Cold, dark evenings

Autumn

As my last post was in the summer, I thought I should at least share one more before it's winter...

Last of the summer

Today as the kids return to school for another academic year, it's a cold, wet autumnal morning. Where has my summer gone?

He still believes

He also still believes in the Tooth Fairy and Santa mind you. Though he's beginning to have his doubts...

Dog Vomit

The Dog Vomit slime mould is quite an amazing creature - more animal than vegetable, more amoebic than fungal. I came across this beauty whilst tramping through a Northumberland forest the other day and have been reading up about slime moulds since.  Fascinating.  I can thoroughly recommend it.

The Kids

Pleiades and Holidays

I've spent this week recovering from that vague, creeping solipsism that many of a certain age and seniority will experience from time to time - when work becomes sufficiently divorced from the meat and grind of production and one wonders if any of this is real or for what purpose those performance figures really serve, only a good holiday, or retirement will do.

So this week during the day, I have climbed hills, rolled in grass, watched ants, played chess, draughts and scrabble, made Lego and pretend families with baby dolls. In the evening we've made dinner amongst other things, got drunk, smoked, read and slept.

Monday was particularly memorable. Meg and I were watching crows circle the cottage during that short period after the sun has slipped under the horizon but still roasts it a deep orange. We hadn't spoken in a while, enjoying the sound of the birds, when the brightest meteor I have ever seen, shot over our heads from the north. It seemed so close (or large enough), that we could see the thing tumble and spin as it burned up in spectacular whites, blues and reds. For such a magnificent spectacle, oddly it made no sound. Meg was rapturous. She gasped, held her hands to her mouth before running inside screaming "MUMMY, MUMMY, we saw a shooting star!".

How privileged I felt for being able to share that moment with my daughter.

After she and Dom were put to bed, Miche & I lay down on the grass to watch the Milky Way emerge from behind the near stars and waited for the next Pleiades meteor. None came. The peak, apparently, would be Thursday when predictably, the sky would be full of rain cloud. Miche bored of her wait after a long while and left me with my camera to see what I could catch.

This photo above is the fruits of my labour. One of many 30 second exposures that night, but the only one that caught a meteor (in the bottom right corner).

A snail, some fish and boatmen below

Early beach walk

It was rather lovely.

Cute overload

A new resident of one of our units who is proving rather popular.  For obvious reasons.

Material Delights

Today I have purchased my first DSLR camera. Some of you will appreciate the magnitude of this moment. Some of you may not. For those of you immune to this particular flavour of geek joy, please look away now.

I've acquired a Nikon D80, a Nikkor 70-300 zoom lens and a Sigma 18-55mm. My Sigma Ultra Wide 10-20mm Lens is in the post as I write.

This, you might have gathered, is some great wondrousness for me; A culmination of good saving and much hard graft.

Bear with me as I learn how to use the damned thing before I share my attempts at pretty pictures.

Tinkering

I hope you like the new template. Thought I'd furnish it with a pretty photo.

Man 'o war?

It's quiet. So quiet in fact, that I can hear mains hum from a techno gizmo at the far end of the room. It's not an entirely unpleasant experience, given my frantic lifestyle of late, however it's completely alien. The kids are in bed, knackered after a weekend in the outdoors. My wife has followed their example.

So I'm here, for once, wondering how to fill my time, and thought I should blog. I hope that there's still one or two of you with my feed in your reader. If so, hello!

Please enjoy this jellyfish that we found in a rock pool at Bamburgh yesterday. I think it's a man-o-war (circa 3 inches diameter)? Apparently they're common in the south of England and are finding their way up north. Please correct me if I've got my species wrong.

Here's a video of it swimming complete with kid commentaryr;

And these are Black Headed Gulls, yes? Greedy bastards either way. Nicked me sausage roll they did..