john's pictures

2010-11-21T14:33:00.001Z

Just finished a week of levada walking in Madeira. Weather very localized,cloudy in one valley then bright sunshine around the next mountain.

2010-08-08T20:10:00.001+01:00

Just eaten the first fig to ripen on our tree - watching the others carefully but they're still green

2010-08-07T09:11:00.002+01:00

Eaten all the spinach - it was the salad type we've discovered - we need to grow spinach beet next time. Thanks to my sister for a birthday present vegetable gardening book by Alan Titchmarsh for this information.

Our carrots are great and the Morello cherry crop was satisfying especially now we've discovered the Lakeland cherry and/or olive destoner tool which saves broken fillings when eating cherry pie. Cherry tarts have taken on a new dimension since we discovered lining the base of the pastry cased with melted chocolate as a juice-proof layer. Not too thick though as it makes it harder to serve.

Thinning out the leeks (a bit too late perhaps) the garden needs nightly watering this year as we've had so little rain.

I've discovered I can just about do Swansea and back in a day by car - this was to house hunt with Arthur who starts there as a med student this month. House prices and rents are pleasantly lower in S Wales than in Oxford or Cambridge.

Still clearing my garage, it's very satisfying to dispose of stuff on Freecycle as people are surprisingly grateful for things you don't value much yourself.

Getting value from the NHS this month with 2 different hospital consultant appointments

2010-06-20T20:48:00.003+01:00

Saw the White Guard at the National and King Lear at the Courtyard in Stratford. Eating our own spinach now and growing more in our raised beds.

The Old Pound House next door is being reconstructed with stronger foundations

2010-05-10T08:42:00.002+01:00

Oxford Art weeks are here again. Visited 2 yesterday, our friends Richard and Kathy with beautiful wood bowls and John's silver

2010-05-01T20:23:00.006+01:00

Back from Italy. I can see why people get excited about Tuscany - the landscape and trees in particular are picturesque.

The main square in Siena where the palio races are held is frighteningly small (the races are bareback).

My flute playing had bottomed out last year and I was blaming it on arthritis in my wrists and thumbs from the RSI I had two years ago when I was still working.

My flute teacher and I agreed yesterday that I was playing better and I also felt I played better at flute group on Thursday.

The improvement is due solely I think to the dopamine medication I'm now taking for my previously undiagnosed Parkinson's Disease. The decline last year was a whole body thing in retrospect embouchure, posture and fingering -all early symptoms of PD.

I can cope with the trembling but wish the head buzzing which I get at some stage each day and is only relieved by a sleep would go away - I don't want this for the rest of my life.

My flute teacher and I agreed that we would continue while I am able - concentrating on slower pieces with more dynamics. I'll try to keep this blog updated as I continue - I wonder if anyone reads it ?

2010-03-30T19:41:00.003+01:00

Next door are having major reconstruction work done and had the site offices delivered by overhead crane yesterday.

On a different note, today has been chastening and worrying and I still have to decide exactly how I feel about it.

2010-01-10T21:13:00.003Z

The snow has melted and formed mega icicles on the gutters - one of which has come crashing down

I'm still working on the kitchen replacing units (B&Q has a half price sale)

2009-11-06T19:05:00.003Z

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/john.h.clarke shows the pictures from North Africa

2009-09-18T19:51:00.001+01:00

Finally got the roots of the bush out by sawing into sections and smashing with an axe. Next job is to build some more raised beds

2009-08-02T19:00:00.001+01:00

Ripping out large bush ready to level the ground and build 2 more raised beds

2009-07-20T14:54:00.000+01:00

First carrots

2009-07-17T09:52:00.000+01:00

Panorama of the back garden

2009-07-16T11:00:00.001+01:00

1 lb of Morello cherries from second year of fan trained tree - the birds ate them all last year.

