MULTIPLY Writing Prompt #15: Point of View

Hi everyone, no don’t scream or make a face with the expression of disgust. You humans don’t look so good either from down here, especially the sole of your feet when they might squash one of my relatives or colleagues. Of course, we know how inconsiderate the species homo sapiens can be, especially if you are an insect. Ants have no chance, but they are a bit stupid plodding all over the place and swarming onto human food.

Now we armadillidum vulgare are a different kettle of fish. What?? Well some know us as wood lice, pill bug, sow bug and at the bottom of the scale rolly pollie although that is just a plain insult. If you saw a monster coming and nowhere to escape, you would roll up as well. We are not fat, just have a suit of armour for protection, but even that gets a bit tight a couple of times in life, so we just get rid of it for a larger size. We do not mean any harm and are satisfied with a nice damp place, a few plant roots and some dead material. It does not matter what, as long as it is dead, disintegrating and we like it to be a bit damp. We love everything that is damp.

Me and the wife live under a nice heavy stone on the path through a garden. Really could not be better. Our own food supplies nearby and no preying insects to make a meal of us. My wife, Mabel, just loves it here, but that was until Boris moved in. By the way I am known as Bonzo by most of my friends. As I was saying the wife and I were living nice and peaceful under our stone; I don’t even think others realised it, except of course for a few other members of our tribe, but they had their own stones and left us in peace. Mabel had just laid a batch of eggs and was carrying them on her tummy, waiting for them to hatch. No great problem, it makes things easier when the kids hatch as you know where they are.

Back to Boris: I was having a quiet afternoon’s sleep with the missus – no hanky panky, after all she had just laid some eggs and then the stone got lifted. I thought it was the ignorant humans, but they usually leave us in peace. I know Mrs. Human does not like lifting those stones as she never knows what is underneath. Can’t understand it really, after all Mabel is one of the prettiest of our type around, I really had to fight for her attention. Anyhow a black colleague crawled into our little nest and told me to move over: me, the chief of the family.
“Who do you think you are?” was my question.
“Bonzo it's drafty here and there is too much light, what is going on?” That was the wife.
“Good morning all, I have decided this place would be suitable for me and the family, so either move over or move out” and that was the first time I saw Boris.
“Just who do you think you are? We have been here since we paired up and are going nowhere. Go back to where you came from.”
“Sorry, but that’s not possible. I was living in a nice cold damp cellar with the family. Ideal really, had everything that a armadillidium vulgare could wish for. It was damp, temperature was just right and plenty of deal food laying around. There were even some mushrooms growing out of the wall, but then it happened. The humans got working on it and in two days there was nothing left, just a hole in the ground, so we had to move. One of my kids from last year said there was a path in a garden near bye. Of course it was a long march for us along the ditch but here we are. The only problem is that everything seems to be occupied around here, so we decided to move in with someone else, unless you are thinking of leaving.”
“No Boris, we are not thinking of leaving, and we do not intend to share our place with you and your family. You smell rather strongly and we have enough work keeping our own place neat and tidy. I do not intend to start cleaning up behind two strangers. Go and find another cellar. You cellar creatures are all the same, no respect for the garden tribes. You just spread out and take everything over.”

“Hi dad, having problems” it was one of our children from the last brood, who lived under the next garden tile.
“Hello son, we have an intruder. One of those cellar tribes has decided to move in.”
“Does not come into the question dad; come on brothers, we are being invaded” and then the communal feelings developed and 20 of our kids from the last breed arrived to support us and the family.
“Clear out, you are not welcome” said my oldest and was already sharpening his feelers for an attack. It was then that the invader’s wife started to shed some tears.
“What shall we do Boris, first of all our house was destroyed, I am expecting babies and now we have nowhere to live. These garden tribes are so thoughtless and selfish. How would you feel in my position” I could see Mabel already feeling sorry for the intruders. Women are the same everywhere I suppose.
“Bonzo I can understand her problem. Admittedly she smells different to us, but she is one of us and cannot help her background. We should really help.”
What did I say, women. I just had to tell her that not in our place. We have enough problems removing our body waste all day long and now there will be twice as much. Apart from that what are we going to do when their brood arrives and ours. There will just be no room. Not to mention the discarded armour laying around when we all get to big for our bodies.
“I have an idea dad.” Typical kids, they always support their mothers, but I listened to what he said.
“Just down the path there is an old discarded brick. It is quite heavy, but if we all get together, I am sure we can move it to suitable place, perhaps next to the house wall. Then they will be far enough away from us, but they won’t feel as homesick because it will be near the cellar of the house. Perhaps they might even be able to dig a corridor into the cellar and then they will be happy.”

