Cannonbury

The flat I used to live in in Cannonbury is now a private school. Time moves on.

South Bank Folk

It i s tempting to just look out the window from Rowan's flat and take pictures of the world going by; always changing, usually interesting. This is nothing special but I quite like it nonetheless.

Blackfriars

Rowan's flat, which she has now said farewell to, is in the block to the right of the new Blackfriars tower.

Trompe-l'œil

You get used to new buildings going up in London this decade, from the Shard down there has been an explosion of modern and innovative design. The block in the centre of this shot, at Old Street, is like a huge trompe-l'œil which is amazingly disorientating.

Quarry

There is very little industrial archaeology to be had in the Wolds; it had little in natural resources and was never industrialised. This quarry remains from Wharram existed because of the, now disused, railway that ran beside it. It is very overgrown but quite intriguing.

Wall

This is a Wall butterfly that I saw in the old Kiplingcotes quarry in the Wolds.

Power

From the top of the Wolds the three power stations of the Aire Valley stand out. Ferrybridge, Eggborough and Drax.

Death Creeps On

Shadows cast on the duvet

Cannonbury

I walked up to Cannonbury before seeing Rowan, hoping to catch Mike. Where there used to be a row of shops next to our flat, it is now all artisan coffee and such.

Moonscape

The nights are drawing in, and the Moon is making some very bright appearances. This view is looking back across the Moor to our house [the two lights are on the garage].

BlackRock

Here is Rowan with her fellow interns on their last day at BlackRock.

The Return

I went down to help Rowan bring her stuff back from London now that her internship has finished. She had a great time, and seems to have made the most of living in central London. She treated me again to the pizza place on the South Bank just near her flat [not as captioned].

Last Orders

In Book Group we discussed Last Orders by Graham Swift, which won the Booker Prize back in the 90s. It was generally liked, but we had a lot of good discussion about it, which is the main idea really.

I am a member of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and saw this Common Blue on one of their reserves in the Wolds, an old Quarry at Wharram.

Cooking

I make up my recipes as I cook. This had home grown green beans, home grown roasted tomatoes, mushrooms and vege bacon. Tasty.

Evening on the Moor

These summer evenings can be beautiful on the Moor, with the low sun. This is a shot of the footbridge that was put in over the beck a few years ago.

Old Photo Trawl

Trawling through some old photos. This was taken at a gig in Clissold Park in the early 80s. I think it was the Funk The Royal Wedding alternative entertainment when Prince Charles got married. Plenty of dub sounds.

Back in Elmet

I went a ride on the back roads of Elmet and found this lane just in time to catch the brooding sky.

Thames

Another dramatic sky shot from Rowan, who is still enjoying living overlooking the Thames as her internship enters the last two weeks.

Garden news

The runner bean plants seem to like the weather this summer. Looks like a bumper crop will arrive at some stage. The tomatoes are doing well in the greenhouse too.

Sightlines

I do love the sightlines in our house. This shot is taken standing outside our bedroom looking right through the house to the Gazebo where Milo waits expectantly for his morning walk.

Paul & Kelly

Friends Paul & Kelly from Denia in Spain stayed over on Monday en route from the Lakes to Brighton. We met up with Helen and all went to eat in the Brigantes pub on Micklegate.

Meantime at the station the latest high speed train for the East Coast Mainline, the Azuma, was on a test run. It is not the one of the right.

Sour Dough news

Danielle's sour-dough breadmaking knows no bounds, here is the latest product of the production line. The sour-dough pancakes are the best - fantastic.

Music Lives

We somehow ended up paying for Rowan's Netflix sub, and then discovered that we can watch it too. Getting time to watch TV together is not easy so we are pleased we managed to watch three films this week.
First off was What Happened Miss Simone? about Nina Simone. This was really good, I knew very little about her, and her music.
Then we went from the sublime to the ridiculous life of Whitney Houston which was a good film, bad music and sad and depressing life choices.
Finally we watching Chasing The Trane about John Coltrane. This was uplifting, positive, sad [he died of cancer at 40!] and inspiring.
Who knows what next?

This photo is July 1980 at a garden party in Oxford with Achille and Shallo, who I worked with at Taylor House, a hostel for disabled students. Achille was a a bit of a mentor to me [he introduced me to Fats Domino music amongst many other things] and it was a sad day when he died 10 years ago.

City Girl

Rowan seems to be enjoying life in the city as her internship moves into the last two weeks.

Badminton

So here is where Edward and I have been playing badminton for the last 16 years or so. The Railway Institute sports hall, that was an engine shed back in the day. As you can see 8.30am on a weekday morning is a good time to get a court. Toby, 27, fit and talented took on me and his dad in singles. No contest but good fun.

Whisky Tasting

Turns out that some Quakers who we have known here in York for 20 years are into single malt whisky like we are. So Friday evening we had (an unlikely and probably unQuakerly] whisky session. Great company and some great whisky.

When I damaged my back at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982 there was no such thing as an MRI scan, so, unsurprisingly I never had one. Today I had one, and await the results with interest. It is quite a dramatic procedure involving going into a very noisy tube and lying still for 20 minutes. I quite enjoyed it.

The photo was taken on Thorne Moor earlier in the summer