The Photo Gallery 231: Landscape

This post is for Wk 231 of Tara's Photo Gallery over at Sticky Fingers (click here to see the other entries).  The prompt this week is 'Landscape'.

At the beginning of last year, we were lucky enough to visit New Zealand; what a magnificent place.

I've been fortunate in my life and have travelled through all sorts of interesting landscapes, but I have to say that New Zealand currently holds top billing for me - and here are a couple of examples why...

Lake Gunn, Fiordland National Park, South Island

Mitre Peak at Milford Sound, Fiordland National Park, South Island

The view from Te Mata Peak, North Island

The mountains behind Kaikoura, South Island

A geyser pool at Rotorua, North Island (and no - those are not my children swimming in it...)

I could go on, but I think you may have got the picture by now...

The Photo Gallery 230: Animals

This post is for Week 230 of The Photo Gallery over at Sticky Fingers blog (click here to see the other photos participating).  This week's theme is Animals...

You might have noticed that we're leaving Russia - for the foreseeable future - in the next few months.  Moscow is, of course, putting on a spectacular show for us now that we've decided to up sticks; the weather is warm, the trees are all in blossom, and we are surrounded in our suburban neighbourhood by the type of greenness that you normally only find when you stick a filter on your camera.  The city is not making it easy to leave it whole-hearted.

However, instead of showing you photos of birds and ducks frolicking in springtime I thought that I would - for once - play to the gallery (ha!  See what I did there?), and have trawled through my files to show you some photos I've taken of animals in the Moscow winter.


This was taken from our dining room window one March.  It's a Waxwing, by the way.  Don't you love his Elvis quiff?




This was taken on the walk to pick the Boys up from school in February - the tuftiest-eared squirrel I ever saw.

And this was also taken in February, on the canal behind the Boy's school.  You can see the hole the fish were caught in, on the bottom right.

The Photo Gallery 218: Colour

Even on a winter's day, with no leaves on the trees, I was surrounded by colour when I went out skiing on this beautiful Moscow morning...

This post is part of The Gallery over at Tara's Sticky Fingers blog.

The Photo Gallery 216: Cold

The prompt for this week's Gallery over at Tara's Sticky Fingers blog?  'Cold'.

*Rubs hands together*

Living in Moscow, I do have some experience on this subject.  When we arrived here in January 2010 the city experienced it's coldest spell for 10 years or more; within a week the temperature dropped to below -20degC and stayed there for some weeks.  (I would like to point out that at this stage we had no car, and I was walking the kids to school.  It wasn't far - about 15 minutes with a 6 year old trudging across the ice and a 4 year old being towed on sledge - but thank god the school had a cafeteria where Boy #2 and I could warm up before repeating the journey in reverse...)

But I wouldn't want you to get the wrong idea; we actually love the Russian winters.  As long as you're dressed for it, they can be wonderful.  The sky is - usually - clear, the sun is shining, there are tiny particles of ice floating through the air as if you're surrounded by glitter. You can cross country ski, skate, build snow men (as long as it's not too cold - if the snow is too dry it just doesn't stick together, and that happens around -10degC and lower) and there's no shame after you've done all that in huddling up with hot chocolate, pizza and a movie.

The only problem with this week's Gallery is that I have too many pictures to show you, so bearing in mind I have no doubt there will be lots of gorgeous images on show I've not focused on 'beauty', but more on illustrating what 'cold' actually means...

Our indoor weather station on February 13th 2012.  It HAS been colder here - but this was the only time I thought of taking a photograph.

Snow flakes that have perfectly kept their shape because it's so cold (February 2010)

And our local canal, mid-November 2014.  Yes. I said November...

'Trees'; Week 214 of The Gallery

I've not done this for a while - pure laziness, probably - but this week I'm submitting a photo for Week 214 of Tara's Gallery over at Sticky Fingers.

