twinkle twinkle.

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(if you look closely, in this photo and #2, you should hopefully be able to see shooting stars! ♥)

St. Ives, 2010.

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Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

Up above the world so high,

Like a diamond in the sky...

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,

How I wonder what you are.

~ Jane Taylor, 'Rhymes for the Nursery'.

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I was just going through a few old photos when I came across these and I just had to share them with you! These are some photographs that I took during the Perseid meteor shower on the 13th of August, 2010, the day after the peak of the annual shower. I've always loved the night sky, and have been to spend hours just staring up at the twinkling night sky and since I bought my dslr, I've been photographing the night sky over and over, practising the technique I've taught myself to capture these pictures and to just document a favourite view of mine. In these photos, you can see what I saw that night: the Milky Way in all it's wonder and also Jupiter, high in the sky, in the first and last photos! :) It was so awe-inspiring and beautiful and exciting- I'd wanted to see the Milky Way for ages, and I'd sort of come to the belief that I'd never get to, and then BLAM!, there it was, smack-bang above the camper. I mean, how lucky is that?! I was staying in a camp-site with my grandparents and Emily, while we holidayed that year, and luckily there was hardly any light at night-times, so it was meant that that night was even more magical because I was able to just sit in the dark gazing up at the sky, watching for shooting stars/meteors. (I saw, at least, 11; it was incredible!) Hopefully, one day (some day soon, perhaps), I'll be able to see the sky like this again... and, who knows, maybe the sky'll be even clearer and more vivid and beautiful than the last time! That would be incredible... :) ♥ xxx

ma soeur.

November, 2011.

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Just a couple of simple portraits of Emmy, from a wondrous weekend home last year, that I took as we stood together in the light of her bedroom window just before I left to get the coach back to Swansea. I miss her. I miss my friends/family. I miss home. ♥

quinze.

au revoir, normandie.

somebody getting comfy before the six-hour-long journey across the Channel.

some windswept self-portraits taken on top deck.

windswept, part deux.

 

the sun setting over the isle of wight.

looking over the ferry rail, down at the sea.

emily at sunset.

the most fiery sunset i've ever seen.

the spinnika tower.

pulling up to dock in portsmouth.

reflections from clarence pier.

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17.8.11

And here we are! The last day on holiday, coming home from France on a six hour ferry ride. After what felt like forever, we finally got onto the ferry, leaving the car below deck while we went up and found ourselves some chairs in a room that we shared with a lovely family who'd smile at Emily and I whenever we returned to the room after a little wander around the boat, going to the top deck to stand in the wind and look out towards the horizon, going to the cinema to watch Paul to pass the time, and just having a nice time throughout the day before we arrived back in Portsmouth later the day. The day went by fairly quickly, and it was almost the exact journey (except, of course, reversed, what with us coming home from France rather than going there). I ate a delicious plate of pesto pasta again, had another wonderfully mouth-watering French strawberry tart and then we just wandered around, just the two of us for hours. Every now and again, we'd go back to Nani and Grandad and have a little sit-down, reading magazines and listening to music, but we'd always be off again to venture somewhere new on the ferry! I took Emmy up to the top deck (as I think I mentioned before) and, together, we experienced the impressive strength of the wind up there when you're out at sea and it was hilarious- I loved it, although I don't think I can say the same thing for my hair! Once again, I hadn't predicted such strong gales and so, after a long gaze out to the sea and the ever-growing silhouette of the Isle of Wight, I returned to the warmth of indoors with a head full of knots, rosy cheeks and chattering teeth! :) But I didn't really mind that much, I'm not always one to care that much about how I look, I'm almost ashamed to admit... I can be, but I wasn't this time. I just loved the feeling of it all- the freedom. Mmm, yes, it was glorious. (I miss it.) It was a lovely end to a lovely holiday, too, and it was topped off by the pinkest, warmest sunset I'd ever seen reaching across the sea onto our faces and the clouds above our heads. I felt so insignificant, but wonderfully so. I mean, it was just so beautiful and, it was a marvellous sight to be able to pass a half an hour thinking about things and taking everything in- and, of course,taking lots and lots of photos! 