One thing I must say, I do have clever, intelligent offspring, suppose they take after their father. As we creatures usually like to sleep during the day, we postponed the action until the evening and had to put up with a stinky cellar guy and his missus until then, sleeping at our place. As soon as evening came we had a meeting. I must say, you can always rely on us for group work. I think the complete population of the garden path arrived. Good job the humans were sleeping, otherwise there would have been screams and feet stamping around. I never really did understand why they don’t like us. Eventually we all got working. We managed to shift the brick to the window and Boris and his wife crawled underneath. They were more than happy. I must say they turned out to be very nice neighbours. Just shows you how you can be wrong about your species. Now and again Boris’s wife would bring us a couple of mushrooms over from her lodgings. Her kids arrived about the same time as ours so they sort of grew up together. Very nice bunch they were as well. They even married into our family and I suppose we are now sort of related to Boris and his wife. Sometimes we even go hunting together with the grandchildren.

The life of a armadillidium vulgare can be really satisfying some times. We just have to keep out of the way of the human feet. There is a certain spider that also likes to make a meal of us, but that is another story, and thank goodness they don’t live around here.

Writing Prompt#15: Point of View

MULTIPLY Poetry Posse - Week 27: A Couplet

A week in the garden, ‘twas work to be done
I knew in advance it would not be fun

I am no longer so young but nevertheless
I decided to do it and succumb to the stress

Everything is low I have to bend down
the earth is so messy and my hands became brown

The sun was shining, I needed a drink
Something is wrong, I will have to rethink

I sat on a chair and poured out a coke
If I continue to work I will get a heatstroke

My decision was made, the garden can wait
I decided I would leave the plants to their fate

And then we had rain it fell from the sky
The plants started growing I gave up my try

Now I just watch from the porch with delight
The plants are growing their colours are a sight

I decided to grow some plants from the seeds
That is no problem and I can pull out the weeds

My cats are happy in the garden just see
No water is needed, they just do a pee.

Poetry Posse - Week 27: A Couplet

MULTIPLY United Friends Challenge #138: The Big Decision

Flowerchild3's Challenge

Think of a major decision you made in your life, or a major event in your life, one that changed the course of your life forever. Consider what your alternatives and life situation were at the time, and write a story about what might have happened if you had made a different choice, or if the event hadn't happened, or had happened differently. You may write it in poem form if that suits the situation better.

So where was I. It goes back many years and I am not really sure where it all started. It was not just one fine day when a bolt of lightning stuck and I thought this is it. No, it sort of crept in, slowly but certainly and through a chain of circumstances it happened. Well, I may have now caused your appetite to grow and all are wondering, “what the hell is she talking about”.

Being born in a poor part of London had its disadvantages, but also advantages. We were quite a cosmopolitan community, there were all shapes and sizes, colours, beliefs and if you dug into the past you would find that nearly all East Londoners had something foreign in their ancestry. Perhaps that was the trigger that fired my ideas. Great grandmother was discovered to be direct Huguenot descent, although I am sure she spoke no French, at least my grandfather could not speak the language, so I suppose his mother only spoke the local cockney dialect with him. Actually my grandfather did have a gift for swearing, but I think that was to be expected.

So where were we – ah yes, in the mixed backgrounds of East London. My school was at least one third Jewish, they had their own kitchen for their meals and their cutlery and plates was marked with a “K” (kosher) so that it would not be mixed with the others. This was quite interesting. You had a good insight into the Jewish customs, traditions and holidays. I remember we “others” were always a little bit jealous as we never got the free days for the Passover and new year. However, it was part of our East End culture and life.

I remember it was at this school that we learned foreign languages. The first was French and later I did two years of German. In between I decided to go to the local evening school to learn Spanish and afterwards even Italian. I eventually left school and worked in the City of London in an office. I was working temporary in London meaning that every week or month I was placed in another company. The money was good and it was fun. One of my jobs was for the Thomas Cook warehouse, where goods were exported all over the world. The correspondence was in English, but we had many people from Europe and Asia also working in the office. At last I could try out my foreign languages and they understood me. The seed was sown, I wanted to work abroad and use those strange tongues.

I found a job in Switzerland. It was an advertisement in the newspaper and I called and got the job. It was a small import-export company. My boss was from Pakistan, his wife was Swiss and they had three children. They owned a large apartment house in Zürich where I also had my own rooms.

