Saturday 30th April 2011
It’s going to be a warm, sunny day but there is a terrific wind blowing at the moment. I shall not be deterred and have made some food to scoff later. As E David would say “A good rule of life is to never throw away the fat after frying bacon.” It’s fantastic for cooking chicken or potatoes with garlic and a sprig of rosemary or thyme.
Robbie has chased just about every squirrel he saw while out on his walk today and scattered the huge drifts of leaves the wind has blown together. I must go later and collect some as they a perfectly dry and crisp and they make great mulch once wet again.
Friday 29th April 2011
I think there is a wedding somewhere today – watched it on TV with Nick this morning. They seem a genuine, couple very much in love and what a great big show for the world to watch.
Robbie absconded with 2 female joggers when we had a walk around the lake – managed to get about half a mile away before he realised he was on his own and stopped. I haven’t run so fast and so far for some time. I think my heart is still ok - must be all the saturated fat.
Thursday 28th April 2011
It’s the most beautiful of day with a flat blue sky broken by the odd white cloud and butterfly to break up the azure canvas. Every tree is green and the lawn is carpeted in a thousand daisies. Spent blossom blows on the breeze like confetti, perhaps a wedding is in the air somewhere! Robbie is perfectly content doing cartwheels over his baseball and I am reading about food. It’s hard to believe it is not yet May. Perhaps we’ll have a lovely, long and warm summer – we’ll see.
It’s going to be a warm, sunny day but there is a terrific wind blowing at the moment. I shall not be deterred and have made some food to scoff later. As E David would say “A good rule of life is to never throw away the fat after frying bacon.” It’s fantastic for cooking chicken or potatoes with garlic and a sprig of rosemary or thyme.
Robbie has chased just about every squirrel he saw while out on his walk today and scattered the huge drifts of leaves the wind has blown together. I must go later and collect some as they a perfectly dry and crisp and they make great mulch once wet again.
Friday 29th April 2011
I think there is a wedding somewhere today – watched it on TV with Nick this morning. They seem a genuine, couple very much in love and what a great big show for the world to watch.
Robbie absconded with 2 female joggers when we had a walk around the lake – managed to get about half a mile away before he realised he was on his own and stopped. I haven’t run so fast and so far for some time. I think my heart is still ok - must be all the saturated fat.
Thursday 28th April 2011
It’s the most beautiful of day with a flat blue sky broken by the odd white cloud and butterfly to break up the azure canvas. Every tree is green and the lawn is carpeted in a thousand daisies. Spent blossom blows on the breeze like confetti, perhaps a wedding is in the air somewhere! Robbie is perfectly content doing cartwheels over his baseball and I am reading about food. It’s hard to believe it is not yet May. Perhaps we’ll have a lovely, long and warm summer – we’ll see.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
27th April 2011
The main topic of conversation seems to be the Royal wedding. Mike’s off to London tomorrow to reserve his place on the Mall. He better take an umbrella as the day is forecast to be showery. I can’t really say that I am all that excited and bothered by Wills and Kate’s big day, but hey; it’s a tradition and it does make a change from all the gloom and mayhem currently on offer as news. Other than that it’s a slow news day I guess as the other main story is how much has the economy grown? By about this much...I’m guessing.
The weather has grown much cooler now. I had to wear a coat last night to visit the garden but still the weekend forecast is dry and with some sun. Robbie has developed a talent for capturing bumblebees with his mouth but I fear it will all end in tears soon and he will have learnt a life lesson. I’ve taken a few days off work and have a full intent to do nothing arduous.
The main topic of conversation seems to be the Royal wedding. Mike’s off to London tomorrow to reserve his place on the Mall. He better take an umbrella as the day is forecast to be showery. I can’t really say that I am all that excited and bothered by Wills and Kate’s big day, but hey; it’s a tradition and it does make a change from all the gloom and mayhem currently on offer as news. Other than that it’s a slow news day I guess as the other main story is how much has the economy grown? By about this much...I’m guessing.
