Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Trip to Rufford - Cloudy then Sun

Last night's National Trust AGM was successful and Peter chaired it excellently. When the Treasurer presented his report there were, as there always is, the usual daft and pedatic points made. Not to worry. The Centre is in excellent fettle and nothing much needs to be changed.

After the meeting we had a very interesting presentation by the chap responsible nationally for NT support groups. So much has been achieved but there is always more to be done. Both Y and I were returned to the committee unopposed and even though I can't do much they can always find me something. Stuffing envelopes at Clumber is probably going to be my first task.

On Wednesdays a small group of camera-club chaps go somewhere to take photographs, usually during a Walk; leading to the informal title of WOW. (walk on wednesday) and this morning I went with them. It is an excellent idea for me to try to walk as much as I can, opting out when I feel I've done enough. For this reason it's best if I take my own car for flexibility. So this morning around 10am we set off for Rufford. Reg came in my car so I didn't feel lonely and Mike and Douglas went with Roy. It was cloudy and poor light when we arrived but such niceties don't deter real photographers and we all snapped away regardless. and eventually the sun came out. Being able to rabbit on about pictures is a treat and we had lots of laughs.

Picture 1 is the path from where the stone sculpture in Picture 2 was, and just leads back towards the house and offices. Just a record-shot but I liked the strong diagonal.

Many interesting new scupltures have appeared and I fell for this chap and the sheep, nicely framed by the gnarled tree trunk. The bench is stone and I sat between them for a few minutes rest. The chainsaw sculpure man who featured on Radio Nottingham has an exhibition there at the moment and much of his stuff is very good. Examples may follow tomorrow. My only criticism would be that he draws heavily from Elizabeth Frink. I wouldn't go so far as to use the word 'plagiarism' - just a strong influence. But what's new? Artists have always been influenced by the work of their predecessors and there's nowt wrong with it.

The others walked round the lake but I opted out at that stage. When we met up again we went to The Bird in Hand at Blidworth for a chip cob and then home.

Just a couple of clear-up points about recent 'comments'. Click here for Tiger Bread. It has qualities which Bungus doesn't mention i.e. it's made with Sesame Oil and glazed with rice-water and many people rate it!

Thanks Anon 1 for the QM2 info. I've posted 'stickies' and other reminders for April 1oth because I'm keen to see something other than sea from their webcam. Re: cheese & tomato sandwiches - over the years I came to quite like that soggy-ness which comes from several hours wrapped in cling-film. Takes all sorts!

Y is at Burton Joyce tomorrow and I have the Camera Club in the evening. But nothing to prepare because it is just an informal get-together. Probably be more fun than last week's exhibition which most people were disappointed with. The words 'formulaic' and 'pot-hunters' etc., were bandied about and some exhibitors were showing images which were from exactly the same mould they were using 15yrs ago. Still, folks do as they see fit but I wouldn't enjoy that approach.

This one is from Clicksmilies which are also good but can't be posted directly into gmail or blog. You have to put them first in a file-hosting site in order to get a URL. Nowhere near as easy.

And a word of warning about downloading things like smiley-sites because they can be riddled with spyware, spam and other unpleasant bits of malware. Everything I point you to is clean but a good idea is to download Macafee Site-Advisor - a freebie which checks sites before you open them. A green tick means clean, a red tick means the opposite and an amber tick means 'make you own mind up. Here's a link to it. Don't want you setting off half-cocked. Catch you tomorrow.

n.b for new blog readers. To see a picture full size just left-click on it. To leave a 'comment' left-click the word 'comments' at the bottom of the post and follow the instructions. If anyone wants to be anonymous, could they please be 'anonymous 2'. We already have an 'anonymous 1'.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I’m pleased you found the ‘man and sheep on a seat’ sculpture which has undoubtedly been the most photographed bit of Rufford for the past 15 years or so.
And I’m also pleased you have now come to consider the wood sculptures acceptable even though one of his heads is Frinky!
Art (painting & sculpture, etc) is no doubt very like music and writing – ie, only 13 notes / 7 plots in the world, ever. (all right, I know eastern scales are different).

Do I sound suitably grumpy and a bit miffed?
Perhaps it is because Anon 1, who certainly makes a valuable contribution to the blog (and who is welcome to my lettuce too, to spoil the pleasure of her lovely salmon & cucumber sandwich – and I also favour wholemeal) gets all the credit for the Queen Mary 2 info (not her fault) when it was little me who sorted out the schoolboy howler and gets not even an acknowledgement!
Bothered? Face?

I had entirely forgotten about the Bird in Hand’s famous reduced calorie chip cobs! (the Local with the Lowcal).
More seriously though, is the Orlistat getting rid of the pounds?

Interesting facts on Tiger Bread. I only ever bought it once because it was a bogoffer and, in my view, not great value at that.
I have eaten it several times since and I certainly wouldn’t call it inedible or even unpleasant (ie, it’s better than ready sliced). But the sesame oil surprised me; I have never detected it (which is unexpected as it is very pungent). It seems the rice flour is just a way of achieving stripes. I reckon Tesco do many better loaves, albeit more expensively.
So Tiger Bread is popular; a lot of people eat 50p a lb Lorne sausage and chip shop kebabs as well. And since when have the Dutch been renowned for their cuisine anyway? I always thought that the Windmill Caff's ‘Stewed clog with tulip sauce’ was the zenith of their culinary art.

Anonymous said...

Anon 1 - Sorry Bungus and thank you, I didn't want to say too much about the 'howler' as I misread it too and was feeling pretty silly!

Thanks also for added info about Tiger bread, think I'll stick to my wholemeal bread and pittas thanks.