The 2014 Shutterchance Meet-Up in England

Yes, we're back from our 9 days of gadding around England, and do I ever have the images to show for it!  Guess what I'll be doing almost every waking hour for several days/weeks to come.  HA!

By little bits-n-bobs (a new English expression I love) I will get it all done, so let's start with the Shutterchance photoblog meet-up we attended on May 11 (yes, Mother's Day for just about everyone except the Brits) at the Royal Air Force Museum in Cosford, England.

This post today is just about the people.  There were 28 of us altogether:

Can you tell that most of us aren't spring chicks anymore?

I know...speak for myself!

Of the 28 who attended, 21 were actual Shutterchance photobloggers.
The rest were spouses or guests.

14 of the 21 were men (and still are, I presume)...

...and 7 of the 21 were women.

One of the guys came from Thailand as a HUGE surprise to everyone who wasn't in on the secret.
Another guy came from Ontario, Canada, along with his wife.

One of the ladies came from Arizona because she's in cahoots with one of the English gents.

Then there's Astrid and me, coming from the Netherlands...easy-peasy.

And to add a bit more intrigue, CherryPie and hubby joined us as token SCers for the 3rd time.

Cherry is one of the 21 Vision & Verb collaborators and has become one of us.

As I said, this post is just about the people.

Next post I'll show you what's at the RAF Museum (did anyone mention airplanes?).

There and Back Again

We did it! And we loved it!

The 5-day honeymoon to England came and went like a breeze of fresh air...and SUN. All 5 days! I think it was a record for England to have that many days of sun, without rain, in a row. Our hostess, Tracy, kept saying "You deserve it!"

I have miles to go before I sleep on all those photos...from Chester, Chatsworth (a royal house!), Stratford and Liverpool. But I can at least show you the two collages of the Shutterchance meet-up on Saturday. (I sure am loving that picnik.com program!)

Since it was our honeymoon, everyone forgave me for making us center-stage in this collage. After all, you have to start somewhere, right? :)


There were 19 of us altogether: 15 Shutterchancers and 4 brave, tag-along spouses.
If you go to my SC site, you can put faces with names. But for you, you get the picture!

And now I get ready to fly out again, this time sans Astrid (boo hoo), for my first trip back to Atlanta since arriving here on 5 December. It's time to see my kids and grandson! We're still at temps under 50 F here in Gorinchem, even with the sun shining, so it will be a switch to hit the mid-high 70's while there. A switch but not to complain about, of course. :)

And speaking of meet-ups, Vagabonde and I will meet while I'm there, God willing and the creek don't rise. How cool is that!

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ADDENDUM

Sealed with a Kiss! That's what Mick (one of the Shutterchancers) said on his post from the meet-up in Stratford. How could I not add it to this post, thanks to his kind generosity! :)

And for those of you wondering, it appears that my flight today (Saturday) is one of the few flying out of Amsterdam because of flying west, away from the volcanic-ash stream. It's scheduled for only 35 minutes late, so I feel very lucky!

LATER: The plans of mice and men! Long story short...I was at the airport for 8 hours before finding out my flight was totally cancelled (they kept putting it later and later), at which point I contacted Astrid and she came back to pick me up. Delta has already rescheduled me to fly out on Wednesday, without added cost, assuming the skies are cleared. I'll keep you updated. What a mess all over the world, right?!

When it Rains, it Pours!

In the space of 4 days, I am meeting up with THREE (3)--count them--bloggers! Two of them are from my Hart&Soul photoblog, and one is from In Soul, whom I've already met!

Yesterday, I met up with Ade Adeyemi who's Nigerian, living in London, but just finishing a 6-month work contract here in Eindhoven, Holland (1 hr. and 20 min. away by train). I had the chance to meet her by the skin of my teeth, before she heads back to London next week.

We spent a fabulous 4-1/2 hours together near the Central Station area of town, walking around, taking pics, eating Chinese, and getting to know each other.

And yes, we walked through the Red Light district (something Amsterdam is famous for, of course!) because Ade (pronounced ah-DAY) had not seen it before. I'm guessing it doesn't matter how often one sees it, it's still pretty shocking. And of course, the ladies absolutely will not tolerate any photo-taking. In the same area are also a lot of the also-famous Coffee Houses where pot can be legally smoked. In this pic, I loved the irony of the no-smoking icon against the cannabis seeds displayed.

At one point I asked Ade if she had a tattoo (we had just gone by a tattoo store) and she said Yes. There on the side of her stomach are these words: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds." Doesn't THAT tell you something about this very wise 26-year-old!

I noticed that in almost all the pics I took of Ade, she closed her mouth. When I drew attention to it (because her open smile is beautiful), she pointed to the gap between her top front teeth. I then proceeded to tell her that she needed to embrace her open smile! We had been talking earlier about how Nigerians as a people are just now learning to embrace the arts (like photography and literature) and that this is changing the face of their culture.

These are precious times for me. I felt I met a friend for life. You can click here to see how she documented the day with pics on her site. Click here to see mine.

Tomorrow both Donica and I will meet James and his partner, Matt, whom I met last July in Germany, remember! They have since moved here to Amsterdam and are within easy walking distance from our apartment. We'll be meeting up for brunch tomorrow. It'll be Donica's first time to meet them and vice versa.

Then on Sunday I meet up with another photoblogger, Petra. She is Dutch and lives outside of Amsterdam, not too far away. Donica will join us for lunch.

Isn't it amazing how small this world is! Don't you just love it!!!!