Last day of 2016

In many ways a bittersweet year... the year of Trump and Brexit, but also the year that my daughter found herself. Let's hope 2017 has more highs than lows!

A bit of low sunshine and 40F.

Christmas jousting for diamonds.

Friday

A kind of lazy day, doing a little cleaning and tidying in the kitchen and watching the GoT marathon on TV.

Cooler and we just had a quick burst of snow, 36F.

Sir Lancelot appears to defend the Queen.

Thursday

Still quite warm for the season, 43F, but rather wet :)

Guenivere is accused of treason.

Tuesday

Unseasonably warm, 56F, and a bit muddy :)

Last day with my loaned camera gear :( I will not be sad to stop toting the weight of this lens, but I will miss it's sharpness- and I will get a 5D body of my own before too long, you mark my words ;)

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick stroll around the short loop before the Christmas festivities commence- and lots of other families have had the same idea. 

Warm and sunny, 43F.

Listening to a classical Christmas station on Google Play.

Friday...

... the calm before the crazy! It's lovely to have a quiet, regular day off before everything on Christmas Eve tomorrow :)

Kinda warm, 44F, and sunny. The trails are a bit muddy, but we don't care. 

Listening to an acoustic Christmas station on Google Play, then I'm going home to set up and play with my borrowed camera :)

Tuesday

Pretty frigid, 31F, but some nice afternoon sun makes it very pleasant- even more so after not getting out yesterday because of my computer woes!

Sir Bors is very confused.

Snowy Saturday

About 3" overnight, but it's warmed up a lot so it will probably all be gone by tomorrow, 27F and cloudy.

Sir Bors puts on a red shirt.

Wow it's cold!

Wicked cold and windy today, 20F! So just the short loop ;)

No book or music, on the phone to Grandma & Grandpa to give then the good news about Crisp's acceptance to SUNY Purchase :)

Tuesday

Doing our regular loop for the first time in a long time, but Holly seems very comfortable in the German brace and actually keeps looking at me expecting a tennis ball!

Gray and a touch warmer, 40F.

Listing to Newshour on the World Service.

Sunday, brrr!

First cold weekend of the year, just a tad above freezing right now at 33F.

Holly seemed OK after 2 days in the woods in a row, but I didn't want to push out luck ;)

Church Christmas (Advent) Dinner tonight, which is always fun :)

Surprise, surprise, Sir Lancelot has found a damasel in need.

Friday

Two days in a row! Hope this isn't too much for her.

Cold and crisp and windy, 36F.

The end of Sir Percival's Book 14 (very short) as he loses his virginity to the devil and sticks a sword through his thigh as penance!

Thursday

Doing our old short loop. Holly has a new, soft splint all the way from Germany- it has metal inserts that you form to the joint and I think she's a little happier in it as it doesn't go all the way under her foot.

Cool and partly cloudy, 40F, though it's supposed to get colder over the weekend.

Into the tales of Sir Percival.

Tuesday

Cool and grey, 42F.

Still just doing the short back and forth along the bottom and I want to keep a close eye on Holly, so I'm not listening to my book yet.

Here we are again :)

I watched Holly for a couple of days after our last trip here, and the seem to have been no ill effects, so we're back :)

Just the short walk along the bottom and back, but it's sunny and crisp and lovely!

A light breeze and 41F is easily kept at bay by my quilted vest and it's wonderful to be here.

We're back :)

As I have today off (I'm decorating the parish hall tomorrow) I thought that as Holly is doing so well in her splint we would risk a gentle stroll in the woods. I parked at the bridge and we've just walked along the bottom where it's flat up to the bridge and we'll go back the same way. But she's doing so well and looks so much happier to be here smelling her usual smells and checking the wet leaves out (I will post a video on the main blog). Fingers crossed this wasn't too much for her and we can do this again every few days!

Cool and grey, 50F, but not raining after the last couple of very wet days!

Tuesday

Not quite as cold, 38F, but still quite windy.

Back with Sir Lancelot.

Chilly Monday

We awoke this morning to a dusting of snow, it's gone note but it's still quite windy and raw, 35F.

