Monday 28 February 2022

Sunday Has Raced Around Again,

I just do not know where the times goes,


a slight change of pace today,

I decided on a white wine, after a read and a sherry,

for starters, chicken noodle soup,

'Cheers!',

gammon ham with gravy for Diana,

sans gravy for myself,

and for dessert, sticky toffee pie,

with cream delicious!

time for Diana's Valentine Day's chocolate rose,

another 'Cheers!',

as Diana tucks into her rose, after lunch time for a movie,

we had watched this one a long time ago, this is what I wrote then, 'we really did not know what to make of this one, Lost In Space, I remember the series in the mid 1960's but in this film I do not know who it was intended for, cuddly alien for the kids which looked terrible for the adults, but scary creatures and a plot sure to upset the kids but great for Mums and Dads', in the evening we followed that with a Columbo, a Midsomer Murder and rounded the evening off with a Have I Got More News For You, and with the end of that we were off to bed.


What A Neat Way,

to allow your cat to watch the fish,


I found the aquarium on the Instagram page of Melissa Krieger, titled jasperthacatfish,

the aquarium has a box glued into the base of it,

allowing Jasper to almost swim with the fishes! what a neat idea.


When Ever We Go Out For A Walk,

I always try to keep on the lookout,


for mushrooms, toadstools and lichens, photographs: all images © Amanda Cobbett, as many of us do, but Amanda Cobbett is blessed with woodlands near her that change almost daily as she walks her dog in the Surrey Hills,

“When you’re out in the forest, it’s the tiny detail that makes me want to be there as much as the bigger picture,” she says,

“It’s really important to take note of these things, because if at some point they disappear, and we don’t know that they exist, how will we know when they’ve gone?”

and that is the thing with the art of Amanda Cobbett,

she is a is a award-winning textile artist with over 25 years’ experience, having taken a photograph of her subject she recreates them in painstaking detail out of thread, paper, papier-mache and silk, what amazing creations they are, I really thought I was looking at the real thing.


Sunday 27 February 2022

I Joined Diana,

on her walk to the bus stop,


I was going to carry on walking into town,

I noticed I was not the only person taking photographs of the crocuses,

I left Diana at the bus stop,

and carried on into town,

arriving at Boots the chemist to pick up my prescription,

next into Sainsburys for some pigs in blankets for tomorrows Sunday lunch,

it was another glorious day, in the afternoon I watched a few documentaries and a few 'fails on boats' on YouTube,

time for my evening read and sherry,

for tonight a starter of onion bhajis,

followed by a chicken jalfrezi and a chicken tikka masala with pulao rice, 'Cheers!', after which I decided against a dessert, but a huge helping of,

  Monty Python Live (mostly) - One Down Five to Go, the Monty team takes to the stage, as you might expect all of the favorite sketches, the blue parrot, cheese shop, the lumberjack and of course the Spam menu,

set just up the road from us in Bromley, and of course no Monty would be complete with out the Chinese, the words in the stage production have changed a tad, 

so here is the original, after which Diana arrived home, 

after a coffee and a chat we decided on Hannibal, a great film for me, strangely enough the music was even better than the film, I enjoyed the music so much I actually bought the soundtrack to it, which is something I do not do very often, as a bonus it also contains one of my favourite pieces of music, "Vide Cor Meum" it is a song composed by Patrick Cassidy based on Dante's "La Vita Nuova", specifically on the sonnet "A ciascun'alma presa", in chapter 3 of the "Vita Nuova", 

such a beautiful piece of music, the words,

E pensando di lei (Florentin dialect)
Mi sopragiunse un soave sonno
Ego dominus tuus (Latin)
Vide cor tuum
E d'esto cuore ardendo (Florentin dialect)
Cor tuum (Latin)
(Lei paventosa)(Florentin dialect)
Umilmente pascea (Florentin dialect)
Appresso gir lo ne vedea piangendo
La letizia si convertia in amarissimo pianto
Io sono in pace
Cor meum (Latin)
Io sono in pace (Florentin dialect)
Vide cor meum (Latin)

and the translation:

While thinking of her (Beatrice)

A sweet sleep came over me
I am your master
Here is your heart
And on this burning heart
Your heart
(she fearful)
(she) obediently fed
Then I saw him (Amore) leaving in tears
Joy became bitterest lament
I am in peace
My heart
I am in peace
See my heart

and with the end of the film we were off to bed.


