Positively Melancholy

I’ve been waiting to make use of my studding set for weeks now, I’ve even had the perfect pair of vintage Levi’s just waiting to get the studding treatment. I bought them from Bitching & Junkfood, already made rugged in their customisation but I wanted to make them a little more personalised. Today I finally managed to sit down and get cracking. This is the result - this and numb thumbs!

Today is my baby brother’s birthday, Noah turned a very big six today. Moshi Monsters are this years obsession, so most of his gifts - and even his cake - were themed around them. He spent all day deciding whether or not he wanted to be sang to with candles, and perhaps unsurprisingly, he did. Happy Birthday Noah!

I really admire wind surfers: embracing the outdoors in the kind of conditions most people cower from to dip into freezing cold water and then get blown about unpredictably in the sea. Scary.

Watching them set up their kit, have their fun and then put it all away again really uncovered the level of dedication required to keep up such a hobby that I really respect. The closest I came to Kite Surfing was trying my very best not to get blown across the beach … which I turned out not to be very good at.

When I saw a picture of this amazing gift on Corazon’s Facebook wall, I rushed - like the geek I am - to go and photograph it. I can’t lie, I think it’s genius … my lego creations certainly never looked this good.

The attention to detail is exceptional: Jen, Dave and Angie each have their own character - even Paulie the dog has a place in the artwork on the wall - with the right hair styles and clothes. Also, the corners of the studio are personalised for the artists - Angie has Wonder Woman on the walls behind her, Dave has Star Wars. There are a million tiny details to explore, you can look at it for half an hour and still find a new aspect you hadn’t noticed before. It really is a miniature piece of art.

The needles they’re holding do look a little scary though, had Dave been wielding one of those when I went in to get tattooed, I most certainly would have fled immediately. Fortunately for me, the real thing isn’t nearly as terrifyingly violent-looking.

Just because he’s so adorable in his winter coat - Paulie from Corazon Tattoo And Body Piercing.

This is my Dad’s ‘I’m humouring you’ face. The face he makes when he’s doing something he’s not that impressed with doing - usually having his photo taken - but is doing it anyway because I’ve asked him to. He rolls his eyes and sighs at me, usually with some little remark that drips with sarcasm. But he does it. That’s how my Dad is.

When I was little, he would read me a bedtime story when he got home from work, usually multiple times, despite the fact he was dog tired and so hungry he was ready to start gnawing at the furniture. When my parents divorced, and I was still getting used to the two houses situation - he would bring my favourite stuffed toy round at midnight when I had forgotten it and subsequently tried and failed to go to sleep without it. When I’ve been rushed into hospital, he’s sat with me until the early hours of the morning, even though he had work the next day.

You don’t really notice the effort when you’re a child, you can’t really absorb the fact that your Dad is humouring you, giving you what you want because he can’t say no - no matter the cost to him. All you remember is that he was there, that he read that story - he made the silly Piglet voice that made you laugh - that he was there to give consistency and support, to hold everything up when there was a tremor through your life. He was there … that’s all that counts.

It’s only when you get older that you start to notice these things, that you appreciate what goes in to being a good parent, all those millions of little things from your life so far that you owe him for. It seems ironic, that it’s when you’re standing on your own two feet that you understand how far you’ve been carried.

But back to the photo. Today is my Dad’s birthday, and so I insisted - perhaps a little bossily - that he let me take a photo of him. Along with a bunch of faux catalogue poses - it was this expression that brought all those little moments flooding back. ‘Okay, Steph …’ it says ‘we’ll do things your way’.

I’ve taken so many pictures of this building from afar, trying to wriggle my lens through the bars in the padlocked gates. But today the weekly Sunday market that takes place in part of it was open and so we took a brief look around the exterior, finally getting a chance to snap some of the textures and angles. Amazing.

I’m starting to understand why people become obsessed with tattoos, it’s one of the simplest and most effective ways of changing your body but I am almost positive that this will be both my second and my last. A small cross behind my ear, an everlasting prayer, that’s what it is.

We - my Dad, Step Mum and little brother Jack, travelled down to see my older brother and his family’s new home in Nottingham a couple of weeks ago, relaxing palpably when we saw for ourselves how easily the two boys had adjusted perfectly to moving nearly 4000 miles back from Canada - you know, no biggy.

These are a few snaps I took of them enjoying the little park on camp, located right at the end of the road.

View more photos on Flickr

Images taken at the beautiful Conwy castle and it’s immediate surroundings: the most amazing chips that I have ever come across, entertainingly arrogant seagulls and the picturesque scenery.

View more photos on Flickr