Knitting

I've never given much thought to knitting. Let's face it there are only two stitches to learn - knit and purl and each is so easy to do they take only about 30 seconds to learn. Casting off is just a matter of passing one stitch over the other and casting on takes only very slightly longer to learn. I've been knitting since I was about 6 years old and the whole thing is just second nature to me. I have huge problems sitting in front of the tv without some knitting to do.

Having said all that there is one job connected with knitting that takes a little longer: picking up stitches. This is one task that takes me a little longer to do, necessarily to make sure that all is even and looks right. Picking up stitches evenly around the neck of a jersey is relatively easy and doesn't take too long, however the task I have been doing the last few days has taken a huge amount of time, concentration and frustration.

I have finished the five major pieces of the cardigan I have been working on. I then put it aside for a few weeks to gather my strength for the task ahead [grin]. This week I have taken it up again and started work. It has taken hours. The band goes up one side of the cardigan, round the fiddly bit from breastbone to neck, around the neck, round the other fiddly bit and down the other side of the cardigan. A total of 511 stitches to pick up, small stitches given the weight of the yarn (4 ply - don't let's go there again!). I was aware that I had to get it right as if the border was done hurriedly there was a risk that the finished cardigan would just look tatty. It took me ages to get it right. All that frantic counting, never easy on a circular needle which, of course, moves a lot (I'd never get all 511 stitches on a straight needle).

To make it easy and the stites regular throughout I broke the long bands up the front of the cardigan into smaller sections, with a set number of stitches to pick up in each, each section divided by safety pins (using the pins I use when sewing together pieces of knitted fabric - the sort with big plastic heads doesn't really work as they work out of the fabric too easily when you don't want them to). And on the end of the circular needle that I wasn't actually using to pick up stitches I threaded a ball of Blutak covered with cling film to stop the stitches sliding off.

I did it in the end, it took ages but it looks right. Now all I have to do is to knit the band, not a straightforward task as it takes frantic counting to work out exactly where to put the increases to make sure that the fiddly bits on the way to the neckline lie flat.

The Husband and I reek of garlic at the moment. After weeks of hot weather and high humidity I've been looking for cooling summer recipes - there is a limit to the amount of salads you can eat, day after day for weeks on end. So I went looking for a good cooling recipe that didn't take too much cooking and found one in Delia Smith's book on "Soups" that I tried on Thursday. Basically it is half a pint of natural unsweetened yoghurt put in a blender with two peeled and sliced cucumbers, 5 fl oz of soured cream and garlic cloves, blended until smooth and then seasoned, put in a tureen add 2 teaspoons of chopped mint stir and then chill until really cold and then serve.

Anyway, the blessed Delia always suggests too small portions of garlic - for example she suggests 1 clove in her Minestrone recipe when I find we need 5-6 cloves. So with this I used about 5 good sized cloves which proved far too much and so it's a good thing that we both ate it. However, the recipe is nice and refreshing in this hot weather and I'll certainly try it again only with slightly less garlic.

Oh, her recipe also suggests adding 2 tablespoons of lemon juice - not a good idea as it curdles the mixtrue, although it makes no difference to the taste.

Yarn Comparisons

CopCar and I have been disussing, in the comments to Musings here, the difference in yarn weights between the US and the UK. It has become clear that misunderstandings have come up so I have found here a list of various yarn weights for the UK and the US (I've taken out the Australian/NZ comparisons as not germain to the subject and have had to adapt the chart as Blogger won't allow me to show it as two columns side by side). Hoping now we can both speak from the same page, so to speak ~grin~:-


Yarn thickness or weight conversion chart UK/USA
UK = USA

2 ply = light fingering
3 ply = fingering
4 ply = fingering / sport
double knitting =sport / knitting worsted
= knitting worsted
Aran =
chunky = bulky

I have to admit that on those occasons that I am following a US pattern usually, when I was following crochet patterns I would use our Aran yarn to match US's worsted and it seemed a near enough match in terms of tensions, etc.

EBay.co.uk - Real and Ongoing Difficulties

I have spent the last fortnight getting more and more frustrated with eBay.co.uk. I used to use eBay fairly regularly, buying plants, secondhand books and (new) yarns for crochet. My feedback from that time was 100% and I received comments like "Prompt payment, smooth transaction. Recommended.", "Excellent ebayer, fast payment , thank you A+++++" and "great buyer, quick payment, many thanks".

Anyway, for no particular reason I just didn't have cause to use eBay.co.uk from last October until now, so I never tried to log in. Now, of course, I am a member of the Red Hat Society and need to wear Red Hats and, guess what? Buying a new hat is expensive! So I want to buy some which have been only worn once and now, while the wedding season continues, is the time to look out for them. But eBay won't let me log in under my existing User name at all. After a while I gave up and tried to Register under a new User Name. No success either as I just didn't receive the necessary e-mail from them. Emails that I send to eBay.co.uk bounce too. So over a week I posted no less than three separate e-mails to their Customer Support website but have received no answer to any of them. I had a long and expensive telephone call to a gentleman in India who is one of my own ISP's Technical Support Services: he tested everything and finally confirmed what I had already suspected: my e-mail is working perfectly but for some reason any e-mail I send to eBay.co.uk is bouncing and presumably visa versa and I was told that the problem is clearly at eBay.co.uk's end NOT mine. So I've made two more comments to this effect to their Customer Support - no answer to either of them.

After contacting them five times and each one being ignored I have to admit that I am rapidly losing impatience in eBay and my advice to one and all is: DO NOT USE EBAY.CO.UK!

Last Week

Last week was quite busy in the end and I didn't have much time to go online.

Monday was the Stepson's birthday. 20 years old, which I find incredible as I still at times visualise him as we first met, when he was a bright 6 years old. Now he is 20, about 6ft 3 ins tall and gangly with it and very intelligent to boot. We went to a local Tapas place and had a nice meal together. We all were able to drink except for the birthday boy himself as he was borrowing his mother's car to drive to Cambridge for a party with all his friends that evening.

Tuesday was unexpectedly interesting. About 2 months ago I contacted the local Adult Education Institute for a place on their Summer School but the course I wanted, "Understanding Your Digital Camera" was full. I wasn't particularly surprised it was full as most Digital cameras, including mine, have complicated and often incomprehensible instruction manuals which make it difficult to understand how to do more than the basics. Anyway I left my details on the waiting list and on Monday I had a phone call to say someone had dropped out and that there was a vacancy for Tuesday's course, if I wanted it. I said Yes so I took the train to Brentwood to do the day course. I really enjoyed myself and while what I learny wasn't rocket science it certainly gave me more confidence to use my camera. I also now have a list of things to buy for it too, like card readers, so that I don't use up battery time by plugging the camera into my p.c. - the tutor, a professional photographer, was very emphatic about that.

Wednesday was my first real event as a member of the Red Hat Society. I went, with three other members of the local chapter, to Capel Manor Gardens at Eltham where we met up with members of other Society Chapters and went to a gospel concert. I must admit that the music isn't the sort I usually listen to, and they were clearly amateur singers but with a huge amount of enthusiasm and were clearly really enjoying themselves. I think I shall enjoy being a member of the Red Hat Society as the others seem very nice and they seem to do lots of different things. I am aware, incidentally, that I am now a member of two organisations with exactly the same acronym: RHS. So I must be careful not to mix up the Red Hat Society from the Royal Horticultural Society!

Thursday I spent pleading to my hairdresser to fit in an appointment with her - my appointment was originally on Tuesday but, of course, I did the day course on Digital Cameras then. Fortunately she kindly fit me in. It's odd about my hair, really. For all my life up to about 2 years ago my hair was very, very fine and totally straight. Now it is much thicker, even coarser, and has a distinct and natural curl. Jo, my hairdresser, thinks that the texture of my hair is down to the fact that white and grey hairs are now coming through in profusion and they tend to be thicker and coarser than "ordinary" hairs. She is, however, baffled about where the curl cmae from.

I spent all day Friday and part of Saturday with my feet up after my left foot swelled up like a balloon. I originally thought it was yet another reaction to an insect bite but my GP said that it wasn't and prescribed some anti-inflamatories which seem to have done the trick. I can wear my shoes again.

All the time the week was continuing the Husband had the bit between his teeth to produce a definitive list of all the Classical music CDs that he has. He isn't a very fast computer worker (to say the least) but so far he has reached his discs with music by Chopin. As you can guess he has someway to go! And, of course, while he using the p.c. I cannot. Oh well, abstinence is good for the soul!

Musings

Although this academic year finished for the Stepson last week and he returned to us by Friday he had to go back to Cambridge today to get his second year examination results (they won't post them or contact the candidates in any way). He rang us up this evening to say that he had achieved a First! That's really good news, which means that if he continues to work well the chances are that he'll get a good degree next year. The Husband was kind enough to say that my influence had some contribution in his childhood as I was the one who encouraged the Stepson's love of reading, which helped to develop into his great love of History.

