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 I'm sinking under digital pictures captured on my £36 ebay purchase at the end of May. Some are quite good and about a fortnight ago I realised the value of the 'landscape' setting along with the trick of either half clicking the shutter button and sweeping up to the sky therefore achieving a darker more strongly hued landcape, otherwise theres too much white / over exposure, the alternative new trick with plant portraits was to set to portrait and click down a full stop. Achieved the same thing. Better images result. Oh yes and using the optical viewfinder to track moving images. This last week has been too much work ... a good thing I suppose. Various thoughts are passing thro my mind which are not healthy to air here. Luckily my usual hobby horses entertain and thankfully still interest me. This afternoon Sunday as the rain slackened Smud and I motored north, plenty of water on the roads and one country road impassible yet still got to up at the horses for as usual a delightful hour plus on 'the circuit'. At field two as we passed, our three chums recognised us immediately, lots of paying respects (ie they sniff my hand) and they seemed to know feed would follow four hours later. We've no kids so this adds a very absorbing and useful dimension to our lives. If only more people wld get off their arses and do something positive for their environment. Man is only one small part of the environment and needs to realise some husbandry (lovely old fashioned term) needs to be provided to maintain equilibrium of a fully functioning natural environment. Sometimes farmers are not the best custodians of the landscape. Some are good, some less so. Today has been a day off, first for eight days...month end rush then gardening too, so limbs ached. This mornings hot 'Radox' bath helped, usually soaking thus at least three times a week. Plus supplements ie Bromelain (painkiller), Devils Claw. MSM. Zinc, Multi-vit and Brewers Yeast. .. Oh yes CLO. .. my shift key is going crazy!!        
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 Some busy individuals have put up a bee box at our local nature reserve. Spotted this a week ago and has got me thinking. I should have done this before, yet i am a great believer in not being too obsessively concerned with cutting back and clearing in the autumn specifically to benefit wildlife, hence never slug pellets and the importance of creating habitat. I always used to collect a pile of dried Angelica stems and leave them somewhere sheltered and a little bit drier for insects, yet I fear slugs may have been the occupants. Seeing a wall mounted bee box is probably the way to go, unfortunately I don't have big canes to cut up so it will as a last resort have to be a commercial item, yet part of the box is old nest litter type matrial so thats with in my abilities and resources. Many perennials and plants look lovely in frost, magical, so its silly to cut them all down when they still have much to give. I still haven't creosoted the hut and its now late and often damp but primarilly I'm thinking insects will have taken up residence there, spiders, lacewings so its really a no-no for splodging cresote all over. It'll be okay, its had plenty of coats in other years. I remember cutting in to a compost heap and finding little tunnels, careful work revealesd a nest, I watched as the parent ferried all her babies to the dry of under the hut. I hadn't wanted to disturb her, in fact I had probably used up most of the heap and this was the remaining lump. I am very sceptical of the near universal obsession with block paving and / or gravel as is often used to replace front gardens. I have never yet been in a garden that has much wildlife or birds as ours, at least not in the usual sort of place.. ..there will of course be some experts with an acre etc etc. Yet thinking of what a garden could be, I have very seldom seen any that reach this level. Not of tidyness or silly little rows of annuals, or perfect lawns, I'm talking substance, intrigue, variety, an encouragement to the senses and the mind. I also detest tools that make a noise, I'm thinking of strimmers. I have a sickle, bend with hand shears when need to and edge a lawn in silence! Leaves are very important and the ensuing leaf litter. the blackbird in particular needs the floo covering to pick over. For maybe ten years here I would bring in say ten bin liners every autumn rammed full of collected leaves also some leaf mold tho with the latter its vital to know that your source does not harbour lesser celandine, a small yellow flower in springtime and a pernicious weed. I have made this mistake and very carefully had to work over the land to eradicate it. Took three years at least following that to get the remainder out. Did I read .. that was Wordsworth favourite flower? Blimey. Same with worms. I know one silly woman mad to exterminate them, yet will fret over moss.. ie lack of aeration ... worms. I actively encourage them and rightly so that chemicals killing them are banned. Yes, we all like a bowling green lan but we have to think of soil structure, Darwin rightly appreciated their importance. R3 had an interesting talk last night, Gertrude Bell, born in the north, Washington County Durham, a very talented major force in archaeology in Iraq, knew and worked with T.E. Lawrence (.. of Arabia) .