Peppers

After the Aubergine come the peppers. These are being grown in the extension, and very nice they taste too. First time I've successfully grown them.

Pilmour

Got a new misspelling of Palmour yesterday - Pilmour. This takes me to 117 misspellings collected so far.

After the bike ride, Rowan is seen here dismounting before the transition to the run..

Wakefield Triathlon

Rowan took part in the Wakefield Junior Triathlon on Sunday. She won! This photo is of the transition area before the event - where she takes off her swim-hat and goggles, puts on her helmet, trainers and number-belt, runs with the bike to the start line, then cycles for 10 laps. More photos to follow.

Hospital

I have been contacted by the local hospital art person to see if they can use a number of my photographs in a new hospital they are building in Selby. Very pleased to be approached, and hopefully something will come of it.

This is another from the Wolds.

Brimstone Moth

Walking with Rowan to school last week I saw this moth upon the concrete steps of the footbridge over the railway. I have identified it as a Brimstone moth [thank goodness for google] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brimstone_moth .

Macbeth

Friend Cathy was up for the housing conference in Harrogate so she has popped over to stay. Good to catch up with her. She came with Rowan and I on a school trip to see an outdoor, roaming version of Macbeth at Ripley Castle. It was brilliantly done and worked particularly well in the woods with the witches - bit cold though.

For the Banquo ghost scene at the banquet, the audience were encouraged to be part of the party and sit around the table, when the ghost appeared dripping blood and smoke, they seemed less sure that it was such a good idea.

Wolds Photo

Here is another new one from the Wolds. A bit too normal for my liking but I hope it will look good in a square frame.

The location in on top of the Wolds, where the farms are.

Triathlon 3

Here is Rowan on the running leg of the Triathlon. No matter how much we scream encouragement she claims never to hear us, she is so in the zone. Just like the rest of the time really.

Triathlon 2

The triathlon consists of three stages run consecutively with two transitions between them. Swim > transition > Cycle > transition > Run. So a potential logistic nightmare. It all went OK, tips like talc in the shoes helped.

Triathlon 1

Got a 50 mile leg turning ride in on Friday with Edward. The back is slowly recovering.

Rowan was in her first Triathlon today. It was at Harrogate army base and really well put on. She finished 3rd in her age category which was very encouraging for a first go. Here she is on the podium.

Brum

Danielle was at Woodbrook, the Quaker Educational Centre where she is a trustee. Meantime I took Rowan to Sheffield for more netball. From knowing no one when she started she now seems to know everyone - very gratifying.

When I am exhibiting I talk with people about my work at lot. I am going to post some of the comments about the photographs that keep on coming up. First one is Sand.

SAND

The beach at Aberdovy meets my requirements; a 100 metre exclusion zone is the norm, the skys are bright, the air clear and the sea ever changing.

For this shot I was standing in the water shooting straight down from head height. There are three areas of ambiguity about it that people pick up on.

“I thought the bit at the top was the water”. This is understandable, the sand has formed in waves but is being eroded away by the sea at the bottom of the image.

“I thought it was an aerial shot”. It could be any scale, life size[which it is], from space, under a microscope.

“I thought it was black and white”. Because the sand is grey it is easy to assume that it, and the rest of the shot is monochrome; when it is pointed out that there are greens and browns in the sea people then cannot believe they ever thought it black and white.

This image has been my most popular with buyers. It almost slipped my grasp, John & Katie spotted it when I was running through my work, ordered it as a large print, and it came to life.

Wonderful Wolds

Here is another Wolds shot. It captures the weirdness of the area for me. Anyone agree or am I barking up the wrong tree?

The Poppies are in the Fields

A view across Fordon dale in the Wolds, showing the lovely grass sheepwalks, and the bizarre splash of poppy color in the field above it.

Wolds Photo

Here is another from the Wolds project. I am trying to get that Night of the Hunter feel, just needed Robert Mitchum to amble past on his horse really.

At the same time I am doing my LinkedIn thing, Rowan is busy on her Facebook page. It has taken her a while to be bothered about it, but she is now.

Rake's Progress

Rowan was running and high jumping on Saturday in the Yorkshire Schools championship. She won the high jump. I was helping with the long jump, which involved raking the sand after each jump - not as easy as it looks.

The photo is of one of the many milestones that still stand on the old turnpike roads around here. This used to be the Great North Road, it has now been bypassed twice, and could not be on a quieter stretch.

Sailing

Danielle had grouponed an introductory sailing session for Rowan on a lake near Scarborough, so we invited Rowan's friend Amelia to come too. They seemed to enjoy it alot, the coach was an Olympic medalist Sarah Ayton so they were in good hands.

Mark Palmour

There are very few Palmours in the UK [likely to be extinct by the end of the next generation - all girls] but a lot more in the US due to the prolific Solomon Palmour of Georgia.

Mark and Cheryl form Gainsboro Georgia came to stay with us last week. Never met before, but had a great evening. They are doing all the usual "American in England" places so York fitted in well. The photo is of them before the Palmour crest.

Milo and the Deer pt2

After his deer-chase a couple of weeks ago [when the deer outran him easily] Milo decided to just sit and watch this one. The deer did the same, so there was a standoff for a minute or so, then the deer ran and Milo wandered back to me.
Milo and

Talks

No more pictures of power stations after this one honest.

Yesterday I went to a seminar on LinkedIn [so that explains why you might have been poked about if], then in the evening Danielle and I went to a brilliant lecture at the St Johns University about "youth sport, delight and the dark side" which was really useful for us in relation to Rowan's experiences.

Then today I was over to Leeds for a session arranged by Odgers for interims and freelancers; the subject was ... LinkedIn ... so there seems to be no escape.

Album Cover

I took this mirror shot at the Thackray museum last week. Looks good for an album cover to me.

Aubergine

For the first time I have attempted to grow Aubergines. I have one plant upstairs in the sun-drenched extension. Amazingly it has worked and here is our first Aubergine, that Sainsbury's would be proud of. I certainly am.

RtoR

The one indisputable legacy of the Labour government has been the Right to Roam legislation http://www.ramblers.org.uk/freedom. Never in a thousand years would the Tories have passed it. Today I benefited as I walked in the dry valleys of the Wolds that are designated as Access Land. I walked for close on 4 hours and saw not a soul - pretty unlikely in somewhere like the Lakes or the Dales but no big surprise in the unknown Wolds.

The photo is another from the Wolds Project

Otley

Whilst Rowan was triathloning this morning I tried out the racing bike for the first time since my back injury. It went OK, I took it easy but it felt good. At Bramhope I came across a coffee shop open at 8am and this old road sign, so I had a coffee and took the photo.

Beautiful weather here at the moment.

Rowan has been looking after a cat that belongs to a newly arrived German family up the road. They are back now so we can relax/

Medicine

Rowan and I went to the Thackray Medical Museum in Leeds http://www.thackraymuseum.org/ which she wanted to show me [she had been with school]. It was very good, a bit gory, but a lot to learn. Last night in book group we had been discussing The Medical Detectives which was a very bad telling of the John Snow / Cholera / Broad Street Pump story. A story that the Thackray managed to tell very well in about 2 minutes on an a/v presentation.

The photo is of Birkin church in the Yorkshire marshlands

Chris Mullin

Have just finished reading Chris Mullin's book about being part of New Labour in power, A View From the Foothills. A great read that is ultimately depressing! http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/15/books-peter-hain-chris-mullin that I would nevertheless recommended.

The photo is another from the trip south last week; this is the old and totally disused bridge over the River Aire, next to the bridge on the A1 which superseded it, which has now itself been superseded by the A1{M} which is behind me.