A fox seems to have taken up occupation in our garden. We've seen it wandering about the garden quite a few times. A couple of weeks ago, when the Husband was opening a window he disturbed the fox, which was sunbathing in the flowerbed immediately outside the window. This morning when I opened the curtains to that window there, on the grass below the window, was the fox which clearly did not realise that it was being observed and kept on sauntering across the garden. It's odd that there can be such mixed feelings towards foxes in this country. The country lobby just wishes that hunting was still permitted (my own opinion is that the banning of hunting was one of the best things to happen in this Parliament). In urban areas foxes are very popular with people. Not with our cats though: very shortly after the fox had sauntered through the garden Nimrod went outside and almost immediately shot back in through the catflap with his tail like a brush. I suspect that he didn't enjoy some of the scents he came across.

The finger seems to be healing nicely and I have started knitting without problems, though there is a limit to the amount I can do at any one time. I am working on a cardigan in 4-ply, suitable for summer evenings. Crochet I still cannot do - I think that I shall have to reteach myself to crochet so that I thread the yarn through my fingers in what is, for me, a different way.

The Cat Who Scared The Bear

I found the picture and the story here. As you can see from that website that cat really did chase the bear up not one but two trees.

Never underestimate the power of a cat.

Beethoven's Ninth

Ok, I was wrong. When the Husband said that he planned to buy Beethoven's 9th on original instruments I begged him not to. It is a work I love and know well, always though with full modern orchestras and huge choirs. To my mind the best way to hear it is in the Royal Albert Hall (complete with the echo) with an augmented LSO and two or three choirs belting away to their hearts' content. The power is enough to blow you away. Incidentally the Proms always has the Ninth with a different very famous conductor every year and many come just to listen to that, so in the first half of the programme the RAH is half empty and than fills to capacity after the interval when the Ninth is performed.

Music played on original instruments can, in my opinion sound disappointing to someone who is used to hearing them played by a modern orchestra. I once went to a performance of the Messiah at Guildford Cathedral performed by a choir the same size as the one when the oratorio was very first performed and I'm afraid that I thought the whole thing sounded quite wimpish and it quite put me off such performances.

Anyway, and getting back to the subject, a CD arrived in the post today: Beethoven's Symphony No 9 in D minor, with John Elliot Gardiner conducting the Orchestre Revolutionaire et Romantique on original instruments and the Monteverdi Choir plus four first rate soloists. He's just played it and I have to admit - I was wrong. It had all the force, power and vitality that I love in the Ninth but individual notes and passages were far more noticeable than often is possible when a full orchestra is playing. It was so good that the Husband did not mind when the last movement overlapped with the start of the Czeck Republic v Italy match. That gives you some idea how well this specific CD was rated in this household.

Multitasking

From the letters page of todays The Times. This really made me laugh.

Sir,

Sadly, Helen Potts is wrong about the men removing their iPod earphones before saying hello (letter, June 20). This is not the modern equivalent of doffing one’s hat; it is merely proof that the male of the species can only do one thing at a time.

ALISON MORRIS
Cheddar, Somerset

Horticultural Musings: June 2006

At the moment it has been warm and dry for a while and I am spending a lot of time outside, sometimes weeding, sometimes pottering around in the garden. The Husband has done very little out there this year, as he has had some vile virus since before the New Year. I, on the other hand, have managed to spend some time outside each day since Spring finally arrived in April. The garden is looking quite nice, if I say so myself. There are, however, some gaps in the beds, all ready for planting up - and that is when the difference in philosophy between the Husband and myself begins to appear. He likes lots of annuals everywhere, with brash and bright colours. I, on the other hand, prefer green shrubs and perennials everywhere. Usually we reach a compromise without any difficulty, as the bedding plants go in all the gaps between the shrubs and perennials. However, this year it is an unspoken rule in the UK that, at least in the South, bedding plants are not P.C., what with the drought (much of the South East of England is under, a least, a hosepipe ban and in some places a much more severe water shortage). Still he wants the annuals and I accept that as it is his garden too he has a right to plant in it what he wants, as well as what I want. But this year when all watering is being done by watering can he can water his plants, and I will water those of mine that have still to establish.

Talking about the garden there is a big gap in the bed just to the left of the Laburnum and in full view of the sitting room. The Husband has suggested growing some Nepata (Catmint) there, as it is a good looking plant and a perennial herb to boot, I think it a good idea too. There is, however, one major doubt in my mind. Our garden is not only occupied by Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and his sister Pickle it is also prowled by several other neighbourhood cats too (Nim at least isn't at all territorial). The thought of that lot rolling all over the Catmint .... well, it won't last very long. I've looked on the Web and see that experts recommend protecting it with wire netting or something. One school of thought is to place an upside down (hanging flower) basket over each plant and to let the herb grow through it as the basket will protect the main body of the plant from the loving attentions of cats. Sounds like a very good idea, but now I am trying to work out how to secure each basket in place. Nimrod may not be the brightest cat in the street but Pickle could win the feline equivalent of Brain of Britain without any difficulty and I am certain she would work out how to move the basket aside so that she could roll all over the actual plant and destroy it.

When you don't get on with your neighbours.....

You can find some pretty stupid things on the Net. Here is one of them.

Easy Apple Cake

1 lb (450 g) cooking apples
6 oz (175 g) self-raising flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
6 oz (175 g) sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond essence
4 oz (100 g) butter, melted
sugar to sprinkle over

Heat the oven to 350 F, 180 C, Gas Mark 4 and line with greased greaseproof paper an 8 inch loose-bottomed cake tin.

Peel, core and thinly slice the apples and keep them in a bowl of water. Put the flower, baking powder and sugar into a mixing bowl. Beat together the eggs and the almond essence and stir them into the flour, then add the melted butter. Mix together well and spread half the mixture into the cake tin.

Drain and dry the apples on kitchen paper and arrange them onto the cake mixture. then top with the rest of the cake mixture (the butter will have congealed by now and so the mixture will need to be spread over the apples but if the apples show through at the end it doesn't really atter).

Bake in the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes until golden and slightly shrunk from the sides of the tin. Leave to cook for 15 minutes and then turn out and remove the greaseprooof paper. Sift over the sugar. Serve either warm or cold. Delicious either as a dessert with custard or cream or alternatively as a cake at teatime.

The World Cup

Oh dear, IT has started and I'm already suffering. Three matches a day at the moment, at 2.00, 5.00 and 8.00 each day, and the Husband seems determined to watch them all. Fortunately I can hide in the study to get away from it, and have my own TV in there as well as my books but still at times the bellows, when a goal has been scored or failed to be scored, reach my ears like a mastodon roaring in a distant primeval swamp. And then he comes in to update me on what is going on and which team is the better and why. The computer is in the same room as the main TV and it's not easy to concentrate while a match is as, in addition to the noise from the TV, Himself keeps on commenting, loudly, on the game.

OK it's only on once every 4 years but that is more than enough. I still remember the last time the World Cup was on. I was still working then and one weekday morning I set off for work at the same time that the then England team strode on the pitch for an important match. As I strode towards the station I walked through streets that were totally silent and deserted, no cars or men to be seen. Walking through a suburban street with houses on both sides suddenly male voices could be heard from all directions, from each of the houses I was passing. I had no doubt that England had scored a goal. Of course by the time I reached work the game was over and England had lost but I still remember that and the commitment felt by virtually everyone over here.

I caught a couple of minutes of the opening ceremony last Thursday and have to admit that the Germans have proved to all their sense of humour - there was a delicious sense of irony in the start of the ceremony.

This time, of course, the World Cup is being held so close to home that many of our fans have gone over there. The media have been repeating the Fawlty Towers phrase for weeks - "Don't Mention the War". Hopefully there will be no trouble. But they do get totally emotionally involved in the competition.

The most amazing advert

Usually when the adverts come on the tv I automatically find something else to do until the programme I am watching returns -I tend to do the washing up in advertisement breaks, for example. However when this one came on tv I just stopped and watched, absolutely rivetted. I still do. Someone has just sent a link to the advert together with the following explanation of how the advert was created.

And you thought those people that set up roomfuls of dominos to knock over were amazing...

There are NO computer graphics or digital tricks in the film.Everything you see really happened in real time exactly as you see it. The film took 606 takes. On the first 605 takes, something, usually very minor, didn't work. They would then have to set the whole thing up again.

The crew spent weeks shooting night and day. By the time it was over, they were ready to change professions. The film cost six million dollars and took three months to complete including full engineering of the sequence.

In addition, it's two minutes long so every time Honda airs the film on British television, they're shelling out enough dough to keep any one of us in clover f! or a lifetime.

However, it is fast becoming the most downloaded advertisement in Internet history.

Honda executives figure the ad will soon pay for itself simply in "free viewing".(Honda isn't paying a dime to have you watch this commercial!). When the ad was pitched to senior executives, they signed off on it immediately without any hesitation - including the costs.

There are six and only six hand-made Honda Accords in the world. To the horror of Honda engineers, the filmmakers disassembled two of them to make the film. Everything you see in the film (aside from the walls, floor, ramp, and complete Honda Accord) is parts from those two cars. The voiceover is Garrison Keillor.

When the ad was shown to Honda executives, they liked it and commented on how amazing computer graphics have gotten.They fell off their chairs when they found out it was for real.

Oh. and about those funky windshield wip! ers...On the new Accords, the windshield wipers have water sensors and are designed to start doing their thing automatically as soon as they become wet.

The advert itself can be found at http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/honda.php. Enjoy!