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_Bell .. wow I thought and a lover of Vita S W .. ahh thats another Bell .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanessa_Bell .... isn't this interesting!! I hope this prompts others to read of such interesting lives, so many people these days live only in the 'here and now' with no sense of history or that there might have been such clever and able people in generations gone by. Heres pics of ast weeks magical jaunt in the rain up at Kyloe, first time for me at that location, not the last for sure.   Tags: bee box
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 The Observer series of books, published by Frederick Warne were usually a summer treat, something .... if you were lucky you might get once of a year. At Whitby when say age five or six at Victoria Square at Dr Baines and the flat above I was bought 'Ships' in the series maybe perhaps by John my uncle or a very kind unrelated woman about who I'm hazy over her name ... Miss Baines? Wish I could meet her to thank her. I still have it here, on the bookshelves in the next room, a treasured volume. In fact looking at it a few seonds ago there is much in there to entertain a more mature reader. As a child I would be fascinated by the colour plates, in 'Ships' its flags and in 'Geology' its minerals. How I hankered for such finds. About as much chance finding such specimens as flying to the moon, at least at age seven or ten. With my parents, their knowledge of geology was naturally .. zero, little interest in the landscape and the possibility of travelling to such locations .... yes u guessed .... zilch. I shouldn't criticise too harshly as in my life I have pushed and developed further "shoulders of...." etc. Whitby was the one exception of good geology (fossils) and where I was born so its where we holidayed after we had moved away I would be seven then, the Pannet Park Museum being astoundingly worthwhile .... especially in the context of Jurassic and alum and shale and jet. What one doesn't realise at that age without intelligent conversation and this is where I think teachers in school play a vital role in expanding a childs outlook is how region specific such finds are. Its called 'thinking' and needs to be developed in little people ..... especially those from less erudite homes.  For instance, the above pic shows a slice of agate , museum quality. I know of such locations and can get little thumbnail pieces after a long search, yet I don't think it sank in to my immature brain that such finds are very region / locality specific ie the prevailing strata. And importantly travelling is needed in getting there. Luckily our county is as has been quoted 'a textbook of geology'. So if my dad had known more I would have seen more. Pigs might fly.  Above is the geological map of Britain. This would fascinate me in younger years. William Smith is described as the father of modern geology .... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Smith_(geologist) .... and I wonder at his helpers and collaborators .... he must have had them I assume. Some would be enthusiastic ordinary working men and perthaps self taught from a few books, perhaps even obsessed with their passion for rocks. We'll never know who they were or what sacrifices they made. Sixty hour weeks .... then a hobby. Below is some strata today found at the Kyloe Hills, our first ever jaunt there. As I wandered, found our vdf and fbh as it runs on the Fell Sandstone down the county, new to science, perhaps.   The bottom pic is of my discovered cups and fissures that no-one has recognised as being the equal of cup and ring ... no-one has even 'seen' them .. even the experts. I am reading Frazers 'Golden Bough' to help me guess how these may have been used, sacrifice or dealing with the dead? I mention above the act of great genorosity by I think Miss Baines. Theres no-one I can ask so I think she would be his sister or daughter. My mother cleaned the working space - he was a private doctor - and we got the flat above, quite a big area. I still have many memories of that place, moving there I guess at age four and unfortunately only being there a couple of years. I can never remember any chldren nearby, yet an old man across the lane I remember making me a bow and arrow and after a young man left for the sea his Mum gave me loads of stuff, masses of jigsaws (which I detest) Ian Allen 