19th May 2007
Been away to the south of France for 4 days last weekend arriving back Tuesday this week. Stayed in Nice and took day trips to Monaco (Monte Carlo) and Eze. We did plan to get to Cannes but there was not enough time and anyway it’s nice to have a bit of time to relax. It was superb all round. Great location and I think a great place to live providing one had lots of money. I would certainly go back at some point. I’ll post some photos shortly.

30th April 2007

The weather has been dry and warm and although a cool eastern breeze has been blowing the overall weekend scenario has been one of spring pleasantness. Spent the whole of Friday trying to repair the car but this can only be facilitated by a new part that has to be ordered. So no car now likely till sometime this week. On Saturday installed a water feature in the yard (see pic) which now transforms the ambience of quiet moments to another level. The sound of water is elemental to all of us and now it merges with the birdsong and breeze into an echo of simplertimes. Strange that as how our lives get more and more complex we relax by returning to the simple sounds and sensations of nature. The latest DVD and cinema surround pales to the sensation of warmth and the chimingring of water overflowing from pool to pool. Good buy.

3rd May 2007

Well still warm and dry and set to continue into the weekend. I could get used to this but a little water would be helpful for the plants in the garden. I have a lot of ferns and they could use some moisture about now. Car still at the clinic (my brother is repairing it for me.) "If only everything in life was as reliable as a Volkswagen." Wasn’t thatthe line they used in the ads…hmm!!!It’s a bank holiday weekend so we all get a day off on Monday…hooray!! I am sure I shall think of something to do with the extra time. I shall probably sit among the bluebells growing under the damsons and ponder the meaning of life. Take some crusty bread, cheese and pickle and a bottle of "San Pellegrino" which incidentally is my favourite water. I normally wouldn’t pay for bottled water but this water convinces me otherwise. Slightly effervescent and sweet…superb.

http://www.sanpellegrino.com/flash_site/storia.asp

Upon the greenest grass that carpets the arching slopes of land that I call my garden I shall stop and sit among the emerging growth and ponder questions that disseminate body from soul, convincing me that there is ameasure of hope and that ultimately there will be joy. It is best for me not move openly toward revelation any longer for I can see I have strode through my life with a measure of certitude that belies the conflicts that rage just below the surface of humanity. For we are all bodies held together with water and bone in a physical world that can only fail for each of us in turn. (Though at times interspersed within the pain is how amazing, bright and warm and carefree that failing may be.) For we are given to inhabit a world that is a paradise and our great test is to watch it fail and still remain true to both ourselves and all those around us. It is the hardest thing but it will set us free. Both on this Earth and beyond.

25th April 2007

Well an exciting 24 hours…I broke down on the motorway last night and couldn’t move the car out of the traffic lane. So thanks to all those wonderful people who tooted their horns and waved their hands like I had done it all on purpose…what a bunch of cretins! Nick to the rescue; so lucky I was close to where he lives. It was I suppose, funny in an annoying kind of way. Still a few glasses of wine and some food put it all behind me but it looks like I shall have to take a day off work Friday to get it sorted out. I managed to limp home from Nick’s this morning without incident.

Watched an amazing documentary on Japanese giant hornets last night…wow! They are big, big sisters and vicious. Watch this amazing National geographic clip

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1012_051012_hornet_video.html

Have a great day…weathers turning warmer again here so looks like being a nice weekend.

24th April 2007

What a difference a few days can make to the weather. Gone the clear blue skies and warm evenings into brooding ashen skies hurling incessant rain down upon us. Worse still the wet weather has awoken the beast we in the north of the UK all fear the most…the microscopic bloodsucking midge. Quite the most interminable nuisance and completely mercenary. Nothing can prepare you for them and nothing deters them and whoopee! We’ve got a whole summer of their company to look forward to.

http://www.treesforlife.org.uk/tfl.midge.html

Still the unseasonable warm weather got me ahead in the garden. It is looking naturally magnificent. A wild mostly untamed beast slowly coming to life and shading the hillside with a pale and translucent green that soothes away all worry. I bought 21 Rosemary plants to edge along the raised bed in front of the swing and shall plant them when the weather brightens up. It is one of my favourite herbs and makes a wicked potato dish.

Take 1 onion and chop roughly. In a pan heat olive oil and fry onions till clear, add cubed potatoes and fry gently adding a couple of crushed garlic cloves. Raise the heat and begin to brown but don’t overstir or you’ll make the whole thing mushy. Take 2 stems of rosemary and strip the leaves from the woody stems and chop roughly. Add to the potatoes and leave long enough to infuse and enjoy with a plain fried tuna steak or leg of lamb braised in the oven with thyme, red wine and anchovies.