Was my London mum happy? Not really. I think she had visions of her little girl (I was one of the tallest in the class!) getting married to a solid English person and settling down on the outskirts of London and having children. Ideas of working for a Pakistani in Switzerland were not really in her plans. My dad was happy when mum was happy, so he never really had an opinion, although I think after five years war in Italy, Germany and Palestine, he though it must be nice to see those countries in peace time. I know he just loved Italy.

There was another small problem. My mum was a lovely woman, as mums are, but we did not always have the same opinions and so now and again there would be a slight misunderstanding. I just wanted to try to live my own life. The day came and I left my English home with a work permit in my luggage for Switzerland. In those days flying was expensive, so it was the boat across the English Channel and the night train from Calais to Basel where I arrived at 5 o’clock on a winter morning. I did the complete journey alone, although mum decided that she and my father would accompany me to the English port of leaving.

I had to make a stop in Basel for my entrance medical – the Swiss do not accept anyone otherwise. It was a check on whether you had TB or any other contagious illnesses. They took my passport away until the results arrived and then I was allowed to travel further to Zürich. The rest of the story is that I am still in Switzerland after forty-two years, married to a Swiss and with two sons.

I remember once talking to my mother about the whole situation and she said she never expected that I would stay so long. She was sure that I would get homesick and return after a couple of months. Perhaps she was hoping that this would happen, who knows. A funny situation was when I really decided to leave my job in Zürich after two years and was thinking about returning to London. My German was sort of fluent, I also used my French and I thought I would have good prospects of finding a job. My chief and his wife understood that I wanted to change my job, but his wife said why not put an advert in the local Swiss newspaper; something like English secretary looking for position in Swiss company. There were many places that would be glad to have someone English speaking in their office. At the same time I called my mum to say I was thinking about a change. Now this is the hammer. She said to me on the phone, my mum that would have loved to have her daughter back home safe away from those foreigners, there is an advertisement in the English newspaper for a job with the Robert Bosch Corporation in a town called Solothurn in Switzerland. My answer was, give me the telephone number. My mum did, not knowing that I would call, get the job, move to Solothurn and within two years be married to a Swiss, who also worked in the same company. So now let’s think. What would have happened if I had not made that fateful telephone call and my mum had not told me about the job. By the way I also had two offers from Swiss companies.

She would not have had her two grandsons, a Swiss son-in-law and holidays in Switzerland from time to time. On the other hand, if the telephone call had not been made, then I probably would have returned to England, got married to someone local, and would have had my parents to dinner on Sunday at least once a month.

My mother died twenty-four years ago. She did not suffer with a long illness, a heart attack. I flew over to England and my husband followed a couple of days later: and dad – he is now ninety-four years old and still lives in London. I pay a visit once a year and phone once a week. He lives in his own household. Now I could say how it would have been if I had sisters or brothers, but I had none. I was apparently a difficult birth, so the decision was made no more children. Perhaps it would have now been better for my father, although he is not so much alone, thanks to the widow who lives opposite. She is a year older than dad, but they get on well together. Of course, they see each other regularly but are no longer so active to go on holidays together. When they were “younger” (around 75 years old) they often spent a couple of weeks in Spain together. My father visited me the last time when he was 89 years old.

In my life there are a lot of what would have happened when, but is it not the essence of life, that things happen that were not planned. Is this not what makes life worth living, the little surprises?

United Friends Challenge #138: The Big Decision

The Wisteria

This is my wisteria - a photo taken some time last year in May when it was full in bloom. Our apartment is in a small estate on the ground floor and we have a garden each side instead of a balcony. There was an arrangement made in the plans for a creeping plant, the trellis work was already there, so we decided on a wisteria. Unfortunately we did not realise that a wisteria likes to climb, likes to stretch out and take over anything near bye. Over the years we have constantly trained the wisteria that he has not climbed up the wall of the building or built a thick curtain in front of our windows by pruning and cutting. The wisteria also decided to take the neighbours balcony in charge on the first floor. She was quite happy as she found it a nice plant to have growing through the holes in the metal, but we cut it back and informed that it would not just grow, but decide to weave its stalks into the metal and probably eventually would crush the complete framework. This is the basis of the problem.

This year Spring arrived after a long snowy Winter. The garden showed itself after the layer of snow and ice and my wisteria appeared again. However, I notice something rather strange. First of all I saw this.

