Greens

The Broccoli harvest has started in the garden. This went straight in the dal, went down well.

Goole

Goole has to be one of the great place names of England; hard not to enjoy it rolling off of the tongue.

Cafe in Goole. On a Yorkshire Wheel route I am developing.

Simplicity

Happy soul with his bike.

Cow Tow

Me "Why are you standing there"

Cow "Because I can't negotiate the cattle-grid. But this is proving just as tricky. Do you have a trampoline with you in your bike?"

Me "Sorry no. See you later."

Idyll

It has been pretty hot for cycling this summer. Best to take the mountain bike on bridleways and tracks. This bridge [not long for this world I suspect: those railings are meant to be upright.] is a perfect spot to take a shaded breather. Lovely. And I saw a kingfisher whilst I rested.

Bee News

Apart from stinging me when I mow the lawn, the bees are doing us proud this year. Here is the local beekeeper.

Weekend News

We saw Beth Orton at Pocklington Art Centre [where my photos are on show] at the weekend. It was a good evening but she wasn't that good. Rowan came up from London for the weekend with boyfriend Jo, went well.

Blackcurrant Crop

Enough blackcurrants for jam and cordial this year. What a taste!

Onion Crop

Onions and garlic are lifted, Danielle plaited them, now stored in the shed.

BBQ

Barbecues are not my natural habitat, but we have had this really simple one for twenty years [just charcoal and newspaper and a match] and it serves us well. Those are the courgettes in the background, and even some sweet peas this year.

New Herb Spiral

14 years ago we built a herb spiral in the garden. With the trampoline no longer needed we filled the hole that it had stood in, and built a new spiral last weekend.

The garden is holding up to the total lack of rain, we have not had any for at least four weeks, and it means lawn-mowing is a chore from the past. We took our first honey crop from the bees at the weekend, 14 kilos which is not bad, and meets our needs.

City Sky

Rowan took this shot on her walk back to her flat from her work.

Just The Other Day

38 years ago I was cycling in the Alps for the first time with girlfriend Sue. We had cycled down to Annecy in France [on the recommendation of Philippe who had translated Barbara Cartland into French for his, considerable, sins]. We camped there for a couple of days, and cycled up our first Alpine Col, the Col des Glieres. It was a hard ride, we yoyoed with a group on racing bikes [we were on our tourers] and then were surprised to see them carry on, on a rough track through the hills.

Fast forward today and Le Tour is tackling the climbing the col for the first time, classified as the hardest type of climb [Hors Categorie] and then traversing the dirt track too.

July 1980

Thinking About It

I have to live with these shots a while before deciding whether they have got what it takes. I am thinking this one does not, but you never know.

Pastoral

The North York Moors almost get to pretty-pretty to photograph in the summer; it is as though a bit of bleak winter is needed to expose their true nature. Having said that, this pastoral scene was too good to pass on.

Hot Dog

On a walk in the Moors in this summer heat Milo sniffs out the water to cool off.

Long Hot Summer

Cliffords Tower in York is looking pretty bleached out this summer. In the background is the pop-up Globe Theatre.

Perspective

Another shot of trees from the forest floor, taken on the North York Moors 

The Existential Engineers

A new TV cable network is being laid in the neighbourhood. So marks such as these to guide the engineers are common at the moment. The wording here "indecision" struck me as a deeply philosophical take on it all. Put this in the Tate and it is a major work of art.

FCH

Rowan is back for the weekend so we all watched England v Sweden, Paul came round, beer was drunk. I have developed an octopus like ability to predict scores at the moment. I correctly got Belgium 2 - Brazil 1, then predicted England's win, then [unbelievably] predicted Russia 2 - Croatia 2. If you are interested the results of the semi finals are Beligum 1 - 0 France, and England 3 - 0 Croatia.

There is always something interesting going on in York. At the moment we have a Bloom event, that includes lawning many of the squares. There is also a grass bench at the station which I had to steer Milo well clear of, in case  he added his own particular fertiliser to the mix.

Garden Produce

Onions and garlic are lifted, awaiting platting. Rhubarb has made crumble and Vodka, gooseberries have made fool, salad is in full flight. Spinach too. Peas and Beans starting, courgettes next week. I think it is a good year.

Change

This shop has opened in Acomb, things are looking up.

Rowan in London

This is from last week when I went with Rowan to her flat in London. The first week of her internship seems to have gone well.

Green Eye

Milo hurt his eye on one of his scouting expeditions. The vet uses this fluorescent dye to see how he is doing. Treats involved.

Pop Up Theatre

Friday we had Joycelin staying over before she and Danielle spoke at a Quakers in Business event in York on the Saturday. Saturday evening we went to see Macbeth at the pop-up Globe Theatre in York http://www.shakespearesrosetheatre.com/ which was really good. There is always something new and interesting happening in York.

We were seated on the top row, but it was still really near to the actors and I could hear. We decided against standing watching for three hours in the groundlings pit; good in theory.

The Old London Road

One more from Towton. This is the old London road from Tadcaster south to Ferrybridge. Times have changed. More information at 

http://www.tadhistory.org.uk/OLRTAP/index.html