Judy

Judy, one of the founding members of our book group died from cancer this month. Despite being a professor of literature at York St John university she never called rank in our group and was a great member to have. There is a Guardian obituary at:  http://www.theguardian.com/education/2015/jul/28/judy-giles-obituary

The photo of book group is from 2010, Judy is standing on the far left.

Ride Update

My training for the 100 mile London ride was going so well ... I started four or five weeks ago and had been building up nicely. Then I got a virus which laid me out for close on 2 weeks, then I went straight into the Art Show in London, then it poured with rain non stop Monday and Tuesday of this week. So today was the first time I had been on my bike for over two weeks - far from ideal. Anyway I got in a good [if occasionally wet] ride of 140km which should see me right for the 160km on Sunday. I felt a bit stiff and a bit out of puff but am looking forward to the ride.

I have hit 150% of my target for donations to Prostate Cancer UK, so am really pleased about that, and know that I have to finish! Here is the link https://www.justgiving.com/Simon-Palmour

The photo is of butterflies on the Moor, just before they cut all the grass for hay.

Art Fair 3

Saturday Danielle came back to York, Rowan stayed on to help me with the show. I was there all day, Rowan went wandering around town. We met up at Mark's and had a great evening watching Froomey win the Tour, then going to Dosa n Chutny in Tooting, a really brilliant dosa house http://dosanchutny.com/ . Saw old friends Debbie and Audrey as well, so a good day.

Photo is of my assistant at the show.

Art Fair 2

Friday evening was private view time. Lots of people, lots of interest, good event. I shared space with artists from Brazil, Greece, Argentina, California and Cornwall. So it made my 200 mile trip seem small beer in comparison. Kath and Lily came to see the work, so after the show we went to an Italian round the corner for food and wine with them. Then Danielle, Rowan and I took the tube to Wimbledon to stay with Mark and Mandy.

Art Fair 1

Just spent the weekend in London where I was showing at the Parallax Art Fair in Chelsea. Friday we went down on the train with my works packed in cases and boxes - Rowan took this selfie mainly so she could geo-tag the train speed of 193.7kph. London greeted us with torrential rain which made the trip across town interesting.

Wren

Five years back I was given a nest box for the garden http://palmour.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/xmas-day-2.html which proved to be an instant hit with a sparrow. For the past four and a half years however it has stayed unused; until now, with a pair of wrens raising their second brood in it. Worth waiting for I think.

Oxford & Warwick

Next day took us to Oxford [wandering around the streets and colleges we knew well] and Warwick University which I have been to a few times and did some work there in the 90s. Oxford is what it is, and the Warwick tour was really impressive. Up to Rowan to think about where she applies now.

The photo is of one of Warwick's typical campus walkways.

Bristol and Bath

After Edinburgh last week, Rowan and I had a look at Bristol [great] and Bath [less great] universities. This shot [with bike of course] is in Bristol.

Meal

Rowan cooked us this meal last week, Spicy soup, spinach balls, curried veg, stone baked bread. Great stuff.

Garden Centre Days

A trip to the garden centre with Danielle to get some bee-keeping stuff. "It's quiet for a Saturday afternoon isn't it?" I ask, "They'll all be home watching the [I expect Golf or Cricket] Tour de France I expect". A great example of the cultural change that has swept over Yorkshire since Le Tour last year.
We went back to the car to see that we had been socially-parked by this van; there were 80 other spaces to choose from ...

University choice

Rowan is in the process of thinking about University options for the future. So I went with her up to Edinburgh to have a tour of the campus in the city centre. Looked good to me!
Here she is having lunch in town before the tour.

Hospital Display

I have had a virus this week which has laid me low - not really fair in the best summer we have had for a long time. So that explains the radio silence.

Monday the art people from York Hospital came to select some of my work for display in the Hospital. Here is how the mini-show looks. The good thing about hospitals is that people are often at a loose end, so like to look at things on the walls etc - I have sold quite a few this way over the years.

Reservoirs

So one last shot from what was a lovely walk.The reservoirs that dot the Pennines are a an example of civil engineering for the civic good that is hard to imagine being possible these days; "We are going to flood your valley so that people in Bradford can drink fresh water" would not go down well.

Abandoned

When walking the moors in high summer, it is easy to wonder "Why is that farm down there abandoned?"
Walk those same moors in winter, and you wonder "Why did they ever build it in the first place?"

Industrial Heritage

Some of the Victorian iron and stone work high up on the Moors.

West Yorkshire Pennines again

The latest in our series of walks on the West Yorkshire Pennine moors took us to Meltham to the west of Huddersfield. A beautiful day, if a little windy, and a great walk on a route that included walking along Victorian water conduits that contoured high above Marsden in the valley below.

Life etc

There is an assumption that life is a journey, learning and moving on. It sounds seductive and real but I do not necessarily see it that way.
Rather a life has to be seen as a whole; different segments viewed not as sequential but as complimentary.
Someone might have a big altruistic burst early on in their life, someone else might act for others later on.
So life is not as a linear journey but rather a blank canvas that gets filled in over time: to understand the life you look at the whole picture, not just the final destination.

Here is another shot of the Knavesmire, the grasses are really looking beautiful this year.

Greensboro Reflections

One last shot from Greensboro. Buildings reflected in other buildings is something that draws me. The small splash of something natural was a bonus.

Poppies

"The poppies are in the field, but don't ask me what that means" is one of my favourite lyrics [Julian Cope]. I do know that picturesque poppies like these near York are more welcome to the photographer than the farmer.

Lost and Found

Out for a ride, going well, first stop after 30k. I reach for my energy bar in my saddlebag. Where is my saddlebag? It must have fallen off my bike during the ride, it has my phone in it. Aaaaaarrrrrgh! I have to abandon the ride, turn round and retrace my steps looking for the bag. I pass all the places I thought it might have shaken off, the hassle of phone-cancel etc etc running through my mind; no bag. I get home and find that neighbour Sandra had found it on the Moor a few hundred metres from home, worked out it was mine and brought it back for me; good neighbours should never be taken for granted. I was grateful.

The photo is of some unusual guttering in Greensboro NC

Knavesmire

It is great to be back home, the Moor and the Mire are both looking lovely this year, the grasses beautiful in the wind. We all went a walk across the race-course last week.

Nationals

Last picture from the track championships. This is Rowan and two of the relay team that ran so well in their heat. The heat here in York is just about equal to Greensboro at the moment: Milo and I feeling it the most.

Cousins

Rowan's cousins seem to love her very much.

Theatre News

Saturday night was Patrick's 60th, so we had a great jet-lagged time, catching up with plenty of people we had not seen for a while. Couple of days later we saw Marcus again at the Theatre Royal production of a new play http://www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk/event/In_Fog_And_Falling_Snow.php#.VZVeEvm6deA  about George Hudson [disgraced York railway king] and George Stephenson [designer of the Rocket]. It was brilliant [and this from someone who very rarely thinks of a play "pity it couldn't have been a bit longer ..."] and I even shed a tear during one scene. A fantastic bit of innovative theatre.

The Lonesome Pine

This is the nearest I could get to a Lonesome Pine on the Blue Ridge Mountains. It is a very beautiful area and I would love to cycle there along the Parkway and Skyline drives [about 500 miles in total]: who knows, one day maybe.