Saturday, April 11, 2009

Easter Saturday - Millicent's 4th - 49F 2mph E wind

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Shortly after 10am Y disappeared with Tracy to go to Millicent's 4th birthday thrash at Manor Farm at East Leake.

The Farm is full of fun things for children to do. Birds and animals to stroke, donkeys to ride, walls to climb - phew !

Picture 1 shows Y with a tame Owl called Misty. I had my doubts at first but was assured that the birds have all been rescued from bad conditions where they have been mistreated and starved and stuff. So I guess Manor Farm is better. Y says they all seemed happy enough.

Millicent is going through an "I love ponies phase" so, poor Steven, I guess it is just a matter of time.......

I was excused duty and left at home to mess-about, which I managed to do plenty of.

My Reg Cure problem is well in hand and I have sent the firm the 'Scrn Prts' they need to diagnose what's holding things up. I also spent several hours spring-cleaning My Pictures, moving old picture material to Ext Hard Disc, rationalising folders and things - all jobs which have needed to be done for some time.

Also sorted out Picasa WebAlbums re WoW material.

Photo 2 is by way of another photographic experiment. Y had thrown out a posh bottle of bath gunge with a spherical glass stopper and, as it was waiting to go into the appropriate re-cycling box, I noticed that the top was acting as a lens. So I had a play with it. More will follow.

David texted me to say they had arrived at Stanmore Hall Touring Site near Bridgnorth and they had settled in comfortably. The website looks most attractive and I'm sure they will have a great time.

When Y and TJ returned I cooked the promised lamb-chops, a rather delicate eschallot-sauce, pan-fried potatoes, carrots, fine beans and purple-sprouting. Much praised and even though I sez it as shouldn't ...... Some nice fancies for pudding and TJ found room for some stilton and fudges 'thins' for a final course.

My responses to your previous comments

JBW .... People do so enjoy their caravans and your friends pursuits seem harmless enough.

Re the 'smiley'. I keep my eyes open and wherever I see a promising looking 'icon' or 'animation' I simply right-click it and 'save as'. Then, when it is in My Pictures, I have a folder called 'current icons' in which I store them. The 'caravan' came originally from Rob I remember.

I also subscribe to a file-hosting site called Walagata. Please click and I store lots of different material from documents to icons and animations there. The idea of a file-hosting site is not only storage but anything you store there is given a URL (http etc..) which means I can post a link either on the blog, or in an e-mail etc.. Although the package I have with Walagata is a paid-for one there are several free ones around.

Bob ..... I suppose 'looking forward to forecasts' is the only option really.

Obviously you are right about the background to the freesias but it was only a record-shot, as usual.

Jill ..... Y and I both love freesias ! The scent is intriguing and quite unmistakable.

I'm sure the History of Guernseys would stand serious research. This site please click makes them sound most attractive. The oiled wool sounds just the thing for serious outdoor activity but, as you say, it must have been the very devil to knit.

Rob .... You will be most welcome to borrow the Weather Forecasting book ! It is, as I think I said, unputdownable ! Its emphasis is perhaps a little 'coastal' but all the explanations are fascinating. The first thing to do is to stand with your back to the surface wind and then, look up to see what the upper clouds are doing etc.. etc...

Thanks for your concern and, as you will derive from all the above, I am feeling much rested. Plenty naps. But the day-length is confusing me. I wake up at say 6.30 and the only clue whether it's morning or evening is pyjamas or underpants.

You are right about the 'still-lifes' and backgrounds. Simple carelessness Sir ! I'll do better next time.

Thanks for the update to the Sports Desk.

Helen C ..... We must use our sunrise/sunset gadgets to find the best time to photograph the Hucknall Miner. I'm so glad that you like it too. Great piece of work !

I'm sure that, with some careful planning, we can minimise the effetcs of the surrounding clutter.

Glad you liked the Shakespeare quote. It seemed germane.

I don't know if you saw this site please click when I posted details of it the other day. Although at first sight it looks like a simple rhyming dictionary it is in fact much much more. If you enter your word and then click the down arrow at the side of the 'find rhymes' box there is a drop-down menu of all other goodies. Including Shakespeare, And then, when it has found your word in Shakespeare, you click 'the play' at the right hand side and the whole scene unfolds before your very eyes.

Fancy 'knock, knock whos there?' being Shakespearean.

I can play with it for hours.

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Quotation time .......

"The midwife wonder'd and the women cried
O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth"

Shakespeare - King Henry V1 Part 111



"Sleep tight - catch you tomorrow - weather looks dodgy though"


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4 comments:

Unknown said...

I am terrified of birds at close range(that's why I never enter any discussions about them) which dates from seeing Hitchcock's 'The Birds' when I was pregnant. So, the picture of me and the owl shows grandmother love at its best - Millicent wanted to hold it and then chickened out after 30 seconds!

Jill: you couldn't possibly know but Millicent is NEVER EVER called Millie. (Just as my Debra is NEVER called Debbie except by her mother-in-law and John's wife!). I'll send you a picture of her and you'll see why.

Graham: as always, a wonderful meal.

bob said...

Sandra’s turn at Tesco:
Not everyone’s favourite but, for anyone who’s ever played league dominoes…!
A 3”dia, 3lb black pudding for 42p!

BLOGCOMMENT
Yvonne looks somewhat apprehensive. But so does Misty!

Pleased messing about went well. And I like potential of the bottle-stopper.

PAN-fried hey?,

Ouch! I’ll look back on your nostalgic reminiscences too!

Great rhyming website.

jbw:
Like any group of enthusiasts, caravanners do weird and wonderful things.
I could never understand pitching and spending all weekend looking at other people’s rigs.

Jill:
Thank you for the encouraging message. I'm delighted they will be approaching my problem from a different direction!
Although I had always dreaded the feeding-tube-up-the-nose, I almost became accustomed to its being replaced daily!

There are Guernseys (also called Ganseys) and Jerseys; same wool, different traditional pattern (see email). I shall not attempt knitting one but if only I’d backed Mon-Mome I would have considered another purchase.

Rob:
Another last minute goal against Stags. Drat!
Disregarding that, they can’t finish above 11th now anyway.

Helen:
'knock knock who's there' ?
Can’t find it in any quotation dictionary. Which play? (could it be the watchman in Macbeth? although I don’t recall it).

Jill said...

I didn't know Y that you didn't like birds (except cooked on a plate). And sorry about abbreviating Millicent, we do tend to shorten names in our family I'm afraid.

I don't think that is a British owl, it must have been imported from somewhere?

Caravanners seem quite a harmless bunch to me, except when driving in front of you at 20 mph and blocking the road.....

I never knew 'knock knock' was Shakespeare either.....usually in any quiz where they ask where did some expression come from, Shakespeare is a good bet for the answer! Or if it sounds more up-to-date and a bit acid, it's Oscar Wilde!

Please enlighten me on eschallot sauce - something to do with shallots? Sounds a great meal anyway.

Unknown said...

I love the bird that miles was holding. Little Bazil. I held one called Bernie and he was a barn owl. Sooo cute! It was a really good day out and i think Millicent really enjoyed it.