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• Nature Photo Challenge 4: Symmetree

  2016-05-31

  I've always had a thing for trees. I know they can be explained in so many ways, but in others they are mysterious. They seem to have souls. They get old and wise. And each and every trunk, branch and leaf is very much the same, and yet, totally unique. A symbol of both the infinite complexity of nature, and the rigid order within which that complexity it constrained. A tension I still fail to resolve. We found this horse-chestnut branch. It's symmetry is so almost-perfect as to be perplexing. I LOVE it.

• Nature photo challenge 3: Cloud storage

  2016-05-16

  I know the water cycle. I really do. But I still can't quite understand how so much water gets up to the sky. Water is HEAVY. Cumulonimbus clouds have been said to "weigh" up to one million tonnes. And you see the result when it rains. LOTS of water falls from the sky. LOTS. And it has to get up there somehow. And I know that it evaporates from the oceans and lakes but...that's a LOT of energy. Clouds. Amazing.

• Nature photo challenge 2: Weeds and Seeds

  2016-05-16

  I have a love/hate relationship with weeds. We are engaged in a constant battle. But I have great respect for my enemy. Weeds are tenacious and hardy. They thrive even where we try our utmost to suppress them. The dandelion is particularly tricksy/clever. Its root is deep but weak, making it hard to fully pull out. And its seeds are cunningly designed - though I'm not sure if their purpose is to blow away in the wind, or to be carried and blown around by small children. Both appear to be effective strategies.

• Nature photo challenge 1: Hand

  2016-05-12

  My friend Tim has challenged me to post a nature photo a day for seven days. Here's my first. My entirely natural 14-week-old girl Ada's hand. What a true marvel of nature. So delicate and intricate. So miraculous. Such an incredible feat of creation. Tiny-but-perfect muscles powered by her extraordinary miniature cardiovascular system, pull thread-like tendons to move the complex arrangement of small bones. It's not just a marvel of construction, but a sign of future potential: what will these hands do? What will they make? Who will they hold?

• New game: “Daddy, Daddy!”

  2016-04-14

  Board game idea: "Daddy, Daddy" (Mummy version is also available). It's like snakes & ladders. The aim is to get out of the front door - the last square!

• Let’s stop glorifying “Startups” and celebrate happy, successful businesses

  2016-04-13

  I wish we'd stop glorifying Startup culture and start celebrating the many successful, happy, bootstrapped and lifestyle businesses that exist.

• 10 Things I’ve Learned

  2016-03-14

  My friend/colleague/client Huw, has posted 10 things he's learned recently and challenged me to do the same. So here goes. 10 things I've learned recently.

• ARGH! I’m speaking at WordCamp London 2016!

  2016-03-14

  I stupidly decided to submit a talk proposal to WordCamp London (a large UK WordPress conference). Amazingly, the proposal got accepted! Argh!