Today I shall keep well away from controversy and if any photography judges happen to pass by my window I shall call them in for a cup of tea, or even a whisky.And if my EPS chums think that Picture 1 is the same sunrise I took last year, but toned down. it isn't, it's brand new this morning. The Exif date should be there, albeit an hour out, because I can't be bothered to change the clock on the camera. The rather charming sun's rays are only there because my study window needs a good clean.
Isn't it great that it is light just that little bit earlier. Brinsley had a burst water main and we were all without water for several hours. If Severn Trent came round warning us like they used to, we missed it, and didn't have any saved. Then I realised I had a 2 gallon watering can outside full of rain, which would have done for tea and coffee, if boiled. Damn me, no sooner had I had the thought than it came back on again. The boy scout in me felt quite disappointed.
Picture 2 is Elizabeth Willoughby by George Gower. It is inscribed in the upper left 1573 and would be very early on in English portraiture. (the link takes you to the family rather than to her specifically).Gower was the painter of the portrait of Elizabeth 1 which everybody recognises. It is known by the way as the Armada portrait.
As I photographed the lady looking down on the painting, because it was on the floor, propped up in a corner, I needed in Photoshop, to stretch the bottom corners out abit to make it symmetrical. In so doing I somehow lost the knack of enlarging the picture back to fit the screen. A quick call to AnonymousReg fixed the problem. This is what I mean Bungus about the IT world being a friendly place in which folks help each-other.
Y is enjoying prime Palmers Green time and Ruby and Elli actually asked if she had made a jelly for Grandad Graham? She had. A delicious 'signature' orange jelly with mandarin segments suspended in it. Tracy rang as she does, bless her!, when her Mum is away. She was pleased to hear I was having a great time messing-about as is my wont.
Comments..... Wowee Jill. A flock of Goldfinches ! I'm not sure what the group term is, but could I suggest "A glitter of Goldfinches". Fifty-strong eh? We might get 3 and Bungus would be delighted if just one visited Boughton. I think the young ones seem plumper than the adults but I'm not sure.
Bungus..... Whoops! Fancy getting me 'Doric' mixed up with me 'Ionic'. Nice to learn that the squiggly bits at the top are 'volutes'. Thank you and I'm sure I shall soon find a suitable conversation to drop it into. Long live picking other people's brains ! Lovely update though re Sandra's 'shopping triumphs' and I enjoyed the 'Browser and Jesus' story. Thanks for the 'star wars hand grenade' suggestion but, relooking at the picture she seems more to be releasing something rather than catching it. I can live with either. Pleased to hear on the phone that Simon is out of Hospital and walking, albeit in a lot of pain.
.....Still got a lot of reading to catch up on. And my favourite OneWord DAB radio station has finally folded. With its output of poetry readings, literature, and other 'arty farty' matters without music it must only have had a handful of listeners like me. Not really attractive to the advertising moguls. Sad though. Sleep tight. Catch you tomorrow......%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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This is a flying visit as he weather here is very windy, so the power could go at any moment. Someone should invent a wind-up computer like those wind-up radios you can get!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I think that the collective noun for goldfinches is 'a charm of goldfinches'. Very appropriate.
Smashing sunrise: keep the mucky windows!
ReplyDeleteI am pleased to hear that your water came back on, in time to prevent you giving yourself cholera.
I do appreciate how helpful IT people can be (indeed I frequently benefit from it) but, as I don’t understand a word they are saying, I am inclined to switch off and metaphorically pull the plug.
Jill’s flock of goldfinches is amazing. I am jealous. And the Post Office has sold out of niger seed.
I am sure Madeline is right about ‘charm’ as the collective noun, although I do like your ‘glitter’ but would personally make it a ‘glister’.
I could understand an American making the mistake that you did in respect of ‘The Orders of Architecture’. After all, they do not understand the concept of Ionic, do they.
I agree that the ball of light seems to be leaving the lady’s hand rather than arriving. But I would still like to call the picture ‘Catch a Falling Star’.
Simon is home and I have sent him your good wishes. He is still in severe pain and not at all well, however. And some of his hospital treatment was less than perfect. Eg: in bed dirty and never changed; lack of food and medication; poor communication between staff; no letter for doctor and insufficient medication on leaving. (detail by email).
Quotation (from ArtDaily)
I try to apply colours
like words that shape poems,
like notes that shape music.
(Joan Miró)