It has actually stopped raining here 'oop north!' It was raining so hard at one point I had white horses on the bird bath! And the cocker spaniel we had, now gone to the great kennel etc. etc. would have been straight in Boogie's brook!
Boogie, I enjoyed the sight and sound of the fast flowing water and the waterfall though I’m grateful to be witnessing it while sitting in my warm dry living room.
Rather a fine, bright day here. We were down to the Botanic Garden to see an exhibition of botanical paintings. A low sun catching the last of the turning leaves was very pretty.
And there I was thinking that egrets only nested in crossword puzzles ...
I'm a keen cruciverbalist, and D. and I used to have a list of "crossword words" - ones that you don't often see anywhere else. "Egret" was one, along with "upas" (a poisonous tree), "eyot" (a small island) and of course "Etna" and "ante", one of which was usually the answer to 24 down.
It's a beautiful day here: 10° and sunny. I'm just waiting for a friend who's giving me a lift to go and get more bankers' boxes ...
You really never regret / when you get to see an egret.
To go with the food theme again (although I'm much less of an expert than many others on board!), it is once more venison season in these 'ere Continental climes, and I bought a shedload of half-priced, microwavable pears in red wine sauce, spiced up amongst other things with cinnamon. An amazingly Christmassy feeling and scent it provides, too.
I just had some of the pears'n'sauce together with some rather dead deer, and it all was really lovely! Occasionally you even get wild boar in the shops, which, if I remember rightly, also tastes very pleasant. Oh, the culinary joys of autumn!
(NB. Much of the venison we get here in the supermarkets are of course from breeding stock, and less from out-in-the wild beasties. I guess the latter are considerably more expensive than these, but probably have an even better flavour and texture. I imagine you find them in the better restaurants, especially when hunted locally, or in expert butcher's. Perhaps I ought to investigate? - Some of the more widely available venison here is from eastern Europe, and some even from faraway places like New Zealand. )
My wife made a lovely venison stew earlier this week, with chunky parsnip, sweet potato and carrots. When we lived in Suffolk the farm shops often had (frozen) "game pie mix" which was basically a selection of various offcuts - excellent and cheap.
In her school in Ipswich my wife had a real country lad who'd go out at night with his dad at night with a shotgun, they'd both keep down vermin and shoot rabbits to sell. He was delighted when he was given his own gun at about the age of 10 (perfectly legal), my wife suggested that he should later train as a gamekeeper but I don't know if he did.
Our favourite pub/restaurant in a village just outside the town did a lovely braised partridge dish when in season. You can see that we like game ... in fact we have a venison joint on Christmas Day (marinated in red wine and larded with streaky bacon as it's so lean).
One of the few culinary things I miss about Newfoundland is moose, which is like a rather less refined venison, and makes a magic casserole with red wine and veggies, and, when minced, a v. good shepherd's (mooseherd's?) pie.
Now I'm practising Olympic-level procrastination, and putting off actually assembling the bankers' boxes. I have, however, boxed up all the books that are to go to the Cathedral, and about half the ones in the library, which is why I needed more boxes in the first place ...
We neede to go to Hereford today. The road from Abergaveny was rather interesting, with a lot of water in places. We decided to come home via Brecon, to see the waterfalls at Storey Arms. That road was even more interesting - lots of flooding on the roads, the Wye had burst its banks, and some of the crossing points were closed.
On the other hand, the waterfalls were impressive, and coming across the moorland between us and Merthyr, we saw 3 Red Kites circling together.
I currently have venison haunch and shank, muntjac saddle, pigeon, pheasant and partridge breasts in my freezer. The organic delivery firm that brings my veg had a special offer of a bottle of wine if you spent £40 and it seemed rude not to take them up on the offer.
Husband decided to cook a Japanese meal this evening so we had roast duck breast, sweet omelette, and tempura veg, with sticky rice.
It's dead easy to use: I'd rub the hollows with a little oil to stop the eggs sticking, although the instructions don't say so. I found the suggested time - 45-60 seconds - wasn't quite enough; a minute and a half was more like it, but my microwave is of indeterminate age, and may be a bit feeble. You'll work out how long you need by trial and error.
