Jazz

David and Gwen had a couple of spare tickets to see Gilad Atzmon http://www.gilad.co.uk/ at the shed in Hovingham http://www.theshed.co.uk/ which is a pretty amazing world music venue in the middle of the North Yorkshire countryside. It was kind of them to give us the tickets and we enjoyed the night out. Rowan was delighted to be babysat by Hannah.

Spring is finally greening the trees - the photo is in the Wolds

Welcome to York

There was a really good article in the Economist last week about the way media are changing with IT developements

http://www.economist.com/surveys/displaystory.cfm?story_id=6794156

I saw my friend Cathy on Thursday who was up for an ALMO conference in York, we met up over the buffet lunch at the end of the confrence, so I got to meet a few people as well - always useful.

The photo is of the welcoming York sign on the railway just beneath Rowan's school

Arnica Arnica

When I was on the Pennine Cycleway my back caved in just as we were approaching Skipton and Dave's in-laws. My back was so bad that I cried off going to the pub with Dave, Dave and Ted. I stayed in and watched a program about Gram Parsons with Karen. She also has a bad back, and just as I was going for an early night she gave me some Arnica cream for my back.

http://www.internethealthlibrary.com/hom-library/arnica.htm

Seeing as how I have had my bad back for 24 years and have tried everything [twice] I had no hopes, to say the least, as I put the cream on my back. No heat, no relief ... I fell asleep.
Next morning my back was fixed - meaning that my spine was back in vertical alignment as the muscles had gone out of spasm - this was the first time ever that it had been remedied over night like that.
So, I now have several kilos of arnica just waiting for the next lot of field trials - I am cautiously optimistic, and very grateful to Karen.
The photo is of the cobbled high street in Heptonstall, which I cycled up before the back problem

Le Blackcap est arrivee

Saw a blackcap today,

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/b/blackcap/index.asp

the first of the summer, on vacation from Africa. Saw a swallow on the moor on Tuesday, so slowly but surely summer arrives.

Butterflies seen so far are
Peacock
Red Admiral
Brimstone
Small Tortoiseshell

http://www.rspb.org.uk/gardens/guide/atoz/s/smalltortoiseshellbutterfly.asp

Picture is of Heptonstall Chruch Yard [where rests Sylvia Plath]

Wakefield

Had a good day working in Wakefield today. Went well and met some interesting people. At lunch I had a walk round St Johns Square [photo] which is speculative building from 1791 - very grand and unmatached by anything from that era in York - quite a surprise

Book Group

Book Group last night was a discussion of Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. Despite our best efforts we nearly all found it very hard work, and not very good. Thought we might be missing something, but we were glad to see the back of it.
The photo is of cousin Ned.

Bee Sting

Danielle was busy with her bees last week, and got stung on the nose - the wind was blowing so strong that it blew her net onto her face. The result was amazing - see photo - it was like she changed into another person. On the Dorking trip people were not sure that it was Danielle at all!

Cubit

We found this statue in Dorking of Thomas Cubit, a builder. We both liked it a lot, especially the bricks and the tarpaulin.
Rowan was back swimming today, then Meeting, then an idyllic afternoon in the garden, with all of us tidying stuff up and getting the veg and the bees ready for summer. Saw a beautiful Mistle Thrush in the garden (they are pretty infrequent visitors)

http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/m/mistlethrush/index.asp

Dorking

Although Danielle works from home, her parent organsiation, Friends Provident, is based in Dorking in Surrey. Consequently she has to go down to Dorking quite often. So as it is still the Easter vacation, all three of us went down to Dorking this week so that Rowan and I could see where Danielle works. It was a good trip. We went a walk down to the river, and generally had a look around Dorking. Travel was courtesy of GNER (free tickets) and the hotel was an old coaching inn right in the centre.

