People Playing With Steam

We had a full and fun day watching people operate steam trains and tractors. Live steam always adds more interest and drama to the experience. The volunteers running this heritage railway put on a fantastic show - all volunteers were dressed in 'costume' and performed all the manual train running duties of the period confidently and skillfully.

I was pleased to have captured the moment of passing the baton from the driver to the signalman, as performed in days of yore.

Operating these steam tractors was an exercise in athleticism! The active labor involved in steering and maneuvering these beauts was unbelievable.

There was a real carnival, festive air to the entire display, especially seeing as a fairground organ was playing at the destination station, seen here between two steam tractors.

Juxtaposed

These effects, by taking pics through a window while lights were on, are quite interesting. The first one is a view from our living room onto the hills across the valley with our room lighting superimposed on the scene

I took this one through our dining room window just before sunset - I love the way the lights are hovering like an alien specter.

And then there's this: dusk through our conservatory

Trivia Night

We went to the Old New Inn for Quiz night, and, well, we came DEAD last! We started off splendidly in the general knowledge, science and geography categories, but our lead deteriorated horribly when sports, history, cinema and entertainment came up - we got zeroes in these categories.

We were also a little handicapped as our only other team-mate left early, before the categories we were hopelessly deficient in, came up - it was just us 2 foreigners against local groups of 4 each. We'll try to strategically join a better group next time.

It was a fun vibe though. Each Trivia night supports a different charity - this one benefitted Crohn's & Colitis UK and raised £255 from the trivia teams and raffle tickets. Barman and owner, Dan, and his team won. Here are some of the winning team, holding up the quizmaster.

Pic from The Old New Inn Trivia

Garden Delights

The seeds from the willow herbs (Fireweed in the U.S.) look beautifully ethereal and delicate before they disperse.

After a long summer drought, it rained hard (torrentially) for three days, so much so that our conservatory roof began leaking again!

This gorgeous hoverfly and hibiscus think it's still summer.