[ j: do we have a challenge for the coming week?
t: Oh merde! We do! But am at work and iporn book in (icy!) bedroom (only currently visited in nano-seconds prior to sleeping)... do you want to go off-piste and choose?
j: what are you doing at work at this time of night? happy to choose.....have book within arm's reach! husband (who, btw just suggested 9, which is ‘look for odd combinations of elements’) is in the throes of planning (currently at ‘reading-out-menus’ stage) a gastronomic few days in Lyon.....it’s half term next week (maybe where you are too)
ps have no voice other than mere squeak; makes controlling a bunch of 5-year-old hooligans a touch tricky!
pps am wondering if Lyon has familiar monument for fresh view; it does have a park with a couple of giraffes and an elephant but not sure I am up to forming some kind of bond with their keepers.....
ppps am definitely counting chickens! or ostriches!
t: NINE! let's do nine! Are we ok with 9? Mail me, early bird stylee, if you wish me to choose alternatively tomoz. Am happy with 9.
ps Just to be clear. Counselling work = working late (but actually, drinking wine in a bar with chum, post-work = this late) jeez my room is freezing; -3 and no radiators. And no sign of oil. Doh.
j: 9 is fine haha a rhyme (update on possible Lyon trip.....now rather less possible as apparently huge dump of snow scheduled for next week = better to remain near base than venture off somewhere) ]
so - in spite of the week’s brief being to look for odd combinations of elements, for some bizarre reason, meatballs (more precisely the lack thereof) seemed to figure prominently…..
t: I have not fulfilled brief…Nowhere NEAR... am visiting IKEA tomorrow... and am (misguidedly?) hopeful?! 
j: IKEA? That definitely sounds like a plan! Good Luck!! (we have one a mere twenty minutes away; when I was visiting hospital regularly and being driven there by my husband, his 'treat' afterwards was to go to IKEA for a plate of meatballs!)
t: to be honest, meatballs are the motivation for tomorrow's visit too!
…
t: I did not achieve…Daughter blew me out. No IKEA. No meatballs. No 'owt. Tomorrow she is to be frogmarched to photographic nirvana. Just not quite sure where that is...
…
t: I have an idea for a picture…but it involves a long drive and waiting for a high tide (15.21, I checked...)... and the presence of a least one boat. Hmmmm. So sorry not to have achieved by yesterday, it was my place of work's annual conference, Sat - organised by yours truly... so last week a bit chaotic. Happy Valentine's day + where are you? Did you make it away? The BF is a non-believer, so stroppily I sent neither card, nor token of love. Only to discover this morning that he has made a complete u-turn... ooops...
j: blah - all a load of hot air regarding few days away.....
I LOVE that you have ideas for your photos - whereas I take a load and then peer at them from all angles to see if there is the faintest possibility of interpreting the brief to fit the pic.....can't wait for 15.22.....
<3 Valentine's Day??? not that you'd notice.....husband currently writing stroppy letter to Orange (he has a penchant for writing stroppy letters)
but the sun is shining, the snow is sparkling and He has been persuaded that it might be nice to run down by the frozen lakes where I shall wander avec mon appareil photo in the hope that something elemental might happen.....
PS Xkcd valentine dilemma
PPS sorry about your lack of meatballs
t: Xkcd = EXACTLY my life, quote for quote. Oh! How I laughed! High tide delivered... just not any boats. A milk bottle used as a vase in pub, will be in dropbox tomorrow (just got in from work). Hope the day delivered something good for you.
j: I offer you - a car in the Rhone.....
[t: i WANT to see 'car in rhone' - which i feel trumps, any any attempts that might have been made elsewhere...!]
j: a discarded jam jar frozen into pond…..
and, just for fun, two elements.....although not especially odd ones!
t: thanks for these - got called into work today, so spanner in works re photo scheduling. Just home. Plan to walk dog, clear head, feed child... and then be creative!
(lovely in the teeny window of visibility in the back of my camera. more than slightly disappointing in laptop screen view. sigh.)
am also feeling all 'teeth gnashing' about work this week - is supposed to be 2 x 4hrs per week, yet it's taking up so much time that there is no space for creativity... and yet, feel need for creativity to make time worthwhile.
have new printer. am going to try to print bottle. blur will look ok on absorbent, arty paper, me hopes...
