I love...

First snow of winter

Monday December 21 - Cadole, Flintshire

New Forest winter morning

Saturday December 19

10 sunshine miles around Llyn Brenig

Saturday September 12 - Llyn Brenig, Denbigh Moors

Easy strolling on a gloriously hot afternoon. Thank goodness for the breeze. Though, for Leo, cooling water has the edge...

Windswept on Moel Famau

Saturday September 5

On and around Moel Famau. Cold, blustery and fun...more like March than September...

 

 

From foes to friends

Thursday August 7

A local footpath exploration with my daughter. The boss at work has been enthusing to me about his first experience of geocaching so the 6 mile route includes one. We never find it. The puzzle involves counting things in a certain spot then converting the resulting number with a given formula to gain the coordinates we need for the actual 'treasure'. But the resulting data is in a grid format I don't understand and can't identify. Consequently the attempt to recalibrate my GPS with a different coordinate format results in the Garmin dubiously suggesting that we're suddenly in Anchorage, Alaska.

It's that sort of day.

Earlier we've had an amusing encounter with these.

Having been chased by bulls in the past and as a dyed-in-the-wool scaredy cat I'm mindful of the 3 walkers who've been killed this year by cattle. So when they all decide to approach the stile we've reached it's time to assess the situation.

After 10 minutes and no sign of them losing interest I leave Sal behind the stile and wander gingerly into their midst. Bless em. Our bullock friends just wander off disinterestedly to another part of the field and our safe passage is established. Still, better safe than sorry.

They aren't the only animal friends we make this afternoon. But we're not so wary about the rest...

Bedraggled beauty

Sunday July 19

Eagle Owl. Aged 21. A bit bedraggled. But then again, who wasn't, these last few days.

On display at one of those 'summer' events that the words 'stoic' and 'indomitable' were invented for, in relation to the British determination to persevere in the face of elemental adversity.

She flew low over the heads of small children in return for small pieces of dead domestic fowl.

Apparently her manoeuvrability is compromised by wet wingtips. Still, she looks like she could take on her handler and win...if she chose.

The best tonic

Laughter. Especially when it's about something that really gets your goat. This from the latest Sniff Petrol

Winter sunset, Whitby Harbour

Saturday February 21, Whitby Harbour

Keep staring like you've never seen the stars

Elbow - The Stops - Liverpool University, Wednesday October 22

My camera was confiscated on the door last night at Manchester Apollo. So here's another tune from the night before.

Whisper what you feel

Elbow - Newborn, live at Liverpool University - Wednesday October 22

This show...and the presence of my dad beside me, aged 79, grinning and bobbing his head, clapping along with the rest of the crowd...will stay with me forever. Perfect non-scripted moments. I love those.