May Theme Day -Statues

Today is theme day for Photo-a-Day and the theme is statues. I showed you a parcel photo last week of this statue. Here's a full view of this wonderful iron silver horse in Centre Hall, only a 15 min. drive from Bellefonte.


To see all participants of Photo-a-Day Click HERE.

To see Camera Critters and Weekend Reflections, please stop back later on today. I will have it posted then. Sorry, had to remove it just temporally.

Organic Vegetables: Choko tendrils and leaves.

I have a choko vine in my garden. My sister Rose came and harvested the young tendrils and leaves. A quick stir fry in garlic oil, and you have a plate of organic vegetable.

http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.com/2009/12/photo-hunt-curve.html

http://annkschin.blogspot.com/2008/11/memories-of-mum-and-gardening.html

For more interesting stories of the choko, click this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chayote

You will be able to buy them in Thai markets. Choko plants grow by them self, there is no need for fertilizer or pesticides. You can harvest the fruit. This is indeed the dream plant for people who are conscious about the sprays that farmers use.

An American Kestral

Its behaviour was as if it threw us a challenge.  "catch me if you can".  This little falcon, an American Kestral was perched characteristically on overhead wires which bordered an open field.   We had stopped our truck at our approach and as it became aware of our approaching presence, it would veer off in an arc, over the field and return to the wires again just a bit further distance from us.  It never flew far and continued to return to the wires each time.  If I opened the truck door the sound beeping that a door had opened would chase the Kestral off.. It is always difficult to get a picture of a Kestral, but one advantage is that they are fairly predictable and often remain in the same location where they are seen. We had seen this bird last week and we expected to see it in the same place today and we did!.  Hopefully I will get many more photos of this handsome little falcon as the season progresses.

Waffle, Watery Wonders and a Workshop. Mostly Waffle.

Waffle first, I'm afraid.

I went to see Shutter Island last night, at an actual cinema on an actual night out with my husband (we don't get out much). I was so excited, and the cinema sells Cream o' Galloway ice-cream. In tubs.

But the film! Great cast (how can anything with Max Von Sydow fail?) (and why doesn't he look any older than he did in 1973?); great acting from Leonardo in the lead role; great locations; great cinematography. But it just didn't work, because it was a B-movie plot foisted onto very good actors, so that when the twists made no psychological sense (or sense at all, to be frank) you couldn't excuse it, because the actors had made the characters real, and not ciphers. Pooh. Fresh from a recent viewing of The Departed, I left disappointed and just a little bit cross. Though two tubs of ice-cream the better.

Second, the big computer is working. Here, I'm typing on it right now! Why did it fail? Get this. Alesa's diagnostic number one. DUST. Not Phillip Pullman universe-type-dust, but good old-fashioned house dust. My home is not a dirty, or even dusty, one. Yet when we eviscerated the computer it had wall-to-ceiling shag-pile carpet akin to a Soviet-era brothel (i.e. grey all over). Dust meant the fan couldn't work. The fan not working meant the CPU overheated. Which meant the computer shut down repeatedly until it just died.

As my husband said, "If I had known it was a mechanical problem, I could have dealt with it."

So ask yourself this - when you ring a help-line, how many times has anyone said "Open it up and check for dust"? Never, to my knowledge. So all hail Alesa.

Next, to SmallTerrierPress (name copyright as of today). It has been commissioned to produce a bookmark for the Moat Brae Trust by the most famous Scottish Poet in his weight division.

Cool, eh? Designing the logo at the moment. First thoughts;

So, to the Watery Wonder. A Tide Machine has been built in Kingholm Quay in Dumfries, and it's a mechanical art-installation performance platform sort of thing. I saw it today, and stupidly failed to take my camera, for I couldn't find a single picture of it anywhere on t'internet. It is brand-new, but a web-site gives its background here: http://thetidemachine.com/pages/The%20Tide%20Machine.html and it's got its own blog here: http://oceanallover.blogspot.com/

UPDATE! Photos plus dance performance by assorted tidal dwellers here: http://drumsleet.blogspot.com/2010/04/this-creative-mularky.html

Which was connected with the writing workshop I went to this morning at The Swan (pub!) in Kingholm Quay. It began with the Tide Machine's designers and builders, Alex Rigg and Mark Zygadlo, giving us an overview of their project and the natural processes that inspired it.
Quoting from the website;

Our initial task is to establish engineering concepts for the machine mechanism while developing design ideas that will involve and inspire the local community. The launch event will be a spectacular costumed performance using the power and mystery of tides as a narrative line.

