Top Ten Books

The top ten books that have influenced me [in no particular order]

1 Zen & the art of motorcycle maintainance - Robert Pirsig
General meaning of life stuff. Good at making you take things one step at a time

2 Organic vegetable gardening - Laurence Hills
Ancient but inspiring

3 The Sound of the City - Charlie Gillett
Puts music into perspective

4 Pre-grouping Railway Atlas
Makes sense of all those disused railway lines

5 The Outsider - Colin Wilson
A guide to existentialism that you can actually understand

6 On the Road - Jack Kerouac
Inspired me to hitch-hike

7 Richard's bicycle book - Richard Ballantine
Inspired me to get cycling again

8 Quaker Faith & Practice
Quaker thoughts on most things

9 Film Noir - Silver & Ward
The perfect guide to the great art form

10 The Hamlyn Guide to Birds of Britain and Europe - Bruun & Singer
This was my father's bird book, it is my favourite.

Redwing

Rowan went to play at her friend Clara's house today; they run an Italian Restaraunt so she always gets a good lunch! When we got back we saw a Redwing in the hedge by the kitchen http://www.rspb.org.uk/birds/guide/r/redwing/index.asp Danielle is staying in Dorking, the HQ of Friends Provident where she has some meeting today and tomorrow.

Yorkshire Treasures #3

Here is a shot of Beningborough Hall which we went to at the weekend. It is a great place to go, especially as it is on a Sustrans bike route.

Rowan and I had a good ride today to the Police station to pick up a package, then along the riverside path to the National Railway Museum for a trip to our old stomping ground. Great time. Rowan rode really well. Danielle is busy being Quakerly at the wedding of two people from meeting whom she "overseas".

Beningborough Hall 

Bye Bye Mia 

Fairburn

Took Wendy and Mia to the station after a waffle breakfast. Then went to Fairburn, our local RSPB reserve. http://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves/guide/f/fairburnings/index.asp It is a really pleasant place to go, reclaimed from the south yorkshire coalfield, we saw Teal [we think] amongst other things.

Rowan Corner 2004 

Easter Day

Rowan and I cycled to Rowan corner first thing. This is a bench surrounded by Rowan trees on a nearby cycle track. The photo was taken last year, this year the buds still have a long way to go yet.

Next Wendy, Mia and the three of us went over to Ted, Chris, Lilly and Oscars [2 grown ups , 2 kids] to embark on an egg hunt in Hogg Wood that Oscar [10] had laid earlier in the day. He provided us all with hand drawn maps. Went very well, despite the mud and the rain. Then had a lovely meal at Ted and Chris' of dal, rice, nan etc. Gloomy weather but happy day.

Beningborough

Wendy and her daughter Mia arrived at lunchtime for the Easter weekend, great to see them. We went to Beningborough for the first time this year http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hbcache/property329.htm . It is our local National Trust house and gardern, and a great child-friendly place to visit.

Wendy, Mia, Rowan & Danielle 

Good Friday

It is a beautiful day here in York. Rowan and I planted out our seed potatoes this morning - apparantly this is the traditional day to do it [it was the only time people had to spend on their allotments]. She was a great help - weeding and transporting the seed potatoes to the beds. This photo is of our favourtie vegetable, Cavallo Nero is Black Kale and delicious. I can't understand why it is not more common as it is very hardy and easy to grow.

Danielle and I are still recovering from our flu - main symptom being exhausted all the time. Rowan is fully recovered and out playing with her new friend from up the street; Megan.

Cavallo Nero 

Camp and Camera

Rowan finished at Kings Camp today. She got on really well, and we were really impressed with the staff who put the camp together. After I lost my camera two months ago [a sorry tale involving a café in Boroughbridge, Ted and some grumpy staff] I have finally got around to replacing it with one that will do for my professional portrait work as well as home use – so that’s a lot of manual to read over the next few weeks, to work out how it works. Off to David and Emma’s now to see David’s photos of his trip to China last year.

Full Pelt at Kings Camp 

Our Pheasant 

Spring is here

I saw the first Peacock butterfly of the spring today http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/404.shtml so it feels like summer is on the way. Rowan and I saw a cock pheasant in the garden again looking bemused and incongruous. Hopefully the pair will choose to nest somewhere else like they did last year. Still ill.

Hull Harbour 

Kings Camp

Rowan is at a Kings Camp this week http://www.kingssportscamps.com/. It is based at her school and involves lots of sports / swimming things run by hyper-enthusiastic young people dressed in track suits. When we arrived for day one Rowan was very anxious "I won't know anyone! I don't want to play rugby!" but as we entrered the Sports Hall she saw two of her best friends from school and one of her oldest friends from nursery - and they were in her group. She loved it, and has gone off very happily today in odd-socks for odd-socks day. That's the good news, on the down side Danielle has now caught the relay-flu [Rowan>Me>Danielle] In the meantime this photo is of Hull, the centre of which is an unexpected treasure of Yorkshire.

A Pile Of Palmours

I have been totally laid low by flu all weekend, with not much improvement today. On Saturday we all fell asleep piled up on the sofa whilst watching the cycling [Milan - San Remo, first classic of the season]. I managed to extricate myself and take this photo.

A Pile of Palmours