Peake-o-matic

2010-12-07T23:28:00.000Z

A little frosty this morning.

2009-05-01T22:42:00.001+01:00

2009-05-01T22:34:00.002+01:00

Hi . I've been away for a while and these images are a year old now. This house now has an architect's family loving in it.

2008-02-24T18:32:00.000Z

2008-02-02T13:30:00.000Z

2008-01-15T14:23:00.000Z

2007-12-18T21:09:00.000Z

House Update Update

2007-11-17T08:27:00.000Z

House Update

2007-10-21T20:03:00.000+01:00

House News

2007-10-07T21:27:00.000+01:00

Back in May I reported on the destruction of one of my favourite old houses just outside Ely. A new structure is taking shape in it's place so here are some pictures. it looks like it might be something imaginitive. I hope so.

Apologies for my lack of blogging over the last few months. We've had the builders in and it's not over yet!

2007-08-27T00:23:00.000+01:00

2007-08-27T00:21:00.000+01:00

More Glasgow

2007-08-27T00:16:00.000+01:00

Glasgow

2007-08-27T00:10:00.000+01:00

We have just been to Glasgow for a few days so I tool a few photos. They are not in any particular order I'm afraid.

Captioning the Imagination

2007-08-13T20:50:00.000+01:00

I took this in the Zoological Museum in Cambridge last week. It's crying out for a witty caption. Any ideas?

3ft Snail Loose in Hertfordshire

2007-08-04T08:26:00.000+01:00

I spent yesterday at the 13th National Pottery and Ceramics Festival at Hatfield House, in Hertfordshire. This beastie was lurking by one of the tents.

Even More Beach Huts

2007-06-25T00:08:00.000+01:00

More Beach Huts

2007-06-25T00:05:00.000+01:00

Beach Huts

2007-06-25T00:02:00.000+01:00

One of those quirky English seaside traditions, the beach hut. About 200 on the beach at Wells-next -the-sea. Some are very smart and some are derelict. Some are just bizarre. I like the smart ones the least.

More WNTS beach

2007-06-24T23:55:00.000+01:00

Wells-next-the-Sea beach

2007-06-24T23:53:00.000+01:00

Stiffkey Salt Marshes

2007-06-24T23:46:00.000+01:00

The marshes by day and sunset

Stiffkey Salt Marshes

2007-06-24T23:38:00.000+01:00

The campsite was a stones-throw away from these salt marshes.

Still a little rusty

2007-06-24T23:28:00.000+01:00

We went camping in north Norfolk last weekend. I couln't help taking a few snaps of these sea-bitten pieces of metal.

Getting a bit rusty

2007-06-22T20:23:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry for my lack of replies to your recent comments (thanks for them) and my lack of posts. I've some good new material, though, so watch this space!

Bringing the house down

2007-05-07T08:19:00.000+01:00

A while ago I posted some pictures of a deserted house on the road into Ely. Just look at it now.

Visit to West Stow

2007-04-15T20:12:00.000+01:00

Over the Easter break we visited West Stow, near Midenhall in Suffolk. It is about half an hours drive from our house. There was an Anglo-Saxon settlement there which has been excavated over the last thirty or so years. The houses that you can see are experimental reconstructions using what evidence the archaeologists can glean from their findings, combined with trial and error.
The building resembling a thatched tent was one of the first and least successful, the latter ones improving tangentially. The original houses seem to have been built over pits with posts set into them. A floor, walls, roof etc were then added, using them as supports.

On high days and holidays there are people occupying the place in authentic costume, demonstrating how life may have looked then. As we were there on a week day, the only residents were these two pigs (who occupy this very luxurious sty).

2007-04-11T09:43:00.000+01:00

2007-04-11T09:38:00.000+01:00

2007-04-11T09:30:00.000+01:00

Just a few of the finds from the castle grounds.

