Barnaby

I thought Barnaby looked quite majestic by the mirror...

And then we shaved him to get his mats off...

Ecofan over a candle

I wanted to see if a candle can power the fan, and it did...

Mums jam tadlum

We went up to see my mum and dad on Boxing Day. Mum had made a jam tadlum but the pastry was so hard she wasn`t even going to give it to the birds!

Christmas dinner

Ruth cooked us a lovely Turkey dinner with all the trimmings. It was great that Ruths nan could come too, Violet is 91 and had a great time.

Ecofan

Steve and Heather very kindly bought me an Ecofan for Christmas, to go on top of our stove in the lounge. One problem was that we didn`t have enough room between the top of the stove and the top of the chimney breast. Steve and myself started to alter the fan but when spinning at high speeds the springy motor housing wouldn`t keep it true so it kept hitting the stove and annoying Ruth. Luckily the mother-in-law had given us Meccano sets to play with and some of it was perfect for making the fan more sturdy, thanks Mumsie. For more info` on how it works click here Ecofan

Old slides

Mum had found an old box of slides and was going to throw them out! I looked through them and picked these to show here...

This is somewhere ??? in the 1970`s.

This is my dad and his brother Rex (left) in Scotland in the early 1970`s

This is uncle Rex and aunty Nancy returning to New Zealand, I think it was in the 1970`s

This is aunty Mabel, she never married and worked in service from the age of 14 through to 71. She was a lovely kind aunty and here she is with my mum (right) and aunty Sheila.

Light trails

I`d been looking at different places to get good light trails for some time and eventually got round to taking these near Southerham...

Shed

Myself and Steve spent a good few hours chilling-out in the shed after David had bedded-down, good work Heather :o) We had a few too many beers but Steve took some good photos...

The compost heap was well-watered too!

Alfriston 2008

It`s that time of year again, the weekend before Christmas means we all meet at Falmer station and walk to Alfriston. For more info` visit Alfriston 2008

Welcome to Steve, Heather and David

On Friday Ruths brother and family arrived from New Jersey, they are staying with us until just after Christmas. David is two and Mabel, our dog, isn`t too sure about him!

Pet harmony

I managed to calm Mabel enough for this photo...

Woolworths

I just went into the London Road shop in Brighton to buy some last -minute things. It`s such a shame to see Woolworths closing down, I suppose I should share some blame as I rarely go in. I remember as a child the Haywards Heath Branch with its big glass doors and huge round handles.

Motley open house, december 2008

On Sat` 6th and Sunday 7th December, Ruth and Graeme held their second open house at our place. It wasn`t as busy as Easter but Ruth did quite well. We don`t know why Graemes lovely bags didn`t sell, but his chocolate cake did! Lots of our friends came down which was nice, even Smoth made an appearance and we chilled-out in the shed for a while.

Mantelpiece

I didn`t think we`d get this thing up, let alone straight. Very difficult to mark the hidden fixings, nice though.

Dad

I was amazed the other day when dad knew who I was and then a couple of days later he did again! Every day seems to be different but they are all hard for mum.

Silver for Mabel

Last Friday mabel took her silver test with two other dogs... and she passed :o)

We don`t know if she`ll go for gold next, I think she has to make coffee and bake some biscuits for that :o) "woof woof".

Demise of my DSLR

I was really looking forward to photographing a nice sunrise at Cooden Beach again. It started well and I got these nice ones...

And then it all went terribly wrong. I like to put the tripod quite low at the edge of the water and get the long exposure shots of swirling water. I`ve done it loads of times but this time a huge wave came out of nowhere and soaked me and the camera. This is the last photograph I took and the flash went off as I lifted it from the water! When things go wrong they really go wrong too. The half hour after this happened, the sky was the most amazing pink and so was the tops of the storm clouds nearby. I have to wait and see if I can claim off my insurance now. And I couldn`t! That`ll teach me :(

Birling gap DRIFTWOOD!

This is for my friend Pedantic Pete, or anyone else who didn`t get to see the timber washed-up along the south coast this year...

Kindling

It seems that Ruth has a Cavaliar attitude to kindling use when lighting a fire. She only goes and uses all my kindling in one go!!! It`s a man thing isn`t it? We love and understand fires and they just want instant heat with no effort.

Dad

Father seems to have suddenly found his feet again. After being upstairs for over six weeks, virtually bedridden, he suddenly appeared downstairs in the kitchen and made mum jump! But he is still doddery, doddery he certainly is :o)

Hampshire Jam 7

No, not a new Damson sandwich spread but a mammoth electronic music concert in Liphook. This is the sixth one that myself and my friends have been to and very good it is too. Lots of old analogue equipment and modern digital equipment teased into action by a very dedicated bunch of guys. Some come over from the Netherlands and Germany to perform.

Autumn around Firle & Berwick

In the grounds of Firle Place.

Berwick Church

For those who were there for the 1982 Alfriston Walk, the rusty old Dutch Barn was the one we had to sleep in after being chucked-out by the warden at Alfriston Youth Hostel.

Folkington

Ruths arty weekend in December

Ruth and her good friend Graeme are having an art open-house on the first weekend in December. here`s some art that Ruth has made...

3" brass bolt

These were the original brass bolts used in the 1930`s to secure cables and hookswitches to the conductor rails. I bought a polishing kit and set about buffing-up the bugger, nice result but it`s very hard to photograph!

Fireplace

We had our wood-burning stove fitted today :o)

I was a bit miffed to find out we can only burn hardwoods in it! This means I will have to search the railway lines for oak and beech logs. My good friend Bob will know what are hard woods and what aren`t. And you have to leave them to season for six months. I can`t wait to see wifey build her first fire from scratch! I`ll be hiding the fire lighters, she watches Bear Ghryles enough, piece of cake!