The picture on the left was sent by Bungus and he describes it as "concrete sculpture of mother and child" and didn't tell me any more. No 50p piece for scale etc., - were it be be tiny it looks very like a prehistoric piece which were carved out of limestone and polished. This example turned up in Italy and has been dated to around 5,300 BC.
Bungus right correct to say 'mother and child' because you can't really use the term 'madonna and child' before the start of the Christian period.
Healthwise today has been much the same as yesterday. If I stop up long, the pain comes back but at least I have not been sick.
Lara, my disability practitioner, visited this afternoon to sort out what I actually need in terms of a grab-rail to enable access to the bath. I didn't want to be rude and sat in the bath room to discuss it. Ten minutes passed, then 15 and in the end I had to opt out
The Sunday Telegraph was good, and Y and I both like the magazine bit Seven which has some v.good people writing for it. Andrew Graham Dixon, The Art Historian is particularly astute. His recent essay about that 'worker with light' James Turrell was first class. Bungus and I were fortunate enough to see his installation "The Deershelter" at Yorkshire Sculpture Park.
The Matt cartoon is great ! I haven't borrowed one recently and, as I photographed rather than downloaded it, I hope Matt would consider it 'fair use'.Comments...... Jill ..... You were right about Nadal, and I lost a £1. Relieved Ro got his supper though.
It's hard to know where M & S obtain blackberries in early July ? We all are becoming so cynical - I don't believe Cornwall for a minute.
I don't think the rose is an Albertine - it is quite ancient and has moved around with us. I'll take a snap tomorrow and publish it.
Thank you for the osteoporosis update and, as you say, good news/bad news. You did well to 'strong-arm' (sorry !) the Dr. into prescribing the most appropriate drug. Young doctors must dread the arrival of formidable ladies armed with their Internet search results.
We wish you well with them, and keep us informed !
Bungus ..... As you all say. An excellent final which John McEnroe described as the best he had ever seen. I had listened on 5 live and very good it was too. Thanks for the Lovage/Borage info but I am amazed that some people now consider Comfrey poisonous. In recent years the healthfood lobby have trumpeted its many virtues.
Re Bunions. Y had both of hers done in the 1980s, on separate occasions and was in intense pain on each occasion. I built a metal cage of strong wire to keep the bed-clothes away and she wasn't allowed to stand on it for 6 weeks. No doubt things have improved. However, her feet are fine now and she is pleased she had them sorted.
Nice to hear about your Uncle Bill, the Wimbledon Champion. I think you should also have told people about his protruding teeth which enabled him to chew an apple through the racket he had just knitted.
I certainly intend to set some Borage seed next year. It sounds most useful.
anonymousrob ..... I agree about the final. Many commentators consider it the best ever. My only suggested edit to your brilliant Nadal haiku is in the last line where 'your' would read better than 'his'. And his full first name 'Ra-fa-el' would provide the correct syllable count.
I might have thought he was favourite to win but the gambling system in this house is a little odd. Y selects the one she favours and puts her £1 on, whereupon I am allowed to put my £1 on the other one. In this case Federer. It's easy really !
..........................................................
Quotation time ...... Very apt this .....
"Summer has set in with its usual severity"
As you talked about made-up words the other day, I thought I would share some of our special words or phrases. Anyone can have a guess and I will share the true meanings at the weekend!! Try these;
ReplyDeleteCrunchy sausage.
Drawing windows.
Squeezy cheese.
Flower munchies.
Ramstamin.
John runs.
Cross kings.
Cappadoodle.
A score of four or more would be excellent!!
1) cheese straw
ReplyDelete2) closing curtains
3) cheese in a tube
4) Palma violets
5) indefatigable sheep
6) Richard Lionheart and John
7) cockerel
The 'mother and child' is one I made earlier (a couple of years ago, on a one day course in the Community Workshop). It is about 8” tall and is the only known likeness of my Great-Great Grandmother Grice of Rempstone. Her brother
ReplyDeleteI considered calling it ‘Madonna and Child’ but my religious scepticism swayed me away.
I remember "The Deershelter" well.
Excellent Matt cartoon. But shouldn’t womankind be represented?
Jill:
I hope the side effects of your preferred drug are not too bad and that it has some effect.
Rob:
Impssible to think of a better match but one other in particular I remember, for its exhileration and skill, although I think it was a semi-final, was Borg v Gerulaitis.
And there was real Madrid v Eintracht European Cup Final (was it?). 5-3 I think.
