Back in my old house.

A few years back I swapped houses with my eldest son Luke.  It's an old house built of soft bricks with even softer morter.  Lo and behold I'm back here again doing some pointing on the brickwork.  Luke unfortunately suffers a bit with heights so asked if I could do the higher up work for him.  No problem just look up the "How to" on you tube and you're halfway there.  I must stop giving away my trade secrets! 

This is the result; an almost invisible repair (not)  but hey it will lighten once it's dried out a bit. 

Being a Jack of all trades the next thing on the agenda of repairs was his fishing rod.  Well this was given to me by my dad but it's still a decent rod but it needed a couple of replacement eyelets.  I find doing this sort of stuff quite theraputic. To get a tight and even bind it's a slow job but once it's finished and varnished it looks great. It's actually not difficult to do either.

Next out into the garden for a bit of electrical work fitting a security light to his garage.  Well not so much of a security light as a "Stop be falling over in the dark light"   Fortunately we had left a live lead ready for this light back when we repaired the garage wall.

A quick stop for coffee and it was on to soldering up some new leads for his guitar and that was it for the day. 

I couldn't resist taking a shot of the sun shining through the trees,  thought it looked a bit arty,  well maybe

Easter Bank Holiday

A busy weekend , which seemed to start on Thursday rather than the Friday.   It's weird how a small change in routine throws your timing out. You know the feeling, Friday feels like Saturday etc, I've was a day out all weekend. Pretty miserable weather for the first half of the holiday but bright sunshine for the Sunday and Monday.  Managed to capsize the dinghy twice during the race on Sunday  which was frustrating as we were in the lead.   Doh..

Monday saw the  Trinity House Maintenance ship "Patricia" servicing the Peveril Ledge bouy. It is always surprising to see a ship that large, so close in, especially to a known danger. I wonder whether they were on double time working a bank holiday?

Now that's what I call a bonfire.

After the news last week that several acres of heathland went up in flames on the Studland Road. nearly taking the Purbeck Golf Club with it.  I imagined that there was a similar thing going on as I drove across Stoborough Heath.  Fortunately it was forestry workers burning off the residue of their harvesting in what was a series of the biggest bonfires I have ever seen. This one was about 20 feet high and 30 feet across, the smoke went all the way to Bournmouth

Sailing Season Looming

Last week I was driving backwards and forwards to Dorchester Hospital where  Louise had an operation on her neck, so time slipped by without me really noticing.  A quick glance at the Calendar and I realise there's precious little time to get everything ready for the sailing season.  The Dart 18 is in need of a few repairs and TLC. and the yacht is far from ready.  The opening race is next Sunday and the Yacht goes in the water in about 2 weeks time.   Jobs are now being catagorised into inside and outside wet or dry to suit all the weather conditions that are likely.  Throw in a Beach working party at the sailing club and it adds up to a busy week ahead.   so not much time to take fancy photographs. 

Just missed !

Coming home from working on Watanga I saw a photo opportunity but didn't have my camera with me.  So nipped home and grabbed it but by the the time I was back in position the sun had dropped and the effect had all but gone.   Just imagine the whole of the shelter a blase of golden light and you can imagine what was there.   This is just the taster,  if I'm lucky I may get a better shot later today.

Busy Day

"Panoramic view of Lulworth cove" without the use of a wide angle lens. This is quite an exciting shot as it shows the cove in such a vivid way. The lenses are polarising the light,  and the bridge is obscuring the bright sun. It was just on the spur of the moment, but will have to elaborate on this in future shots. 

Another week gone

Cannot believe how quickly this week has gone.  I suppose Monday was really part of last weeks activities and my first picture was taken on that dayand is a bit of a joke.  Captured on our way back from "Up North" I couldn't help thinking what great reception that house gets on it's TV. I wonder whether it's FreeSat, Sky or "extra - terrestial" TV.  You are of course looking at a picture of the Lovell Radio Telescope at Jodrell Bank Cheshire. It has long been a Landmark and is known worldwide for it's work in the field of Astrophysics

This week has been dominated by some cold East winds that have pounded the beach and bought with it some seaweed and strangely what looks like straw?.  I'm not quite sure where that would have come from at this time of year.  However mixed up in this flotsam were thousands of white and occasionally blue pellets of plastic.  It is a major concern that this stuff will not degrade but float around the oceans for hundreds of years. Indeed some of the plastic in the sea may have been there for 50 years.  What is more alarming is that although it takes an enomous time to degrade it will be pummeled by the sea into smaller and smaller particles. It's these particles that are potentially the most dangerous, they get into the tiniest of animals, those at the bottom af the food chain. We just need to remember who's at the top of the food chain. In many cases, Us ! Just read this article.