1 lb of gooseberries from one Invicta bush (first year)

2009-07-01T10:46:00.002+01:00

Veg is now growing well

2009-05-22T10:39:00.002+01:00

Built a fruit cage for the gooseberries. As our friend Penny says 'you don't want the little gooseberries escaping'

2009-04-15T19:08:00.002+01:00

Robotic mower wouldn't work as there was a break in the perimeter wire. Took 5 goes to fiind the break, quartering the circuit and cutting and traxking it down (what a pain)

2009-04-15T18:58:00.003+01:00

Finished second raised bed

Nearly completed fruit cage for Morello Cherry (last year the birds ate them all)

2009-03-22T19:06:00.001Z

Got the robotic lawnmower out for the first time this year and mowed half the garden. Finished varnishing the decking before the rain comes tomorrow

2009-03-17T17:58:00.003Z

Building raised beds for growing vegetables, a lot of soil to be moved

2009-03-15T15:53:00.001Z

Decking finished and varnished. Next job is the raised vegetable beds

2009-02-21T17:52:00.001Z

Nearly finished the decking, difficult angle sections now completed.

2009-02-19T17:49:00.004Z

Still laying decking now that the conservatory is finished. Searching through reverse dictionaries for a word that defines the 'point where all your cumulative errors come to a head' It's a feature of diy jobs such as laying laminate flooring or decking where all your materials are perfectly regular but your craftsmanship and the room are not so the errors build up and you have to correct it somehow. With laminate flooring you try to get to this point behind the curtains.

Bending over all day plays havoc with my pancreatis

2008-03-12T21:21:00.002Z

Still scanning my Dad's 35mm colour slides from the late 1950's and 60's. Some have gone to St James church Pokesdown for their 150th anniversary. Posted on http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/john.h.clarke/StJamesChurchPokesdown

2007-08-19T15:42:00.000+01:00

http://www.oxfordprimarycarelearning.org.uk

is still being developed and now has >1000 hits.

2007-07-11T21:25:00.000+01:00

Retired today. Lots of time to fill.

2007-06-23T15:30:00.000+01:00

Holiday in Rome

Great place but hot.

2007-04-09T19:57:00.001+01:00

2007-01-06T16:48:00.000Z

Building 156 is now down

2006-12-16T11:14:00.000Z

The old ETSU building b156 at Harwell is coming down

2006-12-16T11:09:00.000Z

Visited The Holbein Exhibition at Tate Britain - very good

also Velazquez at the National - less satisfying and much more crowded

2006-03-13T21:11:00.001Z

Went to Tate Britain via a diverted route due to the St Patrick's day parade in Park Lane.
Arthur and Dan saw the Gothic nightmares while we viewed the Turners

2006-03-13T21:11:00.000Z

Went to Tate Britain via a diverted route due to the St Patrick's day parade in Park Lane.
Arthur and Dan saw the Gothic nightmares while we viewed the Turners

2006-02-19T18:18:00.000Z

Took a trip to Cambridge for the weekend.

2006-01-21T13:35:00.000Z

Took a trip to Aberdeen to see some tidal energy R&D at Lunar Energy and at Rotech - the test site is in the picture

2005-12-28T15:40:00.000Z

A slightly confusing sign in Bevington Road in Oxford

2005-12-10T13:35:00.000Z

Is there an easy way to get to Hull? 7:00 am to 1:00 pm to get there and 4:00 pm to 10:30 pm to get back. That was by train, by car would not have been possiible as the M1 was closed http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/4505764.stm
I'm turning into a grumpy old man.

2005-11-20T19:38:00.000Z

Visited the 3 emperors exhibition at the Royal Academy yesterday, well worth seeing. Then we went with Dan for dinner at the Kennington Tandoori and came back around midnight on the X90. Would like to post some pictures from the exhibition but for copyright reasons it's better to view the site.

2005-10-26T19:55:00.000+01:00

Views from top of the regus building in Victoria, London, Buckingham palace.

2005-10-19T19:48:00.000+01:00

Mobile phone picture on Steventon Hill of a rainbow (3 visible)

2005-10-01T19:36:00.000+01:00

Trip to Bruges http://www.brugesinfo.com/

2005-08-29T19:50:00.000+01:00

Punting shots in Oxford
taken with a mobile phone

2005-08-13T16:03:00.000+01:00

Photos of Arthur

2005-08-07T18:05:00.000+01:00

Last 2 days spent visiting and viewing SeaFlow turbine at Lynmouth http://www.marineturbines.com/projects.htm# hoped to take lots of pictures but it was too choppy in the RIB to hold on and hold a camera.

2005-07-30T15:59:00.000+01:00

Houses on the Grand Canal

2005-07-30T15:05:00.000+01:00

Dan after being called to the Bar on July 28th 2005 at Gray's Inn