Category: photography

May 2022 Update

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Dogs, Garden / Allotment, photography, The Week That Was, work
Dad – late 1940’s

I seem to have fallen into monthly updates here, whilst still posting my FiftyFromFifty newsletter over there.

It’s been a busy month work wise (see below), and also in a few other areas. I’ve had my film camera out again and have been working my way through a couple of rolls of film some of the results I’ve posted here and there are more to come. I’ve been looking at buying some more rolls of film as I’ve almost used up the small stock that I have. Unsurprisingly the prices have gone up quite a bit, but I have a couple of ideas of different things that I want to try so I don’t feel like I need to buy large quantities of film at the moment.

I’ve also been breathing new life into old photos and slides, scanning boxes and folders of them in fact. I’ve found quite a few that I’ve never seen before and many of relatives in their younger days. Some are obvious as to who they are, others I’m not 100% sure of, possibly because they died before I was born. Some are labelled, but they are in the minority.

I’ve been able to visit my Mum – as opposed to only speaking to her on the phone – now that her care home is covid-free again. It’s strange that we’re now supposed to be “living with covid” and yet hundreds of people are still dying on a nearly daily basis. It really does feel like the government has failed this country in dealing with this killer virus and continues to do so on daily basis, preferring to pretend that there’s nothing to see. Their favourite phrase seems to be that we “just need to move on”.

We’re still planning our house move, and although it’s still a little way off, I’ve made some significant progress this month in making it happen and there’s more to come hopefully next month.

We’ve had a few issues with Wilson’s health which has resulted in more unplanned trips to the vet. He seems to be doing much better now, but he was a cause for a bit of concern earlier in the month.

Work

This month has been busy with a client project and also having to renegotiate a contract. There’s been an exchange of emails over the content of the contract which at the moment I cannot sign. I’m hopeful that we can reach some middle ground but I’ll have to wait and see what comes back from them by way of revisions before being able to make a decision. In the meantime I have delivered on what I have been doing for them and there’s is potentially more work in the pipeline.

Allotment

It feels very strange knowing that this is probably my last year on the plot with a potential house move imminent. It changes the way you think about things and what you’re going to plant where. At the moment we’re getting a good crop of broad beans and I’m hoping to be able to plant out squash and courgette this week, as well as some climbing beans. I’ve also got some bush tomatoes coming along that look like they are about ready for larger pots or potentially going into the soil.

Books

I’ve read a few books this month, including finally finishing Derek Jarman’s first volume of diaries – Modern Nature – evidently it has taken me nine months to read them and as they’re not very long I’m not sure why. I would definitely like to visit his gardens in Dungeness one day and see just what he was able to do in such an inhospitable space. I’ve since moved on and am reading his Pharmacopoeia: A Dungeness Notebook and a little of his second volume of diaries.

I’ve also read a couple of books that didn’t pass my fifty page rule (or 20% on a kindle if there are no page numbers), I don’t name and shame because I think this can sometimes be as much about personal taste or mood at the time of reading, and I have been known to go back to books that haven’t passed the test and reread and enjoyed them so it’s a rule of the moment rather than to be rigidly applied.

TV / Film

Really not much to report here at all, mostly we’ve been watching repeats, programmes from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, programming that fills the time but ultimately means that I spend more time reading with the telly switched off. I have been enjoying Bosch: Legacy which I think is the only bit of new content I’ve been watching but I think that only has 2 episodes left, so probably by the time this goes out will be finished.

Well I don’t think that there’s much more to say this month.

Stay safe and take care.

Easter Weekend Film Project

On By tontowilliamsIn photography

The weather was forecast to be good over the long Easter weekend, so I decided that I would load one of my film cameras with a roll of film and restrict myself to shooting that roll over the four days. I was up early most days so had some really great morning light, particularly on the first day (Friday). Here are some of the images I took.

As an aside I used a new local (to me) laboratory to process and scan the film. They advertised a 3 day turnaround (from receipt of film) but actually took nearly ten days. By contrast I sent another roll to my usual processor and they turned it around in 2 days (they advertise a 7 day turnaround).

