Saturday, April 12, 2008

Spontaneous outing to Clumber Park.

Spontaneous decision early on, to risk the weather and go out for the day. Y had been up since 6am and I felt up to it, so we decided to visit Clumber. We left shortly after 10am with a large thermos of coffee and went by the pretty route.

Please see left - We broke our journey for coffee opposite Perlethorpe Church.

Smashing website, well worth a browse and from it I was able to discover that the prominent gargoyles, sticking out on the four corners at the top of the tower, and below the spire, are 'hounds'. As you will see from Picture 2, they are fearsome creatures and immediately made Y think of the 'baskervilles'. Or should that be 'basquervilles'?

The website picture is from almost the same spot as mine. I had no prior knowledge but photographers often come to similar decisions as to what looks good from where. Mine was originally in colour but the sepia is a 'thanks' to Jill for her continued incantations re my pain. I had another good night, but turning over is no-no (it is easier to get up, walk round the bed and get in from the other side - not worth it, so I sleep on my back). I'm at my best first thing in the morning for trips or to get anything done.

The weather was competely varied from bright sun and blue sky, through rain, hailstones, black-over-Bill's mothers (a local expression for storm clouds over a particular spot), lovely cloud scenes. No actual snow though.

Picture 2 was with my Tamron at the 300mm end and is surprisingly sharp because I am often disappointed with it.

I was mystified by the tube protruding from the creatures' mouths. They are to drain the roof. The type of limestone used is allegedly subject to moisture/decay and this cunningly devised system obviously keeps the water away from the walls. .A new one to me, but perhaps the Architectural Desk can enlighten us.

He looks as if he is leaping to eat the bit of foliage on the left of the picture.

Back to the knobbly trees for the moment. I think Bungus's criticism about nothing to give him scale and "trees at unspecified distance tell me nothing about the size of the hole" is a little onbscure for me. This crop to the hole in Helen's picture shows, quite clearly, the grasses and plants growing round the base of the tree. And we are not after-all in the Serengeti are we? Grasses and plants in this area and at this time of year have a regular and knowable size? What more is necessary?

All I can say about Picture 4 is 'don't forget the mint sauce'.

Madeline will probably give me a bad time over that but it would be nice to hear from her anyway. Whatever the message ! I read WU forums regularly and mostly see her dispensing valuable computer advice.

At least lambs are free to frolic during the short lives, not like the appalling conditions in which battery chickens are reared. We have now joined the free-range chicken and egg lobby; reading labels very carefully before buying anything. This fuss over food dyes though is abit OTT in my opinion. If Battenburg cake causes your kids to act strangely, don't feed it to them. As simple as that. Certainly not necessary to make it unlawful to produce. I can just guess what the French reaction would be to such legislation !

Comments..... Jill..... I hope you have now found Reg's 'comment'; it is there, twice actually - he must've clicked the button twice, - no safety catch on again.

It is there because AnonymousRob has reacted to information therein about the young girl photographers' names.

Glad you like the painting. Each time I look at it I appreciate it more. And you can't say anything better about great Art.

Sorry you don't fancy a chip-butty. In this area chips and bread have often been linked. I know a Fish & Chip restaurant in Belper where, with your fish and chips and mushy peas, you get a pot of tea, and two slices of bread & butter. Now that is traditional. You and Ro will have to come up for a fortnight and we can introduce you to real sophisticated eating !

Bungus..... Already mentioned above re knobbly trees and scale. Today at Clumber I could have OD'd on knobbly trees but thought perhaps churches would be better.

Strange you mentioned being startled by dangerously driven disability scooters. There's a lot been running in the Telegraph over the last few days.

Re 'proud pied' and alternative definitions. I suspect that, in Poetry, there is no such animal as an 'official' definition. Part of the joy I've always thought. Ambiguity is an essential tool for Poets don't you think?

AnonymousRob....... Pleased to see the Sports Desk in such good fettle. And re the proliferation of Robs, Regs, Roys and Rays. And we must'nt forget Rose. On our Nat Trst committee we now have a Ron - but I'll try not to mention him too often.

My Epson printer is the Rx420 stylus which I bought from Brian and, although only A4, has done sterling service and, as I said yesterday, when on song particularly with letters etc., is great. The photocopier in colour, produces documents indistinguishable from the originals and the scanner is good too.
At this time of year, with so many bunches of daffodils and tulips for sale, I always remember this quote :-

"The flower in the vase still smiles, but no longer laughs"

Malcom de Chazal

Lovely little web-page there folks. I was enchanted while I read it. Well worth a click !

p.s. When I was putting my camera away, after the Perlthorpe Church snaps, I realised that I had had a large raindrop right in the middle of the lens. And when I downloaded my pics onto my laptop it was glaringly obvious. Not easy to deal with in Photoshop either because it was obscuring essential information, like a hound on a church roof. Good job I didn't use that lens exclusively.

