Picture 1 shows the really red Flowering Currant on the left, while the less red one is on the fence at the bottom of the garden. And I hope that Bungus, seeing both in the same picture, will accept that the previous reds were not enhanced.The gentle nudge that my black backgrounds were becoming an 'affection' is gracefully accepted and they will be used less frequently. And there was me banging on about
artificial backgrounds in NEMPF.Something about the 'mote in his own eye' springs to mind.
Picture 2 has a good hint of environment. And congratulations to Rob for his judging stance. I will return to this later.
Y caught the tram just after 10am and texted me early afto to announce her safe arrival. She will love being at Palmers Green for a few days. It seems ages since she went and of course, we will be seeing
everybody at our 25th Anniversary on Sunday 6th April. We love these family 'shindigs' (I'm sure Jill, it is a correct use of the word). My Etymological Dictionary has it as "dance, party, lively gathering," 1871, probably from shindy "a spree, merrymaking" (1821) either of which will do.Picture 3 is a collage of David's Norfolk caravan holiday pictures. They all loved it and were snug and warm in the caravan with just a 1 kilowatt heater. Maybe a global warming lesson therein. Anyway - great pictures! They really convey the feel. The bottom 2 are frame-worthy.
Comments.....Bungus..... The chive count was spot-on. 7 would have been OTT. And if Orchids are de rigeur this year, surely they will be de trop next year, rather than 'common'. After a lifetime of dislike both Y and I have come to like them this year. So I'll be damned if we'll go 'off' them by next year.
Both 'don't create' and 'you'll catch your death' were frequently used expressions in my youth. Also 'I'll swing for him, if he doesn't pack it in' to mean 'I'll murder him and risk hanging, if he continues'.
I agree that chicken dripping would be foul. But if, having poured the excess fat from a roasting chicken into a basin, I stick it in the fridge to set, because the few teaspoonsful of rich brown bottoms are lovely for stocks or gravies. BTW your 'tree planting' quote is first rate. If you can't track down its authorship I think you should claim it.
AnonymousRob...... You might be interested that Briefly Onto Grog is an anagram of Nifty Googler Rob. I haven't worked one for AnonymousRob yet - but it would have to have 'bosom' in it I guess. Perhaps Bungus could oblige.
I think you have done brilliant work in Yorkshire and as you could guess I agree with every word. Let us hope that your approach and your decisions will have some impact. And they should because, for the benefit of other readers, Rob is very well respected in the photo-judging field. Danger is though, they will suspect you've been mingling with bad company. Not me, but Tony Worobiec, Ray Spence, and ArtyMartin Thompson to name but a few.
Thanks for adding the 'horrible medicine' saying to the list. I used to prefer 'Let me kiss it better' or rubbing it with butter. The boyhood lesson of rubbing nettle stings with dock leaves did actually work didn't it. Dunno why ?
Jill .... trust you to get in first about Delia. Personally I'm no Asian cookery expert although I like it very much. I thought the programme first rate with lovely pictures. She has persuaded me to have a go because Y loves both Indian and Thai cuisine. I also like Chinese food but Y isn't keen. Bungus is a fan and also, to my knowledge, very good at it. Contrary to Delia though, he does like to grind or crush his own spices. Purists can be admired you know.
The butchers in this area, and also Morrisons, usually have at least 6 different varieties of sausage on offer. And, post cooking, they remain quite identifiable, provided you know what you had to start with that is. And for the kids I did chippolatas and thin links of plain unspiced pork - these were very easy to extract from the serving dish. But they like to be adventurous and try the others. We usually cut a chunk off an end for them to taste before giving them a whole link.
To my shame I microwaved a ready-made jam rolypoly and opened and warmed ready-made custard. However Y made the jelly for the jelly and ice-cream.
The 'as much use as a chocolate tea-pot' is good, and at the risk of lowering the tone, about the same as 'as much use as a f*rt in a colander'. This thread is good so keep 'em coming everybody.
A busy day tomorrow, culminating in our 'first Tuesday in the month' National Trust evening at Mansfield. With my new Vice-Chairman's responsdibility, and Y has left me and Ron to mastermind the raffle in her absence. But I feel sure that Ron's wife June will help and also Peter's Joan is always willing, although she will probably be better to help Val, our new Membership Secretary.
The subject of the talk is Mr. Straw's House at Worksop and the lecturer is our own Frank Gibson, an acknowledged expert.
Quotation time...... Although feeling traiterous to my own sex, I must admit that the following is precise:-
"At the age of eleven or thereabouts women acquire a poise and an ability to handle difficult situations which a man, if he is lucky, manages to achieve somewhere in the later seventies"
2 comments:
More sayings:
From my mother, often:
"Eat your greens, they're good for you". True, of course, but not believed at the time.
