I published this on here some years ago and sadly my friend Gordon who wrote the book, has since died. A sad loss. I still have my one copy of the book and some very happy memories of working with this grumpy Yorkshireman, who was not quite as grumpy as he seemed. Events. They get in the way of blethering away on this, but I have been taking the opportunity of a wet day to get this back in some sort of order. This drawing has several lives. It started as a safety drawing for a company of builders over … Continue reading Missing person

Make sure windows are closed and the blinds fully drawn. Throughout the house so that it feels like the middle of the night in Calcutta. Cover the greenhouse roof with a large piece of cardboard so the precious cargo within does not get scorched. Fried tomatoes. Look for a pair of shorts that you think might be in a drawer somewhere or have already been used to clean the car. Don’t worry too much about wearing them as you will spend the majority of the day inside and no one will be subject to your ‘various’ veins. If you do … Continue reading Preparations for the hottest day…

He did not plant these, they just happened. Poppies we believe. Doing really well in the hot sunshine. We approach the height of the tennis season when I try to hide away as much as possible. I used to play tennis years ago, and I’ve even been to Wimbledon to watch it, but now it leaves me unimpressed, especially on the telly. Perhaps it’s the fact that the men in particular make the boring bloke on Derry Girls seem like a particularly scintillating speaker who you’d put yourself out to listen to. It’s probably all those hours of hitting little … Continue reading Plottage and sport

A trip out late on Sunday to Gloucester. I needed to get out and take some pictures and the docks never disappoint. Later in the day on a Sunday seemed like a good opportunity and so it proved. Here are the best of the bunch: This is down in the docks, the ship behind waiting I assume to be refurbished. Rather reminded me of the Ben Nicholson abstracts from the 1950s. You see what I mean about the evening light? This is the dry dock, dry. I expect the ship will end up in here to have it’s bottom scraped. … Continue reading The light was on my side

My love of sheds knows no bounds, but I like gardens and flowers, and yesterday I dug up very first of my spuds. Very fine they are too. This morning the wind has dropped and the garden sits still, previous days felt like a storm was brewing with swirly gusts blowing the trees and everything else about in a bit of a strop. Calm is the keyword for today. Cucumbers are repotted and a frame ready to take them skywards, just hope they like whisky and that they haven’t had too much. A recent acquisition of an old whisky barrel … Continue reading It makes a change from sheds

This post was meant to go out in January, when the photos were taken. Now in the start of the Summer it seems odd to post about a winter day in Gloucester when the light was on my side, but hey ho! Any chance I have to get out at this time of year I’ll take if the sun is shining. It’s been a rare thing of late, but today it really was sunshine all the way. I thought I’d head for the River but on the way changed my mind. It was sunny but from a distance the Severn … Continue reading Gloucester Gargoyles and Dave

There’s something rather beautiful when nature takes over, and in these pictures is a shed in a field. It’s in a stunning green valley in Gloucestershire and has always been a favoured shed of mine, I’ve taken many images of it. It’s now starting to disappear as green takes over . I’ve never seen anyone in all the years I’ve been visiting it, go near it or busying themselves nearby but they must at some time. So today’s walk went close by and I could not resist taking even more pictures of it. I’d just love to know its history, … Continue reading Engulfed Shed

In this one Robin is in tune with a local sheep or two, but he gets through it without missing a bleat. Continue reading Yesterday was worth two songs…

When it’s been raining and it clears to give an immaculately crisp day, what better to do than find a field of buttercups to wander through by the River Severn and get your friend to sing a song? That’s what we did today. Continue reading Buttercup Special Day

This place: Cragside in Northumberland is a house and garden reminiscent of an Agatha Christie novel. Built on the riches of an engineer called Armstrong, who eventually became a Lord and was fiendishly inventive, he made the bulk of his fortune from weapons, sadly. The gardens here are full of rhododendrons and there are paths everywhere to get in good walk. It was pouring when we were there, which had brought in many visitors to see the house so we went out in the wet. My trousers became two tone, light blue beneath my macintosh, and dark blue where they … Continue reading “It was the gardener with a candlestick in the long gallery“

Best follow the posts…and wellies or bare feet. Unless you like wet socks. I’m reliably informed that bare feet get quite cold, my wellied plates stayed dry and toasty. The boxes on stilts are just in case you get the tides wrong, in which case you could spend 6 hours up there. They have been rarely used. Continue reading Walking over to Holy Island

You can tell we’re up North from this picture. They do not expect hours of sunshine up here in the North East and this traditional hardware shop shows of a fine selection of combustibles, as well as equipment for poking the fire? Where else would you put matches in your window display next to fire lighters? Apart from a branch of the Co Op there’s not a single business that is not an independent, it was like a breath of fresh air, and there’s plenty of that too in the area. Continue reading Matches in the window…