Rhubard and no custard

Gallery

My new printer arrived today. An Epson 2880 which prints up to A3+ size. Tried it out this afternoon and made 10 prints for the sale. Also a Graflite arrived which will allow me to examine prints in the the proper neutral light.

Garden

Another frost this morning! But it was pretty light and the day turned out very warm. Saw a butterfly too ... a Comma. Nextdoor neighbours also gave me 3 rhubarb plants which I dug in with plenty of compost ... I planted them next to the big compost heap anyway. More flowers coming through ... and the Almond is on the verge of blossom. Cut some Daffodils for the table.

This Time Last Year

Got up at 8am and mooched around on the PC. Walked up to Central Market with Sacha but could find no English papers. Managed to find Shoal Creek and followed it all the way to town. Sacha had a couple of swims along the way and I had a friendly chat with some of the bums that hang out there.

At Book People I managed to find a week old Observer and so had lunch at Wholefoods and read the paper for an hour. We then continued down to Town Lake where Sacha had a swim by the Wisterias. Eventually we wandered around to Uncle Billies for a pint or two and Debs arrived around 5pm to pick us up and take us home.

Sat on the stoop chatting until bedtime.

A Frosty Morning - hopefully the last

Gallery

Four books arrived from the US today. 10 Euros tax to pay but still cheaper than here. Also received stuff from ... the Speedlight Prokit 4 and the ProKit 6 Diffuser as well. It was ordered last Friday and arrived today. Quick. I'll order the gels when they are ready. I tried them out this afternoon ... but only had a daffodil for a subject ... need something just a little bit bigger to see the difference between the different snoots and honeycombs. I'm impressed with the build quality though and hope to make better use of them soon.

The Books were ...

"The Nikon Creative Lighting System: Using the SB-600, SB-800, SB-900, and R1C1 Flashes" by Mike Hagen.

This is a terrible cut and paste job and gives little more than the Nikon Manual. Massively disappointing. I read this in the bath. I almost drowned of boredom.

"On Being a Photographer: A Practical Guide " by David Hurn and Bill Jay.
"The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos" by Michael Freeman.
"Mountain Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape" by Rowell Galen.

I've yet to look at these yet.

The only exhibition work I did today was apply labels to the mounted prints I have prepared so far.

Garden

Unbelievably their was a frost this morning. I could really do without such a late frost. Last year we had no pears or plums because of this. The daffodils took a hit too but they seemed to recover OK later when it warmed up.

It has been 10c this last few days but the forecast says this will steadily increase until it will be 20c by next week-end. Let's hope.

This Time Last Year

Everyone has a long lie-in and a lazy day. I don't really get myself together until 4pm.

We discover that Cardinals are nesting in the front porch. We have to creep around so as not too disturb them.

Me and Sacha wander down to Central Market. I buy a stack of novels.

Paddling Town Lake in Austin

Gallery

Amazing thing happened today. Kristine and I walked up to Hof ter Saksen this afternoon and as we came around the corner at the entrance gates Kristine bent down and picked somethng up. It was a part from my tripod which I had lost on the same walk two weeks ago. It made me smile. Later on when I tried to take a few photographs I found that I hadn't brought a memory card! Dumb!

This Time Last year

Up early to shower and shave and then Deb drives me into town - Shady Grove - for I am to meet Jennifer at noon.

She is already there - having driven up from Houston - and we spend a couple of hours chatting and drinking and eating as we catch up on what we've been doing since last June. We had met on a canoeing trip in the Dordogne last summer.



Afterwards we walk down to Barton Springs and the river where we hire a canoe and paddle down to Town Lake and back. I paddle, we chat, she wears a pink coat.

Then it's back up to Uncle Billies for a beer and we drive up to the University of Texas campus and find the Crown and anchor pub for a final beer. It's seven and a half hours later now. Exhausting.

I walk back home, via an ice-cream at Amy's and jennifer has to drive all the back to Houston.

In the evening we drink whisky into the small hours with William. The conversation gets heated. It's all too much.

Twin Falls to Barton Springs

Seeding

Planted more seed mats in the garden today and dug out some of the Periwinkle (Vinca) which is creeping everywhere.

Saw a damselfly in the garden too ... it briefly landed on my trousers. I think it was a Winter Damselfly (Sympecma fusca). First time I've seen this in the garden.

We had a frost overnight ... which I hope has done no damage. a few of the daffodils looked a bit wilted first thing but they seem to have recovered OK during the day. It's a warm day with clear blue skies again.

This Time Last Year

Today we drive out to the Green Belt and do a long walk from Twin Falls to Barton Springs. We have to wade across the river at one point. It takes us about four hours. It's strange though how the river bed is dry in many places.