'spotting' books on ships, locomotives, a toy steam engine, rubber driven model aircraft which would only be destroyed in my hands (goodness knows what my Dad was doing .... locked in his own world as usual... ) even a pair of boxing gloves which are I assume still here in a tin trunk in the hallway that maybe I've only opened once in twenty years. Back to the point .... receiving an act of generosity. I think she would take me out several times to go and buy me something, I have a great hunch the Observer 'Ships' is hers and I have memories of 'I Spy' books, a very useful educational aid. There was a bookshop / newsagents next to the railway station (still functioning just pre Beeching cuts) .. I also stil have the very expensive and impressive Dinky cast metal model .. an articulated car tranporter. I deeply regret the contact was never maintained, I was cursed with whacko parents, moved school and home far too many times, crippled me for life. Where we ended up was a shithole par excellence with people to match, far removed from libraries, town bustle and human variety. Curses upon them and my parents. I am a passionate believer in the great good that can be done by meeting a talented or more learned or socially able person, even after forty five years the generosty of that great good woman can still induce tears, as is right now. So in my life I have in turn passed that generosity on to other little people. Maybe not with money but with decent worthwhile conversation to bring them on. Subjects and information they would never encounter otherwise. Life and time are vital things and its a shame so many parents fritter it away. Tags: acts of generosity, dr baines, geology, miss baines, observer books
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.... is the title of an album by NZ group Split Enz. I remember my wife and I (to be) watching this on tv as probably part of the BBC tv 'In Concert' series maybe 1977. At that time viewing their outrageous eccentricity seemed to be tempered by a punk environment ... yet now .... crikey. I love the above vid and an excellent track, yet some of their other stuff is just weirdness gone too far. We would probably be above Maynards sweetie shop in Alnwick. I remember whil decorating unsealing wallpapered doors and cupboards, one led to nowhere above an old enclosed courtyard (spookey) another to long forsaken attics and another to a cupboard in the entrance hall downstairs which on a shelf had a set of scales and weights, we have them here now thirty two years later. Never visited cellars extended way under the road. We would be so happy.... probably. I remember walking to work and my C waving from the upstairs window - our one room flat with kitchen and bathroom shared. The place had a nice feel to it. Apart from the day after our wedding coping with a burst pipe downstairs in freezing weather. I remember meeting the previous tenant of our little room circa 1977, she was absorbed in religious songs and had a electric keyboard in her room - these people were all ex teacher training college in the Castle. Rodney was another lodger, good company as were the couple in the next flat .. their names ?? Pete and ? she was a stunning woman. Nice too, to someone so young. Luckily we had salerooms nearby so wifelet (not starting work till we married) fitted us out, small table, four decent repro chairs, a wooden chest of drawers I planed up clean, a bed (as I think we destroyed the first one) and two pairs of excellent full length curtains, one pair blue and one pair red. Incredibly good quality, still hang here thirty two years later. Luckily fitted wherever we lived and will last our lifetime. Tho they did cost £12 and £15 each pair, wifelet tells me this morning. I am so dim ... I remember when we married not realising the reason why there is a list of presents required and thinking .. what odd presents to get anyone, casserole, cutlery .... yet all still in use three decades later. My friend Frank Jones who worked at the same place bought us a very good quality casserole dish, Royal Doulton, now used for my occasional pigeon / partridge casseroles. two decades later the penny dropped ... ahhh .. it so you get your home kitted out! Perhaps living together for half a year beforehand obscured that realistaion. I think the mice came free. I'd been chucked out of digs and was so lucky to meet Christine. So very lucky. I've always regarded this as the hand of God. There was some discord, I was the mountain goat desperate to stride off at great speed, yet Christine instilled in me the idea to go more slowly, to see and hear and soak up the present location. I lost my finger end in a work accident so we had a blissful six weeks together - uninterrupted. She would cook and clean and organise me, more so in later years as I am so 'out of it'. Two years later we moved south a few miles. Better chance of work for me and closer