Ye Olde Sudeley Castley

2007-04-11T09:25:00.000+01:00

Over Easter we visited my brother and his family in the West Country. We went for a look around Sudeley Castle (near Wichcombe, Gloucestershire) and it's grounds. I had never heard of the place before, though it was marvellous. It has a long and lively history, mad topiary and a church within its grounds containing the tomb of Catherine Parr (the sixth wife of Henry VIII). The church and castle were recently used for the wedding of Elizabeth Hurley, though don't let that put you off.

Swings and Roundabouts

2007-04-11T09:04:00.000+01:00

Octagon at Night

2007-03-10T20:19:00.000Z

I took this photo in Ely the other night. It's as clear as I could manage, bearing in mind I was trying to steady the camera on the top of the car in the dark. Anyway, I'm posting this for Biene, who sent me a photo of the interior of this wooden structure on top of Ely cathedral. A stone tower once stood there, but it came crashing down a few hundred years ago.

Happy Lunar Eclipse!

2007-03-03T17:03:00.000Z

A New Year's Toast

2006-12-31T11:38:00.000Z

Crumbs! Another year has nearly gone.

I was eating my breakfast this morning and look who appeared. Do you like my polar bear? Perhaps he came to tell me to do my bit to fight global warming this year.

Happy New Year to all.

Bleak House

2006-12-22T21:56:00.000Z

I posted a photo of this deserted house back in August. It has been bought by someone, but they have just boarded it up. I wonder what the new owner would think if I was to sneak in and put some Christmas decorations up.

London Lights II

2006-11-14T13:43:00.000Z

London Lights

2006-11-14T13:33:00.000Z

I started playing with my camera on the coach home to see what I could do with the 'firework display' setting and the city lights. They are a bit gimmicky, but some of these photos seem to work quite well.

2006-11-14T13:22:00.000Z

There were several stencilled signs like this on the walls of the Tate Modern. I don't know whose words they are. I doubt that they have a career in politics, though.

A Day Out

2006-11-14T12:15:00.000Z

Yesterday I went to London. It's not that far, really, but I am reluctant to go there without a good reason. This time I was helping to accompany a coach full of teenage art students. First port of call (an hour late due to the gridlocked traffic) was the National Gallery (above). It's holding a major exhibition of Velazquez paintings. I would have loved to have seen them, but we only had an hour or so there and I would rather return when I have time to take some of it in.
I did get to see one of the most breathtaking paintings in the world, though - to me, at least. Rembrandt's A Woman Bathing in a Stream is not a highly finished piece of work. It is not very large and it doesn't involve cleverly worked out compositions. It is, however, the most moving and beautiful painting that I have ever seen.

Later we moved on to the Tate Modern. This is a particularly ugly old power station which has been converted into a major art gallery. Those silver tubes are slides which you can pay to descend, all in the name of art. The ultimate dumbing down of culture has arrived.

Of course, no major art gallery would be complete without several coffee slurperies. this one does have a great view of St. Paul's Cathedral. The photo below was taken from the balcony.

Fun guy seeks recognition

2006-10-31T20:34:00.000Z

Here I grow,
Upon a log-
Small and black and white.
Protuding into the darkness
On Halloween night.

Not sure about my genus,
Though I've looked through the leaves.
I'd try the mighty google
But I have trouble with the keys.

So I'll just keep on growing,
So quiet and so slowly-
While all around me chase their tales
I'm cool with being lowly.

Scary, eh?

2006-10-07T21:12:00.000+01:00

Stoke Ferry Blues

2006-09-20T22:24:00.000+01:00

I've been to the Norfolk village of Stoke Ferry twice at the week-end. On Sunday there was a sort of village fair, the culmination of alocal festival.

House at the end of our road

2006-09-15T22:00:00.000+01:00

Who would live in a house like this?

The Wild East

2006-09-08T16:17:00.000+01:00

A few pictures taken this morning on the way back from Ely.

