Varan's Meanderings

Spring lambs

2010-04-09T10:10:00.000-07:00

Spring lambs in North Yorkshire.

'What are you staring at'?

Grub time.

This is actually a squirrel. It sneaked in there somehow.

2010-04-09T10:04:00.000-07:00

Lucky black cat and 'my' plant (well it's on my desk).

'My' windowsill complete with lucky pink cat, rubber fishy.

Around where I work

2010-04-09T09:55:00.001-07:00

Kind of scruffy desk with Mickey, Goldfish inna bag, NHS cup.

That's the building I work in.

Trippin' balls!

2009-05-02T15:54:00.000-07:00

Strange flowers, unenhanced colours. Kind of trippy.

Little Frog

2009-05-02T15:52:00.000-07:00

Pretty little frog, probably one of last years crop. Just sitting, not bothered by me. Tiny little guy.

Little tiny eeny weeny water snail

2009-04-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

Along with the tadpoles there are lots and lots of tiny watersnails being active. Sorry about the reflection.

Insane Tapdole Bonanza!

2009-04-12T03:50:00.001-07:00

Tadpole insanity!

How absurd!

2009-04-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

Study: Children Exposed To Pornography May Expect Sex To Be Enjoyable

Yay! Pie!

2009-04-09T09:01:00.000-07:00

Easiest way to start to understand a pie chart.

Not a seat to be found

2009-04-06T14:10:00.000-07:00

Greyhounds fart. A lot. They also take up a lot of room.

More tadpoles!

2009-04-05T02:33:00.001-07:00

Little baby tadpoles in my rather murky looking pond!

They are growing so fast.

Just like mum and dad.

2009-03-29T12:57:00.001-07:00

Yippee! 1st tadpoles this year. Little brown flat things just under the water. Don't look like much, do they?

2009-03-28T09:29:00.000-07:00

Pretty good eh? Just a week later.

2009's Frog Spawn

2009-03-21T08:41:00.000-07:00

Yay! This year's frog spawn in my pond. I feel we should follow it's progress. There is a huge amount of it, the tadpoles are going to be swimming shoulder to shoulder this year!

Graphs of interest.

2008-12-21T06:42:00.000-08:00

more music charts

2008-12-12T10:20:00.001-08:00

Attractive Girls Union Refuses To Enter Into Talks With Mike Greenman

Scenery and stuff

2008-10-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Scenery in Westmorland. Taken from up a hill. I nearly died.

Curious little sculpture. Can you see the smiley faces?

Hills. Clouds. Moors.

Bacon. Oh how I love you, dear old bacon

2008-10-25T12:08:00.000-07:00

Bacon butty eaten at the Grizedale Forest visitor centre. Note interestingly camouflaged moth on the table top to the left.

Slightly different perspective.

Within. BBQ sauce. Damn right.

Post something cheerful

2008-09-01T11:03:00.001-07:00

A bacon sandwich, with tomato sauce, yay!

Looking down Holy Loch at sunset.

Oh no, autumn already? (Genuine pic, no shop)

Landscape, dominated by Pendle Hill.

Silly dog, upside down and wearing glasses.

Haworth Graveyard

2008-09-01T10:44:00.001-07:00

Haworth is a pretty town in West Yorkshire, once the home of the Bronte family. Their home was the Parsonage, sitting just above this graveyard. Most of the graves are Georgian or Victorian, although the Bronte's have a vault in the church.

As you can see, it isn't the most cheerful of places! It is seriously gothic, must be pretty spooky at night.

Standing room only.

Brutal reality of Victorian life. Children died with appalling frequency and parents often feared becoming close to them, knowing that a percentage wouldn't survive. This particular memorial sticks out. Joseph and Elizabeth lost seven of their children in infancy. I assume, apart from being devastated by their terrible loss, they accepted this as being a normal part of life. A great many of the grave stones in the church yard tell similar stories to this.

A celebration of human mortality.

2008-06-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

Cakes.

Cherry blossom.

Dog wearing glasses. Peculiar flash effect on eyes.

Negligence.

Make love to the camera baby...

2008-05-29T13:58:00.000-07:00

Does any of this require explanation? Yes? Ok, I'm infatuated with little Tufty. Happy now?

Light up my life.

2008-05-26T04:12:00.000-07:00

Well, since the unfortunate demise of Harry, the consensus of opinion is that we need a new dog. Off we went to Manchester Dog's Home! Sadly we didn't find a new pup there so had a chat with a guy who rehomes retired racing greyhounds.

Soooo... This is Tufty!

Her racing name was Lightupmylife.

Late Spring

2008-05-26T04:05:00.000-07:00

Lime tree leaves.

Gated stream.

Cherry blossom.

Bellis daisies.

See you at the bridge...

2008-05-17T13:06:00.001-07:00

Some pictures of Harry, a sweet old lad, who died yesterday.

This was his last walk in the park, a few days before.

2008-05-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

Nighthawks. Sort of.

lamb in a box.

Malham Tarn, North Yorkshire

2008-01-19T13:10:00.000-08:00

Can you spot the person dressed in blue at the foot of the cliff?

