This year we’re beginning each month with a (potentially logical) oddity to think about, and to keep the brain cells active. This month:
If poison is past its expiry date, is it more poisonous or is it no longer poisonous?
Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
| Sun 1 | I don’t understand the guy next door to me. He doesn’t like the pigeons because they go “flappy flappy” flying away when he goes down his garden. And yet he persists in chucking old bread out on his garage roof for the birds – mostly pigeons, of course! |
| Mon 2 | A sad day. Returned from lunch to an email that my osteopath had died; he was only 72 although he did have failing kidneys. Over the years he’d become a friend as well as my osteopath. Because of lockdown I’d not seen him for 18 months. A true gentleman, remembered with great affection. |
| Tue 3 | Phew! Work of various sorts today from about 0930 to 2045, including two Zoom meetings. But I did achieve pretty much everything I set out to, and a lot else too. I’ll call that a result! |
| Wed 4 | Slept late, then had a day regrouping after yesterday, and clearing away some of the junk on my desk and in my in-box. |
| Thu 5 | Time to take in the wasp traps (see Thursday 29 July). Oh dear, I’ve caught nothing but a few very small flies. Fuller’s London Pride is obviously not to wasps’ taste. I’m not really surprised as I’ve seen hardly any wasps yet this summer, and the last week hasn’t been good flying weather. |
| Fri 6 | Managed to cock up defining a new website an installing WordPress. I hate having to get the hosting admins to fix it for me. |
| Sat 7 | Slept very late again; achieved little. |
| Sun 8 | Afternoon spent baking: rustic raspberry & blackberry tart; rustic tomato & onion tart; casseroled lamb shanks; stewed gooseberries; stewed blackcurrants. That should keep us fed for a bit. |
| Mon 9 | Spent a large part of the day tinkering around building a website. Why can you never get WordPress to do exactly what you want? |
| Tue 10 | When going out our cats are always told “Take care. See you later. No live prey please.” So what does Boy cat bring us in the middle of lunch? Live mouse. Which he then proceeds to lose in the study! |
| Wed 11 | Anyone who shares their home with a cat, knows they are perverse creatures. Ours, when offered chicken from your plate will tell you it’s their favourite food and ask for more. Today, when taking the meat off the chicken carcass I kept some scraps aside for the cats’ tea. Result: universal disdain from all three! |
| Thu 12 | Last night was supposed to be a peak for the Perseid meteor shower. Yet again, not a hope due to complete cloud cover. We never get to see these phenomena nowadays – just like we don’t get thunderstorms any more. |
| Fri 13 | Friday 13th is always an odd day. Luckily there’s only one this year, compared with 2 last year (March & November). And just one again next year (May). |
| Sat 14 | Last year’s 4 scotch bonnet chilli plants on the study windowsill were cut back in February. They’re being prolific. I’d already picked 15 fruit. Today I harvested 34 chillies, in sizes from “processed pea” to “large ping-pong ball”. They’ve been frozen whole, so small amounts of crushed chilli is easily available when needed. And there’s more to come! |
| Sun 15 | Whatever it was that was going to be done today, wasn’t. |
| Mon 16 | A lot of people are reporting their cats being ill after eating the new recipe Felix cat food; there’s a big group on Facebook, but it’s all anecdote and the manufacturers aren’t listening. So I spent some time drafting a survey to try to gather more reliable information which we can analyse. |
| Tue 17 | Awake and up really early, so I had almost the whole day working on my family history. Many years ago, my mother did a lot of her father’s line, but I think I’ve proven her mistaken about 250 years back. |
| Wed 18 | More work today on firming up yesterday’s family history work. And work on a website for the PPG, which is taking an age! |
| Thu 19 | Wide awake at 0530; shall I get up? Next I know it’s 0930; I’d better get up. Then the next I know it’s 1100; somehow I manage to get up. |
| Fri 20 | Sleep? What is this thing called sleep? Consequently feeling wrecked and the day went to Hell in a handcart. |
| Sat 21 | Was that a day? Up early again on too little sleep so felt out of it all day. Definitely out of it after wine with dinner. Hic! |
| Sun 22 | N picked 2 ice-cream tubs of blackberries from the front garden; it’s a really good, self-set and vigorous blackberry which almost always crops well. There’s also a big patch of large fungi by the wheelie bins; they’re not ordinary mushrooms and not deathcaps; trying to ID them. |
| Mon 23 | Another Monday – at least I’m told it was Monday. And another itching collection of gnat bites. |
| Tue 24 | Got a magnificent book on fungi [Roger Phillips, Mushrooms (2006)] to try to ID the fungi in the front garden. I think they’re probably The Prince, Agaricus augustus. If so they’re supposedly good eating (they’re the same family as commercially grown mushrooms) but I wouldn’t dare risk it. |
| Wed 25 | Why is depression such a vicious spiral of inability to get out of one’s chair? Even on a nice summer’s day. |
