@mootParadox

I'd planned to process this in colour. There was a light mist and the sky had an almost tobacco colour where the sun was breaking through. But a test in monochrome changed my mind! This is from a bridleway above #Corbridge in the Tyne Valley. I'd walked down from Aydon Castle. An afternoon wander with no particular plan. 😀 #Photography #BlackandWhitePhotography #BlackandWhite #Northumberland

I don't think I've ever tried making coffee in a glass before. Not exactly my best pour either 😂 and not helped by the narrow glass, but I think seeing this cross-section view could be useful for practice... it tasted fine! ☕ #FlatWhite #Latte #Coffee

Experimenting with motion blur. There seems to be a fine balance between capturing a sense of motion, and a washed out ghostly blur. I tried setting the timer for a 10 second delay, half-second shutter, and I'm either playing something... or perhaps I'm preparing to selectively wipe some dust off a G# diminished 7th!! 🤣 #Photography #BlackAndWhite #Piano

D#

#Photography #Piano

With a touch of nostalgic regret, I decided to trade-in my current camera gear against a Sony #A7Cii. I'm down to just one prime lens now (not a bad discipline in itself) and the full combo weighs less than my Sigma 24-70 ART lens, one of the items I traded. It was an awesome setup, but I'd used it twice in the last year! Like my ZVE10 (also now traded!) this one can happily live on my rucksack strap. So, a quick #FlatWhite test photo seemed in order!! 📷😂 #Photography

What- seriously?! 🤔 I was looking at some coffee tables earlier, and stumbled across a site (search for "dreamyhousedecor blog" if you actually want to find it) and I'm pretty sure the entire website is fake, including its author!! Often quite realistic, but with all sorts of weird anomalies. Very odd, and not sure what purpose it serves? The "about me" page is unnerving.

Bit of an early start for #Football this Sunday... 🥶😎 #Ellington

From my walk to the climbing wall this evening. It was nice to get there without needing my headtorch! 😎 #Sunset

I've been listening to DoujindanceFM... completely nuts ravey dance music from Antarctica with a bit of a chiptune vibe. In other words, amazing!!! 🤣

Link -> http://nossl.fmstream.org/index.php?c=ATA

Discovered via this toot from @g7izu earlier today: https://fosstodon.org/@g7izu@universeodon.com/113906833782091539

It's new rug day at The mootParadox Crib!! 😎 Hopefully those wrinkles drop out soon - it arrived on a tight cardboard tube. Feels nice anyway! A woven sisal rug, sand coloured, non-slip underlay, and organic cotton stitched border. #Rug #Decor #Interior

Today's #Swim took me to 4km!! It's been a few years since I beat that in a session. The trouble is, I'll be feeling guilty if I do any less next week!! 🤣 #Swimming #PoolSwim

Just when you think it's warming up a bit... it isn't...! 😂 Woke up to heavy fog and there's a nice powdery frost on the tips of grass. #Photography #Frost #Winter

I'm claiming that as two miles!! 🤣 The slight deficit would be covered in my 200m warm down anyway. Trying to focus on the middle two phases of the stroke, pull and finish, and my #Swolf was down to 51, so maybe it's helping. And then, emerging from the leisure centre, it's nearly 17° outside... I was tempted to eat lunch in my garden!! 😎 #Swimming #PoolSwim

Always remember to look behind you! 😎 This is from Hadrian's Wall looking back towards Halton Castle. #Photography #Sunset #HadriansWall #Northumberland #SheepOfMastodon

Decided to enjoy some local snow along Hadrian's Wall, before wandering down towards Corbridge to have a look at Aydon Castle (it was closed!) and Halton Castle (private residence!) along with (yet another!) St Oswald's church. 😎 #Northumberland #Snow #Hiking #HadriansWall

I've tried a couple of variations on this recently, having never really considered pasta and asparagus as a viable combo! It's quite good. 😋 This one is Fettuccine with fried sausage and chestnut mushroom, red chilli, garlic, shallots, and the asparagus dropped in with the pasta for the last three minutes. #Food #Pasta #Recipe

Ooo!! New shoe day!! 😂 Well- I say "new" but I'm now onto my fourth pair of La Sportiva Mythos! #Climbing #IndoorClimbing