It's the time of year when I always feel beleaguered and this year it's worse than ever. In a couple of weeks the insurance policies expire on the house, its contents AND the car, all on the same day, and it feels as if every insurance company in Britain and a fair assortment of the insurance brokers as well are chasing me up for my business. I've had literally dozens of letters from companies plus many, many e-mails on the subject. Goodness knows how they learnt about the expiry date. Well, chums, the building and contents insurance is sorted and so you needn't chase me up about that. We'll look at the motoring insurance next week but I've enough latters and e-mails on the subject, thank you, all ready to reach an informed decision. No more please.

The last few weeks have been interesting to say the least, since the arrival in the neighbourhood of some new visitors who are proving unwelcome to many of the other residents. In early Spring we became aware of a lot of fuss around a tree virtually next to our garden. When we looked we discovered two Crows being mobbed by several pigeons. This surprised us because Crows are not normally seen around here and the pigeons tend to be quite laid back and little normally fusses them. This fuss and noise associated with the Crows has continued on virtually a daily basis and we have seen them being mobbed many times since then. They are still around - both were sitting on the eves of our house only yeasterday, so they have obviously decided to move into the neighbourhood. And all the other birds, not just the pigeons, are not happy about it. Nimrod the Mighty Hunter is showing interest too but the Crows so far seem to be avoiding standing on the ground, so he is just a bit frustrated.

Similes and metaphors

I've come across these before and really enjoyed them. Rereading them now I find that they still make me laugh aloud.

Every year, English teachers from across the country (that is the US - Val) can submit their collections of actual similes and metaphors found in high school essays.These excerpts are published each year to the amusement of teachers across the country.

1. Her face was a perfect oval, like a circle that had its two sides gently compressed by a Thigh Master.

2. His thoughts tumbled in his head, making and breaking alliances like underpants in a dryer without Cling Free.

3. He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it.

4. She grew on him like she was a colony of E.Coli, and he was room-temperature Canadian beef.

5. She had a deep, throaty, genuine laugh, like that sound a dog makes just before it throws up.

6. Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever.

7. He was as tall as a six-foot, three-inch tree.

8. The revelation that his marriage of 30 years had disintegrated because of his wife's infidelity came as a rude shock, like a surcharge at a formerly surcharge-free ATM machine.

9. The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't.

10. McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty bag filled with vegetable soup.

11. From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and Jeopardy comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30.

12. Her hair glistened in the rain like a nose hair after a sneeze.

13. The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease.

14. Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph.

15. They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth.

16. John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met.

17. He fell for her like his heart was a mob informant, and she was the East River.

18. Even in his last years, Granddad had a mind like a steel trap, only one that had been left out so long, it had rusted shut.

19. Shots rang out, as shots are wont to do.

20. The plan was simple, like my brother-in-law Phil. But unlike Phil, this plan just might work.

21. The young fighter had a hungry look, the kind you get from not eating for a while.

22. He was as lame as a duck. Not the metaphorical lame duck, either, but a real duck that was actually lame, maybe from stepping on a land mine or something.

23. The ballerina rose gracefully en Pointe and extended one slender leg behind her, like a dog at a fire hydrant.

24. It was an American tradition, like fathers chasing kids around with power tools.

25. He was deeply in love. When she spoke, he thought he heard bells, as if she were a garbage truck backing up.

The Laburnum - a lesson in patience

We bought a Laburnum about 8 years ago and chose the L. watereri "Vossii" recommended in Dr. DG Hessayon's "Tree and Shrub Expert" as the best one to have. It was only about 8 feet tall when we planted it and it was generally very weedy. For years it did little and was a general disappointment, being the last tree in the garden to gain leaves, the first to drop them (in late August each year) and few of the racimes it is noted for. As it is planted in a very prominent position in the garden I am sure you can understand that this was a real disappointment. Two years ago I said bluntly that the tree would have to come out as it wasn't pulling its weight. The following Spring of 2005, after a very wet winter, it suddenly grew several feet and we had a really good display of racimes and the leaves dropped much later in the autumn too. This year the tree is a wonder with a huge number of racimes glowing with a wonderful yellow light. Obviously this is a tree that takes several years to establish itself so you need patience to grow it. But my goodness, it is worth it.

Talking about dogs again, can you imagine doing this to any poor animal? I cannot imagine spending time knitting something like this!

What Breed of Dog Are You?

For a laugh I had a go at a test "What Breed of Dog Are You? ". Here are my results:-

Woof woof! You're a Scott!

No bones about it, you're an adventurous
Scottish Terrier. Fearless, feisty, and always up for a challenge, you like having things your way. Some people might even label you stubborn or headstrong. But we know you're just ambitious and motivated. (Being misinterpreted is such a trial, isn't it?) Besides, your can-do attitude serves you well when facing challenges at work or in your personal life. No job is too big, and absolutely no obstacle is going to stand in your way. You're always ready, willing, and able to rise to the challenge. A loyal, caring friend, you choose your pals very carefully, then stick by them through thick and thin. Woof!

I have to admit being a bit surprised. I thought I'd be a dog that's a bit more laid-back like, say, a labrador. What Breed of Dog are you?

Solitude

Tuesday evening and the Husband is off to his music appreciation evening class leaving me on my own for a few hours. A welcome respite in many ways. I lived in a flat on my own before I married and enjoyed the solitude. It's nice even now to be able to spend some time on my own and just do what I want to do without pandering to the whims and wishes of another. Although I love listening to music at times it is nice at times just to sit and listen to the silence. Then I feel peaceful.

It's odd. For over 30 years I worked in the very center of one of the busiest and largest cities in the world and still enhoy visiting it. There one experiences noise and the presence of others 24 hours a day. Even there though one can enjoy the solitude and peace of just being my own person.

None of this is to say I am unhappy in my marriage, Just to say that it is nice at times to know that you are your own person and have the opportunity to do what you like when you like in peace and quiet.

Having said all that Nimrod the Mighty Hunter has just come in the cat flap and is bellowing for his dinner. I have his orders to follow.

The best day of your life is the one
on which you decide your life is your own.
No apologies or excuses.
No one to lean on, rely on, or blame.
The gift is yours -- it is an amazing journey --
and you alone are responsible for the quality of it.
This is the day your life really begins.

Source unknown

... and I'm back

OK, so after some time in the workshop I have my computer back. It now doesn't take 20 minutes to start up when I turn it on and it has stopped crashing regularly. And I now suspect that I am receiving all my e-mails - before I have a strong suspicion that some e-mails just didn't reach me. I think the problem is that when you use your own computer regularly that you get used to it being there and you think it is there for all time. But this isn't true for me now. I find myself thinking that the life of this machine is finite and at some time I will have to replace at least the big box with the processor and all the hard drive. The thing that is worrying me is that I have so much stored on my machine that I just don't want to lose. On iTunes I have well over 6 GB of music and audiobooks, most purchased and downloaded over the web. I'd have real difficulty replacing that lot.

While the computer was away I spent a lot of time working in the garden, tidying up and hoping for rain. The UK is in a state of drought and the authorities expect it to last all year as the last two winters we haven't had enough rain to replenish the reserviors. As a result some areas of Southern England still have a hosepipe ban in place from last year (i.e. no use of hosepipes in gardens) and parts of Surry and Kent now have a water order, which means that they are banned from using water for non-essential uses, like washing cars or filling swimming pools. Everyone is hoping that no-one ends up with water rationed to the extent that water to houses is cut off and water has to be collected from stand-pipes in the streets. Fortunately we haven't a hosepipe ban yet where we live but looking to the rest of the year I am being careful with water now and only using a watering can on my pots and containers. We've had showers the last few days, and anticipated for the weekend also, which while not enough to have any significant effect on reservoirs has at least helped the gardens. Ours looks like a jungle, everything has grown so much.

The Husband is currently playing a new box set of all the Haydn string quartets which is certainly a change from the passion he has developed for minimalist music. For the past two weeks he has played nothing but Philip Glass, Arvo Part, Reich and John Adams. I must admit that I like this type of music also but am glad for a change after hearing it constantly for two weeks straight.

Computer Problems

I'm having huge problems with my computer at the moment as it keeps crashing so I've not been online much. I'm taking it in to the computer workshop to try to sort out what the problem is. So apologies to my friends who I've not been in touch with lately. I hope to be back online soon.

Herbal Musings

Now that Spring has finally arrived and the rain that has kept us indoors for over a week has finally left I've been able to take a look at the herbs I grow. I keep most of them in pots on the patio, only a few feet from the house so that if I need to use any of them while cooking they are close at hand.

The two bay shrubs, each in its own pot, are both looking rudely healthy - but then they always do. Neither grows very quickly, but then Bays don't, though I could have sworn that when they were much smaller and growing on the kitchen windowsill they grew much faster than they do now. Perhaps when they get used to being outside - though they've been out there for about two years once I no longer had room for them indoors.

I am staggered by the speed at which new shoots are growing on the Spearmint. I tidied it up about two days ago and it looks as if the shoots have doubled in size since then. The Chocolate Mint is also beginning to show now but is clearly a little later than its brother the Spearmint.

I am surprised and very pleased at the French Tarragon. It has a reputation of dying when faced with a frost and as we have heavy frosts here every winter so I grew it as an annual. We had a bad winter and I saw that all the twigs above ground in the pot were dead and so I expected that the whole plant had died. However now lots of healthy baby Tarragon shoots have emerged in the pot.