2006-09-06T18:53:00.000+01:00

2006-09-03T21:12:00.000+01:00

2006-09-03T21:05:00.000+01:00

Dunstable Delights

2006-09-03T20:50:00.000+01:00

We spent last night with some friends in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. I took these while we were wandering around. The sky was not really magenta when I took the bottom picture (looking up into an electricity pylon).

2006-08-31T17:12:00.000+01:00

2006-08-31T17:01:00.000+01:00

I have been back to this house to take a few more pictures. I managed to squeeze Ely Cathedral into some of the shots.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

2006-08-31T00:36:00.000+01:00

There is a park in Ely, by the river, in which the council have placed a water-feature consisting of a rock with water cascading over it. Under it he Muscovy duck chicks have learned to gather, and aren't they sweeeet?

2006-08-29T21:46:00.000+01:00

Today I went to Ely to take a look at an exhibition of 1930's photographs by the american Walker Evans. I had not heard of him before, though he's probably really famous.

I stopped on the way to take a digital photo of this house. It belonged to an old man who sold fire wood from the shed at the side. I bought a sack once, only to find that it contained large chunks of a solid mahogany door. I wondered whether he was actually dismantling his house bit by bit and selling it. I never had the heart to burn the wood.

Now the house is empty and has just been sold. Iwanted to get a picture of it before it is demolished to make way for an all-too-neat annoyance (as it undoubtably will be).

The exhibition was marvellous. The photographs portrayed the gritty reality of The Great Depression in glorious black and white. They have a stark impact which has not softened in the 70 years since they were taken.

I couldn't help doctoring my picture in an attempt to add some of the brooding mood of the Walker Evans photographs, hence the monotone version. Of course, it is a pale imitation, but today has made me think of taking more pictures to document the times. Many of the items and places in those 1930's photos have more interest to us because of their age, but would have been familiar and commonplace in their day. What would you think would fascinate people in 70 years time about us?

The Derwent

2006-08-29T00:16:00.000+01:00

Rivers don't get much better than this. This is the river Derwent as it passes by Hathersage.

Rowan Berries

2006-08-28T23:58:00.001+01:00

The campsite in Edale had dozens of Mountain Ash, or Rowan, trees. All of them were covered with berries. I have never seen them as productive before. Does this bode well or ill for the coming winter?

Inside Treak Cliff Cavern

2006-08-28T21:58:00.000+01:00

We visited Treak Cliff Cavern, a mine in the only hill in which Blue John stone is mined. Blue John is a semi-precious mineral with blue and yellow striations. it is reputedly named after the French translation 'bleu jaune', though it has been mined since Roman times. Two vases made of it were found in Pompeii. These pictures don't feature any of the sought-after mineral, just some mineral formations deep inside the caves.

Rock at Entrance to Peak Cavern

2006-08-28T21:54:00.000+01:00

Peak Cavern Entrance

2006-08-27T09:05:00.000+01:00

The terraces inside Peak Cavern used to be used by rope makers, producing rope for local tin mining. Demonstrations of their techniques form the first part of the tour into the cavern.

Peveril Castle

2006-08-27T08:25:00.000+01:00

The Norman ruin of Peveril Castle is worth climbing the steep, zig-zagging path for. It never had the scale or imposing solidity of many castles, but it's location made sure that people for many miles around had a constant reminder of who was in power. It did not, however, offer any defence against marauding giant children.

Approach to Peak Cavern

2006-08-27T08:01:00.000+01:00

Castleton, in the High Peaks of Derbyshire, is a small town sitting against a hill. Cutting into the hill, like a slice taken out of a dutch cheese, is a gorge which leads to a huge cavern. Out of the cavern flows a stream which is populated by brown trout. At the top of the gorge, right on the edge, (top left of the middle photo) sits the keep of Peveril Castle, though it isn't visible because of the trees.

The Peakes in The Peaks vol.I

2006-08-26T08:54:00.000+01:00

I must admit that I always feel a bit queasy when people produce their holiday snaps for me to peruse. We have just spent a week in the Peak District (in the northwest of the UK, just to the southeast of Manchester) and I took far too many photographs, as usual. How many can I put on this blog without it becoming tedious? We shall see.

