We Had A Quiet Day,

Diana did not have to go into work until the late afternoon,

when Diana left to go to the bus stop, I accompanied her to walk to the shops, and then saw this, only a couple of days ago I mentioned how nice it would be for park residents to get the grass verges back, when some one placed logs to stop people parking on them, before the park was modernized and the car park reduced and charges brought in, every spring the verges would be home to snowdrops and crocus, plus several stands of daffodils, of course all of these were trodden into the ground when people started parking on and walking on the grass verges as they got out of their cars, in many places the verges about 7 or 8 feet wide had in places been reduced to just a few feet, all was well until the Neanderthals scrapping their knuckles on the ground moved the logs so that they could park on the verges again, what a shame the flowers will not be given a chance to regrow, rant over!

on a happier note the flowers in Foxgrove Lodge were putting on a good show, especially the dahlias,

and roses, I stopped to take a couple of photographs on the way back with the shopping, after my evening meal it was feet up for a few of the usual programs, a Midsomer Murder, a Inspector Frost, and a New Tricks, after Diana arrived home it was a coffee, a chat and we were off to bed. 

As Far As Modern Clothes And Fashions Are Concerned,

I am completely out of touch,

for instance I have never understood why people would by a pair of jeans that has been deliberately cut to make them look worn, and above is another item, image from luxury fashion brand Balenciaga, who have just announced their range of extremely distressed sweaters, that look like they’ve been chewed on by rats, mice and have not been washed for some time, I guess you could call it the ‘Homeless Look’, which I guess is a bit of a insult to those who for whatever reason are really homeless, they are in fact high-quality wool sweaters designed to make the wearer look either extremely poor or like they narrowly escaped an encounter with an aggressive wild animal, aptly named “Destroyed Crewneck“, the controversial garment is actually made from “100% virgin wool”, although you couldn’t really tell by looking at it, the sweaters are made in Italy and come in an oversized fit, but here is the thing, can you really afford to look poor? the reason I ask is on their website they are priced at $1,450! at today's rate £1,054.25, yes it really does cost a lot to look poor! “Hi Balenciaga. Can you give me the lead time for this unfinished, jumper for £1100 please, I really want one… said no one, ever,” one person wrote on Twitter, so I guess it is not just myself who thinks that these are a bit too expensive!

We Often Feature Artists,

whose works are just amazing,

like these from 18 year old Japanese artist 慧人 (Keito), photographs  @yassun0222K/Twitter,

Trompe l’oeil (literally “cheat the eye” in French) is a centuries-old painting and drawing technique design to do just what its name implies,

and it is plain to see that Keito has mastered the art of Trompe l’oeil,

Keito, who posts under the moniker Yassun0222K on Twitter and Instagram, has not only mastered the art of shading to create the illusion that the objects depicted in his artworks are three-dimensional, but he is also an expert at recreating the textures of the different things he is trying to imitate,

looking at his stunning drawings, it’s easy to see how Keito managed to attract almost 50,000 followers on Twitter, and over 4,000 followers on Instagram, and I have to say it, I am surprised that those numbers are not a lot higher, what an amazing talent this young gentleman truly has.

If You Really Are Impossible With House Plants,

or cannot find someone to water them when you are on holiday,

but would like the appearance of green house plants in your home, these could be the answer to your prayers,

inspired by papercraft and Japanese origami folding techniques, Papelants are paper plants that spring to life without the use of glue, tape, scissors or any tools at all. Intrinsically maintenance-free, they come in a number of different varieties and can stand upright or be hung from walls,

Papelants is a collaboration between Japanese design agency Flatroom and Bog Craft, a manufacturer of paper products,

their paper plants are available online for 1540 yen, at today's rate £10.20 or $14.01 per piece, I have to say for myself I will stick to the real thing, even if sometimes my fingers are not as green as I would like!

We Had A Great Start To An Enjoyable Day,

first thing in the morning Diana's family,

sent some photographs,

showing the progress being made on the house,

with some of the external painting started,

and tiling being started in a few more of the rooms,

and finished in some of them,

no Sunday lunch for us today, we spent the afternoon watching a few episodes of Columbo, in the early evening we were out,

and walking into the park,

some months ago we had bought a couple of V.I.P. tickets to this,

Film and Food in the Park,

looking back at the mansion,

in the distance the big screen,

I had to have a pose,

well two as it happens,

security checks over, no outside food or drink allowed,

we settled into our front row seats,

and this is where we are going to eat, hence no Sunday lunch,

Diana bought her late afternoon/early evening lunch first,

and a coffee,

I think it is a Mexican dish,

as I felt a bit peckish I wandered off,

if you did not want to pay for chairs near the screen you could bring your own,

plenty of supplied tables and chairs to eat from,

and lots of street food,

naturally Diana asked me to buy some more food, and this was the stall selling it,

the staff here excellent,

for myself a 12" dog in a roll,

whilst that was cooking I arrived back with a couple of Indian dishes for Diana,

then time for my treat,

plus a couple of glasses of bubbly,

next an ice tea for Diana,

the show started with a couple of films made by different collages, one a funny spoof which featured the new face of the National Health Service, basically home owners were paid to open up one or more of their rooms to house patients and even have one room made into a operating theatre, so well done you could almost believe it was true! 