Sir Galahad and the Castle of Maidens (ooh!).

Seasonal Sunday

The first proper cold fall day- grey and cloudy, 39F with a blustery wind, and sleeting gently... lovely :)

Joseph and the white shield with the cross of blood.

Saturday

Another warm and pleasant day, though the temperature is supposed to drop tonight, it's 58F right now and it's been mostly sunny and breezy all day.

Another sword in another stone.

Friday

We've been at home all week trying to baby Holly's ankle, buy today is so beautiful we just couldn't resist coming out to the woods. I put Holly in her ankle wraps to give her some support, and she seems to be handling it OK (just the short loop), we'll have to see how she is when we get home.

Warm and sunny with a nice breeze, 55F.

Sir Palamides gets christened.

Sublime Sunday

This is what fall is all about... low sun, a gentle breeze and leaves to kick through :) A tad unseasonably warm, 59F, but very pleasant for all that.

Sir Lancelot goes crazy, gets cured, and defeats 500 knights!

A lovely fall Saturday

After a week of leash walks Holly seems to be getting better, I have also just received a couple of compression wraps I ordered for her "wrists" (her right one seems to be the troublemaker, but I figured if she favors it the left one needs a little protection too). So today we're just doing the short loop to see how she does, in the hopes that we can start working out way back up to our usual walks.

Cool and windy and sunny and lovely, 46F :)

Book 12, more about Sir Lancelot.

Sunday

Another lovely fall afternoon! Sunny and breezy and 54F :)

Just a quick run around the short loop (Holly is still a bit lame) while Crisp & Jackie are at the salon getting Crisp's hair cut and colored for her school pictures tomorrow :)

Book 11, which concerns Sir Lancelot.

Saturday

Lots of people out and about on this lovely day, 58F and sunny with a gentle breeze- a great fall afternoon :)

As a little break from the knights I'm listening to an old parody album by Pete Atkin and Clive James, Live Libel. I thought of it because it has a track called Errant Knight that is obviously inspired by Le Morte D'Arthur.

Friday

A little more seasonal, 50F and windy with some nice sunshine.

Sir Lancelot rides to Sir Palamides rescue.

Thursday

Another pleasant day, 71F and breezy.

Everyone pretends to be someone else and no-one recognizes King Arthur!

Wednesday

Another unseasonably warm day, 68F with the last of the sun (I am not looking forward to next week when the clocks change!).

Day 2 of Arthur's Tourney.

Tuesday

Cool and quite pleasant, 53F.

We didn't get here yesterday, what with Hallowe'en and college applications and stuff, so it's nice to be back today :)

They must have had lousy memories in ye olden days, no-one seems to recognize anyone else at Arthur's great tourney.

Sultry Sunday

Unseasonably warm for All Hallows Eve Eve! Overcast and 70F, though I fear it may rain later.

Listening to a Hallowe'en-inspired classical playlist to get me in the mood for our Spooktacular Concert this afternoon.

Friday

Lovely classic fall day- cool, overcast and breezy, 45F.

We've been doing a week with no tennis ball chasing as Holly is still favoring one front leg just a bit. She is not happy about it, but she flings herself after a ball with such abandon that it's the only way to let her convalesce and not reinjure herself. And there are lots of smells and leaf piles to roll in at this time of year to keep her occupied otherwise :)

Sir Palamides comes to Joyous Garde.

Thursday

Wet and windy, 44F.

Sir Tristram is a tricky one.

Wednesday afternoon

An early walk today as I've taken the afternoon off for a dentist appointment later (seems to be our week for medical stuff). Sunny and cool and breezy, 48F.

King Arthur calls for a great tournament.

Late Tuesday

Just a quick walk after getting back from Crisp's doctor's appointment in the Bronx- didn't get here at all yesterday, had to make do with a walk around the block after Crisp's dentist appointment!

Cooler and getting dark earlier, 49F.

King Mark is a treasonous bugger!

Sublime Sunday

Simply a gorgeous fall afternoon. 58F, lots of sun and a very blustery wind to stir up the leaves :) Many people have obviously thought the same as the woods are much busier than usual.

