Just a quick post to say that the Unmitigated England computer has been successfully upgraded from coal-fired to diesel. I just ran out into next door's garden to snap these lupins, possibly my favourite flower. I remember them towering above me as I crawled down the garden path of the house I was born in. With their brilliantly-coloured spires, they're almost a comic flower in the same rich vein as Dame Edna Everage's gladioli. Anyway, thankyou again for hanging on in there, and thanks to Only Daughter for putting up the emergency notice that I should've done two weeks ago. I shall be back in the full unexpurgated Unmitigated groove soon, hopefully before it's Puzzle Picture time next Tuesday.
Halifax, West Yorkshire
1 day ago
24 comments:
Bangin' lupins Peter Ashley; bangin' lupins.
(nb; bangin': youth-speak for good, cool, the business &c.)
Right, we have a slight identity problem here as there now appear to be two Martins responding to your excellent Blog. Just for the record, my tribal name is Harris, and I may attempt to alter the records accordingly, if that is possible.
Having got that out of the way, welcome back, Peter. I must say, I assumed you were away having a bracing time in Skeggy, rather than beset by miserable technical problems. Anyway, I'm glad that you've got the Meccano out and managed to fix it. Nothing a flat trunnion and a couple of 1 1/2" sprocket wheels couldn't deal with, I'm sure.
Gorgeous shot. We use the other spelling (Lupine) here in the US. They are truly one of my heartfelt fav's too. I discovered the wild variety while walking the ephemerally green hills of Southern California as a teen. This spring was happy enough to experience them in bloom in Austin, TX, where they are the state flower, and are known as Texas Bluebonnets(Lupinus texensis). They grow much closer to the ground than the relatively jumbo garden varieties you must be familiar with, and fields are are simply carpeted with them. Sigh.
Glad you're back. I, too, am interested in your camera, when you're ready.
How interesting, Circe. There is a reference to Bluebonnets in one of Nanci Griffith's songs, which I'd always puzzled over. Now I know, thank you! And of course she comes from somewhere near Austin.....
Thank you folks, it's so good to be back amongst you, surrounded as I am by much matt black and swishy things happening very quickly. But my camera. Mmm, shouldn't dwell on these things, but it's a Leica D-Lux 3. Quite simply one of the best cameras I've ever used for what I do. It gives me results just as good as my old Leica M6 with Provia 100 loaded in. Bit limited on the lense, so I just stand nearer to things. (That's enough technical stuff- Ed.)
Out here in blogland we've been holding our breath. All I can say is thank goodness for your return - not a moment too soon. I will have my alarm set ready in France for next week's competition.
It would appear that you might have installed a PC at Ashley Mansions. Why no product from the admirable raincoat brand? - you get a better class of virus from them.
Ah you can't beat a spot of camera talk once in a while. As Cartier-Bresson said 'Zoom with your feet'. Welcome back.
Great to have you back - I've been missing the puzzle pictures enormously!
Oh, I AM distracted... How'd I miss this? Congratulations on Built for Britain! Whose subtitle I read initially as Bridges to Beech Nuts! I'm sure there's room to run with that, but would require quite a leap! ;) (you know, like a long run off a short pier...)
(How about enabling "search inside this book" on Amazon?)
Circe: I leave all that Amazon stuff to the publisher, but it's a good idea, thankyou.
Oh, and Martin H.-- glad I could help with that Nancy Griffith song... you have quite an interstingly divergent taste in music for being from Surrey... But I suppose me loving the Beatles and 2-tone Ska and being from DC is comparable. I too, love Bonnie Raitt and Leo Kottke. (sorry Peter; this bloke's got no blog!) I would suspect from your profile that you play the guitar or mandolin, but are too self deprecating (ah, you Brits) to say so. (Banjo?) Just a sneaking suspicion. Am I right?
Hmm....There`s another musical reference here,Circe and Martin,involving lupins, but a little more sombre perhaps, for on the 25th September 1915,in WW 1 ,Piper Dan Laidlaw of the King`s Own Scottish Borderers earned the Victoria Cross for inspiring his comrades to advance from the safety of their trenches,and attack the German lines,in the Battle of Loos,by playing the tune "Blue Bonnets Over the Border" on his bagpipes.This was incidentally the first time the British Army used poison gas.
Ah yes, publishers. I will just need to purchase to see inside! (with confidence, of course!) It will be fun from a credit card stand point; I get many of the books I can't find in the US from Amazon UK. And about every third time, my not-so-swift credit card company will halt usage temporarily and incoveniently for security reasons until I phone them. Maybe they'll figure it out eventually. That, first of all, it's where I SHOP, and second, it's the INTERNET; it doesn't mean my card's been stolen... Perhaps I should just get it over with and move over there... Or start dealing with Marks & Company (ref.84 Charing Cross Road) instead. Ah well, they're now an apartment management co., not a bookseller.
*sigh*
http://www.84charingcrossroad.co.uk/
To Bucks: Very intersting and educational indeed-- I've been further looking into this now that you mention. It would seem (after reading arguments as to whether this is a Jacobite song, or Borderer song, and after having found the Bluebonnet Scots Society of Texas, http://www.bluebonnetscottishsociety.org/ , after looking into Walter Scott...) that the Blue Bonnets in this song refer to Blue Berets or Bonnets worn back upon the time of Bonnie Prince Charlie, upon which a white cockade or wild rose was affixed. So I would extrapolate that the Texas Bluebonnet (with its blue, edged in white) was aptly named by the Texas Scots as an homage. (?)
http://volpiusleonius.blogspot.com/2008/04/blue-bonnets-over-border.html
(Thank you, Peter, for hosting this dicussion!)
can't stand lupins - good shot tho
Circe - are you a frequenter of abe.com ? If you need books, as i do frequently, you can't beat 'em.
A short note for Martin H.You sign in with an upper case initial,I sign in with the lower. Is this enough to differentiate our postings? If not,I feel I should defer to you,having got here first,and change my ident. Let me know your view.
Thanks, Diplo, mate. I have visited abe, but never purchased from him. I visit alibris, too... Somehow I find it easier to commit on Amazon. Go figure. But perhaps now, I'll be more at ease with abe...
Wow, I've never had such a party on MY blog... I hope, Peter, that you don't feel like Bilbo Baggins when the elves show up and take over! (that is, hospitality intruded upon) ;)
Lovely to have you back!
I'm afraid I'm reminded of Dennis Moore and "Hand over your Lupins!"
- He steals from the poor and gives to the rich...stupid bitch! -
Good to have you back, Peter.
And, Sue, I'm glad someone mentioned Dennis Moore. I was remembering him this week while in Central Europe, where lupins grow wild.
Circe, well deduced - I have been known to play banjo and guitar with barn dance bands. I also had a fretted instrument workshop for a while.
I'm sorry about the lack of blog - I'm a bit new to all this but I do intend to start one soon, honest!
Peter - mmmmm, Leica. I've never owned one, being seduced away by Nikon at an early age. Pity the British camera industry died the death in the 1950's. There were a few very high class home grown machines at that time.
Note to martin - don't worry about the ident, I've changed mine to Martin H.
So glad you Martins have sorted everything out.
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