to her job. Never did I realise I would detest the travelling to my own place of work. The above 'Bold as Brass' is one of their best, I only know the one album 'Dizrythmia' which I hold in the highest regard. I think its Tim Finn fronting.... there is a very interesting wiki page for band member Phil Judd also mentioning his mental difficulties, not suprising considering the weird antics, costumes etc..... for the sake of everyones mental health i would have cooled it down a bit. I think he's left by this stage and Tim is the main writer.... interestingly I think I can spot an aspi ... can you? There was one obscure vid i found with Tim Finn (song 'Late Last Night') fronting and it was a poor song in a very spooky vid. Wiki tells us Chrysalis dropped them after Dizrythmia, and the year after was very difficult for them. Luckily a grant helped get 'em back rolling. I still think some of their stuff odd and at times ask 'why did u do that'? I can see this post being much expanded. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split_Enz Exploring further finds Eddie Rayner as another fascinating band member.......and reading halfway down the page to 'new lineup' we see Tims younger brother Neil joining in '77 fresh from school, i think he is the acoustic guitarist in the above vid. fascinating .. leads on to 'Crowded House' etc. i had no idea of this lineage, knowing zilch re popular music. Tags: early days, split enz
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 .....has gone pretty well. I meet with an excellent man, as much for life guidance as TCM. Very quickly we cover lots of ground, something you would never get, would be impossible, with the NHS GP uk style doctor. Driving down we have an idea what we want to cover, maybe back pain, knee pain, ankle or elbows, lethargy, happy or not, motivation, sleep, toilet rythmns. I treat my wife to her own hour. I hadn't intended to tho very quickly couldn't help but talk with my accu man of the trauma I've gone thro with becoming perhaps obsessed and craving for my web correspondence with my great good friend Sis in the States. An incredible person to develop a friendship with, a fascinating person to correspond with. The uncertainty of her responses due to a more healthy outdoor life and my becoming needy and craving her company obviously meant that as very good friends we must cease contact and I must concentrate more on the real world around me. I was needing her too much. Not sexually but as a friend on the same wavelength, Sis has said that often with me its like looking in a mirror. There were other triggers too for this decision at end Aug/early Sept ..... too many chantarelles (ie collecting fungi) .... I am very sensitive re diet on my emotions, accupuncture I think enhances joy and sadness and the appreciation of beauty - and a difficult bank holiday didn't help either, for someone so stuck in routines its a spanner in the works. Also, message exchange via the web has no built in time lags as per the mail system, I was so impatient for a response and unscheduled seven day gaps were too much for me. So, early Sept was the end. Her final big letter was incredible, a guide for life and a valuable document. Her love and concern shone through and contained so much good wisdom. I'm re-adding this para after deleting the original a fortnight ago, its now seven weeks since we parted, I'm okay today tho have just gone thro a two week period of craving her company. All this emotion is new to me. My life is certainly richer for the experience of her friendship. I don't think she reads this blog, I think she cuts off altogether as with the six month gap, I am writing this for myself, I know it. I think she will be praying for me, she told me she would, in fact I know it and she exhibited the greatest strength and willpower in leaving me in her words "In the hands of God" ...... I am so lucky! to quote Xiao Xia. We realise the need to regulate my life and diet to allow me to function better. Probably my life is as good as it will get all things considered. At least I visualise things ahead and have so much that interests me. Possibly the next step is to get me a little more work motivated, I can feel I'm heading in that direction, onto the 'big project' something I should do before I'm too old to do it (I told him of my cardboard pointer analogy). This is something that should be possible as the cold weather ahead will mean I'm not outdoors so much workwise. I also desire to get more book orientated rather than web based ......believe it when I see it. I'll probably always be saying that now I have the web. Mandarin study goes okay right now, twenty thirty minute wedges of study - hoping to have memorised words and characters for Taiwanese singer/actress Rainie Yangs 'Jue Jiang' in a month or so. It seems I need 'fast' exercise, a lent book here will perhaps explain. Apparently up to a fast