Clutter - and what to do about slides?

Why is it so hard to throw things out? Once I'm in the mood, it's easier - been going through old photographic slides from my father's stuff!  I've chucked everything except for the ones with people on. Now how do I make slides visible without a viewer?

Jack in South of France from a slide - attempt 1.

Jack, my dad, in the 1970s, I think  - in which case,  he was in his (early?) fifties.
I did this on an improvised lightbox, with plain white paper as base - slide placed on top.  You can see the texture through the slide. I used my 'normal' lens, not macro.  I shall try tracing paper for my next experiment.

Then I pruned some packs of photos of my mother's - I reckon that when the person who took the photos is dead, the scenery is meaningless.  And if any of the photos are works of art - if the photographer doesn't do something with them, no one else will.
Simplicity before all? In fits and starts.

Rain

Of the softly dripping constant variety - just what the thirsty soil and plants needed.  Then we had a brief very heavy downpour late in the evening.

Squatters?

I'll add a picture of the 'neighbours' from Mill Pool Cottage

all ready to fledge in early May! 

More birds...

Moor-chicks, and goslings - greylag geese (?) at the boating lake. A goldfinch on the telegraph wire in front of next-door's house.  Lots of martins flying around, though none has claimed the nest under our eaves so far.

Then two red kites who disappeared as soon as I thought 'camera'.

Middleton Railway

 Inside one of the locos in the Engine House.

It's changed from the 'everyone heaped in an open truck' days - oh - 35 years ago.

On Saturday you can ride by diesel power to Park Halt, where you have the chance to see the loco uncoupled from the carriages and routed via points to the other end of the train. On Sundays the train is pulled by steam.
We had a wander through the woods, where the bluebells were pretty well over, the odd red campion was showing, and speedwells were plentiful.

I finished the day with a cup of tea and a couple of postcards, and stocked up with mini biscuits before taking an almost hidden slip road to the M621, heading East, via the M62 and then the A1 South.

A bullfinch

In Golden Acre Park, Leeds.  The first I have seen for some time, and startlingly bright, with a black head.  I was chuffed to get a recognisable photo of it, though small,  but alas it is blurred. Too blurred to keep, and post.Two other birds - I think were green woodpeckers, though I'm more used to seeing these singly in more open ground.

So here's a pic of the fountain near the cafe area.

and a blast from the past:

Alas, he didn't have hair of such a glorious colour - more of a dirty blond at the time. ;-)

Gliding

At Sibbertoft, near Husbands Bosworth, Leics.

My second time,  pulled up from a winch to 1600 feet in a few seconds.  The crack of the cable releasing. The glider flattens, and you grab back your stomach to watch the scenery around and below.
Views as far as the Malverns, Bradgate Park and Corby.

Coming in to land

Glider down below

...and a poem from prompts (19.6.2011)

by any reckoning

this was no weather to fly

cross-winds meant danger

to an unpowered machine

wait a week, they said

so we did

by their reckoning

it was fair weather to fly

the wind was head on

giving lift to glide

come along this evening, they said

so we did

strapped inside

glider wired to the winch

stretched, tense, taut

the machine moved

faster

up

steeply

stomach?

a thousand

fifteen hundred

feet

bang

the wire drops off

we float on air

no noise but wind

below us

a tapestry

stitched with silks

and woolen thread

the earth

the wings tilt to turn

nose down

or up

and round

ready to land

with a bump

so short

and now

it’s time to sing in doorways

and wait for the next time.

Easy bird-watching

This guy must be the one from two years ago who lost all his head feathers - skullcap we called him, though maybe capless would have been better.
Bold as brass, and perching on the shed roof waiting for raisins.

This hen may or may not be his mate, but they certainly know where the food is.

Leicester

A new shopping mall, the old Guildhall and cathedral complete with notice 'Parking for the Bishop'.
Posh restaurants and an empty pub with soft white rolls to eat.
Watching the traffic while walking across the bridge, part of New Walk.
A pause in the park - an Oval oasis.
A trip to the Art Gallery and a tiny bit of shopping.
Photos by the man in the computer shop - nice close-ups of a moth and a frog among others.
Variety - I shoulda taken my camera too.

