Friday, September 05, 2008

Bedside Blog - Wet Weather

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Nipped out shopping and then back to bed, due to the usual.

A brief blog only, because sitting up is a bit problematic. Day filled with radio, newspapers, reading etc., but got up for evening meal because Tracy called in again having finished her stint at The Hayes. She reports that all went well. She looked tired when she arrived but a half-hour kip worked wonders.

We are a great family for- 'going for a lie-down' - aren't we.

The picture, due to the circumstances, is a 'bedside view'. Of no photographic merit except to set the scene.

Yesterday I think I said I would mention Google Chrome which is a browser. It is Google's own answer to Firefox and Internet Explorer. I am using it at the moment and first impressions are most favourable. It is fast, extremely fast, and easy to understand. The address-box doubles as a search-box which is efficient and saves on space. If you fancy giving it a try these words Google Chrome are a link to the download page.

Comments

Incy Wincy ....... We are all devoutly hoping for a little light to facilitate your photograph-taking. But I'm rather afraid that our combined efforts may not be successful. Knowing how resourceful you are though, I'm absolutely sure you will produce something good.

Looking forward to seeing the results.

As from your comment, and the others, about the Lapwing, Plover and Peewit - it seems that where you grew up decides what you call it. Plus the fact that lads and lasses of all ages can get these things wrong. Whatever it should be called this is a link to a beautiful example of the fella we saw at Carsington. In the interests of accuracy I should point out that, until we saw the enlarged photograph, we didn't realise we'd seen it !

Re eating dogs. The usual method is hot and in a long thin bread-roll with soggy onions and american mustard. Any fule kno that !

Bungus ...... Carrying on directly from the lapwing discussion, you asked who cropped the photograph? I did, because it was my picture. Although it was Reg's lens, the lens was on my camera at the time, and I clicked the shutter.

You City Hospital Consultation sounds amazingly speedy ! Back home for 11am - mostly you have barely started by then.

p.s for others - Glad Mannanan's tomato soup is proving so popular. You can find his own blog by clicking his name at the front of his comment. His website can be found here.

Jill..... Nobody else has mentioned 'green' in the Plover thread. But my Collins book says they are more colourful close to than the black & white one notices at a distance. The link is here again.

I hope the weather lets you get as far as your Exhibition in the dry.

Glad Jenny is home and has done so well. The story about the ward TV being on 16 hours a day, to allow the staff to improve their English, is truly beyond belief. Personally I would have complained twice and then yanked the thing out of the wall, in the hope thereby that the staff would learn a little about where their priorities should lie. Somehow I don't think they would have 'got away with it' with you. You would have sat in the middle of the floor or something.

Helen C ....... We actually like Spinach ! Or what little there is left of it when you have cooked a saucepan full. My, doesn't it reduce. It goes nicely in stir-fries for that reason, as with the Choi family.

We like Pak Choi and have recently been eating British Choi because they have it in Lidl - I suspect that the Chois and the Chards may be related.

Mannanan ...... Thanks for dropping in. Great story about the Chard Crumble. Did you have custard with it, or ice-cream ?

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Quotation time ............

"You can pretend to be serious; you can't pretend to be witty"



Hope things are better tomorrow. I shall keep you informed.






4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I certainly don’t envy your bedridden state. But you do seem to cope with it and even manage to get a measure of perverse enjoyment from it, whereas I find it a most uncomfortable situation in which to read or do anything other than talk or listen.

I will keep the link to Google Chrome on record in case I ever want to venture into that unknown territory.

Dog gone!

My apologies as I must have misunderstood something you said about the cropped photo of lapwing and others. I do get confused you know. If you don’t know, you will by the time you have finished reading the rest of this comment. If you understand it.

Have I got this straight? The Black & White plover notices that the Green Plover is more colourful at a distance? Or not?
I now accept without further question that it is the Lapwing member of the Plover family that says ‘pee-wit’ and is therefore known by that name.