First pool #Swim of 2025 and up to 3km, so that's positive, although my #Swolf was also up 4 to 55... 🤔 #Swimming

I laugh in the face of snow shovels!! 😂🤣 Successful test of my improvised reverse-snowplough. (Patent Pending) #Snow #Shovel #Driveway

Overnight snow in the Tyne Valley, but already sneaking up above freezing. This was from about 8:30 this morning and somebody (not me!!) had already built a snowman out in the field. Seems a bit too enthusiastic! 😂 #Snow #UKSnow #Northumberland

Obviously I'm not about to become a concert pianist any time soon 🤣 but I think those are the right notes... pretty much played in the right order!! This is Prelude No 7 by Chopin. (The low fidelity means we can't hear him turning in his grave!) It's been interesting, because the composition isn't hard - but the difficulty is all in the interpretation, and the expression, and the timing, and the subtlety... and it could be years before I begin to get that right. #Piano #Chopin

The last of my #Mosstodon pics for now!! 🤣 This whole area along Blakehope Burn would be a paradise for moss aficionados! #Moss #Photography #Nature #Northumberland

Another view of Hindhope Linn. I was curious about the word "Linn", as there seem to be lots of them around. Apparently it comes from the Gaelic "linne" meaning pool, but from the usage I see around Northumberland, it seems to encompass the cascade and the pool? Either way, they are invariably great spots for a relaxing explore! 😎 #Photography #Northumberland #Waterfall #Linn

Another #Mosstodon photo from Hindhope Linn yesterday. Perhaps "Common Haircap" (Great Golden Maidenhair) moss? There's a gentle and well signposted trail around the waterfall, accessed from the forestry road just south of the farm at Blakehopeburnhaugh. #Redesdale #Northumberland #Photography

From yesterday, but I saved it for #StandingStoneSunday even though one is somewhat recumbent! 😉 This is The Three Kings in Redesdale. Around 3500 years old. A central cairn predates the circle and contained a buried urn with ashes and cremated bones. The fourth stone has fallen - it once would have stood upright. And seemingly the silver birch is significant too, being a sacred tree in Celtic mythology, representing new beginning and protection. #Northumberland #StoneCircle

A #Mosstodon photo from earlier today up in Redesdale Forest, #Northumberland - a lovely spot, close to Hindhope Linn. #Moss #Photography

Hmm- switch it off and back on again?! (Not a joke!) Back from a couple of days away, I haven't switched it on in the meantime, and now suddenly it's working. 🤔

Sunset after some rather pleasant boxing day weather! 😎 #Sunset #Teesdale #Pennines

A boxing day #SheepOfMastodon pic. This is not far from Middleton in Teesdale in the North Pennines. Calm day, and too hot for my coat! 😎 Supposedly this is the warmest Christmas since 2016. #Teesdale #Pennines

I hope I'm not just missing something obvious, but how hard can it possibly be to get Ubuntu 24 to send audio to a TV? (The answer is "very", perhaps?) It's a Lenovo X380 that was fine running an old version of PopOS, but I tried switching because of some other problems. It'll be driver related, I guess, and I'll probably figure it out after a few hours, but this probably wouldn't be a great experience for anyone less than techie. 🙄 #Lenovo #HDMI #Audio

Another #TrigPoint bagged. 😎 This is the "Teppermoor Hill" trig point (250m) close to Milecastle 30 along Hadrian's Wall. I would have stopped for a cup of tea, but the wind was crazy and the imminent risk of frostbite persuaded me onward towards the shelter of Black Carts Turret; I believe designated as Milecastle 29a. #HadriansWall #Hiking #Northumberland

I'm curious if there is some sort of sane reason why the Roman Temple of Mithras has it's alter decorated with a cow, two tangerines, and a small log?! 🤔 #HadriansWall #Hiking #Temple #Mithras

And- got it in 7... at least that somewhat redeems yesterday's close shave! 🤣
https://betweenle.com/ 647 - 4/5:
🏆🏆🏆🏆

Part curiosity, part proof of concept... I was thinking it ought to be pretty easy to lift a Mastodon RSS feed and dress it up as a stripped-back, much simplified timeline. I don't have a specific use case! 😂 But, it does behave pretty well in reader-mode, and with a screen-reader too, although there are quite a few improvements I could make. 🤔 #RSS #Reader Demo -> https://mootparadox.com/webapp/mastodon

