Category Archives: Personal News

Meet the Guardian!

Meet the new guardian of our gradually-expanding menagerie of the sculpted and carved. Puff the guardian dragon (Show Details) Camera: Panasonic DC-G9 | Date: 19-06-2023 20:37 | Resolution: 3888 x 3888 | ISO: 640 | Exp. bias: -66/100 EV | … Continue reading

Tuesday, June 20, 2023 in Personal News, Thoughts on the World

One for the “Bucket List”

As part of my 50th birthday celebrations I was privileged to go for dinner at Heston Blumenthal’s restaurant the Fat Duck in Bray. I don’t know what Frances did to get the reservation, but I suspect threats of physical violence … Continue reading

Thursday, May 5, 2011 in Personal News, Reviews

What to Get for a Photographer’s Birthday

With my half century finally upon me, my wife Frances has excelled herself by commissioning a most wonderful cake, celebrating my photographic passion! This is well up to the standard of “Bear in a Porsche“, from a few years back… … Continue reading

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 in Personal News, Photography

Death and Service

My brand new iPad died today. One minute I was taking notes on it. Next minute, dead as the proverbial fat bird with a big beak, or the Norwegian Blue (lovely plumage). There are three theories which fit the available … Continue reading

Tuesday, January 11, 2011 in iPad, Personal News, Thoughts on the World

Season’s Greetings

A very warm “Merry Christmas” and best wishes for 2011, from all at Coppertrees to all the followers of my blog. Andrew Continue reading

Friday, December 24, 2010 in Personal News, Website & Blog

Cuba Photo Notes

“Photographer’s paradise” is probably putting it far too strongly, but Cuba does provide easy access to a great range of material in almost every genre: fashion and international sports might be a bit of a challenge (unless you bring some … Continue reading

Wednesday, December 1, 2010 in Cuba Travel Blog, Personal News, Photography

Cuba Reflections

I’m safely back home with a load of photos to process, so this is just about my last post on Cuba. There’s probably one more to come on the technicalities of photography there, but I thought it would be good … Continue reading

Friday, November 26, 2010 in Cuba Travel Blog, Personal News

An Uncomfortable Vision

I took this picture almost on auto-pilot, and was immediately torn about whether to keep it, or delete it. Was I guilty of exploiting the little girl? However, what happened next was interesting, and a tale worth telling. Another tourist … Continue reading

Thursday, November 25, 2010 in Cuba Travel Blog, Personal News, Photography

The Last Post?

Back to Havana, so I’ve managed to catch up a bit. However, even this took visits to two hotels to find one with working internet service! I hope you enjoy the mega update. This will probably be my last update … Continue reading

Wednesday, November 24, 2010 in Cuba Travel Blog, Personal News

Economic Anomalies, Part 2

Two observations from the last few days: Cuba has two currencies: the Convertible Peso, used by tourists and businesses which interact with tourists or trading partners, and the National Peso, used by Cuban Nationals for everyday activity. The buying power … Continue reading

That’s a Big Box!

Shot of the day for Monday. Everyone else in the party was shooting over this little fella’s head at the cathedral, but I happened to glance down. Bingo! Continue reading

Character-Full Trinidad

It’s about 50 miles from Cienfuegos to Trinidad, along the coast, which takes over 2 hours on a very bumpy road. However the drive is worth it. Trinidad is a very pretty town: different architecture again – based on two … Continue reading