Whether its walking the dog or just enjoying a walk myself; the small woodlands of Boutham Park are a great place for a quick walk.
Walk in the park
How was your Bank Holiday – Replacing the shed roof
Did you do anything exciting on your bank holiday if your here in the UK.
We visited a family members house and reroofed and re-felted there old shed. Parts were rotten and water was getting in.
Not a quick job and one we had been putting off due the high heat in the UK recently, but this weekend was forecast to be cooler.
So tow bar on our electric estate car, trailer hooked up and a trip to the local builders merchant. Wood purchased and off to the shed. The rotten wood all pulled off, and replaced, a fresh sheet of wood on the roof and a re-felt.
Dolly Parton a true saint
Dolly Parton could have been a Billionaire, but she chose to use the wealth she earned with her immense talent to help people, from funding vaccines to her book program for the under fives, even books in brail.
A true Christian who believed in love and charity, and who did not judge.
MacMillan Coffee Morning
One of the local village pubs held a charity coffee morning to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Support.
We provided a rather nice chocolate carrot cake for them and instead of coffee I had coffee cake with a nice pint of Landlord Ale.
Solar Eclipse 2026 – Partial in the UK
Last night we were in the garden with our little home made pin hole projector.
The last solar elipse in the UK was back in 1999. I got up at 3am in the morning and rode the few hundred miles down to the line of totality. Then pointed the motorcycle at the bluest and clearest bit of sky and road to the south coast.
Parked up in a pub carpark sitting in full biker leathers with a glass of cold lemonade I enjoyed my first and only total solar eclipse.
Last night it was about 90% in the uk, so with a piece of card, that we had punched a small hole into, and a piece of white paper, we projected the sun onto the paper to view it safely.
It did go darker and it was a great experience.
The next one is about 50 years away so its looking doubtful that I will make that one.
Having a break
Sorry for the lack of posts recently, been concentrating on other things. Had a few studio shoots, catch up with my favourite model and generally concentrating on the day job.
The heat and humidity just seems to go on at the moment.
Hope your all taking care in this warm weather.
Energy Poverty
For those of us with good incomes, we can afford to install solar, buy electric cars. Install systems like the Eddi which provides free hot water from the solar.
On a sunny day like some we have had this week we are getting free fuel and free hot water. For those who cannot afford such things they are stuck with higher energy costs and fossil fuels.
More needs to be done to allow more people to get the benefits of the switch to green tech. At least electric cars as they get more popular, the secondhand market grows and prices come down.
How do you relax – Chess
How do you relax. If I go out it’s generally taking photographs. Or it can be walking the dog and listening to podcasts or music is also high on the agenda. At home it’s often relaxing with a fine wine, or whisky. But sometimes I want to do something different and stretch my brain. So then I hit Chess.com, and play puzzles or occasionally a game.
This game was an interesting one. My opponent did not develop their pieces fast enough and so I pushed hard, it cost me my queen and on paper he was ahead, but I had forced his king out into the centre of the board and it was not long before I check mated him. I’ll be living with the buzz of this game for a while.
Coffee
More and more companies are asking their staff to come in. I usually find a need to head into a clients office or a clients data centre once a week. This week it was Lincoln and they have a great independent coffee shop just off the high street.
A good photograph does not necessary have to be correctly exposed or sharp. A Henri Carrier-Bresson said – “Sharpness is a bourgeois concept”.
Artemis II Luna Flyby
Today the Artemis II crew return to earth. I wish them a safe re-entry into earths dense atmosphere.
Once home safe I am looking forward to more high resolution images from the lunar flyby.
You can see some of them here that they have already sent back to Earth.
https://images.nasa.gov/search?page=1&media=image&yearStart=2026&yearEnd=2026&keywords=Lunar%20Flyby