Category: The Gallery

  • #TheGallery 171 – Something Beautiful

    It’s been a weird old year for weather so far.  Winter, whilst hammering the US and Canada, forcing my old boss to decide whether he needs to close the Dalhousie campus for a snow day, has largely bypassed the UK.  Thus far we’ve had a couple of hard frosts and that’s been about it.

    But those frosts transform the landscape around you, bringing out the magical in the mundane.  My kids are fascinated by the grass, the fallen leaves, the patterns on the school railings.  My youngest was thrilled when I had to de-ice the car yesterday, laughing at the snow falling inside the car as I scraped the windscreen!

    There’s a beautiful “Baston” sign at the heart of the village, a stone’s throw from the church and our house.  We walk past it to get to school.  My youngest was amazed to see the flowers blooming last week, yellows, reds and blues peeping out.  He was speechless when he saw these:

    I couldn’t decide which made the better photo, so I give you all 3 instead.

    One thing living on Shetland taught me was to enjoy the weather, whatever it brings.  Dress right, get out there and enjoy.  Sure, the weather down here Lincolnshire is a lot tamer, there’s less of the “is the house going to blow away” and “is that your trampoline flying off to Norway”? winds and more of “oh, it’s a bit nippy today, might need a coat” mildness but still. Gear up, get out, enjoy.  You’d be amazed how much gardening you can get done.

  • #TheGallery – Week 170: New

    Last few months have seen a lot of new.  New house, new area, new friends, new village, new schools, new and interesting ways in which DIY can be botche (in the past, that is. We do things properly), new playparks and new beaches.

    Okay, so the beach is now an hour and a half away, not a 5 minute stroll.  And the rockpools aren’t there.  And Skegness was, to all intents and purposes, closed when we visited during the Christmas break…  But it’s the sea, dammit, and since I lived right by it for the last 10 years it still brought a lump to my throat when I saw it again.

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    Kids weren’t so impressed, mind you. It was windy, the sand blew in their faces and they couldn’t wait to get into McDonalds for lunch (first place we found open!).

    We’ll be back in the summer, when no doubt we’ll have to pay for parking and find the beach stuffed with tourists (like us).

  • The gallery 151 – Door (#TheGallery / #Gallery)

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    This is a doorway to a world of adventure.  Step over this stile and you could be learning magic at Hogwarts, defending the universe from Loki and the Chitari, battling Cybermen and Daleks.  You could be riding dragons over the endless plains, flying spaceships in deep space, running away from trolls.

    This is a doorway into the imagination of my kids.  And I love it.