Vice...!! (And Mono-Monday Results)

No, I haven’t recently been dabbling in woodwork or metalwork. However a few weeks ago I was asked if I would stand for election as the next Vice-President of our local camera club (in Gosforth, Newcastle). This came as a bit of a surprise as I’ve only been a member for 2 years, but after some consideration (and discussion with “her indoors”) I agreed. So it appeared on the club AGM agenda yesterday that I was “offering” myself as Vice-President (as a sacrificial lamb perhaps?) – something of a travesty of the truth as really I’d had my arm twisted! Anyway no-one else was prepared to “offer” themselves so I was duly voted into the post unopposed.
 
I’m not quite sure whether to regard this as an honour or a curse…I gather that the role of VP (which lasts for 2 years) is not too onerous – but here comes the catch: it leads naturally into the role of President for the following 2 years and that’s a lot more work! (In reality I am honoured and it should be fun.)
 
OK – now onto the results of the judging of this week’s Mono-Monday. There were slightly fewer entries this week – maybe you’re suffering fatigue from the difficult topics which I’ve been setting; at least this is my last week at the helm (for now anyway). Once more my Editor (MrsC) and I were very impressed indeed with the standard of the entries and the ingenuity of many of them, and the judging has not been easy. We could have given Hearts or HMs to the vast majority of them, but we can’t. So here goes:
 
Hearts (in no particular order) to:
 
Missycat for a beautiful photo of a large gemstone which looks as if it’s magically floating on water.
Riwaka7 for lovely diamond-like reflections on actual water, very nicely offset with a waterbird in silhouette.
Majoayee for a fabulous Diamond Geezer; we particularly liked the sign in the background saying “Beware of the Wife” and the tin for the Old Fart Pension Fund!
Tedwin for the Diamond Bus, pointing out that Diamonds are Forever (when you’re waiting for one)!
Lovelupins17 for cleverly illustrating the Joan Baez song “Diamonds and Rust” so beautifully.
 
Honourable Mentions (in no particular order) – once more we failed to cut this list down below 10, and even that was tricky:
 
ApolloFly for showing us the rather splendid scales used in the past by her father  for weighing industrial diamonds.
Puke for his excellent photo of diamonds coming up trumps on an antique whist marker – a device I’d never heard of!
Richardg who honoured ANZAC Day with a super photo of a Rough Diamond who’s a gem in his community.
Tracey50 for her beautiful photo representing the two things a girl likes (diamonds and flowers).
Soletrader for cleverly spotting and capturing a diamond shape reflected on a canal.
Sk for her amusing photo of a diamond dog (I’m assuming that the dog was a willing participant in the taking of the photo!).
Hesscat for the brilliant idea of referring to coal as Black Diamonds, along with a super photo.
Blacktulip for a nicely set-up shot of a glove (?a magician’s?) holding the Ace of Diamonds.
Dollydoug for a really splendid photo of beautifully lit diamond shapes on a glass crystal bowl.
Radiogirl for a touching story, and a photo showing a greetings card from HRH Queen Elizabeth on the occasion of her parents’ Diamond Wedding.
 
As usual, if you’re name doesn’t appear on these lists I’m really sorry, especially if your photo was similar to any of these. Choosing was very tricky. 

Thank you so much to all those who’ve participated in Mono-Monday this month; I’ve really enjoyed being your host. Next month the baton passes to Nickimags888 – I hope she has as much fun as I’ve had. She must be a glutton for punishment as I remember that she already hosted MM back in October! And thanks again also to Skeena who sits in the background keeping the MM show on the road so effectively.