This pollarded willow tree sits at the southern end of Woodhouse Washlands close to the A57 flyover (in fact, you can see the shadow of the flyover at the base of this image – I thought about cropping it out, but it would take the foot of the tree closer to the edge of the frame than I’d like). The field was pretty muddy and had a considerable number of cow pats deposited about on the day so I decided to use the zoom lens to get me closer. While it may not be to everyone’s taste, I like the contrast of the fields and trees on the left with the industry of the pylons and factory units to the right. The track fills the gap at bottom right nicely too.
Pollarding cuts trees off at height, not at the base as coppicing does
It’s one of those days where I can think of little to say. I’ve found a photo to publish and written one of my (likely not very good) haikus, but otherwise I’m suffering from a brain full of tumbleweed. So I’ll leave it at that and hope normal service resumes shortly.
If you look up close See a small figure crossing And heading downhill
A local cemetery has the small building depicted in today’s photo stood in its corner. While the cemetery is fully-enclosed by a hedge (with a gate to allow public access), this corner is also open to the street allowing a photo to be made without much obstruction. I’ve photographed the same building a few times now as a nearby tree casts lovely mottled shadows across the brickwork when the conditions are right. I’m not sure of the building’s function – I don’t think it’s a chapel or anything like that – but it’s probably used for storing equipment used to manage and maintain the cemetery grounds and graves. I did go into the cemetery once to take a closer look, but saw that there were some people tending a grave nearby, so left again in order to respect their privacy.
My injured leg is feeling better today (though not to the extent that I will attempt to run on it!) so I went for a walk. I was able to maintain a decent pace without any significant discomfort (although maybe a little when climbing and descending the steps of the railway bridges). It will likely be at least a week before I consider running again, but I managed to make a few photos while out walking today, which I likely wouldn’t have done had I been out for a run.
Today’s haiku:
Single traffic bridge Awaiting my turn to cross A boy slips in mud
Quite a lot of power-line shots on this roll. Wooden poled for the most part on the first half from my Christmas Eve countryside walk. Pylons to come soon form the latter half.
Day eight of my haikus. Something a little more cryptic for today.
Red box in the mail One-hundred-and-twenty-eight k of memory
So, my first week of Couch-to-5k has taken a dip on day three where it appears that I’ve gotten myself a calf strain. I managed to walk home ok but the pain has increased since (at least when I move around) and the range of movement has reduced. Absolutely brilliant, eh?
I’m dissapointed that I will likely now have to put the running off for a while. Not because I’ll miss the activity itself – running isn’t something I can say I love doing – but because I do want to increase my fitness and, more importantly, support my son as he runs too. I’ve no idea how long the injury will take to heal before I can run again (even assuming it is a calf-strain. I’ve not spoken to a healthcare professional about it as yet, so it might be something else), but online self-diagnosis suggests it can take up to six weeks to fully recover. Bah!
Like a cramp, it felt as I tore my calf running Excercise. What Fun…
At present I can’t really even consider going for a walk until it heals a little as I’m moving about like a pirate with a wooden leg at the moment. I should have stuck to walking!
Here’s a flock of birds and some power lines from a few weeks ago when I was able to move around uninjured. 🙂
Another thin skim of snow greeted me when I awoke this morning, although it had melted a few hours later and bright blue skies appeared. Had I not been working I might have gone for a walk and made a few pictures, but that wasn’t the case. In the event, I still grabbed a couple of images later in the afternoon when I saw some of my wife’s ornaments catching the afternoon sunlight. I used the Yashica Mat with the close-up lens set. Still ten more frames to shoot though, so it may be a while before they see the light of day (well, for a second time!).
Today’s haiku:
In the USA Georgian Democrat double Turn the Senate blue
And to finish, another picture from the Christmas Eve walk.
Well here we are again. The whole country locked down tight for the third time in less than a year (although, to be honest, the second lockdown was less severe and I didn’t really notice any difference). We’re now back to staying indoors except for essential reasons such as shopping for food / medicines; work (if you can’t do so from home); to provide care (or to escape danger); and for exercise no more than once a day (in your local area).
I gues it will mean my photography is limited once more to things at home, or opportunities I have when out for a walk. I’ve just started Couch-to-5k this week, but at this early stage it’s all I can do to keep running and making photos is the last thing on my mind on those outings. Maybe that will change as I become fitter.
