The 'lowering sky' is courtesy of AnonymousRob and I don't think it has anything to do with Bill's mother. The earliest use of the phrase that I could trace was in "Washing-Day." by Anna Lætitia Barbauld (1743 - 1825) where she wrote :
"The silent breakfast-meal is soon dispatch'd
Uninterrupted, save by anxious looks
Uninterrupted, save by anxious looks
Cast at the lowering sky, if sky should lower"
I bet she nicked it from Chaucer anyway. That isn't Rob's title by the way, it's mine - but it looks right.
Picture 2 is of the feral wheat which is visiting the garden. Yesterday I think Reg and Brian reported similar strags in their gardens.
The snap looked OK in colour but, as it was almost monochrome green anyway I decided to give it a go in b & w.
I know Rob will approve anyway and probably Roy too (I forgot - he's still away in Cambridge).
The picture seems to have a slightly eerie look I think.
Y is over at Burton Joyce, but returning under her own steam. Bless her, she insists that I 'need a rest' and most probably she is right. Steven is at the Hospital - he was having breathing problems and of course, quite sensibly, he has to have Xrays, ECGs etc., but he is due to be discharged shortly.
Comments ..... Reg ...... I overcame shutter lag partially by firing bursts, and at ISO 1600, hoped to catch the appropriate millisecond (ha ha!) when their wing-cycle changed. The results were so bad, concern for the sweet dreams of our readership has prevented publication.
In a word 'awful'. So much 'noise' you could barely distinguish the outline of the bee let alone its wings !
I think I'll stick to flowers and shafts of sunlight.
Bungus ..... I haven't forgotten our proposed Laxton trip and the tour with your friend Stuart Rose. Just a matter of getting hold of Joan and earmarking some dates which look as if they might suit you. Then I'll ring. For some things actually 'speaking' is still best. With e-mails I find I tend not to accord them their proper sense of importance or urgency.
And I suspect I'm not alone !
With regard to competition pictures you are, in general terms, correct. And a judge is entitled to feel that a picture doesn't fit the parameters. Rob was speaking a little 'tongue in cheek' when he announced that he had been actually standing in Bill's mother's garden. However, it is irritating when a judge simply fails to see the connection. i.e. You holding a long french-stick in the attack position failed to persuade the judge of it's pub-title connotation. 'The Staff of Life". Y said "They'll never understand that" and she was proved right !
The Chic Murray 'bee' joke is the real classic I think. Once heard, never forgotten.
Another Tommy Cooper one for you now _
I must sort things out now for when Y returns - Steven just rang to say he's been released. He has a blood-clot on his lung but they are OK for him to go home. He isn't convinced the diagnosis is right - and these days I think we are all correct to a skeptical stance. Y is going to ring me when she reaches Phoenix Park.
Quotation time ........"Expect St. Martin's summer, halcyon days"
Picture 2 is of the feral wheat which is visiting the garden. Yesterday I think Reg and Brian reported similar strags in their gardens.
The snap looked OK in colour but, as it was almost monochrome green anyway I decided to give it a go in b & w.
I know Rob will approve anyway and probably Roy too (I forgot - he's still away in Cambridge).
The picture seems to have a slightly eerie look I think.
Y is over at Burton Joyce, but returning under her own steam. Bless her, she insists that I 'need a rest' and most probably she is right. Steven is at the Hospital - he was having breathing problems and of course, quite sensibly, he has to have Xrays, ECGs etc., but he is due to be discharged shortly.
Comments ..... Reg ...... I overcame shutter lag partially by firing bursts, and at ISO 1600, hoped to catch the appropriate millisecond (ha ha!) when their wing-cycle changed. The results were so bad, concern for the sweet dreams of our readership has prevented publication.
In a word 'awful'. So much 'noise' you could barely distinguish the outline of the bee let alone its wings !
I think I'll stick to flowers and shafts of sunlight.
Bungus ..... I haven't forgotten our proposed Laxton trip and the tour with your friend Stuart Rose. Just a matter of getting hold of Joan and earmarking some dates which look as if they might suit you. Then I'll ring. For some things actually 'speaking' is still best. With e-mails I find I tend not to accord them their proper sense of importance or urgency.
And I suspect I'm not alone !
With regard to competition pictures you are, in general terms, correct. And a judge is entitled to feel that a picture doesn't fit the parameters. Rob was speaking a little 'tongue in cheek' when he announced that he had been actually standing in Bill's mother's garden. However, it is irritating when a judge simply fails to see the connection. i.e. You holding a long french-stick in the attack position failed to persuade the judge of it's pub-title connotation. 'The Staff of Life". Y said "They'll never understand that" and she was proved right !
The Chic Murray 'bee' joke is the real classic I think. Once heard, never forgotten.
Another Tommy Cooper one for you now _
'Dr. I can't pronounce my Fs, Ts, or Hs"
'Well you can't say fairer than that then -'
I must sort things out now for when Y returns - Steven just rang to say he's been released. He has a blood-clot on his lung but they are OK for him to go home. He isn't convinced the diagnosis is right - and these days I think we are all correct to a skeptical stance. Y is going to ring me when she reaches Phoenix Park.
