My third attempt, and second complete 365 Days project. An endeavor to take a self-portrait every day for a year. The rules are simple. I must be visible in the picture, and I must take the picture.
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Reconnoiter (365:096)
In ten days time, I’ve got to do a photo shoot.
This afternoon Ginger and I spent some time on location checking the light and looking for suitable picture opportunities. What happens will all depend on the weather on the day; I had already built a lighting rig with this shoot in mind, but I won’t need it as we’ve managed to find some locations that I can light fully with the dreaded flash gun. We carefully picked places for the availability of surfaces for bouncing the flash, which the test shots have shown to give some very nice even results. Which is just as well as the available lighting is truly awful. Even so, I’ll have to use black and white for a lot of the pictures as some areas are lit with sodium lights. Trying to get a decent color image from those with a mix of daylight from adjacent windows isn’t easy. Just before we left I took a quick self-portrait. Check out the sodium lighting in the background of the color alternate shot.
I spent some time today working on my MK-II and III wood burners, and we finally have a burner that will bring a liter of water (around a US quart) to the boil in fifteen minutes from lighting the fire. More tinkering and tests are needed, especially as I realized tonight that I’ve been setting it up incorrectly. Still, tin cans are in plentiful supply so I can make and test several burner inserts.
The evening was spent at the church Lent soup supper, followed by youth group for the kids, a class for me and general chit-chat for Ginger. Once home I processed my pictures for the past couple of days.
Today’s alternate shot
Check out the sodium lighting in the background of the shot. -
My once a week ‘Studying’ picture (365:097)
Thursday keeps on coming around every week.
I had time for one quick test of the infamous wood burner before settling down to my studies for this week’s class. The wood burner experiment hints at possible improvements, my studying produced more mixed results. I’m finding this part of the course quite a hard slog, as the content seems to have got a bit repetitive.
I had a better shot to use for today, but I managed to miss the focus point somehow and it’s not focused properly. Definitely my fault this time and not the cameras. Sometimes I think things were easier when autofocus wasn’t an option. Unfortunately my eyesight and the unhelpful focusing screen on the camera precludes that option.
Today’s alternate shots
This was my favorite shot; a car drew up next door and I glanced up to check it out. Shame I’m not in focus. 
Studying for tonight’s class -
Gary and Ginger on a run ashore (365:098)
Today we went kayaking on Fellows lake.
There’s an annual fee to use Fellows lake. Last year it was $25 per boat – regardless of the type so our little kayaks cost as much to register as a motor boat. This year the fee’s gone up to $35 per boat, so we’re in the process of deciding if we want to renew. Our registration runs out on the fifteenth so we decided to get some use from the last few days on the current registration.We explored a small winding inlet of the lake, one of just a couple of places we haven’t visited yet. I took this picture of us when we stopped to explore a picnic pavilion at the entrance to the inlet.
In the course of the day we saw a very pretty bird, a Prothonotary Warbler, a few turtles, a deer and a couple of fish, but none on the end of my line. I did try fishing for a little while, but like everyone else we saw I didn’t have any luck.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
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Meh (365:099)
This morning I helped Tom take down his neighbour’s tree.
The tree was right by and hanging over the fence so a little bit of finesse was called for. Once we’d got it safely down, we cut it up and made a big pile of all the logs and limbs. After that we loaded, unloaded and stacked three pick-up loads of wood. It was hot and tiring work, but I really did enjoy the workout.
Back home I worked on a revised wood burning backpacking stove, which again wasn’t 100% successful, but I’m learning more with each iteration.
You’d have thought that today day would have been a good day, but unfortunately it actually ended up rather ‘meh’.
Today’s extras
Tree felling 
Tom up a tree
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A fairly typical Sunday (365:100)
A fairly typical Sunday (365:100). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today we didn’t get finished at Church until just before twelve. So here it is, an end of the day, late night self-portrait. Tomorrow I’m off fishing with Tom; should be fun!
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Fishing (365:101)
Today I went fishing with Tom on Table Rock Lake.
Tom took me out on his boat fishing today, and just for a change, I out-fished him, five fish to four. We put in at Cape Fair (which I prefer to call Cape Fear) and had a very good, sunny and windy day on the lake. Today’s picture is what you get if you try and take a self-portrait while being driven at fifty-odd miles per hour across a windy lake. I took a video while we were going back and I’ve included it below.
Later in the day I managed to lose my ‘lucky Lure’ – any lure that catches a fish counts as lucky in my book, but one that manages five is extra lucky. In the evening I went down to Bass Pro with Lanie and bought a replacement. I have high hopes for tomorrow when Tom and I are going out fishing again.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
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Running repairs (365:102)
Running repairs (365:102). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today Tom and I went fishing on Stockton Lake.
It was a return match picking up from yesterday on Table Rock Lake. The weather was great and the lake as flat as a millpond. It was surprising how far behind Table Rock Lake spring is at Stockton. The weather might have been glorious, the fishing though was a repeat of last Friday on Fellow’s lake. Not a sausage. The fish at Stockton must have turned vegetarian over the winter. Well, that’s my excuse. Tom did manage catch one fish – just to bring our two day total to a draw of five fish each. The going was so poor we gave up early and came home.
This afternoon Ginger and I cleared up all the bags of leaves with a couple of runs to the recycling center. We’re taking the Kayaks out tomorrow – Fellows Lake again, our last visit before our registration expires, so I did a bit of fishing tackle maintenance, which is where today’s picture comes in. I thought I’d taken enough pictures of lakes and such for a while, so will have to do.
On a more somber note, I checked my e-mail for the first time in a few days tonight and discovered that one of my EFM classmates, John, was taken into hospital on Sunday, with a possible diagnosis of cancer. I like John a lot, he’s a very thoughtful and kind person. Here’s hoping for the best for him and his family.
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Laying down in my kayak isn’t too difficult (365:103)
Laying down in my kayak isn’t too difficult (365:103). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. On the other hand, getting up again is quite a struggle.
With the long open cockpit at least I can lay down and enjoy the sunshine, something I couldn’t do in a closed cockpit design. Not that it makes for a particularly good (or flattering) picture, but it sums up our day on Fellows lake quite nicely. In fact, thinking about it, this picture probably represents an all time low in this year’s 365. However, it is the only picture I’ve got for today.
We loaded up the kayaks before the school run, dropped the big kids off at school, grabbed an egg McMuffin, and were out on the lake by eight-thirty. Our plan, duly exercised, was to take advantage of the lake being relatively full and embark upon a ‘furthest South’ expedition. We managed to get a fair way up a small creek that feeds into south running arm of Fellows, far enough to be able to see traffic on the road that runs to the south of the lake. We had to do the water-based equivalent of bushwhacking to get out. In the process, I found a snagged lure, which is small recompense for the two I’ve lost over the past couple of days.
While fishing I was surprised when my cell ‘phone started ringing, this was totally unexpected, (a) because I was convinced I’d left it at home and (b) because it was sealed inside the ammo box. Obviously my ammo box while metal, doesn’t make for a very good Faraday Cage.
The fishing wasn’t a success, it seems that like the fish in Stockton yesterday, the fish here have turned vegetarian too. Unlike Stockton though, at least there were fish to be seen, even if they didn’t like the looks of all the various lures I threw at them. I finally gave up on the fishing and we spent the rest of our time at the lake paddling around and just sitting drifting on the wind in the sunshine.
Being a Wednesday in the evening we took the kids to church for Youth Group, and I attended the last of the Lent classes while Ginger joined the Moms’ Group.
The bad news from the guys at church was that my EFM classmate John who was taken into hospital on Sunday has had his diagnosis of cancer confirmed. Not good. It made me count the blessings of my day and my life, in general, all the more.
Today’s extras
Ginger Exploring a creek at Fellows Lake 
The kayaking equivalent of bushwhacking on Fellows Lake -
Hair cut (365:104)
Hair cut (365:104). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It’s Thursday and this isn’t a picture of me studying.
Just a quick picture of my cut hair on the floor, before I settled down studying for the day. At class this evening we took some time out to go down to the hospital to see our classmate John.
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Batch-loaded, inverted down-draft gassifier wood stove (365:105)
I spent some more time in the workshop today.
First thing today we ran a load of errands, then I settled down to work on my Mark II wood stove for backpacking. I can’t wait to give it a try, though I’m busy for a few days so it’ll have to keep.
In the evening we went to the wedding rehearsal for Saturday’s wedding. I had to re-think my planned shots of the ceremony as Leslie (the bride), as is her right, has had the altar moved and a couple of huge candelabras brought in. She is also having all the groomsmen and bridesmaids arranged around her during the ceremony, which cut off all my pre-planned sight-lines. It didn’t take long to work out some new positions for the pictures, though the sodium lighting is still a problem, and will require that I convert most of the shots to black and white (I can’t use the flash during the ceremony). The (huge) 70mm-200mm F2.8 lens with stabilizer I’m picking up tomorrow is really going to make a difference over my F3.5-F5.6 kit lens which really can’t cope with these conditions. After the rehearsal, we were treated to dinner (thanks Tom & Rebbie!).
We have a busy weekend ahead for all of us. Saturday at the wedding Lanie is a flower girl, Alek is looking after the parking lot and Katie is a ‘greeter’; I’m taking pictures and Ginger is acting as photographer’s assistant. Once the wedding is over we have a barbecue at Tom and Rebbie’s to look forward to. Sunday is Palm Sunday, and the new bishop is making his first visit to Christ Episcopal Church. Lanie and Alek are taking part in the reading, and I’m supporting a friend who is being confirmed, which means I’ll be attending two services. I suspect Sunday afternoon and a nap will be very welcome when it comes around.
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Beauty and the (out of focus) beast (365:106)
I had a self-portrait planned for today.
It involved putting the camera on the tripod, gathering the family, and taking a picture with Dash and Leslie. The plan was fine, the execution impossible, I was just too busy taking the wedding pictures to fit it in. I’m lucky I got one at all, as I took two shots and this is the fairly heavily edited best of the pair.
Not to worry though, the day wasn’t about my project, and I got some superb pictures though this is probably the only sneak preview I’ll show. With over 500 pictures it’s going to take a while to do the processing. The F2.8 70mm-200mm lens was an absolute godsend and made all the difference on the shots of the ceremony.
Unbeknown to me the architect of the church sat in on the wedding – I even got a picture of him. I wish I’d known as I would have asked who designed the sanctuary lighting and hopefully prevented the future use of sodium lights in up-lighters in an area where ambient light photography is required.
Lanie, Katie and Alek all did a super job, and Ginger was great, pointing out shots I might otherwise have missed, holding and directing the flashgun, positioning the reflector and passing equipment to me. It was a long and tiring day, and I promptly fell asleep once we got home. Not for too long though, as a barbecue and several Jack Daniels and Coke with the parents of the groom, Tom and Rebbie beckoned.
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Gary and Loyal at Christ Episcopal Church (365:107)
Another long day at church.
Amazingly there was no sign of a hangover after all the Jack Daniels and Coke I managed to consume last night, which was just as well, as it was a big day at church today, with the new bishop visiting, Palm Sunday, and confirmations.
Alek and Lanie helped with the reading at the nine a.m. service, and then all the family except for yours truly was stood down for a well-earned rest. I stayed for the eleven O’clock service to sponsor Loyal in his confirmation. Today’s picture was a quick Arm’s length self-portrait with Loyal after the service. I should have anticipated that he was going to wear uniform, so I was a rather shabbily dressed sponsor with no tie and wearing flip-flops. At least it was my ‘dress’ flip-flops.
I also cheated on this picture – which is a composite of two images, I hope you can’t see the join. Loyal’s pose in the this shot was great, but mine was marred by a huge reflection in one of the lenses of my glasses. I was going to try cloning it out, but I noticed I’d hardly moved between the two shots I’d taken, so I was able to composite my face back into this shot. Oh the wonders of Photoshop.
I spent a lazy afternoon, the highlight of which was testing my latest wood-burning stove for the first time. Initial results are promising, though I’m having a bit of trouble getting it to start evenly. An adjustment to the air jets (that is sticking in a screwdriver in the holes and bending them) helped the wood gas burn, and I got around thirty minutes of burn time from one load. The burner might benefit from larger air intake holes. More experimentation is required.
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Gary by the Little Sac River (365:108)
Today I went on a short hike,
it may have been short, but it made up for it with the need to bushwhack and climb over and under things.
The day started badly with a flat-ish tire, which delayed getting the kids to school, which meant I was delayed getting out of town to help Loyal check out the fence line on his father-in-law’s farm. There was no trail so we had to bushwhack our way through and negotiate some steep descents clambering over fallen trees along the way. When I got home I found my right leg was covered in blood from thorn scratches.
The north part of the farm ends in 90 foot bluffs down to the Little Sac River, we followed the fence line down a hollow to the river and stopped to take pictures along the way, and I suffered equipment envy at Loyal’s Hasselblad, but at least I don’t have to wet process my pictures. I took today’s self-portrait balancing on a downed tree.
We were accompanied by three dogs, two of which would have looked much more at home as pampered lap dogs, but they were very game and got very wet and muddy. One swam across the river which was running quite fast, and on swimming back got caught in a big pile of washed-up trees and limbs. We can only guess that in rescuing the dog Loyal got into a nest of ticks. He told me later he found over sixty. I only found two – both were having quite a feast though, one on my ankle and one on my backside!
I was treated to lunch and got back to Springfield just in time to pick up the kids from school.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
Little Sac River, near Willard, Missouri. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Little Sac River, near Willard, Missouri. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Little Sac River, near Willard, Missouri. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Lunch break and ‘phone call – day hike at Busiek (365:109)
Ginger wanted to see the Dogwoods in bloom.
Today we went on a short, three-mile hike on the silver trail at Busiek. About halfway round, we stopped for lunch at a small creek, and I decided to try out my new lightweight hiking tripod. The tripod has a clever design where one of the legs has a ‘V’ profile, which, combined with a Velcro strap, allows the camera to be strapped to a post, pole, or, as in this case, an overhanging branch. It was a bit brave for a first test, with the Nikon left dangling over the creek, but it worked fine.