Esther busts the Dam

Esther came up to Rutland Water to take part in the Dambuster duathlon.  An early start for all of us, brilliant weather - frost followed by sunshine.
A magnificent effort from Esther, considering her admittted lack of training, or even proper sleep beforehand.  She herself was less than impressed  by her times, but intends to concentrate for a while on shorter distances. A nine-month-old son can limit the time available for training!
Sarah, Andria and Mable the cocker spaniel came round to ours for lunch - not sure the cat approved.

Drayton House, sun and St Paddy

An early start this morning - picked up at 8.15, start walking from Lowick just after 9. Across tracks and minor roads to Twywell, more paths to Slipton, pausing to see the church in a hollow, detached from the village. Then it was up the road to Drayton House, with its elegant buildings, statues and parkland. The road leads part way round the house, then down through a seriously pin-coded gate and back to Lowick.
For some reason talk turned to the enclosure acts and the verse (one of many versions)

The law locks up the man or woman

Who steals the goose from off the common

But leaves the greater villain loose

Who steals the common from the goose

We finished at 11.30, just before the sun emerged. Barry related the tale of people his home village in Ireland going to drink from St Patrick's Well - but we seem an irreligious lot.

More mist...

blue horizons
shrink to grey
a daffodil shines

Misty

What a contrast - not so cold, but misty, nay foggy. Certainly until past ten o'clock, when I came back from Kettering in the third car I have driven since last Friday - including my own. Oh for the totally self-repairing car.

Sunny walk near Ryhall

Over fields, not muddy, across the Gwash twice. A few small roads, and a disused railway line whose bridge has been filled in. Lambs, llamas, rooks and a red kite. A set of scarecrows made from replica birds of prey attached to a stake in the fields, and rabbit traps baited with carrots. Daffodils, purple and white violets and an outsized cottage by the river, in Tolethorpe. Walking for a couple of miles with my coat stashed in my rucksack. Just over 8 miles.

Woodpecker and kite

Out on the road near Pipewell, we heard a woodpecker drumming loudly, and watched a kite flying low, its wing colours picked out by the late afternoon sun.

amaryllis

Back home to the magnificence of the amaryllis!

A week in Doward Farm

Highlights of the week's stay on the edge of the Forest of Dean, with sixteen of us there for some of the time.

Almost everyone managed to come along, at least for the first weekend. No Gabby or Silas, or Leonie and family - NYC is a long way away.

Two or three nights of brilliantly clear starry skies - looked at through the new telescope. Excellent view of the moon's surface too.

And I can now recognise Leo and Gemini, thanks to Harry, Esther and Dan's google skies app on his phone.

Walking through the woods to (we think) King Arthur's cave.


Seeing Finn and Isaac entertaining each other.

Watching Rose making Joseph laugh for ages as they both sat on a bed.

Playing Pictionary and About Time in teams.

Making pancakes in the big kitchen on Shrove Tuesday. I gave up trying to toss them with such a weighty pan - Harry succeeded.

Charlie the pot-bellied omnivore.


















The walk to Penallt Church along with Finn and Isaac. Dan and Sara took it in turns to carry Rose in the back carrier. Well done Chloé, too, for climbing up the steep path!

The views over the Wye from Symonds Yat Rock. You can't quite make out the cows like two-dimensional toys trailing shadows in the pic, as it's so small.







The walk near the Yat Rock and the masses of frogspawn that the frogs were clearly intending to increase further.

Downsides
Having to reverse the hire car on a narrow lane near Symonds Yat West!

Esther's long detour via Tintern Abbey.

Thanks to Esther's phone for all photos except the moon!
Thanks to Harry,  using his  telescope and  Adrian's camera for the moon picture.

Manton to Brooke and back on a chill day

Approximately 5 miles - 1 hour 30-40 mins. With Marta.

