Still is life - an abstract gallery

THE ACORN

BOTTLE OF BLUE ICE

THE BRACELETT'S

SOMETHING DIFFERENT...

THINGS CAN ONLY GET BUDDA!

CONED AGAIN

FEATHERED

MANY HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK.

THE NECKLACE

COMING OUT THE BOX

JAZZIES

WATCHING IT

Freezing cold out there today but the sun is shining. I might get out with my camera this afternoon if I pluck up enough courage for the golden hour. I went to SpectSavers this morning, I am dreading that eye puff machine as it makes me nervous. Looks like HMV are the next one's to go down the pan, Jessops in the George Mall are empty, saw them packing up on Saturday.

This is part of Wishford village near South Newton. When the weather perks up, I am going to get on my bike and take some photo's. I don't think anyone has done it yet, can't find any image's on Photobucket, if they have then they haven't put them on yet.

Here are some pictures I took just before Christmas, hope they are ok.

Shots at Christmas

Well here we are another new year, and the world hasn't ended as predicted by the Mayan calendar. Now people are coming up with all sorts of stupid theories saying 'it's the beginning of the end of the world, blah blah'. Just live for now and stop worrying if a nuclear bomb or meteor is going to frigging hit us, or a catastrophic disease that could turn us all into zombie’s. Who cares, some people I know are already there looking like zombie’s, and it didn’t need the end of the world to happen for them to appear like that! Happy new year, NOW ROLL ON SUMMER!

A look at Butts water meadows, Salisbury.

Walking back from the meadows, mum said she saw a Kingfisher dive into the river. Her eyesight is better then mine and I didn't see the bird until it flew across the water. The meadows have seen much change over the years. There used to be a paddling pool during the war, lots of people who couldn't afford to get to the coast used to sit there in the sun. Health and safety said it was too dangerouse and now it's gone, grassed over but not forgotten. A lot of today's generation don't know it's there, but we do; those that can remember that is. There's not a lot of pictures of the Butts water meadows as it seems to concentrate on Harnham water meadows, which is a shame as this is a nice part of the city. I will be taking pictures of the nature trail and putting them on here when I can.

This waterlogged path used to be a racetrack during the 1930's. It still has it's original surface, and there is also one in Victoria Park. During the summer the grass is covered in daisies and dandylions.

This is the river Avon, we used to go swimming here until health and safety put the kybosh on it. You can get herons here and other wildlife. Shame that when an artical about Salisbury is written, it shows only the area around the cathedral and nothing else.

There's more to Salisbury then just the cathedral and Stonehenge. Here in the distance is the old gasworks and fire station, once a thriving community the gasworks will probably close soon because gas is now being pumped in from Southampton. I haven't seen the drum go up for age's.

How long these tree's have been here I don't know, they were here before I was and will be here long after I have gone.

Salisbury Butts allotments, once of the biggest in the city. Parked behind the houses of Devises Road, most people don't know its here but the view is amazing which I will capture at a later date and put on here.

Last but not least this passage goes up behind the houses of Clifton Road. On the left is the old (now disused) saw mill. When my parents moved into the house in 1968, the workers were there then. When I was three I escaped from the back garden and wandered down this path, I remember a car going up Gas Lane past me and gran grabbing hold of me to get me back. I got such a telling off that day. Now looking back it's hard to imagine now that they are all gone into the past. I think the ghosts are still there.

Wandering the cathedral.

Went round Salisbury cathedral again to see if I could improve my shots. There are lots of coaches in today as it's market day. I went round Clifton Road just before, the area has changed so much. The old builders yard next to the house is up for sale, I remember the sound of buzzing saws when I lived next door, now it's all quiet as everyone is gone. The yard where I once saw two Alsation dogs is gone, built over by new houses. The man who used to own the dogs is dead, but when he was around he used to come across as bad tempered. He used to do the Judo club in the hall by where he kept the dogs, and they used to snarl at everyone who used to turn up for the lessons (not taught by him thankfully!) Just as well they were kept in a cage. Here are some pictures of the old pile (just joking...)

Salisbury cathedrel

What can I say about Salisbury cathedral that hasn't been said already? I watched a programme called ’The pillars of the Earth’ based on a novel by Ken Follett. Some of it is supposed to be based on Salisbury cathedral and Winchester, while others says the location is in Melksham. The novel is supposed to be set during the time of the anarchy, and the assassination of Thomas a Becket. I took my camera around there yesterday and they had leaflets about the Pillars of the Earth trail, but they only had German versions left because all the English one’s had vanished; oh well never mind. I might read the book to see what all the fuss is about.

At the moment I am reading the ‘call the midwife’ series which is about a newly qualified midwife Jenny Lee and the work of midwives and the nuns of Nonnatus House, a nursing convent, coping with the medical problems in a deprived area of East London in the 1950s. She describes a world that has now vanished and only exists in people’s memories. Soon these people will die and we will know nothing about just how it was, it’s thanks to these books that we can learn. I just found it fascinating how people lived in London then. Some of the stories are funny and some of them are sad. At the moment I am am on the third book called ’in the midst of life’ which tells how people conceive (or view) death. One old lady who lost her husband during WW1, asked the nurse if her husband would recognise her after she had died. She wasn’t sure as her hair had gone gray from the chestnut brown he last saw her in. Yes he would recognise her, because our loved one’s in spirit are there all the time waiting to greet us when it’s are time to cross.

Someone was playing the organ as I wandered around with my tripod, I don’t feel so self conscious with the tripod now. Some of my shots are still coming out over exposed, I’ll just have to save up carefully as the shutter release on this one is so slooow. Talking about the organ I believe it’s known as the The Willis Organ, one of the finest in the UK and sought after by recitalists and recording companies. Built over a hundred years ago, this masterpiece sounds today much as it did in 1877. 

The cathedral had a black cat called Wolfie. I don’t think this picture does him justice. He was a big boy (bout the size of a small dog). First saw him in reception and had to take a double look, didn’t think cats could get that big. I’d love a black cat (you know I’m Wiccan). All my animals have Celtic names. Wolfie died after a short illness in November 2011.

The spire looks like a missile waiting to take off. Its the first thing people see when they enter into the city. It can be seen as far as old Sarum castle, and the red light on top. Salisbury was spared Nazi bombing because the Luftwaffe used Britain’s tallest spire (at 123 meters / 404 feet) as a navigational guidepost as they targeted other English cities. The Cathedral not only has the tallest spire, but the largest medieval cloisters. I was once told that Hitler because he so confident that of victory that he wanted to keep the cathedral, I don't know how true this is.