Even nicer washed down with a glass of USA Turning Leaf Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or a good Australian Red. But not a French wine under any circumstance, well maybe a Chateau-Neuf –Du –Pape but that’s about it. Generally I find French wine thin and vile…. It is always reassuring bad and now I never, ever buy it.

My sister has just come back from India (she has a house in Goa) and while she was there was tracing family history and thinks without a shadow of doubt that my grandfather was a certain minor royal called Prince Omar from Afghanistan. I had sort of figured that out when I looked in the mirror though. So burqa me I’m practically Taleban. Think I’ll keep that quiet.

I got my 30 year long service award letter today from work and then promptly lost it…so I’ll be in trouble tomorrow. Hope somebody finds it and hands it in.

Have a good week

Swans swiftly glide and clouds slide
Without tedium, on a still clear medium
Vista’s of calm, that stem from dawn
To ease a heart and joyful a day start

15th April 2007

A late afternoon sun glances off daffodils and dapples the wood anemone that sit below the willow tree which has begun to drop its catkins like a thousand furry caterpillars. They lie on the ground as a fading yellow velveteen carpet. I have also my first magnolia flower this weekend and it is the most delicate pink. A fitting remembrance for those wonderful pets that nourished us in life and now nourish the world’s beauty as they sleep.

It has been an incredible weekend! Mediterranean in warmth and sunshine and last night I sat in the yard with vino, black olives and wonderful French ewes milk cheese called Ossau-Iraty.

http://www.worldsfoods.com/view.asp?prod_ID=2968

It is like creamy, mellow, sweet Parmesan. It is sublime. Cheese and bread and wine…perfect! I am discovering that products from Sheep and goats are in some ways better than cows. Wow 46 and still so much to try and learn. I fixed Nick’s computer but couldn’t fix Mike’s…I can’t win everything I guess. I keep stubbornly trying though!

I read a sad story about bees today. Apparently they may be disorientated by mobile phones. Can you imagine a world without these insects in it. Neither can I. It was Einstein who said that without bees man would perish within four years. Read it for yourself here…

http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece

Hope you too have had a wonderful weekend.

7.30am 13.04.2007

Here's the garden this morning just s the sun was rising. Been up to water the cabbage and uncover the straw from the Gunnera...its going to be 75F today (24 C) and warm across the weekend.

Just had a thought that it's a black friday so take care.

Have a great weekend.

12th April 2007

It’s been drier and warmer than the Costa Brava over the last few days here in England. Shame I have to be working but at least I can enjoy the dinnertime around the small reservoirs at work. They are home to various waterfowl and a kingfisher also makes intermittent appearances. They are the nearest things to a hummingbird we have here. You can’t imagine the thrill of the rapid flash of electric blue as it flies by. Like a huge whirring butterfly. It is so hard to see them properly, but nice to know they are around…they are a good sign of the health of the waterways.

I managed to sell my speakers but the whole thing has got complicated and likely the sale will fall through. Seems to be a case of proxy bidding by someone in Germany. Looks like I will have to relist them. Oh well I shall read the Janet Street-Porter column in the Independent newspaper for a while. She always cheers me up. She’s stimulating like Germaine Greer but better looking. Click on the link and see if you agree. She’s an ardent walker too.

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_m_z/janet_street_porter/

Another refreshing columnist is Tracey Emin…woman of questionable artistry but wonderful to have around for dinner I guess. Couldn’t see her doing the cooking.

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/tracey_emin/article2437606.ece

In fact the whole Independent web site is great…have a look around. Sometimes a bit hypocritical but most of the media is by having a moral stance and yet maintaining their incestuous relationship with the advertisers. In fact sitting on the bench in the garden reading and listening to the woodpecker tapping away at the Sycamore has done me the world of good. It’s a Great Spotted Woodpecker by the way. Click on the link

http://www.naturegrid.org.uk/biodiversity/birds/woodpeck.htm#great

So summer glimpses through spring days scattering sunlight through arching branches tracing the open sky and clothed in vestigial buds that feel the sun and call for syrup delved deep below the earth. It is the elixir of sweet winter rain caught and held within the trees chambered, wooden cisterns infused with the last summer’s essence stored for this moment. The sap rises and rushes to the end of every twig and the sylvan ships of state unfurl green sails to set before the fair winds of rebirth.

