Crater Rim - Azores

Taken looking west from the Azores in the mid Atlantic, next stop would be Virginia in the USA. The figures are people walking on a vast crater rim around a (mostly) extinct volcano. The surface of the ocean is mottled by the cloud shadows.

I thought this would be a popular shot at exhibition. Not the case, it has barely got a mention. No matter, I still like it.

Blackstone Edge

Back in York I took Layla on a walk on Blackstone Edge, the epitome of the grim, drizzly, misty, boggy south Pennines. I loved it, and I think it is fair to say that the dog did too. 

Birthday time

We were down in Islington for a friends 70th birthday. (Can't believe I just wrote that). It was a great party. We met some people we knew, and some new to us. Very uplifting occasion. Here is the host Wendy and her daughter Mia, standing by the harp that a musician was playing in the front room. We were so busy chatting we missed the music though.

 

Patirck RIP

Patrick, on the left of this picture, taken with Eddy and I on the way to watch the football in Harrogate, died from cancer this week. The third friend this year to pass away. He was a great bloke and we did a lot together over the years, a real loss to his friends, family and the city, and the local Labour party. Patrick had his first novel published late last year which was really good.

Relatives

Cousin Gill and Robert stayed over at the weekend. Always a pleasure to see them up here, had a great meal together with Nataliia too. 

I was on Hatfield Moors yesterday. As you can see by this reflection, it was very still; hardly a breath. There was also a welcome increase in the amount of water around. 

I met a local volunteer who records all the birds seen on the moors. His father had worked down the pit at Thorne Moors, then bought a chippy in the pit village of Moorends, where he grew up, before moving to Hatfield. He could not have been more steeped in the area's heritage.

Source Material

I went to my first gig for a while with Paul to see Rakhi Singh: a member of the Manchester Collective of modern classical musicians. It was at the Howard Rooms in Leeds, one of my favourite venues for this sort of music. Great stuff.

This is the pool on Thorne Moors that provided the image I posted three days ago.

Long Ago

 Found this picture of baby Rowan, a mere 25 and a half years ago.

On track

 

There used to be a peat plant at Crowle, which processed some of the peat from Thorne moors. The wooden sleepers / ties can be seen occasionally along the paths that cross the moors, with some pieces of rail also sometimes poking out of the undergrowth. But most of the network is now just a memory. So, inevitably in the this country, a group has been set up to recreate the track and rolling stock that ran upon the line. They have now got as far as having a length of track where it would have run prior to closure. As you can see from this shot, it is not the most parallel of configurations but I think this is probably what the track used to look like - rough and fairly ready.

More from Thorne

A trip to Thorne Moors this week brought me this photo. It is one that I really like, and be interested to get a reaction to. It is an image abstracted from a shot of a shallow scrape. I loved the reflection of the clump of grass, but it looked too understandable. Flipping it top to bottom did not work in this case, it just looked daft. But turning it 90 degrees gave me this image.

Bike Ride

Cycled over to Harrogate on a lovely day. Listening to a JB Priestley play, stopping at the Beryl Burton memorial stone, all was good. I even had the ticket office bloke at Harrogate station helping me get the cheapest ticket home (£2.40 which is ridiculously cheap). 

The Crooked Tap

Friend Paul introduced me to a new bar in Acomb. It is totally different to the rest of pubs in the area (which is a good thing). Basically a rough and ready conversion of a shop to a bar with great craft ale, some chairs and tables and a casual and welcoming approach to all people and dogs who care to visit. So the Crooked Tap gets a big thumbs up.

Produce News

Eating runner and French bean pods is over for the year. Still able to get the actual beans and use in soups and stews. Beautiful things.

View from the Room

A nice welcome from the hosts at our station retreat in Kielder. The birds on the feeder outside were many: nuthatch and chaffinch and tits.

 

The Band Played

The band have been in a bit of abeyance since our gig in November of last year. Peter the bass player has not been well, Robert and I have played a few times but today was our first real jam for close on a year. Really good to be back playing. 

Playing downstairs on account of Nataliia being upstairs. Dog suitably unimpressed. Band out to lunch.

Kielder 5

High up on the moors before the descent to Scotland. It really did feel like another country down there.
 

Kielder 3

I rode off road one day for a great ride. Around Kielder water, then up over through the forest to emerge in what I was surprised to find was Scotland. Just fantastic terrain to ride on, barely saw cars all day.

Kielder 2

Forest is the best place to walk the dog; no livestock to worry about, very few people around (if any) and deer for the dog to chase (and never catch). There is plenty of forest in Kielder; the biggest forest in Britain apart from Galloway which is where we were in June this year. 

Kielder 1

The last part of our deconstructed holiday this year, was five nights in an old railway station at Kielder Forest in Northumberland. It was a great location, with walks and cycle tracks right from the door, and a small but perfect cottage, on the old platform. Really enjoyed it.

It's a dog's life

Nataliia was having internet problems so came downstairs to use the dog's room for an online meeting she was attending. An hour later Nataliia returned to her room upstairs. There was Layla on Nataliia's bed (this is not allowed), if she could talk she would be saying "you go into my room, that must mean I can go in yours"

Return Flight

Travelling back from DC. We managed to get bulkhead seats with extra legroom. Three seats wide, we had two of them. I was next to a pleasant enough bloke. We passed the usual small talk between us, legroom, airline food, Washington etc. Not sure how but our circling conversation brought us to music. "I like punk rock and dub reggae" said the successful academic who worked for a Dutch company and travelled the word. "Slaughter and the Dogs?" I asked, a test to find what level we were talking about. "Oh yes, love them, got all the albums". He had even heard of Martha, a current band from County Durham who are a family favourite. So that was the return trip taken care of, a good few hours spent on music and more. Atilla's father was a Hungarian refugee from 1956, so plenty to talk about there too.

One last shot from our trip; this is the wharf area of DC that has recently been done up and populated with bars and restaurants. We took the water taxi from here to Alexandria where brother Ben lives.

DC9

We saw a huge installation by Laurie Anderson in the modern art museum in Washington. It filled a whole room, was all in black and white, and you were allowed to take photos: so here it is, with mystery guest.

DC8

Cycling by the canal I saw this tree-debris in the water. I had high hopes but was disappointed with the shot I got; a bit of a nothing shot really.

When I got back to the UK I tried turning it around a bit, and whacking up the contrast. Quite pleased with it now.

DC7

Taken in the National Gallery, which is a fantastic collection. An unstaged shot which is maybe too obvious, but I have decided I like it.

DC6

We also hooked up with Debbie a college friend of Danielle's who lives in Maryland. Debbie took us to the National Arboretum, which includes the 50 year old bonsai plants in this shot.