best gig I've been to this year!! This trio's recordings are fantastic, but they are even more fantastic live, which is not always the case with bands. All three are brilliant musicians - virtuosos - and they play together so tightly you can here them go >PING!< even when they are not making a sound. What a fantastic gig, what a fantastic evening.

Castles Scotney and Bodiam

The weather was nothing special and we decided to catch two castles with one drive. First we arrived at Scotney Castle, only to find that dogs were not allowed in the grounds at all - only in the surrounding estate. So we ended up having a walk in the fields around the castle, but got to see part of the castle, too.



I wonder if I've ever mentioned that I like trees? ;-)









...and sometimes things that live near trees.



After a molto delizioso lunch at The White Horse en route...



...we arrived at Bodiam Castle. It was getting dark, but we snapped a few photos with high ISO.















I don't really understand why I haven't been to see Bodiam Castle before - it is beautiful! I will definitely go back with my tripod at the first opportunity.

Robin

The sea was silver today.



While the puppy played, I took photos of some song birds. The robins were the bravest ones to stay near enough for me to take a photo, unlike all the other species that flew away immediately when they saw that there was a hyper puppy around.

More wind

It's not as windy as yesterday, but there were some spray of water by the lighthouse still.

It's windy

Gale-force winds, apparently. Should be calming down by the afternoon. I went to see the view from Castle Hill this morning while it was still windy and high tide.

Tara and Lee

Had a great time with Tara and Lee yesterday. I took some photos of them before dinner... lot of fun to photograph, these two!






Today has been reserved for recovery.

Canon 50mm

I've hardly used my Canon 50mm lens. Today I took it (and only it) with me to the beach. I found out that composing with a prime lens is a challenge. OK, it hardly should have come as a surprise. I knew it, but today I really felt it in practise for the first time (while cursing that I didn't have any other lens with me).









Something Zebedee found and played with...


(other things he found and played with or ATE today: a dead dogfish, a shoe, a piece of car tyre, a dead bird, and a myriad of other things I missed, no doubt)



I wished that I had the wide angle with me so that I could have captured all the beautiful sky.... with the 50mm I could only get some unremarkable small parts of it.






Well, it was lovely to be by the sea nevertheless. I need a lot more practise with this lens.