What's for dinner? - Thematic Photography

The title of Carmi's theme this week may make you hungry and ask 'What's for dinner?'

When you have been on holiday in the sun there are times when you can hardly wait for dining room doors to open.

A sunburned father and daughter

 However some people like getting friendly with the chef.

Cyprus buffet

But really all she wanted to know was which items had garlic in them.

However, for me, there's nothing like a spot of home cooking (not by me).

Plated up

The dish comprises

• Mashed potatoes and squash
• Cauliflower, broccoli, mangetout and carrots, all in cheese sauce
• Roast English lamb, not forgetting the gravy

There are those when they have done a hard day's work and have been for a swim who would wolf down anything.

Jack - still in his life jacket

Mind you have to be careful how you say d-i-n-n-e-r in the vicinity of any Labrador and not just Jack.

To find out what others have on their plates (or in their bowls) you need to pop over to Thematic-photographic-220 and ask "What's for dinner?"

Water and Conservation - Sunday Stamps

This week's theme is 'water.' There are many ways to interpret this but the stamps I've chosen have a message to go with them.

USA - Save our water

Sweden - Nature Conservation Year 1970

Iceland - Geothermal steam and valve

Great Britain - Millennium - Right to health.

There is no Linky list on Viridian's Postcard Blog so far today so I will give the Sunday Stamps link that takes you to her blog and through which you may be able to find others who have contibuted today at least some of whom are:

Sheila at apostcardaday ; Lisa at lisasoldstuff and Violetsky at violetsky

Hurling, Hurling or Hurling - Sepia Saturday

The photo Kat has given us as this week's prompt  shows the Irish Revolutionary Leader, Michael Collins, at the Senior Hurling Championship match against Dublin on September 12, 1921.

However I am starting this week in Cape Two with a photo of a pump from which slaves used to collect water.

The Hurling Pump

at the corner of Zorgvliet, Prince Street, Cape Town

(By Raymond Ellis - CCO 1.0 public domain dedication)

When you take a closer look you can see the pump's lion mask.

The lion mask of the Hurling Pump, Cape Town

(By Raymond Ellis - CCO 1.0 public domain dedication)

When I was at university in Scotland I tried my hand at shinty, a similar game to hurling, - but only once. The goalie in this video could have done with that lion mask from the Hurling Pump.

Back it Ireland there is no doubt about how seriously they take their game of hurling - just look at the memorials that are erected.

Horse and Jockey All-Ireland Champions in 29-man hurling

 

on N62 roadside (March 2007 - by Sarah 777; public domain)

Hurling Champions Monument, Castlebridge

(By David Hawgood - CC BY-SA 2.0 - ex geograph project)

But there is another form of hurling where a silver ball is thrown. In Cornwall hurling the silver ball is still practised at St Colomb Major (twice a year), St Ives (annually) and Bodmin (every five years).

You can read about Cornish hurling here

Truro hurling ball

( by Talskiddy at en.wikipedia - CC BY 3.0)

Youtube has many videos of hurling matches in Ireland (and some in the USA) and of Cornish hurling. If you get sidetracked there don't forget to visit other posts linked to Sepia-saturday-150

The Tourist Killer

I've just  finished FCEtier's 'The Tourist Killer' on my Kindle. I don't 'do' many book reviews but this one is somewhat different and challenges your preconceptions of what makes a killer.

The dramatic start to FCEtier's debut thriller sees the execution of a serial killer by a professional assassin. At the beginning of each of the novel's seven parts we learn more about Claudia Barry and how she developed the skills to have performed a shooter's role undetected for over 30 years.

Barry does not meet the person who assigns her targets. Etier's tightly written prose takes us into the world of two powerful men who aim to control the world of the politicians; one a ruthless British CEO, the other an American billionaire. They just happen to be deadly rivals with private security guarding their every move. Barry has just two men whom she can trust but even they are not what they seem.

The action unfolding on Barry's next assignment in North Carolina and Tennessee includes favourite restaurants and shops, her battle with her conscience and an explosive motor cycle ride on dangerous mountain roads.

Although FCEtier's fast-paced story takes you into the world of personal business and government ethics you are left to decide whether the actions of the ageing Claudia Barry merit society's approval.

A thoroughly enjoyable read.

The Tourist Killer  

Somewhat worse for wear - Thematic Photography

Currently we are being warned of a potential disaster for  ash trees in the UK. The Chalara fraxinea fungus may cause millions of ash trees to be lost from what is becoming known as 'ash die back.'

The tree in my first picture is an ash tree that is somewhat the worse for wear, battered by storms and apparently dead.

