This weekend marks the seventh Photo North festival, and the fifth of which I’ve attended. As usual it was a great mix of lectures, exhibits, and retailers.
Apologies that this is quite a short post – I’ve been out of the house for the entire day and don’t have it in me for a detailed recap, but suffice to say that if you get the chance to attend, then please do. It’s well worth the visit, and it’s on until Sunday, with a different selection of talks and speakers on each day.
My wife and I visited the Wakefield Rhubarb Festival today. It’s the first time we’ve been and it was an enjoyable few hours out.
Wakefield is one of the towns that delineate the area known as the Rhubarb Triangle*, famed for producing forced rhubarb, a method of growing the vegetable in dark sheds which encourages the plants to convert carbohydrates into glucose, forming stalks with a sweetly sour taste. Rhubarb has many uses, but is often served in sweet pies and crumbles,sometimes accompanied by other fruits. Wakefield Council holds the annual festival each February.
Fresh bundles of rhubarb on one of the stalls.More rhubarb being delivered
The event itself was somewhat akin to a Christmas market and I was surprised at how many stalls were present, along with various activities taking place, and local bars, cafe’s, and restaurants also laying on rhubarb themed food and drinks. We bought a number of items, including some orange and rhubarb marmalade (I’m on a bit of a marmalade voyage of discovery at present, having it with toast for breakfast several times a week), some rhubarb candles (which my wife will gift to a friend), a sausage and rhubarb focaccia (to be eaten tomorrow!), and some fresh stalks of rhubarb (some of which we ate with custard this evening).
Two friendly rhubarb ladiesEverywhere you looked, people had stalks of purchased rhubarb protruding from bags and backpacks.More rhubarb purchasersA girl with rhubarb in her hairThere was honey for sale too
As well as the stalls, there were a number of other events taking place during the event (which ran from Friday until today), including live music, arts and crafts, cooking demonstrations, various performers in rhubarb costumes, and no less than three different morris dancing groups (or sides, as I believe they are known) .
*the legal definition of the Rhubarb Triangle is apparently as follows…
“from Ackworth Moor Top north along the A628 to Featherstone and Pontefract. Then on to the A656 through Castleford. It then goes west along the A63 past Garforth and West Garforth. Head north passing Whitkirk, Manston and on towards the A6120 by Scholes. Follow the A6120 west, round to pass Farsley which then leads south west via the A647 onto the A6177. Pass Dudley Hill to pick up the M606 south. At junction 26 take the M62 south to junction 25 head east along A644 toward Dewsbury, passing Mirfield, to pick up the A638 towards Wakefield. At Wakefield take the A638 south to Ackworth Moor top.”[
I visited the city of Ciutadela twice during our recent holiday in Menorca. The first time was withe my wife, although we didn’t stay long, instead catching the bus across the island to the current capital, Mahon (or Mao as it appears on all the signs).
The second visit I made solo, leaving my wife to read her book beside the swimming pool, while I took the bus so I could explore and take photographs.
I took a whole bunch during this visit, both on film and digital, and below are a few of the latter, taken on the gorgeous (and quiet) backstreets of the city’s old town area. Interestingly, almost all my pictures in this part of the city are in portrait orientation, suiting the narrow streets, I think.
I still have a bunch more photos to share from the trip to Menorca, but I haven’t even started scanning the film photos yet!
Another quick post this evening as my son and daughter-in-law have been to visit and have only just left.
So, a digital photo I took when we took a trip to Mahon while we were in Menorca. There’s something vaguely Richard Scarry-esque about it. I feel. Maybe Gold Bug is hiding in the scene somewhere. 🙂
Another digital picture from my recent visit to Mablethorpe. The tide had receded and left a lovely reflective sheen on the flat sand, over which this person and their frolicking dog crossed.
As Flickr seems to be having considerable issues today due to the significant AWS outage, I’m uploading a picture directly for a change.
I’ve just picked something I shot a week ago on my trip to Mablethorpe – the place where The Cut, empties into the North Sea via a concrete outfall. It’s another of those things that I’ve photographed on numerous occasions, but the light is quite nice here.
Another quick post this evening as, this time, I’ve just got back from a trip to the seaside.
So here’s a digital shot I took this morning from the bridge across the River Trent in Gainsborough. I took a film shot from the same location, which I hope will turn out as nicely.
I cropped it to a 6×17 ratio, so it’ll probably look nicer if you click through to the Flickr version.
