A Happy Birthday

They made me a very special book for my birthday. It was so good that they decided to give it to HRH, since he's a year younger than me, nearly.
Thankyou, Joel, your drawings in this book are beautiful

It's such an amazing day here, blue skies, high winds, golden trees ... and a swan

Happy New Year

I may post photos of our new year when I find time, but the videos on Joel's blog say it all

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOEL

keep on dancing, son ...

60 plus 19 days

Rather belated, it's true, but finally ...



Max Plank dances




A Dashing White Seargent



me and my birthday present (thanks again, Joel and Marg and Julian)

possibly the world's most unlikely trio

Scotlands Music & lost frocks

There should be a report back from my birthday party here, but it's been delayed (the report that is, the party was wonderful; someone left their frock in my room)
Meanwhile, for those of you unfortunate enough to live outside Scotland, have a look at this
Scotland's Music- Heaven and Earth
If you've not got time to watch the whole thing, look down the bottom of the page and watch
Rosslyn Motet
and
Soraidh Leis An Ait

And tomorrow, my book is published:

The Architecture of the Spirit

One more day

November 10th 2007. Winton Woods

Time to start something new; carving stone has never been on the list of things that must be done, but all of a sudden I'm really enjoying it.

work in progress; quite unexpected things hide in unexceptional chunks of stone.

Just for old times sake, yesterday's lime tree

Earlier this summer, Joel and I planted a whole packet of different sunflowers. Loads of nasturtiums grew, but now that I've ceared them away, here is the only sunflower that made it (November 5th)

Day 21.916, 61st decade

First installment; today's installment follows tomorrow (as you might expect)
I'll re-size some of these images tomorrow too. it's my birthday, I don't need to worry about these things ... (OK, I've done that now)

mum and dad, c. 1935

dad c. 1940?

1948

me and my horse and my sisters; my earliest memory is of riding this horse in our kitchen when my dad came home from work (he made the horse) 1951?

must be the coronation, i suppose; 1952 (5th from left.Must be Gassiot Road))

the happiest days of our lives; Butlin's at Clacton, 1957?

Franciscan Road Junior Boys, Tooting, 1957

The school orchestra and me with my cello (2nd left)

I deeply resented having to learn to play this organ, since I had to give up my cello lessons.

An intellectual snob of the first order, but a decent haircut for once

Hilary and me; 1969; BA in Architecture, failed haircutting

Morris ring, 1972. The only known picture of me playing pipe and tabor.

Gilla and me at Bilkdre, new Forest, 1973?>

1978, I thought this was Joel and me but it isn't it's joel and Gilla, at Lifespan Community Collective Ltd., S. Yorkshire

Joel and me at Hampton Court, 1979/80?

bathtime in the commune, 1980; note the swarfega, essential cosmetic for young communards.

The band that reaches the parts other bands cant reach; Campaign for Access to Moorlands, Kinder Scout mass trespass Anniversary, 1981

The Celebrated Sheffield Street band at the CND Conference, Sheffield, 1982?

My sousaphones at the First National Streetband convention, 1983 (Will from Bristol with the one he bought)

Marg and me fail to meet, Lauriston Music Festival, Castle Douglas, 1984

Labour party benefit, Sheffield; the badn was called 'If I can't Dance to it it's not my Revolution'

Leo 12 hours old

Tight Squeeze at Misselbach, Austria, 1991

At last; Christmas 1992

The Southern Reporter, Nov 6th 1997

The Rosslyn Piper, June, 2006

Joel and me, 2007