Spring Songs - Later in February

Hello 2017, Goodbye 2016

Well it's that time of year, i.e. the start of brand new one, when I produce a post that is more words than photos. Time to reflect on the past twelve months (photographically speaking) and to peer groggily into the uncertain depths of the new one.

At the beginning of 2016 I set myself the goal of developing a primarily random photo blog. I think I managed that, by and large.

In January I posted birds and words. February saw the cover art for my (then) forthcoming poetry collection, Years Ago You Coloured Me. March was a touristy, photographic tour of central Cambridge. In April I had a breather and then, in May, there was a flood of posts: the industry of farming, spring words and images, books and words plus an update on things that had been keeping my busy at the time and images of the stunning Willington Dovecote. June saw another quartet of posts: 2016's Strawberry Fair, Cambridge's Mill Road Cemetery, a plethora of poppies and Rousham Gardens in Oxfordshire. July saw a further lull in activity and then August, well August produced twelve posts including rural South Cambridgeshire, another tour of Central Cambridge, scenes of North Norfolk and six nature posts. September concluded the nature photograph posts with a rather queasy photo and threw in Audley End House and some mighty fine buzzards for good measure. October was quiet, November had cute cats, I hibernated in December and here it is, January 2017 already. I managed 27 posts in total during 2016, only 2 less than 2015.

So, January 2017 and the fourth year of this blog. I have no idea what I'm going to be doing this year. Photos, I guess and maybe some words. I'm just going to go with the flow. Care to flow with me...?

Before we are engulfed by the waters of 2017, however, here are some more images from 2016 by way of a farewell to the old year.

January 2016

 February 2016

 March 2016 (and no, I didn't take this one myself)

Oops, looks like I really didn't take any photos in April. Moving on then...

May 2016

 June 2016

July 2016

August 2016

 September 2016

 October 2016

November 2016

And yes, December was another fail. Clearly I must do better in 2017. Maybe I need to make a New Year's resolution...

Cute Cats and Kitsch Kitties

Social media loves a photo of a cute cat (or, indeed, many photos). On the basis of, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, here are some adorable moggies...

One is mine (or I am his - he thinks of me as his, if he thinks of me at all). One was mine. Others are the owners and adopters of friends and family. All are the queens and emperors of their worlds and rightly so. They are cats and born to rule.

Cats and Other Mythical Creatures

In sleep you adopt the position of a Chinese dragon,

Or cat leaping from high wall without a safety net,

A twist to your tail and your body

As the dragon leaps and dances with the sun.

Who knows whom you are dancing with

In the chase, catch, kill of your dreams.

Little mice, I hope,

Not little humans.

  

©J.S.Watts

Cats and Other Mythical Creatures  was first published in the poetry collection Cats and Other Myths by J.S.Watts (Lapwing Publications, 2011) and has also appeared in Danse Macabre and possibly Pumpkin House Digest (but that’s a little unclear).