A very thick white root can be seen on the right hand side and on the left a couple of similar shapes. This was at the base of our wisteria. Now our wisteria is planted in front of a wall and after having a quick check in Internet I was not very happy. There were horror stories of the roots being able to destroy foundations and lift paving. Visions of repair costs and rebuilding work came to me. To perhaps put you more in the picture here is a photo of the main stalk of the wisteria.

When it was first planted I was even worried that it would not survive. It had a thin stalk and the leaves started wilting. This is the result after nine years. A wooden trunk. well many wooden trunks, very thick and very strong. We decided that the gardener should pay us a visit to explain if this would be a danger to the wall and the surrounding tiles. We were worried. I even almost lost a night's sleep. Today the gardener arrived and gave up the verdict. After a close inspection of the roots, he said an immediate danger was not there. The roots were a soft material and somehow the root intelligence of the wisteria told it to grow in a direction where there was no danger.

I told the gardener it seems that the whole plant was lifting itself upwards and not going downwards. He took a close look at the immediate roots and saw the two holes in the earth right and left of the main stalk and asked if we had mice. I could say absolutely not, unless my cats brought them as a present from the fields. He said the two holes were probably mice holes as they extended quite a way down. He reassured us that the wall was not in danger and that we have nothing to fear. If we would want to get rid of the wisteria this would be no problem. The gardener would cut through the trunk and put some sort anti growing enzyme on the top of the root. This would stop any further growth, and the roots would just die a slow death in the ground.

After a discussion we decided to keep the wisteria where it is for the time being and have a rethink in Autumn when it makes its Winter sleep. Relations of ours also have a wisteria. They have a house and it has now taken over the complete wall of the house, growing and covering two floors. Another problem with this stupid climbing attacker is that it is not able to keep its leaves. They all fall off in Autumn, which means days of sweeping until they have all disappeared. The mess from the flowers is also an annoyance. I still am not sure whether to condemn my wisteria to death by poison and beheading or not.

Otherwise my garden seems to be behaving quite well. The normal ants, snails and slugs are moving in slowly and seem to be enjoying the fresh earth. I dug over a new flower bed this afternoon and found two baby June bugs, I think they are known as weevils.

His mother lays her eggs in the earth where he stays a couple of years feeding on the nice juicy roots of my plants. They one day in June he climbs up from the earth, but has in the meanwhile turned brown and is equipped with nice big wings, is a flying beetle. What does he do. Not very much they fly around and land on a bush somewhere. There is then a sort of mass sex orgy, and mother June bug flies to the ground and lays her eggs, after which she dies and the whole thing starts all over again. Any how I removed the weevils and threw them into the meadow. So that was life in my garden today.

MULTIPLY Creative Challenge #49: Rays of Sunlight

Bright rays of sunlight kissing the roofs
This sounds so romantic and fine
It was an idea from a Multiply friend
But we had to organise sunshine
One day in Summer we were all ready
Around the world we would do our best
I think it began in the States somewhere
In Australia they made the rest
We were all ready with cameras poised
to take the sun’s rays as they came
Some countries were fine, the weather was good
But in others the sun was quite lame
I remember the day well, it was raining a lot
I kept watching and looked for the sun
It was sudden and short, the weather changed
grabbed my camera and then I did run
Of course there were clouds, above the roof tops
but the weather god decided to reward
A wide space arrived, the sun was smiling
My efforts for a sunset were in accord
So here is the photo, there were many to be seen
And here is the link for them all
The things that we do to have success in a blog
We are Multiply and we come at a call

