I need a place to talk leather...

...amongst other things.

I wonder... is anyone still reading me here other than the two or three I know of?

I'm sat up late, as usual, pondering life, the universe and everything. No firm conclusions about that though as usual I'm afraid, just thoughts and theories mostly to be kept to myself... oh and a small decision.

I do love being able to share the stuff here that only really belongs in the public domain, like photos and links, keeping up with folk and stuff I find interesting to share. I prefer this format to LiveJournal nowadays so will be keeping up with this one and eventually ditching the LJ.

So. I know a lot of you began to follow my blog some time ago now, because this was my adult blog and that's where your interest lay; either in the intimate, gay, trans, bdsm or leather posts. You may have noticed but there are simply none to be found here any more.

However, having pondered the problem (for me) of no longer feeling that this is a respectful outlet for my adult stuff, I made a decision. I have decided that this one will henceforth remain my vanilla one and create a new private adult only one. Seems like a good idea and a sensible solution to me!

So for those of you who originally began reading me for the adult content, and are missing it, you'll need to comment here or email me (daddyk67 at gmail dot com) with your own email address so I can invite you to my other/new blog. Strictly for the adults among you folks, those who want to read the things I used to write. Warning; the other blog will definitely not for the rude-shy nor for those who would really rather not read or see such things from me!

I hope that all makes sense and doesn't offend anybody, it's my attempt (as usual) to do the right thing for everyone, because at this point in my life I find I really do need a place to write out my thoughts, memories, experiences and explorations about such things. This blog has happily become my family friendly U rated blog (hence today's blog changes) and will be staying firmly so! So if you're happy just reading this one let me know, and if you'd rather hop to (or of course read as well) my adult blog, please remember let me know on this post!

Phew. OK... nuff said.

Goodnight all

~doffs cap~

DK

Out and about in Chesterfield ~ Queen's Park

04022010 - mist on Queen's Park lake, originally uploaded by DK Leather.

Had a lovely walk in Queen's Park with Rachel earlier today... through the mist and into dusk.

Here's my Chesterfield (Flickr) set of photographs, the newest bunch of which I took today.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/leathermg/sets/72157615154172566/

Oh and here's a funny little video of Rachel (my wyfe1) larking about on a kids roundabout... is it any wonder I love her? :D

Enjoy. I did.
~doffs cap~
DK

London trip - Lion King & Natural History Museum!

OK this will be a quick two post wonder, since I'm behind again and have decided to transfer what were my previous daily (I say laughingly) LiveJournal posts, here in future.

This past weekend we had a special trip away.

Natural History Museum - dusk 2, originally uploaded by DK Leather.

This trip to London was a special treat for 'the boy' Tom aka Aimee... to celebrate her 30th birthday which was on Sunday.

Suffice to say we had a fabulous time, and I've been absolutely exhausted since.

Here's the photo set if you'd like to enjoy vicariously; I took quite a few!

And here's a good example of/snippets of The Lion King stage show/musical:

I'm not going to wax lyrical about it... because frankly if you've not seen it GO SEE IT, and if you haven't, hopefully you will.

All I will say is for the whole visit, both The Lion King and The Natural History Museum.. Just stunning!

~doffs cap~

DK

That Friday feeling

Well thankfully today I felt much brighter when at last I woke up (late night, late rise) bathed in sunshine on the bed. I stretched luxuriously and smiled, the first time freely and without effort for quite some time. The Champix has had a lot to answer for, including a hangover from a couple of months of feeling emotionally deadened, which is manifesting as feeling overwhelmingly swamped by my emotions. I'm glad to be feeling again, but I shall be glad when it's evened out and I feel balanced and calm again.

So I rose, socialised with my visitor guest for the day, Mark (Lelani's brother). He is a real gentle giant and despite being considerably younger than I, really pleasant, low maintenance company! I made this icon for his Facebook awhile ago and enjoyed making it all dark and moody with the moon.

When Lina came home from school, the three of us walked into town together in the frigid, fading sunlight through the park, where I took a couple of photos.

This one is the view across the lake from the footbridge into town, the one I showed a photo of the other week.

