Seeking contentment

30/09/2011
The chickens have not made an appearance for a while. In the time since their last video recording they have certainly grown.

Coffee the Indian game hen has come on very well and is looking much heavier and that covering of feathers is really splendid.

Tea as you can see is still quite skittish and wary, ready to scarper at the slightest movement.

Milk remains the noisiest and most objective to human intrusion into her world.

Beaker our old battery hen is still keeping them in line but is much more acceptable and sociable.

We've had a few born free moments when they have found a hole in their fence and discovered the wider garden.

Just now for them it's a case of enjoying the unseasonal warmth and trying to find that elusive treat of corn kernels.

Me, I'll just sit here on the garden chair, watching the dusk enveloping the view, finding the calm. Perhaps seeking out the psychological corn of contentment?

IMG_2586.MOV Watch on Posterous

I'm out and about

Indian Summer

29th September 2011

Almost October, who would have thought the weather would be so good at this time of year.

Pale skin has been exposed and will probably be pink tomorrow it's not mine that will be sore but some of less careful country folk.

Unlike this window I usually have some covering to protect me from the streaming sun.

I'm out and about

In Dublin

27th September 2011
I'm in Dublin for work purposes for a few days, normal service will return in due course.

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Mr Rain & Miss Wind

25th September 2011

Podcast.m4a Listen on Posterous

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Turkish delight

22nd September 2011

In London for work, my last night of three. After deciding to stay on in the office in that never ending attempt to cut through the swathe of emails I realised it was getting late and I needed some vitals.

What to have? Nothing too heavy, soup no, something noodley no, salady nothing nearby, mmm.

On my way back to the hotel I remembered a Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant I had noted in the dim and distant past, somewhere to visit but never had. So I decided to pop in there.

Turkish food has been a favourite of mine since a holiday to that country in the early 90's. Tonight's offering only enhanced this appeal. My food was fresh, full of flavour and well prepared and all without any Turkish Delight.

I decided to plump for the mezze selection and this is what they served me....

Bottom left mint & tomato salad,
Bottom middle red lentil ball,
Bottom right aubergine ratatouille, Middle left leek & feta borek,
Middle humus, Middle right spinach & feta borek,
Top left nut salad,
Top middle falafel,
Top right baby broad salad,
Bread,
On a separate plate I had a small portion each of Grilled Lamb, Grilled chicken,
Grilled kofta.

The place is Sade - a smooth operator indeed, on Exmouth Market and I would suggest you give it a try.

Bon Appetit!

I'm out and about

Eyes are funny!

20th September 2011

Sitting in the passenger seat being driven to the airport and I'm thinking I must be tired things don't look sharp.

I then do the old eye hokey pokey you know the thing "left eye shut, right eye shut (not at same time obviously) and blink them all about..."

This diagnostic discovered that it was the right eye that was the problem.

The check continues -do I still have the contact lense in place Affirmative
- is it curled, kinked, wandering or exhibiting any other deviant behaviour Negative

The eye hokey pokey continues, anybody watching would think I had a chronic blink thing going on or I was a terrible flirt.

I could still see but just not as sharp as usual. Sharp being a relative concept as far as my eyes are concerned.

On arrival at the airport it was the case of going through the security process to the other side. Like some child entering the wardrobe in the hope of meeting a lion.

I did a quick swap just in case the lenses had been put in the incorrect eyes - as in left to right and right to left. Not me putting my lenses into someone else. Yeugh!

Although I could imagine some commerce based comedy, a swap shop in the airport concourse perhaps?

"who'll swap me a base curve 8.5, diameter 14.2, strength -2.25 for a -5.0?"

Yes I'm very unbalanced visually.

So I sat and decided to get a new lense for my right eye. The carry on case was unzipped, the required clear plastic zip lock bag containing my mini toiletries selection opened.

As an aside I would recommend the bags on offer at Belfast City Airport security They are slightly bigger, stronger and close better than others in my experience. Actually this could be a description of the robust security staff themselves.

So back to the contents I took out the packed lense strips each containing enough for my time away.

Ah!

2 x 4 lenses for the left eye!

In my defence I packed my toiletries this morning without my eyes in. Fortunately I had not made other mistakes - moisturiser for toothpaste, lady niff instead of gents niff. It's all there.

There was nothing to be done (apart from perhaps rushing to Boots, buying a patch for the right eye and feigning some injury or pretending I was an ex pirate), but laugh.

I have my emergency glasses as back up so all is not lost!

The patch though sounds appealing.........

Ideas!

19th September 2011
When was the last time you had a light bulb moment? That space in time when you have an idea. An idea that throws light on the intellectual darkness, bathing all in a bright light of creativity.

Personally I've had no light bulb moments lately. It feels that the best I can do is keep the candles from burning out.

That's great as long as I don't lose the matches!

Lifes journey

18th September 2011
You are travelling along and then your road is blocked, detour and break down.

What doesn't help is the person who should be driving, it's their vehicle, is content to be a passenger.

The family bus never seems to run free?

I'm out and about

Straight & Tall

17th September 2011
I did wonder tonight as I walked along the woodland path how many of these trees will survive the forthcoming winter.

Not much of a thought perhaps but it took my mind away from the feeling that I looked like a refugee from the Sound of Music with my boots, thick socks, shorts, waistcoat and woolly hat.

Either that or a reject from the village people?

I'm out and about

Just Can't Get Enough

15th September 2011

I'm not really a car fiend, a petrol head who lathers love on their tin box and 5 wheels as if applying wax to the body work. A car to me is a tool, a vehicle that allows me to carry dogs, wool, wood, shoping, family members and their paraphanalia and any old thing that the space will carry.

