Robertson the Bruce's photostream  

this is actually snow with an 'auto correction' and a contrast tweak.

the boys and i got fitted for their oldest sisters' wedding next month. my old robertson kilt seems to have shrunk a wee bit around the midsection, so zach - the youngest and thinnest rake among the clan - has inherited the old ancient. for the rest of us, the black watch must suffice.

this is pretty close to the mid-point between north and irish seas along hadrian's wall path. castles at mile intervals - hence the name - were reinforced with turrets at 1/3 mile intervals. a well-maintained super highway by ancient standards ran from coast to coast just south of the wall. the stretch above is looking east between winshield crags and sycamore gap. it's a glorious stretch of open country on both sides of the wall.

broadwick and lexington, soho, london, on a warm summer night. the john snow pub on the corner is named for the 19th century physician who, with some help from the local reverend, managed to isolate the bacteria that causes cholera. they mapped out all the deaths within a given radius from the broad street water pump, which was located right outside this pub. (street name was later changed to broadwick.) their work marked the departure from the miasma (bad smell) theory of disease to the water-born understanding we now take for granted. about 700 souls perished in a few weeks, all within a stone's throw of this pub. funny how folks gather there now completely oblivious to the history of the place, despite the pub having been turned into a kind of museum in honour of john snow, the father of epidemiology. in the 1850's this street corner could've been in calcutta - a place to be avoided like the plague. thanks to dr. snow and his reverend friend who's name escapes me just now, all that has changed, and soho now draws tourists from all over the world.

wee grove of aspens at a buddy's place in the foothills. i like the way these seemingly independent trees are all connected underground. good thing too, with 100+ km/hour winds across southern alberta today. the secret to survival in harsh terrain is a rooted connectivity and the ability to bend a bit. i sense a metaphor in there somewhere. happy new year flickr-folk!