"Finish what's on your plate, there are starving children in Africa that would be glad of that" Always met with the response "Send it to them, then".
"It'll be in the last place you look for it." Of course it will, why would you go on looking when you've found it?
Mum's response to a plaintive childhood cry of "It's not fair" was always "Neither are the hairs on a black man's chest"
I've heard of the chocolate teapot and, also, its near relative the chocolate fireguard.
Once, in conversation with a work colleague about someone very boring, I was told "He's got the personality of a gnat"
My (Irish) Uncle Joe, on seeing anyone left-handed, would always ask "Are you clooty?"
I think that's enough for now.
I like the anagram of Nifty Googler Rob. AnonymousRob can become Unbars Mono Yo! or Annoys Our Mob or Your Bosom Ann. It can also be Bans Your Mono which isn't me at all.
The bottom two snow pictures are excellent, capturing the atomosphere superbly.
RG, did you really mean to say chicken dripping would be foul (fowl?)???
I like Chinese food but much prefer Indian or Thai for an Asian meal. I didn't see Delia though. Is Ken Hom still around and Madhur Jaffrey?
Rob
Another lovely day here. And Stephanie cleared the blocked bog which is another plus.
Of course I do not doubt that the pictures were unenhanced. Perhaps photoshop or whatever you use simply enhances things on its own? In today’s pic the nearest currant looks (a quite bright) dusty pink to me!
The narcissus is beautiful.
I think everybody knows what a shindig is even if they cannot (or could not) correctly describe it. I hope yours is fun.
I agree with you about David’s pictures.
Re ‘cosiness’: in the icy cold of the Durham Ox I once considered constructing a sort of polystyrene tent over and around the bed to reduce the space to be (body) heated. I am sure there are such simple ways to save fuel but do not think there is yet sufficient incentive.
My Dictionary of Foreign Words and Phrases translates ‘de trop’ as one too many, in the way, ‘playing gooseberry’.
‘Vulgaire’ or ‘demode’ is what I was implying. But somewhat tongue in cheek as I think many orchids are very elegant.
Regrettably, I cannot claim the tree quote because it is already well recorded. I may be able to twist it though…
I’ll work on the Anonymous Rob anagram. Bungus becomes Sun Bug.
I rather hope that I have been a minor bad influence on Rob too.
Further to dock leaves, as with barbed wire, nettle stings can be negated by gripping hard.
Rob:
Stag’s boardroom ! What boardroom? The club has been run solely by Haslam, apparently for his own ends.
I am convinced he brought in his Pal, Calvin Palmer, solely to destroy the team (by selling all the best players who mostly seem to be doing pretty well at other clubs). Haslam's motives are a bit obscure but he has ‘borrowed’ money from the club and now seems to be determined to ruin it by delaying tactics. You couldn’t get a better manager than Billy Dearden but if he became disillusined and tired who can blame him and I wish Paul Holland luck although I don’t think it will come from Haslam or his appointees.
The thing about spices is that in their unground state they keep for years but, once ground, immediately start to lose their flavour and aroma.
I think the Wodehouse quote is generally accurate. And doesn't that make it bloody infuriating?
I am sure that olive oil is still regarded as ‘foreign muck’ by many, fit only to be kept in a tiny bottle in the bathroom cupboard to relieve earache.
Rob:
I cannot blame you for not wanting t be a Claude or Gerald but unless you can sort it out between you I shall have to put up with being confused. I am not unused to being confused; Sandra is my 3rd wife after all.
I entered a telly competition a few years ago to find the best amateur portrait ‘painter’. (I sailed through the first stage with a charcoal self portrait but fell at the hurdle of Toyah Wilcox on a swing). The winner, a young girl (who I thought might fail with an overworked pencil sp) also did the last 2 sections (another celeb) in monochrome – one green, one blue as I recall.
I’m a Madhur Jaffrey fan too. What cooking I do is more often than not ‘Indian’ from one of her books.
I’ll go with St John (pronounced Sinjin of course) if only because of the Liverpool church poster which said ’What shall we do when Jesus comes?’, to which some wag had added ‘Move St John to inside right’.
Jill:
We are lucky on the sausage front; at lkeast 3 butchers within 5 miles who make their own very good sausages , all in 4 or more varieties. There are no doubt others just as close and just as good.
There are many versions of the chocolate teapot (eg, firescreen), probably all northern. If I think of others I’ll blog them.
I've just made one up; 'as much use as an umbrella on a motorbike'.
“For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat and wrong.”
(HL Mencken)
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