6th April 2007

Been to Cheshire to Tatton Park AND Dunham Massey with Nick today and the weather was perfect open blue sky and lots of sunshine. The gardens and houses were both magnificent. Hope you enjoy the pictures. See the one of the Gunnera Manicata creeping like huge green snails toward the waters edge - fantastic! There are also 2 links to the National Trust about both properties. I have taken some from the Tatton Park website and placed it below. Nice for us both to have a day off work and go out exploring.

Have a great Easter

This is one of the most complete historic estates open to visitors. The early 19th-century Wyatt house sits amid a landscaped deer park and is opulently decorated, providing a fine setting for the Egerton family's collections of pictures, books, china, glass, silver and specially commissioned Gillows furniture. The theme of Victorian grandeur extends into the garden, with its Fernery, Orangery, Rose Garden, Tower Garden, Pinetum, and Italian and Japanese gardens. The restored Walled Garden includes a Kitchen Garden and magnificent glasshouses, where traditional methods of gardening are used. Other features include the Tudor old hall, a 1930s working rare breeds farm, a children's play area, speciality shops and 400-hectare (1,000-acre) deer park.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-tattonpark/

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-vh/w-visits/w-findaplace/w-dunhammassey/

4th mar 2007

Easter is here so soon with the weather set to fair for the whole period. I am going to do a little gardening a lot of eating and read my vintage three-volume set of books on British Abbeys and Cathedrals. I have a pair of Tannoy’s for sale on e-bay (see if you can find them? Think of it like the hunt for the egg,) which ends Easter Sunday but currently no takers…ahhh!!

Awash in sunlight we strive to make each day a wonder
Count it made warm, special and joyous because it will,
Recede, leaving only a glimpsed memory and who but a fool
Wishes to look back upon these days with a sigh of regret

2nd April 2007

I’m sitting in the yard tonight even though it’s 7pm and the sun has slipped away from sight. Now descending from above, to tingle fingers and cheeks comes a touch of cooler air. My senses heighten, sharpen and become more creative in application. Mosquitoes dance in a group of eight a few feet from my face to the warbling song of the blackbird chanting a hypnotic avian evensong. Tulips and daffodils form a crescent swathe at my feet and as the light changes so too does their vibrant colour, intensifying in the gloom like a paradoxical truth of evening. Now I hear crows and a solitary pigeon. One spitting harridan curses and the other a tender cooing lullaby and through it all weaves the blackbird and now a robin. And oh, it is all staggeringly restful, till at last the chorus stills at 8pm as night approaches. Now all I hear is the sound of passing cars like a rushing wind heard at the top of high hills. Time for some warmth.

Spring is here with something man cannot make
Warming dusk, lighting nights and watering dawns
My heart for its worth is here and beats in time
For summer is knocking and spring opens the gate
So take joy in these days and reflect on each sign
The world is at last awake and tonight it is mine

01.04.2007
First day of April today but I figure you’d all worked that one out. Been in the garden and also to Whalley Abbey today with Nick. Whalley abbey is in the Ribble valley close to Clitheroe and is the most amazing place (if only to see the damage caused by the reformation.) It is always sad to see how much damage occurred to our abbeys and cathedrals but then positively to think the wonderful country we have now and our unique British traits are probably due to it. See the beautiful gardens with its magnificent magnolia and dry stone terrace and the Abbey ruins. How splendid to buy the Observer and sit among the well kept gardens reading all the latest news. Not that much of it is good but we can hope for better days. That is the essence of the spring.

It has been cool but sensationally sunny with clear blue skies all the way through the day. I took a lot of pictures so I hope you enjoy them. Some are of the garden as I was walking around so I hope you can get a feel for it. Looks quite bare with all the leafless trees but that will change soon. Already the bare branches spout green vestigial leaves. Also my first bumblebee, some moss and yellowish forsythia set against the azure sky.

Hope you’ve had a good daytoo .

31st march 2007
The weather has been cool but full of glorious sunshine that escaped from behind the clouds in intermittent bursts. I hung some pictures, then sat in the yard, read a book and it was so nice to feel warmth outdoors again. I had such a contented afternoon and it was so relaxing I fell asleep at one point…but maybe that’s the age thing creeping in. Still with fresh air delivered on a breeze and the birdsong wrapped in sunshine anyone could find that soporific. I can’t believe Easter is upon us next weekend and am looking forward to a four-day break. Shall be in the garden and around the house for most of it and if I am really lucky spending another afternoon like today. Have a great weekend and take the best care.