Well; how could I not?  This week's theme is 'Trees', and if there's one thing Russia has in abundance, it's trees.  Honestly, I was spoiled for choice when it came to selecting a photo.  There was only ever going to be one winner for me though; this shot, taken a couple of years back when I visited Izmailovsky Park on one of Phoebe's Walks (long-term Moscow expats will know what that means) and turned a corner to be confronted with this Lothlorien-like grove of silver birches.

Even to look at it briefly calms my soul.

The Photo Gallery: Bond

This post is for Wk 129 of The Photo Gallery (click here to see the other entries), and the theme this week is 'bond'.

When Husband and I decided to have two children, one of the main reasons in my mind was that I wanted siblings who would have the same bond my sister and I had; to be friends, as well as related by blood.

I think we managed it.

(This photo was taken 3 years ago but is as true a reflection of my sons' relationship now as it was then).

The Photo Gallery; Adventure

This post is for Tara's Photo Gallery, and this week's prompt is 'Adventure'.  Click here for links to the other entries.

If you've visited The Potty Diaries before, you may know that I'm currently living in Moscow, Russia.  Life here can be seen as taxing, exhausting, and insular, if you're not careful.  It's easy to reach the stage where you close yourself off from the constant assault of 'Foreign' on your senses, choosing to stay home, venture out only when the cupboards are bare, and live from the beginning of one school term to the end of the next, buoyed up only by the prospect of leaving for your next trip 'home' the instant the school bell rings.

People do that, here.  For years sometimes.

Or, you can simply treat each day as an adventure.  Even when all you're doing is making a trip to the supermarket.

I've been wanting to take this particular photo for a while now.  Any ex or current Moscow residents reading this blog will probably recognise this spot; it's on the main road from Sheremetyevo Airport - for a long time, the only international airport for the city - into Moscow.  The soldier shown is in memorial of the soldiers of the 2nd World War (there is a female version on the opposite side of the road), and it's an iconic representation to many Muscovites of the pride they have in the sacrifice Russia's people made in fighting back the tide of Nazism.

To me, he and his female compatriot simply symbolise Moscow, and on a personal level - Adventure*.

* Because let me tell you, it felt pretty adventurous lowering the window in -15degC so I could take the photo whilst negotiating heavy traffic...

The Photo Gallery: New

This post is for Week 126 of Tara's Photo Gallery, and the theme today is 'New'.  Click here to see the other entries.

I'm not going to lie to you.  One of the best things about visiting the UK at Christmas (or indeed, the UK at any time of year) are the shopping opportunities.  Brand names and products that would cost a fortune here are often more affordable back home even if you buy them in big city stores, and if your parents happen to live close to an outlet village, as mine do, the savings are definitely worth making.

Since we arrived in Russia, every year I've treated myself to at least one pair of new boots.  We spend at least 5 months of the year trekking through snow and slush, you see - so the foot wear you might be able to get away with back home simply doesn't cut it here. Those cute kitten heels?  Useless.  The funky bowling shoes from Camper?  Forget it.  The stilettos that magically make you lose ten pounds and smooth out all the lumps on your butt?  In your dreams.  (Unless you're a Russian woman of course; they apparently have special classes in how to glide in sky high heels across any surface before they leave kindergarten).  The problem, of course, is finding something that does the job - that is, keeps your feet warm & dry, has no heel and a decent tread to cope with the icy pavements - but which also doesn't look as if you're off to a building site*.

Back in 2011, I found the perfect pair in the outlet village close to my parents, brought them in brown and whilst I didn't wear them to death, they were a stalwart standby.  They held up well, so when I saw the same pair this year - in black, and at an ever better price - I decided to invest in them.  I'm delighted with them.  But there's just one problem.  It doesn't do to get too attached to your pristine outerwear in Moscow because this city is filthy in the winter.  No matter how much you brush and clean your boots, they are usually  covered with dirt again within 5 metres of leaving the house.

For example.

I've had these for less than 18 days.  Do they still look 'new' to you?

Me neither.


*Not a bad look in itself, but not to be used every day...

The Gallery Wk 125: Colour

This post is for Wk 125 of Tara's Gallery (click here to see the other great entries), and the prompt this week is 'Colour'.