Thank you very much I have saved the link and will ask my son to get me one asap.
Bankers' boxes now assembled, and six of the twelve filled: all but a shelf and a half of books are now in boxes.
There was a little bit of me that felt I was being disloyal, as D. loved his books, but it really would be daft to pay to take a load of books over the Pond if I'm never going to read them, which I'm not.
Now to find a nice strong, willing bloke or three to help me shift them all ...
Last night the children didn't go to bed until past 8. Normally this doesn't affect their desire to wake up at 6.30, But amazingly this morning they didn't surface until 7.15 GMT so I'm not too tired!!!
I didn’t get an extra hour this morning: our clocks don't go back until next weekend.
I'm definitely needing the clocks to go back though - the mornings are getting really dark, and although the difference may only last a few weeks, it's a welcome difference all the same.
It was rather less than warm at church today due to a boiler malfunction; as the outside temperature was about 1°, this was cold enough that even I noticed it. I didn't particularly mind, but I did notice.
Does a cold church mean that people are too chilly to sing properly, or that they sing lustily in an attempt to warm up?
We (in common with other Welsh churches) told folk that we would slightly delay the start of the service to make sure they could get there following A Certain Rugby Match. However ...
I currently have venison haunch and shank, muntjac saddle, pigeon, pheasant and partridge breasts in my freezer. The organic delivery firm that brings my veg had a special offer of a bottle of wine if you spent £40 and it seemed rude not to take them up on the offer.
Husband decided to cook a Japanese meal this evening so we had roast duck breast, sweet omelette, and tempura veg, with sticky rice.
We do like to eat well, it’s our favourite hobby. My husband cooks at the weekend and we appear tonight to be having some concoction of pork fillet with a vegetable and black bean sauce. He says he’s added mustard relish and horseradish cream to the sauce so I am beginning to fear for my sinuses. His taste is more eclectic than mine.
Does a cold church mean that people are too chilly to sing properly, or that they sing lustily in an attempt to warm up?
We (in common with other Welsh churches) told folk that we would slightly delay the start of the service to make sure they could get there following A Certain Rugby Match. However ...
Does a cold church mean that people are too chilly to sing properly, or that they sing lustily in an attempt to warm up?
We (in common with other Welsh churches) told folk that we would slightly delay the start of the service to make sure they could get there following A Certain Rugby Match. However ...
...alas, alas ...
We didn't play well ... but we didn't deserve to have to beat the referee as well. And was it wise of the IRB to let Jérôme Garcès take charge after there had been an online petition in South Africa demanding he not be the referee that was attracting over 2,500 clicks a day? Just in case you missed it, take a look at this compilation of his mistakes in the All Blacks-Springboks pool match.
A mild weekend, but today it’s feeling decidedly autumnal. You wouldn’t want to be out without a coat.
My stepdaughter came to stay with us for the weekend. She has acquired a tattoo. How did she get all grown up like that?
We ended up going for a walk yesterday evening at the insistence of Captain Pyjamas. In a glorious bit of preverbal communication, he toddled up and presented his big sister with her shoe. Means “I want to go outside” .
My birthday is later this week and my parents are coming. Actually on my birthday we are eating calves’ liver which I consider to be the most delicious thing known to humanity. We have venison steaks ordered at the butcher for another day tho.
A bit nippy this morning here too, and definitely colder overnight.
I’ve just finished presenting a two hour online tutorial and am now simultaneously very tired and buzzing. So I’m having a glass of wine to aid recovery.
It's been a really nice day here, and still quite mild (11°)*. I had lunch with a couple of friends followed by some minor retail therapy, and then a very helpful meeting with the bank to get some things sorted out there.
* I didn't think it would be as warm as that, and applied socks, but rather wish I hadn't.
Does a cold church mean that people are too chilly to sing properly, or that they sing lustily in an attempt to warm up?
We (in common with other Welsh churches) told folk that we would slightly delay the start of the service to make sure they could get there following A Certain Rugby Match. However ...
...alas, alas ...