I left the Purbecks for a bit!

We had spent the early part of the week doing touristy things because in the summer we're busy doing other stuff.  It was a bit cold at times and wet too, but we managed to dodge the showers for the most part.  I got as far as Portland Bill in the last entry. 

We went to Swyre Head on wednesday but the visibility was rubbish for photo's as there was a lot of sea mist.  So after a lunch in Corfe we headed off to Arne to see if there was anything better to see there.   The only colourful shot was a pheasant by the side of the road.

Thursday wet and miserable so did mainly SSC membership stuff.

Friday saw us off to Poynton to visit Lou's dad.  It was a long day starting with Dialysis at 7:30, a five hour drive, then to the working mans club in the evening.  Over the weekend we took a drive to Buxton and visit the pavilion there.  Drove back home along "the cat and fiddle", Englands most dangerous road. This runs across the Pennines between Macclesfield and Buxton. The road was closed the day before due to snow drifts.   Unfortunately there was no scenery to see, as fog gave about 50metres visibility.

Sunday we  visited Alderley Edge and saw  Merlins Well.  Locall egend goes that merlin has hidden King Arthur and the knights of the round table in the rocks and will bring them out of their slumber in time of great peril.

You can see Merlins face carved in the rock above the well.

See link

Fast Forward

I have decided not to play catchup but instead show a few of my favourite shots from the whole week. Ending today when we went to Portland and Weymouth for the day.  Wandered round Brewers Key with it's museum and shops, a quick bite to eat then off to Portland Bill and a few photos of the sea at the point.  Strangely I didn't take one shot of the lighthouse,  Maybe I'm starting to be a little less touristy and a little more creative.  One thing doesn't change, I still rush the shots and don't take time to compose.

Sunshine on a rainy day

Swanage beach North

Reflections  Stoborough Heath

Breakers at Portland

Gosh over a week without an entry,  Where do I start?  Last Monday and Tuesday we were getting ready for Lou to go and have her parathyroid operation, dialysing on two days running, getting mentally prepared, and then at the last moment having the operation cancelled through lack of bed space.  Now I know this happens all the time but Lou had to take calcium suppliments "loading" so that post op her levels would not plummet too low.   Effectively poisoning her as the op is necessary because the levels are too high in the first place. Still you ave to console yourself that some other person was obviously more poorly than you.

Wednesday we went for a long walk along the beach to clear our heads.  Met a couple of beachcombers.

Brrr... It isn't getting any warmer is it?

It's been a few days since the last entry but that's not because I've been doing nothing.  In amongst various membership administrations, and Hospital appointments.  I've got the camera out a couple of times.  I took this picture of a flower cluster on a bush. It looks huge in the picture but the whole cluster was about the size of my little finger.  I thought it was heather to start with but the bush it's on is more Rosemary like.  So if anyones good at flower identification let me know.

Ghosts at studland, Gremlins in Wareham

Whoo...ooo I've seen a ghost in Studland. No I haven't been to the Manor House Hotel, and no I haven't been to the Bankes Arms and downeed too many pints of "ye olde rot your socks off". It was on the beach at Redend Rocks, Studland. Some artistic type helped this colouration of the rocks to form a ghostly figure. ( I did beef up the colours a bit to make it more obvoious in the picture)

Earlier in the day I spotted some Gremlins.  If you remember the film.  Gremlins multiply furiously if you get them wet.  Spotted these ones at  Ridge near Wareham, getting their feet wet in amongst the trees. They were being unusually still to avoid detection

Night Shot

This is really yesterdays post but I ran out of time and needed to sleep.  Lou had to go to London for her work and was going on the train. So I took her to Wareham station in the morning. Spent most of the day dealing with enquiries about membership etc. Then back to Wareham to pick her up.  Thought I'd use this as an exercise in photographing motion as the low light gave me a chance to experiment with long exposures.  Realise I have a lot to learn, not only with composition but with how the camera works.  So many buttons!  Wareham Station is quite a bright place at night so couldn't get quite what I was after and the picture here is a photo shop composite.  ... verdict   Could do much better.