The Chives died right back over winter but suddenly reappeared a few weeks ago and now I have a very healthy amount all ready for harvesting. What did surprise me, however, were the tiny Chives shoots I found emerging in the two pots of Mint. I removed them but perhaps I shouldn't - I could have had the Battle of the Thugs.

In one pot I had a Basil, a Rosemary and an Oregano. I was expecting the Bsil to die and it did. Although hardy the Rosemary has also shuffled off this mortal coil, just leaving the Oregano beginning to show green leaves. I am not sure what to do with this pot. Neither am I sure what to do with the purple Sage in another pot. It looks a bit sorry for itself and something has been munching its leaves. I think I shall wait a bit to see if it perks up. If it doesn't I shall have to come to a decision about it.

The rest of the garden is finally coming out of the long and hard winter. Lots of shoots are emerging, some several weeks later than usual. I must be careful not to be too enthusiastic in clearing away something that is only just waking up for the Spring.

Lemon Linguini, Chocolate Pots, the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Yesterday lunchtime I received a phone call from the Stepdaughter to say that she had just bought a copy of the DVD, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" which was released over here yesterday. She suggested coming over here in the evening so we could all watch the film together. As neither the Husband nor I had seen the film I agreed and suggested putting together a meal for us.

So I went looking for suitable recipes. This was fortuitous as I am a member of a private group that shares recipes, with each month dedicated to a specific type of recipe. April's category of recipes is Pasta dishes and so I welcomed the opportunity to try something new that I could then let the other group members know about. In Nigella Lawson's wonderful (and very fat) book "How to Eat" I found "Lemon Linguini" that I decided to try. As a lifelong dedicated chocoholic I decided to try "Chocolate Pots" from "The Return of the Naked Chef" by, of course, Jamie Oliver. Both recipes are set out below.

The film? We enjoyed it more than I think we expected. I haven't read the book since I had been at school but could remember enough to know that the film kept reasonably close to the actual plot. I also appreciated the imagination used in the way that it was dramatised. The Husband doesn't usually like that sort of film but actually enjoyed it, even though he didn't expect to do so - he uses the excellent BBC dramatisation that had come out when the kids were young as a benchmark but decided that the film came well up to that standard. Also, he knows a lot about the history of trains and stations and frequently criticises new dramatisations of Miss Marple and Poirot as being wrong in their depiction of trains and buses of the period- he said that the depiction of Paddington Station and the train was correct (though he said that the train was somewhat cleaner than it should have been). Generally the film was well received in our household.

Lemon Linguini

750g linguini
2 egg yolks
150 ml double cream
50g freshly grated parmesan
zest and juice of 1 lemon
15g butter
parsley, chopped

1. Cook the linguini according to the instructions on the packet.
2. In a bowl mix together the egg yolks, grated parmesan, zest and juice of the lemon, a pinch of salt and some pepper. Beat together with a fork.
3. When the lingini is cooked drain, retaining a small amount of the cooking liquid. Put the linguini back in the pan throw in the butter and swirl it about until each strand is coated with the melted butter. Then add the parmesan/lemon mixture and stir into the pasta. Add a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water only if the mixture looks a bit dry - otherwise don't bother.
4. Serve immediately, preferably with a green salad, with chopped parsley on top of the pasta.

Comments:-

The recipe is actually for six - I cut it down for the three of us.

The idea is for the sauce to taste subtly of lemon - add more or reduce the amount of lemon juice appropriately.

Nigella states in the book that this is best with linguini pasta - and that it would not work properly with something as fine as angelhair pasta. I suggest that you experiment, though.

Chocolate Pots

half pint single cream

200 g (7 0z) best cooking chocolate (70% cocoa solids), chopped

2 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons brandy, the best you can get

20g (3/4 oz) butter

1. In a thick-bottomed pan heat the cream until nearly boiling. Remove from the heat, leave for 1 minute then add the chocolate. Stir in until melted and smooth. Once melted stir in the egg yolks and brandy, stir until smooth. Leave to cool slightly before stirring in the butter until the mixture is smooth.
2. Pour into individual serving pots.

Comments:-

Serves four. It is very, very rich - so serve only a small amount per person.

I used Cointreau instead of brandy, which worked well with the chocolate/cream mixture.

Mothers Day

Yesterday was a special day. It was Mothers Day and both stepchildren came around, my Stepdaughter at lunchtime for the rest of the day and the Stepson in the evening, after spending time with his own mother during the day. The Stepdaughter actually gave me a Mothers Day present - a DVD of "Acorn Antiques the Musical" something I had wanted to see at the theatre but couldn't as the London West End ticket prices are so expensive nowadays.

I am always surprised and touched to get such attention on Mothers Day as I am only the Stepmother. It's lovely that they are prepared to make the day so special.

The Cupboard under the Sink

The other day we had to clear out a cupboard in the kitchen, after the Husband flooded it while trying to clear a blocked drain. It was the cupboard under the sink, where most of the cleaning materials are kept. It became abundantly clear that I have a habit of buying cleaning materials each week, even when we don't actually need them. It's just things I automatically add to the shopping list whenever I order groceries online and then when the weekly shop arrives from Tesco I just stuff the bottles into the cupboard. So when we cleared it out we found about a dozen bottles each of bleach, Flash ( a cleaning fluid), loo cleaner and washing-up liquid. There is only two of us at home and we are not that dirty. So I took the opportunity to sort out the cupboard, and to make a mental note not to buy any more until that little lot is used up.

Oh, there was the remains of a mouse nest in there too. I had suspected for some time that Nimrod the Mighty Hunter had been up to his usual tricks as both he and Pickle kept sniffing the cupboard as if they suspected that there was something lurking in there. But the nest had probably been unoccupied for a bit. So I suspect that Pickle has dealt with the unwanted visitor at some time.

Apathy rules OK

I've hardly done anything for the last couple of weeks. I have no idea why. I just seem to be exhausted all the time and am doing very little, although I don't feel ill at all. Perhaps it's because winter seems to be going on for so long. This isn't meant as a moan just as an explanation why I haven't been around much lately. Only this morning I was meditating on one of the sayings of Marus Aurelius which has forced me to get off my bottom and to write something here:

Every moment think steadily as a Roman and a man to do what thou hast in hand with perfect and simple dignity, and feeling of affection, and freedom, and justice; and to give thyself relief from all other thoughts. And thou wilt give thyself relief, if thou doest every act of thy life as if it were the last, laying aside all carelessness and passionate aversion from the commands of reason, and all hypocrisy, and self-love, and discontent with the portion which has been given to thee. Thou seest how few the things are, the which if a man lays hold of, he is able to live a life which flows in quiet, and is like the existence of the gods; for the gods on their part will require nothing more from him who observes these things.

The Husband went to the gym on Thursday, for the first time since he had the flu and when he came home said that he had virtually fainted while on the second machine (the stationery bike). The trainer thinks that he still had the virus in him that caused him to almost pass out. Now he is being very iffy about going back to the gym.

One thing I have had to deal with the fact that my subscription for Noton Internet Security 2005 expired at the start of the month. So I Removed it off my system and Installed Norton Internet Security 2006. Then I found out that I couldn't get Updates to the programme. So I've had lots of dealings with Symantec trying to sort it out. They have been very helpful, thank goodness, and keep on sending me long (very long) e-mails full of advice on what to do next. In the end I had to Remove (for the 4th time) the programme, run three "patches" to remove anything nasty on my system and then do a Search to see if there were any Symantec files left on my system. That was instructive. Although I Remove each Internet Security programme from my computer when I Update to a new programme still the Search found 22 Symantec files on my system, some dating to 2003 when I first bought the computer. Deleting them and Re-Installing seems to have sorted out the Update problem, although I am not telling Symantec that yet as now occasionally the computer has a funny turn when I turn it on and crashes. So I'm not letting the company sign off on my programme until I am fully satisfied.

It's snowing - again. We've had snow on and off for some weeks, though not enough to lay in any depth. What is beginning to concern me is that Spring is clearly just around the corner with buds on lots of shrubs and trees and bulbs beginning to appear. So the sooner the cold weather goes away the less harm it will do to Spring plants and bulbs.

The Husband and I have spent time recently just "chilling out" and listening to an audible book "Devices and Desires" by P D James that I've downloaded onto my iPod. I must admit that I do like P D James' books although the intensity of the way she writes is demanding on the listener at times. (The Husband says that from the way she writes it is very obvious that she used to be a civil servant.) The book is over 15 hours in lenth and we still have another 5 hours to go so I am off now to listen to a bit more.

I've had a nice but busy couple of days interspersed with periods of sheer exasperation. Sunday the Husband, Stepdaughter and myself drove up to Cambridge to see the Stepson who is a second year student reading History at the University. Usually we use the park and ride system, parking the car on the outskirts of the city and taking a bus to the center - a very efficient way of visiting Cambridge, the majority of which was, of course, built before the arrival of motor cars. It is, therefore, next to impossible to park in the city. However we discovered that the park and ride system doesn't work on a Sunday and so we were forced to drive into the city and after driving around for ages we finally found a car park above a brand new shopping complex, the only problem being that the car park closes at 6.00 pm, thus restricting our time in Cambridge. Fortunately we knew that the Stepson had to go to a Formal in the evening so we were not too disappointed at the reduction of the time spent with him.