... a professional orrery maker called Peter Grimwood. He has offered to design a mechanism for the Tide Machine that will show the specific relationship between sun, moon and earth. This mechanism will be powered by the tide itself.

Then Vivien Jones ran the workshop on the themes of tides, moon, myths and mermaids. Which was a blast! I did two 30-second haikus, wrote a myth to explain the red tides of Florida, a poem about a malevolent mermaid and, probably best for me, a poem that may have helped me find a writing way into my current Meso-American prehistory obsession. All in an hour! Incidentally, have you seen Apocalypto?

I am Jaguar Paw, son of Flint Sky. My Father hunted this forest before me. My name is Jaguar Paw. I am a hunter. This is my forest. And my sons will hunt it with their sons after I am gone.

Best chase scene ever featuring no wheels or horses (Meso-American cultures didn't have them). And much better than Shutter Island.

Finally, my little instant haikus and a plea to the earth's rotation. Could we have four more hours a day please, so I can get some sleep? Else work, or writing, or children are going to have to go.

Anyway, cast your minds back. Tides and Moon.

Margate is Summer;

white horses wash my bucket

out with the ebb tide.

The blood moon rises;

my menstruation Autumn,

last chance, maybe child.

Sky Watch Friday - Penn's Cave Grounds

This is on the grounds at Penn's Cave where you see the cave by boat. Only about a 25 min. drive from Bellefonte.

I also am featured on this weeks Sky Watch Friday pick of the week. It's a night-time photo of when we were at the ballgame in Pittsburgh. Take a look.

To see more participants of Sky Watch Friday and my feature photo of the week on there, go here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Water guava: Jambu Madu: Thai Rose apple

In Borneo, we called this kind of guava, water guava or Jambu Madu. It is very sweet and juicy. My parents had a couple of trees and we used to have buckets of the fruits. Some times we dipped it in salt or the sour plum powder.

These two photos were taken in my Uncle Albert's garden in Miri. If you see carefully at the green guava photo, you can see the red ants. I was stung badly while I was photographing the fruits. Apparently the ants had a function, they pollinate the flowers. Without them, there will be no fruits.

About ten years ago, Singapore started to import the Thai rose apple (chompoo). There are several varieties of rose apples, with the most common in Thailand having a light green green skin. They were very expensive and grace the fruit baskets in hotels.

I lamented the times when I didn't appreciate the buckets and buckets of fruits we had from our trees. To be honest, I had so much of them as a kid that I don't really fancy them. I bought some Thai ones for nostalgic reasons. Just as well my kids and the water engineer didn't like them.

Yesterday's nature finds.

I try to take a drive every morning checking out a few favourite locations which include the river, a couple of ponds . an overview of a couple of meadows and an osprey nest.  Then I  return home to download what pictures I was able to take, Yesterday morning I found this one lone Canada Goose in the exact same location where I had found one last weekend.Its as if it was anchored there.  Its reflection was so lovely!  Previous to the Canada sighting I had seen a couple of Wood Ducks, but the photos I had taken were too distant to be interesting.  They were good only for identification.  Checking out another pond I saw  a most beautiful Red-tailed hawk fly off as I pulled my car onto the road shoulder bordering the pond. The red tail that it displayed in flight was astonishing in its size and colour.  It hurts to miss such  a good photo, for I often see Red-tailed Hawks but they don't always show such a beautiful  red tail.  I followed its flight until it landed in a tree and I was able to get a bit of a photo where I could still see the red of its tail. I have decided that I am going to drive to this pond and take a book with me so I can just sit and watch the pond area for a longer period of time and observe; and maybe photograph what birds, (hawks and ducks, heron and kingfishers) that I have seen there before visit during the day.  Its seems like it might be a worthwhile venture to me. Have a great day everyone! Ann

Gaspereau on the move; up the North Oromocto River for Watery Wednesday

Above is a gaspereau making its way through the rapidly moving falls of the rushing activity seen below.

