I could have kicked myself earlier today, I had the ideal opportunity for a photo to fit this week’s PhotoHunt theme. I had been playing the board game ‘Twilight Struggle’ which re-enacts the cold war struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Twilight Struggle is a two-player game simulating the forty-five year dance of intrigue, prestige, and occasional flares of warfare between the Soviet Union and the United States. The entire world is the stage on which these two titans fight to make the world safe for their own ideologies and ways of life. The game begins amidst the ruins of Europe as the two new “superpowers” scramble over the wreckage of the Second World War, and ends in 1989, when only the United States remained standing.
Well on this occasion things didn’t go according to plan and I reached 20 victory points half way through the game which meant immediate victory to me and I was playing the Soviet Union!!! I had thoroughly licked my opponent. I didn’t think of photographing the event until I had put the game away.
I was left wondering what to post when the following New Years Message arrived on my mobile. I am not quite sure what the sender is trying to tell me…
For more of this weeks PhotoHunt pictures check out tnchick.
Tags: Board Game, Happy New Year, Mobile Phone, PhotoHunt, Twilight Struggle
This is a view of the cottages at Ightham Mote, they face the West Front of the house where the Tower is situated. They are half timbered and were originally thought to be Elizabethan, but now the timbers have dated them to around 1475.
At first constructed entirely of wood and plaster, the ground floor was rebuilt in stone and brick more than a century later, when the dovecote was added as an important source of food for the house, like the fish in the lakes and moat. The buildings once formed a complete outer courtyard, primarily for stabling, and were converted into staff quarters in Victorian time.
A serious fire destroyed part of the quadrangle and this is all that remains. The whole range of five cottages has been conserved and is used as staff cottages, private lets and a holiday cottage.
Tags: Flowers, History, Ightham Mote, National Trust, Weekend away
… to all my friends and readers both old and new (including absent friends). Hoping for some peace, good health and maybe a little prosperity for all of us in 2010.
This is one of the properties I visited on my weekend away in October. I know I promised gardens but I thought I would share pictures of the property itself first.
Ightham Mote is a wonderfully quaint manor house and has been standing for over 650 years. A visit there is like stepping back in time. The house has been altered many times over the years which isn’t really obvious from the outside but once you step inside it is a lesson in social history.
Over the years it has had around thirty different owners the last being Charles Henry Robinson (from Portland Maine, USA) who was a bachelor, so to preserve the house he donated it to the National Trust in 1985.
These pictures show the outside of the main building which is built round a courtyard.
Oh all right then, I couldn’t resist just a few flowers to whet your appetite, although I still haven’t decided whether to show you the inner courtyard or the grounds and gardens next.
Tags: Flowers, History, Ightham Mote, National Trust, Weekend away
I have just about finished organising my photos on Flickr, although I keep thinking of other things I could just change or add to. But I have decided that I will leave it as it is for now, it is much better than it was when I started updating it yesterday. Now all I have to do is remember to keep it up to date.
The pictures can now be browsed in various categories:
By Year
2009, 2008, 2007 and Pre 2007
Holidays & Weekend Breaks
Northumberland 2009, Malmesbury 2009, Kent 2009, Lille 2008, Stanton Manor 2008, Kent 2008, Northumberland & the Lakes 2007, Amiens 2007, Kent 2007, Bruges 2006 and Prague 2006
Places
Abbey House Gardens, Alnwick Castle, Alnwick Garden, Belvoir Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Biddulph Grange Garden, Black Country Museum, Bowood House and Garden, Brighton, Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Chatham Docks, Chartwell House, Cold War Museum – Cosford, Coughton Court, Cragside, Dorothy Clive Garden, Dunstanburgh Castle, Edinburgh Castle, Ephraim Gardens, Erddig, Etal Castle, Flodden, Godinton Garden, Hanbury Hall, Hodnet Hall, Ightham Mote, Jodrell Bank, Kingston Lacey, Lacock Abbey, Lake Buttermere, Little Morton Hall, London, Malmesbury Abbey, Mosely Old Hall, Norham Castle, Orleton Hall, Powis Castle, Sissinghurst, Snowshill Manor, Sunnycroft, The Coach House at Crookham, Upton House, Saint Omer and Wollerton Old Hall Garden
Miscellaneous collections
Explore/Interestingness, Sunset, Flowers, Gardens, Wonderful Trees…, Water Water Everywhere…, Food, Architecture, Churches & Houses of Worship, Statues, The Bed Set, Christmas, In & Around My Home, Me Piccies, 52 Weeks, Childhood, Family & Friends, Photo Manipulations, Flickr Toy Creations, Wordles and Dumpr.net Creations
I shall leave you with another of my favourite pictures that I don’t think I have shared on my blog before. Today hasn’t been the best of days so the thought of residing in the top of an inaccessible tower is quite appealing and I can feel a garden post coming on 
Tags: Holidays, Life
I have been a bit lax in organising my photos on Flickr so I thought the Christmas break would be an ideal opportunity to them up to date. I had forgotten how many photos I had uploaded, it is going to take me some time. I have made a good start and hopefully I will be able to see the task through to the end. Then everyone should be able to find the photos they are looking for more easily.
Some old friends were supposed to be visiting this evening but they have just phoned and canceled due to illness. Perhaps it is for the best because there is a sever weather alert for Shropshire later today.
Tags: Belvedere Palace, Bruges, Lake Buttermere, me, Self Portrait
Not to be deterred by my failed mission to photograph seabirds on a frozen lake I made a detour to another lake whilst I was trying to deliver Christmas presents on Christmas Eve. I managed to get quite a few photographs, but on this occasion the failed mission was trying to deliver the presents. Although the first picture looks like I have been tinkering with it in Photoshop or with my artwork program I haven’t. It is light reflecting in the fog because I forgot to turn off the flash.
Tags: Birds, Frozen Lake, Seabirds, Shropshire