We had a good day together having lunch at Browns, the restaurant to go to at Cambridge for families visiting their undergraduate sons and daughters. They serve very good English food in generous portions - the starter was as big as a main course in many restaurants so by the time we'd had three courses plus wine and coffee I was absolutely stuffed. It was worth it though. Then we went back to the Stepson's room for a couple of hours. It's a fair size room and all his College's accommodation is in a very good part of the city: if they had been in private ownership they would go for a very fair price. We got back and out of the car park exactly at 6.00pm, talk about by the skin of our teeth.

The Husband gave me an iPod and I spent the rest of Sunday evening and most of Monday trying to get it to appear in iTunes. I had to update the iTunes software and install and reinstall the iPod software several times and fiddle around with them and the computer for hours. Most frustrating. It finally downloaded some things at 10.00 pm on Monday evening. This morning I Downloaded more, although it takes a bit of fiddling to get it to work.

The Husbands immediate reaction, when I originally mentioned that I'd like an iPod was to think it wouldn't be of any real value. However he did give me one. Then when I played some of the first pieces of music I downloaded onto it he was clearly liked the quality of sound from it. It ended up with him plugging the iPod into his (incredibly good and expensive) hi-fi system and he was impressed with the results. He also bought some cables to connect the iPod to the smaller systems in the kitchen and study. It has excellent sound, though it looks odd to see the tiny box plugged into a large hi-fi system and the huge volume of sound coming out. Anyway I wanted it so I could listen to Audio books as the varifocals I wear make it impossible to read in bed. It will also be something to listen to on the train, when visiting my mother. Or in the gym (the trainer has now increased my session to an hour. I am still sore from the first new session I did on Monday.)

Yesterday on the 6.00 pm news the BBC announced a way for people to help in the prediction of climate change, to add a programme to their own computers and let them work away at a part of the problem whenever the computers are not actually working. Well I have had the same type of programme on my p.c. before, once on an experiment connected, I think, to SETI and then afterwards one connected on some sort of medical programme. So I had no hesitation in Downloading the BBC programme so that it could work away in the background of my p.c. whenever it was on and I could feel I was helping, in at least a minor way. Big mistake. Immediately my computer began to play up very badly and to work incredibly slowly. A Defrag didn't help either. This morning it took almost 45 minutes for the computer to be turned on completely. So I deleted the BBC programme from my system and immediately it began to work properly again. It's still working all right. So I would just say with any programme like that one Beware, and if it doesn't work be prepared to get rid of it. Like most people I'd like to find someway to help, however small, obviously this wasn't it.

I'm spending a lot of time at the moment soothing the fevered brow - the Husband has flu, badly. He really is feeling poorly.

Submerged in Books

Part of the big bookcase in my study. If you look closely you can see the black covers of three other large "In Death" paperbacks in the bottom left-hand corner of the picture. No room for the new one there, though. Oh, and there is a shelf above this lot I just couldn't fit into the picture.


I've reached the stage now that I have no more room to store new books. Every bookcase in the place is absolutely packed with them and I try to hide the fact that there are now piles of the things surreptitiously hidden wherever I can find space. And still I buy them. A trip on my own to St Thomas' Hospital in London last Thursday gave me the afternoon free, and thus an opportunity to visit some of my favourite bookshops in Charing Cross Road. I bought only three books, all paperbacks but two of those are the big sized ones. One of them was "Memory in Death" by J D Robb which was published in the UK on 2nd February but it took me a week of searching bookshops until I found a copy in Murder One. I don't particularly like visiting Murder One since it moved premises as it is now in such cramped accommodation that one feels almost claustrophobic in there. But I knew it was virtually the only place I would be able to find it. And I did. And it was one of the best in the "In Death" series. Now I have the problem of where to put the book until the next time I read it.

Yes, I do reread the books I buy, some of them again and again. The fiction ones tend to range from whodunnits, some thrillers, vampires, some straight romances, some sci-fi and fantasy, Terry Pratchett (a class of their own) Phillippa Gregory's historicals and straight "women's books" and I chose what next to read according to how I feel at the time. Then there are the non-fiction ones which include gardening books, crafts (sadly neglected at the moment) some travel and, of course, cookery books. These have a bookcase of their own and I have still run out of room for them. I now have been forced to have a run of cookery books next to the bookcase that they would be in if there was any room. My argument with these is, of course, that I do use them "and here is a recipe from the book for your lunch". (Let him get out of that argument easily!)

I am stuck. I just cannot get rid of most of my books (I still regret parting with "I Capture the Castle" and must replace it as I want to read it again). And so many good new ones are still being published, especially by some of my favourite authors (Terry Pratchett, J D Robb, Mary Janice Davidson, Catherine Aird, Lillian Jackson Braun,.... the list just goes on and on....) and I just cannot not have them. So the walls of the house are beginning to groan and the numbers of books increase.

Perhaps there should be an organisation like AA called BookBuyers Anonymous. I'd certainly join.

The Customer Service of MovieMars Inc is dreadful

Just before my accident I had some problems with a box set of DVDs that I bought as an Amazon.co.uk Marketplace purchase (i.e. from a US company selling through Amazon.co.uk). The whole situation is self-explanatory from the exchange of e-mails on the subject and so just read below:-

From: "Movie Mars, Inc."
Sent: Thursday, December 15, 2005 8:29 PM
Subject: Your Amazon Marketplace Order Has Shipped!
Good News!!
Thank you for your recent MovieMars.com order through Amazon.
Your item(s) left our warehouse today and shipped to.....

To: "Movie Mars, Inc."
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 3:10 PM
Subject: Re: Your Amazon
Marketplace Order Has Shipped!
Sir/Madam,
The DVD Box Set "Nero Wolfe, Series 2" ordered from you on 10 December 2005 was received by me today. As expected I had to pay Customs charges of £8.54 on the parcel. I was, therefore, particularly disappointed to discover that one of the five discs in the box set was not Disc 3 of the Nero Wolfe Series but instead a disc of "Jeeves and Wooster, Second Season" (AAE - 70213). The Nero Wolfe discs included in the box set are numbered AAE - 70890, 70891, 70893 and 70888.
I have attached three photos to demonstrate both the mistake and the fact that I have yet to remove the plastic covering to the box set. I look forward to hearing from you forthwith just how this error can be rectified quickly and at no further cost to myself.

From: CustomerService at MovieMars>
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2006 3:21 PM
Subject: Movie Mars, INC. has received your email...
One of our Customer Service representatives will respond to you within 24 business hours.> > We appreciate your business!

To: Customer Service at Moviemars
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 6:21 PM
Subject: Re: Movie Mars, INC. has received your email...
Sir/Madam,
Although you sent me this note on Tuesday stating that you would send me a reply within 24 hours I have yet to receive a full reply from you.

From: CustomerService at MovieMars
Sent: Sunday, January 08, 2006 6:21 PM
Subject: Movie Mars, INC. has received your email...
One of our Customer Service representatives will respond to you within 24 business hours.> > We appreciate your business!

(No Further Response.)

From: Amazon.co.uk
Sent: Tuesday, January 10, 2006 11:57 AM
Subject:
Your Amazon.co.uk A-to-z Guarantee Claim
Dear ......
Greetings from Amazon.co.uk. We are sorry that you are having problems with this order. This e-mail confirms that an Amazon.co.uk A-to-z Guarantee claim has been filed for order #.... because the item you received had missing parts/components............

From: "Amazon.co.uk Payments"
Sent: Wednesday, January 18, 2006 10:13 AM
Subject: Refund Confirmation
Amazon Payments has refunded the amount of £45.75 from moviemars-uk to your credit card, for the full or partial total of order ..... Please find the reasons behind these actions outlined below.
Item: Refund for Nero Wolfe: The Complete Second Season (REGION 1) (NTSC)
[DVD] Refund: £45.75
Reason for refund: Other
Memo from seller: Amazon issued merchant-to-buyer A-Z Guarantee refund

Lessons I have learnt from this experience:-

1) If buying from an overseas company do it through Amazon.co.uk so that you have the weight of the company's guarantee behind you. Their service in this matter was excellent; and

2) The mistake was really obvious and must have been seen by the person picking/packaging the DVD box set that was sent to me. Then the company ignored my attempts to resolve the problem. So, everyone must make their own minds up about buying from this company but I won't be doing so again.

I may not be able to do any knitting at the moment but I can certainly enjoy this.

Right then. I've removed the strapping attaching the broken finger to its brothers and am attempting to type this. Not easy but as I'm told that it is going to take months for the finger to heal completely I can't just avoid everything for that long.