  It is a tiring experience and sometimes for the fish there is a gull waiting

to snatch it up when it makes it over the falls

Usually every May, (this year it is happening in April) our river is a location of much activity as Gaspereau moving up river fight the rapids and falls they encounter to return to their spawning grounds further upstream. Large groups of gulls usually gather here to feast on the jumping , quickly moving fish in the fast moving current.

below is a mass of gaspereau waiting at the base of a falls waiting their turn to try to get over the falls.  The dark spots in the picture are the fish

The  gulls swallow the fish whole, as can be seen in the picture below.

Waterty  Wednesdayhttp://waterywednesday.blogspot.com/ is a delightful meme where you can enjoy almost any aspect of water scenes or activity. This meme offers a wide choice of topic. To view contributions of others or to post your own contribution, please click on theWatery Wednesdayicon on the right sidebar on this page and enjoy. A Happy Wednesday wish to all!

Movies, Popcorn and Poetry

Whilst still operating under straitened circumstances, I'm amazed to be able to post the following link, which gives you words and pictures and sound!

A couple of years ago, Dumfries and Galloway Arts Association ran a competition for kinetic poems, and the winning entries were animated by Motion Blur.

Well, I got one in, as did;

Fiona Russell http://weewigeon.blogspot.com/

and Hugh Bryden (of Roncadora Press fame),

whilst Vivien Jones http://bassviol.blogspot.com/ got two!

I suspect Edwin Morgan, Tom Leonard and Don Paterson did not have to enter to get theirs included.

I had a DVD of the winning entries, but lent it to shug http://drumsleet.blogspot.com/ for a look and he lost it. Now I've found a mysterious link online, which takes you to those winning entries. Including mine. They are all very different; my favourite changes each time I watch, but I think my heart lies with the Don Paterson. I wonder why, right now...?

So draw the curtains, pop the corn, sing ba-ba-ba-ba, ba-ba-ba-ba, baa-ba-ba, ba-baa-ba-baa, ba-ba-ba-baaaa, BA!, click and enjoy.

Here's the link: http://www.dgaaweb.net/

Adder's Tongue stamens for Ruby Tuesday

I always thought this flower got its name. adder's tongue from these red stamens. they appear a bit startling in their colour and shape.I thought they might have been compared to a snake's tongue  But I can find nothing that relates to the reasons for the adder's tongue  naming of this wildflower. The other names Trout Lily, Fawn Lily and dog-toothed violet are more understanding.  This wildflower though is not a violet but a lily. For more detailed information about its other names I refer you to a post I previously did on this naming topic in May 2008,can be found at:
http://naturetales.blogspot.com/2008/05/dogtooth-violet.html

Happy Ruby Tuesday to all. Ruby Tuesday is a meme hosted by Mary, the Teach, that celebrates red. To see more contributions to this meme or to share your own red for
Ruby Tuesday please click on the HIGHLIGHTEDRuby Tuesday words on this page .

ABC Wed. - "O" = Open

ABC this week is the letter "O" for open. This is a sandwich/coffee shop in Boalsburg. Only about a 15 min. drive from Bellefonte.

To see more ABC Wed. participants, go here: Mrs. Nesbitt's ABC Wed.

A boy's birthday cake

My friend Janet made this cake for her son's birthday. She is very clever and makes beautiful cakes and cooks delicious food.

Chinese wonton

I love food, and I love flowers. I have decided to devote this site to these two loves of my life.

This is a bowl of simple wonton soup. It is healthy and a light soup.

The wrapper or skin can be bought from any Asian food store. Buy the round shape ones for dumplings.

Fillings: Mince pork or chicken, onions, a little chopped chinese greens or cabbage, garlic, one egg, salt and oyster sauce, sesame oil. Mix thoroughly.

put a dollop of filling on to the middle of the wrapper.

brush edge with water, and seal the edge by crimping.

Drop into a pot of boiling water with some cooking oil. When the wrapper turns white, take it out.

Serve with clear soup or chicken soup.

Garnish with chopped spring onion, and/or bean sprout, Green vege,

Enjoy, this is no gourmet. Just a simple home cook food to warm your heart especially on a cold winter's evening.