Global Sunsets, The Album

Visual Aid #6

“I suppose walking home through the park in the rain has been the prompt for the beginning of many stories and films. Something I just cannot understand. If I had a transport connection to get me home, or even my own car I would definitely use it, but no, it’s a walk through a park in a dismal, damp atmosphere. Not even a talk dark handsome stranger that might be lost and looking for help. Just on my own with squelching boots and an umbrella for protection. In the films there is always the right person in the right moment to share the umbrella with. The park bench is also looking forlorn and lost today. Strange that it is throwing its shadow on the ground. No sign of sun anywhere but a ray of light seems to be putting the bench in the spotlight.”
“That’s because of me.”
“Because of who? Did I hear a voice? I think the rain is slowly affecting my brain.”
“I said it is for me. I was crouching in the rain and decided to find a dry patch, but up to now have found nothing. Perhaps you can take me home with you.”
“I don’t take strangers home anywhere. Where are you?
“Just behind the lamp post next to the old wooden seat, under the ray of light.”
“No, you are not human, not even animal, I think I am imagining things.”
“No, lady, just think. Your apartment house is just opposite the park. You are nearly home. Now spare a thought for me, sitting on the corner of the roof. Just look at me carefully. See my wings and pointed ears and wonderful head. Who do I look like?
“Something out of a science fiction film?; a sort of eagle with legs and a tail. I think I am going now, my imagination is playing tricks on me.”
“Lady, I AM A GRIFFIN”
“Now you don’t have to shout at me. I heard quite well what you said, what did you say, you are a griffin.”
“A griffin; I am the griffin that sits on the roof of your building. I watch you leave in the morning and see you come home. You once made a photo.”
“Griffins don’t live, they are carved out of stone and they certainly do not sit in parks waiting for the rain to stop.”
“Well I got fed up sitting on a roof in the rain and getting wet. I decided to fly down and wait for you to come home. You always walk through the park at this time; the rain is not doing my stone feathers any good. Ah-ti-shoo.”
“Just a minute, you are a griffin, you flew into the park, you waited for me and now you seem to be a griffin with a cold.”
“So what are you going to do about it? If I was a cat or dog, lost and alone, you would certainly take me home with you and look after me.”
“I am not sure about that, but I suppose you are right.”
“So what is with us griffins. You humans stick us on roof tops, on churches, anywhere really, just to make everything look pretty and no consideration for our feelings. Now centuries ago we were something. We conquered the unicorns and the gargoyles, we were respected, humans feared us.”
“Well that was years ago, and now they are just stories and pictures in books.”
“You see what we have come to, just a story in a book. Lady I am getting really wet in this stupid downpour, you live just across the road, so what about it?”
“How do I know you won’t do me any harm.”
“You don’t, but that’s the risk you will have to take. If I wanted to harm you I would not be sitting here having a conversation, but would have grabbed you in my claws and flown off with you. Humans eat chickens, so we griffins are quite partial to a human now and again.”
“I am not taking a man eating fancy eagle creation home with me.”
“Come on lady, have a bit of mercy. Today is international griffin day.”
“It is what”
“International griffin day, it is the only chance we have in our stony lives to fly again. Most of the griffins don’t bother. My colleague on the other corner of the roof decided to sit it out as usual. He said forget it, you will only frighten some naïve human and they only think of their selves; looks like he was right. Nobody loves a griffin any more. We are really just reduced to being ornaments and subjects for photos.”
“OK you win, so just walk or fly next to me under the umbrella, at least you won’t get wet, but don’t make any noise and don’t sneeze. I don’t want the neighbours to see you.”
“OK, lady, I will make myself invisible until we are in your apartment. Do you have something for me to wipe my nose?”
“Here take this tissue. You can make yourself invisible?”
“Only today, you know international griffin day.”
*****
“Now that was a day yesterday. I am sure no-one will believe me. Today no rain, thank goodness. Hello you up on the roof, how are you feeling?”
“Quiet lady, it is not everyone who is supposed to know where I was yesterday. Oh, and thanks for the hamburger and the beer, that was really good. So now I will be a stony griffin again, and don’t forget, next year, same time and same place. Just look for me under the lamp post next to the park bench, you will find me there.