In the midst of setting the shot up I got a call from the UK, which amused us both, knowing that Stephen (the caller) had no idea that we were in the middle of a hike. Busiek is dissected by Highway 65 with cell ‘phone towers on top of the surrounding hills, so getting a signal here isn’t a problem.
After the hike we popped into a flea market in Ozark, hoping to find a suitable saucepan for the wood burner. Unfortunately we couldn’t find anything. Maybe another trip to Bass Pro, or a tour of the local flea markets is called for.
After picking up the kids from school I filled the van with gas – $62! This is getting silly.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
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Late night self portrait at the kitchen table (365:110)
Once again I had a plan. Once again, unfortunately, it didn’t work out.
Tonight I had a boys’ night out while the kids were at Youth Group. I was going to take advantage of this and grab my picture with the guys at Ebbets Bar. Unfortunately, there was an ‘event’ at Ebbets, so we went to the Springfield Micro Brewery instead. There were no tables near our booth to rest the camera on, so that idea didn’t work out. I had a great time with the lads. We ought to try and get out more often.
In the end I took this last minute self-portrait sitting at the kitchen table before going to bed. Ginger sort of helped. I say sort of helped because her idea of helping was to keep putting Getzger on the kitchen table in front of me.
Today’s alternate shot
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Slideshow (365:111)
Today I’ve been spring cleaning my PC.
Yesterday I discovered I didn’t have enough free disk space to defrag my hard drive. Today I decided to purge my old photo’ files. It was a bit traumatic and emotionally unsettling going through the pictures, some over forty years old. Having recovered over 20 Gigabytes of disk space, I decided that while I was in a bit of an emotional mess I’d get the projector out and look at some of my slides.
Setting it up was a trial, the screen we have is rather high, so boxes and things were needed to get the projector high enough. The projector also has to be operated by hand because the little rubber belt inside that provides the motive power to remotely change the slides has perished.
We persevered and got it all sorted out. I had a great time going through pictures I’ve probably not looked at in at least ten years, and certainly not since I’ve moved to the US. It was good to be able to share some of the pictures with Ginger and give her a glimpse of my previous life. All in all it was a good night, and I can’t wait to look at the rest of them.
The slides are starting to fade so I need to scan them all, and quite soon. That is going to be a huge job.
Today’s alternate & extra shots
Discussing the slides 
Slideshow 
Curious clouds seen on this afternoon’s school run -
2.25am Youth group lock-in (365:112)
2.25am Youth group lock-in (365:112). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I was foolish enough to volunteer to chaperon at tonight’s Youth Group lock-in.
I spent most of the day finishing off clearing my hard drive ready to process the wedding pictures I took last week.
At seven pm Lanie and I went to church for the Youth Group lock-in which started with Friday night’s Good Friday service. The lock-in that followed was an enjoyable, tiring, late night. Some of us watched the movie – The Passion of the Christ, there was a less challenging movie available for the others and I honed my dish washing skills; not that they need any honing. By the time I took this photograph I was thinking that maybe we should have brought bed time forward by a couple of hours.
Note: A lot of people taking part in the 365 Days project make sure they take their pictures before twelve midnight each day. I’ve always considered that my day isn’t over until I’ve gone to bed for the night. I have no problem posting this photograph taken after midnight as my previous day’s picture.
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You’ll always find me in the kitchen at lock-ins (365:113)
You’ll always find me in the kitchen at lock-ins (365:113). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I managed around three hour’s sleep,
which I guess isn’t too bad. I was up at seven fifteen and helping out with breakfast. Before the end of the lock-in we held a short service in the church, and left for home at ten am. Instead of getting a nap, we went shopping, I spent some time at the computer and we had a visit from Dash and Leslie.
At seven pm Lanie and I were back at church for the Easter vigil. Either we didn’t do these back in my days as a choir boy, or the choir never attended, as this was my first. It was a wonderful but long service; we didn’t get home until after nine. At one point I was concerned that Lanie would burn the church down with her candle. That, fortunately turned out to not be the case.
Once the kids were all in their rooms for the night Ginger and I settled down to watch Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones. We’re slowly going through all the Star Wars movies in episodic order.
Tomorrow we have another early start for Church and hopefully I’ll get a chance for a nap.
Today’s extras
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Dirty Martini (365:114)
Easter Sunday.
Up early, church, home, long afternoon nap, computer, and finally, dirty martinis.
A sloppy picture deserves a faux Lomo effect.
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Easter Eggs (365:115)
Saturday and Sunday Lanie made coloured Easter Eggs.
I was going to take a picture of them yesterday, but that would have involved moving the van out of the garage which doubles as my workshop and a sort of studio when needed.
It’s been raining almost non-stop for two days, we’ve had over five inches of rain and Ginger’s parents have had over ten inches. I was alerted to the backyard flooding by the sound of water pouring into the crawlspace under the house. By that time it was several inches deep, and while I did the school run Ginger sorted out the pump. On getting home I donned my waterproofs and cut a short channel down the side of the house by the back gate which let some of the water out, we’ll have to see how it goes.
I spent most of the day working at the computer; the church website is up to date, and I’ve cleared a couple of other items off of my to do list. None of which was worthy of a picture. I was tempted to get out my kayak and set it in the backyard for today’s picture. However, (1) it was quite dark outside (2) I’ve already broken a camera by getting water in it, and I didn’t fancy going through that again, and (3) that would not have been a documentary picture. So instead I set up a backcloth on my work bench, enlisted Lanie’s help to arrange her eggs and hold the diffuser while I took a picture of the ‘Camo egg’ she made for me.
I’m not too happy with the lighting on this shot, I’ll have to work out what’s wrong. I suspect I’ve used too much diffused light, even though I tried putting some direct light in from the left to bring up some shadows.
Today’s extras
Lanie’s Easter Eggs 
The backyard slips silently beneath the waves -
Bedtime (365:116)
Bedtime (365:116). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Memory. I wish I had one.
Possibly I did all sorts of things, but more likely I procrastinated at the computer. Actually a little bit of checking shows that I did some (paid!) work, and processed the first batch of Dash and Leslie’s wedding pictures, which kept me busy through most of the day. Lots of nice shots to pick from, though a fair bit of processing partly because of the orange lighting, and in one shot because unknown to me the bride was wearing a pair of black sandals, which showed when she was sitting down. Photoshop to the rescue – I lengthened the dress slightly to cover them up. Ginger asked how I fixed it, which given her experience of Photoshop I take as complement.
Of course the main reason for additional processing is my own lack of experience. It’s over twenty-five years since I worked weekends as a studio wedding photographer and I’m a bit rusty. I obviously need to try harder to get it right, in camera, first time. Working fast I deliberately decided to de-risk it and shot wide so I could crop later.
Of course I ignored any self-portrait opportunities I may have had during the day, so once again we have a hurried just before bedtime capture.
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Compressor coupling (365:117)
Compressor coupling (365:117). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Tyres do not stay inflated around here.
Whether that be bike or car tyres, we seem to be continually getting the compressor out and adding air (that originally read ‘we seems’ I’ve obviously been subconsciously influenced by that obnoxious Ja Jar Binks character in Phantom Menace). Yesterday topping up one of the van’s tyres was accompanied by a large amount of hissing; the compressor’s hose had split near to the compressor coupling. I was too busy with wedding pics to fix it yesterday, so today I thought I’d try to fix the hose before settling down for my weekly EFM studying. The fact that this gave me a photo opportunity that didn’t involve me studying had nothing whatsoever to do with this you understand.
So here I am trying to work out how to take the coupling off. If I had my eyes tested and got new glasses I probably wouldn’t need the magnifying glass, but I have better things to spend my pennies on like food, shelter, drink, gas (Mon Dieu the price of gas), hiking and backpacking gear etc. etc.
The rest of the day was spent studying. I’d two lessons to get through this week so it was quite a slog, though thankfully the lesson topics were much more interesting than some we’ve had over the past few weeks.
In September my Green Card expires. So we finished the day looking at pictures of us; mentally earmarking those we want to get printed to use as evidence to support my application for the removal of conditions and the issue of a new (ten year) Green Card. And to do that we have to prove that our wedding and relationship isn’t a sham organised just to get me into the country. It’s a shame the US Government doesn’t accept Flickr accounts as evidence. As it doesn’t we will have to call on friends to write affidavits for us, and there’s the possibility of an interview, plus they’ll be taking my biometrics again.
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Gary and Ginger in ‘Urban Market’ (365:118)
Gary and Ginger in ‘Urban Market’ (365:118). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Slight change of plan today.
Ginger returned from the school run with tidings of yard sales, not just any yard sale, but a church yard sale, so off we went.
To prevent rampant purchasing we maintain ‘to buy’ lists, the idea being that stuff not on the list doesn’t get bought, scotching most impulse purchases. On the whole it works, though I spent $4 on $30 worth of audio cables that wasn’t on the list. I don’t think we got anything that was on the list, which was annoying as I wanted to find a small aluminium pan to go on my wood burning backpacking stove.
We dropped off our goodies at home and decided to go out again and check out a couple of flea markets. I was waiting to find out if I was cooking dinner for class tonight, so we had time to spare. We went round three flea markets and today’s picture was taken in the third – Urban Market. Ginger has this habit of standing behind me when I take a picture of both of us – she says it’s so that she doesn’t look bigger then me, but the normal result is that I’m in focus and she isn’t. Anyway I’m taller by half an inch, I just choose to wear very flat shoes, so there.
I found an aluminium pitcher just the right size for the wood burner at the rather worryingly named STD. Now I’ll need to fire up the stove again and test it.
I made cottage pie for eight in the afternoon which seemed to be well received at class (no green beans or mushroom soup in my recipe). Mary’s cheesecake was much better than the cottage pie though – yum! Hopefully I haven’t poisoned anyone.
Today’s extras
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Gary and Ginger watch the running commentary on the Royal Wedding on Facebook (365:119)
And it was absolutely hilarious.
We both had tears of laughter streaming down our faces at one point. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pro-monarchy. I think the monarchy does a great job of marketing Great Britain plc, encourages tourism and there’s something to be said for maintaining tradition; no surprises I’m an Episcopalian then. What I do object to is the rabid hype, hysteria, tackiness and pure bad taste events such as royal weddings seem to encourage.
Several people I know here (Springfield, Missouri) got up at the crack of dawn to watch
drool overthe events back in Blighty. They seemed much more interested in the event than the few ex-pats I know around the world.We spent some time exchanging irreverent and ribald facebook comments on the wedding. Comments of note included: “Why is no one in work today…” – my brother. “Today is a good day to travel” – a friend who is popping over to France, and pictures of another contact in her own wedding dress waving a couple of union jacks semaphore style while her bemused hubby ignores her and reads the newspaper. Should any of them stumble upon this rambling; you all know who you are. One of my sons claimed he was playing Mario on the SNES and posted “If he wasn’t getting married today, this is definitely what William would’ve been doing.” the other has just posted “I think that Sky Sports played a blinder today… Premier League Years versus the Royal Wedding. Only ever going to be one winner.” and then there was a whole string of comments about the frock which were so funny and inappropriate I won’t repeat any of them here or they won’t let me back in the UK ever again.
It was about then that my bright idea for today’s picture came to me. So today you see Ginger and I sitting in bed with our respective laptops, laughing ourselves silly.
Today’s alternate shot
Royal wedding watching on Facebook. It must have been the mention of a gratuitous nipple that did it -
Silliness on the Sac River Trail (365:120)
Silliness on the Sac River Trail (365:120) — The real picture is in the background. Ginger, Katie and I put in a four-mile hike on the Sac River trail today. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The real picture is in the background. Ginger, Katie and I put in a four-mile hike on the Sac River trail today. I was expecting the trail to be very muddy, but it turned out to be surprisingly dry. During a brief stop, I thought I’d grab a quick safety shot. I had an idea in mind. So, it seems did Ginger and Katie. I could have gone with the more serious shot, but this one’s more fun. Ginger said she looks stupid – well that’s what you get for messing with my self-portraits. Katie’s comment was along the lines of “D’oh, you can’t see me licking mom’s hair – it was kewl.” Oh well, I’d wanted them out of focus in the background, little knowing the stunt they were going to pull once my back was turned, so tough!
We decided to stop for lunch at the old barn, where Ginger and I ate lunch on our last visit on March 28, We were surprised to find the building had collapsed, leaving just a pile of rubble where we had been sitting. The recent storms must have done for it, though checking the timbers there was a lot of termite damage which I’m sure escalated its demise.
After the hike we returned to Springfield via Braum’s where we each had a double dip cone. The calories in the ice cream cones probably exceeded the number of calories we consumed on the hike, but they were very yummy.
This afternoon I tried out my latest Backpacking wood burning stove again, unfortunately with no more luck. It burns well once lit, wood gas is being generated and it burns well too, but the stove is not producing enough heat to boil a litre of water in a reasonable time, or without adding more fuel. I sat and thought about it for a while; I’ve now got another design in mind, which is not based on any of the designs I’ve seen, but uses what I’ve learned about gasification and wood gas burners in general. Hopefully a I have a more efficient, easier to manage and more consistent configuration. Whatever happens I know I’ll have great fun designing, building and trying it out.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
This would have been today’s shot but I prefer the more irreverent picture. 
A reward for the day’s hiking 
The old barn had collapsed since our last visit 
Where has the barn gone? -
April 2011
This month signals the return of colour; there are only eight black and white pictures.
I’ve built two marginally successful wood burning stoves for backpacking and I bought a summer sleeping bag. We’ve only managed to get out hiking three times, that’s a disappointing 10.5 miles, bringing our year’s hiking tally to 81 miles. We did take the Kayaks out twice (nine miles) bringing our yaking total to a miserly 12.6 miles. We need to try a lot harder in May. I went fishing with Tom twice, and I even caught five bass. I had a hair cut, took wedding pictures, helped out with a youth group lock-in, and laughed hysterically at people’s Facebook comments on the royal wedding.
Plans for May will need to be the same as those for April only more so. We are desperate to get out backpacking, and the yaks need exercise. So lots more hiking and kayaking pictures. We ought to manage at the very least 16 miles hiking. I want to make my Mark III backpacking stove, so some more workshop pictures, or even pictures of a pot of boiling water. Now that would be a good result.
