Looking back where the path turned to dirt
We were advised to seek out Victoria Cave, a natural wonder high in the Yorkshire Dales. It sits outside the village of Settle, recessed into the earth, apparently undetectable from the prescribed path. We parked the car off a neglected road with a vague assurance this was the place to start. Caryn’s brother and his two boys led this expedition relying on (more…)
John Ruskin was a prominent Victorian era figure in England. He was, in turns, a writer, art critic, artist, social critic, thinker and philanthropist. Many of his social reform concepts were put into practice in the decades following his death including The National Trust, universal health care, pensions for manual laborers, and progressive (more…)
A few snaps from West Yorkshire. More to follow in the weeks ahead… (more…)
Ginny and Alex boarded the 16:25 train from Leeds to Manchester with sodded reassurances that anything was tolerable for 60 minutes. Ginny wore crisply pressed jeans, a torso hugging top boasting a vision from a Peter Max nightmare, and makeup liberally applied in the quest to (more…)
At a glance the Moor does not seem all that daunting, although the distance straight to the top is difficult to gauge. Is it 200 feet? 500? 1,000? No, certainly not 1,000. That would be 100 stories, like climbing the Empire State Building. It is not that high, is it? Is that possible? Unlike a skyscraper it (more…)
Ed. Note: Sifting through the boxes and boxes of artifacts discovered in the attic of Trask Avenue we continue to be surprised. While a lot of the material is admittedly trivial (set of 3 stained Rheingold cardboard coasters; vinyl copy The Archies fourth LP, “Sunshine”; child’s rusted sled from a company named Rose something; 1988 Chris Speier baseball card) occasionally we stumble across something of enduring interest.
The Beatles officially announced their break-up in the spring of 1970. Although many people considered John Lennon the political and social voice of the band, apparently Ringo Starr was the one who wanted to affect real change. He seriously considered running for Prime Minister in the June 1970 election. This despite the fact he (more…)
When the words stubbornly refuse to tumble forth it’s time to whip out some photos.
As previously mentioned England is a photographer’s dream. Here’s another selection of shots taken over the past year or so during two separate visits to this lovely country. Enjoy!
Red prancing in front of the massive Ribblehead viaduct in North Yorkshire
When I’m tooling around with a camera it’s pretty tough to catch Red in an unguarded moment. She has a sixth, seventh and eighth sense which alerts her when I’m pointing my camera in her direction. The result? She assumes a variety of amusing (if quite affected) poses. She’s perfected the gang sign pose, the incredulous pose, the cheesy smile pose, the pouty pose and a several others which I can’t rightly describe. The countless stockpiled photos of her demoing these various “looks” are, of course, precious to me. However, the photos which I most treasure are (more…)
We recently went to England, more specifically West Yorkshire, on holiday. It was our second extended trip there since October and I’m quite certain not our last. With family living in Ilkley, a small, somewhat prosperous town smack in the middle of Brontë Country, we’re pretty much rooted there. You know Brontë Country. Windswept moors. Narrow, steep footpaths. Hard earned wisdom seeping (more…)
Today the web was abuzz with a story oozing with irony. Last Saturday Titanic II set out on its maiden voyage from Dorset, England. Its course was not as ambitious as the one charted in 1912 for its famous namesake. Titanic II didn’t first head to Ireland before hitting the North Atlantic where it would sail south of Greenland, down past Nova Scotia and gloriously into New York Harbor. It wasn’t even going on the ocean. It was simply dipping a toe into Lyme Bay for a spot of fishing.
Apparently a chap named Mark Wilkinson recently bought a used 16 foot cabin cruiser which he (more…)
Trask Avenue 