We didn't play well ... but we didn't deserve to have to beat the referee as well. And was it wise of the IRB to let Jérôme Garcès take charge after there had been an online petition in South Africa demanding he not be the referee that was attracting over 2,500 clicks a day? Just in case you missed it, take a look at this compilation of his mistakes in the All Blacks-Springboks pool match.
Maybe we didn't deserve to win, but I didn't think we deserved to lose either!
I’m practicing Piglet’s clever line breaks, but I’m still not sure how they are done - I just copied and pasted!
Soon me and Echo are off to meet my friend for some essential cafe training.
I’ve been and done the weekly shop and I’m now deciding whether I want to spend today marking student essays or starting to write one of my own. I may do the laundry as a diversionary tactic.
We didn't play well ... but we didn't deserve to have to beat the referee as well. And was it wise of the IRB to let Jérôme Garcès take charge after there had been an online petition in South Africa demanding he not be the referee that was attracting over 2,500 clicks a day? Just in case you missed it, take a look at this compilation of his mistakes in the All Blacks-Springboks pool match.
Maybe we didn't deserve to win, but I didn't think we deserved to lose either!
Meaning? Who is "We"??
I was trying to point out that sometimes it is more than enough to have to beat the other 15 men, never mind that the referee seems determined to misapply the rules or ignore them altogether. I definitely did not say that Wales deserved to win because we didn't produce a good enough performance, but that doesn't make it any better that the refereeing was so sub-standard - both sides suffered from his erratic and plain wrong calls.
Sorry, I can’t talk sport - I don’t watch sport of any flavour. Thankfully we have two TVs! Mr Boogs has Sky Sports and BT Sports on his. It’s a useful card to play when I spend money he doesn’t quite approve of “remind me how much a month you spend on sports channels?” Hehe!
I am smiling because my cafe training with Echo went so well. He settled beautifully, ate his second breakfast at 11am, then settled again. My friend and I had a good old natter and put the world to rights - one of my favourite occupations!
My supervisor has given me a new strategy for training the pup to settle and it really works. He’s only twelve weeks old and I’m already proud. 😇😇
I’m practicing Piglet’s clever line breaks, but I’m still not sure how they are done - I just copied and pasted!
Soon me and Echo are off to meet my friend for some essential cafe training.
It's just lots of hyphens, Boogie. However many you do you get those three dinky curves.
Quite a busy day here - the friend who's arranging the sale of the Pigletmobile collected the spare key (and returned a bag of Accumulated Stuff from the car this morning, and I was just starting to attack the last drawer of the filing cabinet in the study when Harry the Handyman phoned to say the new counter-tops have been cut, and offering to take me to the shop to pay for and collect them. They're now propped up against sundry walls in the kitchen, and should be fitted by the end of the week.
The boxes with D's hymn-books and whatnot are neatly stacked in the study, and the shelves are pretty much ready for the junk bloke to collect, so with luck I should be able to have the château on the market by the beginning of next week. That might work out rather well, as I'm going to Newfoundland the Thursday after next, and if I'm not here, I won't have to worry about getting out of the way when the estate agent's showing people round.
Well, @Piglet, you certainly aren't letting the grass grow under your feet!
Hopefully, all will go smoothly with the sale of the chateau, sad though it is. Without wishing to pry, have you somewhere in mind, back on this side of the Pond?
ION, I've tried the hyphens, and yes, They Work! Nice one...
It seems to take at least 5 hyphens (n-dashes) to work.
On my phone there a setting which automatically changes two consecutive hyphens/n-dashes into a dash/m-dash. This means instead of getting -- I get —. I either have to undo the substitution setting or type my hyphens with a space between them and then go back and delete the spaces.
It's been freezing here today. Apparently, it's been about 8 or 9C, but with a biting wind.
We're having our bathroom converted to a wet room, and the 2 fitters are from Yorkshire. They reckon it's far colder here than at home.
Yes, it feels far colder than 8 or 9C. I had a meeting this evening; I forgot until too late that it was at a place I usually go to by bus, so had to take the car instead. I must say tough thhat I was glad not to be waiting at the stop in the cold wind afterwards (and I bought a battered sausage and a small portion of chips at the chippie, which I have just consumed).
