18°C, drive dammit.
I can’t see the frog’s spawn, I shone a torch tonight into the water. They’re supposed to float, but no sign. I expected them to gather at one corner. I hope I’m wrong.
Introverts: timely articles from The Guardian and BBC. A significant part of my current troubles?
19°C, endless blue
I have a bucket of Frog Spawn from a colleague who brought it into work. You have to admire my ability to drive home with a bucket of water+ this spawn jelly stuff without spilling any. My pond will have fulfilled its destiny if they thrive into adulthood. There has been no algal bloom this year, good for the tadpoles. Perhaps a sign of good health in that little body of water.
This is a time of year that your aesthetic sensibility breaks out as if to desperately demand time in your mind. There is much work overload to block it out. I drove home listening to an Aria by Handel. The shapes made by that pure voice were delicious. Traffic was bad enough for some time watching a magpie hopping along a roofline in a manner like a weightless astronaut.
I need a holiday from work. the last one was demolished by the influenza. I felt cheated. Continue reading
17°C, no clouds. CR:68miles.
I’ve heard this challenge to Same Sex marriage a few times. Most recently from a colleague with some maturity & standing, though he does wear his Christianity as a badge (literally). The argument goes like this: If you allow same sex marriage, then what’s to stop someone marrying a donkey*, where will it end, where’d you draw the line (etc.).
*the animal suggested varies with each time the argument is used. Curiously, they never seem to choose an animal that mates for life. Perhaps they can’t think of one, or maybe that would weaken the strength of their case. Who knows?
It’s a surprisingly persistent argument for one so easy to dismiss.
The line is an easy one to draw- we use the same line that prevents forced marriage or underage marriage. The limit is defined by consent of the parties involved, plus societal norms. Marriage is a consenting union between adults. Neither donkeys nor children can give convincing consent to a marriage so they can’t, therefore, be married. So what problem can there be with a gay couple joining in a marriage with mutual consent?
The next argument that is trotted out sometimes is that it somehow, weakens the institution of marriage. No it doesn’t, traditional marriage remains unaffected. Straight marriage remains untouched and continues to exist as before.
Christianity plays some role in all of this, but don’t they have some idea about all men are created equal in the eyes of God? Clearly they’re not all equal in the eyes of the Church.
My remaining, unanswered question is – why would a gay couple want anything to do with a bigoted, homophobic institution like the Christian church anyway? After the way they have been treated in this debate and many before, I’d want to keep well away if I was in a position like theirs.
4°C, very dense fog. Hot later.
Made bread. Okay, so I was given the bread machine over a year ago, but finally decided to use it. You can buy small packets of bread flour with yeast included. This solves the problem that put me off for that time- I have no kitchen scales.
Now the house smells gorgeous.
Today promises to be very warm, for now fog is so dense that visibility is less than 60 yards.
12°C, dry & springy
To take a break from blogging and make a return is strangely difficult. Time is swallowed up by work-stress, that much is unsurprising. Coming back to make a post is not as easy as it you’d expect. I may put a few thoughts that have rattled around in my head for a week in retrospective posts here on WordPress.
11°C Sun CK:44 miles.
From the same writer who gave us Remains Of The Day, this is a sad but beautifully shot film with a rather forgettable name. For me, the film stood out for the feeling of inevitable doom, and a haunting resignation in the characters who knew and accepted their fate.
I loved it, but many commentators on the web have pinned it as a poor relation to the book. I tend to feel that this criticism is unfair. A book takes, what, fifteen hours to read? To compare with a film that lasts 90 minutes is no real comparison in my view. I’d have been happy with a longer cut than this, it could easily sustain a 2 or 2½ hour film.
Can you tell that I’m reluctant to give away any synopsis of this one, so make do with the trailer
VIDEO:Trailer
8°C, clear
Jupiter and Venus blaze in the evening skies recently. They’re near to conjunction and are still striking to anyone who looks westwards.
I have a sticky throat. I shall be so annoyed of this develops into another cold. I’ve had a heavy cold followed by ‘flu this term already. Could it be early hay-fever? Beech and hazel trees to release spores at this time of year. So it could be…
9° to 4°C, rain then cleared
I didn’t mind the ride to work in the rain, it fell a little thicker than drizzle & blew my road speed downwards. However, I was comfortable. The heated pipes that can be relied on to dry my clothes, ran less hot as we approach the start of spring. Putting on a wet, cold shirt in preparation for the journey home is the bit I react to. It’s a kind of physical jolt from the part of us that does reflex actions. It only took about 3 miles before body warmth raised the temperature of the water that had soaked through every layer of clothing this morning. Body heat is good at that, and you generate more of it at speed.
0 – 6°C, Snow , wind & sun
Drove from Macclesfield to Buxton on the way to Alstonefield for a foodie feast. In the village pub has an excellent range of food including the amazing pudding pictured below. That snow shot was taken in a layby in Deryshire. I pulled the car into a stopping place and I got out with my camera-phone. Just as I was turning the snow yellow- a couple of heavily wrapped cyclists rode by on thin tire, racing bikes. They did look rather nervous at the top of what must be a big big climb, and not because they’d spotted me. The fog was too thick for that.
Here is food that I’d journeyed through snow for. Look at the photo from left to right- there is honeycomb, chocolate mousse and lemon sorbet. All of that was presented on a skid-mark of chocolate sauce on the square plate. The most spectacular part was found inside the mousse. The brown cylinder of rich chocolate was rather rich but once cut inside- it bled from the wound a yellow-orange thick sauce oozed. That alien blood was rich and tangy and countered the rich sticky body of the pud.
Most striking.
Go and try some!
+9 to 0°C, Sun, wind & snow
Rosie has a good 2 hour run on Formby Beach. She slept well in the evening but woke with a haunting mournful howl. A dog nightmare? I’ve written about them before here, but it’s impossible to confirm. I claim dog-owner’s intuition.
Micycle 