| Thu 26 | A hard day’s work organising two very different sets of announcement material for 1 September. |
| Fri 27 | Another of those days where you’re busy all day but seem to have nothing to show for it; except perhaps fish pie for dinner. |
| Sat 28 | Put up the 2 wasp traps for round 2 of Big Wasp Survey. At the same time noticed that the woodland floor between the old apple tree and the pond is prolific with small brown puffballs, probably Scaly Earthball (Scleroderma verrucosum).  Wasp Trap (left) and 3cm diameter Puff Ball |
| Sun 29 | Awake just after 0630 this morning and looking out of the bedroom window. Suddenly in the ash tree outside a small sparrow-sized bird; looks odd; it’s not a sparrow; yes, a first for me: a juvenile Lesser Spotted Woodpecker. Nice, as they’re now relatively rare due to loss of elm trees. Have now seen 3 of 4 native woodpeckers (all in the garden here); only missing Wryneck (and that’s very unlikely). It just shows what is around even in suburbia. |
| Mon 30 | A grey, breezy, not very warm August Bank Holiday. Well at least it isn’t raining this year. |
| Tue 31 | Had a couple of new season English apples today. It’s that time of year already. Discovery, an early variety. My memory was they’re not up to much, and it was right: they’re dry and only moderately sweet. A bit like the apple equivalent of a ship’s biscuit. But they do have pretty blush pink streaked flesh. |
This month we have a well packed collection of links to items you may have missed the first time, so let’s get in …
Science, Technology, Natural World
You know those experiments physicists are always doing to spot invisible subatomic particles? Here’s an item on how they do it. [LONG READ]
One scientist looks at five reasons why sorting out evidence for UFOs is so scientifically challenging. [£££££]
The Gulf Stream is an important factor in controlling the Northern Hemisphere’s climate, but scientists have now seen warning signs that it is about to collapse.
They’re dastardly cunning and to cap it all it seems squirrels use parkour tricks when leaping from branch to branch.
The genomes of living animals are littered with DNA from long-extinct relatives, which is beginning to provide information on evolution, extinctions, and maybe even solutions to current agricultural problems. [LONG READ]
While we’re looking for clues, two studies have successfully detected DNA of wildlife in the air around us. This could become a valuable new way to detect rare wildlife in hostile environments.
Just what genetic tricks do the longest-lived animals need to drive their longevity? [LONG READ]
Health, Medicine
One young woman tells us about something most of us have never heard of: pelvic congestion syndrome. [LONG READ]
Sexuality
Our favourite medieval historian tells us about the power of pushing back against the marginalisation of sex workers – then and now.
Environment
Have you ever seen a ghost-pond? If not Norfolk apparently has loads of them, and they’re being restored to uncover a treasure trove of long-lost plants.
The UK government has given a rather (too?) cautious welcome to beavers and indicated they’ll receive legal protection.
Birds of prey are declining in the UK, but one farmer is trying to lure them back by laying out dinners of roadkill etc. on raised “sky tables”.
Oh dear! The Law of Unintended Consequences strikes again. They may produce better light for us (compared with the old sodium lamps) but it seems that LED streetlights are causing significant declines in moth numbers in England.
So just how hard is it to recycle a jumbo jet?
History, Archaeology, Anthropology
Long, long ago during the ice-ages, when sea level was much lower, the North Sea was an inhabitable oasis connecting the British Isles to mainland Europe. Despite being overwhelmed this so-called “Doggerland” is giving up its secrets due to fishing and dredging.
So how did the Mayans survive in the extreme monsoon climate of Meso-America? They had some really surprising technology!
Archaeologists in Finland have revealed the puzzling burial of an Iron Age leader. However the grave goods don’t entirely fit with the normal expectation of such leaders being male, and the suggestion is that this individual was in some way non-binary.
Why did Harold Godwinson lose the Battle of Hastings? Because his elder brother Swegen died some years earlier leaving the way open for Harold to seize the kingdom. [LONG READ]
700 years before McDonald’s, London’s first recorded takeaway was selling venison, pheasants and boiled meat.
Here we go again! The Voynich manuscript has resolutely refused to give up its secrets despite years of effort by researchers. Now another is hoping that the lock can be cracked using linguistic statistical methods.
Dr Eleanor Janega, our favourite medieval historian, reappears in her rightful place with two articles about medieval summers: “On Leisure in August” and “On Bad Summers“. [BOTH LONG READS]
Food, Drink
Anyone interested in beer, might be staggered to know that German chemists have identified over 7,700 different chemical formulas, each with as many as 25 different molecular structures, in a range of 400 beers.
