At breakfast this morning Y fainted and collapsed. I suspected a stroke due to her dizziness and subsequent unsteadiness.Our super Dr saw her almost straight away and reassured us that she hadn't had a stroke but was suffering from an accumulation of stress. She prescribed some tablets but, more importantly, complete rest and taking it easy.
Dr. L remembered all about the failed house-move tension and my health etc. She really is a proper 'family doctor' and we appreciate her very much.
In consequence we have had a 'rest' day and, at the moment, Y seems better.
I promised info re fridge and this is it. The centre clear plastic shelf completely disintegrated. My good idea 6,330 was to throw away the broken shelf, measure the available space and buy removable storage containers. Result = the fridge's storage capacity is now more efficient than it was before.
Y had thought we maybe needed a new one but is pleased with the result.
Picture 2 is some Meadow Sweet from yesterday, just now flowering and one of my favourite hedgerow scents. So heady and exotic.But, as a predictor of today's weather, covered in little black 'storm' flies.
Comments ..... Bungus ..... I must disagree with you, and Jill, about the qualities of denim. Although I have never worn jeans, I have a couple of well worn shirts which, along with my new bespoke jacket, are tops for comfort.
So people don't be confused re your right/left of the saloon picture comment - I corrected the error, post publication, after you had drawn my attention to it.
You have a supporter in Roy re the Leibowitz picture and cropping. And thanks for the hospital stories. Sorry to hear about the recorded delivery letter and what promises to be resumption of neighbourly hostilities. How stressful for you and Sandra.
Reg ..... No problem with the 'poppies' being on a black mount - but perhaps narrower margins ? Anyway, it's your picture and thank you for sending it. Always a pleasure to publish.
Jill ...... Y remembers very well her visits to you in hospital when you had TB and were 19yrs old. She says her 'done for' look was due to travelling halfway across London after a day at work. But that's what friends are for !
'Lolly stick' seems to be the consensus re Helen's picture.
There's a small pink-flowered member of the Salvia family which may be it. But apart from beginning with 'S', I can't remember its name.
Sartorially, I have never been able to achieve 'the bees knees' look. Whatever I wear always looks as if I've had it ten years. Even while trying something on in a shop Y once said "You could walk out the Shop in that - no-one would notice". Your 'knitted with denim yarn' sounds just great to me, after about 20 washes !
Roy .... I realise from our last WoW that you know your stuff re birds and bird-song and I'm happy with the kestrel ID.
My denim jacket is definitely a WoW garment but I couldn't possible wear the blue hat. That would be quite improper.
Thanks for the jokes and the Tommy Cooper card story.
You did well to plough through that much blog material.. Much skim-reading is called for I think.
anonymousrob ...... Thanks for putting us right about the saloon picture and as editor I must apologise for any unintended slur on your forbears.
It is good to hear 'the truth' after all these years.
I certainly like your 'reading' of the Nicole Kidman picture. There is so much to 'read' and one person's views are as valid as the next as, as in all great Art, you can go on and on seeing more if you are willing to look.
The philosopher Roland Barthes said in his book about photography 'Camera Lucida' there is, about a photograph, both 'punctum' i.e. that which hits you, and 'studium' i.e. that which you need to study.
As you correctly hint, there is little ground between an Art History degree and Pseuds' Corner.
....................................
Quotation - .................. Relevant ? .........................
"The test of courage comes when we are in the minority. The test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority".
Not our usual sort of chap - but - as I've said before "If the line is good enough etc......" Mind you, on re-reading - perhaps a little pompous and definitely preachy !
Hope to catch you tomorrow. ........................................
I watched the full length version of the Culture Show on Thur night.
ReplyDeleteI was not altogether taken by the music. The Extra Golden musicians seemed to each have their own idea of the tune and, although I appreciated the dissection of Lark Ascending (unfamiliar to me although described by Mark Kermode as ‘something everyone knows’) and found its haunting quality very pleasant, I did not feel any great need to hear it again. But I was fascinated by the appearance of the critic with the ‘crop circle’ haircut.
The ‘Birds Nest’ Olympic stadium in Peking* is absolutely stunning, as are the airport by Foster and other new structures. But the CCTV Building appears to me to be ‘anti-architecture’ although it will provoke much discussion.
Steve McQueen (the artist, not the late star of Bullitt and The Magnificent Seven) impressed and Mark K dealt more than competently with several films including Mama Mia which, to me, looked truly dreadful. Meryl Streep impersonating a teenager on speed? She surely knows enough to act her age!
(* Most of us do not consider calling Florence ‘Firenze’, so why should we refer to Beijing?).
Sorry to hear about Yvonne’s ‘turn’. Hope she continues to recover.
Also hope Sandra does not succumb in the same way.
I told our neighbour that the caraven on the drive belongs to her. His letter demands that she move it within ten days as he intends to erect a fence along the line that he considers to be the boundary.
I THINK it has disturbed me more than S (who will reply in her own time) but she is expert at concealing her feelings.
At present she has more important things to deal with.
1) She left at 9.00 this morning (Sat) for a full day moving exhibition stuff from the Workshop to the school theatre for the Queen’s Award presentation on Monday.
