In This Issue...

It was a gorgeous, sunny day here in Worcestershire. We wanted to take photographs of the dog kennels with the thought that people might wish to board their dogs with us. I've looked at lots of photos of other kennels on the internet, and the dogs always look like prisoners. The photos are taken from a human viewpoint, looking down on the dog. So I gave it a try: here's Tapa, looking miserable, in his jail.

I don't think Marjorie is always thrilled that I've taken her photo. This photo was taken in March 1993, when we were a lot younger. It was taken at Whitecroft: from other photos, I think Marjorie fell asleep reading the Sunday newspapers. And I was there with a camera.

We have a great dog kennel: under-floor hearing, air conditioning, glass brick walls, the works. Not surprisingly, the dogs would rather be in the house, on the couch. Kiko is particularly eager to avoid the kennel at all costs, so this photograph is quite unusual. Yet look at his tail wagging.

I just had a look back at the pictures I've posted recently. Lots of animal photos: I guess that's to be expected since I live on a farm. I thought it was time for something different. This is the Red Sea, autumn 1996. We'd chartered an Egyptian dive boat, and we spent the week diving every chance we could. We all earned our Master Diver PADI certification.

I think every photographer has the inevitable collection of sunset images. As long as the sunset is pretty, these shots never seem like much work. This sunset, over Torquay, was photographed from our room at the Imperial Hotel, March 1993.

Pau - March 1993 at Birchfields. When Pau was born, his breeder moved out of her bedroom and slept on the floor with Pau and his litter mates every night. Pau became a 70 pound lapdog. When he developed a brain tumor, we flew a canine neurosurgeon from Washington State to England to operate. He made a full recovery, and lived another few years. I miss him.

It's usually easy to photograph a group of children gathered in a playground or marketplace: just point a camera at them and start clicking. These children were in Hanoi, 1992. There weren't many tourists in Viet Nam then and the children were curious. And smiling.

Many of the signs in Austria are wonderful: metal sculptures turned functional. This little metal man looks like he's walking the plank. But he's got a great smile, lots of attitude, and a ladder.

In looking for photographs for this site, I found a CD-ROM of old slides and negatives I'd had scanned. This is a photograph of my father and mother --- before me. They'd just been married, and had arrived in Honolulu to meet my maternal grandparents. I can imagine the stress they faced at their first cocktail party after their marriage in Nevada.

And now for a word from our sponsors. This afternoon Marjorie and I spent some time taking photos of our delicious Scottish | Kobe hamburgers. These are the real thing: made from pedigree Highland beef raised in the traditional Japanese Kobe fashion. Mouthwatering. My lunch tomorrow.

September 11 --- it makes me sad just typing the date. For my 40th birthday, Marjorie gave me a trip by Concorde to Jordan. We went to Petra in the south, and then to Amman. We loved the souks: true Aladdin's caves, in this case filled with fruit.

Marjorie and I took Chase to the Caribbean for a Windstar cruise. We would go shopping or to have dinner on shore, and would then go back to the ship by tender. I snapped several shots as we bounced through the water back to the Windstar. One, fortunately, wasn't blurred.

OK, maybe not my best idea.


My daughter, Chase, likes fossils and other weird things. So I thought, "Why not get her a human skull for Christmas?" I found a guy who gets redundant skulls from medical schools, bought a nice one, and wrapped it up. Chase's husband, Brett, seems to like the skull.


But does Chase look happy with it?

Kiko (the white dog) is the Alpha dog, and Tapa is not. Or perhaps we have that wrong? Kiko gets the carpet, and Tapa the Royal Cushion. I love the sound of snoring dogs.

Marjorie and I visited Lodz in Poland in September of 2003. We were there on a quest for blueberry plants. Lodz has the longest pedestrian mall in Europe. (Or is it the longest in the world?) Because we couldn't read the road signs, we drove right up it. The newsagent in Lodz has this rather unusual sign.

I think we purchased a couple of large blue ceramic chickens in Lisbon. We then visited a ruined building on top of a hill overlooking the city. My photos of the city are just hazy and flat. But I like the picture of Marjorie with her shopping --- the chickens.

This is San Tropez. Here dogs drink from fire hydrants. With people in rainbow shoes in attendance.

There are lots of variations on the legend of the maneki neko cat. There's even an entire maneki neko club with its own website, at http://www.amy.hi-ho.ne.jp/~mono93/cat/english/index_e.html

In a nutshell, you can't buy one for yourself. The raised paw brings money (or good health). If you get one/both, you should take your cat back to Goutokuji. We did. Should have kept hold of him...!

We took a Windstar cruise in the Med in 1990, and this uninviting hotel is from that roll. I am pleased to say I don't know where this is or why I photographed it. I've probably erased it from my memory on purpose.

We had a wonderful outdoor bathtub at the Amadari in Bali, and we filled it with bubbles. Bubbles over our heads. The obligatory photo of Marjorie in a sea of bubbles was interesting, but Photoshop made it truly strange.

I never liked "It's A Small World" at Disneyland. I think this is a chick vs. guy thing. I just found something I like even less: Cadbury World near Birmingham, England. Icky sweet. Almost no views of the factory action (guy stuff). But a chance to have Marjorie's and my photo taken with a large plastic cocoa bean.

This is my Mother's Secret Spaghetti: an unusual blend of meat, tomatoes, cinnamon, and cloves. Marjorie and I took this photograph for our Lucies Farm recipe site.

I was looking for something in the safe, and found an old Bible tucked in the corner. When I moved it, this photograph fell out. There's no date on it, but it's a picture of Marjorie's mother (also Marjorie) and father Frank.