Healthy options in Ancient Rome. Happy birthday to Tom yesterday.
Vegan, Veggi, Vici
The Twiglet Zone
Happy birthday to Susan, who always avoids encounters with cheese straws at parties. Come to think of it she always avoids Twiglets too. After this she’s probably going to avoid me at the next party too.
You can see that I’m still missing Gary Larson’s Far Side cartoons. I can’t believe that his last cartoon appeared as long ago as 1995.
Spaniel History
Milestones in spaniel history. Happy birthday to Sarah.
To keep in spaniel mode that last caption should have read: ‘Spaniel Radcliffe: ‘Hairy Potterer and the Philosopher’s Bone’.’
Monday Morning Ducks
“I didn’t expect you to survive for more than a few days.” I said to John recently.
“I hope that I haven’t disappointed you.” he replied.
He’s celebrating his 82nd birthday today.
All the family is gathering around but as this is the Hospice in relays rather than in one big noisy party. I drew my usual view of trees from his patio windows on our visit this morning.
Brimstone
Another day at the Hospice but, because we’ve got a few extra visitors this morning, I head down across the racecourse, under the M62 and over the railway at Glass Houghton Station for a coffee break at Junction 32 Freeport.
On my return walk through the strip of woodland alongside the railway, robins and blue tits are singing, a wren investigates the undergrowth and a sulphur-yellow brimstone, the original ‘butter fly’, flies determinedly but erratically, zig-zagging along the scrubby hedgerow in a roughly north-westerly direction,
Addingford
A walk through Addingford, Horbury, alongside the River Calder this morning.
More Trees at the Hospice
We accompanied Barbara’s brother John in a wheelchair on a circuit of the Hospice grounds this morning.
Trees in March
Trees at the Hospice today and the Showcase Cinema at Birstall yesterday.
Broadstairs 1973
Another dip into my student sketchbook from 50 years ago and I was visiting Christopher and Doreen Reynolds in Broadstairs. I’d written about Christopher and his approach to natural history illustration and writing as a closing section in my thesis at Leeds College of Art but this was the first time I’d met him.
It was so useful to go beachcombing ‘with someone who could not only say what the shells and washed up animals and plants were but could also, if prompted, come up with some interesting observation about it.’
He was writing and illustrating his children’s non-fiction book Creatures of the Bay at that time.
Bedside Table
The light was fading when we arrived at the hospice so this evening it was still life rather than landscape in my pocket sketchbook.