I still have a pretty large archive of images that have never been featured on the blog, so I won’t run out of things to post, but I do think that I might run out of new things to post depending on when, where, and how I am able to get out with a camera. I’ll just have to see what happens, I guess.
I like this time of year for photography. Murky weather can make for very atmospheric shots, and pleasant days are blessed with low-angled sunshine. As the lockdown is set to last until mid-February at least (when the government hopes to have the four highest priority groups of people vaccinated), and probably into March, it looks like I will miss out on these conditions for the most part (or will at least need to get more creative and better inspired by my local area). As for my own vaccination, looking at the numbers of people elligible and where I sit in the priority list (basically just above all the fit and healthy young people who aren’t even included), it will probably be just before Christmas 2021 when I get my own jab!
I do hope that this summer will be less restricted than last at least though. Not because I want to sit on busy crowded beaches or visit touristy hotspots, but just to have the freedon to hop in the car and go somewhere nice for the day. I mean, I’d like that freedom any time of the year, but the summer would do for now.
Hope you are all keeping safe and healthy out there.
I’ll leave you with today’s haiku and another photo from Christmas Eve when I was able to go for walks a little further afield.
On my desk I see Two green frogs on a keyboard Are they musical?
My two week’s leave came to an end and today marked my return to work. The last things I did before the Christmas break seem distant and yet the two weeks seem to have flown by in an instant!
Work resumed today I now need to remember What it is I do
Another Christmas Eve walk photo today. I saw this house / farm peeking over the growing crops in this hillside field and thought iw ould be nice picked out with the telphoto lens. The footpath through the fields was a somewhat nerve-wracking experience as it had a thin skein of surface mud that threatened to take my feet out from beneath me! I don’t thinks I would have gotten hurt, but muddy and wet would be unwelcome all the same. Luckily I managed it to the bottom intact.
I decided to go for a walk on Christmas Eve. I’d received some gifted Pentax (and Pentax mount) cameras a few weeks previously but, sadly, all of them has some fault or other that has dissuaded me from using them so far – The Pentax ME Super looked to be in best condition, but has an annoying issue where the mirror will lock up sometimes, necessitating a firm slap on the base with my hand to get it to return. It also needs new light seals and I haven’ had the inclination to fiddle about cutting and fitting new pieces of foam yet.
The cameras came with a bunch of Pentax K-mount lenses though, so I decided I would try them out on my P30T. On this occasion I took three of them with me: an SMC Pentax 50mm f/1.7; An SMC Pentax 35mm f/3,5, and; a Takumar-F Zoom 70-200mm f/4-5.6.
I shot a number of photos with all three lenses while out (although the zoom probably got more use than the others) and I’ll be posting some of the resulting images here over the next few days. Today though, a couple of frames from the start of the roll where a horse kindly provided its services as a model.
The walk ended on a festive note when a few flakes of snow began to fall. None of them settled, and none fell on Christmas day (although we got a dollop a few days later), but it felt good nontheless.
Before the images though, today’s haiku. Hopefully it speaks for itself as to what I did today…
I need to get fit My first Couch to Five K run My knees are aching
Christmas is over The decorations are down For another year
My haiku’s have made it to day two! I’m not sure exactly what topics I’ll cover with each – maybe an alignment with the rest of the day’s post but, more likely I suspect, as a kind of poetic journal refelecting something that has happened in my life or the world each day.
As you may guess from today’s, we took down our Christmas decorations this morning. This used to be a pretty depressing activity for me in the past as I would feel pretty down about the holiday period being officially over. In recent years though it seems to be affecting me less. I wonder if it’s because, as my children grow older, Christmas has changed. The magic of Father Christmas delivering presents is a thing of the past (at least until such a point as we become grandparents I suppose), and it doesn’t feel the same as when the boys were little. Plus, the way that time seems to fly by as a get older, it will be Christmas again in about five minutes …
Today’s photo is another made on the moors above Lady Canning’s Plantation next to a small cluster of rock outcrops known as The Ox Stones. I’m not sure where the name comes from, but there used to be an Inn known as Oxdale Lodge nearby, so perhaps livestock were grazed, or moved through the land by drovers?
From this angle, the stone has a face. A rock-face. 🙂
Steel City Snapper photography 