Visual Aid #6

MULTIPLY Pictures to Words #16: Creative Fun

„Hi mum, dad I’m back from the pet shop“
“How did things go Billy, they said they had your new pet ready. Is it a nice little doggy?”
“Well not quite mum, there was a bit of a mix-up.”
“What’s the problem son, they called from the pet shop to say that everything was ready. They did say it wasn’t exactly the dog we wanted, but it was just as lovable and adorable; a new breed."
“Well, dad, mum it was like this. It’s something completely new, a bit different. Not quite a dog, but it was all they had.”
“Where are you son, let’s have a look.”
And then Billy entered with the new pet.
“Oh my god, Fred what is it?” Billy’s mum, Elsie, asked his dad.
“Well it is not quite a dog. Son what have you brought home?”
“It was a special offer, no-one really wanted him, and he is so lovable, aren’t you Blue?”
It was then that Billy’s new pet sort of dog gave a big smile showing his oversize teeth. He really was lovable I suppose, but he was the first Bluey to be sold and of course Billy’s parents were a bit surprised to say the least. Over the years mankind had come far, but so had the animals. Evolution was still in progress and somewhere in an isolated place, the Blueys had been discovered. At first people were careful. Perhaps they were aggressive or even poisonous, but with time they were found to be harmless. They just looked a bit different.
“The man at the pet shop said they are the newest thing as a pet. He only has one at the moment, but another one is being delivered in a month’s time. He said that we could have it for free, if we wanted it; sort of a companion for Blue”
“But he is standing up on his back legs, like a human.”
“I know mum, but he walks that way. I don’t even have to put a lead round his neck, he just follows me. I think he likes me, he smiles at me all the time and likes me to pat his head.”
Billy’s father was now looking quite concerned.
“What does he eat? Have you thought about that? He looks like a new sort of discovery and I am sure he has a special diet.”
“The man said he eats the same as us. We can let him sit at the table with us at meal times. They found him in the kitchen of a MacDonalds where he was eating a Cheeseburger complete with tomato ketchup and chips. He even washed it down with a cola. You see dad, no problem, just put an extra plate on the table.”
Billy’s mum was a little bit worried, but it was lunch time, so she did what her son Billy said and sure enough Blue ate with them. He even wiped his mouth with a napkin afterwards.
Evening came and it was time for Billy to go to bed.
“Come on Blue, time to sleep.”
“No Billy” said mum, you are not taking that creature into your bedroom. He can sleep outside, chained up on the porch.”
“But mum, how can you be so heartless. I think Blue heard that, look he is crying.”
And there were large drops of water falling onto the floor from Blue’s eyes.
“Mum, dad he is so sad. I think he is frightened to be alone outside. It is his first evening with us, and he feels a bit strange.”
“I don’t want to be on my own”
“Who said that?” asked dad
“I did” was the answer from Blue.
“Hey Blue can you speak?”
“Of course I can, we Blueys are not stupid. We have been listening to the human radio for some time now, we had one at home in our village, so there was no problem in learning the human language. My chief told me to let me be adopted by a human. It would be a good thing for our race. I can go back and report how things are progressing. If it is a success, we might move into a human city and form our own little group, that is if you don’t mind.”
“Of course not” said Billy.
“No Billy, we cannot be responsible for the take over of our human race by something blue with long fur and big teeth.”
“And wonderful big lovable eyes, mum, you must admit.”
So that evening Billy slept in his own bed and Blue slept on the nice bearskin rug on the floor. Blue was happy. Living with humans was nice. Good food, a warm place to sleep and someone to talk to. What more could he want. He was sure that his family would love to come on a visit. He knew that his girlfriend Bluette would be at the pet shop in a month and perhaps he could talk Billy and his family into giving her a home as well. Then they could have lots of Blueys together. They never arrived alone, but always in a six pack.
Meanwhile Fred and his wife were also trying to get to sleep.
“Fred, what do you think about Blue, is it a good thing to keep him?”
“Elsie, I don’t think we have a choice. Think of the neighbours. If we throw him out he will start crying and telling everyone how selfish we are. Billy seems to be happy, so let’s leave it at that. By the way don’t forget to buy an extra steak tomorrow when you go shopping for Blue.”

Pictures to Words #16 Creative Fun

MULTIPLY Mono Monday Plus #41 (MM#55)

Well it's back to the flowers this week. I found this growing in my lawn. They are very small, almost unnoticeable, but with a bit of macro and closeup they are very pretty. So what did I do with it. I decided a quick job in Piknik would be the thing, so I monochromed it and twiddled a bit with the contrast. I then brought the colour back to the flowers and did a Piknik frame around it. Here is the result.

Larger Size
And now for a plus. I took this photo about a year ago. It shows the end station in our local town of Solothurn for the train that goes from Solothurn to the Swiss capital city of Bern. It is where they sort of put the trains to sleep at night. It is a very useful train. The journey is about an hour and goes through some very nice countryside. When it arrives in Bern it goes into a tunnel for the last few minutes and they you are in the underground part of the main station of Bern. As you can see this photo was not exactly a success. A bit milky and I did not like the sky, so I decided to play with it to see what I could achieve. I did a HDR version of it in Piknik and tuned it up a bit. I cannot remember what I tuned up, but played around until I got what I wanted. I then did a photo of the sky which I wanted in the background. I then went into CS3 photoshop and did two layer, one of the station and the other with the sky. I removed the original sky with the magic wand. Believe me that was not easy, there were too many station gadgets in the way. Eventually the patience left me a bit and I called it a day. I went back to piknik with the finished product and put one of those mirror frames around it. Here is now my version of end station Solothurn for the Bern Line.

Larger Size

Mono Monday Plus #41 (MM#55)