Lifestyle, Personal Development, Beliefs
Well colour me black and blue! It turns out that getting a tattoo can be a powerful means of reclaiming your body and processing grief or trauma – Oh, and getting decorated. Of course it is; like piercing it is a rite of passage.
Shock, Horror, Humour, Wow!
And finally I leave you with this thought:
My monthly round-up of quotes various I’ve recently encountered.
I have forced myself to contradict myself in order to avoid conforming to my own taste.
[Marcel Duchamp, artist (1887-1968)]
I’ve learned that no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights. I’ve learned that regardless of your relationship with your parents, you’ll miss them when they’re gone from your life. I’ve learned that making a “living” is not the same thing as making a “life”. I’ve learned that life sometimes gives you a second chance. I’ve learned that you shouldn’t go through life with a catcher’s mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back. I’ve learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decision. I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one. I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug, or just a friendly pat on the back. I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn. I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.
[Maya Angelou]
There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened.
[Douglas Adams]
Each morning when I open my eyes I say to myself; I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn’t arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I’m going to be happy in it.
[Groucho Marx]
Your mind will serve you better than any trinket under the suns … It is a weapon … and like any weapon, you need practice to be any good at wielding it.
[Jay Kristoff, Nevernight]
Pick a leader who will keep jobs in your country by offering companies incentives to hire only within their borders, not one who allows corporations to outsource jobs for cheaper labour when there is a national employment crisis. Choose a leader who will invest in building bridges, not walls. Books, not weapons. Morality, not corruption. Intellectualism and wisdom, not ignorance. Stability, not fear and terror. Peace, not chaos. Love, not hate. Convergence, not segregation. Tolerance, not discrimination. Fairness, not hypocrisy. Substance, not superficiality. Character, not immaturity. Transparency, not secrecy. Justice, not lawlessness. Environmental improvement and preservation, not destruction. Truth, not lies.
[Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun: The Writings of Suzy Kassem]
The martin cat long shagged of courage good
Of weazle shape a dweller in the wood
With badger hair long shagged & darting eyes
And lower then the common cat in size
Small head & running on the stoop
Snuffing the ground & hind parts shouldered up
[John Clare ]
This afternoon I spotted a huge Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queen on the Buddleia. Well that’s not so unusual. However this one seemed very lethargic, but she was crawling around sucking up nectar. And she was absolutely smothered in pollen as you can see in my photo. I watched her, on and off, on the same Buddleia flower spike for maybe 10 minutes, although the last time I looked she had gone. I suspect she was probably at the end of her life; or was maybe a new queen that’s been parasitised.
Also around on the Buddleia at the same time, there was a magnificent Hornet-mimic Hoverfly (Volucella zonaria) almost the size of the top joint of my little finger. But it was much too skittish to have any chance of a photograph.
The stories we tell ourselves only matter in so far as they affect the actions we take.
[Brad Warner]
It’s three years since I last wrote about depression.
That’s not only because my depression has gone away; there just doesn’t seem to have been anything much worth saying about depression.
The depression hasn’t gone away. If anything it’s got worse. I seem to have descended from “I just don’t want to do anything” … through “I just can’t make myself do anything” … to “why am I even bothering to do anything”.
The rationale (such as it is) for not bothering isn’t just a lack of visible results for my efforts – although that doesn’t help – but has been significantly impacted by the plague of the last 18 months and the ongoing need to stay isolated.
No, it goes deeper. I’ve reached my “three score years and ten” and I’m not going to be around here for very much longer – especially given my medical history etc. Obviously I want to make it to at least 80 in a reasonable state; if I do I shall consider it a result. However I’m not optimistic that I will make 80. Which seems to make anything I do even more pointless.
But then, as Noreen pointed out to me last night, I have loads of longevity genes on both sides of my family. If I look at my parents and their siblings (8 of them) their ages at death were:
Men: 86, 3 (severely handicapped), 93 (and still going)
Women: 90, 99, 99, 78, 89
[I’ve ignored my father’s three half-sisters as they’re only half related to me.]
And if I go back to my grandparents and their siblings (23 of them) their ages were:
Men: 54, 1, 61, 3, 80, <1, 84, 9, 82, 80, 62, 24 (WWI), 78, 73, <1
Women: 26, 84, <1, 72, 83, 40, 88, <1
Stretching a point and going back to my great-grandparents generation (another 60 people) of the 29 I know about we find ages of:
Men: 57, 96, 71, 57, 40, 54, 43, <1, <1, 91, 87, 37, 46, 6, 67, 3
Women: 57, 73, 71, 57, <1, 66, 79, <1, 81, 76, 46, 88, 75
This last isn’t so brilliant, but remember with my great-grandparents we are talking about people born in roughly the middle third of the 19th century.
