Easter Bonnet

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 100mm f2.8 – 1/250s at f/3.5 ISO 3200 – Chiara, very proud with her finished Easter Bonnet on Sunday afternoon – she will wear it again for Nursery the following Thursday.

Last week-end we got a surprised visit from our master craft-maker, so that was the perfect opportunity to craft the Easter Bonnet. With material cost of around £3, some carefully painted eggs by Chiara and a bit of fixing magic from her granny – here is the final result.

We did not get the winning prize for the best bonnet, but it was voted for by kids – and they certainly could not fully appreciate the style of this one !

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – 1/80s at f/3.5 ISO 2500 – When we give up trying to get a natural smile from Chiara, we turn to Olivier – and he is charming in front of the camera, here taken a bit by surprise as he was decorating our fridge.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – 1/200s at f/3.5 ISO 1500 – Not walking yet, but very close. Here he is trying a difficult pose, no hands on the fridge and looking up. And no he did not fall down after the picture !

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – 1/200s at f/3.5 ISO 1500 – Chiara fully concentrated while painting her eggs. We don’t do messy craft very often – so Chiara enjoyed it particularly !

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 100mm f2.8 – 1/160s at f/4.5 ISO 1600 – If you check where you see the most paint – it’s the table or the hand – but not the egg …

Waiting for Spring at the Pub

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – 1/250s at f/3.2 – Spring flowers on display at the Crab Tree, inside … outside it is still raining.

We had a quieter few weeks recently, nothing planned on week-ends – and no travelling during the week, so we had a chance to catch up with a few things; decoration at home, craft with Chiara, and finishing Olivier’s bedroom storage.

Both kids had their spring hair cut at our local hairdresser this week-end and last. Weather is getting boring, still cold and raining – although days are getting longer. It should hopefully all stop in time for our Easter week-end at the end of March !

So, here we are back at the Crabtree on Sunday afternoon …

 

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – 1/40s at f/4.5 – Half the crowd sitting down at the Crabtree. We can easily fill a full tables of toddlers those days, just need to call a few friends. As usual, very easy to get the girls attention for a quick snap.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – 1/50s at f/2.8 – Chiara, cooperating in front of the camera with her cheeky smile. The hairdresser complained her previous hair cut was a mess …. and I had to admit she did it herself unfortunately.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – 1/40s at f/2.8 – Olivier with his new boy’s band cut. He is smiling much more for pictures, but unfortunately he moves as well so all the others are very blurry …

2

Orchids and Kew

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 70-200mm f2.8 – ISO 200 – Sunday 10.30am, it’s mild, sunny and really feel like Spring in Kew Gardens. Another hour before everyone start to fill the place up !

We escaped our daily Saturday/Sunday kids activities and went for a typical Sunday morning in Kew Gardens. Get there by 10am, and leave around midday – when everyone arrives, perfect for a bucolic gateway in the fresh and the sun. Sky was clear, we almost forgotten how it was … Primary goals was to visit the temporary Orchids exposition http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/orchids-2013/index.htm and we were not disappointed !

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – ISO 200 – Cactus and Orchids coexist for a few weeks in the very nice Princess of Wales Conservatory.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – ISO 200 – Phalaenopsis Orchid (don’t be impressed, I looked it up) with the blue London sky in the background.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – ISO 200 – Phalaenopsis Orchid Again, in a typical bouquet, there was quite a few of those around, very pretty.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 70-200mm f2.8 – ISO 200 – Not sure what this Robin was doing inside the conservatory – but anyway, I had my big lens so took a quick portrait. The bokeh of this lens is always very pleasing.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 70-200mm f2.8 – ISO 200 – When they mean Orchids exposition in Kew, they are not cheap on the quantity – not the usual decoration you can order at your local florist.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 40mm f2.8 STN – ISO 200 – Paphiopedilum Orchid (I obviously looked up this one too), just outside the main hall hidden low with just the perfect ray of sun to light them.

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 70-200mm f2.8 – ISO 200 – Chiara piplettetidium (left) and Olivier machineacacadium (right) posing in front of a sculpture just outside the orchid exposition

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Canon EOS 5D Mk III – 70-200mm f2.8 – ISO 200 – This time he did not fall – which is probably a good news as he was sitting at roughly two meters high …