How did it happen? My second visit to the gym without the tutor I went up to the piece of equipment where you push forward a pair of handles and by a series of levers weights are lifted. I had to adjust the seat to suit my height and it stuck. I fought with it for a bit with my full strength and suddenly the whole seat bit shot out of the socket and then came down on the wedding ring finger of my left hand. It was totally an accident and I didn't realise properly then just what I had done. After running water from the drinking fountain on the finger I carried on with the rest of the exercises, went outside and bought a bottle of drinking water. It was only when I went to the changing room to change I looked at my rapidly swelling finger and thought that I out to tell someone so it could be put in the Sports Centre's Accident Book. They took it very seriously and insisted that I went to the hospital. An X-ray showed that the finger is broken badly. The consultant in the Fractures clinic said that it is no good operating as the bits of bones are too small for metal to attach to them. So I have to wait for it to heal of its own accord with the knowledge that there is a risk that I might never gain full mobility back. Hurts a lot at times but I can do things now with the thumb and forefinger of my left hand so I am not completely helpless. And fortunately I am right handed. But - no craftwork at all, I've had to put the knitting, crocheting and sewing away. This is my first real attempt at typing and if I take the strapping off it seems I can do some. Thank goodness.

Many thanks for your kind wishes Cop Car and Buffy. Sorry I've been away. I'll try and get back more.

accident....

...this morning and have broken a finger on my left hand. painful. can't type properly with just my other hand as am a 2 fingered typist. they had to cut off my wedding ring.

will be back when i can write properly.

Tales from the Green Valley

One of the most fascinating television series shown by the BBC last year was called "Tales from the Green Valley". This was an attempt by five professional historians and archaeologists to live in a farmhouse in the way common during the reign of James I and to do all the agricultural activities and use all the equipment that would have been available in the 1620s. There were twelve episodes in the series, one covering the activities (and food eaten) each month of the year. As none of them were farmers (although one, Chloe, had been raised on a farm and could help manage the animals) they had to come to grips with the various period tools, skills, and technology from the age of the Stuarts when everything was done by hand, from ploughing with a team of oxen using a replica period plough, thatching a cowshed using only authentic materials, making their own washing liquid for laundry and harvesting the hay & wheat with scythes and sickles. This was not what is nowadays called a "reality series", these were historians trying to learn how things actually worked then and everyone was clearly revelling in the experience.

I don't know why the BBC don't have a website on the series but the director of the tv series has written something about it which can be found here. The series is absolutely fascinating and if you have any opportunity to watch it I do recommend it. So, if you are in the US try to look out for it in your TV schedules. The Husband and I are currently enjoying the series again as it has just come out on DVD.

Exercising

Today saw my second visit to the local gym for exercising. My first visit was on Tuesday morning (Monday was a Bank Holiday over here). I was more than a bit nervous of going at all but found one huge benefit - I was on my own and not part of a class or group all doing the same thing and I was working purely to improve my own health and performance not for any competitive purposes. I feel that unless you are good at physical education/exercise (or whatever else you want to call it) working as part of a group can be counter productive as there is a real risk that you will just compare yourself with the best in the group and then just give up. By doing this on my own I feel that I personally have a far better chance of continuing with it.

The exercises I do include sessions on the treadmill, one where you use your arms to "bicycle" round (as you can see I have a full grasp of all the technical terms!), ones where I am on a piece of equipment where I use either my arms or my legs to lift weights. Tuesday and today I started with a session on a stationary bike which I HATED. I kept on sliding forawrd and feeling generally uncomfortable and had difficulty in keeping going for more than a minute at a time. I am also sure that is why a personal part of my body is now bruised and painful to sit on or to get up from sitting. However the trainer there who is advising and helping me saw that I was having real difficulty in this and has changed my exercise plan so that in future visits I do two sessions on the treadmill, one walking on the straight and one going "uphill".

I do plan to continue with this. It was interesting though just how full the gym was today. I was told though that there is a significant number of people who come for the first two weeks of the year and then don't come back until the beginning of January the following year - something they do every year. I hope that I shall do better than that though.

P.S. I notice that today Nimrod the Mighty Hunter and Pickle are taking turns to peer into a crack between the washing machine and a cupboard in the kitchen. They would not, of course, do this unless there is something there to interest them. I have the suspicion that Nimrod is up to his old tricks and has brought in another "lodger". If so I hope I can find it and expel it without too much difficulty.

I'm Back

And Christmas is over for another year. Tomorrow is Twelfth Night and the Husband will be taking down all the decorations he so lovingly put up a few weeks ago.

We had a good time, all told. Quiet at times but with hectic times when the in-laws came to visit, both on Christmas Eve and New Years Eve until the next morning (unfortunately a trip we were planning to visit them was cancelled due to terrible weather).

After feeling dissassociated from life after the Christmas/New Year period (quite normal for me) I am now trying to find my routines and habits again. Give me a few days and I should be back to normal.

Still, if I am only moderate in my enthusiasm of the Season at least I did not have the terrible and tragic start to the New Year of my friend Buffy, who learnt in the early hours of New Years Day of the death of her Dear Husband's eldest son. Obviously I sent commiserations privately but would like to repeat here my deepest sympathies to her and her husband. I found it especially interesting to read her latest post on the subject (dated 3rd January) and especially how her Dear Husband discovered that his son had been doing wonderful things for charity without their knowledge. Surely that is the mark of a truly good person, to do good things without advertising the fact to one and all. He will clearly be greatly missed.

Let's hope that the New Year provides better times and experiences not just to Buffy and her Dear Husband but to us all.

Guess what I got for Christmas

A digital camera.

My first pictures were of the Husband, the Stepson and the Stepdaughter.

It's a complicated machine so it will take a while to get totally used to it. It should be fun.

The Most Delicious Drink in the World

This recipe is not for slimmers. But at this time of the year it is nice to indulge yourself a little. Enjoy!

For each big latte mug you will need:

300 ml (I/2 pint) of "gold top" Channel Islands or Devon full fat milk
100 gm bar of Green and Black's "Maya Gold" dark chocolate with orange and spices
50 ml of Cointreau (or other good orange liqueur)

Bring the milk gently almost to the boil. In the meantime break all the chocolate up into squares and place in a liquidiser , blender or food processor and pour the liqueur over the top of it. When the milk has almost boiled, pour it over the chocolate/liqueur and blitz this carefully (it's hot and will give off a lot of steam) until it is frothy. Then pour into your mug and sit back and savour.

Don't be tempted to skimp on the ingredients. You do need creamy milk and very good chocolate. But I suppose you could stretch it by pouring some whipped cream on the top of the finished drink in the mug, and then sieving a light dusting of cocoa powder on top of that.

Names

As a child I had huge difficulty in deciding upon names for my dolls. I could never find names that I liked. I can remember that I eventually called my main doll "Barbara" but even then I wasn't very keen on it and often tried to think of alternative names for her, without success. The naming of my cats, over the years, has been a similar problem. When 10 years ago I brought home sister and brother kittens from the Cats Protection League I just could not think of good names for them and eventually came up with Pickle and Pepper. Afterwards I realised just how twee the two names were together but by then the black cat then named Pepper started to bring in his kill and live captures. The Husband said "we ought to call him Nimrod the Mightly Hunter instead". So we did.

I think the problem is that I have always been aware that I disliked the names given to me by my parents, particularly my first name I don't use here (not Val, which was and still is my second given name). Eventually, after over 50 years on this earth I came to the conclusion that why should I continue to live with a first name thaat I didn't like. I was also aware that it had not taken much time or difficulty to get used to my new surname when I married.

It took some time to find a name I did like for myself but one day, when I was at a conference at the Metropolitan Hotel, Brighton and listening to something extremely boring while sitting under an air conditioning outlet and trying to stop thinking just how cold I was, a name that I liked and wanted to be callled suddenly popped into my head.

It is a bit of a fiddle to change your name as there are so many places where your name is registered. Also to change your name legally is some places, like bank and savings accounts, shares, etc, etc all require official documentation. Fortunately a quick surf of Google found a reasonably local company that would do a Deed Poll Certificate for me for only about £20.

Generally changing my name has been successful and virtually everyone uses my new name. The only exceptions are my mother who hates my new name and insists on calling me by my old first name (which she chose, so I can understand her on this) and my hairdresser who only sees me once a month and was used to my old name and sometimes forgets my new one.

I think the main problem over the naming of babies is that parents are required to register the name(s) of the baby so shortly after birth, when the child's character has yet to emerge. So I would urge everyone who dislikes their name not to be afraid to consider changing it to something you feel better suits you.

On this track I have found a very funny website called "Baby's Named a Bad, Bad Thing - A Primer on Parent Cruelty" where some parents have come up with some very imaginative names for their children, either already here and suffering from the names they have been given or still to be born and to have a daft moniker given to them. There are 15 pages of the website and so it will take a time to read. Thus it is an ideal site to read in the hiatus between Xmas and the New Year when times hangs heavy and you need something to laugh at.

Cherry Mistmas

Christmas Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup of water
lemon juice
1 tsp baking soda
4 large eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 cup nuts
1 tsp salt
2 cups of dried fruit
1 cup of brown sugar
1 bottle Brandy

Sample the Brandy to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the brandy again, to be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level glass and drink. Turn on the electric mixer....Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar...Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the brandy is still OK so try another cup .. just in case. Turn off the mixerer thingy. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick the frigging fruit off floor... Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers just pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the brandy to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt, or something. Who giveshz a sheet. Check the brandy. Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spoon of sugar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. ; Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, throw the bowl through the window, finish the brandy and make sure to put the stove in the dishwasher. CHERRY MISTMAS

Found on the web. I think this is one recipe I will not be adding to the Recipe blog (grin)

Exercising Indoors - Hmm

Wednesday of last week I had an appointment with the asthma Consultant at the local hospital. I've been seeing him every so often since my asthma was diagnosed a couple of years ago. When I saw him last February he said that he wanted me to lose a stone (14 lbs) by the time he saw me at the end of November. Well, I tried hard and lost about half a stone. Then I got ill and the shingles lasted for quite a while. So I put on again the weight that I had lost. Anyway, when I saw him last week he said that I definitely need exercise to improve my asthma. However, he thought that major exercising outdoors isn't a good idea for me and said that I need to find a way to exercise indoors. So he started talking about gyms. Immediately he said this I felt a little concerned because to me gyms and sports centres are meant more for the young, slim and fit to use for body maintenance, not an overweight woman of 54 who doesn't exercise. PE classes at school were definitely not my best subject.

