Monday, June 23, 2008

Joan's - Nails - Old Spot

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The above Loosestrife panorama has caused me pain. The plant itself however is a joy and is basically a wildflower which grows prolifically in our garden. For almost an hour I messed about in Photoshop 'merge' to get the two images side by side. But the other way round. No matter what I tried this was what it insisted on producing. A case for Reg/Rob/ advice I think !

This morning we went to IKEA for 95p breakfasts, with free coffee, and thence to Joans for more coffee. Excellent needlewoman that she is she is modifying me a strong denim shirt by taking some off the bottom and with the surplus, manufacturing additional pockets. It will be a bespoke denim shirt/gilet. Then we went over to Carlton for Y's 'nails service' - it is hard to believe that three weeks have passed since last time. I bought the only remaining 'starling-proof' bird feeder from the Charity Shop.

While waiting for Y, in the car-park, I used my 'vodafone gadget' most successfully. No trouble accessing the Internet and I dealt with a couple of e-mails and read WU forums. Once you are into websites the technology is nimble enough but things ake a while to load. Quite happy with it though. It will be handy if we ever need to be 'online' at the camera-club for instance.

On the way home we called in at The Old Spot for lunch. The picture in the link shows at the left and side bottom third, the old Daybrook Laundry which Bungus came over a few weeks ago to photograph before its demolition. It is apparently an important example of 30s Industrial Architecture. As you can see from my two pictures (taken from the pub) the demolition has begun According to Joan however the planning application for the work is defective it is claimed and everything has come to a halt.

Our lunch was Thai Curry and Chips! There is apparently an international rice shortage ! So Radiogandy is advising readers to stock up before panic buying begins.


Jill sent me pictures of an 'event' at her daughter Carrie's house. The event was a street party for 100 plus, with food and music and although the pictures are fascinating (partic the mosaics on the rear of the house) Jill counselled care with publication due to the risk of attracting unwelcome contacts. So, Sorry ! no pics.

Comments....... Bungus .... Re temperature sensitivity. I think it is due to medication. I can be hot/cold within minutes - so I've stopped actually doing anything about it. We have an accurate indoor thermometer and I look at that and if it is around 20c I accept it, whether I am freezing or sweltering.

Your assessment of Charlotte as a good salad potato is fine with us. A potato I actually dislike the flavour of is Maris Bard.

Re opiates. It seems that heroin and morphine are basically the same thing. If used medicinally they call it morphine but if you take it for fun they call it heroin. I am, of course, ready to give ground if anyone knows more about it.

Jill ..... The potato discs are actually of Jamie Oliver origin not Delia. I cut a medium sized potato into discs just over £1 coin thickness. Spread out onto a preheated oven tray and sprayed with olive oil. The ant spray is definitely a no-no ! They go in the oven at around 180c (but they are tolerant - depends what else you are cooking) for around 20mins till golden brown. Depending on the variety of potato they come out quite crisp.

Re the cards - No birthday. Father's day.

We will tackle google-mail when you return from Cumbria and any other probs.

anonymousrob ..... Of course Bill's mother has worked out how to get to her house. She catches the bus to the stop about a third of a mile past her place. Then she walks back. Easy !

Love the haiku ! I particularly like 'pissaro'd all day' Thos were the days mon brave.

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Quotation time ...... This quotation is probably just right for some of the 'threads' we have run with recently :-

"One can do such lovely things with so little. Subjects that are too beautiful end by appearing theatrical"


In Pissaro's letters (2 volumes) he speaks of painting fans. It appears that the Impressionists, when at a loose end or short of cash i.e. nearly all the time) they would paint a few ladies fans. I've never succeeded in tracking one down. It would be great to actually own one, not for its monetary value but for the joy of an original. Who knows ? There must be some somewhere.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

On Monday I had an unfortunate altercation with our neighbour |(the one of ‘high hedge’ history).
It started when I saw him on our drive, removing some poppies which I had grown along the narrow border at the side of our drive (the boundary line is set to become a disputatious matter).
I went out to remonstrate and became embroiled in a full-scale argument in which I managed to retain my cool better than he did. He complained among other things that I had used weedkiller on some of his plants. He was correct but, I should perhaps point out, they were thistles growing just his side of the (disputed) boundary.
We failed to agree on anything and it concluded with him saying, “What are you doing here, anyway. Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”
I responded, “I may outlive you,” which is not unlikely if he goes off like that very often. Apoplectic is the word that comes to mind. He simply cannot perceive of anyone having a point of view that does not accord with his. He is about as reasonable as President Mugabe.
After I came in he continued to remove all poppies and foxgloves along with the weeds that had grown on both sides. I have never before seen him work so hard (his son usually does the hard labour) and at least it is tidier now, at the expense of decorative quality.

Aldi are offering a waterproof camera usable up to 30m deep. That means you should just be able to catch the deepest diving puffins. There’s a challenge.

Unless I have misunderstood what you are saying, I think you achieved your loosestrife objective. Please save me some seed to plant alongside the drive.

Your bespoke denim shirt/gilet should enhance your explorer image. I am told the Amazon is very nice at this time of year.

