Followers

Saturday 25 February 2012

Sepia Saturday 114; Shoes;



Sandals 1951
These Sandals are 61 years old. mine were red and my little friends sandals were brown.

This photo was taken when we visited  Kaiseraugst -  Augusta Raurica

Unfortunately I have not got a photo when we were wearing Roman sandals in 15 BC


Augusta Raurica is a Roman archaeological site and an open-air museum in Switzerland. Located on the south bank of the Rhine river about 20 km east of Basel near the villages of Augst and Kaiseraugst, it is the oldest known Roman colony on the Rhine.




Enjoy Sepia Saturday

Thursday 23 February 2012

Thursday; Unpredictable;



Life is unpredictable, extempore  like the weather.
It can be a big, bad bruise,  cracked and crazed,  leaves everything in its path bereft, or  a snack time of happiness with colours of vitality, bright, fresh and hopeful.
Do we have a choice? Or are we puppets of fate?

Horace  quoted: squid sit futurum cras, fuge quaerere
Do not ask what tomorrow brings




...and in Shakespeare's words who looked deep into the nature of mankind

Menenius: Thou rascal, that are worst in blood to run, leads first to win some vantage.
But make ready your stiff bats and clubs;
Rome and her rats are at the point of  battle;
Cericlanus Act 1Scene 1




Queen Margaret; O Buckingham! take heed of yonder dog; Look when he fawns, he bites; and when he bites His venom tooth will rankle to the death....
sin, death and hell have set their mark on him, and all their ministers attend to him.
Richard III Act 1 Scene III


Puck;....Now are frolic; not a mouse shall disturb  this hallow'd house; 
I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door.
A Midsummer Night's dream; Act V  scene I


O Romeo, O Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Romeo and Juliet; ActII Scene II




.....  dear P.L.Dunbar knew happiness and sadness; and had  wonderful expressive words and a tender soul.


Invitation to Love


Come when the nights are bright with stars
Or come when the moon is mellow;
Come when the sun his golden bars
Drops on the hay-field yellow.
Come in the twilight soft and gray,
Come in the night or come in the day,
Come, O love, whene’er you may,
And you are welcome, welcome.


You are sweet, O Love, dear Love,
You are soft as the nesting dove.
Come to my heart and bring it to rest
As the bird flies home to its welcome nest.


Come when my heart is full of grief
Or when my heart is merry;
Come with the falling of the leaf
Or with the redd’ning cherry.
Come when the year’s first blossom blows,
Come when the summer gleams and glows,
Come with the winter’s drifting snows,
And you are welcome, welcome.


BY PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR

Wednesday 22 February 2012

Wednesday; Nonsense; plus an authentic Swiss Roesti.



I have heard of a heart of gold, or a golden heart, but never heard of a potato heart.
Well here it is in its full potato heart glory. Does it  not look splendid in its original dirty jacket.
I mean what is  a heart of gold, I have never seen one but  this heart of potato is real, it is so real one can cook it, eat it and...i guess that is about all one can do with a potato heart.

...and here is the original recipe for  a authentic Swiss Roesti.

the first job is to cook the potatoes in their jackets.
It needs 1 liter  water,  1 tsp salt, 1kg  slightly floury potatoes;
cook the potatoes until soft for about 20 min,  take the potatoes out of the water and let them cool.

Peel the cold potatoes  and use a special implement called a "Roestiraffel" it dices the potatoes ,
otherwise you have to dice them finely by hand.


Roestiraffel


Put 2 1/2 tblsp. butter or lard  in  frying pan, when melted and hot but not smoking add the diced potatoes, add the salt;
Let the potatoes fry  and turn slowly until slightly brown then you push the potatoes together to form a flat cake, now you put the lid on and do not stir the potatoes anymore.
On med to light heat let it fry for about 15 min until you get a golden crust, then you add 1tblsp of butter and leave it for another 5 min.  Turn the Roesti, the crust on top, on a nice plate  and  it is ready to eat.


It is very easy to prepare and to cook and is truly delicious. Bon appetit.




The potato is about 80% water and 20% solids.


The Irish referred to potatoes as "spuds," the name that came from a type of spade used for digging potatoes.


Hot potato -- a problem nobody wants to deal with



William Shakespeare had one of his characters proclaim, in The Merry Wives of Windsor ,
"Let the sky rain potatoes!" Some people of Shakespeare's time thought that potatoes were an aphrodisiac!

I do like nonsense, Dr Seuss is so right;  Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.”   TS


Tuesday 21 February 2012

Tuesday; Flirt with fantasy;



Jacek Yerka, Painting


You say why dream  things that never were, I say why not? TS





The gift of fantasy means more then learning,  at my age.  TS



“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain 



It is early morning, exactly 6 hours and 13 minutes, ticking away; still raining heavily with some interludes. The garden has a big, green smile on its face. Let the day begin.... 






Monday 20 February 2012

Monday; Blue Mondays?



No, today is not a blue Monday, it is a very ordinary Monday, like any Monday before and after.  In 2012 the most depressing day of the year was said to be January 23rd.
I don't think it was depressing for me. It was Chinese New Year,and this is generally a happy time. So take your calculation and throw it in the bin!





Blue Monday is a name given to a date stated, as part of a publicity campaign by Sky Travel, to be the most depressing day of the year. It is considered pseudoscience
Perhaps I should stop here  and leave pseudoscience to the pseudo scientists!


This date was published in a press release under the name of Cliff Arnall, at the time a tutor at the Centre for Lifelong Learning, a Further Education centre attached to Cardiff UniversityGuardiancolumnist Dr. Ben Goldacre reported that the press release was delivered substantially pre-written to a number of academics by public relations agency Porter Novelli, who offered them money to put their names to it The Guardian later printed a statement from Cardiff University distancing themselves from Arnall: "Cardiff University has asked us to point out that Cliff Arnall... was a former part-time tutor at the university but left.


Hogwash makes the world go round and blue Mondays. 


Nearly forgot to say that most of this dribble comes from Wikipedia.