....I hope my disability assessor had a good day for her wedding and that it didn't take place anywhere near 'bill's mothers'. She is coming over to see me again on Thursday.






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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like that, 'black over Bill's mothers'. It was like that here, we've had hailstones like cobnuts, heavy rain, blue skies, sunshine and some fantastic lightning and thunder. In other words, typical April!

Thank you for the sepia - I do prefer it in this instance. And I love the leaping gargoyle. He reminded me of a Chinese Dragon (which never look like dragons to me).

You not being able to turn over in bed is like me struggling to get out of the bath, I still have very little strength in left arm, and the grip we have on the bath is the wrong side to help, unless I sit back-to-taps which seems all wrong. I've used more bad language these last few weeks than I have done since I was learning to drive.....

I like the fish - I used to have a lovely underwater screen saver, with all sorts of fish and an octopus and jelly fish all popping up from behind rocks, then they up-graded me and it disappeared....

I have now got a new Freeview Box installed, courtesy of son, they have come down a lot in price, I paid £23 in Currys. And a box of sushi for said son....

Anonymous said...

I revisited the past yesterday.
Having purchased two for a pound (Netto) tins of Baxters’ Oxtail Soup, I tried it. So far as I can judge, it tasted just as Heinz did 50 years ago.
Having tried (and not enjoyed) braised/casseroled oxtail, I have always been puzzled why it tastes nothing like the soup. The answer may be that the soup contains a mere 3% beef and 1% oxtail meat! There is also beef stock. So the flavour of the soup comes from the herbs and spices, not from the oxtail. What a con! (and it has no doubt been going on unchecked for at least 65 years). I always thought the name of a food item had to indicate the major element of its composition (but obviously not water).
But it is still a nice, tasty and totally distinctive soup.
I also looked at 2 tins of mushy peas bought from Netto but of different brands. One contains 90%peas, the other (cheaper) less than 50%.

The purpose of gargoyles is to act as rainwater spouts; someone decided to make them decorative.

On the knobbly tree: I think a 50p would have given more sense of scale than blades of grass. But something must have given me a clue because my original ‘large dog’ guess was right.

Pleased to hear that you have joined the free range chicken and egg brigade.
Far more people, especially children appear to be adversely and often dramatically affected by additives these days (probably because there are more additives). Perhaps you have had no dealings with children who become hyper if they get their hands on Smarties, for instance. And other people might unknowingly feed Battenburg (eg) to children so affected (it happens in nurseries because of untrained staff, as I was informed by Emma only a few days ago).
My view is that proven dangerous additives (ie, poisons) should be removed and those which are likely to affect anyone adversely should be noted (as peanuts are).
On the same sort of theme; did you see about the woman who suffered an anaphylactic shock from material in her control knickers? No, there’s no punchline; it was a genuine report.

Chip restaurants in Whitby (and Yorkshire and Notts generally I think) always serve fish, chips and mushy peas with a pot of tea, and two slices of bread & butter. And the best ones still fry in beef dripping. Obviously some people don’t know the rules (I believe they eat skate and dogfish with chips in London).

Jill:
I found it more and more difficult to pull myself up in the bath and feared pulling the taps off. I now roll onto my front, kneel, and then stand before climbing out. Much easier. But don’t let it stop you swearing.

SPORTS CORNER:
Another not good day for Stags and not long left to get it right. County are doing as badly but are just that bit better placed.

Anonymous said...

Last time I hd skate it had new potatoes with it...is dog fish the same as what fish and chip shops call rock salmon? That's R's favourite, I don't like it very much.

Yep, I can get on my knees in the bath, but that's where the problem starts, the grip is on the same side as my bad arm, and I can't haul myself up on it. Last night I tried to get myself kneeling but facing the taps, I got stuck half-way and had to summon assistance....

G, yes. I think the crossword has a new compiler - I couldn't finish Friday's one, and haven't finished yesterday's, but will have another go later, having been occupied with the large GK one.

Anonymous said...

Yes Jill, rock salmon is dogfish which is sharka nd also known by other names. I like skate but not with chips - potatoes and parsley sauce for me.

Sorry for your bathtime problems. Wish I could help. Perhaps one of those Thora Hird aids is called for!