1. Late night stand-by, 2. Sprinky appears to be giving me the ‘evil eye’, 3. Family hike at Busiek state park and wildlife area, 4. Trying out my new sleeping bag, 5. More fun in the workshop, 6. Reconnoitre, 7. My once a week ‘Studying’ picture, 8. Gary and Ginger on a run ashore, 9. Meh, 10. A fairly typical Sunday, 11. Fishing, 12. Running repairs, 13. Laying down in my kayak isn’t too difficult, 14. Hair cut, 15. Batch-loaded, inverted down-draft gassifier wood stove, 16. Beauty and the (out of focus) beast, 17. Gary and Loyal at Christ Episcopal Church, 18. Gary by the Little Sac River, 19. Lunch break and ‘phone call – day hike at Busiek, 20. Late night self portrait at the kitchen table, 21. Slideshow, 22. 2.25am Youth group lock-in, 23. You’ll always find me in the kitchen at lock-ins, 24. Dirty Martini, 25. Easter Eggs, 26. Bedtime, 27. Compressor coupling, 28. Gary and Ginger in ‘Urban Market’, 29. Gary and Ginger watching the running commentary on the Royal Wedding on Facebook, 30. Silliness on the Sac River Trail
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Living with cats (365:121)
Living with cats (365:121). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today I almost committed the ultimate 365 Days faux pas, because for the first time this year I forgot to take my picture. I was just climbing into bed when I realized. I threw on my dressing gown and headed off to the kitchen table for today’s picture.
The day started slowly, with a Sunday off from church. Lanie’s been in KC since after school on Friday at a diocesan youth event. This removed our need to attend the 9 am service at church, which we normally do so that so she can be in choir or acolyte. It was nice to take a break, and we sat in bed surfing and chatting all morning. I spent what was left of my day on the Interwebs and caught up on some outstanding voluntary work, as Monday I have some web development work to do.
Having had my bedtime postponed for photographic purposes, I wanted to get today’s picture out of the way as quickly as possible, I even left off my glasses, which meant I couldn’t check any pictures I took (it shows). So I proceeded to press the shutter and get it over with.
There is something about the sound of the lens focusing, the ‘beep’ of the focus confirmation and the clunk of the mirror and shutter operating that attracts cats. Normally Tubby is the most inquisitive, but today before I could count to one, Getzger was up on the kitchen table trying to get in on the act. In the end I gave up, so this picture which includes Mr. G. Cat Esquire (Not sure that any Americans, even if they are pure bred Abyssinian really qualify for the ‘Esquire’ bit) will do for today.
Footnote: The plaque on the wall behind me in the alternate shot reads: “Everything tastes better with cat fur in it” I can’t attest to this as I’ve not had much opportunity to try meals without cat fur in them to enable me to confirm or refute this statement.
Today’s alternate shot
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Drawing (365:122)
Tonight I was working on the design of my next backpacking wood burner.
Today after posting a couple of pictures I sat down at my desk and got on with some (paid) work for a change. My efforts were put on hold while Ginger’s parents came visiting, and again for the afternoon school run. By dinner time I was finished for the day, apart from writing a fairly long e-mail discussing the work and setting up a call in the morning.
After a bit of surfing I thought it’d be nice to draw up my new design for a backpacking wood burner in Google SketchUp. Unfortunately the free version doesn’t allow you to intersect a curved surface with a hole (I’m not sure if the paid version does either). As the burner design is a set of cylinders riddled with holes this idea was going to be a bit of a non-starter. So I decided to hand draw a rough sketch to help me with the construction and think out the design. Today’s picture shows me completing my drawing.
It’s been a long time since I last drew something, I wrote a little bit about it back in February, when I pondered how much better my drawing might be if I’d just done a little every week. This morning I noticed Ginger’s portable painting easel and paint box by the bed, and that image must have stuck with me throughout the day. I draw technically, and it is a learned process; very much a process. Drawing is not something I can naturally do, the images don’t just flow from my fingers. I have great respect, jealousy even for those lucky people who do have this innate ability.
My Photography is the same. Technical, not emotional, produced by following a set of processes. Again I greatly admire people who can get emotion into their pictures. I’ve tried but I just don’t ‘get it’. I guess I have to accept my limitations, and make the best of what I can do. Anyhow, I think I’ll try and include a little drawing in my weekly activities, and see how it turns out.
Today’s other pictures
Up-draft gassifier backpacking wood burner 
Hamming it up for the camera -
Making huaraches (365:123)
Making huaraches (365:123). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I meant to make a to-do list today.
So I ended up doing all sorts of things that didn’t really need doing and missing out on things I should be doing. Oh well.
I’ve been promising to make Ginger, Katie, and Lanie some huaraches for a while. This afternoon, I gathered the stuff up and made them each a test pair to make sure the fit of the final shoes will be correct. In today’s picture, I’m cutting out one of the soles on my scroll saw. Using the scroll saw is probably a bit of over-engineering, but it’s the most suitable cutting tool I have.
While I was making huaraches Ginger took Katie for her driving exam, which she passed. So after dinner I took Katie down to the Mall parking lot where she drove around for half an hour before it got dark. We’ll be spending a couple more hours in the parking lot before I let her venture out on the road.
Ginger and I finished the day watching the movie Beyond the sea which we enjoyed even if it was a flop with the critics.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
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Crossing Camp Creek (365:124)
Gary Crossing Camp Creek Today we hiked the white and orange trails at Busiek, only this time we did them backward, starting with the Orange trail and then the White trail. This had the advantage of getting the most of the creek crossings out of the way on the way out instead of on our return. The hike started with an unexpected extra crossing because the bridge across the creek to the shooting range was washed out.
If was a bit cold at first, but the weather was glorious and now everything is starting to go green the colours were wonderful. The trail was very muddy in places, and I had great fun slopping through all the mud in my bare feet while Ginger struggled to keep her shoes dry. I took today’s picture while I was standing in Camp creek washing some of the mud off. We did the six odd miles of the two trails in plenty of time to pick up the big kids from school.
We had an early start at Church this evening. Ginger because she and Lanie are singing with some other mothers and daughters on Mother’s day, and myself for a meeting. Alek helped out in the kitchen. While the kids had youth group the parents spent their time chatting.
We finished the day with Gin and Tonics and the last of the Star Wars prequels – Revenge of the Sith. Thank goodness, now we can watch the good movies in the series.
Today’s extras
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At the High School Orchestra concert (365:125)
I give up, I forget what I did today.
I know what I should have been doing, but I can’t remember what it was I did. School run; check. Go to Katie’s concert; check. And very good it was too. I’ve not been to any this year as the concerts always take place on a Thursday when I’m at class. That’s all.
Oh and never try to take pictures with Ginger while children are around. That explains my expression in this picture.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
I was trying to get a picture with Ginger, but somehow the irrepressable Lanie managed to get herself into the shot. 
High School Orchestra concert 
A rather blurry Katie leaves the stage during Hadyn’s Farewell -
Studying with cats (365:126)
Studying with cats (365:126). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This week I did my studying on a Friday.
That’s because the class has been moved from Thursday night to Saturday so we could have a mini-retreat. I had two (long) chapters to get through today so I set aside most of the day to get it done. I started off working in the lounge, when Lanie came home from school she wanted to watch a DVD so I moved to the peace and quiet of the bedroom to finish my studies. The cats also thought this a good idea as shortly afterward they came and joined me. Today’s picture features me (obviously), Tubby, Getzger and Blue Kitty, who was being unnaturally social and at the same time a pain; she was constantly trying to sit on my books.
Earlier in the week while working out ideas for my next backpacking wood stove I thought up a couple of ideas that might improve the current one. When I’d finished preparing for class, I went out and made a couple of modifications and set the stove aside for testing. After dinner we tried it out with great success, bringing a pot containing just under a litre of water to a rolling boil in around fifteen minutes. Result.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
First, two cats turned up… 
With a couple of modifications, the stove now works well. -
EFM Retreat (365:127)
Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This week’s EFM class was held on a Saturday
so we got out of the classroom and spent the day in a cabin by the river. It was very nice to sit in the screened porch going through the lessons and exercises; a day of good company, conversation, discussions, food, and coffee. I have really enjoyed this class throughout the year. It’s been challenging, hard work, engaging, highly informative, and we’ve also had some great fun. Thursday nights have become a great anchor point for my week. Unfortunately, we’ve only two more sessions before we break for the summer. I’ll miss the class, my classmates and mentors.
During our mid-morning break I noticed something move out of the corner of my eye and heard a small knock on the front door. On investigating further I discovered a small bird had flown into the door and was laying stunned on the mat. Checking the bird books at home, we found it was a migrant – a Male Wilson’s Warbler. After about twenty minutes it recovered and flew off.Before we finished for the day I explained about my 365 Days project and asked if anyone was willing to be in my daily picture. Everyone was, and this is the result. Thanks Guys!
To get the best out of this picture I would have needed to use a diffuse fill-in flash. I didn’t have the flash gun and diffuser with me (the weight of EFM books was quite enough), so I had to settle for an over exposed background. Had I been thinking I’d have taken a separate background shot with no one in it and merged the two – there’s hindsight for you.
***
While I was out being educated Lanie spent the day working the parking lot at Arts Fest with the Youth Group and Katie went with Ginger and they enjoyed some time out in the Kayaks on Lake Springfield. However, the home highlight of the day had to be Ginger, Katie and Lanie shaving Blue Kitty to give her a lion cut. When Blue Kitty eventually comes out of hiding I might try and get a picture.
Today’s extra
Male Wilson’s Warbler -
Lighting test (365:128)
One word adequately summarizes my day – Meh.
Church in the morning, where Lanie and other kids received recognition for their service. In Lanie’s case a silver cross for five years in the choir and a certificate of thanks for her work as an Acolyte.
After church I went home and worked for a while; some web development for a customer, and I gave myself an update of the UK’s VAT rules which have changed significantly, with knock-on effects to online purchase processing. It looks like I’ll have to brush up on my php scripting too.
Tomorrow I have a family photoshoot to do, so I set up the lighting & backdrop rig in advance and ran a few test shots – today’s picture numbers among those. We tried to get a picture of the shorn Blue Kitty, but unlike Getzger who was very obliging and sat fairly still, Madame kept running around. I managed to salvage one very poor picture.
Today’s extras
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Saké (365:129)
Saké (365:129). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This might be one of the last pictures taken on my Nikon.
More about that tomorrow. Today was a photography day, but not an ‘I went out taking lots of pictures’ day, though lots were taken. I spent most of the day sifting through the recent wedding pictures, then this evening we did a baby shoot to immortalize the latest family addition wearing the family christening gown, which is over one hundred and twenty years old. I now have another 150 pictures to sort through, looking for the 4-5 really good shots that is all I need in among all the duplicates. Babies are such wriggly critters it takes a load of pictures to catch them just right, or maybe it’s just because I’ve not done many baby pictures. More probably it’s because I frighten them.
Had I planned ahead I’d have taken a picture of me taking the baby pictures, I didn’t so I thought of I’d take a picture of Ginger and I enjoying the warmer weather and some end of the evening Saké that Ginger’s parents left with us when they popped in earlier in the day.
This isn’t bad for a three-second exposure.
Today’s extra
A sneak preview – one of today’s shots of Natalie Anne in the 124 year old family Christening gown. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Processing (365:130)
Processing (365:130) I awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of a crash, with kitties in the house you get used to it, and I turned over and went back to sleep. I didn’t give it a second thought until Ginger came into the bedroom this morning saying how sorry she was. In her hand was the Nikon, in two pieces. A cat had knocked it over and the lens mount broke off. I had hoped that it was just the lens that got broken, but unfortunately, when I checked the camera body, the mirror is jamming too. Oh well, there’s nothing we can do about it. I’ll have to see if it’s economic to repair.
I spent all day processing wedding pictures there are over two hundred pictures worthy of processing; and a few I think are really nice candid shots.
To round the day off we watched the movie L.A. Confidential.
Had I not checked Facebook before going to bed I would have forgotten to take a picture today, so this is a late night re-enactment of my day spent processing pictures.
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Gary and a milling machine (365:131)
Gary and a milling machine (365:131).Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Today I visited an engineer’s playground.
But not until after I’d spent most of the morning processing pictures. It’s at a time like this I sometimes regret only shooting Raw images. I’m getting there, though another couple of days’ work and it’ll be done.
Ginger’s parents were back in town again today, and they took us for lunch to celebrate Carol’s birthday. After lunch, they had things to do, and I ought to have got some more pictures done, but instead, I fell asleep. They were back later in the afternoon, and Jim and I went off to a fantastic place. It was like an engineer’s yard sale; full of lathes, milling machines, drill presses, drill bits, gears, belts, bearings, motors, hydraulic actuators, compressors, welding equipment and lots of useful metal offcuts. I am very glad my wallet is empty, my workshop is tiny and I stick (generally) to our wanted list because there were loads of cool things to buy. Fortunately, we came away empty-handed. I couldn’t even find a small off-cut of sheet aluminium to make a lid for my backpacking cooking pot, which was the only thing on my list I might have found there.
I may not look that enthused in the picture, but I’d probably just wiped the drool off my chin, and I was most likely trying not to look too pleased with all the wonderful goodies scattered around the place.
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Broken Nikon Lens Mount (365:132)
Broken Nikon Lens Mount (365:132) The good news is that we are spared another ‘Gary studying for EFM’ picture this week. Further good news: when I set up for this picture I decided to show the Nikon’s jammed mirror. I couldn’t get the shutter to fire at first because the battery was too low. After swapping the battery I tried again, and the mirror worked. I can only guess that a bit of plastic from the broken-off lens mount (which can be clearly seen in this picture) had got caught in the mechanism and somehow I’ve dislodged it. I did a thorough check inside but couldn’t find anything.
My day wasn’t a brilliant success though. Earlier on I tried installing Linux on my Netbook. A misunderstanding on my part meant I put Linux on the wrong drive. In trying to format the drive and install the OS on the other drive something has gone wrong and the Linux refuses to install with an obscure error message. The Netbook is currently doing service as a rather large paperweight until I can figure the problem out.
I’m now looking over my shoulder for the third thing to go wrong.
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Walmart veggies section (365:133)
Walmart veggies section (365:133) We started the day with a few yard sales. There wasn’t a lot of useful stuff, but we did find someone with a reasonable taste in DVDs, so we bought a few.
