Category Archives: pleasures

Getting to Know All about You Meme


Getting to Know All about You Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr meme is about getting to know you.

These photos are not mine . . . please click on individual links below to see each artist/photostream. This mosaic is for a group called My Meme, where each week there is a different theme and 12 questions to send you out on a hunt to discover photos to fit your meme. It gives you a chance to see and admire other great photographers’ work out there on Flickr.

As usual here are the questions and my answers:

1. Who would you most like to meet? Dalai Lama
2. Who would you most like to have dinner with? Dinner is such a restrictive idea, but I would like to meet the Genie who dispenses health wealth and happiness
3. Who would you refuse to meet? The pure evil known as Robert Mugabe
4. What are you best at? Organisation, administration and procrastination
5. What are you worst at? Anything that requires fewer than 20 left thumbs; I’m hopeless at anything practical — after 3 years of woodwork at school I still can’t saw a piece of wood straight
6. What is your favourite poem? “Macavity: The Mystery Cat”; TS Eliot
7. What was the first record you bought for yourself? “Albatross”; Fleetwood Mac
8. What is your motto? Zen Mischief
9. What’s the biggest/best compliment you’ve ever been paid? What’s a compliment? I don’t think I get them. I just do the job right the first time.
10. Who did you hit? Me? No-one. I have an alibi.
11. What is your worst phobia? Not having money
12. What insect do you dislike most? Maggots

1. Dalai Lama_Geelong_6_ 10.jpg, 2. Genie In A Bottle, 3. Mugabe, 4. Overcoming Procrastination Motivational Mind Map Poster, 5. the freak of the rubber duck world, 6. Macavity the Proud, 7. Royal Albatross, Southern Ocean, 8. Zen Kitty, 9. The Original Version., 10. Who Me, I am Innocant, 11. Old diesel train, 12. Maggot Art

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

D is not for Dog

Neither is D for Dolphin! Not that I have anything against dogs or dolphins; they’re just not creatures which interest me. But D is for Daffodils …

OK, so here’s one of the current interspace memes. A blogging friend issues you with a (random) letter. You then have to write a weblog post around ten things beginning with that letter which you like, or are at least meaningful to you. So thanks to Hails over at Coffee Helps for giving me the letter D. So my ten things are:

Donuts
No not those toroidal creations so often topped with sugar icing and ADHD-laden e-coloured sugar ants. Definitely, No. Donuts here have to be the roughly spheroidal, cricket ball-sized variety in the middle of which there is a large dollop of gooey red jam just waiting to squirt out all down the chin and shirt-front. It’s the special red sticky jam otherwise reserved only for the fingers of two-year-olds! Good donuts are wicked but heavenly. Bad donuts are evil.

Desprez, Josquin
Josquin is here as a representative of all composers of the early music era. Although perhaps not my all time favourite Josquin’s work is sublime. My real interest is more in the liturgical works fo the English Medieval and Renaissance composers, especially Nicholas Ludford and William Byrd. Byrd is in fact one of my heroes. How he survived as a recusant in Elizabethan England is something of a mystery. Although arrested and fined for recusancy on a number of occasions he not executed or imprisoned at length – something any other person at that time would have been. Moreover he kept his place at court. One can only think that he had special royal protection for some reason, perhaps as a valued spy? And his liturgical and keyboard music is for me unsurpassable.

Drinking
Let’s be open and frank. I enjoy a drink or three; beer or red wine for preference. It’s fashionable these days to knock anything to do with alcohol, and, yes, I admit it is a drug. But the anti-booze campaigns have in my view gone too far. Yes, it isn’t good for you to get smashed out of your skull regularly. But a few drinks? I seriously doubt a few drinks really hurt anyone (with perhaps the odd exception). Indeed there is good medical evidence that small quantities of alcohol (like a glass of red wine a day) are beneficial and help protect against things such as heart problems.

