On arrival at TJ’s she had left the drive clear for me, bless her !! Also she sorted me out somewhere to be with mi’ lappy, and here I am using blogger-for-word. An ingenious little prog. Which allows you to prepare stuff and then post it as soon as you are on line. Picture 1 is an incredible toy dinosaur which a sensor, camera and a computer. It will walk round objects and grin and do lots of things. Eventually he goes to sleep in his basket as shown. I asked Miles "How do you wake him up again?" Miles, well accustomed to the stupidity of granddparents gave me the obvious answer. "You switch it on". Now why didn't I think of that?
The food was superb and lots of people turned up. I lost count of how many children and they all played happily together. Tracy had cleared me a bedroom for an afternoon lie-down and I took good advantage of it. There was a din, but a happy children-din so I managed to drop off. When I got up Emma said "You've been asleep ages !" And I guess an hour seems a long time. Lots of great games were played and I think the favourite, provided by Helen who brought a low-loader full of white toilet rolls is 'Making mummified Snow Men'. This game is a sure-fire hit with the 2 - 12's and the youngest player, little Millicent (in the middle of the foreground) soon got the idea. There was 'pass the parcel' of course! It was lovely to see everyone, especially Val and immediate family, and I think that, after her recent bereavement a happy family occasion with the children was just the ticket.
Comments.......Re Amaryllis.....I have previously heard the phallic connotation but what they always remind me of, in my boring hetero. way, is the loudspeakers that used to be fitted on the roofs of cars at Election Time. But, having recently suffered an half-hour programme devoted to Freud's couch, even that might be construed as a 'freudian slip'.
Smart guess re the Robin puzzle Jill. Cafe>food>robin? And the Courtyard makes sense Bungus. Does the café abut the courtyard perhaps? But we shall have to await Reg's decision. I can't hop, even with both legs, and I'm with you re socks. I have a little foot-stool plus a long-handled shoehorn and a pair of tongs. It was a shame that the Billie Piper thing wasn't better 'cos she is rather dishy, and she was excellent sometime ago in the Canterbury Tales adaption.
And re heating plates in microwave. We just used to put a stack in and give them about 2/3 minutes depending on the number of plates. Just 2 plates takes around 1min 30secs - on full power (we never had ours set to anything else). We never cracked even one.
Hope you all have a happy and prosperous New Year. I'll catch you again sometime next year ! Sleep tight.--------------------------
I have never known a woman who was reminded of loudspeakers when confronted by an Amaryllis.
ReplyDeleteThe café is in the courtyard, so we are either both right or both wrong. Jill!
Do tell, AnonReg.
I am delighted that at least one other person is not besotted by Phillip Pullman and adaptations of his work. I had to watch right through simply to see how simplistic and unlikely it would become.
Sandra also heats plates successfully in the microwave but she always sprinkles them with water (I fill them). Our microwave manual specifically says not to heat containers without any content (a spot of water? I use a cup of water 3 min on lowest heat setting to time my perfect poached agg). I have always presumed this to be for the protection of the micraowave. Is there a lesson to be learned?
Today I finally got around to watching the video I made of ‘The Queen’ (on its first showing, not over Xmas). I had initial problems with the lack of physical likeness of most persona. But the mannerisms and speech patterns were so good that they soon became convincing (in respect of public perception). Apart from HM and Blair, I thought the tetchiness of Prince Philip and the journalistic nastiness of Whatsisname (PM’s spinmeister/guru) were superbly caught.
In terms of what we think we know, I reckon people were treated pretty fairly and sympathetically. I particularly liked the asides from Philip and HM about Princess Margaret Rose.
Having watched an d enjoyed Jools' Hootanannny, I shall now go to bed.
Happy New Year everyone.
If an agg is not available I poach an egg.
ReplyDeleteWe usually warm our plates in the microwave - 2 minutes at high power for 2 plates does the job nicely. We don't use additives and have noticed no ill effects on the microwave, the plates or ourselves.
ReplyDeleteIf I do an agg/egg in the microwave I break it into a glass, stab it with a fork lots of times (that's supposed to stop it exploding) and then give it anywhere from 30 - 60 seconds at high power.
We find the microwave brilliant for porridge (2mins 45 secs) and starting jacket potatoes (about 6 mins per potato). We then finish the potatoes in an oven for 15 - 20 mins to make them crisper on the outside but they stay lovely on the inside.
The robin was in the car park; well, that's my guess anyway.
Last night we went into Nottingham, had a Thai meal, went to the Bell Inn and stayed in the Park Plaza hotel. It was very busy around town; a stark contrast to 2 years ago when the Market Square was closed for refurbishment.
We had a good time, hope everyone else did whatever you were doing.
Happy New Year to one and all; may it be your best ever.
Rob