Hello...back at last after what seem years. Well sometimes other things have to take precedence to this. Still the long bright nights are back and as the temperatures climb you shall find me sat in the garden making full use of this wireless technology. Sorry if anyone has been clicking on here and finding nothing to see. That's about to change...get ready for a year in pictures.

Ok maybe not vintage hi-fi...but a pure classic nontheless. The best DR WHO ever and a mean Duke of Norfolk too. A great Lancashire boy who does us proud.

26th Feb 2007

It has been the most beautiful evening, (indeed the most beautiful day.) Clear azure sky with a gentle flowing breeze that scents the air with a gentle fragrance of pine swept down from the lofty hill behind the house. It carries to my ears sounds from the distance that take me to a memory of a place so distant I can no longer remember it even though I know it is buried deep within me. It is the long forgotten reverberations from a perfect happy day which ended on such an evening like this one.
How wonderful it to be older (assuming one has not become too wise.) I no longer need imagined adventure to excite me and am perfectly content just to have this evening. So I am spending it sitting in the cool air under tall trees, while my feathered allies lull my sense to rapture with their songs. I can hear the traffic but I simply close my eyes and imagine the scent of pine becomes the salty breath of the sea. The outdoors is where I can simply be and dream and the greatest joy of all is, I do not dream alone. For I have a heart to share and by taking a part of it all my wishes come true.
Hey it’s nearly March...take the best care of yourself

Click on thepicture below for a greeting

21st Feb 2007

The rain has faded once again and the water that shimmered along the leathered branches ceased. I see the last drop fall from and oaken limb and wonder...If a raindrop can travel as vapour a thousand miles over the ocean borne by the Atlantic winds my spirit may travel anywhere.

Once the rain had gone we saw a cool day with ambered light filtering through the clouds that weaved sparse filigree across the sky. Mr Blackbird has feasted on my Christmas pudding for days and shows no sign of growing sated. He looks at me through the kitchen window and it’s silly but he knows who his benefactor is. Just as well he enjoys it then. He has one annoying habit and that is chasing away the robins and thrushes that also come. That’s what they mean by pecking order I guess. Sometimes I hate the working week and the way we only get to see the smallest part of the natural world at the beginning and end of the day. I feel a need at the minute to be in the garden and working on some small project. Just to be able to sit and observe all that is growing and going on. I feel that a garden needs witness and testament and cant wait for the light evenings to return and last through to 9pm.

20th Feb 2007
Dawn rose with wan light sifting through a leaden sky to trace all the day in a grey aura of predictability and then to fall slowly and insignificantly away to night. Come back sunshine and joy for otherwise it is a slow journey through these days.
Still it’s daylight to 6pm and the birds sing at both ends of the day so that raises the spirits and gladdens the heart that spring is creeping ever closer. Small crocus dot the grass like colours on an artist’s palette and the blank canvas of the maestri is now prepared for the yellow base of springs brushstrokes.

18th Feb 2007

Day beckons night with a gentle exhale that trembles grey skies laid with ivory sails floating high on a western wind. Soft shapes of fluid calm floating lost in the world; they plough a moonlit furrow across the night sky. If it were summer then moths would awake and flutter velvet wings in mossy crevices before flying hither with soft, firm beats on the sultry air to feed on the crumbs of the night.

Tonight has seen a blue background laid with clouds of immense size that hang swollen and brooding like smoke-grey mountains. Looking to the distance I can no longer see where the earth ends and the skies begin. I become a part of this world as I peer into the sky and see a soul astride two astral worlds. A large part of me is lost to this world and belongs wholly with you in the next.

12th Feb 2007

The snow came brief and shallow ultimately dissolving into days of warmer disposition. See the change as the diminutive trailing hazel catkins now stretch downward and ripen to golden to release their pollen. Magnolia buds now swell and peonies push their purple snouts through the watery soil. The blackbird no longer comers around in the morning to watch me make my sandwiches and wantonly beg for food like a lost orphan. He has other things to do now the new days are here…now that the light is expanding in every direction, illuminating the days to a greater length and warmth.Perhaps he is just doing them earlier and and has already been and gone before I rise. Perhaps he misses me not being there when he calls. For unlike us he has no life ruled by a clock, only the rise and fall of the seasons and the days that fall within them.

