Category: Family Photos

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Camping trip with Lily to Malham

Malham TarnThe school holidays are a bit to cock this year, meaning that Katie’s and Lily’s Easter holidays don’t match up. It’s led to some creative childcare activity this holiday for Lily which in many ways will be much more fun for her than the prospect of getting on her mum’s heavily pregnant nerves.

Lily and I took advantage of the situation by going camping for a night in Malham. Aside from the predictably good bonding opportunity it afforded, it was actually a really good laugh, start to finish. We had a great bike ride with the trailer bike [View in Google Earth] taking in some bleak but very ridable bridleways and byways, and had a couple of really ace short walks.

We capped off by a quick visit to Settle to see Lily’s great grandparents’ grave on Friday as the weather curtailed the walking, which was also worthwhile and led to lots of good chances to chat about relatives, mortality and all that!

Some fine photos here.

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Eleven years on…

Katie and Dave 5th April 2008Katie and I celebrated out eleventh wedding anniversary today. The weather is prettty much identical; unseasonally chilly and snow flurries, and it’s Grand National day again (the race was famously cancelled because of an IRA bomb scare in 1997). It’s a period of intense of family happiness for us (we’re only two months from our next baby’s due date), and we had such a great walk – and a very long hour or so walking for my blossoming wife – round Entwhistle Resevoir. The good times continue to roll.

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On The Nikon D200

Phil's GibsonStaying at Phil’s house for a few days over the weekend gave me an opportunity to play with his ‘work’ camera’, the Nikon D200. It was a stunning experience. The inordinately heavy body gave the camera an unrivalled steadiness, meaning that short at low shutter speeds were more likely to come out without camera-wobble. The Tamron lens was reliable and very happy with fast autofocus, even when firing off repeated shots.

Here are a few of my favourite shots from the camera over the weekend.

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The last weekend in South Zeal

Phil and DaveAs my brother and his family prepare to move up north, it was with mixed emotions that we spent our last stay there over at their house in South Zeal. Mixed, because we’ve had some great times there, as this one was, and we’ll miss it on that score, but the journey back was a killer (getting on for six hours) and the weather wasn’t its usual vintage. Probably not a bad thing – would have been harder to say goodbye to the place in gorgeous spring weather (though I’d love to have given it a try!)

Extended FamilyA lovely bonus was a few hours drop-in visit from cousin Adrian with Dee and Isabel – had a great manic meal with plenty of good banter and it was really nice to see Adrian away from the mountains for a change.

We made the most of the freezing northerlies to get to an indoor play area on Saturday, which was obviously great fun for the children and one grown-up in particular who loves these places. Katie took plenty of opportunities for some good rest, and Phil and I managed to get out on the moor a couple of times for short runs, including a straight-up-and-down-Cawsand run which was very rewarding (see here in Google Earth).

89 photographs are here – a mixture of some from my camera and some taken with Phil’s utterly stunning Nikon D200.

Katie and Helen catching up

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Bionic mother-in-law

A few short weeks ago my mother-in-law, Jean, went for a new knee. This type of thing happens with great frequency these days and is nothing amazing, but I was quite taken aback when I saw how well and how mobile she was, when i finally caught up with her yesterday.

The bits of titanium and plastic that make up her new, non-arthritic knee seem to have bedded in terrifically well, and it was great to see her walking up into the village with what seemed to be a better pace than she was managing with the crappy old knee before Christmas.

Well done Jean for getting on with all this without any moaning or grumbling. I hope everyone enjoys the X-Ray feature of my stunning new camera.

Jean Jean Jean Jean Jean

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Half term day out: Crosby and Knowsley

Sands of TimeTaking advantage of the pretty much unprecedented February clear spell, I took full advantage of a day’s leave booked to spend with Lily. Katie’s half term doesn’t coincide with Lily’s which is a bit crap, but we had such a stonking day together – was really good fun.

We set off bright and early to head over to look at the Anthony Gormley installation on Crosby Sands, between Southport and Liverpool. The vista was so impressive in these clear, crisp conditions; it was inspirational. We returned to the car with one sandy, knackered dog, and had our butties (along with some cheeky scrounging avians, see right)Scrounger, then were due to head to the museum in Manchester for the afternoon, when we passed Knowsley Safari Park. The sun was out, it was relatively quiet, and the opportunity just begged us. Some photos here (a mix of proper camera and phone stuff). Ace times.

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A bit of photo archive stuff… yesteryear’s pics

Since I got a Pro Account on Flickr, meaning bags of photo storage, I thought I’d upload a few from the archive… more as a back up than anything else….

IndiaOur Honeymoon in India was taken on slide film but I never got round to scanning them properly… these few were done on the cheap on a not very good slide scanner, but they’re a nice reminder.

Also found these old photos of Elvis as a puppy, which someone took on a digital camera for us way before we got a digital camera, in 2001. He’s such a cutie.

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Happy New Year from Eastbourne

Beachy HeadsFor the second year running, we went to stay with our ace and very welcoming mates Rachel and Jon in Eastbourne for New Year. Managed a lovely run with Jon (opens in Google Earth) on New Year’s Eve along the cliffs near Beachy Head, and a great walk on the beach on New Year’s day.

Their new dog, Buzz, is just gorgeous.

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Back to Cheltenham for 24 hrs

NeighboursHad a great trip to see Sarah and Alan – our old neighbours – last weekend. There’ something very reliable and reassuring about old mates. Such a great time – just hanging out and nipping out to Crickley Hill for a walk. Thanks for a great stay guys… Piccies here