What I like about the present tin box is the ability to have the contents of my i thingy relayed by a blue tooth connection to the cars audio system. From the steering wheel there is a couple of up and down buttons that enable the driver to  move onto the next or previous track. This allows me to indulge in a form of music Attention Defecit Disorder, unable to settle on one track I will shuffle after a few bars to the next until I settle on a song that matches my mood.

Tonight I stumbled across this one, that took me right back to Wednesday, October 20, 1982. The venue was the Edinburgh Playhouse with me in the third row left of centre stage. The memory can't recall what was worn but probably some pastel coloured trousers and some sort of collared informal shirt arrangment on the top half. The hair was of course fully coiffured and product laden as any young mas would be in 1982.

The dancing in the aisles was probably not that removed from what you see the lead singer Dave Gahan displaying here. I was a "Dad dancer" even then. So there you have it, a blast from my musical path.

Press play and enjoy or if not leave your own musical memories.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0NuvwTuHV0]

....to me.....

13th September 2011
It's been my birthday today so I'm having a day off.

Thanks to all who wished me well today and to any astral twins out there hope our birthday was good for you!

Lost and found

12th September 2011
The woods have the ability to offer the unexpected. As our collective ten legs squished through the mud topped paths we came upon this.

A small right shoe wedged into the space between two limbs of a young tree.

It raised many questions in my mind.

Did the child walk after losing the shoe?

Did it walk before losing the shoe?

Was the child carried before and afterwards and therefore didn't really mind if the forest floor was muddy, shoe loss a mere trifle?

Had Mum and Dad recently purchased one of those 4 x 4 buggy's that promise to travel over all terrains. The loss of footwear being the price of the test drive?

Was it the consequence of some bizarre hopping ritual performed by a sect of small footed folk?

Had we stumbled across a rare tree that bears coloured shoe fruit but only on the date that the sun, moon, wind and waves converge in a unique spiritual confluence?

What do you think?

I'm out and about

What's the score? #RWC2011

11th September 2011

The Rugby World Cup is on again down in deepest New Zealand.

The Scottish team had their first game yesterday and perhaps the pre-match assumption that their first game would be a more comfortable victory was a little presumptious. However win they did, against a spirited Roumanian side.

In the UK, ITV had the coverage rights a broadcaster not known for their rugby connection but every four years they dust out their rugby paraphanalia and present the tournament. I usually tune in for the pictures only and try to find an audio alternative.

This morning I saw the start of the Wales vs South Africa game before heading out with the dogs for their constitutional. Along the way I had a wee explore to see if any radion stations were broadcasting the game by looking at the TuneIn radio application on my phone. A few stations from New Zealand came up as choices and I plumped for Radio Sport 1332AM Auckland. The commentary was impartial and knowledgable without any irrelevant twittering on.

However as I was meandering through the trees the signal ebbed and flowed depending on the overhead foliage. One moment the Welsh had the ball then .............. the South African ran back............ then the referee had blown the whistle. The game outcome veered from one side in the lead to the other,  it sounded like a closely contested game. Perhaps the breaks in the signal added to the sporting tension.

With a few minutes left and a point difference in the score I decided to sit down on a tree stump and listen to the end of the game, hopeful that my Celtic cousing from Wales could claw back that one point deficit. The signal decided to be just as variable though, regardless of how stable the target for the signal had become.

We sat and waited and the dogs seemed to be interested too, with each coming up close as if to enquire

"What's the score?"

 

The thingy is......

10th September 2011
Some people have asked what the cycle thingy is?
It's an
Elite crono gel trainer
from the online shopping people at Wiggle, google them if your interested.
Lots of nice things there, makes a change from wool?

Tour de Lounge

10th September 2011
We bought an indoor cycle roller trainer thingy and today I broke out an old bicycle, spruced it up, hooked it up and off we cycled in our very own, Tour de Lounge!

I'm out and about

Halfway Down

9th September 2011

A guest post from a certain Alan Alexander Milne,

Halfway down the stairs
is a stair
where i sit.
there isn't any
other stair
quite like
it.
i'm not at the bottom,
i'm not at the top;
so this is the stair
where
I always
stop.

Halfway up the stairs
Isn't up
And it isn't down.
It isn't in the nursery,
It isn't in town.
And all sorts of funny thoughts
Run round my head.
It isn't really
Anywhere!
It's somewhere else
Instead!

 

The Fegrig X & Y weather chart

7th September 2011

Podcast.m4a Listen on Posterous

I'm out and about

Off to bed

6th September 2011

Up the stairs to bed for me, long day, tired need sleep...

I'm out and about

Thoughts of a seagull

4th September 2011
It's good to have ambition.

I did wonder if this seagull was thinking,

"one day they will capture my image in stone"

Or perhaps it had delusions of grandeur and thought the carving was of them. Sitting atop the carving for their adoring public.

Perhaps wondering if the sculpture caught their best side?

I'm out and about

Ask a shepherd?

3rd September 2011

Great sky tonight and to match the "video" the soundtrack was just as special.

Lots of birdsong and nothing much else, no far away traffic noise, no airplanes traversing the sky, lovely.

The kind of evening that allows you to stand and watch the sky move, the clouds wafting over head as the earth swirls on it's axis.

However it doesn't solve one question that sprung to mind in this philosophical mode. 
I know what a red sky means to the shepherding community or should that be flock? 

What though does a lilac sky mean?

I'm out and about

Reflections

2nd Semptember 2011

I'm out and about

Meccano?

1st September 2011
One Christmas a long time ago Santa Claus left Meccano in my "stocking". It was the plastic variety with long and short bits and nuts & bolts to join them together.

Wonder what happened to it? Possibly someone bought my set and others, to use as scale modelling for projects like this?

I'm out and about

Yellow

I'm out and about