Guatemala 3

 

Final post from Rowan's Guatemala Trip. Pretty self explanatory.

Guatemala 2

Rowan on a very cold and windy ridge early in the morning. 

 

Guatemala

 Rowan is back from a two week holiday to Guatemala in central America. She travelled on her own independently for the first week, then met up with boyfriend Jamie for the second week. She went paddle boarding, trekked up an active volcano, saw baby turtles released into the sea and plenty more. Sounds a great trip. Glad to have her back.

Deep Dive

I walked across the lovely Wimbledon Common back to the Thames. Saw this puddle, ready for a deep dive.

20 Years On

I accompanied Danielle to a celebration of 20 years of  Friends Provident Foundation, the foundation that she started and has seen grow an develop its influence. It was held on the top floor of the Royal Festival Hall and was a a great event. There is no doubt that her hard work and effective leadership is well appreciated. 

I stayed down to see Mark and Mandy in Wimbledon, and a painting by Uccello that is in the National Gallery. Here is the painting: it was lurking down in the basement in the lower gallery. Fantastic.

Old Lines

 There is a series on TV on Abandoned Railways from the Air. It is not brilliant, but has interesting bits. The one we watched last was about the York to Hull line via the Wolds. It inspired us to go walk a bit of the line at lonely Kiplingcoates Station, where we found this signal box. Considering it is 60 years since the line was shut, it is in pretty good condition.

No Snow

For the last six years or so we have barely had any snow in York. Today there was a smattering which is already well on the way to melting. Danielle took this photo early today.
 

Escrick

A lovely light emerged as we walked at Escrick last week.

 

Guests

We have started doing AirB&B again, with a flurry of bookings up till Christmas. We had a Mexican couple stay who left us this lovely thankyou note. We could not ask for more.

Manchester Collective

I went with friend Paul to see the consistently brilliant Manchester Collective at my favourite venue; the Howard Assembly Rooms in Leeds. This is the third time I have seen them, always a different line up, always good. This time there were two Indian/Welsh players, two Irish, one South African and one from Côte d'Ivoire.

Photography Group

For over 10 years I have been running a photography group at the Mount School here in York. The head is leaving and I am going to stop doing the group at the end of this term. The talent of the girls is amazing, and this shot is particularly good I think. The theme was perspective. 

Canal Again

It was hard to stop taking photos on the canal walk. These houses at Sowerby Bridge just could not be ignored. 

Canals

I do love walking on the old canals; the industrial past, the beautiful architecture and then strange buildings like this. Not sure whether to title it Needs Some Work, or Seen Better Days.

An Uplifting Day

The Stroll continues. Onto leg 15 today. Walking along the Rochdale Canal from Todmorden to Sowerby Bridge for 10 miles or so, in beautiful autumn sunshine and mild calm weather. All sorts of people out and enjoying it too. Layla the star of the show on the train there and back, milking the adoration.

The stillness and the light made for some beautiful reflections. A bit straightforward a shot for me, but it does capture the day.

Life

 Life has been carrying on. Band practiced a couple of weeks ago, our music book group met to discuss a book about pianos in Paris, and we have a house guest for the weekend, Catherine, from New York City, the daughter of an old school friend of  Daneille's who we last saw 9 years ago as a 10 year old in Tuscany. So plenty going on.

Keldy 3

 

Peace in the dappled sunlight.

Keldy 2

We had some great walking in the forest, straight out of the door of the cabin. Perfect.
 

Keldy 1

After Colorado we had a few days in a forest cabin in Keldy Forest in the North York Moors. A fantastic place, really great accommodation, which as you can see suited all of us. Hot Tub on the deck was for humans only.
 

Colorado 6

Our final day was a drive back to Denver airport where our flight was delayed on account of Donald Trump having one of his hate-filled rallies in the city. 

This is an old gold mine in the Cripple Creek area

Colorado 5

 After the conference we had a couple of days together. We stayed in Cripple Creek, which used to be at the centre of extensive gold mining. Amazingly it still is, with a huge open cast mine in active and profitable use. It was a great little town to stay in. We went to see a production of Spamalot (the Monty Python muscial) which we loved. One of the cast asked me how their accent was, and I could honestly say that it was very good indeed. 

In the day we walked up in the mountains, where the aspen were losing their leaves for fall. It was a beautiful place to be.

Colorado 4

 

It is always good to meet the various people from around the world who come to these events, and I was happy to photography them on the final day. Jo Swinson (ex Lib Dem leader in the UK) was there, got on very well with her.

Colorado 3

I took the cog railway (rack and pinion) to the top of nearby Pikes Peak at 4302 metres high. For the first time in my life I felt a bit altitude wobbly. Previously cycling at over 5,300 metres had been no problem. I fear, it is another POTAP situation. Anyway the train was great with an excellent conductor telling us all about it. In this shot the train is making its way to the summit.

Colorado 2

 

Day 2 and I explored the area a bit more. There were lots of good trails, and just when I was getting peckish I came across a good cafe (or trading post as it was called) to keep me on my way. The weather was beautiful for our whole trip, unseasonally so, snow sometimes falls in October. 