All The Leaves Are Brown TWTW # 153

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Cooking, Dog, Garden / Allotment, photography, The Week That Was, tv, Wildlife/Nature, Wilson's Story, work

Welcome to Autumn

This week has been a mixture of many things. It started bright and early on Monday working remotely while a carpenter fitted a new external door. So many doors these days are known as engineered doors and are made at a standard size to fit a standard door frame, this frame wasn’t a standard size and you can’t cut an engineered door (because they’re basically a sandwich of wood with a pulp filler). Engineered doors are relatively cheap, but a door to fit this frame wasn’t and I didn’t want to risk trying to do it myself with my rudimentary skills. The chance of catastrophe would be high as would the length of time it would take me. While the carpenter sawed and chiselled, planed and sanded, I finished a report for a client. By the end of the day the door was fitted and my report was finished.

I came back a couple of days later and painted it, I can be trusted with a paintbrush. While the paint dried I went for a walk with my camera and took some autumn photos. The beech trees this year are pretty spectacular and were so inviting to the camera’s eye.

Later in the week I had to take Wilson to the vets for yet more tests. We’re trying to decide whether to change his treatment or persevere with what we’re doing at the moment which isn’t completely working. There’s no guarantee that something different will work any better, so it feels a bit like reaching into the dark for a solution that might not even be there.

On Friday I did something that I haven’t done since February 2020, and drew some cash out from a cash point. With the pandemic, the shift to contactless and card payments I’ve had very little need for cash but I was down to my last fiver from what I drew out 20 months ago. I wonder if I’ll have enough to take me to 2023 or perhaps 2024?

Reading

I finished Alistair Maclean’s Floodgate which was really hard going. Not his best work by a long way and if you’re thinking of reading something of his it’s not a good place to start. Instead try Puppet on a Chain, Where Eight Bells Toll, Golden Rendezvous or Ice Station Zebra. As a rule of thumb his older novels are better than the newer ones (although St Andreas which came straight after Floodgate is one of my favourites), the later ones are reported to mostly have been written by ghostwriters and then reviewed by Maclean. Not sure if this is true but it would explain the patchy quality of the later novels.

After that I’ve started reading Julian Hoffman’s The Small Heart of Things which is a complete change of pace – non-fiction, natural history and place.

Watching

We watched the season finale of Foundation on Friday night. I’m glad it’s over and I’m glad my Apple TV subscription is a freebie. I’m pretty sure I won’t be renewing it, there just isn’t enough on there that can make me justify the cost.

We’re continuing to watch both Shetland and Adam Dalgliesh both of which are excellent, the season finale for the former next week and the latter ended this week.

I didn’t watch much of Children in Need but I did catch bit of the Drumathon:

An audience with Richard Mabey

Links

RIP Cedric Robinson – Queen’s Guide to the Sands

Key Outcomes Agreed at COP26: Summary

Everything You Thought You Knew About Hobo Code is Wrong

Net Zero / Not Zero/

Allotment

I harvested our Brussel Sprouts and some leeks on Saturday and converted them into a rather acceptable pasta, leek, sprout and onion dish in a rich cheese sauce. Probably not a cholesterol buster, but very tasty.

Well that’s it for this week. I’m expecting a fairly busy week ahead work wise, but not sure what else I’ll be up to, whatever you’re doing, stay safe and take care.

Home From Home TWTW # 142

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Dog, Film, photography, The Week That Was, walking, Wilson's Story, work

Slightly different surroundings as I type this today. We’re still in the process of sorting out my Mum’s house and decided to come and stay for a couple of days to try and get a bit more done than we can by ‘commuting’. It’s worked well so far and it’s also been nice to reacquaint myself with an area I used to know very well. It’s interesting to see how some things have changed but the broad landscape is still very much the same. Paths that I’ve not walked for a few years are once again becoming familiar, and my daily step count is going up rapidly. I’ve put a few pictures that I’ve taken in a slideshow below.

Wilson had another vet appointment this week, and received praise from the vet. She’s very pleased with his progress and if it continues in the same vein we might be able to reduce the dosage of one of his tablets. I also received a very prompt turn around to a claim I made to the insurance company. I am surprised at how quick to be honest so I hope they didn’t make a mistake.

