We got going quite early this morning because we'd both had a better night's sleep and the weather looked promising.Peter G had said that Dobbies Garden Centre near Chesterfield was worth a look. And so it proved. Well stocked and I found my Goldfinches a bag of their beloved thistle seed. They have been turning their beaks up at 'canary seed with thistle seed in it' which I bought in Pauls for a £1 per bag.
The whole place has a nice 'feel' to it but Oh Boy ! the prices. Picture 2 is included to give you some idea. WoWee, what a bargain, two potted fuschias for £20 eh ? How about that ?
The food hall was v.good and well stocked with high quality and interesting things. A bit reminiscent of Chatsworth. I bought some links of 'interesting' sausages. Thai sausages, some from Toulouse, and some Venetian links of a rich orange colour, and by the sniff, liberal on the garlic and tomato. A report back can be expected.
Anyway we had a pleasant lunch there. The restaurant is light and airy and although busy we found a corner table with a bench back OK. Y had a cooked lunch, centre-ing round chicken-curry while I settled for a Panini. I only ate half and wrapped the remainder in a paper napkin to bring home for my tea. Just eating it now in fact.Picture 1 demonstrates the Artichoke plant almost in full swing. Barry Marlow, at the club, prizes his as a delicacy but we prefer to enjoy the flowers and eventually the dried out seed heads. I'm far from satisfied with the 'blue' though and am thinking of asking Reg to pop over with his new camera to see how it deals with the problem. I can change the hue in Photoshop, but none of the options I'm presented with on the slider accurately captures it. Neither my D80 nor the little Fuji A100 are better than the other. By the way - the A100 could distort barrels for England !
Y suffered some aches & pains again and needed a 'lie-down' when we got home. I certainly wasn't going to argue. When adequately rested I dealt with our food purchases, topped up the bird-feeders and fed and watered the Courgette plant and the Tomatoes. There will be at least one tomato ready for the table tomorrow and a couple of courgettes.
In idle moments we completed the Telegraph Crossword. A good team effort. A couple of clues were anagrams which Y had solved without spotting that they were anagrams. Is that a gift ? I always used to consider Monday's an easy one anyway - I think they didn't like to stretch you too much after a weekend off.
My responses to your previous comments
Pete B ..... Thanks for your good wishes and I am pleased to be so much better. Y is good too but increasingly subject to aches & pains. In her head she fells 52 but her body keeps telling her she will be 73 next. She does wonders though.
I sincerely hope that things work out so that you can retire at a reasonable age. The Good Lord didn't design us to be working in our 70s.
I really like the story about your daughters and the River Dart and it would have been lovely to be able to open the picture. Unfortunately the link in the comment didn't work and, whatever cunning wrinkles I employed I couldn't open it anyway/anywhere. Madeline discovered some days ago that you can't post links in comments-boxes and resorted to e-mailing me a Norton Hotfix I needed. I think you will have to do the same with the picture.
But please do it. Because I think other readers would like to see it too.
Bob .... The newspaper wasn't a surrogate table cloth. It was there to stand the steamer top on and I hadn't got round to moving it.
As you know - I also am a prominent member of Hoarders Anonymous. I found some bicycle clips the other day - well you never know do you .......
Pleased about your credit card. It is a fact that 99% of people are honest and will hand in anything they find.
Jill ..... Y isn't keen on gravy, and I'm trying to eat without it mainly because of its fattening effects. However, and you never know do you - if ever I have the pleasure of cooking a meal for you I shall prepare the requisite gravy pond ! And it will be good gravy too - you will need a round of bread & butter to mop it up with.
We hope that Ro's checks prove satisfactory. And it is so good when sons and things mastermind transport arangements isn't it ?
I think Y has given up on the notion of converting me into a tidy person. I do try - honest.
I'm loving all the coverage of Tennyson's Bicentenary, particularly on the radio. What a tortured soul he was. The classic serial reading of Maud was excellent, all 3 times I've listened to it. And I'm now giving his Ulysses the same treatment. The poet Sean O'Brien is reading it very well indeed. The Poetry Archive, which the link takes you to, is well worth having on your computer - mostly thanks to Andrew Motion - it is a well stocked resource. Even, by the way, an early wax cylinder recording of Tennyson himself reading The Charge of The Light Brigade.
