Taken at about 2,800 feet up. (You want that in metres – work it out!) I was very proud of Joe for having got up his first really substantial mountain. I also note, on this shot, quite how tall he is getting.
First of four days spent in the Lake District, all blessed by far sunnier, drier and (except Monday) milder weather than anyone has a right to expect in the UK at this time of year. There is plenty of detail of the walking aspect of the weekend, and lots more photos, on my other blog.
Today’s shot was nabbed in the woods near Aira Force. I don’t know exactly what this tree stump looks like, but it looks like something. There’s a kind of tentacular thing going on here, with blood-soaked mandibles. Very Mirkwood.
There have been a run of animal photos lately (and yes, the Norwegian Blue counts!). But I make no apologies for including another one, as it successfully encapsulates a glorious day. And more to come, according to the forecast. Which is good, because I’m going to the Lakes for the weekend – though probably without Internet access, so regular visitors might bear in mind that it is unlikely any more photos will be posted until Monday 16th. I will be back then… never fear.
Dogs are too needy, and I don’t do needy. Cats combine beauty with a couldn’t-give-a-toss attitude that I find much more admirable. This one might well have haughtily ignored me on a different day but today it was quite prepared to act as a model. Actually I think it just wanted me to open the gate and let it out, but I didn’t have the key, so took without giving back.
Same train in so I pass through the same parts of Manchester at the same time. Off I go to work one way, this guy goes a second way, the bird goes a third. I wonder if pigeons sometimes wake up in the morning with a headache, and just don’t feel very much into the day, but set off anyway through a sense of obligation.
After 12 consecutive days in Hebden Bridge or the immediate area, I made it into Manchester for the first time since graduation day (Dec 14th). Started early enough for it still to be dark even after my 50-minute train journey in. This shot is of what looks like the cleaning crew reporting for their own early start, at Selfridges department store on Cross Street.
Why do I like this shot of such a mundane moment? I like the stripes of light, I like the fact that the focus is as good as it could be (bearing in mind the low light levels) on the illuminated guy in the grey jacket, and I like that as soon as Joe saw it he said he thought the two lightsabers were cool.
I am on there, you just might have to look for me for a couple of seconds.
The contents of the saucepan eventually became a very nice plum & blackcurrant sorbet, by the way.
Eureka! (and don’t forget that exclamation mark) is a kind of kid-oriented, interactive mini-science museum in Halifax, just down the road. It overcharges you for entry and then feels guilty, so turns your ticket into an ‘annual pass’. But I suppose there are enough things to keep someone like Joe busy on more than one visit and he is, after all, the target audience. Me, I just take photos these days.
Beautiful plumage. But if it hadn’t been nailed to the perch, it would have been pushing up the daisies. It’s run up the curtain and joined the choir invisibule. This…. is an Ex-… Parrot.
Which, no kidding, arrived in our mail today. I bet you didn’t get one.
Today was one of those miraculous days of brightness after days of rain (and more forecast). Let’s not dwell on Virgin Trains’ inability to get me to the Lake District, as I had planned. I had to turn back at Preston. It didn’t matter. I went out walking at home instead, up Stoodley Pike and round to Cragg Vale. Windy, but spectacular day. See all the best photos from it on my Flickr site.
Being 42 