Diabetes
I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes about 3 years ago, and it can be a real pain in the posterior, although I will be the first to admit that I still haven’t fully engaged with it. You’re supposed to watch what you eat and need to rebalance your diet away from naked sugar to complex carbohydrates which release energy slowly. Diabetes is actually, in my view, two distinct diseases which result in the same long-term effects.

Type 1 Diabetes is an autoimmune disease where the body does not produce Insulin (the islet cells in the pancreas either don’t work or are destroyed), so the body cannot metabolise sugar (glucose/glycogen). It generally appears at a young age and often runs in families. Type 1s are the people who have to inject themselves with Insulin, often several times a day.

Type 2 Diabetes normally appears later in life and although there can be a genetic tendency it is also triggered by things like excessive weight. In Type 2 the body produces Insulin but the transport mechanism which allows the Insulin to diffuse from the blood though the cell membrane so it can work in the cells, fails. The effect is high blood sugar, as with Type 1. Type 2 is mostly managed by lifestyle changes and drugs, although through complex feedback mechanisms in the body it can destroy/disable the islet cells so that one progresses to needing Insulin injections.

Of course those descriptions are a generalisation and it isn’t as simple as I make out. Both types of Diabetes are serious but often don’t get taken seriously, even sometimes by those with the malady. They are largely invisible (unless someone passes out, which can happen with either very low blood glucose (hypoglycaemia) or too much blood sugar (hyperglycaemia); both are medical emergencies). But ignoring one’s Diabetes is a mistake as it can lead to many serious complications including major effects on the circulatory system, the nervous system, the kidneys and the eyes. If you even suspect you might have Diabetes then get it checked out by your doctor and take it seriously.

Dentist
Am I sad? Am I really the only person in the country who doesn’t dread going to the dentist – and even enjoys it? Judging by conversations I have I seem to be. But it is true; I genuinely do enjoy trips to the dentist, even when he’s doing nasty things in my mouth! Jonathan, my dentist man at White House Dental is a dream and a genius. Were I female I would swoon. He is just the best dentist – ever. OK so I have the privilege of paying him privately, but is it worth it! He is a superb technician, incredibly dexterous and his attitude is “the best will do”. And I have that on authority too. A couple of years ago he wanted a problem in my mouth checked by an oral specialist at the local BUPA hospital. While looking at my mouth the specialist’s (quite unprompted) comment was “I don’t know your dentist; I’ve never met him; he just refers people to me. But I see a lot of dentistry [well he would, wouldn’t he!] and your guy does the best dentistry I ever see”. Can one get better than that? Well yes, because not only is Jonathan a brilliant dentist, he’s an interesting guy to talk to and we almost always have chat about something medical or scientific between bouts of jovial banter.

Daffodils
Daffodils are one of my favourite flowers and for me the real harbinger of Spring. I’m not so fond of masses daffodils (as on the walls of York), and I detest that awful piece of Wordsworth poetry! I’m happier with a few bright golden trumpets in a vase; they are a real joy.

Driftwood and Dunes
Driftwood and dunes here stand duty for the seaside; not tourist infested beaches but the quieter shores of the less fashionable seaside towns. I’m a Londoner, born and bred, but like so many Londoners I would rather be in the country or, better, by the sea. Especially if it is warm, sunny and there’s an interesting beach with driftwood to find or dunes to explore and where one can laze out of the wind. Sun, sea, sand … what could be better?

Dungeness
Still on the seaside theme one of the places I love is the Dungeness headland in SE England. It is a relatively modern wilderness, created naturally by the sea in the last few hundred years, and is one of the largest expanses of shingle in the world. It is a wilderness of shingle; with scattered shanty housing, a lighthouse, a nuclear power station and one end of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway (see also here for more on RH&DR). It is genuinely wild, a haven for birds, especially as a stopover for migrants, and for salt-loving flora.

Devon and Dorset
Dorset and South Devon are another area of England which I love, both for their countryside and for their coast. With a few large-ish towns (Exeter, Weymouth, Torquay, for example) large areas of the counties are open rolling countryside with patchworks of fields, woods and villages, fringed along the southern edge by the sea with some glorious relatively quiet beaches, beautiful sandstone cliffs and fossils – it isn’t called the Jurassic Coast for nothing.

