Drinking in the New Year!

A (very) short pictorial guide to my New Years Eve celebrations!

The evening started quite early by having to go out and search for fresh mint (to go in the mojitos). Unfortunately the local store was all out and so it seemed only right that a few pints be supped in the local pub before heading home. However, after a few beverages and downloading of a cocktail app, it was decided that we really didn’t have enough booze already and off to Asda it was to get more! The total haul was quite impressive – especially since the only people who were going to drink it was Lou and myself! See for yourself…

Finally home from the supermarket it was time to get started on the serious business of NYE drinking…The evening started with a few of these…

Bottle in front of Christmas Tree

But then swiftly changed to bubbly and cocktails. Lou’s list of drinks she wanted to make was mightily impressive and I wasn’t sure that it was going to be possible to try them all but I was going to give it a damn good try. By the end of the evening we had supped many cocktails and were content with the fact that we had consumed at least one shot of each from the bottles in the above photo. I awoke this morning without a hangover – which is strange?!! This could always come back to haunt me later…

Happy New Year and hope that 2013 brings you everything that you have wished for. Enjoy!

New Year drinks in front of Christmas tree

December 21, 2012
by DaveJ Leave a comment

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted so what better way to rectify that problem by showing you some photos of my family getting in the Christmas spirit. The scene was set; the tree was nicely decorated, the lights were sparkling, camera was on a tripod on a self-remote release, and most importantly we all had our Christmas jumpers on!

I set the camera to take 10 shots consecutively in the hope that at least one would have us all looking at the camera and smiling! Now, whoever said never work with kids or animals is pretty much spot on. Unbeknown to us, as Lou and I were sitting behind, after the first shot Mia started pulling faces. It wasn’t until we looked back through to assess the handy work that we noticed the little tyke sticking her tongue out and pulling funny monster faces! Her shenanigans resulted in the ‘Alternative Family Christmas Portrait’ posted below.

As the year draws to a close most people reflect on the past year and look forward to what the new year holds. 2012 has been a busy year for all of us and all that I am looking forward to at the moment is a relaxing wonderful Christmas with my family. What will 2013 hold for the Johnsons? I guess we will just have to wait and see…

Happy Christmas one and All. Enjoy and Be Merry!

November 13, 2012
by DaveJ Leave a comment

Add your thoughts here… (optional)

Dave Johnson's Photography

Normally during half-term holiday we end up working or splitting our days off to look after the kids. This time we decided, back in August(!), to go away to Scotland and to enjoy a proper half-term holiday away from the normality of home. As it is with looking and booking holiday homes on-line there is always a little trepidation when you finally arrive at the front door, fingers crossed, that it lives up to the expectation that the pictures generated. Fortunately, the place we booked turned out to be amazing and a million times better than the pictures suggested. Whilst it was relatively close to a busy main road this was more than compensated for by having a river at the bottom of the garden and a view out across the beginning of the Grampian Mountains. The cottage was on the opposite side of the river to the closest town…

View original post 266 more words

November 8, 2012
by DaveJ 4 Comments

Scotland in the Autumn

Joining us for the first 4 days was Mr & Mrs Cakes who were also looking forward to chilling out and forgetting about the daily grind. In fact, the visitors didn’t stop there as one of Mr & Mrs Cakes good friends, a certain lead singer from the group Ladytron and her hubby also came up for a day – although to be fair they didn’t have as long a journey as they now live back north of the border. Us men went for a short bike ride on the Sunday following the Etape Caledonia route, meeting the rest of the gang in a lovely country hotel for what turned out to be a rather late lunch.

Following what turned out to be quite a hectic weekend, we spent the rest of the week enjoying the fantastic Scottish sun and blue sky, and visited a number of woodland walks and spectacular waterfalls in and around Pitlochry. The autumn colours were absolutely stunning and reminded me of my travels around New England each fall when I lived in New York. In fact, I would go as far to say that this Scottish autumn did enough
to rival the New England fall!

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pictures and maybe if you haven’t been to Scotland in the autumn/fall they might inspire you to book a trip in the future. These pictures are only a select few, if you would like to see the rest of the set click the following link.