Saturday, November 04, 2006

Beauvale Lodge and Dahlia with Snail

In the process of uploading this, I discovered that one can blog pictures directly from Picasa. But it's not good because it only loads a sort of mini-version which wouldn't enlarge at all. Also, it begins a completely new 'post' when maybe you want to add something into an existing one.

The picture is Beauvale Lodge which, if it wasn't for the trees, would overlook Moorgreen Reservoir. The house has always appealed to me muchly. I think it is probably the steeply pitched roof which I like. It is empty at the moment - but all we want is a little bungalow with hardly any garden and nearer to Nottingham.!

Maybe when it was built the trees weren't big enough to obscure the view.

Picture 2 is nothing in particular, just a yellow dahlia before yesterday's frost killed them. And a tiny snail. This morning the dahlias really looked in a sorry state. We must cut back the foliage and lay it over the plants for the winter, to give them some protection. They don't all survive but most do. But why are we bothering I ask myself when we hope not to be here next year to see them?

Shopping this morning and then I cooked pork-chops in a Yorskhire Pudding. Sort of pig-in-the-hole and I made some stuffing. We also had potatoes, carrots and spring-greens. Spring Greens? in November. Ah well ! Yvonne had her favourite bramley-apple sauce. I like stewed apple well enough but I always think it goes with custard, not meat. A few years ago I would have added "It's a free country", but for some strange reason I've stopped saying that.

All sorts on the telly tonight. Strictly Come Dancing, The Culture Show, and Yvonne likes Robin Hood but I don't. How dare they leave out Friar Tuck? Probably he was considered 'politically incorrect'.

Don't be deceived by the time shown at the bottom of this Blog, because it is now 15.11 and my sole purpose when I woke up this morning was to upload the pictures before the rush starts. It does seem to make a difference. When I've more time, after Y's big day, I intend to have a serious look at Blogger Beta. It promises all sorts of goodies, like being able to add tags/labels to 'posts' to make things easier to find. Also, instant-publishing, which is difficult to believe. We shall see.................


1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, Beauvale Lodge is a house of very pleasant trad appeal and considerable character; roof and chimney, I think (pseudo Voysey? Lutyens?). but undoubtedly too big for you and Y - perhaps 2 of those innovative curvy pods would suit if a suitable site could be found?

Your last of the dahlias looks considerably more cheerful than our sole Japanese Anemone survivor which obviously doesn’t even know the war is over. Didn’t people always lift dahlias and overwinter them in cosy sheds? Similarly fuschias. It no longer seems necessary. Another effect of global warming, I suppose?

I had a pretty good night’s telly too. I no longer have the appetite for ‘Robin Hood’ either; too disrespectfully tongue-in-cheek without the panache of Python or Black Adder, or even Tony Robinson's kids' TV interpretation. So I watched both episodes of ‘The X Factor’ intercut with ‘Millionaire’, followed by ‘Master & Commander’ (very watchable and exciting but not, for me, as good as the hype of the time suggested. As a Western aficionado, my earlier intention was to watch Spielberg’s ‘Into the West’ instead, but I was put off by the excerpt, and the unanimous slamming it received from the critics, on ‘Late Night Review’) then ‘TOTP2’ and recorded ‘Match of the Day’ which I had to abandon at 1.00am because I was falling asleep.