This is the view from the tent in Edale.

My Cake

2006-08-24T20:29:00.000+01:00

40

2006-08-24T19:37:00.000+01:00

Today is my 40th birthday.

Wandering Off

2006-08-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

We're off camping tomorrow in the Peak District (in a place called Edale) for a few days . The weather forecast is terrible, so I am taking my tax return with me to keep me occupied. I only wish I was joking.

Ants

2006-08-06T23:41:00.000+01:00

You tend to forget about these little sweeties. There they are under the ground, plotting their moment of glory. You are completely oblivious of their plans until they decide, on a muggy day like this, that the time is right to fly. Last year they were unfortunate enough to meet a party of migrant hawker dragon flies, who devoured most of them. This year they didn't have that problem, though I expect they have kept a few hopeful queens in reserve.

We spend our lives fretting about the things that concern us. All the while nature carries on regardless. I know which species I would put my money on in the survival stakes.

James Taylor Quartet Gig

2006-08-06T23:17:00.000+01:00

Last night we went to see the phenomenal James Taylor Quartet. play at a very small festival at a nearby pub. It's called the 'Five Miles Inn'. The old pub there was called 'The Five Miles from Anywhere, No hurry Inn' as it could only be reached by horse or boat. It's a great setting by the River Ouse, and I can't remember having a beter night out. JTQ are a very funky, jazzy powerful band. The pictures do not do them justice. Hopefully they will come back next year, n which case I invite everybody I know here to come to see them.

Lacewings in my primrose, gave the game away..

2006-08-06T23:10:00.000+01:00

I noticed yesterday morning that lacewings had taken up residence in our evening primrose. Does anyone have any idea why?

2006-08-01T13:17:00.000+01:00

I also got quite excited about the patterns on this leaf, which I found lurking in the wheelbarrow. Perhaps I should try to get out more.

2006-08-01T13:04:00.000+01:00

A while ago I posted a photo of the globe artichokes in the garden. We was looking forward to them. As my attentions have been elsewhere, they got left. Last night I was chopping back some huge nettles when I rediscovered them, now all flowering. we will have to wait until next year to have any to eat, but I did think that they looked fabulous.

My Girls

2006-07-25T23:38:00.000+01:00

Well, it was a big day yesterday. Barbie married Action Man. Actually he was a second hand imitation from a charity shop, dressed as a Guantanamo Bay escapee. Never mind, quite a few toys, plus my two daughters, marked the occasion in style. Today I was told that they had produced a baby already.

2006-07-22T20:51:00.000+01:00

Well, I don't really know how to begin here. I've just looked back over my blog. I haven't posted anything for over a month and, although I remember writing it, I lived in a different world then.

It's been a very long and hard month. To get to the point, I went over to Northamptonshire to see my parents and help out a little ( my Mum had just had a heart operation) and she collapsed and died just before I was due to leave.

She was quite a woman. Proud of her Welsh roots, highly gregarious and with a strong desire to help people in need. A lot of people are going to miss her, especially her family.

I'm back now, anyway. Normal posting will be resuming in due course. It may just take me a while to get up to speed.

2006-06-16T19:12:00.000+01:00

I've seen so many good garden pictures on blogs lately that I thought I'd add to the celebration of summer.

I found the bug outside the other day. I've since found that he is a woundwort shieldbug, eysarcoris fabricii, one of the true bugs. They like stachys palustris (woundwort) and white dead nettle, both of which grow all over our garden. Proof that my no-gardening methods are working. All that inactivity is paying dividends. He is about 8mm long. More here. Since then we have found quite a few.

The spiky-looking plant is Caper spurge, euphorbia lathyris. Poisonous, supposedly repellant to moles, architecturally bizarre. I like them.

The delphiniums are really the neighbours, but we share a low fence so they decorate our garden too.