I walked this for the second time today. We parked near the pub in Manton, walked down the hill past the new section of cycle track, under the railway bridge and along beside the A6003. At first there's a good path - part of the cycle route. Then there's a shortish stretch of fairly wide green verge. A footpath crosses the main road, so we braved the traffic to reach the other side. Patience is indeed useful. This path leads across the railway line, and through some woodland. A lot of this has recently been felled, so the path is a little tricky and indistinct. We went across a field and through a gate on to the small road to Gunthorpe. Daffodils not yet out, snowdrops still there. At a junction with a choice between 'hall' and 'farm' we followed the right hand fork to the farm, and picked up the path through a gate at the end of the road. All fairly clear leading straight along a track, then fields. As we approached Bridge Farm in Brooke we were channeled into a well marked path with fencing on either side, and a myriad of stiles. Two distinct varieties of sheep here - one rather like the Lake District Herdwicks with slender legs and faces, the other more like cuddly toys with furry trousers.
In the village we walked past the church to a junction, where we turned left. There's a fair bit of road walking here up to the top of the ridge. The wind cooled us down pretty quickly, as we passed a big sign advertising rare breeds and Rutland sausage, then a farm called America Lodge, before the road surface turned to mud track.
All straightforward until you reach an information board about the deserted village of Martinsthorpe. The hall was demolished long ago and all that is left now is a chapel with bricked up windows. The walls and stones near this board are an ok, if a little cold, place to stop for a coffee from the flask.
The first time I did the walk I carried blithely along the track down the hill, and had to come back up. This time I had learned my lesson well, and we took the path to the right of the chapel - across another field, and then on to the track leading back to the A6003. You hit the road just at the junction to Manton and Rutland Water.
A great short walk, but rather muddy today.

No daffs for Dafydd?

In 2008, on St David's day, I posted a photo of mini-daffs in a pot outside my door. None of mine are so advanced this year - though I still have snowdrops, crocuses and iris reticulata.

Yay, there are some in the next garden - obviously a more southerly aspect, or better established bulbs!

The curious case of the photos that don't print

Funny.  When I copy blog entries to word the photos come out fine. When I print the page, photos from digital camera appear, but not the ones I've posted via Picasa taken from my phone. Ho hum.

Further note - they print ok straight from blog.

Evening 1740 on 27.2.11

photo taken on my phone....

days get longer

Looking out from the window at 17.40 and the sky is not quite dark yet - such a change from the dark depths.
Today and yesterday we've taken a brisk stroll along the track - so I reckon my total for the week is 19 miles+ on foot. 
Great view of a red kite over the houses.  The track and fields are sticky muddy and the dykes are indeed filled, February style,

Paranoia ....

I wondered if HMRC had been spying on me through my computer - not that I look much like this lovely lady, but the cup and the lap-top could easily be mine...but - is that really a nightdress she's wearing?

to walk...

...round Pitsford Water in sunshine, and warmer than February has any right to be. Plenty of human fauna jogging, cycling and exercising the young. Birds included Canada geese, ducks, coots and a couple of cormorants posing on posts. One came up from a dive disguised as a grebe, then out to hang its wings to dry.

About seven miles - always a good walk when other ideas fail, and you don't want to be faffed with map-reading.

So that's about 13 miles this week - six miles around Easton-o-t-H, Stamford and Wothorpe on Monday.

poedoodle again

Fairy footprint - Unknown - Breeze - Golden - Gentle smile -Bouncy

Fairy footprints in the snow
left by a creature full strange -
six toes it had and golden eyes
that shone with an unknown fire
a hairy chin and soft brown ears
breeze-blown over a gentle smile
stretched clean across a smooth green face
balanced like balloon on a bouncy neck,
it meandered for many a mile.

to continue...

OK, that has been a long hiatus - I think the only valid excuse is that I let the habit drop, and reverted to web-surfing, and leaving comments on Guardian articles - 'disgusted of Gretton' would be a good username.

It's been quite a winter for birds - we chased the waxwing in Kettering...redwings stripped the holly berries at home, an last Friday I saw my first-ever goldcrest in the holly tree. Plus a kingfisher along the Welland near Stamford a few weeks ago.

In future - I may start a separate blog for walks - I guess it would be a handy reference.

And I did - aliwalks

Make our roads safer for cyclists and walkers

From a Guardian article - link in title of this blog entry

Cyclists are more likely to end up in hospital as a result of traffic accidents than are car drivers, but the following observations are very important in this context.

