Hambledon Hills

On the way back from working on Teeside last week I went a quick walk on Riveaux Moor from where I caught this view of the Hambledon Hills, with the sun trying to make an appearance.

Farewell

The Redpolls and Siskins are gone, back on their way to Scandinavia for the summer. The Brambling is still making an appearance from time to time.

Bradford

Monday evening after school I take Rowan over to Bradford for her Regional Netball Academy, which she is now starting to feel at home with. With the evenings getting lighter I now can start to walk the streets of Bradford looking around for things to photograph. This shot is of the statue to JB Priestley outside the national photography museum. I am currently reading JB's book English Journey which was written in 1933 and is a fascinating portrayal of place and time.

Gormire 2

Another shot of the lake at Gormire, this time with the swimmer in view.

Rowan had a netball game this morning which was great to watch [except for the result - they lost]. We then got fish and chips from the Wetherby Wailer before all spending the afternoon doing various bits of gardening in the sunshine [ Danielle doing the herb spiral, me planting out some lettuce, Rowan playing with the dog.]

Gormire

I took Milo for a walk on the North York Moors. A beautiful day, spring in the air, but still a long way from the trees up on the moors. I walked down to Gormire Lake which is a glacial lake beneath the escarpment at Sutton Bank. A special place. The tranquility was broken by Milo diving in for a swim.

New Shot

Taken on a misty morning on the Moor last week I am going to exhibit this shot at Open Studios and see how it goes down. It is a colour shot, but you wouldn't know it.

Self Portrait

Rowan has to do a self portrait in Art, here is her first sketch.

Second Look

On my laptop I have a widget that randomly scrolls through all my photos. Sometimes one comes up and I think I should have a second look at it. This shot of the bridge over the River Foss in York is one of those.

Today is First Shorts Day here in sunny springtime York.

Bullfinches

The Bullfinches are still our favourite bird in the garden. They are always seen in pairs and, apparently, mate for life. We do not see them every week, but they have been around for the last month or so.

Yo Dorothy

Danielle and Rowan went down to London to see Dorothy, a musical based on Wizzard of Oz [but not the Wizz]. It was OK, but Rowan was most excited at eating at Yo Sushi http://www.yosushi.com/ which has food on conveyor belts etc.

The photo is of the Nidd reservoirs from the ride on Friday.

Bike Friday

Friday is bike ride day at the moment. After the cold, the snow, the wet of the past few months I was due a good day. And I got one. Perfect weather, sun all day, little traffic. 90 miles of joy. My route was a new one, and I loved it. Starting up the Vale of York to the River Ure at Masham [the h is silent] where I got lunch in a great cafe [the grandfather at the next table with his grandkids, turned out to be a cyclist too. So when I told him I had cycled the 40 miles from York, he just nodded rather than the expected reaction of "You must be fit/mad"]. Then I took a back road right over the tops to Lofthouse in the Nidd valley which I followed down to Pately Bridge [cafe] and Knaresborough [cafe #3]. Then my usual route back to York. Longest ride so far this year, and the best.

Return of the Cattle

The cattle have arrived back early on the moor this year. They are Aberdeen Angus, and a great sight they are. As usual they are a bit frisky early on but will settle down soon.

Journal

Follow the link to find an article with Danielle quoted, using the photo I put up earlier.

http://www.thirdsector.co.uk/news/archive/1059696/Analysis-Charity-Commission-draft-rules-scrutiny/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH

Lent

Lent is here and alcohol, and biscuits are this year's chosen give-ups. One week down.

The photo is another from Sheffield.

This is the modern world

Thirty years ago I took this photo for Derwood's band Empire. The link was through Mike Gregovic, the location was the abandoned British Rail station at Highgate Wood, I was still learning, the results were fit for purpose.

I didn't think that 30 years later I would be getting an email from an Italian fan of the band saying "Are you the Simon Palmour who photographed Empire long ago?" but so I did. Links are made again. I put him in touch with Derwood [he is making a fan-site on facebook etc]. Still don't know what happened to Mike though...

Kitchen

Life in the Kitchen and 60 Hob Moor Drive.

Campione!

