Get Up and Go in the New Year!

I was up-beat, focused during Lockdown last year. Every day I went out walking – three, four, five, six, seven mile walks: day after day without fail. Now? Not so much. Wind. Rain. Damp. Mud, above all, mud.

Then I had an idea. Our lives have become virtual. Virtual hugs with family and friends, virtual committee meetings, virtual book groups. Though I have no desire to have a real one, I would get myself a Virtual Dog, who would need actual walks every day, come rain, come shine.

My friend Barbara won’t know this till she reads about it here, but I’ve chosen her dog, Dilys. Dilys is always up for a long walk, an explore, a refreshing swim. She’s the best trained dog I know, and is always, like Barbara, an uplifting companion.

Dilys paddles upstream in the River Ure.

And if Dilys is unavailable, I’ll borrow the dog-next-door, Poppy.

Poppy being upstaged by a newly-resident snowman.

Square Up

When Life with Covid-19 was Still a Novelty

The last day of 2020. We began our year with Emily and Miquel, in Spain. Then – Covid-19 happened, and has dominated everyone’s lives ever since. Optimism and general feel-good is in short supply after all this time, so I choose instead to remember those three months of Lockdown in the spring and early summer. This was a desperate period of isolation, anxiety and money worries for many, so I feel almost ashamed to admit that for me, it was a time when I did little but get out into the fine spring weather and walk, walk, walk, discovering in a way I never had before, the delights of our own home patch.

I was also beginning to get stuck into Jude’s 2020 Photo Challenge, and always took my camera with me to reflect on her latest demands. This review of a year of challenges is only partial: it leaves out all of the later tasks which as the year wore on, relied for me increasingly on archive material. But I’ve discovered a lot about getting the best from a shot – the benefits for instance, of a low viewpoint, or of framing the scene. I’ve had reinforced what I already knew: that fiddling around with dials and apertures ain’t for me, It’s my loss, but I’ll live with it. I’ve discovered too that black and white photos are anything but snaps with the colour removed.

And Su, I’m including this post in your The Changing Seasons theme, even though there are four seasons in every year, not just one. On this occasion, I wanted to remember the best of the year that’s on its way out.

Just click on any image if you want to see it full size. Thank you, Jude, for a mind-stretching challenge during a year when my brain usually seems to be filled with little more than bran. And Su, yours is a challenge I’ll join again too. Next time, I might even stick to the rules.

Organic Geometry.

I am very late in joining Jude’s Photo Challenge #51, but here I am. She invites us to make a collage of images, some of which have strong geometric shapes, others of which are organic in form. I had fun looking back though my collection. And what I soon realised was how hard it is to determine what makes a good photo when those images are so bound up with the memories they represent. I suppose that’s what makes me a snapshot-ist rather than a photographer.

I also found myself choosing photos which were primarily geometric – of buildings and so on, but which were enlivened in some way by more organic forms. So Jude, I may not have quite stuck to your brief (again!) but you’ve made me think (again!)

  • I like this recent photo of Fountains Abbey, that the severe geometry of the ruined building, its dull grey stone, is enlivened by the informal way the autumn branches frame the scene.
  • This photo, taken in Granada, is a favourite too. The extravagant decoration of the window frames softens the geometry of the windows: but as a reflected image, the whole thing dissolves completely into something much more organic.
  • This is geometric alright: taken from a viewing platform near the Thames in London. I like that even the frame is emphasised by the vertical lines of the shelter in which this viewing window was situated.
  • This doesn’t qualify as a fine photo. More of a Christmas puzzle. This grocer’s shop in Barcelona displays not only its wares, but the buildings and street furniture in the street it faces into.
  • Liverpool. I’m looking out from the Catholic Cathedral up the road to its Anglican equivalent. I like all those bright verticals guiding your eye up that unremarkable road.
  • I had to have a drystone wall. This Yorkshire feature, solid and strong, contrasts with the distant landscape dissolving into the mist.

The featured photo shows Brimham Rocks in Yorkshire. Nobody could accuse them of being geometric.

A Window to the Soul?

It’s been a strange Not-Quite-Christmas – in our case quite an enjoyable one, and today I’m going to offer a Not-Quite-Monday-Window. Why not? Eyes, it’s said, are the windows to your soul, and we saw plenty of eyes when we visited Knole Park the other Christmas with Team London. Those eyes belonged to some rather over-friendly sika deer. I’m not clear about whether deer have souls, but they they certainly provided a different sort of window through which we could remember our visit. Here’s a picture of me with my son and his son, as seen through the eyes of a passing deer.