Work

I’ve had some good news this week and the proposal I wrote has been accepted. The client had a couple of clarification questions but has accepted it without further alteration. Subject to receiving a purchase order I’ve said I’ll be starting on it in about a weeks time with the aim of having it completed before the end of the year.

Reading

I finished Mexico Set by Len Deighton. It stands up really well as a cold war thriller and it’s interesting to see how much the world has and hasn’t changed in the intervening period since the book was written. Perhaps same problems just different fronts might be a good way of looking at it, but then again some of the fronts aren’t all that different.

I picked up Horatio Clare’s Heavy Light which could be more contrasting a subject. It’s about the author’s mental breakdown and descent into psychosis and his experience of the mental health system before, during and after his breakdown. It’s not an easy read and although mental health and stability have featured in some of his previous books, this is much more concentrated in it’s treatment and discussion of the subject. From a first person perspective it is also very frank and honest of his experiences. It is very well written but I struggle to say that I enjoyed it, rather I think that I learnt a lot about certain aspects of mental health and it’s treatment.

Watching

The Clint Eastwood boxset has been taking keeping us entertained again. We’ve watched Space Cowboys, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before and Firefox, which I’ve don’t think I’ve watched since it first came out. Neither were particularly taxing but were a couple of evenings entertainment.

I’ve been using Evernote since 2014. I use it both for my work, and also personally, it helps with content for these pieces too. I’ve been paying for the “Premium” package for several years. It renewed recently and then a few weeks later I got an email to say that my subscription was changing and that I was now going to be on the “Personal” package as a new tier of “Professional” had been introduced. Don’t worry it said nothing has changed your package content remains the same.

Now firstly Evernote has been getting a bit glitchy of late (well before this recent subscription change) but there were some changes being made to the apps and software so I wasn’t unduly worried. One of the things I liked about Evernote was the interchangeability between operating systems and desktop and mobile platforms, wherever or whatever device you were using your notes synced between devices seamlessly. This then stopped being quite so efficient. I noticed that notes that I’d save on say my phone, weren’t showing up on my desktop app and vice-versa. Also Evernote made a change that meant when you saved something on a mobile device you then had to open the Evernote app to sync. Before I could simply save something to Evernote from say a browser or other app and Evernote would do the syncing in the background. Evernote was becoming Evernot.

I’ve stuck with Evernote because I really liked it and because I have an enormous amount of information stored there, but after this recent subscription change I am thinking of finding something else. I don’t think there is any malice in the change so soon after my subscription renewed, that’s probably just coincidental timing, however as I pay upfront it looks likely that I won’t be able to get any of that subscription back if I do move. The question however is what to move to. There are a few choices (DevonThink, Obsidian, Omnifocus are ones that I’m aware of so far) and obviously I have some time to make that decision. If you have any others that you think I should look at then do leave a comment below.

Links

Notebooks – I read a piece on Alastair Humprhey’s blog that took me down a rabbit hole of a twitter feed about notebooks (I’ve posted this before but it keeps growing) and then on to another piece about artists / writers and their notebooks.

Inspector Morse voted No. 1 TV theme tune

Photos from ‘beyond the grave’: camera discovery reveals climber’s last images before fatal avalanche

Hilary Mantel: why I feel ashamed in England, and I will be an Irish citizen soon and European again

COVID-19 Long-Haulers Are Fighting for Their Future

FAA Grounds Virgin Galactic Spaceplanes Pending Investigation Into July 11 Flight

Ministers face showdowns on post-Brexit green bill weeks before Cop26

Well that’s it for this week. I’ve got some more sorting of stuff to do. Whatever you are up to this week, take care and stay safe.

Always Check Your Exposure TWTW # 135

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Dogs, Garden / Allotment, photography, The Week That Was, Wilson's Story

These posts are always a look back at the week gone by, and sometimes either because I’ve not done much or because there’s stuff I don’t want to or can’t talk about it’s a struggle to know where to begin. My week this time started with a visit to see my Mum, she’s very well, but didn’t recognise me or rather she had me confused with her cousin. This is pretty normal, and I suspect partly to do with having to wear a face mask but the alternative i.e. covid is much worse.

I’ve had another vet appointment with Wilson, he’s much the same and we go back again next week.