Colorado 1

Danielle was speaking at a conference in Colorado Springs in the US. We went together. The venue was a hotel overlooking the Garden of the Gods area, where rock formations rise starkly from the foothills of the Rockies. We had a day exploring the area before the hard work began for Danielle. 

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2024

Walking around London with Rowan, now that she lives in Islington, is a real pleasure. 40 years on and London is both totally changed and exactly the same. This is Primrose Hill.

Up to date now, back to the present day from tomorrow.

 

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2023

 

UK family gathering, aunt, sibling, cousins et al

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2022

Man, dog, beck. From the Lakes.

 

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2021

Rescue puppy Layla arrived in early 2020, just in time for lockdown. She soon had a clear view of her position in the family - not so much looking for the scraps under our table as standing on the table.
 

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2020

 A sparrowhawk in the garden. Not that common a visitor, but always welcome.

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2019

I had these 11 mugs produced, each with an image from a different city. London, Budapest, Singapore, New York, Birmingham, Newcastle, Melbourne x2, Manchester, Wuppertal, York. Most are still in existence and in use.

 

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2018

 

Getting the hang of selfies has taken a while: this is an early one. Taken at the Drawing Board pub in Leamington when Rowan was at University - you have to go back.

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2017

 

When we were in Santa Fe, I really fancied a Georgia O'Keefe hat. This is the best I could do. To be honest it has not been often worn - it does not fit under a cycle helmet too well.

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2016

 

Rowan about to leave for University at Warwick. Milo assuming he will be going too.

20 Years of the Blog - 2015

 Danielle and Milo in gothic Suffolk. 

20 Years of the Blog - 2014

 

Milo the rescue dog arrived in 2009 and lived with us for 10 years. He helped Rowan be comfortable with dogs, and all the family and many friends loved him too.

20 Years of the Blog - 2013

 

Back in 2013 Danielle started as a member of the University of York Court. This included us going to see the opening of the new STEM building: for some reason the architects chose to design in comedy mirrors in the toilets. To resist was not an option.

20 Years of the Blog - 2012

 

Watching the Olympics in London 2012 was something that Rowan, Danielle and I will all treasure. Not sure where this picture was taken, but it was 2012.

20 Years of the Blog - 2011

 

It was always a pleasure to have Mother stay with us in York. We all miss her.

20 Years of the Blog - 2010

 

Rowan with her two American first cousins, Liam and KC. Rowan is wearing one of very many personalized tracksuits that came with her various athletic activities.

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2009

 

Rowan used the climbing frame as somewhere to read. We had it built at the old house, then moved it a couple of times at Hob Moor Drive before this, its final resting place. Now gone.

Twenty Years of the Blog - 2008

 

Rowan and Danielle in the office which became a hub at the centre of the house.

20 Years of the Blog - 2007

2007 and I built this compost bin to replace various bins that were falling apart. This lasted a good while, but is now replaced as well. 

20 Years of the Blog 2006

 

2006 and Danielle had mastered the art of honey production, with the help of our bees, and her suited and booted assistant.

20 Years of the Blog - 2005

 2005 and the garden train was running around the rockery. It provided a lot of enjoyment for all of us.

20 years of the Blog - 2004

 The blog is now 20 years old. Every two years I print out a book of the blog (done by an online printer in the US) which has given the family a record of sorts of the past 20 years, from when Rowan was 6 to now. So the books cover a lot of ground. It is great to have, and I am pretty sure that Rowan will continue to treasure them in the future. So over the next week or so, I shall highlight a photo from the past, mainly of family.

First off is this shot of the making of our herb spiral which marked the first entry on the blog. Rowan in the background on her beloved trampoline.

Rowan

 Rowan sent us this picture from the wedding she went to in Avignon last month. 

Back Home

So when I got home I went to a book of the railways of Scotland, that I had not looked at for a while. Found this 50th birthday dedication inside, from a 9 year old Rowan.

Highland Tour 4

The final leg of the ride was from Forres to Aviemore, where I got the train direct back to York the next day. Plenty of dramatic bridges today, railway viaducts and this 1926 road bridge over the river Findhorn at Tomatin.

 

Highland Tour 3

 I cannot think of many better cycle tracks than this one. From Aviemore to Boat of Garten through the heather in the sunshine.

Highland Tour 2

 The first day took me from Pitlochry, through the pass of Killecrankie up to Drumochter pass then down to Dalwhinnie and Kingussie. The route is nearly all off road, much of it on the old A9 which is now a cycle path - a brilliant project. 

Dalnaspidal

 

Highland Tour 1

I took my bike on the train up to Pitlochry. 17 years ago Danielle, Rowan and I cycled from Glasgow to Pitlochry on a Sustrans route. It was a great trip. So now I was using a long weekend to cycle up from Pitlochry to Kingussie, onto Forres via Aviemore. Then back over Slochd summit to Aviemore, where I hoped to get the train back. So here is my train at Pitlochry on a beautiful highland afternoon; the weather for my whole trip was perfect, sunny and warm with not a drop of rain. Back south it rained heavily, but up in Scotland it was sublime.