The Venice of the North

Rowan took this on her phone in Brum last week.

Change

It is quite rare for people who have moved to York to leave. This year two lots of friends are heading up north to Edinburgh (not for the balmy weather, family reasons). Peter and Siobhan move next month, so they came round for a meal Friday evening.

This is the magnificently restored Holgate Windmill just up the road; the voluntary group have done a great job of getting the sails made, fitted and working. We get flour milled there for our bread.

Chilli

I grew this type of chilli this year. Some were 15cm long, so bigger than your average chilli. Not sure about the taste yet.

Wol

I have been having a bit of a sort out in the office. I came across some of my painting efforts. I am under no illusions about my artistic ability. But I quite like it. From long long ago.

Finn

Meet Finn, our neighbours' dog who we looked after for a day last week. Like Milo he is a rescue dog and has a lovely nature. He was anxious about being away from his people, but should be more relaxed next time I think.

Live Food

Danielle's sourdough explosion knows no bounds. She knocked out these four wondrous loaves last week. As sourdough is a living thing, I am a bit worried about a triffidian take over.

Saturday

Saturday evening; dal and chick-pea curry and basmati on the cooker. Craig Charles funk and soul show on 6 music. All good with the world.

Brum

Rowan sent us this photo of her and Joe enjoying the canals of Birmingham (not Alabama).

Low Sun

Another shot from my ride last week. That low autumn sun makes for great shadows.
I had the pre-meeting for 2019 York Open Studios, 150 artists this year. The committee [all volunteers] do a great job in pulling it all together. I am going to be at home this time; it is more relaxed and will make a change to exhibiting at the Mount School last year.

Fall

Ok it's not New England but the beech woods around Bramham in the autumn are still a fine place to be.

The Road To Cas

The old (closed 1969) railway line from Garforth to Castleford is now a cycle track. This is typical of the area; a beautiful pond, a heron standing calmly on the far bank, with the whole thing stitched down by pylons and cables. I like it.

Off Road

A beautiful day. Cycled on a new bridleway route I'd put together, it is probably the last time I can do that this year - the mud will set in for winter and make them impassable. But today it was fine. This was on a rare bit of road.

Art for Art's Sake

I am not sure why someone had bolted a wooden door onto this concrete underpass in Melbourne. But I liked it. Real modern art as far as I am concerned.

I did a photography workshop for University of York students yesterday; the fourth year I have done it. I really enjoy it, a very positive group of young people (younger than Rowan! I can't believe it).

Funeral

Danielle and I went down to Oxfordshire for my Uncle Geoff's remembrance service. It was a packed church and a very good way for him to be remembered. He has been buried in a corner of the churchyard overlooking West Farm - his farm in the village.

Yorkshire Wildlife Trust

I joined the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust; the headquarters are round the corner and I noticed how often I would come across one of their reserves in my travels. All you get for your fee is a handbook of all 100+ reserves across the county and a really good quarterly magazine; it is money well spent. To support their work feels like a good thing to do.
This weekend we walked on one of the reserves near Pontefract in Brockadale. This is a gorge through magnesian limestone in an unpromising locale. Lovely to be there.

Caption?

This shot was taken in Sydney. Two people setting up another interminable selfie. Two birds watching on. One says to the other ...

Thorne Moor

I went to my beloved Thorne Moor this week. What can I say? It is the most perfect place; I saw a pair of Cranes again flying from beneath my feet and circling above the moor. Red Deer, looking inquisitively at Milo before prancing off. A Marsh Harrier soaring away. I walked for 15km and saw literally no other human. It has to be one of the most valuable places in the country, and yet 20 years ago there was a proposal (supported by the local wildlife trust) to write it off as industrial wasteland beyond redemption and to use the whole sight as a tip for ash and other waste. Luckily that proposal was not taken forward.

Mother

I found this photo when doing some scanning. Mother and I in, I think 1996. We are in Pegs Club in Covent Garden where Danielle and I were members, and where we got married that year.

Balloon

It was the balloon festival in York the other week. The day we went there was so much wind that this brave crew were the only ones who went up. Next year maybe.

Erics

Friend Andy sent me a copy of a biography of Roger Eagle who ran Erics in Liverpool when we were both there from 1976 - 1979. It is fascinating to read of a club and a culture that I experienced. At the time it was new and exciting but the idea that it would be mythologised into books and memories 40 years later would have been laughable.

This is the first Erics flyer from 1976. I went to see Racing Cars and then the Flamin Groovies, both of which were disappointing and old school. By December I'd seen the Damned and Slaughter & The Dogs; things were never the same again.

Apples

There has been a good cooking apple harvest this year. So crumble, apple butter, apple jelly with rosemary, all have been rolling off the production line ready for unsuspecting friends and relations.

Beer Festival

The York Beer Festival is one of our favourite events each year. We went Friday lunchtime and tried a range of beers [you can get a 1/3 pint at a time]. I tried Mead [great for the first sip, a struggle thereafter] and Danielle tried a Perry [ditto] so we finished off with a good local ale.

I took this shot in Australia on the beach at Tucross Head. That is my shadow. Below is Pond Ice, one of my best sellers, taken 12 years ago. When I exhibit I write this about it

People have thought the shadow cast across the pond is from the legs of the photographer rather than a birch tree. I have heard it so often that I  start to believe it myself.

I am now a bit confused.

Kirkham Priory

Kirkham Priory with cattle at the River Derwent. English Heritage look after the priory, and are presumably to blame for the totally out-of-keeping brick shed they have built in the middle of it. Effect somewhat spoiled.

Tandemania

I have been scanning some old shots. This is Danielle winning a women's grass-track tandem race at Tandemania in mid-Wales in 1996. In the road race we were well placed and had a good ride. At one stage a couple in front of us fell off [not badly, with plenty of people around], it bought two reactions from our bike. One of us "Are you OK?" The other one of us  "Coming through!"

Spiral Part Deux

The herb spiral which we built in 2004 has now been replaced, here it with the first herbs planted. The bear is a survival of Rowan's "our garden is boring" initiative in a garden centre that led to Danielle returning with this charming stone thing ... It has a strange psychotic stare. We dare not get rid of it.

Spurn Point

I last visited Spurn Point, the peninsular at the mouth of the Humber, about 18 years ago. So I was a bit surprised to discover that it is now an island. A storm in 2013 ripped the spit apart and now at high tide it often becomes cut off from the mainland. I walked across the sand that connects the two bits of land, and made it back before high tide. It certainly adds a bit of excitement to the trip. It is a strange place with lots of military remnants lying around [a railway, pill boxes etc] and plenty of evidence of the raw power of the tide [concrete scattered about with disdain]. I liked it but it may be a while before I return [it is the other side of Hull].

One of the lighthouses on Spurn.

Waiting For My Man

Photo by Danielle. Milo making sure I can't move without him knowing about it.

Theatre

We went to see a production of JB Priestley's An Inspector Calls at the the Theatre Royal in York. It is a family favourite [we used to listen to the radio version a lot with Rowan] and the production was really good, great acting, imaginative sets. It must be a set-text for GCSE as the place was packed with 15 year olds; not the normal demographic but welcome.

Melbourne Reflection