The weather has grown much cooler now. I had to wear a coat last night to visit the garden but still the weekend forecast is dry and with some sun. Robbie has developed a talent for capturing bumblebees with his mouth but I fear it will all end in tears soon and he will have learnt a life lesson. I’ve taken a few days off work and have a full intent to do nothing arduous.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Dont mess with these delicate Darwen women featured in the press recently.
Handshake then head butt from Darwen woman
A 37-year-old woman who was offered a hand of friendship took it, pulled the other woman forwards and head butted her.
Darwen woman kicked police officer
Trouble with teenagers forced a woman to call police, but she ended up being arrested herself. Blackburn magistrates heard she became abusive towards the officer and kicked him.
Handshake then head butt from Darwen woman
A 37-year-old woman who was offered a hand of friendship took it, pulled the other woman forwards and head butted her.
Darwen woman kicked police officer
Trouble with teenagers forced a woman to call police, but she ended up being arrested herself. Blackburn magistrates heard she became abusive towards the officer and kicked him.
Warning over drinking near East Lancashire reservoirs from the water company United Utilities
WATER bosses have sent out a warning about the dangers of swimming in reservoirs after a ‘potentially fatal incident’ in the Ribble Valley.
United Utilities issued the ‘don’t die for a swim’ message after a man was spotted with a dinghy and a six-pack of beer, with two small children, heading towards the Spade Mill Reservoir, in Longridge.
Sensationalist or what - doesn't say he actually got there and given the wolly reporting here the man was probaly in France. In fact we will all be heading towards it at some point depending on the direction of travel because without distance it means nothing.
WATER bosses have sent out a warning about the dangers of swimming in reservoirs after a ‘potentially fatal incident’ in the Ribble Valley.
United Utilities issued the ‘don’t die for a swim’ message after a man was spotted with a dinghy and a six-pack of beer, with two small children, heading towards the Spade Mill Reservoir, in Longridge.
Sensationalist or what - doesn't say he actually got there and given the wolly reporting here the man was probaly in France. In fact we will all be heading towards it at some point depending on the direction of travel because without distance it means nothing.
23rd April 2011
We’re having an unusually warm Easter. Probably in part due to it being so late this year and partly just good luck. (77F or 25C take your pick.) It has rained a little overnight but not nearly as much as we needed.
The garden is just going into a wall of green in days. It is one of the earliest Springs I can remember. We never normally see Beech trees leafing till well into May. I just hope there is no sting in the tail in the form of a heavy frost. There are birds and blossom everywhere, (see picture of the pigeon in the tree next to the swing.) Robbie is chasing every squirrel he sees but his tree climbing skills are a bit limited.
It all pretty peaceful here but I see they are having a riot in Bristol - over what you ask? Libya, the economic crisis, rising crime, spending cuts, well wrong it’s about of all things, a new Tesco store. You know the slogan 'Every little riot helps'
Truly it’s a funny old, world.
We’re having an unusually warm Easter. Probably in part due to it being so late this year and partly just good luck. (77F or 25C take your pick.) It has rained a little overnight but not nearly as much as we needed.
The garden is just going into a wall of green in days. It is one of the earliest Springs I can remember. We never normally see Beech trees leafing till well into May. I just hope there is no sting in the tail in the form of a heavy frost. There are birds and blossom everywhere, (see picture of the pigeon in the tree next to the swing.) Robbie is chasing every squirrel he sees but his tree climbing skills are a bit limited.
It all pretty peaceful here but I see they are having a riot in Bristol - over what you ask? Libya, the economic crisis, rising crime, spending cuts, well wrong it’s about of all things, a new Tesco store. You know the slogan 'Every little riot helps'
Truly it’s a funny old, world.
Friday, April 22, 2011
I woke up this morning to the sound of heavy rainfall; then I realised it was my tinnitus. I then heard the rumble of thunder and realised it was my digestion. This was followed by a door creaking in the wind and I realised it was my back. Finally though I heard the voice of an angel and then I realised I was remembering something you had said.