Last night we had a fairly big storm. Big enough to bring down a couple of trees in the area, including our neighbor’s. He was lucky. The tree fell in his yard, taking out his power, but it missed his house.
Tonight before sitting back and watching one of our ‘new’ movies we went shopping in Wal-Mart. High on my list were the essential ingredients for White Russians, which we enjoyed later with the movie Catch me if you can.
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Late-night Saturday (365:134)
Late-night Saturday (365:134). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Another day processing pictures.
While everyone else went about doing family stuff I stayed put at the computer processing more of the outstanding pictures. I did fairly well, and I ought to be able to finish them tomorrow.
In the morning the kids went to the opticians for eye tests. Two pairs of glasses are now needed, and Lanie went off on a book signing in the afternoon. She, along with some other Springfield children had poems selected to be published. I thought that was pretty neat. Only five kids from her school had their poem picked.
Being busy at the computer all day no real opportunites for a picture arose, so it’s another boring self portrait.
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Three x-rays, one tetanus shot and twelve stitches later (365:135)
Three x-rays, one tetanus shot and twelve stitches later (365:135). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Do not try this at home.
It was a fairly normal Sunday, church from 8.30am until around midday. Back at home, I finished processing the outstanding wedding pictures, and then for a break, I decided to work on my Mark III backpacking stove.
Everything was going fine until I decided to drill out the center of the plate that will form the gas burner air jets. I broke a fundamental workshop rule, and instead of clamping down the workpiece, I held it down with my hand. The step drill bit jammed in the workpiece and it proceeded to rotate at 2,000 rpm, I was wearing gloves but they provided no protection from the sharp tin of the plate which sliced into my thumb and middle finger.
Removing my glove it looked pretty bad, so I went to the bathroom to clean things up. Before I could even turn the tap on I’d collected a handful of blood in my spare hand, and I decided this was a hospital job. I wrapped my hand in a small cloth, applied pressure and waited for Ginger to take me to the emergency unit.
I had the presence of mind to try and prevent my getting blood all over the upholstery of the van, so I took a second rag which I used to catch the excess blood dripping from the first rag. Ginger is normally very good with medical emergencies. Not so this time. When we got to the hospital she left me in the van while she went and talked to her cousin who happened to be passing by – she’d forgotten I was unable to open the door. I thought it was funny.
Assuming everything heals as it should, I’ve had a lucky escape. I cut right through my thumb – including the nail, but the cut had gone length-wise, missing the bone (hence the x-rays; to check for bone damage). Ginger took a brief look while the wound was being cleaned, and described me as having a ‘forked thumb’. The most painful part of the whole thing – including slicing my hand was the injection of the pain killers, once they took effect I didn’t feel a thing. I laughed when they stuck a sticking plaster on the spot where they gave me my tetanus shot, it seemed a bit silly while I was dripping blood.
I totally forgot to take a camera to the hospital, and Ginger’s camera decided to die on us (that’s two cameras and one laptop FUBAR at the moment), so I ventured back into the workshop to take today’s picture. In it we have my bandaged fingers, the sliced glove, and sitting innocently in the background the plate I was drilling when the accident happened.
Once the hospital bill comes in, this could end up being one of the most expensive tin-can backpacking stoves ever built. Moral of the story? Always clamp down your workpiece.
Footnote: On the way back from school Monday, Katie told the story of another pupil who had been in the emergency unit for some stitches. She asked the guy sewing her up what was the worst thing he’d seen that day. He went on to tell her about my thumb…
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Remain Calm – This is only a drill… (365:136)
Remain Calm – This is only a drill… Copyright © 2010 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This is not today’s picture, it’s a picture I took back in December 2010. But it is very representative, as this is the tee shirt I just had to wear today. Anyway, it amused me. My actual picture for today is at the bottom of this post and shows my cut hand without bandages. It may be gross, but as this is my daily journal I wanted some record of it. You never know it might make me think twice before I do something stupid in the workshop again (I doubt it).
I’ve been very lucky. In fifty-five years, I’ve only been to the emergency room twice and spent one night in a hospital. I managed to avoid the broken bones and major scrapes that often dog childhood. Ginger on the other hand broke an arm and had seventy-two (yes, 72) stitches in her leg. I’ve worked with power tools for over thirty years, and this was my first nasty accident, though I have had a few near misses.
This accident has come as quite a shock. The injury isn’t that bad – it looks a bit gross, yes, and it is dammed inconvenient, but it’s not too bad. However, because this is my first major injury it seems to have been taking a disproportional prominence in my thinking. The fact that it was my own stupidity, rather than an unpredictable accident makes it worse for me. Especially as it didn’t even cross my mind at the time that what I was doing was unsafe. D’oh! As soon as I have enough dexterity back I need to get back out in the workshop and finish off making my burner. Not before I’ve bought some new, even tougher, gloves though. And I’m sure I’ll be clamping down everything in sight before I start work for quite a while to come.
***
I spent a lot of the day uploading pictures and I’ve started reading for my final class of this academic year. The final lesson is a double, plus we’ve been given an exercise to do so I’m going to be putting in a lot of hours this week studying.
Come the evening it was time for me to reluctantly remove and replace my bandages. I say me, but I couldn’t do it single-handed, so Ginger had to do most of the fiddling. It didn’t help that I’d bled through the gauze and that had glued the bandage on. It took a long time to soak and pick it off. Today’s picture shows the top of my thumb, where my thumb was sliced through. I didn’t think I’d cut my thumbnail, but a closer look at the picture shows how I’ve very neatly sliced right through it. It doesn’t look too bad until you realize that this is the back of the wound. I cut it all the way through from the front of the thumb. Yuck! This is shown in the second picture, which Ginger took for me.
That’s it. Hopefully, I can get my focus back onto other things now.
I didn’t notice until later that they’d put a stitch through my thumbnail. Makes sense though. 
What makes this really gross is realising that the cut goes all the way through. I was lucky to miss the bone. Photo by Ginger. -
Studying in the back yard (365:137)
Studying in the back yard (365:137) The yard needs to be mowed, we’ll have to get a kid on to it. I had a quiet day studying. It’s my final class for this academic year on Thursday. Lots of reading has been done, just the course notes to read and exercise to get out of the way and I’m finished.
After the recent rain the grass really is that green, stunning. That’s it for today.
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Clearing up the workshop (365:138)
Clearing up the workshop (365:138) It’s time to clear up the workshop, I had been holding off doing this. Not because I now have an aversion to the workshop, but because clearing up and putting everything away is an admission that my lack of care Sunday means I can’t finish the Backpacking stove project I started. Facing ones own stupidity can be hard at times.
At least the van can now be kept in the garage again. Besides clearing up and putting stuff away, I read some, but not all of the course notes, so I will have to finish them tomorrow.
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This morning my watch stopped. It’s a perpetual mechanical divers’ watch, which relies on movement to wind it up. Obviously, I’ve been keeping my injured arm too still to wind it. I’ve moved my watch over to my right hand where it feels most odd, but it is still going.
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Gary and Ginger being nauseating in the hall (365:139)
Today was the last EFM class for this academic year.
I spent most of the day reading notes and working on the exercise for tonight’s class. I thought I’d take a picture at tonight’s class to mark the end of the year, but we ate dinner first thing and then sat in the parish hall talking and going through this week’s exercise. I was so engrossed in what we were doing I forgot all about the picture. So it’s another ‘late night back against the wall’ effort today.
Ginger tried and succeeded in livening things up a bit for me and I’ve decided to go with the picture of us being nauseating over the more formal pose. I love my wonderful wife.
Alternate shot: Just me -
Sock puppet (365:140)
Sock puppet (365:140) It was late and I was running out of ideas, so here’s me and the sock I’ve been wearing on my hand at night to stop my stitches getting caught.
***
Ginger was out for the day with Rebbie and I spent most of the day idling. However, I did clear a couple of items off of my to-do list. It rained a lot, which here means 1-2 inches in an hour or so, and it kept on raining for quite some time. We are planning on going hiking tomorrow, so that might prove interesting.
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Muddy feet (365:141)
Muddy feet (365:141). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. After yesterday’s rain it was a bit muddy on the Sac River trail today.
But I revel in squelching through mud and splashing through creeks so I had great fun. Ginger and Lanie on the other hand had to dodge the mud and puddles. The colors, especially the greens were very vibrant today. We got back home from a quick four-mile hike just in time for Lanie to grab a shower before I took her down to church to go on an overnight choir trip.
In the evening we booked tickets for our visit to the UK in June, only to find another darned volcano has started spewing forth smoke and such in Iceland. This time last year there was total chaos with the trans-Atlantic flights, let’s hope that it doesn’t become an issue again.
We now need to plan all the people we want to see and the visits we want to make while we’re away. We’re planning on backpacking too which can be a challenge in the UK.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
More muddy feet. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Ginger and Lanie. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Little Sac RiverCopyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Sac River Trail. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Sunday night movie (365:142)
Sunday night movie (365:142). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. It was another day of missed photo opportunities and a sobering reminder of the fragility of our existence.
I left Ginger and Katie at home, fast asleep and went to the 9 am service. With the children’s choir away I figured attendance would be low. I was right, it was so low there were no ushers, so my friend Edna and I stepped up to the plate (so to speak) with the ushing. This constituted my first missed photo opportunity of the day. I’m sure I could have snuck a quick picture of the pair of us stuck at the back of the church without attracting too much attention.
Back home after church, Ginger took the stitches out of my thumb and finger (another potential picture). It wasn’t quite the success I was hoping for, as within minutes my thumb was bleeding and the wound started to gape a bit. Butterfly closures pulled it back together again though I think we’ve managed to increase any scarring.
I was back at church just after twelve to collect Lanie on her return from the choir trip. That was another picture opportunity missed.
Later in the afternoon I took Katie to the mall parking lot to drive around, yet another chance for a photograph lost. Katie drove around the lot for over an hour. I then took her to try some of the quieter roads near our house, returning home just before six.
By the time we got home there was a tornado watch in place, and the sky was getting really dark. We spent a lot of time watching the radar as a big storm moved in towards Springfield from the west. Outside you could hear the constant rumble and roar of it even though it was over forty miles away. It wasn’t long before we started to see messages on Facebook and Twitter reporting a tornado devastating Joplin some sixty miles to the west. As I write this (Monday pm) the death toll is up to 116, and I fear that may not be the end of it.
In the UK sixty miles is a long way away. From where I lived, sixty miles would see you in France. Something happening that far away would not have the relevance and impact it does here in the midwest, where sixty miles is just down the road; you feel connected with the people affected. You know people with friends and family there. There’s even a chance that some debris from such a storm will end up in your backyard. There are already sites set up to try and reunite people with the missing documents, letters, and photographs scattered in the wind.
A combination of the topography of the Ozark hills and the rotation of the weather system took the worst of the storm to the south of us. Which was good as we don’t have a shelter – just the hall closet which is reserved for the cats and Lanie’s closet which is reserved for us people. Looking at how the buildings were flattened in Joplin it looks like it’d be pretty hard to survive a hit like that in a closet, which naturally makes one stop and think.
As the storm cleared over Springfield we were treated to a spectacular rainbow, some very strange yellow light, similar to the light we encountered on our last brush with a tornado while backpacking back in December. Another chance for a picture missed.
We ended the day watching the movie Thank you for Smoking, which contrary to our expectations was good. That’s when I finally got my act together and took today’s self-portrait.
As for the weather, it’s going to be very unstable for the next few days. Lots of storms and rain. Let’s hope that the conditions for tornadoes are unfavorable.
Today’s extras
Yellow light. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
So ends a fair day in wrath. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Antibiotic (365:143)
Antibiotic (365:143) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. The wonders of hindsight enable me to declare this ‘the week of the digit’. It also enables me to declare this the week of extreme photographic, and probably documentary apathy. There’s a chance it might end up being only four days of digits and not a week. We’ll see.
Today we had lunch with Jim and Carol (missed Photo op). This evening I took the last of my antibiotics. Hardly an event worthy of a picture, but that’s all I’ve got.
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Late night glass of water (365:144)
Well, it is a picture, and I took it today. It meets the 365 Days criteria, what more could I want? Whatever artistic excellence and inspiration there was is on the decline again.
The day was spent on web development. I updated the church website with information about the Joplin tornado relief effort and sent out an e-mail updating people. I finished the day working on web pages for a customer. The latter is paid work, but with some scope creep it doesn’t pay enough.
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Return (365:144)
Return (365:144). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Second day at the computer working on websites.
The work’s done and posted, as illustrated in today’s photo. All I need is the customer feedback, complete the inevitable changes and then to make it live. I guess I ought to clean my keyboard – this looks disgusting.
It seems we have a hand / finger theme developing this week. Vittles were getting low requiring a trip to Walmart, which was blessedly quiet after ten pm. All the aisles were chock full of palettes for restocking, blocking access and imposing long detours for life’s essentials such as kitty food, kitty litter and vodka. To top the experience off my debit card was declined.
Back home, while tasting the just purchased vodka, I checked in on my bank account. Despite there being ample funds it was showing an ‘available balance’ in the ‘you are about to get a threatening letter from your bank’ region. Expletive deleted.
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Lights, camera, inaction (365:145)
Lights, camera, inaction (365:145). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. This was going to be another of those late night leaning against the wall shots.
I was up at five am and on the ‘phone to my bank in the UK. Apparently, there is a $2,500 hold on my account, so that explains why my card was declined in Walmart last night. This sum coincidently matches the cost of the tickets for our trip to the UK. This might be understandable except for the fact that the tickets are already paid for. The bank says it’ll take up to seven days before the hold will clear if the transaction isn’t processed (WTF!). Well at least my card details don’t appear to have been stolen.
To cut a long story short, it appears the American Airlines website’s back end processing sucks. They’ve managed to put a hold on my account and also charge me for a pair of return tickets to the UK. Unless I put more money into my account to cover the nonexistent deficit I can’t use my bank card until it resolves itself. Great.
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Bull Shoals Lake – Normal Pool Elevation 654′ (365:146)
Bull Shoals Lake – Normal Pool Elevation 654′ (365:146). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Currently the elevation is 696′. That’s a foot over its fully flooded design capacity.
