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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 17 7:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Living in the UK, I know perfectly well why anyone would want to see sunshine Cassandra. You know from your time here that overcast is more general than sun whatever the temperature.

Pity you can't get nice bananas at a lower temperature Jam Lady, but I suppose they are tropical plants, so getting anything is a bonus. They used to grow them in the greenhouse in the park down in the city, but only 'respectable' people were allowed to see them as the park keepers were afraid the naughty kids might steal them.

We were supposed to be doing a bat survey in the woods last night, but it decided to rain. Sunny yesterday, and sunny now, but it rained on cue, so couldn't do it. Apparently when the mist nets get wet the bats can detect them, so avoid. It wouldn't be very nice for the surveyors either. Now rescheduled, so hope the next time is fine.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 17 8:33 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

You could probably treat them as plantains and cook with them JL - a nice African recipe of some sort?

I have been indoors again today as the grey returned to the fore - and will continue for tomorrow too.

The neighbours have acquired a new rooster who does not know he lives there yet - so he has been in my yard for much of the day, in between being chased out. He came from the over the road people who have been steadily acquiring day old chicks in the hopes of getting hens, and who are too soft to kill the roosters so rehome them. This particular rooster is unlikely to survive for long if Seb has his way - I have no intention of being injured trying to restrain him if he spots the rooster before I do.

Pity. He is a fine looking bird.

I have also been indulging in a little trouble-making - the Government plans to acquire some public land for the purposes of facilitating a private development - actually illegal to do that as I am sure you know given the UK laws are similar to ours in that regard.

Since the last time the applicant engaged with the relevant Council was in 2014 the relevant minutes are no longer available on their website - so one of the Councillors is obtaining a copy for me. Submissions close on 4 August so I am getting up to speed with the Acts Interpretation Act and Land Acquisition Act to provide a framework for my submission - you really have to pay attention in these parts as it is not what you know but who you know that makes the difference in how the law is interpreted.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 17 8:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I don't know what I have done wrong, but I posted on here yesterday pm as usual. It seems to have disappeared for some reason-could it be that I did it on chrome?

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Jul 22, 17 9:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

No, I have got through this am. on google, so must be I did it right, but chrome obviously didn't want to play. I am annoyed at the wasted time!

The Bananas do look good and if I recall you had a slight worry when you first put them out Jam Lady, with the weather turning back to cold again. We had wet weather yesterday afternoon, and it looks as though it will be wet before I get home today!

Become forgetful when you take the gas bottle back next time, Cassandra, and that it was an early Christmas present! Always good news when you can get the washing done in the winter and dried outside sort of added bonus. I find I put on weight with big plates; I eat more!! If I get a dishwasher ever she will be beautiful, but small and economic to run. Presently I use old fruit nets as pot scourers, which work well.

We escaped the rain last night, but as I speak it is getting overcast, I want to do 2 loads this pm if I can. I hope you get out tonight MR, to do the survey. Is it an annual survey or irregular?

If the neighbours can't dispose of the cocks then do it for them, Cassandra, as a neighbourly gesture-or as a free meal-you are doing them a service as it keeps their meal bill down!
I hope all goes well for you with the anti planning campaign. We get a few iffy developments up here now and then! Part of life's rich pattern.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Sun Jul 23, 17 6:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

No we didn't get the survey done as the rain came down and continued sporadically through yesterday. We delivered a log load and had to hide in their garage, where they asked us to stack it, until the rain went over. We don't mind stacking for them as they are quite elderly, and really can't do it themselves now, and they do pay us. Nice couple.

Roosters are a pain Cassandra, and I don't think Seb will stand for that one for long. Good luck with your research. We have to keep an eye on that sort of thing here too, but to the best of my knowledge they haven't tried to pull that one round here lately; too many people watching apart from anything else.

I managed to get some blackberries from the garden yesterday, even through I got a bit damp as I was picking. Had them with ice cream for sweet. Otherwise a day of finishing up a newsletter and sorting out a stock take to finish the accounts.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Sun Jul 23, 17 7:40 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Here if you pull them up you get labelled a Greenie and anti-development. Which is why I am not proposing to discuss the development at all, but rather the legal precedents, the process that should have been exhausted but which has not (like if you feel Council is being biased or not following the rules you have an appeals process you can take them through, similarly you don't walk away from an application just because you have received a request for additional information). In all I will be referencing at least five pieces of existing legislation (as well as relevant Council minutes)), so it will take a while. Fortunately I am unemployed, so have the time to spare, loll.