(You may deep fry the wonton, use less filling is you are deep frying)

Finding gold for mellow yellow monday

The yellow centers of wild strawberry blossoms were a golden surprise to find  today. Its seems early for these blossoms.this Trout Lily aka Dog-toothed Violet or Adder's tongue. was a wonderful wilflower surprise yesterday. Tomorrow's post will feature the adder's tongue of this interesting wildflower

This second picture represents all the golden joy in our yard over the weekend.  We had lots of

American Goldfinch visiting and one of their favourite feeding spots was at the top of our garden pillar when  I had  placed a cupful of seeds on its top. At one point there was a goldfinch in the cup ( a missed photo opportunity.) perhaps that is how the cup had gotten turned over? 

To learn more about Mellow Yellow Monday or perhaps you might like to contribute your own yellow based photo please just click on the link here:at:http://mellowyellowmonday.blogspot.com/

 
 

Hold Your Head Up! It's the Poetry Bus with Argent!

Well, never has the temptation to sit down and watch Ben Hur (original 1925 version) back-to-back with the Charlton Heston one been so great.

However, we girded loins, searched for screwdrivers and cannibalised computers following Alesa's step-by-step guide to recovering data, and yes friends, we've done it! Words cannot express my thanks, and although stuff is on the wrong computer which is so old that it still takes floppy discs and has no printer attached to it (or internet) it's there, so we can shift it to a new one (or a repaired one) when we get/fix it.

All of which wittering means I have no new stuff for the Bus, even though the prompt was a gift - not only are the majority of my family insane, I was also hopelessly lost and alone in the world of technology - and in truth, still am.

So here's a re-run. as subsequent posts may be for a wee while until I have a working BIG computer again, but it's about family and as a tasty treat (or possibly not) I have also attached a sound file in the most convoluted way possible (what else?), so if you can be bothered you can listen to it. If you follow the link, you have to open the file in order to hear it.

A little background for those not obsessed with famous murderers of history.

"Countess Elizabeth Bathory de Ecsed (1560 – 1614) was a countess from the renowned Bathory family. Although in modern times she has been labeled the most prolific female serial killer in history, evidence of her alleged crimes is scant and her guilt is debated. Nevertheless, she is remembered as the "Blood Countess" and as the "Bloody Lady of Čachtice", after the castle near Trencsen (today Trenčín) in the Kingdom of Hungary (today's Slovakia), where she spent most of her adult life.
After her husband's death, she and four collaborators were accused of torturing and killing hundreds of girls and young women, with one witness attributing to them over 600 victims, though the number for which they were convicted was 80. Elizabeth herself was neither tried nor convicted. In 1610, however, she was imprisoned in the Csejte Castle, where she remained bricked in a set of rooms until her death four years later.
Later writings about the case have led to legendary accounts of the Countess bathing in the blood of virgins in order to retain her youth and subsequently also to comparisons with Vlad III the Impaler of Wallachia, on whom the fictional Count Dracula is partly based, and to modern nicknames of the Blood Countess and Countess Dracula."

There was a rather fabby Hammer film based on Bathory which starred Ingrid Pitt, called Countess Dracula. You can imagine.

Devastatingly for me, The Countess was the final female serial killer examined in the recent television series on ITV3, Martina Cole’s Ladykillers.
Everyone (including the Slovakian professors) pronounced it “Batory”, with a silent “h” . I may have to change my reading.

The Countess Bathory of Romford

Hear me! I am the Countess Bathory of Romford,
Not just bathed in blood but born of blood
Dad had the slaughterhouse on Oldchurch Road, remember.

Four hundred miles and thirty-three years gone
and I’m back home, Roger’s youngest’s wedding.
For Romford, family is family and we’re all here.

It’s nine o’clock night before, kids are sleeping,
as is he, so I can leave and walk my streets once more.
Sweet town, shallow breaths of country air
are killing me, but here, here I can fill my lungs
with smoke and smells of just my kind.

Lads are putting up the market stalls.
The first Palmer bought his cattle here,
killed, butchered and sold them there
and I see that suited man next to a sepia horse
with Granddad’s right hand on the halter:
he’s out of shot. They all were, eventually
for we were knackers first.