A couple of weeks back I was given the opportunity to exhibit some of my photographs at a small event in my neighbourhood.  I was nervous - putting yourself and your interpretation of images out there for criticism is never easy - but went ahead with it and to my amazement, even made some sales.  Most of those photographs I've already posted on this blog at some point, so won't repeat them again here - despite the fact that they perfectly fit with today's prompt.  But there was one lady who wanted a photograph that I didn't have, of a specific building in downtown Moscow to give to some friends.

I promised her I would do what I could to get the right image and a few days later travelled into town on a bitterly cold grey November day to give it a go.  The light was terrible.  The cold was so raw that there was practically nobody around as I walked across Ploschad Revolutsi (Revolutionary Square) to the Bolshoi - the building she was hoping I could photograph for her.  My hands were freezing; I had forgotten to bring glove warmers, so within 5 minutes of starting to take photographs my Reynaud's Syndrome had kicked in and my fingers resembled a dead person's.  (Don't worry - that's not the photograph I'm going to show you).  But I took as many photographs as I could before my camera battery went on strike from the cold*,  and hoped for the best.

I wasn't totally happy with the results and went back a few days later when the sun WAS shining to retake some of the shots.  But guess what?  My customer preferred one of the photographs from the grey and overcast day.  And here's why...

* Another lesson learned is that camera batteries go flat very quickly in the cold.  My thanks to Heather at Not From Lapland, my guru on all things cold-weather related, who has told me that the answer is to keep a spare battery cosily tucked into your bra for this very situation.  Who knew?

The Gallery: Everyday

This post is for Wk 104 of Tara's Gallery; click here to see all the other entries.

The prompt for this week's gallery is 'The Everyday'.  I toyed with showing you photos of exercise books and musical instruments (I'm attempting to impose some kind of structure on our long summer holidays by ensure that 5 days in 7 the Boys do some kind of school work, boring mum that I am), or even just showing you a bowl of Weetabix but really, there is no question what a photograph of every day life in Moscow should show you.

It's not pretty, I warn you.

Even in the relatively quieter summer holidays, this is what you will probably encounter on any trip, anywhere, on wheels in Moscow.

You develop coping skills, obviously.  If you're lucky, you have a driver to take the pain (we don't).  You choose your music carefully; there's no point listening to heavy rock or nerve-jangling jazz when you can only inch along at 5 kilometers per hour.  You always make sure to have a bottle of fresh water with you, and that everyone has used the loo before you leave the house.  You build in a hefty margin of extra time; if you get there early, great.  Essentially, you prepare for the worst, so things can only be as bad as you expected or better.

Then, you climb in the car, do everything possible to maintain your cool, and you set off.  In Moscow's defence, being stuck in traffic is for some reason nowhere near as stressful here as it is back home.  People allow you to change lanes, for starters.  More often than not, those you let into traffic in front of you acknowledge that fact with a flash of their hazard lights.  Everyone is in the same boat, after all - no point getting aggressive about it (a fact that for some reason seems to escape many drivers caught in jams back in Western Europe, who take things all far too personally).

But however you handle it, this - sadly - is 'the everyday' for anyone who needs to get anywhere by road* in Moscow.


*Since Moscow is huge and the metro - whilst fantastic - has long distances between stops and doesn't serve large sections of the outskirts of the city, that's pretty much everyone...

The Gallery: Family

This post is for Wk 102 of Tara's Gallery. Click here to see all the other entries...

When I was younger and child-free, I always imagined I would quite like to have 4 children.  Well - 2 or 4; for some reason an even number appealed.  Then, I met my Husband, got married, and had babies - but just the two.  We were agreed that 4 would be nice, but the timing just didn't work out and now I have to admit to being quite relieved about that.  So instead of a big rumbunctious family with 4 children, we just have our two boys.

The summer holidays have already started for us (you may have heard me mention that fact once or twice, on here and on Twitter), and we're staying put for the next couple of weeks or so before we head back to the UK for a while, unlike many of our friends here in Moscow who jumped ship the moment the school bell rang.  "How are you going to manage?" they ask, concerned for my mental health.  "What will you do with the kids, stuck in Moscow with no school?  Won't you go crazy?"