Deaths and injuries per distance travelled by cyclists in the UK are more than three times those of the Netherlands and Denmark, they say. "This scale of variation between countries, and our findings of substantial seasonal variation, underline the scope for prevention of unnecessary injury."
Debra Rolfe, campaigns co-ordinator of CTC, the national cyclists organisation, said: "It's important to remember that the health benefits of cycling outweigh the risks by a factor of 20:1. Cyclists live two years longer than non-cyclists, have the health of someone 10 years younger and take 10% fewer sick days. CTC's Safety in Numbers research has shown that in places where more people cycle the risks of cycling is lower. In order to get more people cycling, we need to address the fears that deter people from cycling."

Snip-snap

Near Office Lock, Leeds-Liverpool Canal
hedge-osaurus with lights, Charnwood Hotel, Blyth.

hedge-osaurus.

I must go down to the blog again

Nothing since April 19th! Shocking. Reasons? Yes. Excuses? Many. Resolutions? Oh yes, to start again...but it'll have to wait until after dinner tonight.
Then, maybe I'll be able to get into position to kick myself hard enough.

Talk or action?

Labour seems to be all talk and no action on green issues. Not that any of the others are likely to be much of an improvement. I think Labour lost its soul when Tony Blair cosied up to big business, but that's hardly news.

See what they haven't done here . No wonder we're all so damned cynical.

Walk - Goadby-Rolleston-Tugby-Goadby

From Goadby to the Tugby-Noseley Road, then up the path to Rolleston

Ah, yes, that's it.

Rolleston Lake

Rolleston church inside the grounds of the hall.



up towards Tugby.

Words and changing usage

Words are my tools ( was - My tools are words, )
and love them as I may,
the common herd makes use of them,
misuses, I might say,
were I inclined to pedantry.
‘You are’ I hear the call.
These tools you hone and store
are not locked up from pilferers
but lie in sight of all.
They die without the light
unpolished, lacking shine.
The trains of thought must run and run,
or rails, long since disused,
will dull and fade to history,
like Concorde, paper aeroplane
that’s banished from the skies
mere symbol of our past delights
profligate supersonic flights.
But words, just words is all they are,
these tools inside my kit
and if abused and then refused
they’ll wither on the line.

This came from two things. I saw the word 'illusive'. I thought it was made up, a mis-spelling of 'elusive'. But no, it exists, meaning 'illusory'. Though it was used as though it meant 'elusive'. The shifting sands of semantics caught at the moment when meaning slipped through my fingers.

Then there was a 'prompt' - paper aeroplane.

Things to do - veg plot

Article from Times online

Amaryllis (3)

Seeds an 'at

I have seeds - beans broad and dwarf, spring onion, radish, lettuce, carrot, beetroot, courgette, rocket and parsley. I bought some and Elisabeth has given me some which came free with a gardening mag.

Amaryllis

Two flowers out today - I'm rather impressed by this plant. Last year it sat and did nothing except produce a few leaves from time to time. I'd almost given up on it. Then, this year - kapow!

Amaryllis

Earlier this week
Yesterday.

Round the Water on wheels

Anemones in the woods

Harry has a well-earned break

Above the Water on foot

On Monday 30 March

The merry band of walkers hit the 'summit' of Mill Hill (not as I thought earlier Ranksborough Hill). In the background are clouds, not, alas, distant mountains.

with a distant view of Rutland Water.

Or maybe not!

Fooled

For half a minute I believed this! Grrr!

The veg plot

I spent about 45 minutes digging this morning - no problem, the soil has grown veg for a long time and can only have been unused for a couple of years, if that.

When I left to come back home the blackbirds were already on the ground looking for worms - nice and juicy they looked too - the worms, not the birds.

Daff-a-down-dillys

what are words?
where are they born?

whence daffodil?
the tranquil jonquil,
asphodel,
or lilly dill of Daffy St Dafydd.


who knows for sure?
not narcissus
contemplating
his own image.

nor I
weaving paths
of made up etymology
and nonsense rhyme
like quills upon
a fretful celandine.

alternative ending

like frills upon
the sun-filled celandine

France - electricity consumption down 1%

An article in Le Point claims that electricity consumption was down 1% on normal usage, i.e. about 800 megawatts.