Walk on, the bell ringers practise tonight
and there is Mum marrying that handsome man
who could put anyone down with a single punch
including, especially, her. They all have hands like shovels,
these Palmers, and all are stained red like a henna’ed bride
with the patterns of death.

Under the station there are no drips or pigeons now
but most of all there is no Vi
who sold the flowers she had stole
Mum said, from the graveyard up the road.

On, on and Regarth Avenue cowers
unused to the shade of Atlanta Boulevard,
but it looks the same and I can smell
the room Nan placed herself in at sixty
never to leave again, with barley wine,
hotline to the bookies and the commode.

I cross the Rom and get to source
and all that is there is dual carriageway.

Strolling back, darker now, you think I worry about change?
Sweet Jesus no, for all around
there are girls falling off their heels and boys racing cars
and kids out much too late and drunks and dressed-ups
and laughter laughter laughter.

The brewery may be The Brewery now
but the people are those I knew then,
they are shouters and roarers
and glad-to-be alivers
They are Romford
and their blood and memories
lie gleeful underneath new concrete
for we all hate grass.

Hear me! I am the Countess Bathory of Romford,
Not just bathed in blood but born of blood
Dad had the slaughterhouse on Oldchurch Road, remember.

The Countess Bathory of Romford in my native tongue can be found here.

http://www.box.net/shared/5656k835ai

Remember, you have to open the file to hear it.

All other bus passengers can be found here:

http://argent-delusionsofadequacy.blogspot.com/

A Canada Goose for Scenic Sunday

I drove by this location and noticed something black and upright on the water.  I turned and came back to investigate.  It was the black neck of a Canada Goose.  It was very still, exhibiting no movement.  but it  is that kind of day. calm, a bit damp , perfect conditions for creating reflections on the water as can be seen.  This is definitely an appropriate choice for Scenic Sunday; a meme  of beautiful scenery. To learn more about scenic Sunday please go to:http://scenicsunday.blogspot.com/ or to post your own contribution, please click on the link within this post.

Camera Critters - Pet Pride -Tucker's Perch

Tucker sitting on his perch waiting for someone to walk by so he can bark at them.

To see more participants of Camera Critters hosted by Misty, go here: http://camera-critters.blogspot.com/

To see more Pet Pride participants hosted by Gattina, click here: Pet Pride

to a commenter

Buno Mainak said...
"good,intense,tight but cliche.overused words and images crowd together....we want sum freshness from ur pen,dear"


Your constructive criticism
Does not help me grow.
I am a rodent size person
With a whale size ego.

Treat this as an entreaty
from a much pampered friend.
If you like it, exaggerate.
If you don't, pretend.

A Pine Siskin this morning

A Pine Siskin in Bird Alley this morning accompanying an American Tree Sparrow was quite a lovely surprise.  It has been quite a while since we have had a pine siskin visitin.  We remember other occasions when the ground in our feeder area would be carpeted with these birds!.  Welcome little Siskin!

Another new arrival today in Bird.Alley today was a female Red-winged Blackbird(.shown above and just below) We haven't seen this bird for quite a while, so it was a welcome sighting.

Also this morning I noticed a Chipping Sparrow in Bird Alley, a new recent arriving of a returning species.

Also today we have had both male and female Purple Finch in our feeder area as well as White-throated Sparrows.

White-throated Sparrows today.

There were three White-throated Sparrows very busy in our yard all daylong today.

I'm Just Going Out And I May Be Some Time...

That's it. The big computer has officially croaked. All my stuff! Not only real work, but my draft new pamphlet - working title Accidents and Incidents, or possibly Accidence and Incidence, or some hugely engaging combination of the two.

All I can do is ponder on how intensely annoying I find Paolo Nutini's voice. He talks like a normal person, but some strange Martian mutation happens when he sings. Like an alien who has learnt English (yeah, I know, Scottish as well) from a set of Linguaphone tapes that it played at the wrong speed.

Or maybe I'm just a bit cross today...

Sky Watch Friday - Entrance to Library

This is near the entrance to the Bellefonte library. They re-did the front and the inside. It's clear skies today and then this weekend it's suppose to rain.


To see more participants of Sky Watch Friday go here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/