I take it 'vodafone gadget' is a ‘dongle’ euphemism? You’ll be calling a WC a toilet next. Or a WC bowl a lavatory basin (which, for those unfamiliar with building terminology, is wherein one washes one’s face, etc).

Thanks for the excellent shot of Daybrook Laundry (it is about a year since I visited the site! (not a few weeks ago).
I imagine the planning problem relates to the fact that the building is ‘listed’.
Would you be kind enough to send me a copy of the photo by gmail (and of any others).
If I publish it, which is unlikely unless I get around to producing my personal choice of Notts buildings I shall acknowledge the source. I cannot yet be satisfied with a title – something like ‘Tied Up in Notts’.

I heard some months ago that rice would be in demand and the price shoot up accordingly. Perhaps the Chinese can now afford to eat it instead of exporting it. I bought a bag of Basmati.

So far as I know, I have never tasted Maris Bard.
I bought a pack of frozen mash for S to experiment with. Only £1 a kilo which is not bad if it proves acceptable.

I accept that heroin and morphine are basically the same thing although I would expect the latter to be more refined.

I think you have answered Rob’s query aabout Bill’s mother more than adequately. He should be able to find it to take photos.
Is the bus the 101. I say that because the blackness seen from Ollerton is invariably somewhere Sutton way on.

Jill:
If googlemail is a problem, why not send all emails with a picture from Picasa?

What a kind and thoughtful man, your grandfather.

Rob:
See above for Bill’s mother (you’ll find her under the black).

I too, much like the haiku.
Here’s another

Joy takes many forms.
In Pissaro’s case it is
Painting ladies’ fans.

(A ticklish subject, would you say?).

Anonymous said...

In a Monday late night film "The Bone Collector"(BBC1), a New York SCO photographed a footprint with a dollar bill alongside it.
I suppose it is about the same monetary value as a 50p piece and serves just as well to establish scale.

Anonymous said...

I've had a reasonably good 2 days at work because I have not been in the office. Yesterday was a trip to Northampton and Kettering. Although the M1 is very boring I console myself with the thought of 40p a mile and some good radio or, failing that, music on the car CD player.

Today was a trip to Rumbles cafe at Clipstone followed by North Notts College. If you haven't been I highly recommend a trip to Rumbles. It's at Vicar Water Country Park and the cafe, although a commercial venture, is a training ground for people with learning difficulties/disabilities. The coffee and food is very good and the staff very friendly.

RG, your interpretation of pissaro'd is not what I had in mind but I like it. I meant it as a reference to the weather but your version is far more creative. Those were the days indeed. Thanks for the instructions on how to get to Bill's mother's; I will go and photograph the sky above her garden. Again!

I presume with your merged photo you wanted the right half on the left and the left half on the right? I haven't used Photoshop merge so cannot comment on its performance, but surely it's just a matter of going back to the original two images and putting them the other way round?

Bungus, which Sutton do you mean? I have noticed a permanent black cloud above Kirkby-in-Ashfield. Could it be the same one?

The Bone Collector is an excellent film but I don't remember the one dollar bill photo. Perhaps I should watch it again; I am not doubting your word by the way.

Loosestrife seems a fairly apt name of a plant to sow on your boundary. Wasn't your neighbour technically trespassing? If so, you should have carried out a citizens arrest and, using reasonable force, smacked him with whatever came to hand. "He fell down the stairs, Sarge."

Strife from the neighbour
Decimating the border
What a silly man


If there really is a shortage of rice and if it really is going up in price, maybe we should all be logging on to www.freerice.com on a regular basis and answering the questions thereon.

Free rice, free rice, free
Rice, free rice, free rice, free rice
Free rice, free rice, please


Rob

Anonymous said...

We have loosetrife too - had a lot more, but I pulled some up as it was threatening to take over the pink geranium. I moved some down the end of the garden, where nothing much grows (except weeds) it can run riot there.

Bungus, your neighbour sounds thoroughly obnoxious. Hopefully he will have a heart attack in the near future....just enough of one to keep him indoors.

I will try and sort out googlemail etc. when I come home - am off to Lake District on Thursday till Monday. The Woolfest - all things woolly, spinning, knitting, real live animals, etc.etc.

G. your pottato discs - I have a packet of frozen ones that I cook just how you describe, although they only take 5 mins and are really already cooked.

Do we have any tennis fans here? I am very addicted to the game and Wimbledon in particular (only time I ever played truant was to go to Wimbledon, we lived quite near, nd in those days you could queue up and go in and stand, and later on beg tickets off people who were leaving). Our school was very 'strong' on tennis, but I had such hay hayfever I couldn't play and I was sent on an umpire's course and used to sit in one of those high chairs and be the referee. Tennis is a real test of skill and brains (unlike football....).

I will give the Culture Show another chance tonight.

I also heard about the rice shortage - weren't some supermarkets rationing it? I bought two kilo packets.

We have heard that our Woolworths is going to close and become a Waitrose - suits me fine, we have to go to Ealing or Richmond. This one won't be as big, though, and can't think where they will park - probably in Sainsburys, minutes away (but you have to spend £5 to get free parking).