Running Wild again

Rowan went on another Running Wild event. This one was at Moorlands with a big group of children and just one - much admired - woman in charge. http://www.yorkshire-wildlife-trust.org.uk/runningWildYork.htm#moorlandsNatureReserve On Monday I saw the first butterfly of the year in the garden, a Peacock http://www.rspb.org.uk/gardens/guide/atoz/p/peacockbutterfly.asp . On the Pennine cycle ride I saw a Little Owl, http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/l/littleowl/index.asp and we heard lots of Curlews http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/c/curlew/index.asp .
The photo is of gorse at Minsmere. It has a scent of coconut and is always in flower, hence "when gorse is out of flower, kissing is out of fashion"

Model Trains

Rowan and I went to the York Model Railway show which takes place at the racecourse. We cycled across Hob Moor on the cycle track, then spent a couple of hours looking at the layouts. They were very impressive, even if the event did have a bit of a hint of the day centre about it. We saw a couple of boys from Tregelles who had come with their dad on a tandem and trailer bike combination – made us feel quite normal. Rowan was keen to photo this set, as it was American, so she could show it to Danielle.

Nettle Soup

Danielle made her annual batch of nettle soup yesterday. You can only make it with fresh young nettles so it is just an April / May thing. Here is the recipe
Nettle Soup
Bag full of young nettles
2 onions
4 carrots
2 potatoes
Veg stock
salt and pepper
barley (optional)
>
wash nettles
peel and dice onions, carrots and potatoes
boil veg in stock, simmer for 25min
Remove from heat and add nettles
Cool and blend

The photo is of the enthralled audience at the Suffolk table tennis championships at the weekend

Town

On Saturday Rowan, Will, Sarah, Markus and I all went to see Ipswich Town play Brighton at Portman Road. The ground has been totally updated since I last went ten years or so ago. It looks like a real stadium now, and there was a big crowd of over 20,000 there. It was my third game of the season and it was another home defeat, three out of three. Brighton won 2-1 and looked really good. Ipswich had a great big bloke as centre forward who lumbered around and did nothing save swear at the linesman - reminded me of Arsenal in the early 80's. Good day out though.
The photo is another one from the beach - they just need to record the album now.

Minsmere

We all went down to sister Ro and Pete's in Suffolk for easter. Had a really good time. Cousin William was there [15 and Rowan's hero] as well as cousin Sarah and boyfriend Markus, then cousin Tom and Katherine with Ned their son came today. So a lot of family sloshing around, it was great.
Friday we went to the RSPB reserve at Minsmere http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/m/minsmere/index.asp where we saw Avocets http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/a/avocet/index.asp and had a good walk on the beach [photo]

Yorkshire Wheel

The Yorkshire wheel has finally gone up [on sacred ground - at the National Railway Museum]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/north_yorkshire/4901970.stm

we haven't been on it yet, but we wheel. Truth be told it looks less like the London Eye than a very big fairground wheel, but it is welcome nevertheless. It has been dubbed [allegedly] the Yorkshire Aye...
The photo is of Rowan and cousin Sarah at Minsmere

Kings Camp what shall we do?

Rowan was at Kings Camp all this week. This was her fourth time, and she gets on really well there. They run a pretty American style camp with lots of positivity and yelling - I like it. Both Danielle and I were able to go to the Final Event, when the kids show what they have learned over the week. Rowan has got into football a lot this time.... and yelling for her team. There was also an elaborate mime, which was pretty indecipherable but looked impressive.

Mary Poppins

Whilst I was cycling Danielle and Rowan went down to London to stay with Carl and Jill and Cecilia. There were two highlights of the trip. Firstly Mary Poppins at the theatre http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/shows/display?contentId=78993 which they both loved. And secondly using a cycle rickshaw from the theatre to Carl and Jill's [they live off Baker Street.]

Pennine CycleWay 3

On the third day we rode in beautiful still sunshine across from Skipton to Settle. Dave, our host from Skipton, came with us on his mountain bike. It was a really good route, climbing up on an unfenced road with great views of the Dales. At Settle the two Dave's got the train back to Skipton whilst Ted and I cycled onto Clapham [not that one] where we caught the train back to York via Leeds.
It is a fantastic route and it continues over the Dales to Appleby and then across the borders to Berwick upon Tweed. I am looking forward to doing that next bit.
The photo is of Widdup reservoir which is between Hebden Bridge and Colne.

Pennine CycleWay 2

Day two took us from Holmfirth over the grim millstone grit south pennines. I love it. The route involved a dark narrow tunnel under the M62, and some fantastic riding above Hebden Bridge [where we had a great organic lunch in the Camden Lock of the north]. The sun came out as we crested the col and looked down on East Lancashire. There was then a perfectly located tea rooms for us, and we arrived just ten minutes before closing time - things were going well. I had never been to Colne before - it is the end of Lancashire, the last mill town up the valley, and feeling pretty much like it is at the end of the world. We made it to Skipton and stayed at Dave's brother and sister in law (Dave and Karen). They were incredibly welcoming, gave us a great meal and company.
The photo is from day one, when the hail and sleet played strange tricks.