I Found This Intriguing Image On Twitter,

it is a massive sunshade,


I first found the photograph on this pageEva Pacheo, a local crochet teacher in the town of Alhaurín de la Torre, in Malaga, Spain, came up with a fun and colourful way to provide shade for the town’s main shopping corridor, by creating a massive patchwork of crocheted tapestries and hanging them over the street, 

photograph by @myeyesshowmepictures on InstagramPacheo and more than a dozen of her students crocheted the canopy which now covers an area of nearly 500 square meters (5,380 sq ft), 

the above video is from Luvinland, and last for 8 minutes, and it has to be said is a nice walk through town.


At First I Thought It Was An Artist Impression,

but I was so wrong,


it is a real building, and it is open, photography courtesy of Dubai Future Foundation, designed by local studio Killa Design, the museum stands in a prominent location alongside Dubai's elevated train line, a short distance from the Burj Khalifa skyscraperthe world's tallest building, 

built for the Dubai Future Foundation, the seven-storey building contains a combination of exhibits dedicated to the future and workshops for testing and developing emerging technology,

"The Museum of the Future is a 'living museum', constantly adapting and metamorphosing as its very environment drives continual and iterative change to its exhibits and attractions," said Mohammed Al Gergawi, chairman of the Dubai Future Foundation,

Killa Design's museum contains a 1,000-capacity multi-use hall, a 345-seat lecture theatre as well as numerous laboratory spaces, five floors of gallery space contain exhibits dedicated to space exploration, a digital recreation of the Amazon rainforest and prototypes of future products,

interestingly internally the spaces have no columns, the 77-metre-high building is supported by a steel structure, developed with engineering studio Buro Happold, which was "digitally grown" using parametric tools, it is clad in stainless steel with windows in the form of quotes from the emirate's ruler written in Arabic calligraphy, the three sentences written on the building say: "We may not live for hundreds of years, but the products of our creativity can leave a legacy long after we are gone"; "The future belongs to those who can imagine it, design it, and execute it. It isn't something you await, but rather create"; and "Innovation is not an intellectual luxury. It is the secret behind the evolution and rejuvenation of nations and peoples", what an amazing building.


Saturday 26 February 2022

It Was A Glorious Day,

not a cloud in the sky,


I left home before Diana, she was on late shift,

I was going to visit Duncan,

off to the station for the train to Bromley South and then to Sevenoaks,

I enquired about the foot bridge, apparently it is going to take some time to repair,

arriving at Sevenoaks it was a walk to the nursing home,

in the home I had to have a stick in the throat and up the nose and wait 30 minuets for the results, all was well, Duncan was in fine sprits, we chatted away remembering some of the times we had together,

then back to the station,

and home the day still nice, Steve called round for a coffee, after he left I started to get ready for my evening meal when I heard something in the hall, I assumed it was a shoe falling off of the shoe rack, and then another noise, Diana was not due home until much later, someone was in the flat, Lordy, Lordy! the living room door open, my heart missed a beat well several! it was Diana, what a relief, apparently her manager had called to say not to come in today, all the time I was at home Diana was fast asleep in the bedroom,

back to normal for a sherry and a read,

'Cheers!', as I tuck into a Lancashire hot pot,

whilst Diana made herself a Thai noodle dish,

after which I was off to the club, 

where a leaving party was being held, one of the members was moving to America, Steve and myself chatted the night away, after saying goodbye I walked back home to join Diana, 

where it was feet up for Elysium, which we had watched before but we decided to watch again after which we were off to bed.