Lastly, the best plants out there as far as I am concerned. The globe artichokes have come on well. We don't get that many but they are a welcome summer delicacy.

What will bee will bee

2006-06-11T21:45:00.000+01:00

Our neighbour came round on Friday to say 'You've got bees', she said. She was right. A swarm of honey bees had chosen one of our chimney pots to call home. Twenty to thirty thousand of them, apparently. I called the local council. 'We don't do bees' I was told, but I was given the number of a local bee keeper. He came straight round, keen to capture them to put into one of his hives. Unfortunately, the chimney in question is not really accessible, but luckily he had a plan. He produced a 'nucleus hive'. This is just a mini bee hive with a few sheets of honeycombed beeswax in it. Into this he put sugared water to attract the bees, the idea being to offer them a more attractive home than our chimney.

Well, the bees took the bait. They kept coming down, finding their way into the hive via the door at the bottom. One can be seen going in on the photo. The bee keeper left the hive on our kitchen roof all day, his plan apparently working.

Just before dark, the bee keeper returned to take the hive away. We dressed, with due solemnity, in bee keeping smocks with integral face protection. I held the ladder while he ascended to retrieve the hive. Once it was down, we carried it carefully to his car. It was then that he became concerned that the hive was unusually quiet. He took a peek inside. Two drowsy bees looked out of an otherwise empty hive. The rotters had robbed the hive of the sugar and fled.

Well at least they had gone. They were no longer crawling over the chimney pot -Until the next day, when they returned and set up camp in the next chimney pot. I ended up trying to remove them by lighting a fire (on the hottest day of the year). This wouldn't harm them, but it should have given them the urge to leave. They took no notice at all.

So they are still up there, though they are keeping a lower profile today.

C'est la bee.

Goodnight Llangorse

2006-06-10T00:06:00.000+01:00

Slate roof flora

2006-06-09T23:58:00.000+01:00

2006-06-09T23:31:00.000+01:00

2006-06-09T14:51:00.000+01:00

Views from Tabletop mountain.

2006-06-09T14:43:00.000+01:00

The view from the top of the Sugarloaf

The view coming down.

Woods on the path up to Sugarloaf mountain

2006-06-09T14:35:00.000+01:00

A not-so-old ruin

2006-06-09T14:29:00.000+01:00

Old Ruins

2006-06-09T14:19:00.000+01:00

Llanthony Abbey

Tretower castle

Around Crickhowell

2006-06-06T20:59:00.000+01:00

We stayed at 'The Neuadd' in Llangattock, near Crickhowell, South Wales, last week. The top view was taken looking out of the courtyard. The middle photo is the canal and the bottom one is part of Ye ruined castle. more ruins to follow!

2006-06-06T15:00:00.000+01:00

Well, I'm back from the land of song. We had a wonderful week in glorious sunshine. We took over 300 photographs. 300! I know how tedious it can be to look at holiday snaps, so I'll limit them by trying to mustering up some artistic integrity.
Thanks for the nice comments!

This is a little church by Llangorse.

Q.How do you get two whales in a car?

2006-05-26T15:15:00.000+01:00

A. Drive south along the M5 and turn off at the M50.

(Joke courtesy of my daughter Ella's jokebook).

We are just packing for a week's holiday in sunny W(h)ales. Hopefully I'll report back with some pictures of mountains and tales from the valleys.

More smug springiness

2006-05-23T11:47:00.000+01:00

Our neighbours are on holiday at the moment. I'm sure they are living it up, being pampered and soaking up the sun. Who needs all that when one can sit in the garden and watch the flowers coming into their own? The lilac bush has been sporting stunning white blossom and the bluebells have fought their way through the undergrowth. I'm not sure whether the bluebells are native English ones or Spanish invaders, but they are very welcome.

May Blossom

2006-05-21T22:15:00.000+01:00

I took this when I had a walk around the fen tonight. The picture doesn't really do it justice, but the hawthorn blossom looked resplendent in the evening sun.