I have been unfair to the over-the-road neighbours as the rooster I thought this one was, is obediently in his yard where he belongs while the other is still clearly visible. He has not been back since I chased him rather robustly last night and gave him a serious fright (having locked Seb inside). I will drop them a note tomorrow if he comes back, reminding them of our agreement and suggesting they act promptly and resume following that agreement.

Meanwhile I have finished the body of the vest and have cut my first steek! I crocheted a chain down either side, two stitches in, with a loop in each stitch, then cut it down the middle. Since it is 7 stitches wide in total I expect I will be trimming it back a bit, but will leave that till I have added the basque.



The other two steeks are visible in this photo if you look closely - the first is to the right of centre and is marked by a pink blob (actually a stitch marker that is holding the one stitch you leave at the base of a v-neck opening), and the other is to the left and a larger stitch marker is at the bottom of that (it veers rightward across the garment due to the distortion of the un-cut V).

Meanwhile Seb has had a couple of unbearably cute moments lately that you might want to share with me:



Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Sun Jul 23, 17 5:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

This is for you, Mistress Rose.



This was one of the displays at the North County branch library's Garden Expo on Saturday.

The basket at the left rear of the table is double woven, red inside and natural outside. Very handsome, I thought, and the basket weaver agreed that it is very sturdy.

I also like the one by her elbow, with the attractive arched embellishment rising from rim up across handle.

The color patterning on some baskets is also quite nice.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 17 6:44 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Best of luck with your objections Cassandra. You will know more about the case than any of the Councillors.

I am not sure about these steeks. I think I will carry on with the normal way of shaping. I found where I was in my pattern on the jumper, so now have both front and back knitted. I want to pin them together and check that they are the right size before I do the sleeves.

Jam Lady, thank you for the picture. What materials did she use? Some look like willow, but some look like wider spelks, so would guess ash, oak or similar.

Yesterday decided, after a fine start to be wet again, so we decided to have a quiet day and pretty well stayed in all day.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Mon Jul 24, 17 10:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mistress Rose, I believe those baskets are made with purchased ash splints.

It rained last night, 1.7 inches worth.



And now, early evening on Monday, it is getting darker and thunder is grumbling.

Happy, happy bananas.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 17 5:59 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thanks Jam Lady, I thought that is what they were. I have never tried making ash splints, but I think I know how it is done. We used to have a tradition of making strawberry splint baskets not far from here as it was a great strawberry growing area. They were pretty well disposable as they frequently got stained, but they are quite expensive now. There was a display in the museum about them, and I think they were made from birch. I haven't tried making them but it might be interesting.

Your stream is pretty, but that is an awful lot of rain.

It was a bit damp here yesterday, although officially it wasn't supposed to rain. We managed to get one kiln loaded, not the 2 we were hoping for. Husband and son did most of the work on the vents and central fire, then I said I would do the filling while they went off and cut some more wood for the log store. I moved well over 1 cu m by myself; mostly cut to 10" so it wasn't heavy, just a lot of it. When they had finished they came back and helped, so we got it finished at a reasonable time. It was rather wet with the rain, but hope it has dried a bit overnight as it is covered with air movement through it.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 17 7:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

What with all the wetness we have had I wish I could say we had had that much JL - more like .7 inches here though - about 18mm.

I had not a single soul in the History Room today, so after I had added the material that someone had provide to enhance the window display I sat and steeked. The result looks remarkably like a vest I have to say, so I am rather pleased. I am also rather surprised as I lost track of decreases on the neckline and stopped then resumed, then got carried away and so did a few increases to get the right number of stitches. But it all seems to have worked out OK, and only I will know it!



Now all I have to do is pick up 66 stitches down either side of the v and knit the band = then do the same for the arm openings and I will be able to wash it and set the stitches and finally get to wear it.

I was looking at my photo files, and though it does seem to have taken forever I have only been working on it for six weeks, so that's not as bad as I thought.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2498
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 17 1:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That's not a stream, Mistress Rose. It is runoff water from heavy rain so only makes an appearance a few days / year.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Jul 25, 17 1:52 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I am now on the run in to moving out I suspect it will take me this week of moving bits and pieces, the most annoying bit really. I load of wood is easy a load of rubbish is not as straight forward as some is for firing and some for keeping-and some on the undecided pile may or may not as the case may be!

