In The Pink

How the wind buffets and spirals this day While birds brave the updrafts to steal food away The trees in expression holdfast their leaves still And branch tips submit to the seasons strong will

This weeks six concentrates on some great moments over the busy past couple of weeks, hence this feature being absent last week! It's been busy both socially and on the work front and has heralded some great moments. Item 1: The North York Moors First off is our visit last weekend to the North Yorkshire Moors (correctly referred to as the North York Moors) to visit some good friends who relocated to that part of the country earlier this year and it was absolutely stunning. It was our first visit to see them and to that particular part of the Mo ors. We like to make the most of our time in the great outdoors and every holiday is usually spent camping in Scotland or Wales but these past few weeks have reminded me just what there is available within England and at a much shorter distance. I think Scotland will always be my favourite part of the UK (followed by Northumberland) but our trip to the Moors, and recent visit to the Peak District has encouraged us to get back to more weeken...

Rain falls this day and washes the dust and the debris away, as I am soothed by its’ temperate patter, its’ trickling sway.

Greetings! Well Blog Action Day is here! I am very excited and am looking forward to going off to other participants sites however first need to complete my own postings! My apologies for the lateness in the day but I had an early night last night, due to an early start this morning and this is the first moment I have had to blog.(Much to my disgust!) So, blogging about environmental issues...I have given this a lot of thought. There are so many things I could write about: don't leave your TV on standby, unplug the phone charger when the phone is not charging, turn the tap off when you are cleaning your teeth, but we all know about these by now don't we? The environment is pretty much a daily issue in the UK and I expect in many other countries. We now all know there is an issue, we may debate whether we are responsible but surely we must all agree that whether the changes we observe are as a result of our actions or not we live in a wasteful society with room for improvement. ...

I came across this via Macs Niece at Caged Minutes . The idea is as follows: 'On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future. Blog Action Day is about MASS participation. That means we need you!' If you are interested please follow this link , or click on the button. My thanks to Macs Niece.

You may have noticed 6 new buttons on my blog in the left hand menu that say click every day. If you are unfamiliar with these they are basically a link to another site where if you then click the big button you donate to various charities for free. The deal is that for every click they receive their sponsors donate to each charity. You are therefore just two clicks away from: providing reading tuition and free books for children, providing free health care for children, helping to preserve endangered habitat, helping to provide a free mammogram for someone, providing 6 bowls of food for rescued animals, or giving free food to someone who really needs it. If you can spare two clicks please pick any buttons of your choice and help these worthwhile charities for free! Thank you!

I would like to dedicate this one to the DJ Steve Wright.....I don't care I love him!

Item 1: Practical Household Uses For Vinegar Ref. 7.1 An easy way to periodically clean out soap scum and disinfect your washing machine is to pour in 450ml (2 cups) of white distilled vinegar; then run the machine through a full cycle without any clothes or detergent. ( 1001 Practical Household Uses for Vinegar 2007 ) Item 2: The A-Z of Music. This is another new and hopefully regular item….well at least for 26 weeks! I have recently compiled a list of favourite artists for every letter of the alphabet. It was not easy and some letters ended up with several contenders! This weeks letter is of course A and I am afraid for me there is only one A in the music world……oh pants I just thought of another. Ok but AC/DC aside (sorry guys) this weeks A is ABBA ! Now I don’t feel I can leave it there as I am a big AC/DC fan, both with and Bon Scott and Brian Johnson; although Bon Scott was not the first lead singer with DC, I think most will agree he was the best. But there will certainly be no ...

Greetings! Just a short word from me to say top gig last night and, the icing on the cake, Rush played one of my favourite songs, Passage to Bangkok from the album 2112 which made my evening. For anyone who is not familiar with Rush here's a quick intro to the band: Geddy Lee, Bass, Keyboard and Vocals, Alex Lifeson Guitar and Vocals, Neil Peart Drums. (Image Credits: Global Bass , Guitarz For Ever , Hughes & Kettner , respectively.) They all, sounded awesome and the sound at the venue was good too, ( Hallam FM Arena, Sheffield ) although as usual it was a seated concert and they really crammed us in. The last Rush gig I went to (Birmingham) the sound was ropey and the chairs were narrow and hard. Last night the seats were padded but seriously close together! Why can't we just all stand and dance! The highlight of the night as anticipated was watching Dr. Peart at work on the drums! We have two more gigs booked for next month, Porcupine Tree and Nick Harper. Anyone o...

