Tuesday 9th June 2026, 10.50am (day 5,402)
So much so that, apparently, she had the sign ready beforehand. So it goes when we are both working at home on a given morning.
Clare’s immediate desire
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Category Archives: Family Member
White Swan garden reflection
Wednesday 3rd June 2026, 3.30pm (day 5,396)
This is a self-portrait — logically I will be on it somewhere, and you may discern me under the red umbrella nearest to this shiny ball thing. I’m in the garden early — but then again I started work early (7:45) and sat upstairs marking for several hours. Semester 2 is now officially done, though, as far as I am concerned.
The family
Sunday 10th May 2026, 7.55pm (day 5,372)
There’s something terribly familiar about this scene (and there’s me just noticing that ‘familiar’ and ‘family’ have the same root). Only it doesn’t happen all that much any more: this is Joe’s first appearance on the blog since our Christmas trip to Dundee, and his first in Hebden Bridge since early August. We did spend some time talking to each other, by the way.
This year’s pea house
Friday 17th April 2026, 12.20pm (day 5,349)
This year’s peas and beans are getting a relatively hi-tech home, none of this cheap cane-based arrangement this year. The frame is up, I help Clare sort out the netting, while she practices putting her feet at right angles for a minute or two.
Dinner out with family
Friday 20th March 2026, 7.45pm (day 5,321)
I know my sister Vicki follows this blog, so let me say that it was, as always, nice to see them in Hebden Bridge tonight. This is a picture of her and Pete (the tattoos are the giveaway) and not one of a Thai corn ball, even though that does form the foreground.
The Other Half
Wednesday 25th February 2026, 12.55pm (day 5,298)
Most of my previous cameras have died more-or-less instaneously, but the present one is going more for the long, slow death. It stops working — the zoom lens, always that — but if I leave it overnight it seems able to drag itself into some kind of action again the next day, at least so far. (A bit like its owner, at the moment.) It was just after lunch today when I checked its status and it did, indeed, revive once more. At this point in time Clare was standing as you see her and so this is a technical test as much as anything else. But, still, the best photo taken today. C hasn’t been seen on the blog since Halloween, so it’s about time she returned.
In the flowerpot
Thursday 15th January 2026, 11.55am (day 5,257)
I’m still marking. This miniature world was found just outside the front door, a little flowerpot full of water and with some long-drowned little clumps of green at the bottom. Maybe it says a lot that it was the most interesting thing seen today. On the other hand, as it has turned out, this is really just a shot of my hands — they’re both on there — and in that regard I quite like the shot.
Re-engaging with the favourite child
Tuesday 23rd December 2025, 5.30pm (day 5,234)
Joe’s first appearance since — chainsaw in hand — 4th August. It’s Christmas. It’s time to re-engage.
Re: the title. You do understand Joe is our only child, right? Just checking.
Back of my head, x3
Friday 19th December 2025, 3.30pm (day 5,230)
Spent the first few hours of my Xmas break having an extended lie-in, then spent the next few wandering around Bradford, a place I have come to quite like down the years. This complicated selfie was taken in the National Media Museum (which lately has become the ‘National Science and Media Museum’ so it can continue to squeeze funding out of our reluctant state apparatus): a kind of ‘digital hall of mirrors’ installation. As you can see, despite my advancing years, my body still refuses to shed much hair.
Halloween party prep
Friday 31st October 2025, 7.55pm (day 5,181)
I am against the exploitation of Halloween when it comes to the selling of vast amounts of ephemeral plastic tat. But we had an invite to a party tonight, the costumes we wore had been worn before and will be worn again — though maybe not that V mask which I found terribly uncomfortable and which, all evening, was worn purely for the photo opportunities. C’s ‘Corpse Bride’ wedding dress was definitely getting another outing, though. Preparations are, here, still in train (pun intended).
Being 42 