... Hopefully, all will go smoothly with the sale of the chateau, sad though it is. Without wishing to pry, have you somewhere in mind, back on this side of the Pond?
Not prying at all, BF: I'm going to Edinburgh, where all my immediate family are. My sister, whose husband died 10 years ago, is rattling about in quite a big house, so I'm going to impose on her hospitality until I can find a job and possibly a wee flat.
I'm getting quite excited at the prospect: D. and I used to say if money were no object and we could live anywhere, it would be Edinburgh, and I'll get the chance to see my sister's adorable grandchildren growing up, which will be nice.
I've got Junk Removal Bloke coming tomorrow to take away the scruffy old shelves, and the estate agent said she'll call up later to see about taking pictures.
I'm rather hoping that the counter-top chaps don't come until Thursday, as there could be traffic jams if they all turned up at once ...
I am sure Edinburgh is a good choice, Piglet. It's not quite the place I knew when I worked there, yea these many years ago, but we still go there as often as we can, freeloading off friends. The airport has got too big and complicated, but with planes and trains, Edinburgh is pretty much at the centre of the known universe, and you can get anywhere easily from there if you need to. Public transport is very good, and with careful choice and a native guide, you can dine out at quite reasonable prices still. Driving there is pretty grim, though, and parking is a blood sport in which I refuse to engage. A good place to live, but please don't ride a bike there...
I shouldn't worry, ST - I haven't ridden a bike since about 1973!
There seem to be very good public transport links from my sister's place - there's a bus stop about five minutes' walk away that takes you into town, so I should probably be OK.
My BIL lives in Edinburgh and it would be on my list of suitable places to live.
(iPad joins my hyphens too)
Got the bulk of my marking done yesterday so I’m finishing that off this morning and this afternoon I will start writing my first assignment.
It might seem odd to be writing assignments for a doctorate but, because it is a professional one, all the students are studying while working full or part time in education. Giving us structured modules on key themes ensures we get our research done in a timely way. We spend the first year doing context and ethics, literature searching and research design. This assignment is about the context of our research and will be used as a draft chapter for writing up. I’m actually looking forward to critiquing models of disability in relation to mental health, it gives me a chance to vent.
Have a good day everyone.
I am in Edinburgh, and currently watching the early sun wash over the golden stone and slated dormers of substantial Victorian villas.
@Piglet, we must meet up when you return. I am a fund of information on the Southside - which to my mind, has all the human frame requires (Polish deli! Chinese supermarket! Lidl! The Meadows! Turkish restaurants! Keralan! Fabric shop! Wool shop! (Run by a Chinese woman from Bannbridge) Bead shop! Cheesemonger!)
Done it! Thanks @BroJames!
Today is my real-life German class. I really enjoy it, it’s great to be with peers who are very much at my level and working together with them. Like me, they have all retired from professional jobs.
Our teacher (U3A) has Masters degrees in German, Italian and Latin and a PhD in Latin. How he comes all the way down to our level, I do not know - and he’s humble with it too. 👏🏼👏🏼
Comments
I'm a keen cruciverbalist, and D. and I used to have a list of "crossword words" - ones that you don't often see anywhere else. "Egret" was one, along with "upas" (a poisonous tree), "eyot" (a small island) and of course "Etna" and "ante", one of which was usually the answer to 24 down.
It's a beautiful day here: 10° and sunny. I'm just waiting for a friend who's giving me a lift to go and get more bankers' boxes ...
To go with the food theme again (although I'm much less of an expert than many others on board!), it is once more venison season in these 'ere Continental climes, and I bought a shedload of half-priced, microwavable pears in red wine sauce, spiced up amongst other things with cinnamon. An amazingly Christmassy feeling and scent it provides, too.
I just had some of the pears'n'sauce together with some rather dead deer, and it all was really lovely! Occasionally you even get wild boar in the shops, which, if I remember rightly, also tastes very pleasant. Oh, the culinary joys of autumn!