Drupe
Isn’t that a wonderful word: drupe. And it is pronounced, as one would expect, just like “droop”, which means something totally different. Drupe is a word which is not much used and hence known by few. Drupe is the correct botanical name for what are sometimes called the “stone fruits”: the fruit of all the genus Prunus (cherry, plum, almond, peach, etc.) as well as oddities like olives and most palms including coconuts and dates. They are characterised by having a hard kernel (hence the “stone”) which contains the seed and a soft, often fleshy and edible, outer. Apparently the word drupe derives from the Greek druppa olive, via Latin druppa, overripe olive. These are fruits which I love.

So there you have it. Ten things which are meaningful to me and begin with the letter D. Feel free to add your own ideas in the comments. And if you’d like your own letter why not visit Hails over at Coffee Helps and ask nicely (would you do otherwise?) for a letter.

Themed Colour Meme


Themed Colour Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s Flickr Photo Meme is to choose one of a number of themes and then find that item in all available colours. I chose my pets: pet cats and pet fish!.

So here are pet cats and pet fish in Black, Red, Tabby, White, Yellow, Spotted, Blue, Orange, Brown, Silver, Gold and Grey.
And all the pictures are from my Flickr favourites as well!

1. Box Cat, 2. Koi Carp Kyoto, 3. Georgina Relaxing, 4. Roger is rather partial to roses, 5. DSC00120, 6. Wee Spotty Beastie, 7. Lemon Jake displaying colours, 8. OPEN MOUTH, 9. Buster, 10. Red Eye Tetra, 11. Koi like sakura, too, 12. tsukareta nya~

As always these are not my photos so please follow the links to enjoy the work of the photographers who did take them!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Wonders of the World Meme


Wonders of the World Meme, originally uploaded by kcm76.

This week’s meme is to say what you think the 12 Wonders of the World are? This can be man-made, natural, things you’ve seen, things you haven’t! Or a mixture!

So here are my twelve …

1. Power of Natural Forces, especially the sea
2. Existence of Life. Even as a scientist just the sheer chemical and anatomical complexity blows my mind
3. Diversity of Life, from amoeba to elephant; from top of Everest to ocean depths
4. Amazon: the rainforest, the fish, the parrots
5. Cats, from domestic cats to terrifying tigers
6. Human Intellect / Mind, without which we wouldn’t have any of the following …
7. Agriculture. How do you get from being a hunter-gatherer to a settled community growing rice and pigs?
8. Stonehenge, being a representative of all incredible building by ancient peoples who as far as we know had no writing and no recognisable mathematics
9. Bread and Wine. How did anyone go, A, B … X to discover them; bread especially
10. Writing, without which we wouldn’t have society or literature
11. Medieval Cathedrals: complex architecture, brilliantly built with no advanced mathematics or science
12. Zero, without which we wouldn’t have maths or science

1. Stormy Seas, 2. Coral Reef, 3. Bugs life, 4. Rainforest Parrot, 5. Wild Jaguar, 6. The Labyrinth of Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France, 7. Terraced Rice Fields of Sapa, 8. Stonehenge, 9. Wine and Bread, 10. Book of Hours : Use of Sarum, Prayer to St. Thomas Becket of Canterbury (circa 1330), 11. Focs artificials gòtics, 12. zero

As always these are not my photos so please follow the links to enjoy the work of the photographers who did take them!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

New 12 Days of Christmas Meme!


New 12 Days of Christmas Meme!, originally uploaded by kcm76.