Sir Palamides jousts with many of Arthur's kin.

Windy Saturday

Cool, wet and blustery, 47F, very refreshing :)

A very successful Acolyte Festival at the Cathedral earlier, now a nice walk to blow away the cobwebs, then home to the wonderful smell of Jackie's stew bubbling away in the crock-pot.

Sir Alisander is made knight and charged with revenging his father's death.

Very wet Friday

Absolutely tipping down! I know we need the rain, but this is ridiculous :) raining (hard) and 66F.

Sir Dunstan smites a few knights.

Thursday

A busy day at work, replacing windows and getting my usual Saturday work done so I can go to an acolyte festival at the Cathedral on Saturday morning. And tonight Jackie& Crisp are taking me out for a birthday dinner :)

A tad cooler and starting to get windy and overcast, 66F.

Listening to the World Service for the reaction to last night's appalling performance from Donald Fuckhead :(

Wednesday

Happy birthday to me :)

Another warm one: 80F and quite humid, but with a gentle breeze and lots of sunshine, so not bad at all really.

Listening to a playlist of "American primative" acoustic guitar music.

Tuesday

More silly weather- sunny, breezy and 79F!

The Knight with the Red Shield beats all comers.

Muggy Monday

This weather is silly! The middle of October and it's 77F and humid.

Run away Sir Mark! Run away!

Sunday afternoon

Another pleasant day, mostly sunny and 63F, though the weather is supposed to get silly for the next few days- up around 80F!

Heard a review of a Beatles documentary on the way here, which reminded me of the Rutles, Eric Idle and Niel Innes' parody band from the 70s, so I'm listening to them :) I love Google Play Music!

Late Saturday

A later walk than usual for a Saturday, we spent the morning at the Cathedral fit Tami's ordination :)

Calm and sunny, 63F. Back to the full loop- but much to Holly's disgust I did not bring a tennis ball.

Sir Mark is a dick!

Friday hi-res

Here's another version of today's pictures, this one with the 6D & the 70-200 (from a little further back to try and get closer to the same view- tough as it's a longer lens), taken as a bracketed HDR shot.

And here is a panorama stitched together from 11 shots all taken at f/11, 0.4", ISO 100, and put together in Lightroom. The compression Blogger puts on the pictures kind of spoils it, but this lens is so crisp and sharp that this would happily print out 6' wide :) If you're interested you can view it larger at Imgur by clicking here.

Friday pictures

Out with my new lens (birthday present that arrived a little early- thanks Jake, Crisp and Mum & Dad!), a 70-200mm f/4L :)

It's actually a perfect day for this as I'm spending lots of time setting up shots so we're moving slowly, so Holly will have been out for well over an hour but will not have gone too far as she's just getting over a bit of a limp.

Cool and sunny, 53F.

Listening to a Google radio station based off Tubular Bells.

Tuesday

Another pleasant fall afternoon, 60F and low sunshine.

More Beatles...

Monday (off)

Just got back from what seemed to be a quite successful college visit to SUNY Purchase. The campus and the college is really nice and diverse, and quite small (4,500 students) with a really nice spread of (mostly) arts and science courses- and of course it doesn't hurt that it would be quite cheap! And we found a course that seemed right up Crisp's alley- New Media- a cool blend of art and technology, photography, web, video, writing and more. Don't want to push her into it, but it really seems tailor made, we'll see if it goes anywhere...

Cool and sunny and very nice, 59F.

Listening to a Beatles playlist while I mull this morning over.

Sunday

Cool and rainy, 52F.

Sir Lancelot seeks Sir Tristram.

Sultry Saturday

Overcast, cool and quite humid, 66F.

Listening to the BBC WS, they were discussing Trump's latest disgusting gaffe we drove here. It beggars the mind that anyone who is a woman, loves or knows someone who is a woman, has a daughter, or has a mother can continue to even consider him as anything more than dogshit. And while I applaud the Republicans who have disowned him, the fact that others are tiptoeing around trying to distance themselves from things like this while still endorsing him make me absolutely sick!