Pondering the situation subsequently I've bought a couple of exercise DVDs which are currently winging their way to me through the post (thank goodness for Amazon.co.uk). I've also looked on the Net and discovered that it is possible to join a special programme of exercising at the local council's sports centre. You need to be referred by your GP for this and as soon as my GP returns to the fold (he is on holiday this week) I will make an appointment to see him about it.

I hope it works out. Exercising isn't something I've ever done, though for several years I did do some yoga positions every morning before work. I stopped doing them some time ago. Perhaps I should restart them again.

Parmesan Parsnips

We usually have these with Christmas Dinner, delicious and they can be prepared beforehand to cut down on the fuss on the day.

2.5 lbs parsnips
6 oz plain flour
2 oz parmesan, freshly grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Sunflower oil
knob of butter

1. Mix together the parmesan, flour, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl.
2. Peel and halve the parsnips then quarter them lengthways then cut each quater into smallish chunks. Cut out any woody centres.
3. Put the parsnips into a saucepan with enough boiling water to cover them and add salt. Parboil them for 3 minutes while you get a large kitchen tray ready.
4. As soon as they are ready drain in a colander and drop them, while still steaming, into the flour and parmesan mixture making sure each chunk gets thoroughly coated with the mixture. (N.B. Make sure they are steaming at this stage as this is the easiest way to get them covered with the mixture.) Then transfer them to the tray.
5. Heat the oil in the oven and roast them above the roasting turkey/meat for 20 minutes then turn them over and continue to roast for a further 15-20 minutes.

Comments:-

After Stage 4 has been completed they can be prepared ahead, storing in the fridge for about 24 hours. Alternatively they can be frozen at this stage. Make sure they are fully defrosted before being put in the oven.
The recipe states that sweet potatoes can be used instead of parsnips but I have not tried this.

Ah, Christmas

The advantage of buying virtually all the Christmas presents you are going to give the family either via the Internet or by telephone is that you don't have to brave the shops and all those crowds of frantic shoppers, desperately trying to find things to buy. You can order at home with the knowledge that the goods will be delivered to your home, leaving you relaxed and free of stress. There are few downsides to buying online or by phone. The only ones I can think of is the amount of cardboard boxes and packaging that you end up with. Oh, and the fact that because the Husband and I are awaiting deliveries of things we have ordered one of us always has to be at home during the day and we can't go out together. But it's only for a few days, so this is soon over.

I may not be out buying Christmas presents but I'm still not avoiding the shops totally. There are still "ordinary" things to buy for day-to-day life. And in each shop there is the piped music, which at this time of the year is all Christmas based. Like "Deck the Hall with Boughs of Holly, tralalalalalalala .....

And then there is Christmas music being played at home. The Husband loves to listen to Christmas choral music and oratorios during December, loudly.
[Posted a bit later - at the moment he is playing, one after the other, all the FIVE different versions he has of Vaughn Williams "Fantasia of Christmas Carols" so he can work out which one he prefers. (FYI, so far he prefers the one from the Guildford Cathedral choir. The one I liked was dismissed because it had sopranos singing rather than boys - grin)]

Have you noticed that Television adverts change at this time of year? Suddenly they are full of adverts: for perfume (including that incredibly expensive one from Dior with Nicole Kidman that they originally showed last year); for food for THE meal; games (I believe that this is the best time of year to sell games); and lots of happily smiling perfect-looking families opening parcels to display things that advertisers think we should buy as gifts.

Oh well, only 19 days to go. All that anticipation.......

Parsnip and Baked Apple Soup

I came across this recipe last week when looking through Tamasin Day-Lewis' book "Good Tempered Food" and tried it out on the Husband. He raved about it and said it was really delicious and when was I going to make it again. Soon, dear. It is easy to make too.

Parsnip and Baked Apple Soup

1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

750g parsnips, peeled and diced

1 large cooking apple

2oz butter

1.2 litres chicken or vegetable stock

6 sage leaves

salt, pepper, parsley leaves

1. Score the apple around its circumference, core it and bake it in a dish with about 1/2 inch water and NO sugar. Bake in a hot oven until tender right through.
2. Sweat the onion and parsnips in the melted butter for 10-15 minutes with some seasoning. Then pour on the stock and sage and simmer until tender. Fish out the sage leaves. Peel the baked apple and add it to the mixture. Liquidise until smooth. Check the seasoning and add some chopped parsley and a little cream if you wish. Serve.

The Day from Hell

Last Thursday I decided to visit my mother for the day, as she had been sounding a little down when I spoke to her on the phone. Now I live in Chelmsford, Essex, about 15 miles from the sea on the eastern coast of England. She lives in one of the suburbs of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. Now, despite the distances involved it usually isn't a difficult journey by public transport - just straight to London, tube to Paddington Station and a two hour train journey straight to Cardiff Central station and then a taxi. I can do a day trip, therefore, without any difficulty. Usually.

I got to the station here and up to London Liverpool Street easily. A tube train arrived promptly and took me straight to Paddington Station where I got on the right train, which left on time. So far so good.

About half-way between Paddington and Reading, with fields all around the train stopped. The carriage next to mine was filled with smoke and all the passengers moved into our carriage, At the same time there were urgent announcements for all buffet staff to return to the buffet. Then we waited some more. Then the conductor announced to one and all that the problem was nothing to do with the buffet but because three brake boxes were dragging along the ground and they were trying to mend the problem. Later another announcement said that they were awaiting the arrival of a maintenance team to repair the problem. Still later and finally we were told that the problem had been solved and the train now met Health and Safety requirements and we could move again. So we set off to Cardiff which we reached over two hours later than planned.

The taxi got me to where my mother lives at 4.30. She gets a bit fussed easily nowadays and was upset about the delays I had experienced and whether I'd be stranded there (I wasn't, after over 30 years of commuting to London by train I had experienced far worse than this before). Obviously I couldn't spend as much time with her as I usually do or would have liked as I needed to get home the same day.

Anyway, I got back to Cardiff Central station to discover that London bound trains were running about 20 minutes late. The winds from the Arctic promised by our weather forecasters had arrived and it was a chilly wait. The train arrived and got to London, taking at least 30 minutes longer than anticipated. A quick tube to Liverpool Street. As I arrived at that station I heaved a sigh of relief at the thought I had only a 40 minute train journey to home. I thought too soon though. No trains were leaving the station at all due to overhead cable problems at Romford and a broken down goods train at Chelmsford. I had an hour wait before the first train left Liverpool Street station, and then it took longer than usual to get home. Then the queues for taxis were so long I phoned up the Husband and got him to drive across town to pick me up. I got home well after midnight, fortunately just before the snows fell that so disrupted Britain on Friday.

Than, to add insult to injury the following two days I had a nasty tummy upset that laid me low. Whether it is the bug currently going around Cardiff or the effects of the junk food I ate to get me through the day I do not know. Anyway, I am back to normal now.

Such days don't happen very often. Just one of those things but I am glad it's over.

Curry

My forehead is covered with perspiration...
my nose is running...
my tongue is on fire...
my breathing is harsh...
my temperature is too high...
and I think the wax in my ears is melting....

just what is it about men and Curry?

When the Husband handed me lunch today he said, rather grimly, "I deliberately made it mild for you". Well you could have fooled me. One bite of the chicken curry he had made and the top of my head almost hit the ceiling. And I felt hotter and hotter as I struggled to finish the gargantuan portion he had made me (he always has a slight problem over portion sizes, often a single portion of the meals he makes is enough for two or three).

I am convinced though that many men have a view of curry that says "the hotter the better". It is a total cliche over here that young men who have been out drinking then go to the nearest Indian take-away for a hot curry - and they compete on who can eat the hottest. Well, I'm afraid I prefer some subtly to taste than just heat in the curries I eat. It also isn't, I believe, a traditional Indian thing to go for very hot curries. I can remember that sometime ago I worked in a building adjacent to Waterloo Station in London (the building now overlooks Waterloo International) and one member of the team was a really nice Indian lady of ~ahem~ somewhat mature years. One lunchtime we all went out to an Indian restaurant close to the office building and the men there insisted on ordering. The curry that appeared was too hot for the Indian lady, and she told us that she didn't know one Indian person who would eat a curry that hot.

The husband made the curry with some left-over chicken and various bits in the fridge and store-cupboard. For two portions he used four big fat cloves of garlic. Well, it should keep the vampires away, I suppose.

Thought of the Day

And inside you is your real freedom, because your consciousness cannot
be touched by anybody. You are the only master of your being.