Happy Easter holiday
Happy Easter holiday
Friday, April 15, 2011
Sometimes we are only at peace when we are fighting
So strange, but so true how we find calm in adversity
We truly are the strangest breed of all earthly animals...
We are man and lumber disastrously around the world
We care nothing for others, only for ourselves and our own
It matters not to reason, cajole, bribe or impel our soul
Tides of humanity take pleasured turns to hurt and wound
And it has done so with a spirit lately that shames us all
For many decline starts now but soon to us all the end comes
The faster if we have the wit to see that everything will pass
We will leave and never return to seek solace among the stars
For they birthed us for a larger life and we shall let all this pass
Into memory and sad regret, for we were born to be better than this
So strange, but so true how we find calm in adversity
We truly are the strangest breed of all earthly animals...
We are man and lumber disastrously around the world
We care nothing for others, only for ourselves and our own
It matters not to reason, cajole, bribe or impel our soul
Tides of humanity take pleasured turns to hurt and wound
And it has done so with a spirit lately that shames us all
For many decline starts now but soon to us all the end comes
The faster if we have the wit to see that everything will pass
We will leave and never return to seek solace among the stars
For they birthed us for a larger life and we shall let all this pass
Into memory and sad regret, for we were born to be better than this
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
The world is not what it was; we all know this
On swelling populations, sifting west like sands
It turns its fair face from a now fading renaissance
And is dragged back on revived medieval rhetoric
There will be no rapprochement, no new dawn
We feast like carrion on our dwindling resources
We learnt long ago that people will be controlled
So long as all the propaganda flows like cheap wine
They will readily suffer, but they will seek to blame
All those who show them where the truth truly lies
Leaks of my consciousness take flight into the spring
Flow to seed the aether with memories of lost freedoms
They shall remain there, till one day long off in time
When the world is a better place they may return
On swelling populations, sifting west like sands
It turns its fair face from a now fading renaissance
And is dragged back on revived medieval rhetoric
There will be no rapprochement, no new dawn
We feast like carrion on our dwindling resources
We learnt long ago that people will be controlled
So long as all the propaganda flows like cheap wine
They will readily suffer, but they will seek to blame
All those who show them where the truth truly lies
Leaks of my consciousness take flight into the spring
Flow to seed the aether with memories of lost freedoms
They shall remain there, till one day long off in time
When the world is a better place they may return
Thursday, April 07, 2011
An elderly Georgian woman was scavenging for copper to sell as scrap when she accidentally sliced through an underground cable and cut off internet services to all of neighbouring Armenia, it emerged on Wednesday. The woman, 75, had been digging for the metal not far from the capital Tbilisi when her spade damaged the fibre-optic cable on 28 March. As Georgia provides 90% of Armenia's internet, the woman's unwitting sabotage had catastrophic consequences. Web users in the nation of 3.2 million people were left twiddling their thumbs for up to five hours as the country's main internet providers - ArmenTel, FiberNet Communication and GNC-Alfa – were prevented from supplying their normal service. Large parts of Georgia and some areas of Azerbaijan were also affected. She faces up to three years in prison if charged and convicted. A spokesman for Georgia's interior ministry said the woman was temporarily released "on account of her old age" but could face more questioning. Pulling up unused copper cables for scrap is a common means of making money in the former Soviet Union. Some entrepreneurs have even used tractors to wrench out hundreds of metres of cable from the former nuclear testing ground at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/06/georgian-woman-cuts-web-access
Tuesday, April 05, 2011
Coming northern front sweep away
The foul, warm air back to the south.
Let its chill wind leaven the tree tops
To rise up and dance in its wake.
Above the rustle of empiric leaves
A magpie cackles a hoary song yet...
The bumble queen carries a working
Caring not for boasting, vulgar song
Of how he steals the works of others.