Hawthorn tree, blasted out of the ground and smashed by the wind.

Sheep quietly grazing. I quite liked the composition of this picture.

Edinburgh pictures.

2008-01-19T12:50:00.000-08:00

Charles Jenck's Landform in the grounds of the Scottinsh National Gallery of Modern Art.

Scottish National Gallery.

Regimental and Royal Air Force Colours showing ancient battle honours hanging in St Gile's cathederal.

2007-10-30T04:37:00.001-07:00

Edinburgh evening, looking towards the castle.

2007-10-30T04:32:00.001-07:00

Edinburgh skylines in glorious monochrome.

Edinburgh Trip

2007-10-21T03:16:00.000-07:00

I wonder what you'd expect from someone who took a trip to Edinburgh - arguably one of Europe's most attractive cities? Pictures of churches, castles and craggy parks? Drunks, junkie prostitutes and beggars? (Ah, dear old Scotland, the self-harming emo-nation of Europe!). Well forget it.

In the park.

2007-10-11T04:01:00.000-07:00

Nice old sundial, spoiled by the stupid tv cable draped across it - I could have shopped it out, but I prefer to see 'real' pictures.

Autumn leaves on a cobble star.

Mysterious green doors. Probably the door on the left was a stable and above it was the feed store. I imagine they would have had a hoist to take grain and hay up there at one time. It is part of a very old building originally built around 1650, but I think this part of the building is much later, a Georgian addition.

Not more nasturtiums!

2007-10-11T03:55:00.001-07:00

Yes, more nasturtiums. On a marble slab. Sunlit, no flash.

Red Admiral

2007-09-25T05:51:00.001-07:00

Quite possibly not the best ever photographs of a Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) - but not too bad, I hope. He came visiting the red hot poker flowers this morning, as you can see, a pleasantly warm and sunny morning. Very common in europe, the americas and asia. Handsome devil, not worried by me sticking a camera up close to him either.

Nasturtium studies

2007-09-22T08:34:00.001-07:00

If you can tell me what the raindrop has 'captured' in the top photograph, I'll send you a prize. I know what it is!

The second study is a close look at the growing tip of the plant, again, with rain drops in the helix. The hairs on the leaves seem to disappear as the plant grows.

Glacial

2007-09-22T08:03:00.002-07:00

Light and cloud reflected in a piece of raw glass.

Wild berries

2007-09-22T07:45:00.001-07:00

Hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna) berries on a cold, windy day.

Where ever you see them, Hawthorn hedges have probably been there for hundreds of years - long before the town built up around them.

International timepiece.

2007-09-20T13:22:00.000-07:00

Now here's something I bet you don't see everyday! Shows times (pretty approximate I would guess) at various places round the world. Amazing. Made in 1841. Anyone know where Fort Nelson is (or was)?

Something in the woodpile...

2007-09-20T07:08:00.000-07:00

Funny place to find a toad, at the top of a log pile. Not very sensible at all, seeing it'll need to hibernate soon - also I'm planning to saw up the logs ready for burning. I'll have to relocate him to somewhere safe in the garden.

Cloudy day

2007-09-18T09:16:00.001-07:00

Cloudy day view of Pendle Hill. The hill - not quite a mountain - dominates the area, even causing a rainy micro climate to the towns in the valley below. Interestingly, or not - depends on your viewpoint - naming of Pendle Hill is unusual in that it apparently says the same thing in three different languages. In the thirteenth century it was mentioned as Pennul or Penhul, apparently from Cymbric pen and Old English hyll, both meaning "hill"; the meaning having become opaque, the modern english word Hill was again appended. Mind you, it might be a reference to King Penda of Mercia - Penda's Hill. King Penda died in 655 BCE, not many records or maps from then so just a guess! More recently, George Fox, founder of the Quaker movement took a walk up there in 1652. Fox felt that God led him to go there. He had a vision of thousands of souls coming to Christ. "As we travelled, we came near a very great hill, called Pendle Hill, and I was moved of the Lord to go up to the top of it; which I did with difficulty, it was so very steep and high. When I was come to the top, I saw the sea bordering upon Lancashire. From the top of this hill the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered."
The area is notorious for the despicable events that lead to the 'Pendle Witch Trials' earlier in the 1600's. Interesting read about it here: The Wonderous Discoverie Of Witches in the Covntie Of Lancaster Bit of a struggle though as the English is very archaic!

Magic water

2007-09-18T05:04:00.001-07:00

Water on a nasturtium leaf. The leaves have a surficant property that affects the water, making it behave like liquid mercury. I haven't really captured what I wanted here, if I manage to get a nice shot I'll update it later.

Not a bee.

2007-09-18T04:54:00.001-07:00

Neither a bee nor a wasp, this little chap is a hoverfly. Perfectly harmless, buzzing round like a tiny hummingbird. The flower is Red Hot Poker or Torch Lily - Kniphofia uvaria.

Opium Poppy

2007-09-12T03:59:00.001-07:00

Soon be ready for this year's opium harvest - not! Nice flowers though. Anyway this is a 'Norman' type Papaver somniferum, Laciniatum Group which will not yield any opiate substances, although it is widely held that eating foods with poppy seed will give a false positive if you are tested for 'substances'!