(NB. Much of the venison we get here in the supermarkets are of course from breeding stock, and less from out-in-the wild beasties. I guess the latter are considerably more expensive than these, but probably have an even better flavour and texture. I imagine you find them in the better restaurants, especially when hunted locally, or in expert butcher's. Perhaps I ought to investigate? - Some of the more widely available venison here is from eastern Europe, and some even from faraway places like New Zealand. )
Bon appetit!
In her school in Ipswich my wife had a real country lad who'd go out at night with his dad at night with a shotgun, they'd both keep down vermin and shoot rabbits to sell. He was delighted when he was given his own gun at about the age of 10 (perfectly legal), my wife suggested that he should later train as a gamekeeper but I don't know if he did.
Our favourite pub/restaurant in a village just outside the town did a lovely braised partridge dish when in season. You can see that we like game ... in fact we have a venison joint on Christmas Day (marinated in red wine and larded with streaky bacon as it's so lean).
Now I'm practising Olympic-level procrastination, and putting off actually assembling the bankers' boxes. I have, however, boxed up all the books that are to go to the Cathedral, and about half the ones in the library, which is why I needed more boxes in the first place ...
On the other hand, the waterfalls were impressive, and coming across the moorland between us and Merthyr, we saw 3 Red Kites circling together.
Husband decided to cook a Japanese meal this evening so we had roast duck breast, sweet omelette, and tempura veg, with sticky rice.
There was a little bit of me that felt I was being disloyal, as D. loved his books, but it really would be daft to pay to take a load of books over the Pond if I'm never going to read them, which I'm not.
Now to find a nice strong, willing bloke or three to help me shift them all ...
This does not happen when there is a puppy in the house!
The 'extra hour' was spent dozing uncomfortably...
Ah well - I'll go to be early today, as it'll be darkish around 5pm...
I pointed out to The Lady Who Shares My House that this would only be true if one actually was still asleep!
I trust you made good use of that extra hour...
I'll get me coat.
I didn’t get an extra hour this morning: our clocks don't go back until next weekend.
I'm definitely needing the clocks to go back though - the mornings are getting really dark, and although the difference may only last a few weeks, it's a welcome difference all the same.
It was rather less than warm at church today due to a boiler malfunction; as the outside temperature was about 1°, this was cold enough that even I noticed it. I didn't particularly mind, but I did notice.
We (in common with other Welsh churches) told folk that we would slightly delay the start of the service to make sure they could get there following A Certain Rugby Match. However ...
This is brilliant, Heavenlyannie!
...alas, alas ...
We didn't play well ... but we didn't deserve to have to beat the referee as well. And was it wise of the IRB to let Jérôme Garcès take charge after there had been an online petition in South Africa demanding he not be the referee that was attracting over 2,500 clicks a day? Just in case you missed it, take a look at this compilation of his mistakes in the All Blacks-Springboks pool match.
My stepdaughter came to stay with us for the weekend. She has acquired a tattoo. How did she get all grown up like that?
We ended up going for a walk yesterday evening at the insistence of Captain Pyjamas. In a glorious bit of preverbal communication, he toddled up and presented his big sister with her shoe. Means “I want to go outside”
My birthday is later this week and my parents are coming. Actually on my birthday we are eating calves’ liver which I consider to be the most delicious thing known to humanity. We have venison steaks ordered at the butcher for another day tho.
I’ve just finished presenting a two hour online tutorial and am now simultaneously very tired and buzzing. So I’m having a glass of wine to aid recovery.
* I didn't think it would be as warm as that, and applied socks, but rather wish I hadn't.
Maybe we didn't deserve to win, but I didn't think we deserved to lose either!
Soon me and Echo are off to meet my friend for some essential cafe training.
Meaning? Who is "We"??
I was trying to point out that sometimes it is more than enough to have to beat the other 15 men, never mind that the referee seems determined to misapply the rules or ignore them altogether. I definitely did not say that Wales deserved to win because we didn't produce a good enough performance, but that doesn't make it any better that the refereeing was so sub-standard - both sides suffered from his erratic and plain wrong calls.