Allotment

It’s been very hot at times this week, and I’ve been picking the moments when it’s slightly cooler to go down to the allotment, mostly earlier in the day. The weeds are relentless but we’re getting a nice run of different things now, including the start of courgette season – it won’t be long before the novelty wears off I suspect.

Watching

Another Star Trek movie this week – Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home – but not much else of significance. I did enjoy this YouTube video though, Jaws is one of my favourite films and this was a little treat.

Reading

I’ve been reading Nature Cure by Richard Mabey this week. Or rather re-reading it. It’s the authors story of recovery from a period of mental illness and how he falls back in love with nature.

It’s not actually that long ago that I read it, but the book was originally published in 2005, and this is a reprint to celebrate the author’s 80th birthday.

If you’ve never read it, I’d recommend it and all of his other books to be honest. I have another more recent book of his in my tbr pile – Turning the Boat For Home – which I’ve yet to read.

Photography

I’ve had one of my film cameras out this week, I’m determined to make use of the better weather if I can but I am very conscious of the rising covid numbers and therefore cautious about where I go to take photos to not put myself at risk. I’ve exposed about half a roll of film, which doesn’t sound like much but given the fact that film photography is so much more expensive these days, carefully choosing a shot is much more important. I accidentally took a frame this week (I pressed the shutter a little too far when trying to trigger the autofocus and it took the picture before I’d had a chance to set shutter speed and aperture to check it was properly exposed) and I felt a little guilty knowing that one probably won’t come out. I might of course be surprised by the result.

My plan is to try and finish that roll this week if I can.

Links

In Cape Cod’s ‘Sharky’ Waters, Humans Learn to Coexist with an Apex Predator – after watching the Jaws YouTube video this landed in my inbox!

Sea, sand and dogs galore: the best British beaches to run free

Climate scientists shocked by scale of floods in Germany

Well I guess that’s about all that I have for this week. I’ve got a couple of unconfirmed work things and a vet appointment in my diary this week but otherwise no firm plans. Whatever you’re up to, stay safe and take care.

Straight Circles TWTW # 134

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Dog, photography, The Week That Was, tv, Wilson's Story, work

Another week goes by and somethings move in cycles where others are more linear. I’ve had a few interesting things happen this week as well as some sad news.

We managed to get Wilson out for a proper walk this week, albeit a fairly short one. I’m not sure whether we’re winning or his illness is but our weekly checkup was on Friday and the vet is still non-committal either way too. He’s happy enough in himself but very itchy at times.

RIP – Frank Lee Ruggles.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of photographer Frank Lee Ruggles this week. I’ve been following his progress on the 79 Years Project, trying to reshoot Ansel Adams’ 171 shot portfolio of US National Park photos on the same day of the year as Adams, and using the same camera as Adams.

We’d never met but he was always gracious to comments and as only a few years older than myself I’ve felt his loss in particular. It’s clear that he had a similar impact on many others too.

TV.

We’ve been continuing with our rewatch of Star Trek films – Wrath of Kahn and Search for Spock – and a little bit of the England games, which if I’m being honest I’m really done with watching. The whole spectacle of the “fans” constantly booing the other team including when their national anthem is being played is unacceptable. If that’s what being a football fan is about then I’ll leave it thanks. The only consoling factor is that the Manager and players set themselves a much higher bar. It’s a shame that the “fans” don’t or can’t pick up on this.

Reading.

I finished Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John le Carre this week, it really stands up well considering that it is almost as old as me and the setting of the early 1970’s are completely different to how you might write the same story in a modern era. Back then no computers, mobile phones, satellite surveillance etc but changing times do not mean that the story is any less compelling or that the modern enemies are any different to those of today.

I’ve got a couple of books for review next, both of which look like they should be good reads. I’ll post the reviews in due course when they’re closer to their publication dates.

Work.

This week has been good for work, as you probably know I give talks about the allotment and related topics. It’s been a lean couple of years with Covid and only being able to give virtual talks, and whilst they don’t make much income I do enjoy doing them. Well this week I had an email inviting me to give a talk (virtually) at the Lambeth Country Show, following discussion with the organisers they actually commissioned both the talks I give virtually. This has meant preparing the talks and pre recording them so that they are ready to be watched on the days of the show.