2) Granddaughter Alex is having her 18th birthday party (for 70 or 80 guests) here next Saturday so that has to be organised and catered for.
3) The Palace Garden Party is a week on Tuesday. They are going down and returning in the day.
4) She has had the results of her X-Rays (not to be discussed).
But she likes to keep busy.
Excellent fridge interior. Are you henceforth to be known as ‘The Iceman’?
Be fair to yourself. You look really smart in uniform on your Garden Party photo. Frightening but smart.
I recall that my mother, when she came down to Malvern for my Passing Out Parade, did not recognise me in my uniform (and that did not even fit properly – I was made ‘stick man’ on guard one night. That was a reward for smartest turn out and absolved one from standing at the gate or patrolling the perimeter (all one had to do was take tea to the guardhouse prioners and the guard sergeant in the morning).
The billet corporal congratulated me on my return to the Spider but came round later to say that he had been wrong because I had been kept away from the gate because I was considered too scruffy to be seen (no repercussions because it was accepted that it was because my BD needed tailoring).
Jill:
I had a genuine Guernsey too which lasted for years and years until the elbows disappeared. It was a present from Sandra; very expensive but well worth it.
Pleased someone else agrees about denim. The first time I wore a pair of (fashionable) jeans, in the 70s, we visited my parents. My dad took one look and said:
”Are you working then?”
I persisted on occasions but eventually decided comfort was more important than image (it never worked anyay; see above).
Roy:
I am glad I am not the only one who would be tempted to crop the Kidman photo.
Rob:
One of my maternal great grandmothers was Irish too and I have been led to understand that her grandparents also kept a chip shop. I wonder? What sort of cousins would that make us?
(I’ll tell you at some appropriate moment how I am related to Clint Eastwood).
The following may be of interest to photographers as well as Western fans.
re William Bonney (Billy the Kid):
The only known photograph, an undated ferrotype, shows him with a Model 1873 Winchester rifle in his right hand and a gun belt with a holster on his left side, where a left-handed person would typically wear a pistol. The belief became so entrenched that in 1958, a biographical film was made about Billy the Kid called The Left Handed Gun starring Paul Newman.
Late in the 20th century, it was discovered that the familiar ferrotype was actually a reverse image. It shows his Model 1873 Winchester with the loading port on the left side. All Model 1873s had the loading port on the right side, proving the image was reversed, and that he was, in fact, wearing his pistol on his right hip.
Even though the image has been proven to be reversed, the idea of a left-handed Billy the Kid continues to widely circulate. Perhaps because large numbers of people heard both of these arguments and confused them, many hold the belief that Billy the Kid was ambidextrous. Many Billy the Kid sites describe him as such, and the fact is still widely disputed. (Wikipedia).
I have heard it said that the Paul Newman film portrayed Billy as left-handed because this made him appear something of an outsider. My favourite Wm Bonney film is 'Dirty Little Billy' starring Michael J Pollard - dim almost colourless photography; filthy clothes; 3 men (inc Billy) each fire the entire contents of their revolvers at each other in a one-room cabin without hitting anybody). Unfortunately it seems to have been lost or destroyed, although one person appears to have a DVD.
Agreeing, I think, with RG, it seems to me that photography suffers from the same sort of criticism as painting - and literatute. Critics always know better the creator what the work signifies. Everyone’s a Freud to say what they think?
Does that make me a cynic?
Favourite last line in a film ‘The Professionals':
A posse of men is assembled to return a kidnapped wife to her husband in this remarkable, hugely underrated Western starring Lee Marvin, Burt Lancaster etc. It transpires that the wife had not been kidnapped but had plotted with her Mexican captor and lover to extort money from the cruel husband.
The rescuers ride back with the wife but, after they have collected their fee, Marvin releases her back to the Mexican who rides off with her.
The husband addresses Marviv:
“You bastard!”
Marvin: “In my case that is an accident of nature; but you, sir, are a self made man”.
So sorry about Y feeling so poorly, have written to her. Please give her our love.
ReplyDeleteAm very impressed with the tidiness of your fridge - like to come down and sort mine out? Not to mention the walk-in larder......Those black boxes - the one on the right - it looks as if there is one big lid covering ?4 separate sections? I'm a great cling-film person - can never find the right lid for the right plastic box.
I liked the architectural bit of the Culture Show, and I loved the look of 'Mama Mia' - a must see....Just the thing for Y to see too. Did you see them discuss it on the Newsnight Review - none of them wanted to see it, but once there most of them said they couldn't help themselves, they enjoyed it. I thought Meryl Streep looked great, really enjoying herself, letting her hair down for once.
Bungus, your Sandra is one busy lady. Hope the result of the x-rays was not too unexpected.
My friend who went to Buck. Palace garden party on Wed. in all the rain seem to have had a fine old time, everyone was given a see-through plastic mac with hood, Queen didn't wear hers but Camilla and Charles did, my friend got to talk to them, so she was v.pleased. Said it was a good tea, she was glad she had worn flat shoes, watched other people's high heels sink further and further into the mud....
Have finished all 3 crosswords on the back of D.Tel today in one sitting, go on G, tell me they were easy today....