Christmas Wishes

Have a happy – and healthy – Christmas!

Let’s hope that, with vaccines developed, next year will end more positively than this.

This photo shows the view from our study window in Yorkshire, in a year when we had snow in England – 2018.

Yesterday, the last day of our ten day tour, I took you to the Pyrenees: to the slopes near Montferrier in the Ariège – you can read all about it here – and to Scaramus, where I had my first experience of snow-shoeing.

Around the World in Ten Photos (10)

As prophesied, most of you knew we were in Germany yesterday and many of you knew it was Bamberg too. I’d forgotten that this too is a UNESCO World Heritage site – maybe I should have built my whole tour on this? Today will be a lot easier. Just look at the name of my blog. I thought we’d go all Christmassy.

Andrew of Have Bag, Will Travel invited me to join him and other bloggers to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then each day, nominate someone new to join in on the same terms. Lots of us have participated. Thank you, those of you who accepted my own invitation to be part of the fun. It’s not too late, but on the eve of Christmas Eve, I’m guessing nobody else will. Maybe after the holiday? Just link back to this post of you’d like to.

We didn’t go worldwide at all. I have no photos from our time in Canada and America, and I don’t know Australasia and Africa. But I enjoyed my virtual journey and hope you did too.

Around the World in Ten Photos (9)

I spotted yesterday’s rather eye-catching windows as we were walking back to the car park just beyond the old town area of Strasbourg. It seemed an appropriate place to visit as Britain embarks on its foolhardy plan to Take Back Control outside Europe. Oh to be in England, now that Johnson’s here …

I’ve given you some tough images to identify. Here, surely you can get the country right? And this town is a tourist destination, so maybe that too.

Andrew of Have Bag, Will Travel invited me to join him and other bloggers to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then each day, nominate someone new to join in on the same terms. It’s too near Christmas to name someone specific. I’m just saying to all of you – if you’d like to join in, please do. It’s quite good fun, and all I ask you to do is link back to this post so I know that you’ve posted a photo.

Around the World in Ten Photos (8)

Seoul in South Korea was our destination yesterday. We were here during Chuseok, a celebration that was once harvest thanksgiving, and is now a family celebration rather like Thanksgiving in America. Hence the young woman in hanbok: traditional dress. We were at one of the five major palaces in Seoul: Gyeongbokgung – a royal palace with – as is so often the case in Korea, a tranquil water garden.

Today, you won’t have a clue. Even guessing the continent would be a triumph. But it’s Monday Window time, and I love this shot. So there you go.

Andrew of Have Bag, Will Travel invited me to join him and other bloggers to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then each day, nominate someone new to join in on the same terms. It’s too near Christmas to name someone specific. I’m just saying to all of you – if you’d like to join in, please do. It’s quite good fun, and all I ask you to do is link back to this post so I know that you’ve posted a photo.

Around the World in Ten Photos (7)

Our destination yesterday was Mamallapuram, in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. An ancient seaport, it’s a wonderful place to wander round exploring its temples, its carvings – all those elephants! – near the long sandy beach lined with fishing boats, and a small friendly town.

And today we’ll remain outside Europe. But where? Your best clue in narrowing it down may be in the featured photo. The woman in pink in the foreground is wearing the traditional dress of that country.

Andrew of Have Bag, Will Travel invited me to join him and other bloggers to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then each day, nominate someone new to join in on the same terms. It’s getting awfully near Christmas, so this is the last time I’m going to ask someone specific to join in: and I’m asking you, Susan Rushton. No pressure at all, but if you do decide to join in, I don’t think it’ll count against you if you don’t post during the Christmas season.

Around the World in Ten Photos (6)

I thought yesterday’s post was the easier for regular followers of my blog, and some of you agreed. It showed the formal gardens of Studley Royal, and the deer park beyond, and the photos came from this post of two years ago, when I celebrated having a new camera by walking the grounds of Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal one misty December morning.

Today I’m taking you to another UNESCO World Heritage site. But where?

Andrew of Have Bag, Will Travel invited me to join him and other bloggers to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then each day, nominate someone new to join in on the same terms. Today I’m asking Nes Felicio Photography – you’re very well travelled and share wonderful photos on your blog. No pressure if it’s not for you, especially as it’s holiday season. Link back to this post if you decide to have a go.