Today's blogpost is just some pictures with some words. Above - and I love that picture - there's Uncle Ian with his niece Phoebe up in Kelso last weekend. He is a natural with small kids and there he is below, involved in a smoochy pincer movement with Phoebe's father Stewart...
From joy to tragedy. I took a Google Streetview ride along the beach at Surfside, Miami and snipped this image of a sun-worshipping couple getting ready for a lazy morning on the beach. Behind them you can see Champlain Towers before the unthinkable happened. As I write, rescuers are still addressing the rubble hoping to save a few lives. Let's hope they do. There are some serious questions to answer surrounding this manmade tragedy.
And now on to Staffordshire and the edge of The Peak District. This is just another photograph I took on Tuesday. It shows Lower Blackshaw Farm with the rocky outcrop known as Hen Cloud beyond it...
Yesterday Britain's Health Secretary and therefore the political leader most associated with the battle to suppress COVID-19 was shown to have broken his own coronavirus rules as well as cheating on his wife. The woman he is embracing is his political aide, Gina Coladangelo - a woman he personally appointed and with whom he had a close friendship at Oxford University in the 90's. The whole thing stinks but people like Hancock and Johnson seem to think that they can get away with serious misdemeanours by just shrugging their shoulders and moving on.
Remember when I found my Isle of Wight memorabilia? Well amidst that stuff was a copy of "The Daily Mirror" from December 10th 1980. Looking back, I think that something died in all of us the day that Mark Chapman killed John Lennon for no good reason. Folk of my generation can all remember where we were that fateful day.
Imagery is more than photos. It's what meaning is sent out. The first shows the love for a little girl. Tragic contrast at surfside .
ReplyDeleteWise reflection Red..."Imagery is more than photos".
DeleteI think that condo was built on a sand dune. They need to check all of the towers on that strip!
ReplyDeleteIt was already subsiding. How come residents were still allowed to live there?
DeleteY'all- everything on the Florida coast is built on sand dunes.
DeleteI remember being totally shocked and horrified by John Lennon's senseless murder. For what? Ten minutes of notoriety?
ReplyDeleteYour Phoebe pictures made me smile this morning.
Glad that the Phoebe pictures warmed the cockles of your heart.
DeleteThe first picture is worthy of being framed! Phoebe lights up a whole house with that smile.
ReplyDeleteI was 12 1/2 when John Lennon was shot and remember that it was one of those "I can't believe someone like that NOT being around anymore" moments.
I was twenty seven.
DeleteI was stationed in Korea. My clock radio came on in the morning, and it was the first thing that I heard on that day. I could not believe what I was hearing. It did not seem possible.
ReplyDeleteTHe expression on little Phoebe's face is wonderful. She is so darned cute. Every post should have a picture of little Phoebe in it for her adoring fans.
Were you in the US Army Debby? In what capacity? I will keep posting pictures of Phoebe - but only occasionally. I don't what to have to rename this blog.
DeleteMight I suggest Yorkshire Pudding's pudding? Yes. 7 years. I was an environmental health specialist.
DeleteYou must be a clever woman...but I knew that already!
DeleteThe John Lennon newspaper front page could be a framed picture on your wall YP.
ReplyDeleteBut that would involve getting rid of one of our Picassos. Perhaps I could move the Van Gogh instead.
DeleteSaw the rescue operations on the telly. Really sad.
ReplyDeleteThanks for calling by from Pune, Maharashtra, India. As a former design engineer I guess you have a little more insight into structural matters than I do.
DeleteOh, Phoebe! She is growing so fast. I bet she just adores all the men in her life. And the women, too, of course. She is loved and is learning love. The most important lesson of all.
ReplyDeleteYour photos today are very evocative. Can I please steal the name "Hen Cloud"? We are having a hen cloud day today here.
I almost didn't live through the grief of Lennon's death. It happened at a time when I was going through grief of my own for the break-up of my marriage. I had been listening to "Double Fantasy" nonstop for weeks and it had been sustaining me and then...
I still cry when I think about that day.
I was also listening to "Double Fantasy" in the weeks before Lennon fell. "Hen Cloud" is a great name isn't it? On the track up to that outcrop there's a bed and breakfast place called Hen Cloud Cottage. It looks lovely. The Hen Clouds sounds like a psychedelic band.
DeleteI love the photo of Phoebe with her dad and uncle! She's so adorable and you can tell she has all the men in her life wrapped around her little finger. Probably most of the women, too. :)
ReplyDeleteWe are truly blessed Jennifer. Extra sunshine in our lives.
DeleteBeautiful photos of Phoebe - she really is a little angel, and has such an infectious smile.
ReplyDeleteWhat a terrible tragedy in Surfside. There must be worries about the safety and stability of all those buildings nearby. Having visited Florida and Miami on several occasions in the dim distant past, I can remember being told that the highest point on that stretch of coast was just seven feet above sea level, and all the buildings were constructed on the sandbank between the ocean and inland waterway. Hardly reassuring when you're in an apartment near the top of a ten storey building!
Not sure what I was doing when John Lennon was killed, only that it came as a great shock - one more instance of mindless killing in America. The last time we were in New York, we stayed just along from the Dakota Building, and his death was mentioned on all the tours, and I don't doubt still is.
It seems sad that the death of John Lennon is now a little spice in a tour guide's monologue. "Imagine all the tourists, living life in peace..."
DeleteI was a great fan of the Beatles and remember well when Lennon was killed. (though I'll admit he was not my favorite of the fab four)
ReplyDeleteThat is one precious looking baby girl. I know you're proud. (I speak from experience given I have four grandchildren of my own)
Four! That is a lot of knitting Granny Kelly!
DeletePhoebe looks like a joyous baby and everyone seems entranced with her! As they should be. That collapse is a huge tragedy and preventable. :(
ReplyDeleteThanks Margaret. The awful thing is that the authorities already knew about the building's structural issues.
DeleteAfter John Lennon's death we all woke up to a different world.
ReplyDeleteWonderful photographs of Phoebe, what eyes, what a smile !
Hen Cloud is like a place in an Alan Garner story or a Tasker Dunham post.
Are we all dreaming this on some other planet?
Haggerty
No - we are all still on Earth as far as I can discern.
DeleteBeautiful pictures of Phoebe and her adoring manservants YP. It is such a gift to be able to be so closely involved in your grandchild's development isn't it?
ReplyDeleteI find my own little Charlotte endlessly fascinating and am so grateful for the freedom retirement has given me to spend my days babygazing, soothing or pulling funny faces to amuse her and provoke that wonderful baby talk between us.
The 6 week growth spurt was tough on her Mum but now at 2 months she is forging ahead, sleeping longer at night, and ready to go visiting.
I've been reading and enjoying your posts but usually too late to comment.
Cheers Adele
Pulling silly faces at Charlotte? You must be a mad woman! Thanks for calling by again Adele.
DeleteMy youngest is currently living in a Miami Penthouse apartment, overlooking the sea. We were very worried. It wasn't his block, thank goodness. I feel even more upset for those involved.
ReplyDeleteI guess there will be a lot of anxiety in the tall blocks on that coast. Thank heavens your youngest is okay.
DeleteI love the pictures of Phoebe and Ian and Stewart! The Champlain Towers thing is VERY bizarre, even for Florida. I have never heard of a building just collapsing like that, but those barrier islands are basically sand, and I'm guessing subsidence is the culprit. (And neglect!)
ReplyDeleteWas watching your Ian on TV yesterday. He and his partner were cooking up a storm. Have to say it all looked pretty good.
ReplyDelete