Tropaeolum majus - nasturtium

2007-09-11T13:54:00.001-07:00

Pale variagated nasturtium flowers in dappled light.

Old fashioned values

2007-09-10T06:46:00.000-07:00

Some autumnal jams. This is recycling folks! Fruit all picked in hedgerows or growing in my garden, jars courtesy of anyone. I couldn't believe how hard it was to get a half-decent picture of some jars in a cupboard!

Worcester Pearmain

2007-09-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

This is the one solitary apple that has grown on my lone apple tree this year. As the title might suggest, this is an old type of apple, a Worcester Pearmain. Nice name, the only reason I bought the tree and planted it - oooh - three years ago. I haven't done anything to the tree since, no spraying or pruning, nothing, so perhaps I've got what I deserve! It doesn't look exactly appetising but I'm going to have to eat it. Because it's there.

Afternote: I tried the apple, it was fragrant and delicious. Totally belied by it's appearance.

2007-09-08T06:38:00.001-07:00

This is a Pineapple Lily, eucomis bicolor, taken against a background of nasturtiums. I stronly recommend this plant to the novice gardner, it is easy and cheap to buy as a bulb for spring planting, it is a very, very easy plant to grow and fortunately, slugs and other pests tend to avoid it.

2007-09-08T06:33:00.001-07:00

Mean, moody and magnificent! This is Jack, our Jack Russell terrier (imaginative name, eh?), taken at Malham Cove in North Yorkshire in Winter 2006. Jack has a blue eye and a brown eye. Pretty cool, eh?

2007-09-08T06:16:00.001-07:00

This is Sophie, my 'step-daughter', on her 18th birthday - a few day's ago. She is getting ready for a night on the town. Note the immense handbag on the sofa. She's probably going to be dancing round that later...

2007-09-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Not a brilliant picture. Blackberries, ready to be made into more jam.

Manually initiated irrigation system.

2007-08-11T14:20:00.001-07:00

Now a bygone, but still superficially in excellent condition, as you can see. A real rarity nowadays in the western world where we demand that our water appears from the tap (or faucet) on demand with no effort and no questions about how clean it is. I don't suppose it's all that many years since this was the norm though. Certainly I remember being facinated by the well at my grandparent's house when I was a little boy! They also collected rain water in a big barrel. This was within 30 miles of the centre of London. Also, I'm not that old, thank you.
I had to try the pump to see if it worked, but I'm sad to say that it didn't. They used to have wooden and leather washers and I suppose they had perished. All it did was let out a wheeze...

Rusting iron

2007-08-11T14:17:00.001-07:00

Simply that. A quietly decaying mass of iron.

Shelves

2007-08-11T14:12:00.001-07:00

An uncomposed shot of some glasses, cups, jugs, vases

Ruined? Or 'improved'?

2007-08-11T14:00:00.001-07:00

Nice old VW Beetle seen in a restoration yard in Suffolk. I can't help but wonder what happened to it! Student prank? Bored kids while dad was out?

Toads.

2007-08-09T03:17:00.001-07:00

Two common toads (bufo bufo) in my pond. I only dug the pond about April this year and am amazed at the speed with which it has become a 'live' thing.

Zombie Peacock!

2007-08-09T02:49:00.001-07:00

Insane-looking zombie peacock.

Madonna Lilies

2007-08-09T02:45:00.001-07:00

Apros pro of nothing much really. Some lily flowers. Madonna lilies? I don't know.

Lamps & Keys.

2007-08-08T04:42:00.001-07:00

I liked the colours and the shapes of the old lamps and the keys. The keys were pretty fascinating on their own (more of them later), must have fitted huge locks. Don't know how secure they were though! Apart from the lamps, everything looks rough and hand crafted. Look at the nail heads on top of the pegs.

Thames Sailing Barge EDME.

2007-08-08T02:52:00.001-07:00

Thames sailing barge off the Suffolk coast. I liked seeing the barges near Woodbridge in Suffolk, I assume they must belong to a Trust or something similar.
As far as I am aware they fell out of commercial use in the 1950's and 60's because they couldn't compete with road and rail haulage rates for cargo.
To the non-nautical individual (me) they look like a complex vessel to manage, but apparently they only had a two man crew. Must have been a load of hard work, with all those sails.

Sorry this picture isn't a sharp as it could be.

This particular barge is the EDME, sailing out of Harwich. She is 50 tons and built out of wood at Harwich in 1898. She has no engine. She is available for day charters if you email Allison Bond

Here goes nothing!

2007-08-08T02:38:00.000-07:00

Well, I've decided to use my pictures for a blog instead of just having them clutter up my hard drive, unseen by the world. Please feel free to comment. If you find a picture that particularly appeals to you for desktop use or whatever, just go ahead and use it - you're welcome. Not for commercial use though please.

First picture is of some watering cans, sitting on an old table. The watering cans were already in various parts of the back yard, I put them on the table and waited until the light looked nice.