Month: June 2012

Cool church on a warm day

One sunny afternoon, before the monsoon season, we went to the burial ground to see how the native cherry we planted on mother’s grave was faring in the drought. Walking through the meadow, we took the footpath to the nearby church of St Nicholas.

Interesting chapel which houses the tomb of the Knollys family. You can see the effigies of Sir Francis Knollys and his wife, Catherine, lady in waiting to Elizabeth I, and niece of Anne Boleyn.

You may remember a previous post about Greys Court, and the connection with the Knollys family.

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A New Man Shares ( in a very real and caring sense)

This alleged masculine ineptitude at the multi-tasking thing for which we regularly receive grief is, in my opinion, a total pile of ordure.

Knocked my pan out today. Family celebration and I was designated cook. An Italian theme. Per cominciare, bruschetta. My twist was to use cold-pressed Scottish rape seed oil and French bread. In retrospect, probably not the best twist ever but my Jock blood demands that I push the boundaries. The toppings which I prepared were, in my opinion, topping. Continue reading “A New Man Shares ( in a very real and caring sense)”

Nature and nurture

On motorway embankments and roundabouts the ox-eye daisy is king. Viewed from the car the familiarity of their simple shape among the long grasses is a welcome sight, meaning summer is really here. (Ha!)

Close up they are full of wild life

The grass, when you look more closely is full of wild flowers – tiny wild flowers that can so easily go unseen…. everyone sees the Foxgloves in shaded areas, Cow Parsley along the country lanes and Valerian in rocky crevices, for example: but who notices these wee things? Continue reading “Nature and nurture”

How to watch sport

I’ve found that it’s a mistake to watch sport on a TV channel based in the home country of one of the teams. The persistent omniscience and triumphalism/despair spoil the game completely, especially when half the experts have mysteriously metamorphosed from dirty foulers to tactical wizards .

So for the Euros I’m selecting a German station for Denmark/Holland and England/France and sticking to the Danish coverage of Sweden/Ukraine. And any non-teutonic channel will do for Germany/Portugal!

I realise that few cherished fans have such an agony of choice but that will all change when the United States of Europe control all TV programmes.  Remember you read it first on the chariot!

9º

Good grief it’s cold!

This is about as cold as it gets, as I left the pub where we watched the rugby my car was showing 9º Centigrade, factor in the wind chill perhaps an effective 4º, it’s also pouring with rain, most unpleasant.

Perhaps you’d think that a 22 – 17 Springbok victory would cheer me up, well…. yes and no.

I had 22 – 12 in the pool, that was the score when the full time hooter sounded, I had the result on the nose!

But then Ben Foden touched down in the 82nd minute to spoil what was in any case a glorious afternoon.

Jo’burg next week and then right here in Algoa Bay on the 23rd, can’t wait!

 

Weather or not

Our stay on the Wirral for a couple of nights over half-term was to visit Milly (Mother-in-Law) who wanted on outing. We were lucky really, to choose to go to Bodnant Gardens on the least wet day. It rained before we arrived and just before we left, but in the middle we had overcast skies and occasionally even a little sunshine. (By the time we got to Llandudno  later on, further walking about was out of the question. Wet and windy.Tea and cake seemed the best option.)

Bodnant is rather beautiful. I had never been before, but will certainly want to go again. It was the second place ever left to The National Trust after Hidcote (which is much closer to home, both geographically and in terms of growing conditions.)

Bodnant is on a hill: which made hard work for the wheelchair pushers. The gardens reach down into a river valley and at this time of year are exploding with colour from especially from Azaleas and Rhododendrons and the leaves of various maples. The soil is acid and rich. In these respects the garden is so completely opposite to my own garden conditions (flat aspect, lime based soil, no running water etc etc) that I just know I can never emulate any of the features, except maybe I could grow laburnum…

though on a smaller scale. Continue reading “Weather or not”

Ruminations on a Rainy Day.

Be of good cheer, misery loves company, most of America is having some pretty foul weather too.  At least ours locally is only rain, which regrettably never seems to stop or hasn’t for about two weeks.  So gardening in abeyance, the greenhouse is up to date, cleaned, furbished and all planted up for the summer.  We have had lots of showings for the house and have had to keep it in an unnatural state of cleanliness.  The dogs have been issues with slippers and spousal unit chained to the vacuum cleaner.  (My tendinitis conveniently precludes me thankfully from operating said creature. I remain queen of the dishwasher and washing machine which only need button pushing!)

So, there is bugger all to do except crafts.

Continue reading “Ruminations on a Rainy Day.”

The Spear revisited

I’m sure that members remember my post on The Spear painting  which caused so much controversy down here.

In summary the gallery and artist were taken to court by the governing ANC party claiming that President Zuma’s right to dignity under the constitution was infringed. The gallery and artist countered with an individual’s right to freedom of expression. The case was heard, the bench (3 judges) decided that more time was needed than the single day initially set aside (they want 3 days) and that’s where we are, I have no idea for when it’s been rescheduled (if at all.) Perhaps that’s the last we’ll here of it.

In the meantime our Publications Control Board (that’s the people who set age restrictions on movies and suchlike) have decided to slap a 16 age restriction on the painting, causing angst amongst the art fraternity who insist that nudity as an art form shouldn’t be subject to such decisions. Which left me wondering what the clowns would do if Michelangelo’s David ever visited these shores as part of a world exhibition?

Enough of that, as you can imagine the painting has been the subject of numerous e-mails and jokes, I thought that I’d share some of them, first, as a reminder here’s the original… Continue reading “The Spear revisited”