Well- you can't get much closer than that!! 🤣 Too many possibilities, and it ended up like defusing a bomb in a James Bond movie!! 😅 #Betweenle

https://betweenle.com/ (646) 🏆
⬆️⬆️⬇️⬇️⬇️ - ⬆️⬇️⬇️ - ⬆️⬆️⬇️ - ⬇️⬆️ - 🟩

Finishing up tonight's indoor session with a low-level traverse, and I found a "Hero" sized mini Double Decker hidden in a hold!! 🤣 #Climbing #IndoorClimbing #CragSwag

Three Wednesdays in a row and steady swimming progression after a break of several months. From 1.6km, to 2.3km, to 2.6km... unfortunately they'll probably be closed for the next couple of Wednesdays. 🧑‍🎄 There's always the North Sea I suppose!! 🥶🤣 #Swimming

Next Christmas movie on the itinerary... "Gremlins". 😁🦖 #Christmas #ChristmasMovie #Movie

This morning's #FlatWhite and I felt as though I'd kept the milk wand slightly too deep and the texture was off. Which it was, a bit. But the taste and feel of the coffee is actually rather good... I might be getting slightly too much air into the milk on most days. ☕🤔 #Coffee #LatteArt

Forget everything you think you know about Santa...!! Just been re-watching "Rare Exports", a Finnish documentary from 2010. 😉 Great example of the dark-twist on the Xmas movie type of genre. Trailer here -> https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9RQlikX4vvw #Movies #ChristmasMovies #Christmas

Christmas tree has been reconstituted for 2024, and some leftover LED lights taped to the window. Just in time for Gaudete Sunday... which I only know about because I was listening to Steeleye Span! -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTbq2pPLW6I 🎅 #Christmas #ChristmasTree

I also want to take credit for firmly rejecting any smutty references to the search having a happy ending, etc. Were I ever to discover a double-entendre in one of my toots, I would of course whip it out immediately. 😉

It sounds like my quest for the ideal pair of boxer shorts may have finally come to an epic conclusion! I hope they live up to expectations!! 🤣 #AliExpress #BoxerShorts #Underwear

Christmas tree aspirations... but I'm afraid my tree is far more conventional. I bought it the night before Christmas Eve in the year 2000. Feeling as though I ought to make an effort, I stumbled across it in the Homebase bargain aisle for £8.40 (yes, the label is still attached!) and it's been with me ever since! 😂 Although, adjusting for greedflation, I guess that would be about £95.00 in today's money. 🙄

I've had this Noah's Ark for a while, seemed like a quirky decoration for my staircase window, but today I finally got around to adding some animals. I'm not too familiar with the cultural narrative, so hopefully I'm along the correct lines... 😉 #NoahsArk #Model #Decor

Just viewed my first Christmas Movie of the season... had to be the #PolarExpress what else?! 🧑‍🎄

Another photograph from my walk along Hadrian's Wall yesterday. If I ever live in a castle, an improbable scenario perhaps, then this is exactly the type of approach I would require! It's the private road leading to Halton Castle. Not your typical castle, but rather a fortified tower with the later addition of a manor house. It's still a family home, and I believe they hold occasional open-days when local minions can view the gardens. 📷 #Photography #Northumberland #Hiking #MonochromeMonday

A lone tree that I spotted on a peaceful afternoon walk along the Portgate section of Hadrian's Wall. Stopped for a snack and a cuppa at the Stanley Plantation trig-point. Saw absolutely nobody... not sure why, it was a pretty nice day. 😎 #Northumberland #HadriansWall #Hiking #Photography

Just put up my (half-price, woohoo!!) canvas from Photobox. It's a piece of digital abstract art that I created a few months ago with a view to brightening up the wall above my piano. Mission accomplished, I think! 😎👍 #Art #Abstract #WallArt #Decor

Near Valle de Abdalajís, this is the view from the pathway above Ermita del Cristo de la Sierra. It's a small white-painted chapel set on the crags above the village. From there, a flight of brick and concrete stairs leads to a viewing platform, and then it becomes a rough but easy scramble along the ridge. 😎
#Photography #Spain #Climbing #Hiking