This one is the back of Queen's Park Leisure Centre as the sun goes down, the park lake in the foreground.

We were there to find a new school bag for Lina, since we'd failed on that mission yesterday. Funnily enough we failed again today, so we still have to try again tomorrow! However, here are a couple of pictures from our bag hunting trip yesterday, when I also had my smashing grandson Connor with us (my stepdaughter Liane's son).

This one show's Lina bemused in Marks & Spencer, made of bagfail. Connor's trying to coerce her into choosing one!

This one shows a somewhat happier Connor, rewarded for his saintly patience with that king of bribery food, MacDonalds!

Finally this one is from today, you can tell the Valentine's Day merchandise is on prominent display; Lina was somewhat taken by this giant rose, almost as big as her!

Then later this evening I made everyone dinner; a scrummy chicken in honey, mustard & white wine sauce with fluffy roast potatoes and green beans in a little butter and slivered almonds. Made of win, it seemed to go down well with all. Wish I'd taken a photo!

Tonight's been a quiet one in readiness for the weekend. Tomorrow is Imbolc so we'll be enjoying the company of friends and family around a fireside with good food and laughter. Then on Sunday it's 'the boy' Aimee's birthday, not just *any* birthday but her 30th! As her special treat we're taking her to London to see The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre and we'll be back home on Monday.

A couple of pictures more then...

Here's my wonderful and handsome dufus... I mean dog ~grin~ Bear, the German Shepherd. Isn't he just beautiful? Note his claim to both the study sofa and his latest squeaky ropey toy!

Oh and one wicked piece of news from Thursday evening, I had a big important assessment on my college course and passed with flying colours, yay me! So I thought I'd stop in the car park and take a photo to share with you here. This is North Nottinghamshire College (in Worksop), my Thursday evening haunt for the classes I take to qualify as a psychotherapist.

In April I have a 1 week, full time, residential course for Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy. This is one of 3 weeks (the other two of which I shall be taking in September) which will amount to a fully accredited Diploma. It equates to approximately 21 days of study and training, equivalent to a one year part time course. Fascinating non? I'm also waiting for information to sign up for an N.L.P. course. In case that isn't enough, I'm looking into finishing my degree next year; I've only one year left on that too. Busy busy busy... changing career direction utterly in your 40s is certainly challenging, but pretty thrilling too, to finally be working towards doing the things I've always wanted to do.

Last but most definitely not least, here's an updated picture of me with Abi and Jono's baby Declan (born in December). Isn't he adorable? Lina and I visited the other evening, taking Mandy (Abi, Liane and Katie's mum) with us. Because Liane and Katie are my stepdaughters and Abi is their sister, I'm considered a step-grandparent too, it's great! It was lovely to catch up, the new parents are doing really well.

Gosh that was a long post with lots to talk about. I only meant to do a quick catch up!

Bye for now.

~doffs cap~

DK

Mum's visit with us

Well it's been a couple of days again, deary me. Was far too (good) busy with mum and stuff, and (not so good) resting since after a very busy, sometimes difficult month.

However let's go back and have some real smiles from mummy's long weekend visit. Warning, this post will likely be *very* picture heavy!

First thing of note/amusement was that she left Ireland (normally so green because it's so soggy) in sunshine and arrived at Birmingham airport (1 1/2 hours south of me) in torrential rain! So, grey and bucketing down rainstorms were our company home... we didn't mind, we gossiped and caught up all the way home.

I'm going to go for highlights since otherwise you'll be reading for hours... so have some photos with appropriate back story.

This was mum first thing Saturday morning. I twitpic'd it with the byline 'I haz a mum but I haz deaded it!' I think we wore her out a bit. Note; that's my bed, and my nightshirt too!!

Saturday mum wanted to go visit a friend, so off we went in the car to visit Ann Elliott, an old good friend from her workdays at the bank. They had enormous fun remeniscing and perusing some photographs of mutual friends. I enjoyed myself fussing the lovely dog Chloe and just watching mum smile and laugh heaps.