The weather and its impact here in the midwest continue to amaze me. With all the rain we’ve had recently the lakes are full to overflowing. All this run-off will flood people locally and later on just add to the misery of the people already flooded all the way down the Mississippi.
I’ve sat and thought for a couple of minutes, I’ve no idea what I did most of yesterday. I think I was just clearing minor ‘to-dos’.
One thing I did do yesterday was read this blog post about the Joplin tornado. There have been lots of pictures showing how bad the devastation was, but the words of this ER doctor who was in the hospital when the tornado hit really brings home the carnage that can take place in just 45 seconds.
In the meantime, life carries on. We were planning on leaving Getzger and Alek in charge of the house this weekend, sending Lanie to the grandparents, and going backpacking with Katie. At her request, I should add. I thought this sounded like too much of a good thing, and sure enough this afternoon she came up with a plan to stay with a friend. Suits us; it means we can hike a longer trail, and not worry about the weather either. So we’ll probably be off to Hercules Glades.
Today’s picture shows the road leading to one of the possible trailheads for our weekend backpacking adventure. The only problem is that with all the rain we’ve had this year, despite all the floodgates being open, the lake is a foot over its designed capacity. That’s forty-one (41) feet deeper than normal, and it means the access road to the trailhead will be submerged. Fortunately, there are another couple of trailheads that aren’t affected by the lake. I’m glad we checked.
Ginger wants to visit Theodosia at some point this weekend, just to see the bridge as the lake is almost up to the bridge deck.
Finding water is normally a problem at Hercules Glades but with all the rain there should be plenty of seeps and standing water. It may even prove too difficult to cross Long Creek. we’ll see.
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Off backpacking for the weekend (365:147)
I don’t know where my head was today.
Wherever it was, it wasn’t focused on getting ready to go backpacking. I spent the morning and early afternoon processing pictures and writing my journal. I was desperate to get it done before the weekend when we’d be taking more pictures and I would have even more to write. I finally gave it up as a lost cause and turned my attention to getting ready for the weekend. Mid-afternoon the grandparents arrived to collect Lanie, and Ginger took Katie off to spend the weekend with a friend. Alek and Getzger are in charge.It was gone five before we were ready to leave, and then we left twice. I forgot my water bottle and we decided it was too important to leave behind. This was a good decision because we later discovered Ginger’s hydration bladder had sprung a leak – getting a lot of stuff in her backpack wet in the process. By using our big 6-liter ‘camp’ bladder we were able to get by just using our water bottles – though it meant I had to carry most of the water.
Have I mentioned that the van’s AC has packed up again? It’s not quite so bad this time as the fan is jammed on, full-on. Even when the AC is turned off it runs full blast. At least this means we still have AC which is a lot better than last year. Ginger had done some research on the Internet earlier in the day. Pulling out the glove box she managed to reach inside and disconnect the wires leading to the running amok blower. This enabled us to enjoy the drive without a gale blowing at us.
It was gone seven pm by the time we’d finally arrived at our destination, the Tower trailhead at Hercules Glades, which is where today’s picture was taken. We were finally ready to start our weekend’s backpacking. Well almost. I left my pedometer on the back bumper of the van and had to go back for it. We hiked around a mile along Pilot trail. Just before the point where Pole Hollow trail joins we went a short distance off-trail to find a nice quiet camping spot. By the time we’d finished putting up the tent, it was dark. Just time for dinner then bed.
I took three luxury items on this trip. A book, my wood burning stove and its pot. I wanted to give the stove a try out on the trail. Tonight though we used the good old Coleman Exponent stove. It’s a tad heavy but is proving to be very reliable and easy to use.
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Just before I stuck my head in the falls behind me (365:148)
Just before I stuck my head in the falls behind me (365:148). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Invigorating was one word for it.
I don’t have a picture taken after my encounter with the falls; I am trying to be a bit more careful with the camera around water nowadays. Especially as we currently only have one working camera between us.
Despite our best efforts we lazed around over our morning coffee and breakfast and didn’t get going until gone ten.
Our efforts to lighten our packs have paid off. Ginger’s weighed in at 27lbs and mine at 29lbs both including food and water. We took Pole Hollow trail down to Long Creek. The trail started easily enough in glades, but the lower end was very dense with vegetation and some fallen trees were blocking the trail. The trail, in common with most of the trails we walked (with the exception of the popular long creek trail) didn’t appear to have been walked much recently. Away from Long Creek, the trails seemed almost deserted, we saw four people on horseback on our first day and that was it.
We both picked up loads of ticks along the way. This set the scene for the entire trip. We lost count of the number of ticks we removed, both attached and running free. There were small seed ticks, deer ticks, and the aptly named lone star ticks. Deet didn’t seem to discourage them much. We were both wearing shorts which at least made it easy to spot the darned things before they could go too far.
Poison ivy was also prevalent along the trails, mainly in forested areas in patches where the cover had been cleared. Hiking in bare feet and shorts I worked on honing my poison ivy spotting skills. Though primarily I avoid contact with any triple leaved green thing. I must be doing something right as over the weekend we bushwhacked a fair way, and encountered a lot of poison ivy, and I didn’t get afflicted by it.
The lower end of Pole Hollow Trail has moved a few hundred yards to the west of the route shown on the trailhead maps.
Once on Long Creek Trail, we headed west to the falls. About a mile from the falls we spotted a campsite just off the trail, which we noted for future use, knowing that the falls area is very popular and tends to get more than a bit gross. With all the recent rain Long creek was running well and has to be crossed several times. With all the new growth in some places it was quite tricky to spot where the trail picked up on the opposite side of the creek. At the falls both campsites at the falls were occupied, our plan was only to stop for lunch so we sat out by the falls which were running quite well. I used the wood burner to boil water for lunch (slow but successful) and took advantage of the deeper pools to bathe. Gosh, it was cold! And that was where today’s picture was taken.
We filled up with a massive (and heavy at over 12lbs) 6 liters of water as we were headed North behind the Upper and Lower Pilot knobs for the night and we weren’t sure if we’d find water there.
After lunch we rearranged our packs so I wasn’t carrying too much weight, headed back along Long Creek Trail and then up Cedar Trail, which was quite rocky going, the recent rain has cleared out any loose material on the trail. It was a nice hike uphill through a fairly densely wooded area. Once back up on Pilot trail we headed West, finally camping well off-trail to the North near the junction with West Devils Den trail.
After dinner, I tried using the wood burner as a campfire with mixed results. We decided not to set the fly, spending the night under the open sky.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
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Lunch by the bluffs on Long Creek (365:149)
Stopped for lunch by Long Creek Today was hot.
Well over 80°F hot. We had another really lazy start to the day. We didn’t break camp until gone eleven. As we thought, we’d stopped for the night about a quarter-mile from the West Devils Den trail, which we hiked down today. There was a wonderful glade section that looked almost alpine. Again there were no signs of recent usage, which is to be expected with the Coy Bald trail head closed by the lake flooding over the access road. There were several fresh trees down, making for a bit of a scramble in places. The final descent to Devils Den Creek was fairly steep and potentially treacherous with loose rock.
We stopped for lunch by the bluffs on Long Creek, and decided camp at the western campsite at the falls if it wasn’t occupied. All we had to do was get there. We hiked the Rock Spring trail back to Long Creek trail. Near where the East Devils Den trail meets Rock Spring trail there’s an old stock pond, which had frogs that sounded like electronic sheep it. I named them ‘Sheep Frogs’. Back home we discovered that there are indeed frogs called sheep frogs – because of their bleating call.
Along Rock Spring trail we tried to spot the place where there’s an old stock pond, spring box, and small decrepit hut. But we couldn’t spot it. That’s twice we’ve failed to find it. Neither the spring, stock pond or building are marked on any of the maps.
Back at The Falls the upper campsite was occupied so we stopped and enjoyed the view for a while. Sunning itself near the falls was a large 4 foot plus Midland water snake. Very pretty, looking in the falls we saw another three much smaller snakes swimming. I’m glad I didn’t spot it yesterday when I was frolicking in the water. We decided to camp at the site we’d spotted yesterday a mile or so up Long Creek. When we arrived we found the site had been used the night before, but it had been left if fairly good condition. Search around for access to Long Creek we found a second campsite further back in the brush. The creek here had an overhanging shelf to the West and a small set of foot high falls to the East. We set up camp, picked up our dinner, stove and chairs and went down to the creek to refill our water, bathe, eat dinner and sit and enjoy the view.
It wasn’t long before the voracious mosquitoes got the better of us and we headed back to the bug-free haven of the tent. I was already covered in large welts from earlier encounters with the beasts. Again we didn’t set the fly, it was just too hot.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
We camped near this great spot on the creek.
Relaxing by the creek
Having filtered some more water, I put my water bottle in the creek to keep it cool.
I’m glad I didn’t see this the day before when I was frolicking in the pool. There were three smaller ones in the pool swimming.
A nice refreshing, freezing cold dip in the creek. Just the thing after a hot day.
Ginger Stirring dinner
Gary by Long Creek -
Waking up (365:150)
Waking up (365:150). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. For once we didn’t hang around too long drinking coffee and eating breakfast.
Even then, it was still ten am before we were back on the trail. It took us an hour and three quarters to hike the two and a half miles back to the trailhead, which included a 550 foot gain in elevation.
Along the way, we saw a very large black snake sunning itself. This was obviously the weekend of the ticks, mosquitoes, and snakes. Just before we arrived back at the trailhead, I’d decided I’d had enough and it was about time the hike stopped, so my timing was quite good. We chatted for a couple of minutes with a guy who had three horses out on the trail, and then it was time to pack up and leave. Well if we hadn’t got a flat tyre we would have left. I couldn’t be bothered to swap the tire, so I got out our portable compressor/jump start machine which Jim and Carol had given us for Christmas with just this sort of eventuality in mind.
It put air in the tire alright, but it took a long time. The motor overheats and cuts out after a while, so you have to let it cool down before proceeding. It took 30-45 minutes to get the tire up to pressure. It was nigh on one pm before we finally left the trailhead.
Distance hiked: 15 miles and a total of around 1,000 feet of elevation climbed.
On our way to pick up Lanie from her grandparents, we went to Theodosia to see the Bull Shoals lake. The campsite and buildings there were completely underwater, which was just a foot or so short of the bridge deck. very impressive.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
Waking up in the tent without the fly sheet set. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
At the end of the hike. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Ginger enjoying her blow up pillow. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Missouri Primrose. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Flat tyre – Tower trail head, Hercules Glades. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved.
Highway 160 Bridge at Theodosia, Missouri. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
New Gloves (365:151)
New Gloves (365:161)Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I guess there’s no need to explain why.
I found these in a very nifty Farmers shop we visited today. It had all sorts of farm related goodies.
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May 2011
It’s been an expensive and disastrous month.On the plus side we did get to go hiking (twice), and backpacking for three days. Bringing the yearly totals up to 54 and 51 miles respectively. So far this year we’ve spent 12 nights out camping.
On the negative side, I’ve finished year one of my EFM course and I’m going to miss it. Then there was the accident with my hand: painful and very costly. The cats managed to break my camera, which (hindsight tells me) will cost more to replace than my medical bills, and the camera will subsequently be repaired for just $15.
1. Living with cats, 2. Drawing, 3. Making huaraches, 4. Crossing Camp Creek, 5. At the High School Orchestra concert, 6. Studying with cats, 7. EFM Retreat, 8. Lighting test, 9. Saké, 10. Processing, 11. Gary and a milling machine, 12. Broken Nikon Lens Mount, 13. Walmart veggies section, 14. Late night Saturday, 15. Three x-rays, one tetanus shot and twelve stiches later, 16. Workshop Accident, 17. Studying outside, 18. Clearing up the workshop, 19. Gary and Ginger being nauseating in the hall, 20. Sock puppet, 21. Muddy feet, 22. Sunday night movie, 23. Antibiotic, 24. Return, 25. Lights, camera, inaction, 26. Bull Shoals Lake – Normal Pool Elevation 654, 27. Off backpacking for the weekend, 28. Just before I stuck my head in the falls behind me, 29. Lunch by the bluffs on Long Creek, 30. Waking up in the tent without the fly sheet set, 31. New Gloves
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Pumping Gas (365:152)
Pumping Gas. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Is no longer a gas. In fact, it’s darned expensive, even though the price has now dropped back slightly to $3.53 a gallon.
I took this on my way back from a meeting at church. The rest of my day was spent in preparations for our upcoming trip to the UK.
I managed to spend some time on the ‘phone to my son Keith, whose birthday was over the weekend while we were away. It was nice to chat. That and the preparations have put me in a better frame of mind about the trip, which I admit I have quite mixed feelings about.
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Enough! (365:153)
Enough! (365:153) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved Keeping this project going is becoming a chore and is taking up too much of my time.
So I’m pausing for a while to decide how to best complete it. I’ll keep taking pictures and post them later.
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Van Repairs (365:154)
Van Repairs (365:154) A few days ago the van’s AC went on the blink again. This time it’s jammed on, which is better than it not working at all. It blows air even when the fan’s turned off. Google came to the rescue, after some quick tests I paid $80 to the dealer for the new part, and I fitted the new fan controller.
I also went and got the the punctured tyre fixed today.
Today’s alternate shot
Only in the bible belt will you find a copy of the ten commandments in the waiting area of the tyre repair shop. -
Breakfast at Anton’s (365:155)
Time for a ‘Hungry Student’ and lots of coffee (365:155) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved -
Wall + Gary = Today’s picture (365:156)
Wall + Gary = Today’s picture (365:156) Copyright © 2011, all rights reserved. Don’t ask, because I don’t remember.
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My legs and two cats (356:157)
Carefully framed to remain family friendly, and no, there are no outtakes. Today I’d actually gotten into (well onto) bed before I remembered I’d not taken a picture. So here’s a hurried shot showing the conditions I have to try and sleep in, with the immovable Getzger glued to the bed.
The temperatures here have been abnormally hot, so I gave in and fitted the window air-conditioning units – very trailer trashy, but the house AC broke down a long while ago, and can only be fixed by installing a complete new AC and furnace unit. $400 for some window units vs $7,000 for a new furnace and AC? No contest.