Anyway if you’re interested in sitting through one of my talks or even both of them, then they’ll be available via the link above next weekend (17th & 18th July). Of course if you’d like to commission me for something live and in “person” – either physically or virtually – then do get in touch.

Links.

The Three Simple Rules That Underscore the Danger of Delta

Home Scar – of Limpets and moving / finding a home

If you’re new here and wondering what an earth you’ve signed up to, welcome, this is my website / blog.

By training I am a biologist and by profession I generally make most of my income from being an independent environmental consultant. Outside of that I have a fairly wide interest in all sorts of things. I normally publish a post like this on the weekend at the end of the week (TWTW = The Week That Was), and talk about what I’ve been doing in the previous week, links to things I’ve found and anything else that I think might be interesting. Other occasional posts will appear at other times e.g. book reviews.

Thanks for signing up, but if after reading my ramblings you’re regretting your decision feel free to unsubscribe, there is a link to do so in each post if you subscribe by email. Obviously I hope you’ll stick around.

I also post on Instagram and Twitter where I am also @tontowilliams

I think that’s about it for this week. I’ve a few things in hand for the week ahead; including I hope a visit with my Mum. Whatever you’re up to I hope that you have a good week. Take care and stay safe.

Infrared Euphorbia TWTW # 124

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Film, Garden / Allotment, photography, The Week That Was, work

Hello.

I probably should be working on a bid proposal right now. I have a few days to do this but obviously the sooner it’s done the better, that said I wanted to write this post first.

I had the scans back from both of the rolls of film that I sent off to be processed. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, but I am pleased with several of the images. One of the rolls was another roll of infrared and I want to get the negatives back so I can understand what I’m looking at a bit better. The first half of that roll I experimented a lot with different filters, exposure lengths etc and I took notes, but I really need to see the reference numbers on the negatives rather than the file names on the scans.

I’ve also bought a couple of new rolls, so hope to be loading the camera with one of those soon.

If you’re interested I’ve shared some of the images from both rolls in the slideshow below.

We watched The Call of the Wild over the weekend. We were both a bit sceptical about it being a good film, but both enjoyed it. It’s not going to win (m)any Oscars but it told the story from the book quite well. I’d been curious as to how that might happen. It wasn’t completely faithful but if you’ve read the book, you’ll certainly recognise it in the film. I’m not quite sure who the audience was meant to be and whether it was supposed to be a family film or something else, and it’s a shame that all of the dogs are CGI but it was a pleasant evenings entertainment if your bar is set fairly low.

I got to see my Mum in person this week. As covid rules are relaxed and vaccines deployed I was able to go and have a short visit after submitting to a rapid test. I’m not certain that Mum knew who I was behind all of the PPE, I think she recognised that it was someone she knew but not that it was me. That could be part of the Alzheimer’s disease too of course. A proper visit as opposed to a window visit or a phone call is of course much better and now that it can be a regular thing again, that’s much better.

Books. I’ve been reading The Screaming Sky by Charles Foster this week, albeit somewhat slowly. It’s all about the Common Swift and it seems a little poetic to be reading it at about the time that the Swifts normally return in any number. They seem later this year but that might just be my poor observation but I’ve spotted Swallows already and normally I see Swifts a little earlier than them.

Allotment. The nights are still so cold, despite us enjoying some warm daytime temperatures where I’ve even sat in the garden under our sun-brolly reading a book on a couple of afternoons. On the allotment I’ve been preparing ground for sowing but holding off with the actual sowing due to the nighttime temperatures. Clearing weeds and watering have also sucked up a lot of time. Although we’ve had a few passing showers they haven’t delivered much in the way of moisture for the plants and because of the temperatures a lot of things are under cover to protect them and so don’t see any of the rain.

Garden lore says that the first bank holiday in May is the time to sow runner bean seeds indoors and the second bank holiday the time to plant them out. I’ll be doing mine tomorrow on the bank holiday and hopefully temperatures will improve before the end of the month.

Work. As mentioned above I have a bid to prepare. I don’t feel that confident about it but we’ll see what happens. Otherwise this week has been pretty quiet in terms of work things, I’m not sure that I’m seeing the economy picking up in my sector the way it perhaps is in others.