This was a lovely shot just begging to be taken of Lina (my youngest) with two of our dogs, the little ones Jack (Luisa's dog) and Tricksy (Rachel's).

After visiting with friends over Matlock way, we headed out Mansfield way to meet up with Tony (my son), Kirsty (my eldest) and her fiancee Kerry, and Kerry's daughter Kyle. Mum wasted no time making Kerry feel at home with our wonderfully mad family, as you can see here!

This shot is a favourite of mine, I think I'll get it printed and framed as it's a bit special; me, my mum and my kids all together. Makes me go all warm and fuzzy inside.

Oh and I didn't say where we were! We went to the Watermill in Mansfield, a super Toby Carvery where we all ate far too much wonderful food, including desserts! Here's a dark but fun group shot taken outside, left to right; Kyle, Luisa, Amy, Aimee, Kirsty, Rachel, Kerry, Tony, mum, Lina and me!

The next day we had intended to go for a lovely walk in Clumber Park, but sadly the weather, s Luisa's silver dollar pancakes (and Arsenal playing!) worked against us. However we did all meet up again at the Clumber Park Hotel, where Kirsty and Kerry are getting married in May 2011. How exciting! It was lovely to be able to show mum the venue. Suffice to say we had coffees and biscuits in the hotel brasserie (the 'other' end to the fancy wedding bit)... and much hilarity ensued including mum briefly wearing Aimee's funny orange mohican hat! Doesn't she look such fun.

Here's a shot of us all around the table, gosh what a raggety tag bunch we look! Left to right; Aimee, Kyle, Kirsty, Kerry, Rachel (& amazing hat!), Luisa, Tony, mum and Lina.

We all clambered into Sue's borrowed 7 seater car and this was the sight I was greeted with when I tried to take a picture of the squish and fun with seatbelts!! I love my mum... heh. Insanity's hereditary you know ;-)

This was (once again) the resultant collapsed mum, exhausted from our fun, sometimes astonishing group noise and always downright silliness. Happily ensconced beneath my blanket of course, which Amy soft made for me, isn't it brilliant?

(Note: the more leather oriented amongst you may recognise the black, red and green hankies that form the colour scheme and main part of the blanket!)

Finally Monday came and sadly the early morning trip to Birmingham airport where I had to sadly wave bye bye to mum again. Here's hoping it's not quite so long 'til we see her again! Thanks for coming mum, the kids were thrilled as was I. Looking forward to a Summer visit with some pretty walks and maybe a little less food? ~laughs~

Another thing worthy of note this weekend was Lina's new hair. She grew up without me noticing almost... short and funky, not unlike her big sister Kirsty's except that Lina is very definitely her own individual!!

Finally and perhaps just a little out of place, but where else would I place her. Last but most definitely not least, this is Rochelle, who's birthday today was noted and marked with both happy and sad memories. This lady was a dear friend of my own family, becoming a firm favourite of all. Smiling, stubborn, excited to explore new things, Jewish, a smashing cook and loyal and loving to a fault, she could argue or fight her way into and out of a paper bag and do it all whilst still smiling! Devoted to her own daughters and to her husband Richard (I had the honour of handfasting them) until she was taken from us by major illness some time ago now. Richard remains a firm family friend/member and though of course he will always miss her sorely, he has found love again. Below is a picture of Rochelle with her little dog Snoopy. Happy Birthday lady xxx

Friday fluff

One picture I didn't have yesterday (from the market) as Rachel took it. I rather like it, which is rare for a picture of me so here it is for your amusement. Me - drinking tea - how terribly British!

Next up is a picture of Luisa, since I've had so many messages of well wishes, condolences and loving hugs for her, I thought I'd show you that look yes, she's still here and doing OK, all things considered. Isn't the picture on our supersize telly amazing?!

