Thursday, February 21, 2008

No frost - Lunar eclipse missed

Two more 'misty morning' pictures from yesterday. This silver birch caught my eye, and I think Roy's too and AnonymousRob's 12-24mm allowed me to include the tree (almost) and the T shape of the wall leading to it.

Although up at 3.30am I had missed the lunar eclipse which occurred at 3.0am. Not long to wait though; only 12years till the next one.

Picture 2 is simply some grasses with the corner of the wood behind.

The blog is early due to collecting Y from Burton Joyce almost immediately followed by my camera club meeting. I have however almost completed the tasks I had set myself and I may well return to the blog when I arrive home from Eastwood.

Comments..... I suspect Bungus of deliberate obfuscation over the matter of Christian names. Obviously personal friends use first names. He knows full well that Karen for instance addresses us as Yvonne and Graham, but had to be invited to do so some years ago. My objection is to some person I have never been introduced to, shouting Graham across a waiting room or similar.

We used to speak of people being "On first-name terms" didn't we? It was considered common politeness not to bandy first names around until invited to do so. And a breach of this code was considered rudeness. And I think it still is !

Thank you for the latest episode of the 'clinic saga'. Oh dear oh dear! Perhaps you should be a little more prickly with them. Thanks also for the manhole cover-age. Is that really the translation? Or are you pulling our..........etc..... Unless as was suggested, it was intended for export, why would it be on a Wirksworth manhole. Although, as also was mentioned by Rob I think, that most manhole covers are made in India anyway.

And also for the latest about the Chinchilla. So you need never be short of a meal. And organic too by the sound of it. But not free-range.

AnonymousRob..... Thank you for the stuff about manhole covers and the intro to Karl Shapiro a poet I have heard of but never read. An omission I intend to rectify.

.....temporary ending (I hope) because I have to collect Y from Burton Joyce. Catch you later..

10.45pm - p.s. It would be quite unblogmeisterly to slip in much more, after already attracting two charming comments. Bungus and I must agree, in the best comradely terms, to differ over the matter of fore-names .

Tony Worobiec was outstanding at EPS and I will say more tomorrow.

I think Bungus, that to make a decent job of your Chinchilla, after skinning it for 'a mitten', you would need the assistance of a spurned lover. I understand that Glen Close is currently 'resting' as the luvvies say.

Sleep tight all. Catch you tomorrow.








3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice 'misty morning' pictures again. But I couldn’t enlarge them other than in 3” x 2” sections! I notic that the bluebells do not appear to be out yet.
I understand everyone missed the lunar eclipse because of cloud. I didn’t even know about it and Stephanie would say ‘rather watch paint dry’. But I understood from BBC TV News that the next would be in 2010.

I think we may have to agree to disagree about the use of forenames (as per email) although I have never heard anyone shout Graham (or Robert) across a waiting room or similar. I would have thought there was too great a chance of there being more than one Graham (or Robert) present.

Yes we used to speak of people being "On first-name terms". We also used to hang people.
What I object to most is people other than very close friends addressing me by my surname. I always have and consider that far more offensive although I wouldn’t object too much to it being shouted across a waiting room or similar.

Re hospital,(where I feel the use of forenames gives great comfort to those who are suffering)I don’t think being more prickly with ‘them’ would serve any useful purpose. Invariably the person one is talking to is not the person at fault and all one could do is antagonise them in which case they would no doubt react, as I would, by making things even more difficult. They have enough to do anyway. ‘Grin and bear it‘ I think is best. After all, it is only one day in a lifetime.

I am surprised that you did not know that I have fluent Urdu and Swahili. Not for nothing was I known, in the sunny top bit of the dark continent, as the cunning person accomplished in languages.
The cover does not appear to have a date on it. I would suggest that it fell off the back of a lorry but it would have been unlikely to survive.

Do you have a chinchilla recipe? I suppose it could be treated as a guinea pig in which case I must consult my Peruvian chef. Its pelt would make a lovely mitten.

Anonymous said...

Lovely frosty photo - and hoar frost one the day before. Today was the first day for about a week I haven't had to break the ice on the bird bath.

Enjoyed the manhole cover thread - I had no idea!

Chinchilla - if you spun its fur with some merino wool there would be enough for a pair of mittens. At one time in the past you could get chinchilla fur trims on coats and hats, but it would take a lot of them for a garment.....

I haven't got Delia's latest yet, but had a quick flick through in WH Smiths, I like the look of the lay-out.I see there is to be a tv programme by her in the autumn, presumably based on this book.

You had a dreadful day in hospital Bungus, and seem to have borne it very stoically. But I feel if we don't complain, things won't improve.

Supper tonight in Libertys with knitting group. I had asparagus, ham, soft-boiled egg all under hollandaise sauce. I would have liked something else with it, like ?pasta? or some decent bread to mop it all up with, because it was very tasty.

I have been using slow cooker quite a lot, latest was to cook two whole poussins in it, on veg and with stock coming up about half-way. They just fell apart, although of course you don't get crisp skin.

Anonymous said...

The hospital visit wasn't THAT bad Jill, just very tiring. Mostly it was like the army - hours of hanging about and then a little action. I had last Sunday's Observer crossword (not much success) and a book, tea, coffee and biscuits available, so it was bearable. And once the canula is in the drip is quite pleasant on the most comfortable of chairs (that's the one). Don't feel too sorry for me - I can do that for myself. As Sandra would say "Shut up and get on with it."
I agree that justified complaining is a good idea although mostly ineffective. Go to the top is my answer (it eventually gets recompense from Morrisons anyway).

I do wonder if the blogmeister would object quite so much about the use of his forename if it were preceded by ‘Sir’ or ‘King’?

The District Nurse paid her three weekly check up visit on Thur and we had a cheerful half hour discussion about the best way to take one’s own life (it transpired that we both had close relatives who had gone this way).
Surprisingly, she said that Paracetemol is a very painful way to go.
We disagreed about hanging, I immediately dismissed jumping off a cliff, etc, etc. We agreed eventually that painless poisoning would be favourite; I opted for morphine (I so enjoyed it in hospital) and she said she would not have too much trouble in obtaining various drugs.

My Andre L Simons ‘Guide to Good Food and Wines: a Concise Encyclopaedia of Gastronomy’, which includes camel, lion and rat, does not deal with chinchillas but has the following (heavily abridged) on Guinea Pigs.
In his book ‘The Guinea Pig or Domestic Cavy’, (Upcott Gill 1905) C Cumberalnd FZS says:
‘Cavies are excellent as entrees in various stews…
I do not wish it to be supposed that I recommend cavy as a cheap food, but rather for its delicious flavour…
Cavy sows of about eight months old, when well fattened, are the best flavoured and most tender…
Cavies should be prepared for cooking by scalding, and should not be skinned… (stop reading now Rob)
I have both eaten and hunted the Pica or spotted cavy, in Brazil, and found it first rate, either for sport or food.’