In all this we also need to remember:
There are a number of interesting things which pop out at me in this data (though I admit it is incomplete).
So all other things being equal – which of course they’re not; if it weren’t for modern medicine I’d likely not be here now – I must have a decent chance of having another 10 years.
What would be interesting is to know how much of my depression has a genetic basis, and how much is environmental (in the widest sense). My father had depression (largely unrecognised, except by him, and latterly me) and his father was also depressive (although that was ascribed to trench fever from WWI). How many others of my (recent) forebears suffered from depression we shall never know.
Does that make me feel any better? Well sadly, as a fully paid-up pessimist, it doesn’t. Most people would doubtless say it should; but depression doesn’t work that way. And despite all my efforts I’ve yet to find anything which will kick this “black dog” hard enough in the nuts; although the antidepressants do keep me mostly functioning.
To cap it all, I just can’t get my head round the thought of not being here, doing what I do. How can I not be here, leaving everything in limbo?! It just feels so wrong; so unlikely; so frustrating; and yes, even depressing. Which luckily means I’ve never had any serious thoughts of self-harm or suicide.
Wish me luck!
As regular readers will know, from time to time I make rustic tarts, or galette – see for example here and here. Hitherto I’ve used commercial puff pastry because (a) I’m lazy and (b) I’ve never considered myself a good pastry cook. My typical pastry method has been my mother’s wartime approach of throwing flour, butter and water (or milk) together and rolling it out. While this is not good, I’ve always felt using commercial pastry is a bit of a cheat, and I should be better at making my own (although I draw the line at the faff of puff pastry).
So a few weeks ago I came upon a Nigel Slater recipe for a rustic tomato & shallot tart, and discovered he has been experimenting with pastry. It’s worth reading his recipe before we proceed. I’ll wait …
So now you know what we’re trying to do. I had never considered polenta in a pastry recipe before, let alone baking powder! So of course I had to try it. I had no polenta, so tried without. It was OK, but a bit bland; the pastry needed a flavour lift, like more salt. Polenta isn’t going to do that, but I needed to get some anyway. So I had a think. Ah-ha! That old stand-by Parmesan will give a flavour lift as well as some additional saltiness. So in true fashion I set out to “augment” the recipe.
And at the same time I thought there must be a way to do a sweet version for a fruit tart. And there is, as you will see. But first this is how I did a Tomato & Onion Tart.
Rustic Tomato & Onion TartFor the pastry For the filling What you do
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That was good; it worked well and the parmesan provide the necessary lift. I’m not sure the parmesan flakes are quite right; something like cheddar might work better; or possibly even better dot the top with bite-size pieces of brie. Of course you can easily make this vegan by leaving out the cheese.
So now, here is how I did the fruit version. It’s essentially the same, just fruity.
Rustic Fruit TartFor the pastry For the filling What you do
|
I actually used some raspberries and a few home-grown blackberries. And I used icing sugar (‘cos I happened to have some open). It worked well, although it was quite juicy when just out of the oven, but firmed up in an hour or so.
I also found this sweet pastry was much easier to roll. I guess that’s the difference between olive oil and butter; so I think I might try the savoury version with butter next time. But both pastries were much nicer to work with than what I’d done in the past.
So yes, I will be doing this again.
(Sorry no pictures as they got eaten too eagerly!)
This year our Ten Things series – which surprisingly appears on the tenth of each month – continues concentrating on the amusing, both real and fictional. So this month we have …
Ten Curiously Named Diseases
(with what they afflict)
A couple of years ago I wrote about how we should be eating at least 30 different plant foods a week. Research into this is continuing, especially by Prof. Tim Spector of King’s College, London. I’ll link to just two relevant items: Spector’s recent Top 5 Tips for a Healthier Gut Microbiome and this Mail+ article.
This prompted me to log how well I did against the 30-a-week target over four weeks starting on 5 July. Herere’s what I achieved.
W/C 5 July
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W/C 12 July
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W/C 19 July
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W/C 26 July
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[This excludes most condiments & pickles; tea; squash etc.]
That’s over 30 every week for four weeks, and is fairly typical of my normal diet – perhaps slightly better than average because of the availability of summer fruit. I really didn’t try especially to pick foods which would add to my total!
What’s more I make it 64 different foods over a four week period. Which is just plain crazy!
Could I do even better? Yes, probably; but apart from adding in winter vegetables I’d have to try fairly hard.