heartbeat quickly. Should try digging for two hours! I detest forced exercise, much prefer the stretches and manipulations my accu man trains me for. Maybe could run. Always liked that and sometimes do with Smud. Tho my knees are fragile... so would be on soil not tarmac. My ourdoor walking these days has to be slow and light, two hours max otherwise knee and hip pain kicks in .... and i detest swimming. Heres a favourite of mine, I have the Hungary Quartet 1951 Paris recordings, heres the Budapest Quartet 1945 Library of Congress USA. This is third mvt beethoven 132, know it well. For six months have had the op59 'Rasumovsky' no3 and op74 on the cd player in the kitchen, so now shifted to op132 and his final 135. He was stone deaf by then, tho of course his rich mental landscape was all he needed to produce such incredible music. I hope it finds another convert from posting it here. Its so wound up for me with our first Beagle, cooking breakfast every morning with these quartets playing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hN3HzEWQl0c  Postscript re Sis. I have such happy memories of all that we talked about. She praised my work and abilities, enjoyed my friendship and gave me some great images to picture her by .... her hanging upside down from a tree on Svens visit, the Panama interlude, all the horsey stuff - her secretly using her horse to school, an accomplished horse rider, her love of her pets and the outdoors, her fav tv programmes, her knowledge, her wisdom. Tags: accupuncture, beethoven string quartets, life guidance, websis
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.. Picus viridus will make a great little project for this winter. Saturday afternoon was up on a walk that really was an area me and the old beagle Snuffy would be on a lot ten fifteen years ago. The land that attracts us is like a huge triangle, say one and a half miles per side and forms part of an upland area adjoining the horses. The sweep and vista is quite special. Generally only sheep are kept on the land so its an easy walk with a dog.... apart from Smud pulling on the extending lead. Sheep smells press his buttons. Up at the extremity of the walk where the Roman road crosses the field (only very slight signs of this history to the unknowing) we heard a queer sceech and clatter.. hey presto the Green woodpecker. Very seldom do we see them, usually only when in the Lakes in Cumbria. A new customer of mine, in her eighties, had said that the last time she had heard the 'Yaffle' was as a child. She was upmost in my mind. So, I will be back soon and see if we can capture it on camera and pick up some audio. With us it was screeching and moving away from fencepost to fencepost, then with typical woodpecker undulating flight went across the narrow field and into the wood mainly comprising Scots pine. No more was heard of it. Seems they are mad for ants. The walk itself is still termed '+++++ham Lane' and perhaps is a remnant of pre-enclosure or at least from when roads were metalled a hundred years ago. There are two little streams that cross the path (one mostly dried up) and one diverted thro pipes, fossils to see and some of the loveliest tranquil views. Last year me n' Smud found the burn that runs through the conifer plantation, sitting there in the dappled light was so very peaceful and comforting. Incredible atmosphere. Yesterday it was devoid of water yet Badgers had set up home and the forest floor was worn smooth. I wonder what they made of the few seconds of activity that came near them. Maybe ten years ago I got 'offtrack' and a farmer drove across in his 4wd and family to ask etc .... i had found where someone had been skinning deer and told him rather than chasing me he would be better off befriending me.... yet as usual the bad tempered antisocial twit wanted me off his land. Do I look like a naughty boy?? Baffling mindset. Its up for sale now. So this makes me a little wary when out, listening for any approaching vehicle, luckily usually nothing. I'm often not impressed with stewardship. Its more to luck than anything. Thank goodness we up here have never had the devastating arable wildernesses of other areas of England. They give 'em grants to take out hedges then they give 'em grants thirty years later to put 'em back in. Pitiful. Hedges themselves I wonder at their efficacy at attracting and retaining wildlife and birds, too thin with perhaps no food source. I believe it is small woods, spinneys that are better at helping wild diversity. Out on my rambles thin over planted hedgerows are not the benefit one would assume - bugger all there. And this craze for intensively planting zig zag fashion Hawtorn hedging is utterly stupid.The trunks will grow to form an impenetrable barrier to most mammals. Somebody must be getting paid / claiming 'per tree'. Shameful. Tags: green woodpecker
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