Electricity - Thematic Photography

Carmi's plug struck a chord or two with me.

Pull chords

One for the lights and one for the extractor fan in our shower room.

Meanwhile in our bathroom the bathroom cabinet lit up with this image.

Reflection of the ceiling lights and the trapdoor to the loft.

However the photo of the day for me was this cheerful chap.

Robin on a juniper bush

It was only as I saved the shot that I realised that I had also caught an electric street light and a blurred solar panel on a roof, just right for this electricity theme.

A number of people in our street have invested in solar panels to generate electricity for themselves - and here's a good example.

Solar panels

Of course these days other generation schemes are available such as these:

Two of five wind turbines in the locality

If you study that photo you can see a line of electricity pylons which are much larger when you get up close.

Pylon and power transmission lines

Some houses in our village are still hooked up to more primitive power lines.

Pole and power line connections

No underground cables for them!

There is a nuclear power station at Hartlepool just a few miles from us but unfortunately I have no shots of that.

To get there by road I can always check road condition by referring to the screen at our local petrol station.

Traffic information

For more bright sparks you need to switch over to the live links at Thematic-Photographic-356.

Trees and Branches - Thematic Photography

I'm spoilt for choice for Carmi's 'Trees and Branches' theme this week. 

Nevertheless I'll restrict myself, mainly. to recent photographs.

Tree in blossom at the bottom of our drive (April 2014)

I took some shots earlier today further up the lane.

Fir, White Lilac, Laburnum and Lilac

Another view from across the road of the same group of trees.

You should be able to pick out the four trees and another with red blossom.

If it's branches that you want to see then the pollarded tree in the old farmhouse garden really stands out.

Cherry Tree at Townend Farm

The next tree I have to show stands in front of a house rebuilt in 1754 - shame I cut its top off, as it looks just like a gigantic mushroom.

The 'Poppy' Tree

Going back to 2007 when I studied what was happening in a wood I have two shots that would make my all-time favourites list.

New growth viewed through a decaying log

Back home in April that blossom at the bottom of our drive stands above a juniper bush and is dwarfed by our largest conifer which unfortunately may have to come down soon.

While I talk to the trees you may branch out and see more at Carmi's Thematic-photographic-295.

A-Z Challenge 2013 - 'J'

My A-Z posts this year are based on my garden – flowers, animals, the birds and the bees, butterflies - with a bit of poetry thrown in. For some letters I am expecting to cheat somewhat – a sort of wish they were here.

J – Jackdaw, Jay, Juniper, Jack, Jasmine

There is a bird who, by his coat,

And by the hoarseness of his note,

Might be suppos’d a crow;

Jackdaw

 The famous poem, The Jackdaw of Rheims, ends with the jackdaw being made a Saint; however in a much earlier Conclave than the recent one for the selection of Pope Francis.

The Conclave determin’d to make him a Saint;

And on newly-made Saints and Popes, as you know

It’s the custom, at Rome, new names to bestow,

So they canoniz’d him by the name of Jem Crow!

 When at my daughter's home in Michigan:

Blue Jay

The Jaybird he's my favourite
Of all the birds they is!
I think he's quite a stylish sight
In that blue suit of his:

But as you can see the jays we see in the local woods are not blue at all. Often all you see is the flash of their white rump as they disappear in the trees.

Many of you will know the English nursery rhyme –

Here we go round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush.
Here we go round the mulberry bush
So early in the morning.

However I’ve just learnt that in Scandinavia the ‘mulberry bush’ is replaced with a:-

Juniper Bush

Somehow I get the feeling that Jack would find that rather tiring.

Jack at rest

 This year he will have a long wait to see this climber flowering:-

Winter Jasmine

Poems:

• The Jackdaw – William Cowper
• The Jackdaw of Rheims – Richard Harris Barham http://www.bartleby.com/246/108.html
• The Jaybird – James Whitcomb Riley
• Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush – An English nursery rhyme and singing game.

Photo attribution:

• Winter Jasmine – Wildfeuer – CC BY-SA 3.0