The Bloggler

Sunday Stills' is a photography challenge with a weekly theme. It is hosted by Terri Webster Schrandt at her site,  Second Wind Leisure Perspective . Terri's challenge this week is 'Things that are White' and this is my entry. When I looked for examples of ‘things that are white’ in my photographs, all I found, apart from a few images of white flowers and breaking surf, was... white buildings.   I realised I had taken quite a lot, especially in Mediterranean places.    Why was this?   Why am I attracted to white buildings? The town planner in me had to analyse this and this is what I think.... White buildings look fresh, have a calming appearance and impart a brighter look; White is suitable for all architectural design styles, modern and traditional buildings and therefore helps to blend old and new large and small into a homogenous scene;  White is nicely reflective and therefore reflects the changing colours of the day and produces different shade...

I am so bloody bored!  I know there is the saying that bored people are boring people. And perhaps I am boring.   Lockdown burnout has got me to the point where I can’t even be bothered to think about doing something that might involve thinking.   It is only having a basic routine that is getting me through the days but even that routine is getting lazier and lazier as I shave less, watch more rubbish TV and eat more and more biscuits.    I was so bored the other day that I helped my wife re-arrange the airing cupboard.   It was a satisfying, practical but probably unnecessary exercise.   At least it didn’t require too much thinking, searching for tools, or cleaning of paintbrushes afterwards. In the first lockdown, I set myself a project of clearing tons of stuff out of the loft.   We managed to throw away a lot of junk, but then clogged up the garage with the remainder.   We then sorted this into the ‘ charity ’ pile, the ‘ this belon...

'Sunday Stills' is a photography challenge with a weekly theme. It is hosted by Terri Webster Schrandt at her site,  Second Wind Leisure Perspective . Terri's theme this week is 'Feed the Birds'. When I saw the challenge, I thought I must have loads of good photographs of our young grandsons feeding ducks.  My wife and I have taken them on many a waterside walk involving duck watching and feeding but evidently I didn't take as many pictures as I thought. Those I did are pretty poor quality  and unfortunately they didn't capture their hilarious bread throwing skills or their reluctance on occasions  to share the bread. These two are the best two I can muster.   River Tame at Uppermill - a Saddleworth village within Oldham M.B.C. Pond in Lymm Village, Cheshire Thinking about the challenge, I recalled taking photos of a young girl and her father feeding pigeons in Heraklion, Crete whilst we were holidaying there.  It was in an attractive little square and we w...

Here is another offering in response to Dan's  ThursdayDoors Photo Challenge  at 'No Facilities' These photos were taken in Barcelona in 2008.  The first is a handsome wooden door and not enhanced by the graffiti in my view - but somehow eye-catching.  The second door also has visual interest despite having no artistic merit.  The third, fourth and fifth photos certainly do have artistic merit, livening up what would have been a blank shuttered doorway. More shutters, this time in Granada, Spain, taken in 2012. Not everyone will like these but they do add vibrancy into the street scene.

I have a record-buying dilemma which is not untypical of a man of my years.  There is this temptation to plump for old musical treasures I may have missed or not fully explored back in the day. But if I don't explore new music and new artists and invest in the potential treasures of the future, I fear I will become old (or should I say older). Well, let's not make it a dilemma at all: Ill do both.  It will cost more but, as a retired man in lockdown, there's not much else to treat myself to.  In the past, I have always experimented and tried new stuff.  This is why I have such a eclectic selection of what I think is great music.  Yes, some purchases were a mistake (what was I thinking?) some I grew out of, but that’s the way it goes. One genre I've always go back to is 'jazz'.  Oh dear I've said it.  Mention the ‘jazz’ word and many people will shudder and roll their eyes. I have to admit I do tend to avoid some jazz where the offerings seem to me to b...

I have quite a collection of Mediterranean door photographs. These are some of my Spanish ones. They were taken in the Spanish sea-side resort town of Nerja and the nearby typical hillside pueblo blanco village of Frigiliana in the region of Malaga. We never tire of coming here but, sadly, I don't think we'll make it until 2022.    Traditional Spanish street house in Nerja Cafe frontage in Frigiliana Typical pueblo blanco house in Frigiliana Door to garden in Frigiliana Impressive timber door in Nerja Pristine doorway in Frigliana 

  Thornton -le-Dale Doors photographed in the picturesque village of Thornton-le-Dale which lies on the edge of the North York Moors National Park. Beautifully presented original and inviting shopfront with access bridge across a bubbling brook. Recessed tiled doorway Chocolate box cottage with thatched porch. Pristine white door to cottage garden, framed with ivy. Helmsley Door in the attractive market town of Helmsley in the North York Moors National Park. Wonderful timber porch on Georgian stone villa  Whitby Two doors photographed at the Abbey Headland at Whitby (a seaside town overlooking the North Sea and the River Esk estuary). Old weathered door to derelict farm building, Abbey Headland, Whitby Mad Monk Cottage on the Abbey Headland. 

David Bowie performing Ziggy Stardust live at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1973. Taken from Ziggy Stardust The Motion Picture. David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars, The Ziggy Stardust Tour, Leeds University / Kirkstall Rolarena, Leeds, June 1973 The year was 1973 and I was a 19 year old Town Planning Undergraduate Student at Leeds. It was the year Britain joined the EEC and the year the IRA brought their bombs to England. Strikes were common place and unemployment and inflation were on the rise.    It was not a time of great positivity in the UK but for a student exploring independent life, with an actual ‘student grant’ (yes a grant not a loan) and a part time job to get by on, it was an exciting and optimistic time.  Musically, around this time in 1973, Pink Floyd released 'Dark Side of the Moon' and No. 1 in the charts was Slade with ‘Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me’. On the downside we had to endure other chart toppers such as Donny Osmond and his brother Little Jimmy, Gary Gl...