We cross over the river for a drink in Uncle Billies, tasting a sampler of six local beers.

Alex and Paige come down to join us and then give us a lift back to our car.

In the evening William cooks up a BBQ and we sit on the steps later drinking a few beers. It's Suzanne's last night.

Feed and Seed

Seeds and more seeds

Planted some vegetable seeds today: tomatoes, courgettes and peppers. Didn't have much luck last year with these, but I'm trying a raised bed this year, so let's see.

Also move some self-sown poppy seedlings into the wild garden and replanted grass seed where I took them from. These will surely be successful as they tend to go mad every year!

I also planted out a fig plant which we had in a pot last year. It's against a south facing wall with the kiwis and grape vines. Look forward to seeing it grow.

This Time Last Year

We ride out Inks Lake State Park today for a very pleasant hike with Sacha running about. We do all the trails and then drive into Marble Falls. It's a very pleasant small town. We find a bar for beers and nachos.



In the afternoon we go shopping. Suzanne gets a pink coat from Gap and we get some packing stuff from the Container Store.



Later we have dinner at the Feed and Seed in downtown Austin. We listen to a band in the garden bar whilst waiting for out table. The Mexican food is great.

At home we have a beer or two on the step before crashing out.

Margaritas at Shady Grove

Printing

Cleaned the print heads today and managed to finally get some decent prints after yesterday's fiasco. Did some prints of Dhar's boys and mounted them too so as to practise for my own prints. Was forced to use Indesign for the label printing, which I haven't used before. as usual the online help was nonsense and I don't have any books for this application. I muddled through.

This Time Last Year

Today me, Deb and Suzanne take Sacha for a walk down Shoal Creek (Austin, Texas) all the way to the city. On the way we shop at REI for stuff and have lunch on the terrace at Wholefoods.



We continue the walk down to Town Lake, then along the river through Zilker Park all the way to Barton Springs. We then relax at Shady Grove with huge margaritas. After that it's a really long slog back to the car at Shoal Creek.

On the way home we drop into Janet's and get invited back for drinks later ...

... where we also met Randy, and son Duncan and daughter Hannah (who had just returned from Georgia - the country). Randy offered me a beer, from a micro-brewery in the Rockies. It was awful, so I swapped it for a more normal beer! Janet's cake, however, was superb.

Horror Movies from Loreto to La Paz

Another Fine Spring Day

Tried to do some printing today but everything came out blotchy and striated. A waste of ink and paper. I'll try and clean it tomorrow, but I suspect I shall have to have my prints done in town. still in two minds about buying a new A3+ Printer (Probably an Epson R2880).

Managed to sit in the sun for an hour this afternoon reading.

This Time Last year

It's a transfer day today as I travel from Mexico to Texas.

I'm up at 4am for a taxi to the La Paz airport. It's an easy check-in and I arrive in Mexico City after a two hour flight. Howevere here I have a bit of difficulty as I can't find the the piece of paper I filled in on my arrival flight. This oversight means it costs me 40$ to leave Mexico and I have to cock about filling in new forms and going down to the bank to pay. I nice extortion racket from Mexico and leaves me with a good impression as I leave the country!

It's another two hour flight to Austin, Texas, but the flight is transferred to San Antonio where we sit on the tarmac for an hour before finally getting to Austin. Apparently it was raining in Austin! No doubt this is a rare occurence in Texas!

My sisters Suzanne and Deborah meet me at the airport after an easy ride through Homelan security.

We have a raucaus evening catching up and I end up sleeping on the sofa with the dog. My new pal, Sacha. Debs doesn't have such a good night though!

This Time A Year Ago Yesterday

I'm up early for a walk down the beach to tale some shots of the Arch in the sunrise. I just manage to get a few shots in before my batteries go. I've been unable to charge for 10 days so that's pretty good.



Back at the tent I break down and get everything ready for leaving. We are all abouard by 9.30am. We will do no kajaking today as the sea is too rough and so it's just a matter of enjoying the bouncy ride to Loreto on the Frogfish.

It's very windy too and I spend most of the trip huddled down trying to keep warm It falls to me to collect the tips for JJ and the rest of the crew and to make the presentation. Cheers all around.

After disembarking we have a short ride into town where we dump everybody at the hotel. Me, Emily and Deb are travelling to La Paz so we are dumped on the bus. It's a long five hour trip through a landscape of scrub and cactus. I read and try to avoid the succession of horror movies being shown on the TV. One involves baby dolls committing murder. It still gives me the creeps!

After checking into the hotel I have a steak dinner with E and D, before crashing out.