Nice chat with David this morning and it was good to hear all about the children. Both Sky and Brooke are avid readers and, in consequence good spellers and grammarians. Brooke reads so quickly that David thinks the teacher is a little irritated at the speed at which she (the teacher that is) needs to produce new books to keep up.Neither of them have TVs or Computers in their bedroom and I think it has proved a good strategy. They are both happy with it anyway which counts for a lot.
Picture 1 is from Helen's holiday in Sicily. She says it is just to prove they've been there - but I think there is more 'interest' within the picture than Helen's description says....... I love the tree growing so close to the sea-water.
Not being a 'flora' expert I haven't much idea as to what it is. A more expert opinion would be welcomed. My Collins 'British Wildlife' doesn't extend to bandit country.
Is it some sort of palm tree ? Noting the pebbles round the base I wonder if it is actually in a pot and some Sicilian is having a laugh ?
Picture 2 was taken during a walk we tackled this afternoon, without the car. We went round The Moor and ended by coming through the Churchyard. At first I thought this fungus was a piece of litter - it looked too perfect to be a plant. The orange colour is striking. I have left the dandelion leaves in for purposes of scale.This one will be easier to get an answer to, because Bungus is somewhat of a Fungus expert. He cooks and eats an astonishing array of them (much more than I dare try) and, as you know, he is still with us.
When we arrived home from our walk (With my wheels of course. I had two 'sits' but covered a surprising distance overall) I cooked lunch.As you can see from Picture 3, I decided on a healthy, slimmers' dish which Y pronounced to be as delicious as it looks. The sauces were quite voluntary and, although I had a good squirt of Tomato Ketchup, Yvonne declined. For pudding Y made Butterscotch Angel Delight which was, as always, ambrosial !
Second childhood or what ?
We both have had good productive days on our respective computers and Y is still forging ahead. I do need to remember she has only just started because I found myself trying to discuss the relative merits of the browsers - Mozilla Firefox, and Internet Explorer against the new Google Chrome. And then I realised that Y didn't actually understand what a browser is or what it does. So I explained and she made notes in her little book. Little books are essential I've always found.
This evening we watched The Great Russian Art Invasion on Channel 4 and the writer/presenter Marcel Theroux certainly didn't let down his famous bloodline. An inquisitive, well informed young man who obviously speaks fluent Russian and he did a first rate job. The main Art period covered was the Russian Avant-Garde which I know nothing about at all, as a movement. Some of the work - Chagall, Rodchenko, Kandinsky for instance, I do know about but not in a satisfactory depth. Yet another learning curve presents itself.
Immediately after that it was Strictly Come Dancing and the results of the ladies 1st week. Y had voted for Christine and I had voted for Heather. Both survived but so did Jessie Mathews (Kat in Eastenders) which meant that a better dancer, Gillian Taylforth and partner Anton had to go out after a dance-off against Jodie Kidd. Jodie was simply better on the night - not easy for her, she 's 6'2" tall, and with her stilettos makes it to 6'5" !
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bungus ..... We haven't tried the low-fat Brie but I'm not at all surprised to read your report. In the matter of 'brie' we prefer the Somerset Brie, for the very characteristics you describe. It has always surprised me that they are able to call it 'Brie' at all, as it takes its name from the French province. And we make such a fuss about Melton Mowbray pork pies don't we?
Pleased about telly. Long live Charity Shops.
Thanks for posting the tribute to Paul Newman and I entirely agree. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid is probably my absolute favourite film ever. The website under the link has several bits of video of the actual film - should you want a nostalgic wallow.
Re lenses - best if I explain when we see you on Tuesday morning (I hope that it still on ?) and I can demonstrate the differences.
I think Churchill once described life in the Navy as "Rum, bum and baccy".
(and to Rob) I've decided to walk straight past the Sports Desk because, like so many things these days, I wouldn't understand what I was talking about.
The Wodehouse being serialised at the moment is Psmith in The City and this Friday's episode was quite relevant. If you've a slack half hour, open the link and have a listen. Excellent stuff in my opinion.
anonymousrob .... Thanks for your kind remarks about Hygger Tor.
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Quotation time .............. A relevant quote presents itself ............
"There is no special way a photograph should look"
The link is a 6 minute Youtube -ed interview with him. Quite good really.
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Catch you tomorrow - Sleep tight
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Catch you tomorrow - Sleep tight
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Youngest son and partner came over for lunch with a 5lb joint of pork which was delicious. Dan was led to believe it was ‘collar’ but I must chck that. It was both tasty and tender, quite delicious with a sharp Bramley apple sauce and crispy stuffing, roast and mash plus cauli, cabbage and carrots grown by Em on her allotment. Too much for me to tackle but I was told that the crackling was good too.
Dan brought me an external hard drive to which he copied all my documents (he says the tower cannot have unlimited time left). He also set up my laptop which can now be docked and connected to my keyboard as a replacement (I think I know what I mean but I shall no doubt need instruction from Jessica).
I am increasingly testing the ingenuity and resourcefulness of our resident mice.
A nutfeeder for the birds is hung from the clothes’ line along which the mice were able to tightrope walk before descending the string to the nuts. So I put a plastic plant pot upside down above the feeder. They soon found a way round that. So I then turned the plantpot upside down which only fooled thenm briefly – they would sit in the pot in the manner of pirate mice in the crow's nest
(dressed in appropriate uniform of course) and escape by either going
back up the string or dropping to the bushes below. They found a way round that so I moved the pot higher up the string (to give them a sporting chance I dropped another line of string down and coiled it up in the pot to see if they would lower it and abseil down). But they have found a way through the hole in the pot instead. Hmm.