The world spins on the axis of hope for a beautiful springtime filled with blossom and birdsong and I for one will believe only this shall come to pass. Neither cruel malevolent will nor ancient beliefs shall hinder this genesis of rebirth. For all about is changing in these rapidly expanding days and new growth bringing life begins burgeoning from every fibre of the world. It transformation from dark to light and cold to warm can only enthrall such as you and I. There is no great hand moving the world, no God nor other deities seeking our total submission. There is just you and I and a world gone mad in an ancient power struggle that seeks to justify all savagery on its dominion over reason. We must prevail for if we fail there truly will be no more springtime’s to come. Time for the world to leave religion and all its cruel notions in the past and step out into the sunshine free at last of its mediaeval nonsense and being no longer afraid of standing alone work together to make something better.

Friday 9th Feb 2007
We were promised lots of snow in the north of England yesterday but apart from a few light flurries that hardly left a trace it was overall pretty disappointing. Probably good in the grand scheme of things but I really want to wake up at least one morning before the end of winter and be greeted by a white blanket of deep snow. At the moment it is not looking very promising. Somehow it won’t feel like we have been through a winter if we don’t. I have been a Good Samaritan this week looking after the birds. Every morning I have put out food and its amazing how fast they learn where it is and when it arrives. Some of the food froze overnight and regular as clockwork as I make my sandwiches for work Mr Blackbird arrives and sits on the wall looking at me through the kitchen window. Shortly after comes the Mistle thrush and remonstrates that the food is late. Must be tough for them when the ground is frozen and day temperatures hardly rise above freezing. I do wonder how many don’t make it so it is important that we feed them where we can during these hard months. It’s also important that you give them water to drink. Lecture over!

I’m trying to give up smoking at the minute (again!) as a ban in all public places comes into force across Britain from July the first. Finding it difficult but I have successfully stopped for nearly a year a while back so I’ll do it. Not sure I agree with this nannying legislative coercion though but don’t get me started on that. We are living through strange times and what I wonder will the world have become in a decade. Could go either way and if it goes in the wrong direction (and all the signs seem to be pointing that way) all this politically correct nonsense will seem like the halcyon days....see I’m off now!

Something positive it’s Friday and the weekend is here (well at 5pm). I want a nice relaxing weekend but don’t think I shall be spending much time in the garden this weekend. Unless the heavens deliver a promise and the world turns to a snowy adventure.

Tuesday 6th Feb 2007
The long frosty evenings continue bringing mornings that shimmer in the sunlight. Flattened grass pressed to the ground by the weight of the hoar frost shatters underfoot and released from icy bondage springs up into the slanting rays of sunshine that flow out of a clear dawn sky. Nothing moves around me yet but the air is filled with lively chattering wake up music from the birds that passed the trepidations of the icy night entombed deep in dense leaved bushes and arise in gratitude to greet another day. The sound reverberates off the ice crystals swelling in magnified splendour and melts my heart. I turn indoors and come back with the tastiest morsels I can find and feed the minstrels of the dawn.

Sunday 3rd Feb 2007
We are now in February and the brightening of the northern hemisphere continues the same as it has since the dawn of time. It’s been the most amazing few days here, with crystal clear blue sky and the brightest sunshine rising over the frosty mornings. I spent this beautiful morning visiting Clitheroe castle with Nick. (Well it’s more like a small square hilltop fort but they call it a castle, some great outbuildings though.) The castle has a great vantage built on the highest rocky outcrop and looking down 360 degrees over the whole of the Ribble Valley. You can see why they would want to put it there. This morning the long rolling vistas were swathed in a rising mist and the frost encrusted fields ran to the distant hills. Church bells were ringing and the whole scene was so quintessentially English. Wish I could afford to live in the Ribble valley. However I shan’t complain too much because having spent Friday and Saturday in the garden I realise I am so lucky too. Been hard work pruning the trees and carrying out general tidy-up work but in-between sat on the seat looking out across the valley and thinking life is not that unfair. I fed the birds and they all sat in the trees as contented as I. That’s not a bad feeling with all the bad news floating around at the minute. Hope you enjoy the photo of the hazel tree I took yesterday and the photo of the sky over the trees. Spring is coming!