Pennine CycleWay 1

Just back from a three day cycle ride with Ted and Dave. We used the Pennine Cycle Way

http://www.cycle-routes.org/penninecycleway/
which is a Sustrans route that goes up the Pennine Chain. We started off at Ashbourne in Derbyshire and followed old rail lines to Buxton. This was through the lush and hilly Peak District

http://www.highpeak.co.uk/hp/h_tistbd.htm

we then enjoyed wind, sleet and some great hills to take us to Holmfirth in Yorkshire. To get to it we cycled over Holme Moss [highest road over the Pennines] and reached our B&B at Holmfirth at 7.30 pm. I think it is fair to say that I enjoyed it more than Dave and Ted. Holmfirth is where "The last of the summer wine" is filmed - this is a British sit-com that I have never seen. When I asked Dave what it was about he said "Oh just three old blokes..." it took us a while to realise it was quite an appropriate stop for us.

Tree Climb

I cycled with Rowan and her friend Douglas to the tree-climbing tree on the Planets cycle route. They had a good climb, then we went to SlideShops for lunch [slimey fish and chips]
Still cold here, looking forward to spring.
Each year I mark First Shorts day, the day when I wear shorts for the first time. It has always been in March - until this year. Must be global cooling.

Family Tree

One of our distant and dead relatives, Peter Palmour [nee Dawkins, and not a real Palmour at all, but that's another story] did an amazing amount of pre-internet work on the Palmour family tree. Despite [or perhaps because of] Peter being not well thought of by my father, I made contact with him and was shown around the Palmour sights in Pembrokeshire in West Wales, from whence we came. These included two churches where Palmour's were vicars, and a lot of gravestones, including Peter's which he had prepared in advance [I guess he was a bit odd..].
I have recently been contacted by an Georgian Palmour, and this prompted me to dig out the old family trees and try and make sense of it. So far I have transposed it onto software and started digging around for other Palmours. So far I have found a char-lady who strangely never appears on the official Palmour list, where there are lots of sea captains, vicars and honoured gentlemen. It should be an interesting journey. As things stand the name will die with the current generation of 3 female Palmours [Rowan is one, with two other Essex girls]
A family tree is attached, if you click on it you should be able to read it.

MultiTasking

Real multi-tasking today. Looking after Rowan and Danielle [both sick, Rowan on the mend] processing all the photos from yesterday's shoot, going to a work meeting in Wakefield. Trying to set up another shoot in Caldervale. Feeding Rowan. Phew.

Mother told me about a photo-sharing website [now there's a sentence I never thought I'd write] which I have signed up to [free],

http://www.fotolog.com/palmour/

The photo is of the Merchant Adventurers Hall in York. A medieval guild hall that gets used for weddings etc [we have been to a couple], it is next to the River Foss

Photo Work

I took photos at another playgroup yesterday. Once again I enjoyed it a lot. Despite the potential pitfalls I only had one real terror who refused to make any face that was not goofy. I am learning each time I do these mass shoots, gradually getting more able to deal with the pressures of numbers and time.
Rowan and Danielle are both now ill, so I have a house full of coughs and snoozes.
The photo is of grass and tree stumps we saw at Bootham School at the weekend.

Still Ill

Rowan is still ill, so she is staying in all day. I went to meeting, and Danielle has gone to the Jazz with Jed a friend over from America and in York for the day.
The ground is still wet, we are all waiting here to get started on working the vegetable patch. The nest box that Rowan and I made has been attracting a lot of attention from a pair of great tits http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/g/greattit/index.asp
The photo is of the Minster peeping over Petergate which is a medevil street on the course of the old Roman road through the city.

Art

Rowan has a virus, but is determined [and I mean determined] not to let it stop her doing anything. Nevertheless we have had a quieter day today than planned. We all went into town and met Heather [photo] and went to some of the artists who are exhibiting as part of Open Studios weekend http://www.yorkopenstudios.co.uk/
Some really good work.