Click on title for details.

And in America North and South

The New York Times reports on Earth Hour's success.

Now we wait to see what the consequences are. The meetings below are ones to watch, not caused by Earth Hour, but maybe influenced by it.

Obama has announced a meeting in Washington on April 27-28 where representatives of the 16 major economies will meet to discuss action on climate change. This will lead up to various meetings, culminating in one in Italy in July.

And of course it should have some influence on both the G20 in the UK, and the Copenhagen meeting in December 2009.

Earth Hour in the UK

This had more publicity on the BBC at any rate than last year. Updates were posted throughout the day as 8.30 pm reached each part of the world. Late last night this article about the Uk was posted online.

Colin Butfield, campaign director for WWF, said a number of "iconic landmarks" such as Buckingham Palace, the Gherkin, the Houses of Parliament, Tower Bridge and the London Eye were plunged into darkness for an hour to mark the event.

On Facebook's page, and on the Earth Hour website there were a lot of facetious comments, as well as the positive. Some people feel morally obliged to represent the negative and anti-communal side of human nature. Oh well. It just shows how different we are, and how variable the nature of the human beast.

See the lights switched off

BBC video of some of the cities from Sydney to Paris as the lights go off.

Scotland takes part

Scotland is also taking part in Earth Hour's switch-off

From Sydney - to the world

Report in the Sydney Morning Herald

This year, exceeding the wildest dreams of its organisers, participation (in Earth Hour) has swollen to an estimated 1 billion people in 83 countries. Of them, 47 were developing economies, up from nine last year.

Earth Hour 2009

This has received rather more publicity this year - I've heard it mentioned three times on the BBC radio News this morning, including a short interview.

There is an article on their website, too.

In Europe the Eiffel Tower, Big Ben and Edinburgh Castle will be in darkness for one hour.

A symbol, indeed, but an important one.

Though there are dedicated environmentalists such as George Marshall, founder of the Climate Information Outreach Network , and the blog who argues against this action, as ineffective and likely to resonate badly with the unconvinced, to whom darkness is a Bad Thing, associated with death, decay and privation.

And there are plenty of 'rebels' posting on the comments threads, pledging to leave all their appliances ON.

The (veg) plot thickens

Excellent - the veg plot I can use is pretty small, and that suits me. The house and the garden containing the plot are high up from the road, with a fabulous view over the valley.



It's good for salads, sprouting broc, carrots etc. I'm going to make a start on Tuesday morning...

Bits here, bits there...

Maybe I should start another couple of blogs - one for walks (and other exercise), and one for gardening. This blog is becoming distinctly bitty.

I'm hoping to make use of someone's garden in the village. She claims she doesn't use the veg section now. I met her at the newly resurrected Gardening Club. When I described myself as a frustrated gardener with too little space, we thought we should get together.

So tomorrow, off I go to check it out. It's about seven minutes walk away, up a very steep drive, though she assures me the garden is flat once you get there.



I was attracted to this article in the New York Times, complete with its picture of a tall planter made of old tyres. Now maybe I could do that bit at home???

Picture by James Patterson for the New York Times

More on inequality

In the Independent Yasmin Alibai-Brown discusses the book mentioned last Sunday

In The Spirit Level, two sober academics – Richard Wilkinson and his partner Kate Pickett, both medical epidemiologists – have published strong evidence to prove that in unequal societies everyone suffers – even those who think they have it made for generations to come. They looked at 20 of the richest nations and compared various social and health problems, measuring those against an index of equality. The US, Portugal (feudal in the near past) and the UK are the most unequal nations, with the top 20 per cent earning nine times more than the bottom 20 per cent. Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden are where the money gap is smallest.

Teenage pregnancies, mental illness, life expectancy, obesity, illiteracy, homicide, crime are all worse in the states of greater inequality and not only for the poorest but for all citizens and residents. Spain is more equal than its neighbour, Portugal and you can see how vastly different are the social ills in the two countries. There is even evidence that in unequal societies, the people have higher levels of stress hormones

Dora going 'tween'

A Pink Stinks blog entry explains how young girls are manipulated for marketing purposes. In particular they object to the way Dora is being made to grow up into a 'tween'. Dora is a cartoon character who so far has presented some kind of active role model for little girls.
Comments are interesting and there is a petition you can sign here

Another Limerick

Protecting the honour and income of his family...