By the end of the two week holiday, I'd managed to accumulate 3,637 photographs (excluding at least five rolls of film and a few packs of Instax films), and that's what brought me to this very moment, all those months ago, at the beginning of all of these blogposts: finding myself faced with the gigantic task of going through them all, editing them a little bit and then sorting them all out ready for each blog post. This finish has been a long time coming, 5 months and 12 days, to be precise, and it's so gratifying to see it all finally done, even if it's not very impressive! Hopefully, I haven't bored you all too much, and I hope that you like some of the pictures I took. :) Thank you for letting me share my holiday memories with you, whoever you are! Lots of love and the best of wishes, Mari-ann ♥ xxx

quatorze.

 

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16.8.11

These are just a few pictures that I took during this day, in the car and out and about. :) After packing up the camper and saying goodbye to the place we'd called home for the past two weeks, we started driving on our way to a hotel for that evening. before we went on our way back to catch the ferry in Normandy to come back home. On the way, we stopped at this gigantic maze that was spread across fields and fields of sweetcorn crops! The sun was high and hot, and we quickly got lost. Trying to be clever, after having given up on following the clues that were provided, we followed the maze with our lefts hands brushing the leaves and always taking left-turns to eventually find our way out (a little tip for you there , for if you ever find yourself lost in a maze: choose a side to follow- left or right-, stick to it and be patient!). BUT, what we didn't realise until there was no way out other than to finish it was that there were scary, cloaked characters within the maze wearing big black cloaks and shouting, following and chasing you in the maze... I was amused, yet highly unamused at the same time, let's just say that. At one point, I screamed really loudly when, out of nowhere, this guy jumped out on Emmy and I after we had just run as fast as we could to escape any interaction with him just minutes beforehand! :p For those of you who haven't ever heard me scream ("Lucky you!", I'm sure my sister would say...), I've been told that I have a veeeery high-pitch scream and a veeeery loud voice on certain occasions (i.e. singing, acting... and the odd scream). I'm telling you this because, basically, everybody heard me. And I mean everybody. It was hilarious, but also rather embarrassing. Let's just say, the two of us got out of that maze as quickly as we could! :) After a quick toilet break, water-bottle refill and a lovely ice-cream, we hopped back in the car and went back on our way up to the hotel. (which was lovely, by the way! They did the nicest Chicken Caesar salad, mmm, and Emmy and I had our own room which was great- we spent much of the night watching French music videos and dubbed episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Bones! :) Ah, it was so great.) xxx

treize.

 

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15.8.11

Emily and I wondered onto the field full  of daisies and spent an hour or two just chatting, making daisy-chain crowns, giggling and taking lots of pictures. I took so many, quite possibly too many... :P So here's a condensed view of a lovely, sunny afternoon spent with my little sister, making memories! :) ♥ xxx

douze.

 

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14.8.11

Well, this was a wonderful day! We all went to the zoo in Pont Scorff and it was really incredible :) Emily was especially excited at the prospect of seeing a tiger for the first time (one of her favourite animals!) and I was excited about seeing elephants and, well... everything really! I was just really excited, I became a child again for the day, grinning madly and snapping away. It was a long day, walking around the whole park, but it was amazing seeing all of the animals and birds and just having a really relaxed, enjoyable day surrounded by nature. Later in the evening, when we got back to the camp-site, the sun had set and the moon was slowly making its way up into the night-blue sky along with a skyful of delicate stars. of course, loving the sky, the moon and stars, I went out for a little while and took some photos of the moon hitting the windows and creating patterns of light, of the stars and, just before I went back in for dinner and then bed, I took a quick photo of the moon beneath a blanket of clouds that seemed to come out of nowhere! The beautiful night sky brought a lovely end to a really great day! :) xxx