first harvest

We've had a few home-grown strawberries so far, but this is the first potato harvest of the season.  (A second crop is due later.)

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CLIII

The latest batch, comprising his'n'hers birthday presents.

goodbye MARCH

I've been up in York for the last couple of days, visiting colleagues, discussing projects, and, sadly, saying goodbye to MARCH, an EPSRC funded-project involving York and Sheffield, which has been running since February 2021.  It started during lockdown!  The amazing team has done some wonderful work, with some more publications still in the pipeline, and we'll be sad to see it finish.  But there are many follow-on irons in the fire, so it's not really the end.

On my way home this evening, my train passed through March station.  So this felt like an appropriate photo: March in the distance, with a ghostly me in the foreground!

Ickworth National Trust

We went with some friends to the National Trust centre at Ickworth today.  Another magnificent house in magnificent grounds.

We walked around the gardens.  There is a hidden stumpery: well-hidden, as it took us a while to find it, but it was definitely worthwhile.  Lots of very jagged, alien-looking tree stumps arranged around a winding path.

There are more formal gardens, with occasional great views of the house.

This is just the central rotunda.  There are a couple of lovely wings, too.

And there are big trees, and strange statues.

Nobody expects the large wooden giraffe.

Several of the trees have amazing amounts of mistletoe adorning them.

There is a nice restaurant in the hotel that occupies one wing of the house.  We had only a light lunch, as it was very hot out.  On exiting, we got to see the front of the house, up close.

We then went for a longer walk, around the park lands.  Lovely views, but very hot in the open.  So, back to the entrance, where they sell ice creams... then home.

sequestering carbon, several books at a time CLII

The latest batch:

reflections

The early morning sun, bouncing off the car window, passing through the bushes, in through the house front window, and landing on the side wall.  All looking very artistic.  (Pity about the central heating thermostat.)

view from a hotel window : Glasgow

I'm up in Glasgow, for a couple of days project meeting on our Aria-funded Bosonic computing project, and, incidentally, escaping southern heat.

The view from my hotel window is okay...

... but the architecture on the other side is more interesting.

including bonus seagull