Rob Fleming

Watercolor of a snowy scene, snow covered trees in dark grey/ violet on either side of a red barn.

Inspired by my annual holiday drive from Minnesota to Chicagoland, over the river and through the woods of Wisconsin. Lovely when we get snowy winters like this one ( as long as you avoid the storm)

#artadventcalendar #watercolor

I have a task for anyone reading this, to be completed tomorrow.

Do something nice for a stranger.

Do this not because you expect anyone to reciprocate, or to know, but because it might make the world a better place.

Random acts of kindness might be the thing that saves humanity. You never know.

Instant follow. Right there.

I'm very fond of you, Sally. The idea of someone tagging me in something just because they know it will make me smile, restores my faith in humanity some days.

YouTube video by Carolina Eyck Ennio Morricone - The Ecstasy of Gold - Theremin & Voice

The theramin is an extraordinary instrument.

Weird, and easily written off as an oddity, but when you find someone playing one well, in an arrangement like this....

Well, it is breathtaking isn't it?

youtu.be/ajM4vYCZMZk?...

Baubles and green foliage out of focus in the foreground. The eye of a small splendid human peers through a gap towards the camera.

Tolerant obstetrician decorates tree.

The look says...

"Is pointing a camera at me really the most useful thing you could be doing right now?"

I love this woman.

40D, 50mm F/1.4 #photography

my great-grandparents arrived in the UK in the 1890s with nothing.
they sold pickles from the front room window, took in laundry, worked as tailors.
their children were nurses, teachers, salesmen.
their grandchildren were professors, designers, opticians, doctors, magistrates, entrepreneurs.

This bauble is named Sally, @saspist.bsky.social, because of a conversation you and I had one Christmas about it.

Christmas bauble shaped like an orange crab in a sparkly pearloid shell, nestled among tree needles and gold tinsel.

The Christmas Hermit Crab says "Ho Ho Ho", but it comes out "Snap Snap, Scuttle".

Every year this bauble makes me smile because of how ridiculous it is.

One year I very briefly had the hashtag #improbabaubles trending,, and others were sharing their unlikely ornaments. I really enjoyed that.

Small wooden mouse on the wooden mantle.

Christmas mouse says "Ho Ho Ho", except it sounds like "squeak squeak squeak".

Best of the holiday season to everyone!

Canon 40D, 50mm F/1.4 #photography

A shiny heart shaped bauble, held up by the tolerant obstetrician. Camera and photographer, and tolerant obstetrician, reflected in its shiny surface.

Small wooden mouse on the mantle piece.

Wooden star tree ornament, hanging on the tree.

Out of focus Christmas star light, with hexagonal out of focus lights from the shape of the camera aperture.

Christmas decorations are going up in the Fleming house.

All photos taken with a Canon 40D and a 50mm F/1.4 lens, which is softer than milk.

The best seasonal #photography should be as imperfect as the season itself.

What we need is an adequate number of cookies. We are at the "careful, that foreigner wants your cookie" stage.

We are doing this an awful lot as a country at the moment. See also training numbers for postgraduate training.

Rail against the person with the cookie jar, NOT the other hungry person.

Have you ever worked anywhere with enough nurses (or doctors)?

Compared to other countries, we lag behind in healthcare professionals per capita, potentially by quite some way

At the moment there is also no money, so no jobs. The demand is there, and the shortfall of jobs is artificial.

The thing about Christmas is that the best seasonal art reflects all the emotions of the season. Joy and sadness. Regret and hope. The past is over and the future isn't written. It is cold outside, but inside are warm fires and embraces. Ghosts and angels.

You get the gist.

Happy holidays, folks.

Black and white scene of a grave yard covered in snow, with a house and a bare tree in the background. A red phone box pops as the only glimpse of colour to the right of the scene, under the tree.

I took this picture this time last year when it snowed, and converted it to black and white except the phone box.

This is my contribution to the Christmas spirit as I see it.

P.S. of course it is a bloody Christmas movie.

I must be at the circus, because I am beset on all sides by clowns.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that in recent years, the British public has made some shocking decisions.

Perhaps we should either stop asking them questions, or stop paying any attention to the answers.

I call this the Brexit McBoatface principle.

I think if that is the case, we are both winning at life, Sally.

Silhouetted tree line horizon, with the bare branches of the trees picked out in front of the blue pink sky. Low clouds in dark blue.

Pretty sky after the sunset tonight.

7D ii, 35mm F/2 lens.

#photography

Not licensed in the US either. Whereas the UK and Europe are running with it.

It's always the little things. Joy doesn't come from the massive accomplishment. It is the coffee and the pastry when the stress is over that makes all the difference.

The sacred moments of sillyness are where I find my heaven, as the song goes.

I love it. The great wave is potentially one of the most used works of art out there, but you can see why. It is stunning.

Coffee in a great wave mug, perched on the arm of a leather armchair.

Pain au chocolat and a cinnamon swirl, perched on the arm of a leather armchair.

This morning I am treating myself to proper coffee, pastry and #photography (of my breakfast).

After six days of getting up at 6 for work, this is bliss. I am in heaven.

Savour the little moments, folks. They matter.

We value your membership, folks.

SIVA is currently a smallish society, but as any of the folks attending #SIVA25 can attest, we are a busy one.

Becoming a member pays for itself with the discount you get for attending our conference.

It pleases this morning to seeing this debate play out here, on Bluseky, rather than the other place. It is great.

Make sure you are all following @sivanaesthesia.bsky.social. I hope to build that account up.

West Kirby Marine Lake with the metal barrier running diagonally across the frame. North Wales in the distance and the rising sun hidden behind clouds.

I am absolutely shattered now.

This week I've been away for a couple of days as faculty and presenter at a conference, and have come back to then host an open day at the university.

Found time to pause by the water in West Kirby, briefly, and point a camera. Not my best work, but #photography.

Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves.

Ghost.

Sleepless in Seatle.

This one is absolutely stunning.