Well, no, I won't.  Because in addition to setting up 'playdates' with various friends, I know that there is one resource my boys will have.  Four years ago, when they were 4 and 2 respectively, we took them to Australia for 5 weeks.  Apart from a couple of days in the middle and at the end of our trip when we met up with friends, and the odd occasion when they teamed up with other children wherever we happened to be staying, it was just the four of us.  We had a limited number of toys for them to play with, and were in almost constant motion for much of the time.  You would think that we might have gone crazy then, but during the 5 weeks a wonderful thing happened; our Boys discovered each other.  They became more than brothers, they became friends.

Nowadays they're like any other brothers; they play, they fight, they playfight, they learn from each other, they comfort each other in the dark at night, they  tell rude jokes, they make each other laugh, sometimes they make each other cry, and then they make-up and start the whole thing over again.

 But no matter what, they are - and always will be, I hope - each other's family.

The Gallery: Sunshine

This post is for Wk 101 of Tara's Gallery - click here to see all the other entries...

So, the prompt for this week's Gallery was 'sunshine'.  And Tara, bless her, threw down a direct challenge to me when she wrote in her post 'I must also apologise to a certain Russian blogger who is going to find this a veeery tough theme . . . '

Once upon a time - before I lived here - I would have agreed with her that finding sunshine in Russia might be a big ask.  But after two and a half years I have to say that in summer at least, finding sunshine is not a problem.  So much so that rather than having to trawl through the archives for a suitably sunny photo, I decided instead to hold fire and simply take a photo on the walk to school this morning.  It's not art - but it is sunny.

So. Trees, and sunshine.  What more could you ask for, Ms Cain? Unless, of course, you were expecting snow and ice.  In which case, I can always show you this...

Although, just to be clear - the second photo was NOT taken today. That was a March shot from last year...  What do you mean, you don't believe me?

The Gallery; Picture Postcard

This post is for Week 100 of Tara's Gallery; click here to see all the other great entries.

The prompt for this week's Gallery was 'Picture Postcard' as in; the photo you have that you would like to see made into a postcard.  What with my self-imposed ban on posting photographs of members of my family online, I'm reduced to choosing my entry this week from more situational shots.  Except, that isn't quite right.  'Reduced' gives the impression I don't have much to choose from, but Moscow is a city full of photo opportunities, from the grandeur of the onion domes on the churches and cathedrals, to the imposing splendour of Stalin's Seven Sisters, and the sheer bustle of living alongside 15 million people.  Frankly, I wasn't sure where to start.

So I went back to my current favourite photographic hunting ground; the Moscow Metro.  I took this one on Monday.  I quite like it; what do you think?  (Click to enlarge)

The Gallery: Morning

This post is for Week 99 of Tara's Gallery - click here to see all the other great entries.

The prompt this week was 'Morning'.  (I'm intrigued to see which theme she comes up with for Week 100, by the way - no pressure Tara...).  It's hard to capture the split-second timing and controlled chaos of our mornings on a school day here - I suspect they are pretty much like yours - so instead I'm going to show you something completely different.

Yesterday morning was the last one of my parents' visit to us, and before they headed off back to the UK my father had expressed a particular wish to see a plane junkyard that is situated around 4 kilometres away.

I think that originally, the planes were gathered together on what is a historically important site for Russia's aviation industry with the intention of creating some kind of museum.  I think - but I'm not sure.  As with so many initiatives here, the real reasons have been lost in the mists of time and the project has been seemingly abandoned.  All that remains of the original grand plan is around 30 once-proud, now dreadfully decaying combat planes and helicopters, graffiti'd, vandalised, and forlorn, herded into a 200 metre strip at the edge of an airfield which is now used by a driving school.

It's a balmy 28degC outside right now, but yesterday morning when we made our visit it was around 12degC, grey, dank and chilly.  The perfect day to photograph what is left of a once-mighty war machine.  It seemed only right to show it in black and white... (as ever, click on the photo to enlarge it).