Whoops

I managed to take what looks like a carefully composed shot of the corner of a wall complete with lichen but in truth I was tracking a boat going across the bay and the wall got in the way.  I just thought it was a nice composed sort of picture. I now need a deep and meaningful thought to go with it..hmmmm

The Army is in Town Well nearly

I was out around town this morning when I spied some action taking place in the bay.  Theres been military exercises going on with marines attacking Lulworth Cove.  So they were probably something to do with that, I expect they were eyeing up places to go for a drink this evening!   However as I speak I can hear the boom of the tanks firing down on the ranges.

Nature can be rude too

I have to admit that this wasn't something I saw today, and was keeping this one for a day when nothing much happened.  There is a stream that flows through the town and into the sea by the Mowlem theatre. Now at low tide the stream it cuts a random path to the sea each day.  Nothing spectacular in that until ....  Naughty nature   How rude.  Or maybe it's just my sense of humour.

Crystal clear day but so cold.

Spent most of the day working on the computer,  so many things to bring up to date, then about 3:00pm we decided that we were wasting a perfectly good day.  With all the misirable weather we have had it's imperative to get out and enjoy the nice ones. 

It's Spring tide tommorrow and a particularly low one at that so I decided that the rocks along slippery ledge would be showing themselves rather well and with the good light was an opportnity not to miss.  I am way off getting stunning pictures and need to hone my photography skills a whole load more but I'm enjoying trying.    This one straight from the camera is quite pleasing Maybe tommorrow I can get down to Studland and take some piccys there .  Unfortunately it looks like it will be overcast.  Ho Hum.

Cirque du soliel

Lou and I travelled up to London yesterday to see the cirque du soleil performance of their production "Varekai".  For those that haven't heard of them they are a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a "dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment.

With the round trip to London the meals and the travel tickets it was an expensive day out but what a performance, and what fantastic athletes these people are.

Round the Island Race

Once again the brochure for the Round the Island Race has plonked through the letterbox.  I have competed in the RTIR twice before and  I look back with mixed emotions to the event.

In 2006 it was a pleasant experience sailed out on a very calm day on which a great number of boats were frustrated and didn't make it past the needles lighthouse. I had only had Watanga for about two months, so was not used to her size or her characteristics. The light winds gave me lots of time to think about the course and how to sail it. The finish was a tight squeeze through the line with strong tide causing major problems for most yachts. Overall we had a lot of fun and sailed back to Swanage the same day arriving tired but contentedly around midnight.

2007 however was a different beast.  We had collected more than £1500 for the MacMillan Charity so lots of people were interested in seeing how we did.  The day was windier and the start was way more crowded. With about 15knots blowing I decided to go with the Screecher which would be at it's top limit of safety, and off we went.  Now the only trouble with the screecher is it's a devil to tack and the wind was right on the nose. After a couple of bad tacks and lengthy tangles, we were being overhauled by all sorts of sporty boats. About 2 hours into the race,  on a Starboard tack, I was caught out by an indecisive skipper on Port. The result was £3500 of damage to us and we had to retire from the race.  I vowed at that time never to compete again, but 3 years on I've gained a lot more experience, I know my boat a lot better and it's starting to look attractive again!  I wonder what my insurers would say.   On the bright side I won the protest and the other boat was disqualified

The mysteries of the water leak.

Ever since I've had Watanga the damn thing has leaked,  at first it was a major headache and there was one serious problem the would in certain sea conditions cause quite a lot of water to come aboard.   Anyways over the four years I've had the boat I have corrected, sealed,  and genearally made good imperfections and design fault leaks.  But this latest one has got me stumped.  The boats on dry land, and it hasn't rained since I last emptied the port bilge.  Theres an inch of water in it ????????????.  Forward and aft are dry.   I think I must be going nuts.   Is the boat just sucking it out of the air?   Why only the port bilge.

To be honest there isn't a great deal of insulation internally  and the port side is in shade most of the day so it could be condensation.   It does produce large amounts of condensation, but just seems excessive and not consistant with other years in the same spot.  Ho Hum.

I found a great piece of youtube the other day.  It reminded me of a similar event that happened to my son Luke on a Ryan Air flight out of Belfast I think.  He watched baggage handlers mishandling his guitar, (They wouldn't allow it in the cabin) and when he recovered it the neck had been broken.  See what you think. 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo  

Now on the way into the house I saw a Redwing (Turdus iliacus) in the garden. I have to admit I thought it was a thrush but saw the same bird pictured the blog Purbeck Footprints  (see favourites). Thanks to the RSPB bird indentifier website I am now a better informed bird watcher.

This little fella is the UK's smallest thrush, and comes all the way from Scandinavia.  Only very few nest in Britain.