The honor of dear Bernard Madoff
made him claim only he ever played off-
side in the game
that brought money and fame
Such a shame that they called his parade off.

Two more limericks

How much are you worth AIG
With your clever obscure strategy?
Obama won’t stand it
He’ll make you unhand it
Big bucks rule, it's not his liturgy.

Exactly on whom is the onus
Of controlling the size of a bonus?
The boss of the bank
Or the file and the rank?
These fat-cats must think that they own us.

Not entirely happy with the first one, but for the moment it'll have to do.

Version 2.
Would you pocket the lot AIG
with a secret payout strategy?
I hope O wan't stand it
and makes you unhand it
No big bucks, please, in his liturgy.

Of course the AIG boss is asking them to pay back (half) their bonuses now.

Two Limericks

So, I didn't win the challenge, but here are my efforts:

Bernard Madoff
There was a rich guy, Bernard Madoff
Used new dosh to get the old paid off
The money swished round
Till it all tumbled down
Is penthouse for jail a good trade-off?

(So nasty to kick folks when they're down!)

Educational Choice
The idea that a school you must choose
Will leave lots with no choice but to lose
For those with the money
Will sup milk and honey
Let the choose losers sing the old blues

(are my politics showing? Ooops!)

Inequality is the root of all evil

Not new, but it's a good reminder to me. This could be why we are 'broken'. Click title for the article. It's based on a book The Spirit Level by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, who claim that the countries whose incomes are most unequal also have high rates of unhappiness, of social problems, of teenage pregnancies etc.

Swimming again

Another 50+ lengths. Keep on keeping on.

Births, deaths and Co2 emissions worldwide

To see the statistics for births, deaths and CO2 emissions for all the world's countries, hover your cursor over the one that interests you.
Huge differences in the length of time it takes to emit 1000 tonnes of CO2. But this is given per country, so to get a meaningful comparison we need to divide by the population, I think.

Celebrity Cat

Starstruck Shelby
achieves lifetime ambition
she's on the telly.

Eat medium eggs...

Something that hadn't occurred to me - it seems that breeding chickens to produce large eggs can cause problems. See Times article. A couple of excerpts below.

Phil Brooke, of Compassion in World Farming, said: “Selectively breeding hens for high productivity, whether larger eggs or larger numbers of eggs, can cause a range of problems such as osteoporosis, bone breakage and prolapse. We need to breed and feed hens so that they can produce eggs without risk to their health or welfare.”

Christine Nicol, Professor of Animal Welfare at the University of Bristol, said: “There is no strong published evidence of pain in egg-laying hens but it's not unreasonable to think there may be a mismatch in the size of birds and the eggs they produce. We do often spot bloodstains on large eggs. As a personal decision I would never buy jumbo eggs.”

Swimming etc

It feels good to be back in the water - approx 50 x 25 meters today, mostly breast-stroke, with several crawl interspersed.
Yesterday I walked for about 40 minutes, with 100 paces running several times - total around 700. Probably not 5 minutes all told, but no ill effects on the knee so far.

Two more clerihews

Gordon Brown
On his way to Washington Town
Hopes contact with Obama
May help him control the drama.

Sir Fred Goodwin
Certainly managed to hood wink
The august bodies who regulate our high finance
16 million in the pot didn’t even make them look askance.

In the second one I was deliberately playing at having a lame kind of rhythm, or lack of it.

Clerihews and a senryu

A few of us have challenged each other to produce clerihews. Here are three of mine:

Lord Peter Mandy
Our business grandee
Anointed in green slime
Who’s to say it’s not time.

Alistair Darling
Doesn’t do snarling
At very rich men who lose money
Makes sure their bread’s spread with honey.

Conrad Black
fraudster and hack
says prison's sweet as toffee
playing piano, drinking coffee.

and a senryu for good measure:

Custardial sentence
for Heathrow runway’s friend -
Mando intacto