I think most hospitals in this area now have individual pay TVs for patients. If my experience is typical, it takes a fortnight trying to learn how it works (at a cost of £50). Then one gives up from exhaustion.
(Talking technology, I have, incidentally, surrendered to the inaccessibility my new mobile phone having been donated a little-used one, identical to my previous basic model, which belonged to the late wife of a close acquaintance).
The waiting room at chemotherapy has a telly constantly playing at low volume. If it is showing a programme worth watching it is impossible to find a seat near enough to see and hear properly. I complained about it on my first visit because it was showing one of those obtrusive programmes where couples are encouraged to swear at and attack each other on camers before the mother-in-law joins in. It was suggested that I go round and ask everyone in the room (full) if they minded if I switched it off!

Spinach certainly reduces almost to the point of disappearance. Could potential slimmers make use of that quality?

Is it the Stiffkey Chois and the Chards of Brancaster Staithe to whom you refer? If so, they are all closely related to each other and characteristically have hair on the soles of their feet.
(That’s me trying to do the impossible by pretending to be witty).

Helen C:
Sorry to say it but, to me, ‘stuffed marrow and chard’ sounds really 'school dinner' in the worst possible way! But I am glad you enjoyed it.
I doubt it will ever take the place of chocolate. More of a fish on a bicycle.
Emma’s recipe is a chard, lentil and tomato stew topped with grilled cheese. I suspect I shall not like that very much.
I like spinach best in a frittata but can put up with it as an accompanying vegetable.

I too thought 'Lost in Austen’ had some good jokes (although they were mainly the easiest of the time travel variety, based on hindsight). But wouldn’t it more likely have been ‘Miss St Michael’.
The underwear catchphrase that I remember (prewar?) was ‘Always look for the name Morley’ with some cheeky fellow pulling down the back of the neck of a lady’s vest.

mannanan:
I would say you are very fortunate in that rhubarb leaves are considered poisonous. They contain oxalic acid (I think) and (apocryphally) accounted for numerous deaths in The Great War - as, reportedly, did eating Fat Hen.
Or did you only eat the stems? If not, then a good job it was chard.
Chard always sounds overcooked, doesn't it?

As you will have observed, if you read my earlier comment, I made your most excellent tomato soup again.
I was short on carrot (by half) and long on olive oil (double) which did not spoil it for me although Sandra thought it inedibly too oily.
I will make sure I am more careful next time because to me it is the best tomato soup I have ever tasted.

Anonymous said...

In my earlier comment I intended to send best wishes to Rob and Elaine on their big day.
At least the weather has improved on yesterday, so here's hoping everything else goes well.
I would have liked to have joined them this evening but circumstances have dictated otherwise.
So it's good luck to her and it's good luck to him. I shall raise a glass of Merlot later.

Anonymous said...

Stuffed marrow & chard!!! should be. Sounds like something with no flavour (tastes like nothing) no nutritional value, not worth the energy need to cook & eat it. Wonder what its carbon footprint looks like. Have you tried brussels sprout soup yet? My favourite soup is tomato, home made from the tom's out of the greenhouse and courgettes.
Got to go cook ommelettes for tea before going out to Rob & Elaine's party.

Anonymous said...

The chard story of mistaken identity reminds me of a friend of mine who used lavender in the inherited herb garden with lamb for several years, under the impression it was rosemary.

I've had a long, tiring, but very enjoyable day - it was the IknitLondon Day, at the Royal Horticultural Hall (a most splendid building) in Victoria. About thirty trade-stands selling knitting goods/things woolly,several fashion parades along a cat walk, a super lecture by the most famous of knitting bloggers, a Canadian who had come specially,and lots of chairs and tables where you could just sit and knit and chat (I didn't have to sit on the floor once). The blogger goes by the name Yarn Harlot - she has never been to UK (or even Europe) before, and her first impressions of London are both amusing and thought-provoking. Check out http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/. Scroll down a bit for her visit to the National Gallery. This is just if you have an idle moment, or for you G. if you are having a bad night....

Anyway, I left the house at 9.45 (in the dry!) and got back at 7.30. I never realised I knew so many knitters from all over the UK. And very international stall-holders, I bought sock needles from Vietnam, silk needle bags from India, a scarf from Madagascar, yarn from Italy, and more yarn that was spun with power from a water wheel from Devon! and cashmere from Cornwall.

Enough, I won't bore you with any more......I am just sitting here gloating over my purchases!