Dead Ash Tree - Kirklevington hedgerow

This tree is not a victim of ash die back as there has been no cases reported in the area. However on closer inspection the tree is not as dead as it looks supporting as it does -

Fungus on the trunk

Beefsteak fungus

The tree's bark may be the worse for wear but the fungi are not.

This little fellow has appeared before when Carmi's theme was red but he was definitely somewhat worse for wear when he flew into our lounge window early one morning.

Lesser spotted woodpecker

He recovered after a while a flew away, but not in a very straight line.

Recovering but still groggy

We can't claim to have had the winds of Hurricane Sandy but a Cornish storm had this effect on a garden shed.

Fowey 2008

I've written about my daughter's dogs before. Currently Lily is somewhat sorry for herself.

Lily (plus Elizabethan collar)

This was after an overnight stay at an animal hospital where she went somewhat worse for wear with a nasty injury.

Lily's back leg

She was found in this condition when my daughter arrived home from work. We have still to established how it happened.

To see if others are worse for wear don't forget to visit Carmi at Thematic photographic 219

 

A Hemulen's Collection - Sunday Stamps

This week theme of hobbies proved difficult for me until I came across the Hemulens, a species of characters created by the Finnish author Tove Jansson.

Hemulens tend to be obsessive characters devoting themselves to one interest - skiing, stamp collecting, butterflies or whatever. Does anyone recognise themselves?

It may have been a coincidence but in Saturday's Daily Telegraph an article appeared about the author Vladimir Nabokov who wrote 'Lolita.' Apparently Nabokov was an accomplished lepidopterist.

Now I had something to work with. I wouldn't say I am a Hemulen, but I have a butterfly or two.

USA Common Buckeye

Of course a lepidopterist is also interested in moths.

Romania - Saturnia pyri

The Saturnia pyri is a native of Europe, but not Britain, and is also known as the Great Peacock Moth or Giant Emperor Moth.

Mexico - Helasus

Malaysia

Malawi - Parasa moth

If I wanted to be obsessive about butterflies the one set of stamps I'd like are these from much nearer home.

Great Britain - Butterflies 1981

Shame that I have had to scan them from a catalogue. Oh well, I guess I shall have to remember the Tortoiseshell and Peacock flying round my garden in the summer.

Peacock butterfly on knapweed.

 

But now it's time to explore the hobbies from others on Viridian's Sunday Stamps 94

Take a Bath with a ghost or two - Sepia Saturday.

Well! What were my first thoughts when I saw the picture theme for this week?

I considered Mother Skipton and the spring that was discovered at Knaresborough, Yorkshire. The spring has exceptionally high mineral content such that any object placed into the waters' flow will turn to stone within days.

However it's the historic city of Bath with its Roman ruins and Regency Architecture that will be the subject of this post. Bath Spa is world famous for its Roman Baths.

The Roman Baths at Bath Spa

(Photo by David ILiff. License CC-BY-SA 3.0)

A city as old as Bath has some phantom visitors including the 'Man in the Black Hat' said to be the ghost of the first Governor of New South Wales.

Arthur Phillip - Founder & First Governor of NSW

(Projec Gutenberg eText - The Naval Pioneers of Australia)

Admiral Sir Arthur Phillip was on board the Sirius which led the First Fleet to transport convicts from England to Australia. After an eight month voyage the fleet land at Botany Bay in January 1788 to establish the penal colonies.

But why should he haunt Bath's Saville Row dressed in 18th century finery including a black tricorne hat? He died there in 1814.

When it comes to architectural masterpieces Bath has the famous Royal Crescent.

The Royal Crescent, Bath

(A panorama of six segments - July 2006 - Photo by David ILiff. License CC-BY-SA 3.0)

I can see plenty of cars, but there is no sign of the ghostly carriage said to appear in the Crescent to commemorate the elopement of the playwright and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan and his lover from number 11.

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

(Engraving from a portrait by Joshua Reynolds)

Sheridan fought two duels with Captain Thomas Mathews over Miss Elizabeth Linley who later became his wife. However there is no evidence of either Sheridan's 'The Rivals' or 'School for Scandal' being performed in the early years of  Bath's Theatre Royal.

The Theatre Royal Bath

(Photo by Michael Maggs - 2007: License CC-BY-SA 2.5)

Here the ghosts of an 18th-century married woman and her lover, murdered by her husband, are said to wander between the theatre and the Garrick's Head, the next-door public house

I may have wandered a bit from the theme but now you may wander over to check out other posts for Sepia-saturday-149 for a taste of healing waters.