Osho

From today's Meditation Tip of the Day

Interesting Mashed Potatoes

Now the term "Interesting Mashed Potatoes" is one that personally I consider somewhat of a contradiction in terms as I find mashed potatoes generally somewhat boring. We do have it at home with some meals. For example the Husband is very fond of them with sausages with onion gravy for example and when he dishes it up I do eat it. Anyway, I have recently treated myself to a new recipe book called "The Kitchen Diaries" by Nigel Slater. The book is big, about 400 pages and basically is a record of what he has cooked each day over the course of a year, with recipes and comments on foods. It is really fascinating and well-worth reading. As the book is very fat and covers a whole year I am trying to read the entry for the day I am living though, to get inspiration, etc for future meals.

Anyway, browsing through the book over the last couple of weeks I came across a couple of entries for mashed potatoes. For the entry for 31st October to have with sausages he suggests "Mustard Mash": this is mashed potatoes flavoured with Dijon mustard and grain mustard - he suggests 1 tablespoon of each in enough mash for two people. The Husband did this with the aforementioned sausages and onion gravy last weekend and it was delicious, Well worth remembering for the future.

The entry for 9th November included "cheese mash", which is basically 125g of grated mature cheese like Cheddar, Lancashire or Wensleydale in enough mashed potatoes for four. Now I haven't tried this yet but I think it well worth considering for the future. Interestingly the entire meal comprised a roast chicken with garlic gravy served with roast potatoes and no other accompaniments then followed by the cheddar mash with the gravy. I must admit that I am not too sure about this meal with no green vegetables and two lots of potatoes. But the cheese mash itself sounds promising.

Obviously one could vary the amount of mustard or cheese that one added to the mashed potatoes, according to personal taste.

Modern Improvements?

Once upon a time if you had bought a new computer printer you just bought it home, took it out of the box, connected the cable to the computer and the power cable to the electricity socket, turned on the printer and you were ready to use it.

Nowadays you buy the printer and bring it home. Then you remove vast quantities of packaging, the disposal of which will have a significant effect on the ozone layer. Then amonst the packaging you find an unconnected bit and work out that it is the English language front panel of the printer and snap it into place which takes a good five minutes fiddling. Then you try to work out which two of the three printer cartridges also buried in the packaging needs to be inserted immediately into the printer and do it. Then you plug the transformer into the electricity cable which in turn is plugged into the electicity socket. Then you turn to the computer and insert one of two CDs which also came with the printer. Once the installation wizard has started up you (a) plug the printer into the computer and (b) much against your better judgement you turn off your Internet Security programme so that the firewall doesn't affect all that is going on in the computer's innards. Then the CD takes about 20 minutes to download and install all of the many, many files connected with the printer. Then you restart your Internet Security software. Then the printer's software connects with its home via the Internet and starts to ask you questions when you have no idea of the implications of your answers. Then you have finished and the printer is ready to use. Then you realise that the new printer will not fit into the space left by the old one. So you have to reorganise the tabletop the screen and mouse stands on so that it can accommodate the printer as well. Then you sit back and contemplate the fact that because you wanted faster printing speeds from a more reliable printer you have bought lots of facilities you do not need and will not need unless you buy a digital camera.

Ain't progress wonderful.

Real life?

There are times when something appears on the news which, if presented in a work of fiction or a tv programme, wouldn't be accepted as being just too ridiculous and improbable.

Ross Kemp has a reputation as a tough man. He acts in a BBC soap opera called Eastenders as a character who is very tough man. The police were called to his house following complaints of a disturbance. It turns out he had been hit by his wife who is the editor of the Sun newspaper, the best-selling newspaper in the UK, which is currently undertaking a campaign against domestic violence. At the same time, the actor who plays his equally tough brother in the same soap, was being beaten up by his ex-girlfriend. See here for what we are all laughing about.

Interesting Websites

There are a few websites and blogs that I've either just found or look at on a regular basis that I thought worth while mentioning here. Eventually I will burrow through the depths of this blog's software to add them to the list of Interesting Sites but until then - here they are.

Mentioned in today's Times T2 supplement was the getcrafty site which looks a lot of fun. I've deliberately started by linking to the Editor's page as her writing seems quite inspirational for those who love crafts of all sorts.

I am a great fan of the author Jenny Cruisie and have read virtually all of her books, like "Manhunting", "Strange Bedfellows", "Welcome to Temptation", "Faking It" and "Bet Me". She writes well and with wit, romatic books which are more than just romances. And she has a new blog that I love reading. It is called Argh Ink and sets out the life of a published and well regarded writer who is also trying to deal with her own life and family and to cope with the ex-Special services author that she is collaborating with on a book called "Agnes and the Hitman. Or as he likes to call it "Shane and the Food Columnist". She cooks, he kills, they have great sex. And the shoes are to die for. Literally." The blog is funny and human and I love reading it. And it is the sort of blog that you can read every post from the beginning and really enjoy.

Another author I really like is Mary Janice Davidson, whose book about a smart-alec female vampire Betsy "Undead and Unwed" is one of the funniest books I think I have read for a long time. Its sequel "Undead and Unemployed" is equally as good. I am frustrated that I have to wait until 2006 for the next books in this series to come out in paperback. But I now have some of her other books. Anyway the author has a blog called MJ's Musings which I also love to read.

Finally another blog, this time one on knitting. Stephanie Pearl-Mcphee is passionate about knitting. And yarn. Somehow much of her life revolves about these pasttimes in a funny and vey human way. Her blog Yarn Harlot is another one I look at daily.

Fireworks

Remember remember the fifth of November
Gunpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason why gunpowder, treason
Should ever be forgot...

It's that time of the year again. This Saturday it is the 5th November with all that involves: guys, bonfires, fireworks, parties.... I have happy memories of all the celebrations and trappings of Guy Fawkes Day during my childhood. It is a traditional time that I hope will continue for centuries to come. But people have, over the last few years, failed to remember that one of the key things is the date: the 5th November. The parties now seem to go on for as long as the fireworks are available to buy - I think retailers are licensed to sell them from the second week of October to a few weeks after Guy Fawkes Day. Fine. I hope that I am not a killjoy wanting to spoil peoples' fun. It is a pity though that they don't think of the effect their parties can have.

Nimrod's sister, Pickle, is usually a very strong-minded cat. She knows what she wants to do and the rest of us have to bow to her wishes. If she wants to sit on the settee we'd better move over and give her room to lay down (like her brother she is not a lap cat). Nothing usually frightens her, she is usually in control of her own life, and ours as well. However, the word is "usually", the one exception being this time of the year. From the first bang of a firework she hides under a cupboard under the stairs, the furthest distance from a window of anywhere in the house. She has been there for at least two weeks, just emerging for meals and then returning to the same slot. On past performance I suspect that she will be there until the last firework is set off. Then she will go back to ruling the house, us and her brother until this time next year.

People tend to forget, when arranging an outdoor party with fireworks, that the bangs and wizzes can frighten pets in the neighbourhood. We get lots of warnings to keep pets in on the actual day. But we can't keep them in for weeks on end.

So, in some ways this is a good time, enjoying all the traditional items but at the same time it is a difficult time of the year for those owning or owned by cats and dogs.

Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec Exhibition

Last Monday the Husband and I went up to Tate Britain to visit the Degas, Sickert and Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition. It was well worth the visit, despite late trains and disturbed and overcrowded tube trains. There were several large rooms full of pictures, plus a couple of sculptures not only by the three artists that the exhibition was named after but several other artists as well.

I was pleasantly surprised by the works by Degas, especially his ballerinas. The pictures "spoke" to me in a way that reproductions of his pictures never do, it was well worth going to the exhibition for that alone (plus a sculpture by him of a young ballerina, a wonderful work).

The Husband wanted to see the works by Sickert but I have to admit that they were not really my thing. I could appreciate his works set in various music halls of the period but I had difficulty appreciating his pastels, especially the nudes. However, that may well have been because they were displayed alongside a couple of pictures of nudes by Pierre Bonnard and I got the distinct feeling that at the time he painted them Bonnard really cared for his model - something that to me came out of his pictures. In contrast I got the distinct impression that there was no connection between Sickert and his models other than the act of drawing. Perhaps I am wrong - my opinion, anyway.

I have to mention Degas' painting L'Absinthe which was given a special position, with only two other paintings in the same room. In the 1890's, when it was first really exhibited in London the painting caused a scandal as it was interpreted as glorifying people in thrall to the dreaded drink Absinth. In fact I enjoyed looking at the work and felt that it displayed people totally dislocated from their surroundings and community. It was a wonderful work.

It took the better part of two and a half hours to get around the exhibition and was well worth every minute.

No Comment

Bird flu is scary - I had flu recently and was miserable. I'll
be staying away from chickens.

by Coleen McLoughlin, girlfriend to Wayne Roony

Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers

Just back from a concert at the towns theatre for an exhilarating performance of the Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers, a high energy rhythm, percussion and dance troup. Just five performers with drums, a flut and what I assume is a Japanese equivalent of a didgeridoo. The way they played drums in particular was highly choreographed in a way which took nothing away from the impact of the music. The drums were so exhilarating and you could feel the beat in every part of your body- I don't think the marrow in my bones has calmed down yet. It was different but striking, if you pardon the pun. Well worth going to see and hear this. I really, really enjoyed it.