Can the wind sweep across eternity?
Carrying a cherished loving thought,
Swift and sure over a deep blue ocean
Till under a starry sky turning to sunrise,
It arrives to pierce my aged heart with joy

29th January 2007
A brief few days of frost are now forgotten as the warmer weather returns once again. I spent a few hours in the garden yesterday meandering under the trees with a flat, grey sky overhead that let fall a constant light rain. I climbed the short hill weaving from trunk and bough and stopping at every stately trunk to admire it. So much has changed in the 25 years since these now tall wooden sentinels were slender wands of leaf and twig. I can remember walking around the garden then and towering over them all and yet see now they raise their protective branches above my head and shield me from the raindrops. I envy their vigour and innate need to grow and mature in the light. I shall through the summer months take a walk around the garden and photograph all the trees and post it as a walk. Trees are the skeleton the rest of the world sits upon. We need to look after them.

26th Jan 2007
Long and protracted frosts have occurred during the nights this week depositing the moisture from the air onto the ground creating crystal clear days filled with sunshine that bring the distant vista of the Pennines in to sharp focus. One never realises just how far the eye can really see when the air is clear. I’ve been feeding the birds every morning because of the cold weather. To be honest they seem to enjoy the muesli bound with bacon fat, more than I do. Not sure where the week has gone to (or the month come to that?) Mornings and evenings are now growing brighter once again and by mid February it will be bright enough in the evening to take small walks after work once again. Think I shall attend a garden chore whenever it is dry in the evening and post the photo to show you what I have been doing.

“It is the beech tree that stands for today and yesterday and for all time. Clothed with translucent leafage, or stripped, as now, in suave silvery loveliness, it grows as a gracious monument to the memory of the old beliefs. To this day I find it no easy matter in the depths of a beech wood to disbelieve in Dryads.” (In Greek mythology, the Dryads are female spirits of nature (nymphs), who preside over the groves ...) From a Country Year by Teresa Hooley

Lest we forget that from all the warmth and wet tidings left over from autumn the teeth of winter can still bite deep... (our complacency, but a softest morsel for the gnawing cold to ravage.) The wind has stilled to a whisper and in its stead rushes in the snow, the vanguard of the long, cold days now coming swift from the north. See how fast we can slip from the azure clear daylight sky with its low rays of winter sun into a malevolent evening where the sky dims and bruises to take on utter blackness like a cape of invisibility that then drowns the world under a tide of whitest chill. I for one am glad to be a creature of man, (of science) for naught but a folly would wish to be one with nature tonight. For in January she is a foe incomparably merciless and while she stalks I shall sleep and think of summer.

21.01.2007
Some high winds this week but no damage to our house luckily. A few people died in other parts of the country though. Just don’t imagine this type of thing happening here in England! The cold weather is set to arrive here this week starting today and there is even a promise of snow this morning. It will be the first this winter if it does.
Sunday dinner menu is…
Vegetable soup (homemade) with pesto and mozzarella rolls.
Parcels filled with goat’s cheese and spinach served on rocket with red onion chutney
Roast goose with black pudding sausage meat with roast potatoes and seasonal veg.
Apricot/almond tart”
I might be a little busy later making it all but I love it really. (The goose is free range by the way.) I think I am right in saying that goose cannot be raised intensively. For the immediate morning I shall go and buy a newspaper and read it whilst having breakfast of 2 boiled eggs and toast. Oh and try to update my blog.
Hope you like the sunset picture….

Happiness borrowed to help on our way can come to mean nothing...so they say! With mouths to feed and unfair bills to pay life is hard and we can lose our way.I need a bright tomorrow to come today. The morning comes with a scarlet sky. A warning to Shepherds and sheep...fly! I stir and turn and should wonder why? Yet an angel next to me makes me cry. For this angel loves me and that is no lie

Sometimes I misunderstand if it is love or...
A determination for you never to lose....
That which your heart has set sight on
Have you never thought that perhaps...?
I may love you somewhat differently
Yet equally as valid, whole and forever

The transition into a new year again occurs
To soon have the months flow past in anger
Yet there can be a joy in time’s fleeting steps
The slow and deliberate dance of humanity
Moving rhythms searching enlightenment
That rise to dance on a clear morning laid
Over a bed of snow that hugs the earth
A glint of bright light reflects in my eye
And behold my soul is laid bare and I am...
Whole and ready for a journey to summer

This is a little late for Christmas now ( i couldn't find it ) but it's a nice picture so enjoy