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Shopping Day (365:158)
Shopping Day (365:158) It’s time to make a new batch of breakfast cereal. So here I am in Mama Jean’s where I diligently hold the plastic bags while Ginger scoops in the various ingredients of our homemade breakfast cereal. Somehow $50 for breakfast cereal (not to mention the hernia inducing weight) seems a bit over the top. However, the supplies last 3-4 months, so it works out about the same as shop bought cereal – only a whole(grain) lot better.
We also went to Bass Pro to find clothes for our trip to the UK, and Ginger found some shoes. As school’s finished Lanie came too, I think we even bought her a cookie. My generosity knows no bounds.
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Stress Relief (365:159)
Vodka, tonic, and Indiana Jones.
That’s just what was needed to relax at the end of a stress-filled day.
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Geek Glasses (365:160)
While Lanie’s away we’ll go have a double dip cone with the big kids,
and steal their glasses for a photo opportunity. Lanie’s away at camp, so we took the big kids out for a treat without the distraction of a bouncy middle schooler.
Extras
Katie and Alek enjoy their ice cream 
Katie and Alek enjoy their ice cream 
We thought we’d try staring Katie out. -
Waiting and Writing (365:161)
Waiting and Watching. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. Sitting waiting in the car is one of the few places and times I get a chance to stop and think. We’ve spent the past couple of days researching a replacement camera for my currently defunct Nikon. It’s come down to the Nikon D7000 and Canon 60D and it’s been a very tough (and long) decision process. I must have spent 20 plus hours reading reviews and studying pictures. I think I’ve now come to a conclusion, and I’m going to sleep on it before going out and splashing the cash.
In a masochistic attempt at relaxation I agreed to take Katie to the mall and then out for a driving lesson. While waiting at the mall I relaxed, wrote some notes, and took my daily picture. The driving lesson couldn’t be classed as relaxing. I didn’t realise teaching a fifteen-year-old to drive was on my list of step-fatherly duties when I signed up. In the UK we have driving schools, you can’t drive until you’re seventeen, and there are ‘L’ plates to save parents this sort of trial.
Today’s alternate shot
Gary – Waiting and Writing -
New Toy (365:162)
Today was a big shopping day. After leaving my decision to buy a new camera to percolate overnight, this morning we went to the camera shop and dished out the dosh.
It’s going to to take a long time to work out how to get the best out of this beast, not least the several hours I’ve spent today studying the manual and playing with the set-up. Hindsight being what it is, I can say it was, in many ways, a big mistake to buy and then take an unfamiliar camera on vacation. There’ll be more on that in the days to come.
I should add that it’s fortunate that the picture of me licking the box was too blurred to be kept. I was licking too fast and laughing too much!
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Campfire (365:163)
Today we drove to St Louis to drop the girls off with their father for a few weeks in Chicago while we cross the Atlantic and spend some time in the UK. Alek is staying at home to work and hopefully not burn the house down in our absence. I’m sure Getzger will keep him in line.
Before we could go to St Louis we had to collect Lanie from camp where she’s been for the past three days. Speaking of camp, we decided to revisit one of our favourite car camping spots: Pines Overlook at Red Bluff Campground.
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Back to the wall
A new camera doesn’t mean more creativity,
yet. Let’s hope once I’ve started to master it the creative juices will commence flowing. Just one more day until we get on the ‘plane and head to the UK.
I’ve not really thought about how I’ll keep my 365 Days postings going while we’re away. We’ll have to see.
Today’s extras
Pines Overlook, Red Bluff Campsite, Missouri 
Pines Overlook, Red Bluff Campsite, Missouri -
Packed and ready to go (365:165)
Packed and ready to go (365:165) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. I had a busy day processing pictures.
I needed to get Flickr up to date ready to receive pictures while we are away. I didn’t start packing until eleven pm. Tomorrow at nine we leave on the start of a month’s visit to the UK, leaving Getzger and Alek in charge at home. I haven’t been back to the UK in two and a half years, It’s probably going to be an emotional trip for me, we’ll be spending time with my sons, my brother, sister and lots of other relations and friends, some I haven’t seen in over forty years.
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Layover at Chicago (365:166)
Layover at Chicago (365:166). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK Vacation – Day 1. The day was going well until I checked on my camera
Our friend Tim arrived promptly to take us to the airport, we’d already run the gauntlet of the American Airlines online check-in system so all we had to do was hand over our bags. I had managed to squeeze all my clothes into my carry on bag, and fitted our tent and my backpacking stuff into my hold luggage. The only thing we didn’t bother to pack was a stove; we decided to buy a small gas stove once we got to the UK.
The only other bag I had was my messenger bag, which I use to carry my cameras around, and for the trip it was also carrying my netbook. I like the messenger bag for carrying my camera stuff, it doesn’t shout ‘expensive camera gear’ to any nearby opportunists the way a camera bag might. It’s also very practical as you can get at the contents very easily.
We got through security with no problems, I had to run my netbook through the machine separately, as I returned the netbook to the messenger bag with my camera I noticed with a sick feeling in my stomach that the Nikon’s body and lens were no longer a single item; the lens mount on my brand new camera/lens had broken. That’s two broken lens mounts on two cameras in as many months. What a great thing to discover on the first day of a month long vacation. To say I was now in a foul mood would be an understatement.
I hadn’t packed a lens end cover or camera body blank, so we scrounged a couple of plastic bags from one of the airport shops, and wrapped the lens in one and bandaged up the body with a bag and bandanna to try and keep the dust and dirt out.
There was nothing else to be done except enjoy the flight, if you can ever enjoy a long international flight. We had a seven hour layover at Chicago before flying to London. I really don’t like Chicago airport, there’s little to no seating except at the gates, which is not very helpful for anyone on a long layover. While we were wandering around passing the time I took a quick safety shot on my compact camera. This was just as well as it was the only picture I took.
I’m glad to say the flight to the UK was uneventful – which was just how I like them!
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Lego (365:167)
Lego (365:167) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 2. Here I am once more in the land where the plural of Lego is what it should be –
Lego. We arrived at London Heathrow on time, just after nine am. I was disappointed that the UK immigration chap-ess didn’t bother to say “Welcome to the UK” but heigh-ho. My brother was waiting in arrivals to take us to Portsmouth though he was too busy playing with his Blackberry to notice that we had arrived; giving us the chance to creep up and surprise him.
On the flight over I’d come up with a plan of action to deal with the broken lens. Once back at Ian’s place a quick Internet check confirmed my recollection of the location of a camera repair shop, so tomorrow we can drop the lens off, and hopefully, it will be repaired before we head off traveling.
It’s quite strange being back in the UK – the most striking thing (apart from the cars being on the wrong side of the road) is the very funny accents all the people have here, my ear is obviously thoroughly tuned to the American accent, and apart from my family everyone sounds like they are from some parody of a south London suburb.
We got to go and get my nephew and niece from school before being dropped off at my son’s flat. It was a struggle to stay awake until eleven pm to reset our clocks to UK time but we managed it – just. We were about to get into bed when I realized I’d not taken a picture for the day, so here I am, last thing at night with some of Robert’s Lego models.
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An evening with Mick (365:168)
UK June 2011 – Day 3. To be more precise a whole day with Mick.
Despite changing time zones we had to be up early to get the broken camera lens to the repair shop before my childhood friend Mick arrived to take us to meet up with his parents, who I’ve not seen in many years.
We had a great time talking about things past, and I was spoiled rotten with a surprise of a whole plate stacked with pork pies. The day finished back at Mick’s place picking up where we left off when Mick visited us in Missouri last July – by drinking whisky.
Today’s extra
A huge and very tasty selection of pork pies was laid on by my friend Mick and his parents. What a fantastic gastronomic surprise! -
Windy day (365:169)
Windy day (365:169). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 4. Gary and Ginger braving the wind outside Southsea Castle.
Mick treated us to a hearty English breakfast before taking us back to Robert’s for a small family get together, after which we decided to go out and blow away the cobwebs with some fresh air and a look at the sea.
It was very windy, so the cobwebs didn’t stand a chance. While we were out, I took this quick Self Portrait as we attempted to hide from the wind in the entrance to Southsea Castle.
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At the end of the evening (365:170)
At the end of the evening (365:170) UK June 2011 – Day 5. A late night family picture of the stragglers.
We were up fairly early to go to church – I wanted Ginger to see what has become the family church – St Margaret’s. I say family church because I and both my kids were Christened there, my parents funerals were held there as was my first wedding and come to that my brother got married there too. We picked a good day as it was the church’s feast of dedication and the Bishop of Portsmouth was visiting too. We were made to feel very welcome. I saw someone I knew and was introduced to a former neighbour who was under the impression I’d emigrated to Canada.
My brother graciously agreed to host a family get together, notionally in honour of my birthday. What with going to church in the morning and then trying to buy stuff we managed to arrive late, which isn’t in the best of good manners. We had a great barbecue, lots of drinks and catching up.
In fact, we are having far too much fun catching up to take pictures, so it’s just a last thing in the evening picture, with the stragglers that didn’t have to be off home earlier. Note the Bass Pro tee shirt I’m wearing. I bought it (and brought it) just for this occasion.
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Dinner with Robert and Mel (365:171)
UK June 2011 – Day 6. By now a curry was long overdue.
This morning we went shopping with Ian and Marcelle. Ginger was impressed by the clothes at the M&S outlet store (“They actually fit!”), I found a Krispy Kreme doughnut shop (no I did not buy any). The afternoon was spent shopping for a new lens for my camera. I decided that it might be time to invest in a prime lens. I found a reasonably priced 50mm f1.8 lens which will make an excellent portrait lens, though at an 35mm equivalent of around 75mm it’ll be a bit ‘long’ for general use – but better than nothing, I’ll just have to move back to frame my shots.
I also tried to book our hotels in London, only to find I’d forgotten to take into account the ‘Wimbledon effect’. Hotel rooms that were £90 on Tuesday, shot up to £250 on Wednesday. We decided it would be more economically viable to travel up and down than stay up there. Especially considering the additional expense of buying another lens and getting the supplied kit lens fixed.
In the evening we took Robert and Mel out to dinner and our the first curry of this trip. Which was when I took today’s self-portrait and the pictures of Robert and Mel (some are taken by Ginger).
Camera woes
I knew taking a new camera on vacation would be a gamble; I didn’t find out how much until a lot later.
I’d carried the camera’s manual onto the ‘plane as part of my hand luggage so I could read it and play with the camera on the flight to the UK. Those plans were dashed when the lens broke. So I had to wing it. I went through some basic setting up – I knew what to do from using the D40X, but I wasn’t ready for the impact of all the extra buttons and dials. Stumbling around the controls I must have accidentally changed the white balance without noticing it. The net result was that I spent nine days taking pictures with the white balance set to ‘cool white fluorescent’. Initially, I thought the pale colours were a combination of the unfamiliar camera’s display and the sensor, it was only after a set of pictures taken in full sunlight came out all blue that it dawned on me that something must be wrong.
Hindsight tells me I should have just put the camera onto ‘full Auto’ for the entire trip.
Obviously I wasn’t thinking straight – still jet-lagged I guess, as I also forgot to clean the sensor. It had spent 24 hours with the lens opening covered only in a bandanna, so there were some huge pieces of dirt in the pictures, most of which I have had to painstakingly edit out.
The final straw has been some focusing problems. This camera has the same issues focusing when using the remote that my D40X has. The only problem is I didn’t find it out until much later, leaving me with out-of-focus pictures as my only daily shots.
Back home after the trip, an Internet search turned up an interesting theory regarding this problem. It contradicts the Nikon manual but makes perfect sense. Essentially, for the camera to autofocus when using the remote control you must not pre-focus the camera by half-pressing the shutter button. As I generally use my cameras in manual I always half-press the shutter to set up the exposure (this also saves me from having to cover the eyepiece, which may be another contributory factor) – d’oh! In future I’ll set the exposure, then flip the camera off and back on again to reset it. I hope this gets around the problems I’ve been having. However, it’s too late for all the remote shutter release pictures I took on vacation. So that explains some excessive use of the high pass and unsharp filters in some pictures, as I struggle to get some sort of reasonable picture.
Today’s extras
So Krispy Kreme doughnuts are following me across the Atlantic. Spooky! 
My son Robert and girlfriend Mel at the Goa Indian Restaurant, Albert Road, Southsea. 
Robert and Mel 
Obviously the conversation was far too demanding for Robert (Picture by Ginger) 
Robert (Picture by Ginger) 
Mel (Picture by Ginger) -
Gary and Ginger at the Tate Modern (365:172)
UK June 2011 – Day 7. A day out in London
We took the train to London and spent most of the day looking around the Tate Modern, which is where I took today’s picture.
By the time we’d finished at the Tate Modern, it was too late to do much else. So we walked all along the South Bank – watching Tower bridge be raised three times. I’ve never seen it raised that often before, and I used to work just around the corner!
We had a stroll around the outside of the Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, and ended up in Trafalgar Square. Ginger was unimpressed by the usual tourist haunts, such as the Globe Theatre. So much so we decided not to bother returning, which was a shame as I rather fancied seeing the Tate Gallery and Natural History Museum, not to mention the inside of St Paul’s. Also, I’ve never been to Greenwich Maritime Museum, which I really want to see one day. Ginger missed out on Kew gardens so there’s plenty left over for another trip.
Today’s extras
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Rest day (365:173)
UK June 2011 – Day 8. Today we didn’t do a lot.
We had a ‘down day’ which involved nothing much which was very nice.
By the way – I’m deliberately not the focal point of this picture, I guess I could have gone for a higher ISO setting and brought us both into focus, but I rather like it just as it is.
Today’s alternate shot
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My first pint of real beer in over two and a half years (365:174)
UK June 2011 – Day 9. A trip out to visit family
We were up early to go get the hire car, pick up my sister and then go off visiting family. We had a great time with my cousin, her family and my aunt. Several pictures of cute children resulted.
Back in Portsmouth it was my sister’s turn to put us up for a couple of nights, and before we knew where we were we were in a pub! Eight days in Blighty and this was my first chance at a real pint, so I grabbed it with both hands, and tried several more just to make sure. A friend in Springfield had specifically requested a picture of me drinking a pint in an English pub, so this is my picture for today.
