Lock down life - part 2

rain dance 5 | © Caroline fraser 2020

So, we reach week 10 of lockdown, and this weekend, for the first time, I have been into a shop. 

I won't say that I enjoyed it.

I found it intensely depressing; the fear of getting too close to real people, the not being able to touch, the worry about paying using a touch screen. 

OH ( my other half) has been doing all the shopping for the last 10 weeks.

For which I thank him.  But there are drawbacks......

Here are some pros and cons of having all my shopping done by OH....

•  the house is full of meat. ( By house I mean the fridge and the freezer). There are black puddings from Stornaway in every drawer of the freezer, and a supply of sausages sufficient for a large garden party, except that we are not allowerd one of those any time soon).

• There are secret foods that I am not told about, and don't realise they are there until I see the packaging in the bin ( strawberries and smoked salmon for example ). I am told that I 'only have to look in the fridge'. But I can't see past all the meat.....

•  there are 10 tins of tinned tomoatoes in the not very large larder cupboard. No wonder I can't see what else is in there.

• I am given 2 minutes to decide what ingredients I require for the meals that I am cooking for the next few days. I have never had to plan meals ahead with such precision.

rain dance 2 | © Caroline fraser 2020

As you can see, I am not easy to please.

But then nor is OH. My attempts to introduce a one night a week vegetarian night have not gone well.

I wouldn't mind, but given that OH eats meat at all three meals every day, then you might think that one veggy meal was going to be tolerated. Not so. 

I have resorted to using fish as a vegetarian option.....

Life is full of compromises.... 

 I choose my own breakfast and lunch from the non meat options available ( muesli, porrige, bread, cheese, salad).

You get the picture.

And the pros?

• I get to make new images during the time that I would have been queieng at the supermarket.

• I can do my meditation Youtube video without interruption half way through from OH  asking me  'do you want to watch Boris on TV '.   To which the answer, of course, is NO.

While OH is shopping I fiddle around on the computer trying to create new images from my local walks and from old images from my travels.

I am experimenting with layering of photos and paintings. 

Some work better than others.

Here is a Scandi style window from Finland. 

playing with layers and warp tool in Photoshop

And here is a tree from Lofoten with some starlings from Wales.

playing with photographic layers

I seem to return to trees time after time.



These dead branches from Vancouver.

towards the sky | © Caroline fraser 2020

And these graceful fallen branches from a woodland in Kent.

tree dance | © Caroline Fraser 2020

But it is the images from my local pond that please me most.

I have found the shapes of the leaves reflected in the water to be an endless source of work over the past 10 years.

Raindrops falling just add to the fun. 

The ripples create an added dimension. 

rain dance 14 | © Caroline fraser 2020

But we have had no rain since I took these photos on 28th April. 

Hopefully some will come again soon, and I can extend the series a little further.

Light and water, light on water. Water falling on water . I don't have to go far to find a place to capture my favourite subject matter.

Here is a video made beside my local stream, a few yards away from the pond. 

A place of peace.