2nd Jan 2007

The New Year is here and it’s all uphill toward summer from here. Longer evenings of light (ok a little imperceptible at the minute I will grant you but they are coming. At approximately 3 minutes a night...something to think about while the wind and rain seems to trammel us indoors. Spent most of the holiday time quietly at home with Mike but also spent three days in the Isle of Wight with Nick over Christmas which was very enjoyable. An island within an island is probably the best way to describe the people and the culture there. One interesting misconception about England is that the south of the country is filled with educated genteel types and the north of the country is full of thick oafs...don’t believe a word of it. From my observation the ratio is pretty evenly spread although a bit more of the state revenue pie dished up for the north of the UK would be good. But no moaning just yet it’s the New Year and my spirits are lifted. Even more so, if I have a holiday in February as we have planned. For the minute take a look at the picture I took on my phone near my house the other weekend. I saw 20 rainbows that weekend and was sure it was a sign of good things to come...i'm still waiting. HAPPY NEW YEAR

A single flake of snow falling at my feet
A holiday with people and dancing feet
Tells Christmas comes with joy to meet

As the winter wind blows strong and cold
Down the steep valley and across the wold
Scarves come out and around our necks fold

Hush the wind roaring around the gable
In the nights that draw tight, colour of sable
Come inside food and wine is laid on the table

A year leaves at midnight with many chimes
Another year enters with cheers and rhymes
Think all night about the coming happy times

If I have a wish it is that you are always there
Warm and loving and full of tender care
A part of my world that is vibrant and aware

My dearest friend through all the years
You lived my dreams and saw my fears
Always for you a Christmas full of cheers

Oh well that was a little heavy and I thought about changing or deleting it but I’ll keep it as it was written. So something a little cheerier is this picture of a dog peering from a balcony in Tarragona (Spain). Cute or what?

19th Dec 2006

The inexorable advance of humankind toward our destined equality falters and yet despite all the odds still maintains impetus. We drive the world in our way by refusing to turn against one another and by questioning everything. This is the true spirit of the season for each one of us. When words to describe the witnessed pain of the world fail us, where shall we turn to convey our expressions of impotence? The whole world seems to be dissolving into a madness of hate fuelled pain tempered in brief with inconsequential material or physical delights. Pause, take a sigh, exhale and seek reason if you can. The world will do as it must and those with enough wisdom perceive guiding hands driving the madness behind the thrones. We must endure insanity and bear this desired malevolence. Speak out if you must but your rage may rebound and crash around you like a wave driven headlong to break on a shingled beach and policies of harm masquerading as cries of heretic will be the rounded pebbles striking you down into the foaming water. For they will silence you…for they all have a plan for the world that is either a bloody broth of money or religion stirred malevolently in a cauldron of pain. All we may do is love one another and bear this together till joy one day sets us free and peels away all the lies. We must all take one hate or prejudice carried within and set it free to float away forever with the passing year

Thursday 14th Dec 2006

Just driven home being buffeted by the strong winds and lashing rain. Quite warm overall though and no sign of any frost (or snow) anytime soon. All the work protecting plants from the frost hardly seems worth doing till January these days. The house is ready for Christmas with flashing lights and various decorations scattered about the place.

Tuesday 12th Dec 2006

Finally got all the stuff working again after what seems an age, but was in reality a couple of days. All those junk e-mails and e-bay bargains that I missed...not!! Still been creative at work and updated the mill database with a snowman dancing in the falling snow. I am not sure it will be appreciated but its Christmas. Weather is wild and wet at the minute and looks to continue that way for the next few days. Oh and another item for the list was all the lights fusing this morning...what next!!

Friday 08th Dec 2006

Well I was going to write an e-mail to everyone but the phone line is down so the internet connection is lost. Ah for the old fashioned way of scribing the words onto cellulose. I really should write more personal letters to people but it’s so easy to take the modern way. I would have watched Sky but that’s not working either so overall not having a good day at all. Still luckily yesterday while it was still on I downloaded a trial version of Microsoft Office 2007 professional and I have been having a good look. First impressions are that it’s very good. I shall definitely buy it when it comes out on general release. It’s a 60 day trial by the way...well worth a look. Just remember to save any new files in your existing formats if you don’t think you will be keeping the new version once the trial finishes or you will have lots of newly created files that can no longer be opened with your existing versions of software.

