Good morning another fine morning here, although a very frosty start I think it's easy to assume asylum seekers are here for an easy ride, and forget those who genuinely need help. I'm glad you enjoying the harvest El and hope some money was raised for the cause

Good morning everyone, just like you EL we have lots of cloud down here.  It's mildish though.  Sounds like a good charity that your Harvest Supper is supporting.  In these days of illegal immigrants abusing the system it is important to bear in mind that many people are fleeing in genuine fear for their lives and we have a duty to help them.

 

I am reading a series of books at the moment by Mary E. Pearce about farming and the countryside in days gone by and one of the fascinating things about it is the old words used in the dialect, one that puzzled me last night was a mumruffin's nest, so I looked it up on Google and it's the old name for a long-tailed tit!  Some of the names - confuddled instead of confused - we think we have made up nowadays but they are just ancient words lingering on.

Squiggle, what do you think of the new Damien Hirst thing which is being put on the pier in Ilfracombe?

There's a video clip about it on the BBC website if you choose to watch it but it's a bit anatomical.

 

 

It is absolutely hideous and a monstrosity EL, Damien Hearst is doing his best not only to buy Ilfracombe but to litter it with his (unsold) creations - I won't call them artistic creations because this is about as far from art as Tracey Emin's unmade bed.

 

I will try to ignore it as far as possible, though some friends are threatening to make a huge maternity smock for it and I feel really sorry for a friend who has just moved into the new Macarthy & Stone apartment building you can see behind in the picture I saw in my newspaper this morning.  I won't click on your link thanks, I have seen quite enough already.

Squiggle, I thought you would dislike it. I didn't like it one bit and it's bad eneough seeing the clip let alone having it mar the view. I've now removed the link as I doubt if any of the others here would want to see it. It's likely to be on your local BBC news though.

I think what has annoyed many local people is that the people on the council who voted for it (and it was by no means a unanimous vote) act as though Damien Hearst is doing us a great honour bestowing this upon us.  As someone pointed out it was being stored at one of his warehouses so he gets shot of it and we get lumbered.

Strange councillors who voted for it.

evening Busy day, I'm pleased to be relaxing on the sofa now Very interesting squiggle, please keep us updated on any old bird names, especially if a Robin used to be called something else!

Good morning everyone

 

Another cloudy but dry day here.

 

A welcome back to Yogi if you pop in

Good morning everyone, the same weather as you again EL, hope you had a lovely holiday Yogi

 

I find the music which accompanies the current 21st Century Beetle advert quite haunting. This clip is the full length piece of music (audio only). It's called "Even Now" by Keith Kenniff and comes from his album Branches.

He also did this which was used on the iPhone adverts:

Good afternoon everyone We arrived home last night, after a lovely relaxing week in Crete. We thoroughly enjoyed the hot sunny weather, even if we don't have the tans to prove it! Busy catching up on washing, shopping and housework, but will try to get back later. It's nice to be back with you all

Welcome back Yogi. I'm pleased you had a lovely time while in Crete

 

Over the past few weeks BBC has had one of their promotion bits (I better not say advert as it's the Beeb ) for its piano season. In case any of you wondered what the music played in it was it's the Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven.

Here's the complete piece which is in 3 fairly short clips.

Piano playing doesn't get any better than that. My father was a very good piano player but not in that league.

Welcome back Yogi, glad you had a good holiday.

 

What fascinates me about the piano pieces you posted EL is that he is not reading the music, so does that mean he has memorised it all? Wow!

 

The truly great pianists do memorise the music, that way they can play with the heart. If they have to play from the score, it becomes harder to achieve the same effect.

I thought I would do a search for the hardest piece of music written for the piano. This piece by Maurice Ravel is considered to be one of the hardest. It's in 3 sections and the 3rd which is called Scarbo is considered to be exceptionally hard to play. It depicts a small goblin causing mischief at night dashing all over the place.

At the other end of the scale of difficulty is of course this :

evening all Hope everyone has had a lovely day, it's been beautiful here mr summer is off so we spent the day walking bramble, taking his mum out and bumping into an old friend he's not seen for years! Then he popped out and I taught bramble how to dance, she likes strictly Yogi, welcome back! we did indeed miss you and I'm glad you had a lovely holiday!

Good morning everyone

 

Very cloudy here but dry at present. Rain is forecast during today.

 

I heard on the news this morning about singing mice:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scie...environment-19898947

 

which of course reminded me of :

Good morning everyone, rain all day today, I hope it's a bit better where you are.  Hope I'm lucky dodging the showers when I go out later.  I loved the film Babe EL

It's a thoroughly enjoyable film. I thought I would check what other films Chris Noonan has directed and there's hardly anything else. The only other film of note is Miss Potter which is one of those films which I intend to see but haven't seen yet.

 

I had Miss Potter stored for ages on a DVD which I taped from my Sky+.  I finally got around to watching it earlier this year, it is lovely and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Good afternoon A chilly, overcast start here with rain due soon Oh I loved Babe, and I thoroughly enjoyed Miss Potter too didn't she buy lots of land in the Lake District to preserve it?!

Something to make you giggle..

Tou are right, much of the Lake District National Park was preserved through her efforts. She was greatly influence by her long time friend and mentor Canon Hardwicke Rawnsley who lived in the Lake District and was one of the founders of the National Trust.

at Summer's photo

Good afternoon all. It's pouring with rain here today.

@ the pic of Bramble. She looks so comfortable there.

I've never seen the film, Miss Potter, I must look out for it.

Well thank goodness she did, it's a national treasure and I'm so pleased its been preserved! I love it there I'm just heading out for tea, yogi I hope the post holiday laundry dragon isn't putting up too much of a fight Back later

Squiggle, I hope the rain in your area isn't causing serious problems. Just heard there's been flooding in Clovelly:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-19913483

 

We have had loads of rain today, made my journey very difficult (had to help a friend with her wheeler in and out of the car as she didn't trust her normal walking stick in the awful conditions) and it's all made ten times more difficult struggling to cope with an umbrella but home and dry now thankfully.

 

Doesn't bear thinking about what the Lake District would be like without the efforts of Beatrix Potter and she had to fight many greedy property speculators.  A brave lady and the film was a delightful surprise.

It was a hard battle but I have slain the laundry dragon.

 

Squiggle, the weather in your area sounds bad, I hope you can stay indoors until it clears up a bit.

It's raining here now, it sounds nice on the windows this time of night. I do hope it stops for you Squiggle, the hassle it causes is rotten Yogi well done, your poor washer lol Is it nice to be home? I bet Keira was pleased to see you

Good morning everyone

 

Some blue sky here which makes a pleasant change. Possible showers later. Squiggle. I'm relieved you weren't badly affected by the rain yesterday and hope showers today don't cause problems. It's Scotland's turn to get a soaking particularly the North East - I hope this doesn't cause problems for those there.

 

Yogi, well done on slaying the laundry dragon.

good morning Happy Friday all A rainy night and a windy morning here, as predicted..

Good morning everyone, we have a little dry spell inbetween the showers.  I was muttering to myself after I parked the car and was walking down the drive 'I am getting in and I am staying in' I am so fed up with the rain.  So hopefully a couple of days in for me, let's hope you can all dodge the showers today.  I thought this might be appropriate in view of Summer's new venture

 

You may have read about Buttons the Jack Russell puppy and Kitty at Batterseas Dogs and Cats Home in the papers. They are close friends. The photos in the papers are cute but I've found a couple of video clips.

Firstly at play:

And then at rest:

They are both so cute EL, especially Buttons.