Boots II

2006-05-19T12:06:00.000+01:00

Holly Blue

2006-05-16T23:30:00.000+01:00

Saw this little lovely on our raspberrycanes today. Not currently particularly rare, but we're trashing this planet so competently at the moment that we must enjoy these pleasures while we can.

2006-05-14T21:10:00.000+01:00

New blog

2006-05-09T13:24:00.000+01:00

Like everyone in the Fens I see more of the sky than is good for me. I have created a blog in its honour. Hope it's of some interest.

It's here. Many thanks to Annie for showing how to put links here!

Boots and Konik Ponies

2006-05-07T18:59:00.000+01:00

Boots spotted in an Ely back-street. An homage to Annie's photo. They have been there for years. There are horseshoes on the line too. This picture also features St Mary's Church, Ely Cathedral and the Alms Houses and possibly Oliver Cromwell's house, but not from the usual tourist angles.

Wild Konik ponies at Wicken Fen, Cambridgeshire. These wetland ponies have been introduced in the last few years and are making a positive impact on the re-created fenland.

2006-05-04T22:46:00.000+01:00

Took this ducky pic a few days ago on a river by this pub.( called Jude's Ferry, near Mildenhall)

2006-05-03T18:37:00.000+01:00

I went to the shops today and took a couple of photo's of Ely Cathedral. It is known as 'The Ship of The Fens' as it is on the only hill in a flat landscape and can be seen for many miles. It's huge, though, living very nearby and seeing it all the time, I forget it's there sometimes.
The grey tower is a wooden construction called the octagon, which was built to replace a previous stone one which collapsed 700(ish) years ago.

First attempts at haiku

2006-05-01T18:47:00.000+01:00

Restless sea drifts past
Peering through the telescope
Present sees past drift.

or...

Seaside memories.
Peering through the telescope.
Present sees past drift

or...

There was a young lad called Mike Pugh
Who endlessly dreamed up haiku.
His family despaired
At how badly he fared
And told him 'We no longer like you!'

A day in Southwold, Suffolk

2006-04-30T07:59:00.000+01:00

We went to the seaside for the day yesterday for a bit of bracing air. Southwold is an old fashioned and quirky resort on the east coast of England. It hasn't the brash pseudo-Vegasian aspirations of many seaside towns. No gawdy neon signs or 'kiss-me-quick' hats. Brighton Rock could not have been set here. On it's plus side, however, there is a pier with a small arcade containing the most bizarre attractions. They were all from the imagination of Tim Hunkin: http://www.underthepier.com/index.htm

There is also an excellent fish and chip shop in town called Mark's.

2006-04-26T14:11:00.000+01:00

Spring is now reluctantly beginning here. This little chap appeared yesterday. Despite his ponty nose, he's a harmless bee fly, or bombylius major to his friends. He's about hlf an inch long. Not that uncommon, but a sign of the end of winter. I also saw two bats in the garden last night. I didn't attempt to photograph them, so I took a photo of the sunset instead.

No Pictures!

2006-04-20T23:12:00.000+01:00

Having been updated on the antics of Annie's feathered and web-footed friends across the pond, I tried to get a reaction from our UK amphibious contingent. Unforunately they were not at liberty to comment.

On a different theme

2006-04-16T21:38:00.000+01:00

As I mentioned, I'm in a group of varied artists and we meet up for life drawing regularly. No sinister mystery about this pen and ink sketch, but I like its simple solidity so I thought I'd post it.

But these are.... ..

2006-04-16T21:32:00.000+01:00

These are a couple of monoprints, both about 8 by 10 inches. Hopefully they convey some of the qualities of the painting below, but using landscape.

This isn't mine

2006-04-16T21:22:00.000+01:00

This is not one of my paintings, unfortunately. It was painted by my wife, Bridget, when she was at college. I like the sense of sinister mystery here, as well as the way it was composed and painted. I try to make my images quite ambiguous in an attempt to keep the viewer wondering.