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Quotation slot .................
"Do you realize if it weren't for Edison we'd be watching TV by candlelight?"
G,
ReplyDeleteThe picture that PeteB gave of his children's "crabing" picture seems to work OK if you highlight and copy the address he gives and then using either Google Chrome or Internet Explorer you can paste the address into the top window and the site and picture will appear on your screen on full colour. Or it does when I have tried using both search engine.
Glad you are back gardening again but remember when you are retired you must always "save a bit for tomorrow" and also that when you are retired you cannot have a "day off".
Beautiful blue artichoke (however inaccurate).
ReplyDeleteHope the exotic sausage doesn’t disappoint.
Tomato ready?
I like mine all-over dark red and fully ripe when picked.
Yvonne 'does wonders'; I 'does wander' (sometimes feeling 19, other times fully entitled to bus-pass, as when I finished mowlawning today).
I share your faith in people’s prevailing honesty and goodness.
Is ‘Al Boliska’ some sort of neo-anagram? (nice quote).
Notable TV:
Sunday:
1) “Britain’s Nazi King”. Second viewing; some conjecture but contemporary official documents. ‘Remains of the Day’.
2) ‘Single Handed’.
New series. Reminiscent of ‘Wallender’? Well scripted but resolution a bit Dickensian. Superb Irish landscapes camerawork.
Monday:
3) ‘The Street’.
Gripping again. Excellent cast. McGovern is a master (comparable with Arthur Miller/Tennessee Williams?).
Jill:
Perhaps you have dutchophobia?
('Do I not like orange?')
No trouble counting 17 jugs here.
And, in spite of Sandra throwing my things out, she cannot abide a drawer/cupboard/wardrobe that shuts without moving something.
And all level surfaces are permanently covered with stuff unless we are expecting visitors.
Phlox (cont):
“...that there scarlet one is new.
I went and bought it,
Out‘ my pension.”
Jbw:
Thanks but ’no thanks’!
(no doubt others wil appreciate).
Brian S
ReplyDeleteGlad that you are improving {health wise} I agree with Bob re The Street, yet again very good acting, and another lifelike story.hope to see you on Wednesday for WOW, so I can try out the lens that you so kindly lent me.
Books: took four books today to the local Hospice Bookshop - came out with four more and Graham bought three ...... (And yet it is a constant worry of mine that I'll run out of something to read - we have 100s of books here ......).
ReplyDeleteUniversity Challenge: poor Nottingham - I thought they were going to beat Cambridge. G. and I got loads wrong - but curiously our wrong answers were the same as the bright university students, so we didn't feel too bad. (Graham rushes to remind me that we also got some right that they didn't..).
Internet: I came late (and reluctantly) to the internet but continue to become more and more of a fan. Twice in the last week I have tried to find a phone number in the directory - total failure - but a very quick google search gave me the information. Also, of course, I am in constant email contact with my small grandaughters - if only I could get my (best) friend, Joan, interested ...........
I thought Sunday's 'Single-Handed' was the best thing I've seen on the telly for a long time.
R is fine, they found no more dubious spots to zap, he was surrounded by students who took notes and photos, apparently it was an extremely good example of a top-of-the-head skin graft.
ReplyDeleteLovely photo and caption - a very pretty blue, even if not right!
Somehow I missed Sunday's ITV offering, I did see 'Edward - Nazi King' which we both found interesting (though I was a bit sceptioal, don't trust FBI reports entirely) and enjoyed The Street last night. Irecognised all the bird songs on U/Challenge, surprised none of them recognised a photo of Betjaman!
Y, you need a dormouse day...I'm 32 in my head, sometimes 92 in body....
Those fuchsias are v.expensive, even for down here.
Crossword, I finished Saturday's and Monday's, did two clues yesterday not realising they were anagrams - 'additions' and 'elaborate' - maybe it's a female thing, G?