For soon she shall raise her army
Fit for the summer world to armour
To sing into the arms of morning
To claw back all the lost hours.
Stretching now across earlier dawns
The heart cannot ever escape for
Of all the times within the year
This is now the most uplifting to...
Simply be and await the summer
The foul, warm air back to the south.
Let its chill wind leaven the tree tops
To rise up and dance in its wake.
Above the rustle of empiric leaves
A magpie cackles a hoary song yet...
The bumble queen carries a working
Caring not for boasting, vulgar song
Of how he steals the works of others.
For soon she shall raise her army
Fit for the summer world to armour
To sing into the arms of morning
To claw back all the lost hours.
Stretching now across earlier dawns
The heart cannot ever escape for
Of all the times within the year
This is now the most uplifting to...
Simply be and await the summer
1st April 2011
Great I get to fifty and the following day get an abscess on my gum and currently have a face that resembles the elephant man. You can’t make it up (that’s not a pun by the way)...anyway have taken Friday off work because the swelling has now closed one eye. I’ve been to see the dentist who gave me some antibiotics with the proviso to return in 2 weeks because we might have to remove that tooth. This would be the tooth he spent the best part of an hour repairing a month ago. There doesn’t seem to be a notion of what is best for the UK patient anymore just what is going to make the most money for the practitioner. Crazy old world.
2nd April 2011
Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine the swelling is reducing and I am beginning to look about as normal as it gets for me. Quiet weekend methinks. Not that there is much of a window of opportunity for gardening as the weather is forecast wet and windy for the weekend. I’ll write another part of the new chapter of my book. It’s progressing slowly but still progressing. A work in very slow progress. Here are a couple of lines
Rather take this time to remember the joy of the forest and that trees are indeed the heart of the world. They stand as sentinels to all that we hold to be good and strive to protect. There is a power here still that you cannot comprehend but it may soon again be unleashed and that being the case; we had better make sure we are on the right side of it.” As if to reinforce his words the lowest branch of a mighty Beech tree brushed, perhaps almost caressed, the wizards hat.
The news is very depressing from all directions currently so enjoy the growth of the Rheum below – I am always amazed by the speed of spring growth and I love the vibrant red colour of the Rheum plant in spring which turns to green in the light. A marker to show that despite all the madness in the world caused by the beliefs of man, life and growth for the right reasons is unquenchable.
Great I get to fifty and the following day get an abscess on my gum and currently have a face that resembles the elephant man. You can’t make it up (that’s not a pun by the way)...anyway have taken Friday off work because the swelling has now closed one eye. I’ve been to see the dentist who gave me some antibiotics with the proviso to return in 2 weeks because we might have to remove that tooth. This would be the tooth he spent the best part of an hour repairing a month ago. There doesn’t seem to be a notion of what is best for the UK patient anymore just what is going to make the most money for the practitioner. Crazy old world.
2nd April 2011
Thanks to the wonders of modern medicine the swelling is reducing and I am beginning to look about as normal as it gets for me. Quiet weekend methinks. Not that there is much of a window of opportunity for gardening as the weather is forecast wet and windy for the weekend. I’ll write another part of the new chapter of my book. It’s progressing slowly but still progressing. A work in very slow progress. Here are a couple of lines
Rather take this time to remember the joy of the forest and that trees are indeed the heart of the world. They stand as sentinels to all that we hold to be good and strive to protect. There is a power here still that you cannot comprehend but it may soon again be unleashed and that being the case; we had better make sure we are on the right side of it.” As if to reinforce his words the lowest branch of a mighty Beech tree brushed, perhaps almost caressed, the wizards hat.
The news is very depressing from all directions currently so enjoy the growth of the Rheum below – I am always amazed by the speed of spring growth and I love the vibrant red colour of the Rheum plant in spring which turns to green in the light. A marker to show that despite all the madness in the world caused by the beliefs of man, life and growth for the right reasons is unquenchable.