Had the drinking stopped there all would have been well, but we carried on into the wee small hours back at my sister’s house. Apparently come bedtime it took me fifteen minutes to negotiate the spiral staircase up to the bedroom.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
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Hands (365:175)
Hands (365:175) Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 10. Today was a day for recovering
and sleeping in. The plan was to go out with friends and have a curry, I was just about ready at three when Liv came to pick us up. After admiring her new house, we retired to a nearby pub with Nic and Nigel. Subsequently, we moved down to Eastney for the curry and ended up at the Eastney Tavern again. At least I managed not to drink quite so much this time, which is just as well as we have a morning appointment with a pony tomorrow.
Liv doesn’t like having her picture taken, so in deference to her request we have a picture of our hands – though I notice Liv slipped in an extra one. By the way, the last time I had a curry here was 18 January 2007.
The ladies suggested a bosom shot, and who am I to deny them? Nigel and I not to be outdone did our own parody of a shot taken several years ago, though the most accurate rendition has been consigned to the cutting room floor.
Coincidences being what they are, it turned out that Nic and Nigel know my sister and niece from many years ago when the Eastney Tavern used to be their local. However, I only found this out when I started to introduce them to each other.
Today’s extras
Gary and Nigel, not to be outdone. 
While Liv doesn’t like having her picture taken, with a few beers consumed, the ladies suggested an anonymous bosom shot, and who am I to deny them? That’s Nic, Ginger and Liv, left to right. Oops. -
Watching Coldplay live at Glastonbury in 3D (365:176)
Watching Coldplay live at Glastonbury in 3D (365:176). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 11. Today we met Dandy
Dandy is my niece’s pony, and a fine animal he is too, though it seems he is inclined to eat a little too much. We watched Dandy go through his paces and then we were formally introduced.We spent the rest of the day with Ian and Marcelle, having our third curry of the week in the evening. We finished the day off watching Coldplay live at Glastonbury in 3D, which explains why we appear to be wearing dark glasses, inside at night. The 3D TV is a sign of my brother’s geeky gadget weakness. You name it, he has to have it.
Tonight we get to sleep in his huge family tent in the back yard – it’s so big we could easily set up ours inside and still have lots of room to spare. Tomorrow we’ll be setting off for Scotland via Birmingham. It’s going to be nice to get out on the road for a while.
Now we’re moving on it’s time to assess the trip so far. Our visit has been a lot easier for me than I expected. I thought I’d find it emotionally draining, but it’s not turned out that way. The strangest thing I’ve encountered is how odd all the accents sound, it’s almost like everyone has developed a Dick Van Dyke (Marry Poppins) cockney accent. My ear must have become tuned to the American accent which I don’t notice anymore. Driving has been quite easy (so far), though I live in fear of grabbing the hire car’s right steering column control stalk and breaking it off, mistaking it for the gear change, which on our van is mounted on the steering column.
Another strange thing has been seeing bits of furniture and some of my personal items. They’ve been turning up without warning in all sorts of places. They take me aback for a moment while I assimilate where I’ve seen them before. I found my old bathroom scales; when I checked them they still held my data, so I updated my age. I had to add five years – gosh. I also realised the bed we were sleeping on at Robert’s was probably the bed I used to sleep on in the garden all those years ago.
Today’s extras
My niece and her pony Dandy 
Ginger meets Dandy 
After dinner antics – Funny face 
After dinner antics – Handstand 
Oh how I would have laughed if he’d fallen in -
Tonight we are in Shirley (365:177)
Tonight we are in Shirley (365:177). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 12. “Surely you can’t be serious.” “I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley.”
I’ve been struggling with this project for quite a while. I thought the change of environment and the lots of photo opportunities of our UK trip might help, but I still find myself reluctant to get the camera out and take a picture when the opportunity arises. I could have taken a picture with my brother and his family this morning. I did take a picture but apart from an accidental reflection, I’m not in it. This afternoon and tonight we’re staying with friends, there have been loads of opportunities – we went out for a walk, we sat around a table in the garden chatting. I didn’t bother.
To make things worse I’m not even sure if it’s because I’m too wrapped in the moment, reluctant to interrupt what we’re doing, or just disinterested. Anyway the result is another late night leaning against the wall picture.
Note: Shirley is a suburb of Birmingham in the West Midlands.
Today’s extra
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On the beach near West Kilbride (365:178)
UK June 2011 – Day 13. Today we had a longish drive,
by UK standards anyway. Birmingham to Cumbernauld (North East of Glasgow). It looked like we’d arrive at Glasgow just as the commuter traffic got heavy so we detoured to Kilmarnock and the west coast for a bit of scenery while everybody drove home.
I’ve not been on this road in over ten years, it was nice to see the sea and the islands again. We are staying with my uncle for a day or so. It should be good to catch up. He’s not met Ginger, and the last time I saw him was on a business trip to Paisley back in 2008.
Today’s alternate shot & extras
The beach near West Kilbride – It was nice to feel sand underfoot 
Looking towards the islands -
Uncle Keith, Gary and Ginger on Dumyat, Stirling, Scotland (365:179)
UK June 2011 – Day 14. Time to get some hiking in again
After a lot of chatting last night, today my uncle took us into Glasgow to buy a gas stove, seek hiking advice and get some maps of suitable backpacking locations in the highlands. Uncle Keith is obviously in the know on these things as he took us to a fantastic outdoors emporium Tiso where the staff were really helpful, especially Kevin, who gave us some excellent advice on where to go. Even better he treated us like we knew what we were doing (possibly a mistake, as conditions in Scotland are very different to the Ozarks), and told us about places that should be within our capabilities. His only suggestion we subsequently didn’t like was the Cairngorms, which after the remote and wonderful highlands seemed less accessible and over populated.
We left Tiso with a MSR Pocket Rocket, a gas canister and several maps and headed off to Sterling for a hike. We climbed Dumyat a modest hill with a near-by hill fort. It might be modest but it was more than enough for us out of condition hikers, in fact my uncle (who used to go fell running) despite protestations that he was unfit, did a whole lot better than we did.
The beacon at the summit was put there to celebrate the Queen’s Silver Jubilee in 1977. By co-incidence I had pointed out another of the beacons located at Fort Widley on top of Portsdown Hill in Portsmouth to Ginger, just a few days before.
The descent to the East on grass was steep and very slippery at times, I lent my hiking pole to my uncle, who had slipped quite heavily a couple of times. This of course made it more difficult for me to keep my footing, slowing me down, though I managed fairly well without slipping up. Little did I know that this was going to be just a brief foretaste of things to come in a future hike.
I managed to get some fairly good pictures once we were off the hill and on the track back to the road. Along the track we had to negotiate a herd of highland cattle with calves, which we gave a wide berth. The hike was a great warm-up for our planned backpacking in the highlands: 5.75 miles and 1,199 feet of elevation.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
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Late at night sitting on my uncle’s sofa, apparently with a ceramic pigeon sticking out of my head (365:180)
UK June 2011 – Day 15. More hiking, lots of driving, and a fish supper
Sometime around now I realized that the white balance on the camera was set up incorrectly. Somehow it had been set to ‘Cool Fluorescent’, and even worse it looks like it’s been that way for over ten days. It’s one of the problems of having a new camera, not being able to review pictures (I’ve not had time to transfer any to my netbook), and having extra buttons on the camera that allow for easy changing of the white balance, that are situated directly above the ISO selection button. Lots of editing will be called for later on.
We started the day with a trip to Glasgow because of my discovery the previous night that our newly purchased MSR Pocket Rocket didn’t work. We had no problem getting the unit changed (another good mark for Tiso).
We then went on a long drive through the countryside ending up at the sleepy town of Comrie where there was a short, at a little over 3.5 miles, hike with only 693 feet of elevation through Glen Lednock which included the Falls of Lednock otherwise know as the De’ils Cauldron. Thankfully we chose to forego the steep climb up to the obelisk atop of Dunmore hill.
After our hike, we drove back to Cumbernauld taking a diverse route that included a pineapple-shaped folly, the small and very picturesque town of Culross, though I was more photographically taken with the view across the Firth of Forth to the Grangemouth refinery. Back in Cumbernauld we visited a fish and chip shop and had a fish supper for dinner. Next stop was Tescos for backpacking visited
Today’s extras
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Gary and Ginger at the saddle of Lairig Gartain (365:181)
UK June 2011 – Day 16. The plan was to drive to Glen Coe and Backpack up into the Lost valley.
First thing we said our goodbyes to Uncle Keith and set off to Glen Coe. We had a minor problem with the trip – we kept stopping at different places to take in the scenery. At Achallader as I walked away from the car I noticed a huge scrape and dent in the passenger’s side sill. That’s our £600 deductible gone. It put me in a foul mood and to make matters worse we had no idea when I’d hit something.
We finally arrived at Glen Coe around three pm and the place was crawling with tourists. The parking area nearest to the Lost Valley clearly stated that no overnight parking was allowed. We didn’t want to hike a couple of miles along the busy road just to get to the start of a hike which begins with over a 900 ft climb. Between tourist coaches I tried asking a Scottish Piper if he knew if the no parking rule was enforced. He didn’t know, in fact he wasn’t Scottish – I think he was Ukrainian. I was now in an exceptionally foul mood, as we had no back up plan for where to stay for the night. In the end we backtracked to an earlier parking place, which linked to a public footpath to Glen Etive. From the maps it looked like a reasonable hike of around 4 miles with an opportunity for wild camping in the Glen.
Following the public footpath up Lairig Gartain we got a taste of things to come – peat bog. The ground was very wet and very soft, but no worries as the path was good and dry. About two third of the way up to the saddle we met some very tired Girl Guides coming down, that should have warned us. We arrived at the saddle a 740 ft climb about six thirty. We now had to decided whether to go on or go back – not that many camping places had presented themselves on the way up and the saddle itself was windy and uninviting. Ginger checked the map and said that the descent was only 500 ft, so we decided to carry on.
Before we descended into Glen Etive We took a few pictures to celebrate – later I discovered that the best of mine were spoiled by an autofocus error – so today’s picture isn’t the one I’d have picked but we’re all blurred in the better exposed & framed picture.
The path, which was good at the start of the hike, had been getting progressively worse the higher we got. Going down the other side it became very rough. I stumbled once and fell over. Further down the going got wet, and my Huaraches, great on rock and rough surfaces, proved to be inadequate on wet grass. I fell once more and broke my hiking pole. We had a long talk about the merits of retracing our steps or continuing. Ginger, used to reading maps with contours in feet realised that she’d mis-read the map, we were descending 500 metres, around 1,500 feet! We decided to carry on. At the bottom of the valley the trail petered out in a boggy mess, where I proceeded to slip over several times. Somewhere along with the dented car, the problems parking, my broken hiking pole, and now a wet backside, I totally lost my sense of humour.
We finally made it to the road and we headed towards a small larch wood where we camped for the night. On the way we encountered a very fine stag laying, apparently completely unharmed and disinterested at the side of the road.
Setting up our tent the midges were out in strength and we were very pleased that we’d bought head nets earlier. Over dinner we discussed the possibilities for the next day, continue with our plan to return by crossing over the next valley, or take the long route (10 miles) and hike out via the road. We decided to sleep on it and see how we felt in the morning.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
Gary and Ginger on the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond 
Gary and Ginger at the saddle of Lairig Gartain, would have been fine if it wasn’t too blurred. 
Loch Lomond 
The Falls of Falloch – can you spot the people sitting at the top? 
Achallader. It was while parked here I noticed I’d pranged the car. 
River Coupall in Lairig Gartain 
Gary contemplating the view of Loch Etive 
Stag -
June 2011
It’s been a busy month.The first couple of weeks were spent getting prepared and ready to go the UK, and the rest of the month was spent in the UK catching up with friends and family, eating and drinking. I managed to (at least temporarily) satisfy my desires for both pork pies and curry. I also managed to buy a new camera, and almost immediately broke it getting through security at the airport in Springfield (I was not a happy bunny).
By the end of the month we’d begun a short tour of Scotland, which started with a couple of day hikes, and on the last day of June, a backpacking trip in Glen Coe. The same day I discovered an inexplicable dent in our hire car.
We’ve only managed to hike 13.75 miles this month, though we’ve climbed 2,600 feet. We’ve spent a couple of nights in the tent too. Our running total is now 119.5 miles hiked and 14 nights camping. Way short of our target for the year.
1. Pumping Gas, 2. Enough!, 3. Van Repairs, 4. Breakfast at Anton’s Coffee Shop, 5. Gary + Wall = Today’s picture, 6. My legs and two cats, 7. Shopping day, 8. Stress Relief, 9. Geek Glasses, 10. Waiting and Writing, 11. New Toy, 12. Campfire, 13. Back to the wall, 14. Packed and ready to go, 15. Layover at Chicago, 16. Lego, 17. An evening with Mick, 18. Windy Day, 19. At the end of the evening, 20. Dinner with Robert and Mel, 21. Gary and Ginger at the Tate Modern, 22. Rest day, 23. Drinking my first pint in over two and a half years, 24. Hands, 25. Watching Coldplay live at Glastonbury in 3D, 26. Tonight we are in Shirley, 27. On the beach near West Kilbride, 28. Keith, Gary and Ginger – Dumyat, Stirling, Scotland, 29. Late at night sitting on my uncle’s sofa, apparently with a ceramic pigeon sticking out of my head, 30. Gary and Ginger at the saddle of Lairig Gartain
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At the end of the hike (365:182)
At the end of the hike (365:182). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 17. It was a long hike.
Our day started early and with a choice. Hike up into the valley to the West of the one we came down last night or take the long route around by road. We didn’t know how good the other path was – it might peter out in a bog like the one we took yesterday. There wasn’t a clear way of joining the path. My hiking pole was broken, and if the route required a lot of hiking on wet grass I could end up slipping and damaging something or myself. We decided the best course of action was going to be to hike out (with our backpacks) the ten mile route by the single track road.
It ended up being only 9.5 miles, but with an elevation gain of 1,034 feet. Which brought the total hike to 14 miles and 1,507 feet. The last couple of miles were another hard slog through soft and boggy ground. It was a choice of that or walk along a main road with very fast traffic. Of course on our way out of Glen Etive we found some fantastic camping places – much nicer than the midge ridden Larch wood we stopped in.
