A Selection of 2021

January:  

No snow but icicles on Angel's pond's water feature. She's also put lots of solar and mains timer LEDs round the garden. It's lovely having our own set of illuminations  as you wander around the garden. This spot, where the chair is, is a lovely contemplative place to sit and Angel will often get "Pippin'd" or "Merry'd" sitting here (it's when the cat has settled on you and you can't move off!).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May: 

 One of our regular visitors. We've tried so-called Squirrel-Proof feeders. We already knew there was no such thing, but it's nice to have these furry visitors (quite often even to my upstairs office window).

Merry loves sitting watching and chittering at them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June: 

We decided to up our masking game.Shame about my glasses but I'm stuck with them! I've always been a Motórhead fan, since I was 12 or 13. Motórhead (yes I know it's the wrong o) was the first gig I went to. June 1980 - "The Heavy Metal Barn Dance". I'm 14 and my first gig is one that goes down in rock history as THE ultimate NWOBHM experience (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). It was a hellava baptism into live music - in a time where they didn't worry like they do now about sound levels. Damn it was a loud - I SAID DAMN IT WAS LOUD!

 

 

July:

One of Angel's old friends - who now lives in Glasgow - came to stay with us for a fortnight (their second visit and I guess they'll be back next year as well. Which is great as her husband is a professional chef!). They camped in our large tent. They have two kids that are about the same age as my nieces (who are currently 10 & 5). Natalia is literally a little monkey, always up to mischief.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And she can have a really confident attitude. BTW that's the paddling pool from my portable shower & pop-up cubicle that I used when I drove down to spain in late 2019;

Still July:

The fourth "rebuild" of my current tank. And although I've now got the hang of growing some plants it's hard work to keep it nice looking. The important thing though is that the environment is really well balanced and the fish are generally really healthy. I still have the catfish we bought in Belgium in 2002 though she's not in that picture as she likes to stay reasonably hidden.

Ah, found a picture of the old girl.

September:

My outdoor gym is about 80% complete here and Amelia, Basia & Natalia are helping with the second layer of stones. There's drainage pipes in the ground covered in about 7cm of small chippings under the fabric layer. And the pebbles are being spread out here. There's now a thick layer topped with blue shredded rubber tyres to act as a surface with a lot of give to drop down on. The "port holes" now have lights in but I've yet to finish the climbing wall. Things you might recognise? Trampoline of course but with the added net (means we have to keep less of an eye on the girls or other visiting kids) and just at the back you can see the green leather chair which is now a garden chair in another meditating zone!

Still September:

On a weekend bike trip up to Snowdonia with WHAM (Worcester & Hereford Advanced Motorcyclists) I realised we were staying near the "hairy cafe" so got up very early to get over to take this.

November:

One of Angel's series of "Celestial Animals" (my title). I love losing myself in this one.

October:

An incredible morning - I just happened to be up early, can't remember why, and managed to catch a really intense sunrise.

Still October:

I've started entering various off-road-ish bike events. This was in Kielder Forest and shows my bike in the environment it really should be. A muddy campground in this case!

 

This was my first and very brief visit to Hadrian's Wall. Damn it looks well made!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To finish off October here's "Mad Uncle Will" helping Amelia out with Halloween Cupcakes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December:

Just going to finish this off with a couple of gig pics. I/We (with Angel, & also old school friends) have managed to get to quite a few gigs. I've just got to have live music in my life even if I don't play much myself these days. This is our Christmas Amish look at the Thunder Christmas Party. Maybe it was "Covid risky" but it was well worth it as a way to end the year.

And c'mon, who doesn't love an inflatable penguin?