Yogi I'm trying very hard to not nod off before the bus, I apologise in advance if I vanish suddenly. If I do, it means I've fallen asleep, I used to do it far too often in the penthouse

Hi skylark, oh Crikey lol empty it and start a fresh one

Fresh garlic button mushrooms tossed in a rich cheese sauce, served over toasted garlic ciabatta bread.

Not good when you are trying to avoid dairy.

Don't worry Summer, you must be really tired.

 

Goodnight again Skylark, I hope your bath is still warm.

I'm going to go for a bath and to read for a wee while before bed.

If you are still awake, goodnight Summer.

Ros, hope you are well.

Good morning everyone

 

The weather here is a repeat of yesterday's. Gloucestershire was mentioned in the forecast as being foggy for the first part of the day.

 

Skylark, I'm sorry you couldn't see my picture - it was an animated GIF image of a gingerbread man waving a greeting and winking at the same time. I hope you had a good night's sleep

Good morning everyone.

Weather is rather overcast and it has rained overnight.

Have a good day everyone, whatever you are doing.

 

Good morning everyone, very very misty again, repeat of yesterday.  EL I couldn't see your picture either

 

Yogi you are bound to have a lovely time in Prague, the architecture is supposed to be charming, don't know what the shops are like but it's always good to look around new places and now you will look so smart as well in your new clothes

99% of the time, video clips on the BBC website cannot be put on here like Youtube clips can. But a few of them can be. I found this one from Alan Titchmarsh's British Isles - A Natural History from 2004 and thought I'd post it here.

 

good morning Very cloudy here and a chillier feel to the day. Yogi, apologies, I did indeed fall asleep! I was doing the nodding dog at the bus stop and even bumped myself on the nose with my iPhone at one point I do feel better for a good sleep though I've only ever heard good things about Prague, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it yogi I can't wait to hear about it. for every one and I hope you all have a lovely day.

Thank you, Squiggle.

The architecture is said to be beautiful. Eldest son and Mr Yogi are going back to Prague later in the year. Eldest son studied Architectural Conservation and loves the beautiful buildings over there.

 

Summer, don't worry about nodding off, I hope you feel refreshed after a good night's sleep.

 

El, I love the time lapse photography in that video. Interesting that spring flowers are blooming earlier, but the trees are shedding their leaves later in autumn.

Hi all. hope you having a good day. Just off out in a bit , giving my daughter a chum to the GP. 

hopefully back on later xx 

I think time lapse photography is fantastic, I like the day to night videos that are speeded up. Or when they show nature programmes where snow melts.. Skylark, hope all goes well

Hope it goes well.

Hi all, i am back, all went well x

Nice clip El  

I bought some flowers when i did some shopping, i like flowers in the house.  

That's good.

I love having flowers in the house.

Nana phoned to say she picked up the wee one ok from nursery. She came bounding at her, and Nana said, oh you are full of beans today. Wee one said, we didnt have beans today Nana, we had peas.  

Cute

Hi squiggle, so innocent at that age arent they. Hope you are well x

She's a wee cutie.

(apparently the expression full of beans comes from people noticing hundreds of years ago that when horses had been fed beans they were very energetic).

I don't know why some of you can't see the gingerbread man I posted yesterday so I'll try it a different way - this is smaller than yesterday's picture.

Oh really El, i find it interesting the origins of sayings  

See the gingerbread man now, love the wink too  

I'm always learning something new on here.

On the BBC West Midlands news at lunchtime they said that there was going to be the UK premiere of a piece of music by Stockhausen. It's never been done before even through the music was written years ago. My father loved classical music so I knew the name Stockhausen from him. I don't think my father had any time for him as his music was of the type where tunes had been given up in place of what sounds to me like just rubbish. Anyway, the reason why this music hasn't been performed in the UK until now is because of a rather unusual requirement. Some of it is played by a string quartet. Nothing unusual in that in itself, but he required that each of the 4 players in the quartet perform their part in 4 helicopters

 

I found this clip on Youtube. Mercifully it is only 2 minutes long. I don't think I will be watching the performance when it's done.

 

Last week I posted that Upstairs Downstairs viewing numbers had dropped. I said that Sunday 26 February had dropped to 6.70 million from the previous week of 7.87 million.

 

I said I would post the figures for March 4 when they became available. They now are and it's clear that the programme is in trouble.

 

5.86 million

 

 

The storylines are terrible and the characters lack warmth and likeability, no wonder the viewers are switching off.

I can see it being scrapped after this series.

Cant say i enjoyed listening to that clip El, and not understanding the relevance of the helicopters! Different tho !

Bit of a shame about Upstairs Downstairs. To be honest i dont know why its called this. It just hasnt the same feel about it at all. Maybe bad timing too, with the huge success of Downton, plus it coincides with the skate off on Dancing On Ice. But then again Call the Midwife, competed with DOI, successfully..................

Yogi and Skylark I agree about Upstairs Downstairs.  I honestly don't think the writers can ever have watched the original.  They seem to have missed the whole point of it and it is now just a cardboard cut-out instead of a warm human drama and contrast between the lives of the aristocracy and the servants.

Totally agree squiggle. Nothing like it in any shape or form. 

I completely agree, Squiggle.

I can understand why Eileen Atkins (who created the original programme along with Jean Marsh) decided not to return for the second series. I read that she was not happy with the direction they were taking it.

 

After reading El and Skylark's comments, I'm not sure I want to listen to the helicopter video.

Had a power cut there, only about a minute, hope it wont go off again. Dont know the reason for it .
Anyway off now, sister coming for tea and gossip, have a nice evening everyone  

Enjoy your natter with your sister.

I posted that helicopter "music" clip not because I thought anyone would like it but because it's so wierd and pretentious. I don't know if the actual performance in June will get televised, I know it will be available to watch online. I won't be watching it as 2 minutes is bad enough let alone how ever long the actual performance is.

 

To compensate here's the Adagio movement of Concierto de Aranjues by Joaquin Rodrigo. The guitarist is John Williams. This is possibly the most beautiful piece of music ever written for the guitar. (it formed part of the music round on yesterday's University Challenge).

 

Both Rodrigo and Stockhausen were 20th century composers but I doubt if any of you would disagree which me when I say that I much prefer Rodrigo's music.

 

If you would like to listen to a complete performance of Concierto de Aranjues as performed by John Williams (it's 22 minutes long), just go:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?f...=1&v=r2Xdlgii-Rc

 

I will have to listen to the second clip tomorrow as I am a bit tired now.  Off to read so I will catch up tomorrow.

Thanks El,will listen to rest too, tomorrow x
I must finish this book and return it, goodnight all  

Nite Sky  

Goodnight squiggle & skylark sleep well Skylark, the beans & peas comment is priceless I love it Velvet I like that new saying of yours I've got a brilliant iPhone app called the night sky Great gingerbread man el, I have one very similar made of felt- guess where it hangs and at what time of year? Very interesting piece about the helicopter music, I won't be rushing to download it and make a ringtone out of it though

Goodnight Squigge and Skylark.

Evening Summer, have you had a good day?