Happy additional unexpected visitors today were my eldest stepdaughter Liane and her smashing son, my grandson Connor. Look at her amazing shoes and leggings! If you read mum's Blog you'll already have seen those though. I'm also quite pleased to point out how fabulous Liane looks, so much better in herself these days it's great to see. Look at how her and Connor are mirroring with their arms and hands, isn't that lovely? :-D

Anyway the reason they were here was to visit my mum, who's staying with us for the weekend. It's been brilliant to chat and catch up today on what everyone's up to, so good to see, feel and reconnect a bit; it's been soooo long since we saw her last! Here she is happily blogging on Rachel's nifty netbook, which she's gleefully commandeered for the duration of her visit. She's waving and grinning, jolly happy with internet and chocolate fix.

Tomorrow I'm going to drive her about a bit taxi style, so she can visit some more friends over Matlock way whilst she's here, then tomorrow night we're meeting up with my kids (her grandkids) Tony, Kirsty with fiancee Kerry and son Kyle, for dinner at a wonderful Carvery place we now know near Mansfield, since K, K and K took us there just before we went away to New York in December!

Spies clock. Oops... I think I'd better get to bed as I've a busy day ahead!

Goodnight all

~doffs cap~

DK

I should be abed by now!

But I'm not. Thought I'd drop a few lines and pictures in here before I retire. I need to sleep because I'm up in the morning to drive to Birmingham, collecting my mum from the airport for a long weekend visit. How exciting! I hope she's looking forward to it as much as I am, I've missed her, it's been a long while.

This is my mum btw...

Isn't she a smasher? :-D ...oh and she has a brilliant blog filled with her daily exploits and replete with the most amazing photographs and you can find it HERE. It really quite shames my feeble attempts!

Righty ho, I've missed a few days again (I'm not getting terribly good at this 'daily' business yet I'm afraid) but let's see... today was a Thursday.

We live in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. Thursdays mean it's the special knick knack Thursday market, antiques and brick-a-brack or as I put it this morning, gaily coloured geegaws! Wyfe1 Rachel loves this muchly and whenever we can (i.e. whenever I'm not working) we take a morning off, enjoy the walk into town together and peruse the stalls... usually completing our outing with a lunch somewhere together.

Today was no exception. Here are a couple of photos from our walk into town.

This is the park we walk through, there are far prettier views but since everyone tends to see those on wyfe1 Rachel's blog HERE, you can have this one instead! Incidentally her blog is short and sweet, a lovely photograph or joiner picture, sometimes poetry, always interesting so do visit it!

The boating lake is off to our right here, the other side of the miniature railway tracks that you can see behind the railings; a super red ride-on train circles the lake during the summer and warmer weekends, whilst the boats are for hire to those who wish to be on the lake rather than skirting it.

Here's a view of the bridge into town, between the park and the hustle and bustle of Chesterfield itself, spanning across the main road. The bridge most assuredly needs a repaint! I think I might just mention it to the council.

After our wander about town we went to the nearest Wetherspoons known as The Portland. We were definitely ready for a sit down, rest and something warm to eat as it was still quite chilly despite the lovely blue sky. We hadn't arrived in a terribly timely fashion, so sadly we were a little too late for our usual 'breakfast', however much to our delight they were advertising Burns Week (celebrating Scotland's famous poet) and had on offer Haggis, tatties and neeps! (potatoes and parsnips).

Naturally we plumped for that although we chose a terribly British cup of tea, instead of the traditional Scottish whisky that one is supposed to have with Haggis. I'm pleased to report it was quite delightful, good and spicy/tasty! I couldn't finish mine but Rachel happily demolished the lot! Here she is gleefully about to tuck in.

What else from today then, hmm. Ah yes, I rushed off to College this evening for my weekly class; I'm studying to become a qualified psychotherapist (with clinical hypnotherapy and NLP, must talk about that some time). Tonight it was meant to be a formal assessment so I had nerves galore. I sat and did my piece, heart aflutter and was gratified to do extremely well. Unfortunately it transpired that this week was only the practise run, next week is the actual assessment! So I have all the stress again; I hope to goodness I'm as good next week.

Finally but nothing to be sniffed at, today marks 10 weeks since I quit smoking. I'm still missing them (cigars) dreadfully some days, but I'm determined. My poor old COPD lungs can't hack it (fnar fnar) any more.

Goodnight all

~doffs cap~

DK