06th Dec 2006
The holiday is over and the sun now a memory fading into dismal days that heralds ever closer evenings till the change of days later in the month. Still the holiday while it lasted was very enjoyable. It was a quiet and relaxing week in the sun, with good food and lots of rest. Now I am back it does seem strange to encounter the cold and the rain but I shall think of the holiday if the weather gets me down. Enjoy the picture of the dunes at Maspalomas

I managed to get some reading done on holiday. A great book called "The Great War for Civilisation" by Robert Fisk. Quite a lengthy tome but full of amazing stories about his life as a reporter and also a detailed history of the Middle East. Given we are currently living through the strangest of times it seems right that we should understand the region a little more. My only regret is that perhaps we should have done that several years ago. One thing in these wars for ideas and land is the notions of sovereignty people are ready to fight and die for. Hard for us to understand as our nation sovereignty remains intact and has not been redrawn to suit outside powers seeking buffer zones or a military or ideological advantage. Here is the link to the Foyle’s website about the book…sooner or later it must all stop and perhaps we can all move together as one free of advantage and religious hatred.

http://www.foyles.co.uk/foyles/display.asp?isb=1841150088&TAG=&CID=

24th Nov 2006

I hope Gran Canaria is nice and warm, as it’s rather damp and miserable here at the minute although for the most part rather mild. The trees have mostly given up their leaves but quite a few are stubbornly clinging onto them. It’s a typical autumnal feel to the day…cool enough to be warmed by the thoughts that mass on the border of consciousness and are released with intensity into the stiff wind. I look up into the sky to count the clouds but there is only a homogenous grey mass so I try to count the birds but the weather is cold and they are all sitting in the trees. So I wait till night to count the stars and see the clouds roll away and dissipate leaving clear, cool air and the stars shine in the ebenous glassy sky like a benison and I count and wish on every one. For nothing that comes without cost or effort is ever worth anything.

It’s a day for the song ‘Sara’ by Fleetwood Mac with Stevie Nick’s vocals floating ethereally through my head. It has a dreamlike quality that always takes me outside of current time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KmQ_1sXZJxI

Classics like the incomparable songs of Kate Bush ‘Babushka here’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKMSEWVQ3PI

Or Oleta Adams ‘When love comes to the rescue’

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwApPsvY8QY

Another great clip
NIKE (Great ad = Gavin Henson)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YuvGWLgsSIM

A great YouTube clip

Shayne Ward (singing Somewhere over the rainbow) from a show called the X factor…great song. Be patient the song is worth waiting for.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzN_1gYimbc

21st Nov 2006

Happy birthday Nick (who is 44 tomorrow).

Cool wintry days and dreams of warmer climates spur me on till the weekend when I can depart the UK for a week in the sunshine. Injecting a week of hot weather at this time of year makes the forthcoming snowy season all the more enjoyable. It’s kind of surreal to step off a plane to 25 degrees when my body clock is geared for the cold. Time was when I was afraid of my body and beaches were a place to avoid. But growing older and having the most wonderful people around who love me for the person has dissipated that spectre like a fog on a summer dawn. That’s a good feeling because no matter how hard you try to look good it’s all doomed to fall at some point. Some part of the body will slowly start to dance out of sequence and if you don’t accept it you’ll spend the rest of your life missing the rhythm. I believe most people don’t give a monkey for looks really…give us a good meal and a glass of wine and music and film. It’s all media manipulation and ego for the others. We live in strange times and how will it all end I often wonder?

20th Nov 2006

Nights chill and darken with every day that passes. The blessed land slumbers still and damp lit by a crescent moon that accentuates the hushed longing for summer. Steely hued yet soft it casts shadows likes a cloak woven with threads of silver. A mantle of mystery to wrap a gilded landscape in. Soft footsteps and gentle breath wind among paths long tread under arching beeches. Sylvan descent indeed are we who leave the world behind and embrace the cool delicious nights of winter.

Amy Winehouse

Sunday 05th Nov 06

Weather has grown much colder here over the last week with some sharp frosts. I am getting into the swing of winter a bit more now since the clocks went backwards. Full moons hanging large in clear skies and the swirls of crisp brown leaves, crunching underfoot. The cruel cold heightens the senses to razor sharp clarity and ensures a wonderful appreciation of the warmth. How narrow when one considers it is the human temperature comfort zone?

I am listening to the Amy Winehouse song "rehab" at the minute. It is monumental music, sad and 60’s groovy all at the same time…I really love it. Go to Youtube at this address (click the link) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LD5sahXoj0U and listen. I am sure you will grow into it if you give it a chance. Yes Amy and neither are we! I’m just bidding for it on e-bay at the minute (vinyl record promo…getting expensive though. Amy looks a little like my sister (well 20 years ago.) One cool lady,…. And nice to like a rebel for a change.