The week ahead is going to focus on work things but hopefully there’ll be some time for some other things.

On the Beach TWTW # 123

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Dogs, Garden / Allotment, photography, The Week That Was

I feel like I’ve packed a lot in this week. This might be because what I’d planned to do at the start of the week was scuppered and I ended up having to squeeze some things in on other days.

Monday morning was a trip to the vet, which was supposed to be a drop-off and pick up a couple of hours later. Unfortunately one of the machines that the vet had planned to use failed and a couple of hours turned into most of the day. I used the time well but it wasn’t what I’d planned. Everything worked out in the end, although the ripples were felt across the rest of the week.

The weather this week has mostly been cold to start and then warming up during the day, but each day has been gloriously sunny and I feel like I’ve taken full advantage of the sun whether it be drinking my coffee out of doors or taking photographs (see below).

Work. I’ve been waiting to hear about a couple of things, but incoming transmissions have been quiet this week.


Reading. I haven’t read all that much this week. Each night as I’ve gone to bed, my eyes have become heavy quickly and I’ve not been able to keep them open to read.


Photography. I’ve been taking a lot of photographs on film this week. I had a couple of rolls in cameras that I’d started a while ago and with the glorious weather decided to finish both. I took my camera(s) with me on my morning dog walks and now both rolls are being processed. Hopefully by next week there’ll be something to share.

One of the types of film I use regularly is Kodak Portra 400. I like the colours and the results that I get with that film, so I wondered if there were any instructions on the interwebs where I could adjust the picture styles on my digital camera to mimic this effect. I found these suggested settings and I’ve been using these revised custom settings. I have to say I’m quite happy with the results so far, here are a few that I took last week:

A couple of items dropped through our letterbox this week. Both connected to Robert Macfarlane’s book Underland. The first was a set of the Field Notes limited edition notebooks based on the book. I’ve mentioned this before and the use of Field Notes notebooks that Macfarlane made when researching and writing the book. The second was a bookmark made by the Anna at the Sea Library similarly to celebrate the book. Anna makes these bookmarks and sells them on her Etsy Store, each has a link to a particular book in the library.

Allotment. The weather is slowly getting warmer overnight and I’m planning to sow / plant out my remaining onion sets this week. I’m also planning to sow more seeds. Those sown a fortnight ago have started to germinate, so watering is starting to be the order of the day once again.

I feel like I am a little bit behind with the allotment, but then again looking back through my journal from last year, there isn’t a great difference. Some things are a little bit later but others have happened sooner.

The week ahead promises to be different. I haven’t been able to see my Mum without at least a pane of glass between us for about 9 or 10 months, next week all being well we might be able to hold a proper conversation without one or the other of us having to ask the other to repeat what they said as a van drives by. This is a benefit of vaccination.

Wherever you are and whatever you are planning to do in the week ahead, stay safe and take care.

Books Past, Books Future TWTW # 121

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Garden / Allotment, photography, The Week That Was, tv2 Comments

Well it’s been a busy week. There’s also been some spectacular weather, most of the Country seemed to get snow, which once again passed us by but we did get some very cold nights and mornings and some spectacular sunrises. (The rumour that this is connected with me wearing shorts when the weather was sunny over the Easter weekend is greatly exaggerated).

I took the image above on Wednesday, this was the sunrise – I’ve cropped the image a bit but that’s all, not other editing.

So how’s your week been?

Reading. I’ve started re-reading Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising Sequence again, it’s been a few years and I’ve started with the first book Over Sea, Under Stone. A lot of people skip this book, although it is the first in the series, and start with The Dark is Rising which I’m reading now.

However Over Sea, Under Stone, holds some strong childhood memories for me, more so than the other books in the series which I didn’t read until much later in life. It’s one of those books like The Hobbitt and the Willard Price “Adventure” series that I have a vivid recollection of where I was and what was happening at the time I was reading it. Anyway my plan is to read them all over the next couple of weeks, or however long it takes.

I’ve also had a proof copy of a new book arrive for reading and review. The Heeding by Rob Cowen and Nick Hayes. Rob’s previous book Common Ground also holds some special memories for me, and is my favourite natural history book. I read it when it came out in 2015 and at the time I was making plans to leave my job through voluntary redundancy so I was reading it on my last few journeys to work on the train and my first few days of my new life.

