Weekend away

Goodbye London

Passing Painswick churchyard

In a Painswick Garden

House hunting -

Walking near Stroud -

 Some lovely gardens in or near Cheltenham -

 Cotswold countryside -

Goodbye for now -

Daily exercise

Minutes - or rather, 1000 steps - away from my door is a large park, Finsbury Park, which I've been using more in the past few months than in the 25 years I've lived at that address. At the moment the UK is having some rather good weather and in ordinary times people would be out there all over all the parks. But lockdown means that we are allowed to take daily exercise, but not to linger on benches or - heaven forbid - gather round a picnic blanket. 

A couple of days ago, the leaves just coming out -

I noticed that all the exercise equipment was fenced off, but hadn't noticed this - "Steel Warriors" -

 The New River Canal runs through the park. It has been carrying water to London since 1613 -

Today, with Easter weekend imminent and good weather forecast, the park is under the watchful eye of the police -

 Some parts are almost empty -

 but the main road gets a good footfall -

 

 As well as mounted police they're on foot, in pairs

The mounted ones pose for photos -

but when they clip-clop off again the birds at the lake rise in alarm -

 I'm missing the breakfast treat of bacon sarnies at the cafe -

Will it ever be the same?

Step by step

Fitbit tells me I've walked 8,851 km since late March 2017. I've aimed for 10k steps a day but have reached 30k once or twice, and only 4k a "few" times.

It's hard to get out for an adequate walk when you're in a creative streak and sat at a workbench or computer for long stretches, rather than making excuses to get out of the house and do something "interesting". I still haven't figured out whether it makes more sense to get out for a walk first thing, perhaps with the excuse of having a coffee in Muswell Hill (45 mins each way), or to have a break mid-day, with the risk of not getting back to "work".

Probably best is to set that all-important finishing time and then walk to a distant grocery store to pick up something for dinner - that finishing time would help with maintaining focus throughout the day (I do tend to get distracted...). Ah well, when the days get longer....

And the days seem, three weeks after the winter solstice, to be getting a little longer - today at 5pm the mostly-clear sky still had noticeable brightness.

Studio Saturday - and a deficit of steps

This week I've brought my pot of coffee into the studio and sat myself down at about 7am.

Sometimes I drew, sometimes I merely looked at instagram (=research, yes?), sometimes I did a bit of mending or sewing, whatever it took to settle in to the day.

"Genghis" will be a companion for "Gung Ho"

 Sometimes I moved things around and took a photo....

 ... sometimes I looked at the sky, or the pigeons in the elderberry tree ...

 ... and once or twice I've found myself tidying away this 'n' that.

All this sitting means not much walking - not meeting the 10K steps target for the day. An evening walk around the block takes about half an hour and is about 3K steps (every little helps). Tonight, after the windstorm, I was pleased to find some new-to-me leaves and seeds that had blown off from street trees -

It was rather disturbing, though, to see this huge branch lying near the recycling bins -

 

 Evidence of its origin -

confirmed by seeing half a tree, with a fresh scar on the trunk -

Its cousin round the corner is still completely intact -

Twilight walk

Because of spending two hours in a car today, and longer than that sat at my table drawing, at 8.30 I'd clocked up only 4,400 steps, somewhat short of my daily target. So I took along some podcasts* and started walking towards the sunset, a startlingly yellow sky making the trees look even darker, going along this street and that one, round corners and along the straight stretches... keeping the camera in my pocket. 

But eventually it did come out...

Haircut, anyone? Come back tomorrow...

A coded warning? "Do Not Graffiti on my Wall"?

Art classes, a short walk away

For many years I waited for the bus outside the vets every morning

This place hasn't changed in the 30-some years I've lived in this area

Super-size robin!

Dead end street

Simply charming

Unusual rose

Building work....

The Rapunzel house?

The biggest mallow bush I've ever seen; it completely filled the garden

Blooming privet everywhere; nasty smell

Alstromeria in a wonderful colour

A big hedge of fuzzy flowers, wonder how long that took to grow

Finally the light was fading and I was nearly back home. Target achieved.

*30 Animals that Changed the World (Tardigrades and vaccine delivery); 5 Live Science (Dr Karl); Tate (The Art of Memory); History of English Podcast (Romantic Warriors - late 13th century). On my new phone, the podcasts didn't transfer over, so I'm keeping it simple at the moment - there are a lot of episodes of Digital Human to catch up with ... not all at once ...