Your prayer answered. You are not in Ollerton; you are not in London; you are not in Glasgow. So you must be somewhere else.
More about borage:
The flowers can be picked and make a fine addition to salads, as do their leaves which have a taste reminiscent of cucumber.
The leaves can be cooked and served up as a vegetable in much the same way as spinach, or in soup recipes. Go here for a number of recipes involving borage.
The leaves and flowers can be added to refreshing cold summer drinks such as Pimms or to non-alcoholic fruit punches. Borage tea can be made by taking a small bunch of leaves and simmering in boiling water. If mixed with honey, this can help if one is suffering from a cold.
A Recipe for Claret-Cup
A traditional and refreshing drink, seasonable in summer, this recipe comes courtesy of Mrs Beeton.
Ingredients
1 bottle claret
1 bottle soda water
225g (8oz) (approx) crushed ice
1 liqueur glass maraschino4
4 tbsp caster sugar
One quarter tsp grated nutmeg
1 sprig green borage
I have comfrey in the garden and chuck it in the compost bin. I understood some years ago that its sale had been forbidden. I don’t know how seriously toxic it is supposed to be but I recall reading or hearing that if potatoes were a manufactured item their sale for consumption would be forbidden (I think it’s the meths among other things).
I also have lovage, a perennial, but I believe that borage, which has disappeared, is a self-seeding annual. I think I’ll try some more if only for the claret cup above.
I have what I thought was borage growing wild in various bits of the garden, but it doesn't look like yours. Have never used it. I seem to remember my father telling me it was called 'anchusa' or something like that?
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your good wishes. Nothing to report in the way of side effects as yet.....
Feeling happily bloated and sleep y tonight - we went to the pub where daughter works for lunch and ate too much, no supper needed tonight. I had baked cod with pancetta wrapped round it and veg, followed by my favourite, summer pudding, and cream (and they make them large). R had his favourite, their individual shepherds pie, made with cut up pieces of lamb instead of mince, and served with carrots and beans, they didn't have his favourite on the board today - but Fi got them to make him one, a banana split, huge concoction.....am not surprised that every inside table was taken, and the pleasant flowery pub garden was nearly full too. Weekday lunch - mostly older people.
Have never tried making shep. pie with cut-up lamb......
I had a touch of the Gordon Browns yesterday and made soup from chicken stock made from Sunday's roast and a cauliflower on the turn I found at the back of the fridge. I added a couple of going-soft tomatoes....all that (it is good soup) and what is Gordon having - 10 courses at dinner and 6 at lunch, I bet none of them are made from left-overs.
Lovely Matt cartoon - and it is a jolly good one today too! Now you are going to have to include it in next blog entry.....
'mother and child' is one I made earlier (a couple of years ago, on a one day course in the Community Workshop). It is about 8” tall and is the only known likeness of my Great-Great Grandmother Grice of Rempstone. Her brother Tom was one of the 13 Tompiddle Martyrs exported to Australia in exchange for a crate of 4X - he was known as The Love Apple (Tom Martyr).
ReplyDeleteBungus, from your last comment it strikes me that you have been tasting the claret cup recipe! My own version would feature the bottle of claret. That's all. However, I much prefer Beaujolais and Cotes du Rhone to claret.
ReplyDeleteWasn't the Real v Eintracht score 7-3? I'm not sure. I used to enjoy watching Borg but found McEnroe boring, even his tantrums. I thought Jimmy Connors only got interesting as he got older whilst Chris Evert was very watchable.
Sadly, I am not somewhere else as I am here. Elaine is here as well and so are our dogs. Everyone else is somewhere else; I suspect some are at Bill's mother's.
RG, thank you for improving my Rafa Nadal haiku. I'm at a loss to understand how I was a syllable short on the first line as I (usually) count them all carefully.
Can't count syllables?
How on earth do you expect
To write a haiku?
I fully understand your gambling system; well done Y. I think she should up the stakes.
Jill, your local eatery sounds wonderful. Tonight we went to our's. Elaine had what turned out to be a stodgy omelette and my gammon was only OK at best. For some reason they can't do a jacket potato to save their lives. I'm not surprised it was mostly older people at lunch time; the grey pound could be very powerful if it was organised.
Crunchy sausage = battered sausage
Drawing windows = closing curtains
squeezy cheese = primula
flower munchies = Roses (grow on you)
ramstamin = roast lamb
john runs = diarhoea (spelling?)
cross kings = crossed fingers
cappadoodle = capuchino (spelling?)
What do I win?
Rob