the short films were followed by a stand up comedian, not the easiest job in the world, but quite amusing in places, then to the main event,

the film that we had all come to watch, Jojo Rabbit, we have watched it before, actually I have watched 3 or 4 times, I find it in places just so funny, the story, "Hitler Youth cadet Jojo Betzler firmly believes in the ideals of Nazism manifested by his imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler. However, his foundations are shaken when he finds a Jewish girl in his house." it seems like a strange film, and I guess it is, but we, along with everybody here thoroughly enjoyed it, the sound system superb making this watching so good, film over we made our way back home for a Have Got News For You, after which we were off to bed.

What An Amazing Find,

and in such unusual circumstances,

researcher Victor Beccari worked up this 3D model of the tapejarid. "Although we don't know what colour the crest could be, a safe bet would be something in between red and brown," Beccari says, the find is amazing as the remains belong to a tapejarid, a toothless pterosaur from the early Cretaceous period known for its huge cranial crest composed partly of bone and partly of soft tissue, skulls and partial skeletons of Brazilian tapejarids have turned up before, but this fossil was found with more than 90% of its skeleton intact, along with some soft tissue in place around the bones, "This fossil is special because it is the most complete pterosaur from Brazil and it brings new information about the anatomy and ecology of this animal," says Victor Beccari, co-author of a study on the find published last Wednesday in the open-access journal PLOS One, the reptile originally comes from the Crato Formation in the Araripe basin, a fossil-rich area in north-eastern Brazil that dates back to a time in the Cretaceous period around 115 million years ago. The remains were found preserved in six perfectly complementary yellowish limestone slabs that fit together by rectilinear cuts to present a nearly complete picture of the creature. It had a wingspan of more than 8 feet (2.5 meters) and stood 3.2 feet (1 meter) tall, with its head crest accounting for an astounding 40% of its height, but how was it found? Brazilian federal police found the tapejarid remains while investigating an illegal fossil trade operation in 2013. They recovered 3,000 specimens kept in storage units in the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro and transferred them to the Geosciences Institute of the University of São Paulo for study. Since 1942, Brazilian law has categorized fossils as state property, as they're considered part of the country's geological heritage and forbidden from being sold commercially, so now hopefully the specimen will be available for researchers to study and not locked away in a private collection, no news of any arrest as of yet.

It Looks Like A Normal Piece Of Clear Acrylic,

until,

you expose the piece to sunlight or a artificial light source, then the acrylic tile suddenly reveals a 2- or 3D figure, the magical window, which is the inventive design of aerospace and software engineer Matt Ferraro, relies on caustic patterns, the physical phenomenon that casts shadows and bright spots when light filters through a glass or other transparent object. By slightly altering the curvature of the acrylic surface by no more than two millimetres at any spot, Ferraro transformed the seemingly blank square into an extraordinary light-activated device that produces a holographic cat, his cat as it happens,

the San Francisco-based engineer details the physics behind the two-dimensional aspects of the design in a post on his site, you can follow him on Twitter, I am trying to think of a application for this, but in any event it seems so neat.

Hidden Almost In Plain Sight,

this paintings secret has now been reviled,

all images via Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, for hundreds of years the painting “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” painted by the 17th-century Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, has held a secret, conservators knew the image of the Roman god of love existed after a 1979 X-ray, although it was assumed that Vermeer had altered the piece himself. Only after they performed a series of infrared reflectography imagings, microscopic analyses, and X-ray fluorescence examinations in 2017 did they realize that the Cupid was covered decades after the painter’s death, even though they still aren’t sure who marred the original piece or when,

a statement says, “When layers of varnish from the 19th century began to be removed from the painting, the conservators discovered that the ‘solubility properties’ of the paint in the central section of the wall were different to those elsewhere in the painting,” what an amazing find,

if you have time for a coffee the above video is a good watch, “Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window” will be on view in its original form for the first time in centuries as part of an expansive exhibition dedicated to the painter running from September 10, 2021, to January 2, 2022, at the Dresden museum, all of this begs the question, how many other works of art have secrets waiting to be reviled?