An extra Flickr PhotoMeme this week: A New Twelve Days of Christmas …

“The Twelve Days of Christmas” is an English Christmas carol which enumerates a series of increasingly grandiose gifts given on each of the twelve days of Christmas. It has been one of the most popular and most-recorded Christmas songs in America and Europe throughout the past century. [Wikipedia]

Create your own series of 12 gifts you would want …

One true love
£2M
Three ravishing concubines
Four miles of my own private sunny, sandy shoreline with nudist beach
Five stone less weight
Six winning lottery numbers
Seven days a week, every week, of warm summer sunshine
Eight hours good sleep every night
Nine percent interest on our savings
Ten green bottles of wine a week
Eleven acres of natural ancient woodland
Twelve month-long holidays a year

1. Mon Amie la Rose – IMG_1165a,** 2. Red Head, 3. Heart,** 4. Morning Light,** 5. 5-peace-stones, 6. lottery, 7. Too good to eat?, 8. tsukareta nya~,** 9. leon’s nine lives,** 10. wine bottles-10, 11. Buche bei Oberbantenberg,** 12. Wintery Temple**

As always these are not my photos but please follow the links to enjoy the work of the photographers who did take them!
(The starred ** photographs are from my Flickr favourites.)

And it is worth viewing this on black to bring out the colours!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.

Only the English

Last Sunday, Joff Summerfield arrived in Greenwich on his penny-farthing having left there 2½ years earlier by the same mode of transport. In the intervening time he has peddled his penny-farthing round the world at a rate of up to 40 miles a day, all in aid of charity. Joff Summerfield is, of course, English.

Summerfield was interviewed on BBC TV Breakfast this morning:

Presenter: Are you the first person to do this?
JS: No, I’m actually the second. The previous person did it over 100 years ago.
Presenter: How long did it take him?
JS: About the same as it took me.

In fact Summerfield claims he is the first person to achieve this feat since Thomas Stevens, who was also English, in 1884-7, although he started and ended in San Francisco.

Apparently the thing people most asked him was “Why?”, which seems hardly suprising! His reply? “It’s pretty much what we English do. It’s an adventure.” The mammoth tour was his third attempt at circumnavigation on a penny-farthing.

Oh and along the way he also came second in the novice category of the Penny-Farthing World Championships.

Twice the Meme!


Twice the Meme!, originally uploaded by kcm76.

1. Cat Help Needed! Ajuda Felina Urgente!, 2. New Banksy Rat Mural in New York, 3. Bat, 4. Air raid Beano, 5. December 1931 Country Life Magazine Christmas edition, 6. Punch 1957, 7. Icy Waterfall in the Harz Mountains – Germany, 8. Dartmouth Christmas, 9. Calm water at Buttermere, 10. Adnams “The Bitter” (Cask), 11. beaujolais nouveau, 12. All true tea lovers like their tea strong……, 13. Gandalf the Grey, 14. “The Satanic Verses”, 15. Evelyn Vaugh, “Decline and Fall”, 16. We ♥ Norway, 17. Not of this Earth – The Bubbling Sulfur Pools of Iceland, 18. japan, 19. 69/365- Words are worthless when you’re laying in my bed, 20. 49 pigeonholes, 21. day 76: pebble-dashed sky, 22. Holy Water at St. John the Russian’s Church, 23. James Turrell, 24. Jabez Rounds House

Questions and Answers, with something about why I chose each sequence:

This week we’re going to do 8 rows of 3!

1. Three animals
Cat, Rat, Bat; because they rhyme

2. Three magazines
Beano, Country Life, Punch; I remember them all from my childhood

3. Three holiday destinations
Harz Mountains, Dartmouth, Buttermere; I’ve been to all three and would like to go there again

4. Three drinks
Adnams beer, Beaujolais Nouveau, Tea; three of my favourites

5, Three novels
Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkein), Satanic Verses (Salman Rushdie), Decline and Fall (Evelyn Waugh); three of many that I can’t read

6. Three countries
Norway, Iceland, Japan; I’d love to visit them all but I won’t because I object to their stance on whaling

7. Three numbers
69, 49, 76; number of houses I’ve lived in

8. Three names
John, James, Jabez; three of my great-grandfathers
[Later] Actually four of my great-grandfathers; two were called James!

Created with fd’s Flickr Toys.