Rowan was captain of her school netball team on Saturday, when they won the York schools tournament for her year-group. The final was against their big rivals, St Peters school [Guy Fawkes' school] who won it last year. It was nerve racking watching them, but the whole team played really well together to pull of a 6-3 final score. Altogether they had played 7 matches so it was a tough tournament. The photo is of the team with Rowan holding the trophy - it was the first time the Mount had ever won it so quite an achievement. The photos [click on them to make it bigger] show the winning team, and Rowan making her speech when she got the trophy.

Bird News

The Redpolls and the Siskins continue to visit the bird feeders all the time. 11 Redpolls at once, and 6 Siskins is the record so far. This shot shows one of each

Stockton

Another shot from lovely Stockton.

Today I finally got a good bike ride in, the rain held off but the wind did its best to make down for it. So I had a head wind through Fountains Abbey up to the moors at Pateley Bridge. The wind then decided to slacken off when I had it behind me. Still a great 80 mile ride though.

Portrait

A bit like the decorator who never decorates his own home, I never get around to doing Danielle's portrait for her at work. So we had to do this shot this evening with flash [not something I ever normally do, being a natural light fan]. Not great, but hopefully fit for purpose [websites, publications etc]

Stockton

I was in Stockton on Tees yesterday for work. A beautiful day and a fine place to be. This is the River Tees seen from the Millennium bridge which connects the town with the new business park.

Carrot Time

I went to pick up some feed for Milo from the warehouse. Noticed some bags of carrots outside. A lot of kilos. "Are they for humans, and how much do they cost?"

"Yes, £1.75"

"How come they are so cheap"

"They're Asda rejects. Not perfect in shape or size."

"But every one of them looks better than any carrot I have ever grown in the garden"

"You are not the first to say that"

Anyone want some carrot juice?

Akido

Rowan had her last weekend at the Sheffield netball academy based at the English Institute of Sport [EIS]. It is a great and dynamic place, there is always some interesting stuff going on to have a watch. Yesterday was the preliminary for the world snooker championships; not something I would normally go to see, but well worth a look for free. I watched a young Chinese player win his game. Down the corridor was an international athletics match, an Akido championship and some boxing.

The photo; more from Aberdeen

Rain & Sun

Rowan was in Sheffield for both Saturday and Sunday for her regional netball academy. Two days, and I had two things to do whilst she was there; one day to take a bike ride, one day to work on the laptop. So I chose to ride on the Saturday and work on the Sunday. So the weather was - foul, wet, muddy on the bike-day, and lovely sunny and crisp on the work-day. The way it goes.

The photo is of more granite wonder in Aberdeen

The Wheel

Danielle and I stayed in London on Thursday. This was the view from our hotel window.

Preston North End continue to prop up the whole Championship. It's a tough job but someone has to do it. They drew today at Norwich, but that is not going to be enough to stave off relegation.

Friends

Caught up with Mark and Charlie in London this week. Great to see them. Do the usual "it's 36 years since we met" calculations.

Prequels

Tuesday evening we went straight from Yoga upstairs to book group downstairs. John has started doing notes of the meetings, so here they are

"Our meeting proved again a very interesting discussion of The Wide Sargasso Sea. What is the role of the physical appearance and feel of the book in our enjoyment? Is madness inherited, or do we catch it from our children? We were interested in the sense of place and belonging which the book examines and the plight of those who feel at home nowhere. In the recommendations section depths of ignorance were exposed about the dating of Morte D'Arthur, which I thought was Victorian!"

I could neither stomach or finish the book, it is a prequel to Jane Eyre. The Morte D'Artur was written in 13 something originally.

The photo is another one from Aberdeen.

En Garde

It is another busy day. Up, walk dog, cycle with Rowan to school, on to station, get ticket for Donny, rush to train. Phone goes, call from work, answering it at same time as making way to train. Get on train. Find a seat. Exhale. Reach for ticket as inspector nears, it is not there. It must have fallen onto the platform when I reached for my phone. Hummph.

Guard approaches “Any tickets from York please”

I produce my receipt and the return portion of my ticket

“I’ve just bought a ticket but I must have –“

The guard finishes my sentence

“- dropped it on the platform. My colleague told me she saw you drop it. No problem”

Another blow for the jobsworth image of British Rail

Aberdeen

I had never been to Aberdeen. So I used my last free-ticket of the year to nip up there on the train on Monday. A fantastic journey in lovely sunshine and a couple of hours in the granite city. Well worth it. A few photos will follow. There are plenty of stairways in the city.