A review to follow.

Watching. The Man Who Killed Hitler and then Killed The Bigfoot – I admit it was the title that made me watch this, it’s not a particularly serious movie but it was strangely watchable and Sam Elliott plays a blinder. It gets a 74% on Rotten Tomatoes but only 2 (out of 5 stars) in the Radio Times, so it’s probably one of those that you’ll either like or hate. Probably not something that I’ll ever watch again, but it filled an evening when there was nothing else on.

I found my Cub Scout badges this week. I posted this image on Instagram and Twitter noting that I don’t remember what all of them are for but that I remember a lot of the things that I did for them. There are badges there for; Rank (Sixer), First Aid, Hobbies, Home Help, Cycling Proficiency, Reading and Athletics but I’m not sure what they all are. There’s a modern list of badges and some clear equivalents but some I can’t seem to find. The modern badges are also all a different shape and size. Regardless the memories remain.

I had a test drive in a car this week, all very Covid secure. The car was bought to me, sanitised in front of me before I was allowed to get in and then I was able to go off for a short drive while the salesman waited for me to come back. The car then sanitised again. It looks like we might end up buying it and if so I’ll write more about it next week.

Allotment. Direct sowing the first seeds of the year – lettuce, radish, beetroot and parsnip. All of these are under cover as it’s certainly still too cold at night for them not to be protected, but they are varieties that it is okay to sow this early in the year, so hopefully they’ll germinated in the next week or so. I’ve also prepared the next section for more sowing.

That’s it for now, in the week ahead I may end up spending a lot of money or I may not. Whatever you’re doing this week stay safe and take care.

Digging In TWTW # 116

On By tontowilliamsIn books, Dog, Garden / Allotment, photography, The Week That Was, walking, Wilson's Story




Greetings from my allotment. No I’m not there typing this but I was thinking about this week’s post earlier when I was there. Thinking that for many weeks I haven’t had all that much to report about my plot but I’m hoping that as this week I’ve actually been able to turn the soil a bit as we’ve had a dry spell and the heavy clay is less heavy and therefore less likely to do me an injury when digging, that there will be more news to tell.
I’ve been thinking about what I need to do over the coming few weeks to get things moving into spring properly and realise that I’m probably a bit behind with seed sowing, so this coming week I’ll be making some headway on getting things moving in the right direction.


Reading. My reading this week has been more listening that reading as I’ve been working my way through some audiobooks.
I’ve been listening to Austin Kleon’s audiobook trilogy of Steal Like An Artist, Show Your Work & Keep Going. I have actually read all of these and they’re a great resource to dip into but I’ve found quite a few things by listening to the audiobooks, that I missed when I read them. It’s been interesting just thinking about how my brain works differently when listening as opposed to reading – ears over eyes.

Also from Austin Kleon was a post linking to the artist Julian Onderdonk who is one of the artists who I added fairly early to my Artists Twitter list.

Shaman Balls – Craig Childs

We had a trip to the vet this week. A planned appointment for Wilson to have some blood drawn for his regular checkup and adjust his medication if need be. We haven’t got the results yet but we’re not expecting any nasty surprises. Fingers-crossed.

Watching – The Commute Walking 90km to Work. I’ve done this a few times over the years, but I think the longest I’ve done was about 8 miles each way and I left early and got home late to make sure I was on time for the start of my day. I’ve been enjoying Beau Miles latest video this week. It reminds me how much I’ve missed walking during this latest lockdown. Fingers-crossed that everything will continue to move in the right direction and in another few weeks the only being able to go out once a day for exercise rule will be relaxed.

I’ve had my film cameras out this week. The sunlight has been great and I’ve loaded a roll of infrared as much to have an experiment with different exposure, iso and other settings ahead of being able to get out properly and take photos. My theory is that experimenting in controlled conditions in my back garden mean that I can make better judgements later. I also broke my cable release and have had to order a new one.

Well that’s it for this week. It’s my birthday on Tuesday, not that I’m expecting to be doing anything much different, but I am planning on doing some different things from my usual routine.

Stay safe and take care.