The Gallery; At Peace

This post is for Wk 97 of Tara's Gallery - click here to see all the other entries.

I went to Izmailova Market* this morning, fully intending to take pictures that illustrate - to me, at least - that whilst Moscow is many things, 'at peace' (this week's prompt) is not the first condition to spring to mind.

I took some too, but when I was downloading them to my computer I came across the photograph below, taken one morning this week when I rushed out of the house with split second timing for the school run as usual, to find my sons had drawn this in the snow for me, unprompted. And for one moment, in amongst the hurly burly of our daily life, I was at peace.

*Izmailova Market is a good place to head for souvenirs, small gifts, army surplus, and kitsch of almost any description but most especially matrushka dolls, and seasonal decorations like these...

The Gallery; Extreme Close-Up

This post is for Wk 96 of Tara's Gallery, and the prompt is 'Extreme Close-ups'. Click here to see all the other entries.

It's nearly April, and I know those people back in the UK reading this are currently basking in sunshine (I read a tweet this morning reminding people to put on suncream, for goodness' sake), but here? Not exactly...

So I thought this photograph was appropriate. And yes, you may remember it featuring on The Potty Diaries a couple of years back but I can assure you, it could just as easily have been taken the day before yesterday...

The Gallery; Colour

This post is for Week 95 of Tara's Gallery. Click here to see all the other entries.

So. Colour. Well, at this stage of the Moscow spring, you have to take what you can get...

The Gallery; Light

This post is for Wk 96 of Tara's Gallery; click here to see all the other entries.

The prompt for this week's Gallery is 'light'. When I saw it I knew straight away which photograph I wanted to use, but couldn't decide whether to use the colour or black & white version, as both seem to work. So I've used both, and I would be interested to hear any thoughts you might have on which works better in the comment box.

I took this photograph a couple of weeks ago in Tblisi, Georgia. At the time, I was trying to capture the colour of the buildings on the right, and didn't even notice the shadows on the wall to the left. It was only when I looked at it again after the holiday, on the full screen, that I noticed them. Now, I think they may even be the point of the photo. What do you reckon?

(Click on the photos to bring up a larger version)

The Gallery; Landscapes

This post is a disgracefully late entry for Week 92 of Tara's Gallery - click here to see all the other fabulous entries.

Given that this week's prompt is 'Landscapes', and bearing in mind where I am this week, even though I'm 24 hours late on posting I couldn't possibly miss out on entering the Gallery.

No prizes for guessing for how the Potski family are spending our days - but I wonder, will you be able to work out where we're doing it?

Oh, OK. You want clues. Here they are;

• You don't need a visa if you're an EU citizen...
• ...but this country is not in the EU.
• The food is DELICIOUS.
• The locals are mostly hospitable.
• There are borders you don't want to cross.
• They produce their own wines, some of which are pretty good (and some of which - well, let's not go there).
• And obviously, you can ski. In fact, whilst it's not the most challenging area I've ever skied in, it more than makes up for that with some of the best snow and the shortest lift lines I've ever seen. And it's at an impressive height (the resort itself starts at 2200m), and has some of the quietest runs I've ever been on in my 18 years of skiing. (Mind you, it also has some of the craziest skiers. But then you can't have everything).

And that's it. So, where am I?

The Gallery; My Photography Resolution

This post is for Week 88 of Tara's Gallery. Click here to see all the other great entries...

When I saw the prompt for this week's Gallery, I have to admit that I struggled a little. Of course I have 'photography resolutions' (that's the prompt, by the way). Getting better at it, would be a good start, as would actually attending a proper course (not without it's logistical issues, that one; living in Russia and not speaking 'technical Russian' would make it a little tricky to do in Moscow). But thinking about it more deeply, there is one resolution that, on reflection, wins out for 2012.

Print. It. Out.

After all, what's the point of taking photo's you love, if all they do is sit in a file somewhere and you never see them?