... where the kids are alright !

sorry, i'm just being frivolous

 

hasta luego, la centenera

 

goodbye, spain !!! ...

 

... hullo, england !

 

madrid, la vera, segovia. the alcarria

i'll be flying to madrid tomorrow morning with the loved one

and i'll be neglecting this blog until late sunday march 26th

miss you lots

magpies are very adaptable ...

 

... and magpies like our drinking water

 

saint luke's at chiddingstone causeway

a nice looking church built in 1897, next to penshurst station

 

instant mapping

just realized i can photograph my road atlas while i'm en route for wherever ... went through foul mile yesterday, on my way from the curlew near bodiam to the merrie harriers at cowbeech

the early bird

driving into sussex at about six fifteen this morning i couldn't immediately identify the pale bird sitting on a roadsign with it's back to me, until it suddenly turned it's head through 180 degrees revealing the huge slanting dark and expressionless eyes and lovely heart-shaped face, and was then airborne in less than a second ... a barn owl

this lady has personified peace at lewes in sussex since the ending of the great war

lagartera and the sierra de gredos

it was semana santa 1986? & that morning i walked back down the hill just in time to see the local girls' five-a-side finals with a can of cold beer in my hand

my, how those girls perspired !

 

my very first morning in spain, 1986

calle del barco in madrid, ramon's apartment, 1986, the view from the terrace

the teapot was made by pedro de la cal, the sweetest old man in puente del arzobispo

faded prints of much loved places

this fuzzy image is scanned from a small print that was pinned up in about six different homes as i've drifted around

it was taken in lagartera in 1986, a sweet village on a low granite hill beside a wide dusty plain with a spectacular view to the snowy sierra de gredos

a few very old ladies still wore their traditional costumes about the streets and the main sources of income were from their families' marvellous embroideries, and from the pig industry which burgeoned with eec grant money at that time

this silhouette of the village soon disappeared as that cash was re-invested in a not-for-sale property boom when the villagers built themselves modern homes on their tiny fields and olive groves

come in number one hundred and twenty three, your time is up !

 

reflections of reflections

 

boat jam

at the end of their downstream sprint the exhausted scullers move slowly back upstream towards the clubhouses and the ramps

the tide has slid out really quickly and there is only sufficient water for one boat at a time to pass beneath putney bridge

 

"my hands are blistered !"

 

peace keepers returning from the clapham peace demo

 

fashion v style ... unreal city

i wonder what constellation the moon was rising in today ?

Answer = it was a waxing gibbous moon rising through leo

... hey ! that's my constellation !

t.s.eliot's river ... run softly 'til i sing my song

 

too many oars !

today it is the womens' heads of the river race

i've never seen so many fit birds

 

brighton; the west pier's skellington, the ruined bandstand, and one of brighton's fabulous cast iron lamp posts

pictured during a traffic jam on the sea front

a distant view of shoreham's gas-fired power station ...

... and another of brighton's fading glories

another side of brighton

the charming olde view along shoreham harbour as you approach from the west

 

findon church, near worthing in west sussex

you get this tantalising glimpse for about two seconds from the main road as you pass through the south downs towards the coast