I am going to see Rush again tonight! My life is filled with music whether it be playing via my head jukebox or my computer and I could not live without it. Music touches something very primal in me and can make my soul soar and then in an instant reduce me to sobbing, obviously dependant on the song. I am a big fan of live music and go to as many gigs as I can manage clocking up performances by pink floyd , jethro tull , rush, steely dan , albert lee, johnny winter, crash test dummies, all about eve, yes, hayseed dixie , hawkwind (featuring Arthur Brown), nick harper , roy harper , bob dylan , freak power, stereophonics , dweezil zappa (featuring the world famous Ray White) and little feat to name but a few..... ok to name the best few, there are some suspect bands but I guess that just depends on your tastes. Unfortunately most of the bands/ artists I would like to see are deceased but I enjoy making the most of this spell of ageing rock bands returning to glory. I have recen...

Calling all Tolkien Fans. My very good source of book reviews and blogging tips at Between the Covers has reviewed The Silmarillion . For anyone who has not read it yet or like me is finding it an early struggle, have a look at Coversgirls review. I am on my way to take up the story as we speak. This is the first edition published in 1977. For any Tolkien enthusiasts...or Middle Earth enthusiasts, it's a must. Also, check out the Tolkien Companion . It answers lots of those questions! Happy wondering. ( Image Credit - Tolkien Library.)

I am taking part in the Four Legged Friends Reading Challenge, as created by Kailana at Kailana's Written World , in memory of her beautiful dog Sandy ('Rascal') pictured here. (The small, darker creatures front and rear are called Atra and Miko.) Please follow the links above for extensive details or to join in; in brief the challenge is to read 3-5 books where animals are the main focus of the book, main characters or certainly very influential, (Who am I kidding......it is impossible for me to be brief!) before the 26th Feb 2008 and review them on your blog! Sounds like a top idea to me so I have been searching for some books to read and have come up with these. I have only heard of one of them before and am looking forward to getting my teeth stuck in. Life of Pi, Yann Martal (Bengal Tiger, Orangutan, Hyena, Zebra) The Lost Pet Chronicles: Adventures of a K-9 Cop Turned Pet Detective, Kathy Albrecht (Weimaraner) Whale Song: A Novel About The Greatest and Deepest of Bei...

This is the Black-headed Gull, Larus ridibundus , although at this time of year they do not have black heads. The birds develop a darkened, to be accurate chocolate brown, plumage over their head for the breeding season; it's breeding plumage. By the end of the year all that is left of the breeding plumage is one dark spot behind each eye as seen below. Like all Gulls they seem to be masters of trajectory! They have distinctive dark red bills and legs. These Gulls are found predominantly in land and are commonly seen following tractors across open fields.

On Saturday I went to the local reservoir armed with two bags of brown bread and a camera. It's a favourite past time, both the purchasing of the food and the administering! And surrounding yourself in a flock of hungry birds is an awesome experience. Nature up close and personal! I also spent the early morning buying more bird food for the garden inhabitants. I greatly enjoy getting in the supplies, and had the added bonus of a money off voucher and a free bag of daffodil bulbs this time. Anyway the flocks at the water were very generous with their images, and I had a great time watching as well as photographing. There will probably be more pictures over the next few days! (Still working on the song by the way.)

In the Pink is 1 year old today! It's been an excellent blogging year and I have greatly enjoyed developing this blog. I have found that having this as an outlet has encouraged me to pursue my existing hobbies and develop some new ones to. I have also made contact with people all over the world via their blogs and look forward to seeing their postings and sharing a small part of their lives. This has been a most worth while pursuit for me. In light of this I have decided to use this weeks 'weekly six' as an opportunity to re-post some of my favourite items from the last 12 months, and comment on some significant factors relating to this blog. Item 1: Verse Since In The Pink began I have written many poems, and posted most of them. I enjoy the exploration of language that writing brings. I have re-read the poems that have been posted so far and chosen this to re-post. (If you want to read more of my 'literary ramblings' click on the verse tag here or in 'In the P...