The curious mind

 

“i wonder who has walked here before me”

This is something I frequently ask myself. When I’m in a town or city, but especially when in a woodland space. An open field. By a wild river bank.

If you have ever wondered this, then me and you would get on just fine. Even more questions bounce around my head when like the picture above, I’m in an area with archaeological evidence, that shows people have been there for thousands of years. In the case of the picture above, it has approx 5000-6000 years of history dating back to the bronze age. Every possibility that it could go beyond that too.

As I stood looking down this valley, which is a great defensive position, I wondered, how many battles took place here between conflicting tribes? Did the Romans face much adversary when they first laid eyes upon the ancient hill fort that exists? Did the occupiers see the far superior force and run? Or did they stand strong and defend what was theirs?

Am I the only one to wonder these things?

The English Author Samuel Johnson described curiosity beautifully.

“the thirst of the soul”

I really like that.

Be curious in life. Ask questions, even if only to yourself. There is always room for learning. There is always room for growing. There is no limit to how broad our knowledge can be or should be.

An unexpected encounter

 

In case you were wondering to yourself “I’m sure that’s a Peregrine”. You would be correct.

Our daughter wanted to get out and learn to roller skate, so we took her out which was entertaining. Over the strong wind a bird call could be heard and if you have ever heard a Peregrine calling, its quite distinctive. We’ve heard them before and seen them go over the house on a couple of occasions but that is about it.
Since we were out we went in the direction of the calls. Getting louder and louder, closer and closer.

Then we saw them, a pair high up on the pylons. Just beautiful! No other words. I’m not a birder per se but I do love birds and wildlife. Especially Birds of Prey, Raptors.

While peregrines aren’t rare, I feel we were lucky to have got this close and witness a kill and feeding!

I even got a video on my phone, not the best quality but it was pretty amazing!

Time

 

“i would have written a shorter letter, but i didn’t have the time” - Blaise Pascal 1656

A quote i found in a book I’m currently reading by Catherine Blyth, ‘On Time’

It stopped me in my tracks as I was reading. And had me thinking ever since. Do we have enough time in the day?

Short answer, yes. So far its an interesting read and enlightening. Its already made me look at my time and reevaluate how I am able to waste time doing nothing, and complain I had no time.

BLOGGING IS HARD

for me at least

I appear to be making a habit of not posting for long periods. There might be a month where I do what I intend to, and post once a week. Then there could be a month gap between. And sometimes longer! Distractions! I have way too many distractions in my life. I call them hobbies, but boy oh boy do they distract me from taking pictures.

I’ve been writing this blog for little over an hour at this point because of Top Gun (original, and the best by the way). Major distraction. Perhaps I need to focus more? Or stop some hobbies? Or just carry on and be happy with the pace in which I post on here? I think it will be the latter.

Another 20 minutes have past and I’ve written a paragraph of sorts…

As much as I love taking pictures, documenting my family (more on this later) and working on projects, when I need to step away and live, I do. Fishing. I’ve fished since I was a young boy when my Grandpa taught me. The first fish I ever caught was a Perch, and 30 years later it is still my favorite fish to catch, albeit different way of fishing now with lures but that 3oz perch I caught 30 years ago really set it off. Before the river season in the UK ended in March I managed to land my new PB at 3lb 12oz!

This is a good distraction!

The latest but not new hobby is shooting. My son showed an interest so I picked up another PCP Air Rifle for him and we’ve going going out most weekends to the range. He loves it and I’m so happy that we are able to spend time together while doing something we both enjoy.
Today he even shot a 20 gauge shotgun for the fist time at some clays! He was absolutely made up and his face! I wish I had my camera because his face was just pure excitement!

As far as distractions go, spending time with family is the best.

With all of that said, I’ve just dumped my SD card to the computer, and there is still quite a few frames taken this month. Anything good? Nah not really but just a lot of memories, that I’m glad to have taken.

I need to get my a**e back in to gear really and get back to a project I really got going earlier in the year. It will take a few years I suspect as the seasons change and events happen but I need to drive up there and get cracking!

Here is a handful of pictures I’ve taken during March

2 hours to write this small post!