The baskets are lovely at the display Jam Lady. The librarian here found a book on how to do it, but I am moving so it is a bit hit and miss whether I am able to finish the book in time-I do appear to have most of the tools already. Falling the tree and doing it all myself may prove too much as it seems to involve a lot of bashing with heavy hammers to get the ash to break up, I will give it a try.
Sorry you had all that rain, we get showers in the summer but rarely as much as you got in one dollop.

Best of luck with the anti-development process Cassandra. I am impressed that you are going for legal principles rather than that actual development, shows these people up. There is nothing wrong with being labelled a greenie. It shows you care about the environment rather than just bricks and mortar and subsequently money making. Those people who keep adding to their pile tend to lose respect if they are in public life. I didn't enlarge on the thing that got nodded through in Wales as it involved the very high ups.
I am impressed with the dog and cat together, tolerance progress indeed.

Our blackberries are some way off MR., the crop looks to be heavy-I'm hoping! I tend to eat them as I pick them. That rich colour on the hands takes a day or two to wear off!

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15510

PostPosted: Wed Jul 26, 17 6:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The pullover is looking good Cassandra. Good luck with the picking up of stitches; they never seem to want to go evenly somehow.

Jam Lady, it still looks good even for runoff. Here we occasionally get what we call flash floods where the rain runs off and down the line of least resistance, usually a road. A Cornish village got flooded the other day, but they tend sometimes to get intense, slow moving storms. It was that that caused the Boscastle flood a few years ago, and there is a memorial to those that lost their lives in a mine in the 19th century from a similar phenomenon at a cattle farm open to the public.

Gregotyn, you will get your move completed eventually. What puts me off trying ash spelk baskets is all the bashing too. Not sure if you have to do that all the way along, or whether you just do that at the end and then can pull the layers apart.

We had a late night with the kiln yesterday; shut down just before 11pm, and even then not sure it is really fully fired. The plus was we had a very productive day. I made the component parts of 5 besoms; they get assembled as shows as they are more compact in parts. Husband and son cut and delivered a double load, then cut another one to put in the log store. Son moved some more timber into the yard and sorted it into stuff that needs splitting and stuff that can be cut direct.

The leveret visited us a couple of times too. Once sadly it got between the van returning, and me, so although I retreated, it shot north between the two of us. The second time it came to visit me as I was working on the besoms. The mother and other leverets were around when husband went up early to light the kiln. Lovely to have them relatively friendly.

cassandra



Joined: 27 Mar 2013
Posts: 1733
Location: Tasmania Australia
PostPosted: Thu Jul 27, 17 7:17 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I never have a chance to get too friendly with the local leverets - Seb wants to chase them!

I have worked out what the neighbours are doing horsewise now - after spending last evening listening to three highly distressed horses screaming in outrage.

The mare who dropped a foal last year that was very strongly bonded to her, has had another foal. So after 11 months of suckling last year's foal on poor feed with no supplements, she delivered 3 days ago. The foal was having difficulty standing and suckling and the last years foal was busy doing her best to drive off the foal as that was *her* mother and that darn foal was not welcome. So the mare and foal have been moved next door. Heaven knows what they were doing, but it seems to have involved removing the mare from the stall and accessing the foal, the returning the mare. Both are stalled once more this morning so I have yet to lay eyes on the new addition.

Last year's foal is still in the paddock, but has been joined by the filly that was paddocked with the stallion - musical horses. Why on earth they would have bred another foal when last year's has yet to be handled is beyond me.

At the History Room we had a visit from the travelling curator that the Arts Council provides. We had a long talk and she is sending info on software that will allow us to import our present database that is on Excel and getting a bit clunky with all the photos on it. I have also decided to donate my desk top computer as frankly I have not used it since I bought it and now the house is wifi, I am frightened to turn it on as it does not have antivirus software on it.

Since the History Room is devoid of technology, it will be good and it has a terrabyte of storage which will cope with most of what we want to throw at it.

Tomorrow I am obliged to head to Hobart no matter how much I want to defer the trip as I have run out of prescription cat food. I am presently feeding roo meat as that is apparently acceptable as a substitute, but need to get the real deal.

After minus 3.7 last night we are having a relatively mild 2 tonight, so I should not have any disincentives to early rising.

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