Quotation time ........"Expect St. Martin's summer, halcyon days"
William Shakespeare.
Tomorrow Peter and Joan, and Jean are coming over for lunch. That will be nice, and I can give Joan the jigsaw which has taken up more or less permanent residence in the back of the car.
Sleep tight and I'll catch you tomorrow.
.
Sleep tight and I'll catch you tomorrow.
.
5 comments:
I attempted to post a comment from work this afternoon but the technology wouldn't co-operate. I wonder if our IT Consultant has put in an anti-blog-comment filter?
A good half of the comment was taken up with disagreeing with Bungus about the interpretation/misinterpretation of the Bill's mother's 'competition rules'. However, I shall take the inability to post this afternoon, together with this new blog entry to let sleeping dogs lie. I was only going to be mischevious anyway, like I used to be at EPS AGM's 20 years ago!
I like the description lowering sky for my new picture, though I did suggest to the blogmeister that it may have something to do with la mere de Guillaume!
Thanks, Reg, for the congrats on the forthcoming wedding. There will be a stag night and I need to dig out your address for an invite to the evening do at Portland. Ditto RG and Bungus and Roy.
Russia impressed me last night against the Swedes who looked more like turnips on occasions. Germany v Portugal looks as though it could have a cracking second half; shame we are going out soon.
Rob
I think ‘The Lowering Sky’ is terrific.
I am sort of sorry the ‘black over...‘ dispute is not to be continued. You can’t beat a bit of tongue in cheek mischief.
Nice wheat picture too. I presume you mean it is slightly ‘earie’?
Phone by all means (re Laxton) although I personally prefer email as I find the spoken word is so easily forgotten or misunderstood and it cannot be checked back on (unless one records it which seems a bit KGB). I have never really liked phones.
But I think I may be a more thorough reader than you!
I wonder what the judge thought you intended to do with the French stick (or baton)?
Nice TC joke,. Here’s another Chic Murray:
“If something's neither here nor there, where the hell is it? “
I think Steven is right to be sceptical but wonder about the reason for it.
Does a blood-clot on a lung have easily recognised symptoms?
Rob:
See response above to ‘cessation of hostilities’ (friendly one’s I mean).
Thanks again for the invitation to your matrimonial events. I hope to be fit enough to attend.
Looks as though you went out tonight shortly before Portugal.
They fought hard at the end but Ronaldo did not bring them Man U’s ‘time added on’ luck.
Both side played well but Germany probably deserved the narrow win (Grrr!) even though it was due to slack or misguided marking technique.
I tried to comment last night, only to be told that Blogger was not available.
The 'Lowering Sky' is a great picture, I wasn't too keen on the monochrome one with the bright blue anorak, not one thing or the other.
Bumble bees, I seem to remember hearing somewhere that according to scientists/engineers that bumble bees are too heavy for their wing span, and herefore not able to fly....
Steve's blood clot sounds to be something he could do without - is it an embolism? I know someone who had that (but a lot older than Steve) following an operation (caused by not moving about enough, it was said) and had to take some nasty drugs for a few weeks to dissolve it, which they did, no ill effects aftewards. But second opinion s a very good idea.
Enjoyed Springwatch, all diffeent bits and pieces, and a programme with Kate Humble about St.Kilda. Lots more I wanted to know, hopefully to be answered in later programmes.
I hear that the EU are ending sanctions against Cuba - I wonder what difference that will make?
Jill:
I to understand that bumble bees cannot possibly fly; also that the spire of Salisbury cathedral is a structure that cannot be built.
OK Bungus, you asked for it so I am going to end the 'ceasefire'. Maybe the blogmeister had better alert the UN!
Old joke - "Smithers, would you call me alert?"
"Yes sir, certainly sir, you a lert"
Let me start by answering your point about the teddy bear's pcinic picture entered into a seascape competition. Yes, I would expect the photographer to hope to be placed. Yes, I would be happy for the photographer to argue that the picture is his/her interpretation of a seascape and the judge should judge it on its photographic merits. However, i would expect the judge to comment on the photographic merits of the teddy bear's picnic as an interpretation of a seascape not as an interpretation of a teddy bear's picnic.
My Bill's mother's picture is, I believe, a valid interpretation of the phrase. Whilst it is generally accepted that Bill's mother's is somewhere in the distance, it cannot possibly be in the distance for everyone, especially Bill's mother. I happened to be visiting Bill's mother when I took the picture. In any event the Bill's mother that you know of is probably an entirely different person living in an entirely different place to the Bill's mother that I know.
Thank you one and all for your comments on my lowering sky picture. The more I think about it the more I like that as a title. I may even print it now I've got some feedback.
Reg, what a splendid idea to have pinhole cyanotype wedding pictures. However, as I have the leading man role, the image making is being entrusted to Denis. So they'll all be infra-red!
Off to the caravan tonight, with dongle, so may catch up with Bungus's reply over the weekend.
Finally, yes Bungus, grrr about Germany indeed. Are they favourites to win it now?
Rob
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