Fenland Country Fair

On Bank Holiday Monday we decided to visit the traditional Fenland Country Fair at Quy.  We've been several times before - the first occasion being ten years ago when Amber was a small pup - and it's changed very little over this period.  Lots to see and do, and extremely dog-friendly into the bargain.  An ideal opportunity to take the camera out too.

Very soon I ended up with a crack in my lens, however...

It was a gloriously sunny afternoon, and lots of people were sitting on straw bales watching the entertainment in the arena.  I don't think their pooches were too impressed, though, and one or two of the older audience members also started to nodd off.

There was always the ferrets to look at, of course, and it was lovely to bump into Yvonne and Geoff Evans from Cambridge Camera Club there.  I knew they were ferret fanciers, of course, but I had never seen them plying their trade before.  The two poeple below are not Yvonne and Geoff, but two a couple with a young child who clearly thought that ferrets would improve their chances of a sun tan.

In common with all country fairs, there were lots of things on sale.  This ranged from the bespoke, in terms of both tweed suits and pet homes, to rather more esoteric offerings.  I'm not sure I'd want anyone to Put the pet's [sic] in my petshop, and certainly not Simon or one of his eponymous rodents.  Well, not until they'd learned to punctuate properly, at the very least.

As for the assorted plastic avians available, I'm sure there were bargains to be had if only one knew what to look for.

Personally I've always wanted a turbo-charged flapper, so it was lovely to see them on sale...

The fair also had old-fashioned entertainments such as swings, a helter-skelter and a rather wonderful carousel.  It was no surprise that the children wanted to have a go, but Harriet decided to re-live her childhood as well.

Country shows are also great places to see livestock, although the choice was rather limited on this occasion.  I remember going to shows in Yorkshire as a kid which were full of cows, sheep, goats, geese, ducks and the like - along with lots of improbably sized vegetables.  On this occasion we had to make do with a few chickens in cages (not illustrated) and some rather beautiful heavy horses.

Since last year's show had been a complete wash-out, the warm late-summer sunshine was a welcome change for everyone.

One Man and his Dog go to Cley

Having been left to fend for myself yesterday, I decided that the dumb blonde and I should go to Cley for the day.  To be exact, I decided that a trip to WEX was in order (always a good idea), followed by lunch at Natural Surroundings - an excellent wildflower and wildlife centre on an old estate near Glandford, just inland from Cley.  As well as serving the brilliant combination of cheese and jalapeño peppers on toast (thoroughly recommended), Natural Surroundings is also an excellent place to buy bird food in bulk.  Better than I can get at my local supplier, and significantly cheaper.  Poor old Amber had to share the car with 80kg of seed on the way home, but she didn't seem to mind too much.  I am reminded of the quote from Mary Poppins when one of the children asks for 2d in order to buy a bag of food for the birds:

Fiddlesticks, boy!  Feed the birds and what have you got?  Fat birds!

But I digress...

Amber and I spent a very happy hour on the beach at Cley (of "not-quite-next-the-sea" fame), walking on the shingle and watching everyone else being energetic.  Some mad people were even swimming in the North Sea - rather them than me...

There was a time when Amber would have walked for miles along the beach, but she's now starting to get on a bit and arthritis in her elbow joints is really taking its toll.  She was still as enthusiastic as ever to be on the beach, though, and happy enough to walk (slowly) for two 25 minutes stretches with a 10 minute sit-down in the middle.  It really was a wonderful place to be on a Saturday afternoon, and reminds one that the simple pleasures in life are always the best.

Cambridge CC "Wednesday Workshop"

Every month Cambridge CC runs a "Wednesday Workshop", each one targeted at a specific photographic technique.  The one at the end of June concentrated on tabletop photography, and several members took advantage of the meeting to hone their skills.

Ann, deeply involved in the setting up of her demonstration.

Sarah with a "you're dead if you take that photograph" look, which clearly didn't work.

Ann was in charge the fun - but rather messy - technique of dropping coloured ink into a fluid-filled tray, freezing the motion of the resulting shapes using multiple high-speed flashes.  If you look closely you will see that the apparatus is improvised from an up-turned coffee table with a piece of wood strapped to the legs using duct tape (what else?).  A hole drilled in the wood acts as an orifice through which an eye dropper can be inserted, and radio triggers are used to fire the flashes  - hopefully catching some interesting colours and shapes in the process.

These are a few of the "droplet" pictures I captured on the evening.

Cambridge CC President's "do" 2016

Every year, the incoming Cambridge CC President hosts a party during the summer, and I remember very well the time I had to do it back in 2010.  This year it was Barry Badcock's turn, and we had a very pleasant afternoon in Haddenham courtesy of him and Sue at the end of June.  From my point of view it was an ideal opportunity to take embarrassing pictures of fellow members, ideally when in the process of stuffing their faces with the excellent food on offer.  Apologies (sort of) to Chris, Charles, Trevor and Ken for the following pictures.

The "dumb blonde" in the next couple of images isn't Amber, in fact, but a much newer model called Saffron.  I know that Amber would have been as close to the food as possible, but Saffron seemed to be quite happy sitting in the shade with Helen.  Phil, meanwhile, appeared to have taken up the gentle art of dog portraiture.

Gareth, who hasn't been with the club long enough to be tainted, looked positively normal by comparison.

Curses, spotted...

I suspect the answer will be "no" next time I need help with an RPS newsletter after posting that final shot...