I am smiling because my cafe training with Echo went so well. He settled beautifully, ate his second breakfast at 11am, then settled again. My friend and I had a good old natter and put the world to rights - one of my favourite occupations!
My supervisor has given me a new strategy for training the pup to settle and it really works. He’s only twelve weeks old and I’m already proud. 😇😇
It's just lots of hyphens, Boogie. However many you do you get those three dinky curves.
So glad to hear Echo is doing well.
Quite a busy day here - the friend who's arranging the sale of the Pigletmobile collected the spare key (and returned a bag of Accumulated Stuff from the car this morning, and I was just starting to attack the last drawer of the filing cabinet in the study when Harry the Handyman phoned to say the new counter-tops have been cut, and offering to take me to the shop to pay for and collect them. They're now propped up against sundry walls in the kitchen, and should be fitted by the end of the week.
The boxes with D's hymn-books and whatnot are neatly stacked in the study, and the shelves are pretty much ready for the junk bloke to collect, so with luck I should be able to have the château on the market by the beginning of next week. That might work out rather well, as I'm going to Newfoundland the Thursday after next, and if I'm not here, I won't have to worry about getting out of the way when the estate agent's showing people round.
Hopefully, all will go smoothly with the sale of the chateau, sad though it is. Without wishing to pry, have you somewhere in mind, back on this side of the Pond?
ION, I've tried the hyphens, and yes, They Work! Nice one...
They don’t work for me, waaaaaah!
Just trying the hyphens again.
Yes, all is well. Are you perhaps using the underlining line, by mistake?
___________________
Which doesn't work.
It seems to take at least 5 hyphens (n-dashes) to work.
On my phone there a setting which automatically changes two consecutive hyphens/n-dashes into a dash/m-dash. This means instead of getting -- I get —. I either have to undo the substitution setting or type my hyphens with a space between them and then go back and delete the spaces.
We're having our bathroom converted to a wet room, and the 2 fitters are from Yorkshire. They reckon it's far colder here than at home.
Seems to work on this Mac
Five hyphens:
Three hyphens: ---
Not prying at all, BF: I'm going to Edinburgh, where all my immediate family are. My sister, whose husband died 10 years ago, is rattling about in quite a big house, so I'm going to impose on her hospitality until I can find a job and possibly a wee flat.
I'm getting quite excited at the prospect: D. and I used to say if money were no object and we could live anywhere, it would be Edinburgh, and I'll get the chance to see my sister's adorable grandchildren growing up, which will be nice.
I've got Junk Removal Bloke coming tomorrow to take away the scruffy old shelves, and the estate agent said she'll call up later to see about taking pictures.
I'm rather hoping that the counter-top chaps don't come until Thursday, as there could be traffic jams if they all turned up at once ...
There seem to be very good public transport links from my sister's place - there's a bus stop about five minutes' walk away that takes you into town, so I should probably be OK.
(iPad joins my hyphens too)
Got the bulk of my marking done yesterday so I’m finishing that off this morning and this afternoon I will start writing my first assignment.
It might seem odd to be writing assignments for a doctorate but, because it is a professional one, all the students are studying while working full or part time in education. Giving us structured modules on key themes ensures we get our research done in a timely way. We spend the first year doing context and ethics, literature searching and research design. This assignment is about the context of our research and will be used as a draft chapter for writing up. I’m actually looking forward to critiquing models of disability in relation to mental health, it gives me a chance to vent.
Have a good day everyone.
@Piglet, we must meet up when you return. I am a fund of information on the Southside - which to my mind, has all the human frame requires (Polish deli! Chinese supermarket! Lidl! The Meadows! Turkish restaurants! Keralan! Fabric shop! Wool shop! (Run by a Chinese woman from Bannbridge) Bead shop! Cheesemonger!)
Today is my real-life German class. I really enjoy it, it’s great to be with peers who are very much at my level and working together with them. Like me, they have all retired from professional jobs.
Our teacher (U3A) has Masters degrees in German, Italian and Latin and a PhD in Latin. How he comes all the way down to our level, I do not know - and he’s humble with it too. 👏🏼👏🏼