They are constantly amusing.
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I very much like Picture 1 from Helen – lovely composition.
I am almost certain it is a variety of palm tree (or a banana) and I suppose the reason it can grow so close to the sea is because the Mediteranean has no tides.
Going through my mycological bible of 1,000 British species, I thought at first the fungus might be a Meadow Wax Cap (Hygrocybe protensis) described as edible, good, frequent (which means, in my experience that you might see some every seven years or so). If there are any, there tend to be a lot. It is one of the 2 dozen varieties I have eaten. On the first occasion, I found the whole of ‘The Meadow’ at Rufford Country Park covered with them, on a very misty morning about this time of year. I was then a complete novice and grossly misidentified them as Champignons. I picked most of them, several pounds. They were delicious.
But Meadow Wax cap has a longish stem, which your example seems to lack, and is less intense in colour.
Therefore, I think it is almost certainly an Orange Peel Fungus (Aurelia aurantia) decribed as edible, common (which means I do not ever recall having seen one).
Both may be from about 1” to 4” dia.
Whichever it is, you would very probably not die from eating it.(that is not a recommendation!).
I think you broke a cardinal rule of the fry-up.
Only brown sauce (or beetroot or chutney) goes with bacon and sausage (also chutney or mustard). NO sauce goes with tomatoes.
I don’t know what a browser is. Do I have to? No.
It’s like not knowing how a car’s brakes work. So long as they do.
I have looked it up. It’s a bit like eyes; it lets you look at things.
If it hadn’t been for ‘The X Factor’ I would have watched The Great Russian Art Invasion.
But somehow I did find myself watching bits of ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and I almost got hooked. I think it was only the fact that I find several of the onscreen people so unappealing that saved me! As soon as it started I realised why you like it – it’s the legs (6’2” and 5’ of it leg).
There is no doubt that ‘Butch Cassidy…’was a superb film; up there, as a Western, with ‘The Maginificent Seven’ and (almost) ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’. But, if pushed, I would say Newman was a better actor than either Kirk Douglas or Burt Lancaster.
I greatly enjoyed the clips. My favourite bit of the film was the knife fight but other sequences ran it close – and there were so many of them.
I wonder how many days/weeks it took to film and cut the ‘Raindrops’ sequence? And still it looked spontaneous.
The jump from the cliff was virtually identical to that from an earlier Western starring Arthur Kennedy – I believe down to the ‘I can’t swim’ line. But the art of art is often close to plagiarism.
Will Yvonne appreciate you explaining lenses to me in her presence? (I can think of someone who wouldn’t).
I’m pretty sure you are right about Churchill’s "Rum, bum and baccy".
And one of George Melly’s two dozen books was called ‘Rum, Bum & Concertina’.
Your selected Quotation is fair enough; we all look at things differently – I think it is called ‘a point of view’?
Anonymousrob:
Certainly, for anyone wanting an illustration of a half mountain, the first photo was far better (and a lot must depend upon how much you like landscape photos – I think they seldom do justice to the real thing).
I missed the Chelsea ‘penalty’ again on MoD2.
I reckon that I dislike London as much as anyone does (the only visit I altogether enjoyed was to the Festival of Britain) and the only match I have ever seen live at Stamford Bridge was tedious.
I really preferred football when a number of the players in any team were locals - and among Premiership sides I suppose Chelsea, Man U and Liverpool come as close as anyone to that.
I did see Ferguson's tribute to Jimmy Sirrel and jolly good it was too. But no one is wholly bad (at the extreme, I understand Hitler liked children and dogs – provided they were Aryan and Alsatian of course).
Panthers ended up drawing at Hull, I see.
Re - the quotation.
I didn't know that a photograph could look and if it could I wonder what it would want to look at.
The poor little palm tree appears to be extremely lonely and out of place. I feel quite sorry for it, won't somebody go and put it among it's friends.
The fungus appears quite appetising, a lot of them are quite delicious but I tend to buy them from someone who really knows.
The fry up is making me feel quite envious. We don't have many of those these days. They aren't good for himself. I ate cod's roe for tea today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sorry, it didn't last long enough to photograph. I spent the day with a friend who wanted to learn how to go shopping. We spent most of the day and over £300 in Specsavers. Her money not mine. I just bought a couple of T-shirts in 'M & S Simply Food'. How about that? Went to Ilkeston to visit 'Partners' stationery shop and found that it's now called 'Rymans', what a surprise.
Used to work for a meat distribution company and, according to the butchers, there are 4 joints to a pig, begining at the rear end. 1 Leg, which includes the rear leg, trotter & bum. 2 Loin, which includes the tender back bit & the ribs. 3 Belly, which is the underneath, soft bit between the ends of the ribs. 4 Shoulder, being the front leg between the end of the ribs and the head, trotter included. The head was not classed as a joint & went for table decoration or pet food. Sounds like Bungus & family enjoyed Sunday lunch. We don't get pork much these days, not good for himself. Boo Hoo. My favourite meat is turkey which we had for our Sunday lunch. 'Consolation'.
Our 2 youngest grand daughters were appearing at The Albert Hall in London yesterday. We couldn't get tickets. They attend 'Theatre School', on Saturdays and the school put on the show. Imagine there'll be a video or something to be had. Feel extremely proud.
Back soon.
Is a good speller another name for a wizard? or witch?
Think Bungus may be wrong about the med not having a tide, as I've seen it come up the beach very very high and flood the fields behind it, and not matter what the council put at the back of the beach, the sea always breaks through.
Would like to thank anonrob for his kind remarks about my photographic ability.
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