Once back at the car we decided to drive back to Glen Etive and camp at one of the camping spots we’d seen. And that’s exactly what we did. We ended up camping in a beautiful spot by the river Etive. I did try swimming, but it was frightfully cold. Too cold to stay in for any length of time.
Many weeks later back at home we checked out the other route on Google Earth. The path was very good, and our guess as to how to get to it looked about right. So maybe we could have taken the valley route back.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
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Hiding from the midges ( 365:183)
Hiding from the midges ( 365:183). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 18. Today I drove across Scotland,
twice. Starting from our campsite in Glen Etive near the West coast we drove up the length of Loch Ness, stopping at Foyers to have a walk and take pictures of the falls, which at 165 feet high are the highest we’ve seen on this trip so far. We drove on to Inverness; on the way passing Easter Boleskine where I’d stayed for a summer holiday over twenty years ago. Once at Inverness (on the East coast) we stopped to shop for food. Then we drove all the way back almost to the West coast, finally stopping in a very rough and ready car park near Loch Maree.
The midges there were fearsome. So fearsome, we unpacked the tent in the car to minimise the time spent outside putting it up. This trick worked well, and we were soon comfortably in our tent with the midges harmlessly massing on the inside of the flysheet. Today’s picture shows me laughing in the face of the thousands of midges that would have liked to have eaten me for their supper.
Today’s extras
A last look at our Mutha Hubba tent camped in Glen Etive. 
The Falls of Foyers by Loch Ness 
Ew – lots and lots of midges -
Looking out over Gruinard Bay, Scotland (365:184)
Looking out over Gruinard Bay, Scotland (365:184). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 19. This might have been my favorite photo of the entire holiday,
but the autofocus didn’t work properly so it’s a bit blurred. I’ve now worked out what the problem is, see the very end of this post for my conclusions.
We were up early and elected to postpone breakfast so could get far away from the midges. We broke the tent down in record time, threw it in the car and drove off, stopping to make coffee, eat breakfast and take pictures at the side of the A832 beside Loch Tollaidh, just outside Poolewe.
Driving through Poolewe looking for a public loo Ginger noticed St Maelrubha’s – a Scottish Episcopal Church. We checked the time and realised we could make the service. Leaving the near by car park, I drove off on the wrong side of the road without realising it – until an on-coming car on my side of the road reminded me – Oops! We managed to get ourselves changed and a bit poshed up in the car parked outside the church. Off we went to join the small but enthusiastic congregation for the service, which was quite familiar, informal and very nice. We were made to feel most welcome and took up the invite for coffee and cakes afterwards.
After church our plan for the day was to find a remote camping spot somewhere North of Ullapool and to get there by driving up the coast road as much as possible. We had hardly left Poolewe when the views over Loch Ewe and then Gruinard Bay forced us to stop, get out and climb the hills to take pictures. In today’s picture we are perched on top of 400 foot high cliff overlooking Gruinard Bay. The only way to get an idea of the scale of this view is to zoom in on one of the in-focus pictures and look for the coach by the beach. Distances in Scotland can be very deceiving, with what looks like a small rock a short distance away turning into a boulder the size of a house much further off.
The scenery enroute to our camping area was spectacular though we didn’t stop very often to take pictures, it was all getting a bit too much. After driving around entranced, we finally stopped by the side of an Loch and set up camp. We spent the evening watching the light play over the distant hills and mountains. Superb.
Today’s extras
Loch Tollaidh 
Breakfast out of the back of the car at Loch Tollaidh 
Loch Maree 
St Maelrubha’s at Poolewe 
St Maelrubha’s at Poolewe 
NATO Fuel Depot – Loch Ewe. Loch Ewe has been used for Naval refueling since the Second World War. It also has an island deliberately infected with Anthrax… 
Aultbea from across Loch Ewe 
View to the East across Gruinard Bay – try and spot the coach by the beach about midway across the frame. 
View to the North at Ardmair Scotland 
View across Loch Lurgainn, Inverpolly 
Camped beside Loch Bad a’Ghaill, Inverpolly Nikon D7000 Autofocus Issues
I’ve now completed some Internet detective work and discovered what the autofocus problem is. It only happens when I use the remote shutter control (quite a feat in today’s picture where I used the remote at a distance of over 50 feet). Sometimes the camera will focus sometimes it won’t. My D40X exhibited the same problem and I was very disappointed to find the same issue with the D7000. My investigations discovered that you mustn’t focus the camera before you take a picture using the remote. If you do it won’t focus when you use the remote. That’s a bit difficult as you sometimes need to focus the camera to see what’s in the viewfinder! This of course contrary to what it says in the D40X manual, and the D7000 manual remains suspiciously quiet on the subject. Darn. I now get round this problem by setting the camera up, and then turning it off and on before using the remote to take a picture.
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Enjoying the scenery by Loch Bad a’Ghaill
Enjoying the scenery by Loch Bad a’Ghaill. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 20. Today I met an old friend,
it was the first time we’d seen each other in nearly forty years. Russell and I had said our goodbyes back when we left school in July 1972, exchanged a couple of letters and then lost contact. Thanks to the joys of the Internet we’d got back in touch about a year or so ago; he and his wife Chris have a bed and breakfast in Scotland; our planned destination for the day.
Before we could do that though we had to sit and enjoy the view from our tent for a while, which is when today’s picture was taken. There’s also a picture showing the damage the Loch Maree midges have done to me – imagine that all over your legs.
There was also another problem with our plan to go and see Russell and Chris. My cell ‘phone didn’t seem to want to work in the highlands, and we’d not been able to contact them, so they didn’t know we were coming. If they had vacancies that was fine, if not at least we could pop in and say hello on our way.
Getting there meant crossing the country again – they’re on the East coast, near to Inverness. As we drove (literally) across country I stopped under every cell ‘phone tower in the vain hope I could make a call. It didn’t work. I tired public ‘phone boxes, but in the age of cell ‘phones they are few and far between; and working ones appear to be even rarer. Finally I found a working public telephone and got through. Good sports that they are, Russell and Chris didn’t blink and eyelid at the zero notice and told us to come on over.
We arrived around three, and apart from a much-needed shower, the next ten or so hours were spent catching up on forty years of news. I’d like to say that I took a couple of pictures to commemorate the occasion, but unfortunately I didn’t.
Today’s extras
Midge bites! 
Camped by by Loch Bad a’Ghaill -
Gary and Ginger in the tent camped beside Loch Rannoch (365:186)
Gary and Ginger in the tent camped beside Loch Rannoch (365:186). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 21. The plan was to go backpacking in the Cairngorms.
We were up reasonably early for a very nice breakfast with Russell and Chris, and we planned to get on our way and go hiking and camping in Cairngorms. However, the conversation flowed, I looked enviously at the Lenses Russell has for his nature photography and we finally left shortly before lunch. It was really great to meet up with Russell again after all these years, once I get all the vacation pictures processed and posted I’m looking forward to sitting down and writing Russell an email.
The weather turned for the worse on our way South, becoming cloudy with intermittent rain. We discovered that the Cairngorms were heavily geared to tourists, and the one out of the way place we’d found on the map that had parking nearby didn’t appear at all inviting in reality. I ended up driving for hours as we crossed the country once more before finally finding a quiet spot to camp alongside Loch Rannoch.
The rain stopped just long enough for us to set up the tent. We had a close look at the level of the loch, we didn’t want to get flooded out in the night.
I didn’t take any pictures today, so we had to cobble together a last thing at night flash photograph in the tent.
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The Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant – Berwick-Upon-Tweed (365:187)
The Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant – Berwick-Upon-Tweed (365:187). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 22. Today we said goodbye to Scotland and headed South.
The day started with rain, so we had to take down the tent with the fly set and pack it away wet. Our plan was to get to take it easy and get to Darlington to meet up with Flickr friends Cath and Jon on July 7. With no real plan in mind we drove down to Edinburgh (Once more across the country) drove through Edinburgh, deciding not to take in the sights and headed South on the A1.
We finally came to a halt in the Borders at Berwick-Upon-Tweed. Driving around we found the Harrow Bank Bed and Breakfast run by an ex Gordie fisherman (ex fisherman not Gordie). Ginger couldn’t understand a word he said. He had sold his fishing boat and bought the B&B three months previously. The place was very nice despite my misgivings about it being near the docks.
We wandered around Berwick, found a nice Chinese restaurant, The Royal Garden – where I took today’s picture, just outside the door. Forgetting about the length of my chop sticks I managed to knock a glass of wine over myself and my camera bag (no damage I’m glad to say).
We ended our evening out drinking pints in a fine old fashioned pub with a snug, no TV and no loud music. The way pubs should be.
Today’s extras
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A photograph in which I appear to have a foot protruding from the back of my head. The foot does not belong to me. (365:188)
A photograph in which I appear to have a foot protruding from the back of my head. The foot does not belong to me. (365:188). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 23. The presence of said foot probably explains the stupid grin I have.
Having checked the map, worked out our timings – we wanted to arrive at Cath and Jon’s around 6 pm, we decided to drive down to Lindisfarne, also known as Holy Island. We’d checked and the tides were favorable. You can only get on and off the island at certain times, failure to check the tide times will either result in disappointment or getting very wet. Before we could we set off, we spent some time shopping in Berwick, including checking out a couple of Outdoors stores to see what equipment was available in the UK.
Holy Island was full of tourists, but we got away from them by spending a lot of time in a very interesting museum. I read first-person accounts of life on the island at the time of the great and second world wars. We also looked at facsimiles of the illuminated Gospels. This activity, fortunately, coincided with a heavy downpour. By the time we’d finished in the museum, the weather had started to clear, and I managed to get a couple of pictures, though the buses and dozens of tourists spoiled the pictures of Lindisfarne Castle.
I did get a picture I liked of the obelisks on Guile Point that are the leading marks into the harbor to the South of the island. The seaward obelisk carries a light (Guile Point East Lighthouse) and is over 68 feet tall. I’ve seen the obelisks referred to as sinister, they certainly do loom forlornly over the windswept coastline.
By mid-afternoon, it was time to move on, and we took the coast road again. We eventually headed inland and on down to Darlington, arriving as planned (gosh!) just after six. Having been introduced to the madness that is Cath and Jon’s four dogs we set out our tent to dry and headed out to dinner. We had a very enjoyable evening with Cath and Jon, who we originally met on Flickr. We’d last all met in person in June 2008 when Ginger last visited the UK.
I didn’t take any self-portraits during the day, so this is a late at night shot with Ginger running interference in the background.
Today’s extras
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A full day’s driving, a walk on the beach, beer and fish and chips take their toll
A full day’s driving, a walk on the beach, beer and fish and chips take their toll. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 24. Destination – the chalk cliffs of Hunstanton
Jon set us up for the day with bacon butties for breakfast – who could turn down bacon butties? After breakfast all I had to do was drive to Hunstanton a small out of the way seaside town on the Wash in Norfolk. I had visited Hunstanton on holiday with my grandparents as a kid. The unusual and very pretty cliffs there stuck in my memory over the years; white chalk over red chalk and yellow sandstone. I’d described them to Ginger and I wanted to show them to her so she could see them first hand.
We arrived late in the afternoon, visited the local tourist information office, and with their help found a bed and Breakfast. “I think he’s Spanish” to quote the Tourist Information woman, referring to our host for the night – more on that tomorrow. It didn’t take long to get got settled in.
It was very chilly in Hunstanton; in fact the heating was on in the B&B. Despite the cold we decided that there was just time for a quick walk along the beach to look at the cliffs – and take some pictures in case the weather didn’t cooperate the following day. The light was fairly good, though as I pointed out at the time we’d need to wait on the beach for the setting sun to catch the cliffs. However, we got bored moved on and sure enough later on the sun poked through the clouds and I missed a couple of good pictures.
We then discovered that sleepy seaside towns in Norfolk go to bed early; even on a Friday night. By eight O’clock most of the fish and chip shops were closed, not that we wanted fish and chips. There wasn’t an open restaurant to be found. We went into a pub which advertised ‘Food served all day’ ordered a couple of pints only to be told that they’d stopped serving food. Oh well. According to Inspector Morse, beer is food, so we had a couple of courses (or was it three?) after which we didn’t really care what the food was and fish and chips seemed just dandy.
Today’s picture depicts me slumped on the bed, tired after lots of driving, walking on the beach, drinking beer and replete with fish and chips.
Tomorrow we head back to Portsmouth.
Today’s extras
Multicoloured layered cliffs at Hunstanton, Norfolk, UK. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Sun-burst over the Wash. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Multicoloured layered cliffs at Hunstanton, Norfolk, UK. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. 
Sea and Sky. Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. -
Gary and Ginger on the beach at Hunstanton (365:190)
Gary and Ginger on the beach at Hunstanton (365:190). Copyright © 2011 Gary Allman, all rights reserved. UK June 2011 – Day 25. Back to Portsmouth today.
We indulged in a full English breakfast to keep us going through another long day’s driving. Between slices of toast we chatted with the owner of the B&B, who did sound Spanish, but was originally from Honduras which he’d left over thirty years ago. He’d worked on cruise ships, lived in Florida and finally moved to the UK with his first wife and settled in Hunstanton. Seems like a long way to travel and an odd place to settle. I can talk, moving from Portsmouth to Springfield!
Before departing for Portsmouth we took a walk North along the beach and cliffs. The weather had improved but unfortunately the sun was on the wrong side of the cliffs for good pictures. We couldn’t stay all day so I had to make do with the cliffs in shadow. The tide was coming in and there were lots big kites, kitesurfers and people getting ready for a day on the beach. Despite the problems getting a meal last night and the fact that the southern end of the promenade seems to be aspiring to become a mini Blackpool I still like Hunstanton. Old Hunstanton to the North of the cliffs has a much nicer beach and was much more refined.
The drive back to Portsmouth went without incident. We’re now back for the final few days with the family before returning to the US. I need to extend the hire car period by a day – for some reason I thought we were going back on Thursday. Turns out we leave Friday. The good thing about that is that we have time to fit in a family curry before we go.
Today’s alternate shots & extras
