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Thanks for the weather warning .. I think we are due a big storm on Monday or Tuesday according to the long range forecast .
France is exactly where those moths should be .. on their way to the UK from Africa and no I can't remember ever seeing them ... and just a lifelong interest in all wild things .. they fascinate me .. I love all the programmes about flora, fauna and exotic geographical places .. courtesy of several TV channels I have travelled the whole globe, seen the wildest of places, remote areas, amazing plants, animals, birds etc .. I've been to the top of Everest several times, seen the wilds of the arctic and antarctica, sailed round the world with Ellen MacArthur, dived into all the oceans .. isn't TV fantastic for that. All those places I simply could never go to .. financially or physically .. or would even want to go to .. all that deprivation, no toilets, or showers or nice comfy beds ...
Yeah, I'm with you, Patootie! When I see those programmes with some brave soul out in the wilderness 'alone' I always think about the camera crew who are there taking pictures of him in his 'solitude'!
)
And there are a lot of wonderful nature progs on telly these days, I know. I watch them sometimes. But the thing is, YOU remember them! And then when something strange likw a hummingbird moth appears, you know what it is! Did you train as a biologist or something? You seem to have a very wide personal database into which even the most exotic animals slip easily!
All the rain today has made it lovely and cool tonight, about 11 C I think: but yesterday it was 34 C here. I guess this is 'chageable' weather; but I must say, it's nice. The heat is nice for a short while (it's ideal if you're swimming or something) but it becomes awfully tiring, so I'm glad for the respite!
I know your new place was nice and warm in winter, but does it stay reasonably cool in the heat?
hi patootie
how are you
i'm still around - ive been about - i notice you mention our names - ( i am thrilled about that ) yes, little and often, step at a time - never say never - all these little saying's - oh they may be small , but can make all the difference
i still live with all of that -
just did'nt really want to keep barging in on your special thread thats all - i've read lots about you- and i'm well impressed
Ohhh myyyy ... nothing 'special' about me or these little rambling threads ....
.. barge away ... I'm just thrilled you've read any of the posts .. 
Those small steps certainly do make a difference .. I have now 'advanced' to taking small walks along the corridors .. nice and slow going away from my flat .. and as 'brisk' as I can manage coming back .. it's not a huge building so you know I am not going very far ... but it's making my leg muscles work in different ways for a few minutes at a time ... also bought some of those stretchy rubbery exercise bands ... I kind of hoop-la my legs (eventually, lots of botheration, missed .. and dratted legs won't go in the right direction) and with a bit (LOT) of effort I can both pull my legs up and down right off the bed and use the leg muscles to (weakly) push against the rubbery bands. It's not much ... but it's a darned sight more than I could do this time last year .. never mind several years ago ... I'm even walking DOWN stairs once or twice a week ... can't manage UP stairs though as that makes my shins really hurt .. feels like someone has kicked me with hobnail boots on. But I am going to try doing a couple of steps up now and then (people will think me mad .. go up two steps, come back down, then get into the lift hahaha) .. those poor muscles can't have been used for decades so no wonder they hurt.
I'm going to try to do 5 'normal' paces and then five 'faster' paces (repeat for as long as needed to get back to the starting point ) next week ... and try and remember to count how many steps it takes to walk round this end of the building .. to make myself do this walking lark I bought some rubbish bags that are too big to go down the rubbish chute (door to chute just a few steps away from my door) ... so .. if I fill the bags I have to take them downstairs to the proper rubbish room .. there is method in my madness hahahaha
.. and strangely the bigger bags are cheaper than the smaller bags .. so a good financial reason to make myself do it too .. 
WOW!!! Patootie, that is absolutely AWESOME! GOOD FOR YOU!!! I remember when you started this thread, a loooong time ago in another life, you would never have thought you could do what you're doing now! I cannot tell you how much I admire the courage and determination you show. When I whinge about the small outings I do in the mornings, I think of you and tell myself to belt up!
And MICK: that goes for you too. You and Phil know that you two are the original-and-always Heroes of Running, and that you give all of us more inspiration than you can possibly realise.
Sorry, that sounds a bit soppy, but I mean it all!!!!!!
Thank you for coming along and lurking Debster .. hope to see you in here again
Right .. now don't all shout at me at once .. have to tell you all I took a bit of a tumble this morning .. it was my fault .. I was rushing .. 'dashed' into the bedroom to get my washing .. picked my stick up as I went through the doorway and promptly got it tangled up with my legs ..
.. I took one of those stupidly theatrical giant steps forward ... knee gave way .. and I toppled over ...
.. toppled over right on top of the bed ... hahahaha ... I didn't know whether to laugh or cry ... so did a bit of both .. had my nose buried into 4 inches of memory foam ... stomach on the edge of the bed ... and legs sticking out over the edge of the bed ... hahahaha ....
No bruises, nothing hurts (other than my pride) .. and I was instantly 'fit to go' again .. all happened in less than 20 econds .. 'over, down and up again' ... !
I applied Arnica Gel to my knees and will do so again tonight and tomorrow morning ... and I did go and have a short lie down on the bed after putting my washing into the machine .. but I am completely ok ... silly old me ...
Oh Patootie, it's typical of you to make light of it, but it must be just horrifically annoying when something like that happens. Fibro must be almost like a kind of straightjacket that mean you always have to be so careful when you move. But at least you didn't get badly hurt---that kind of awkward fall can so often (in my experience, at least) mean one lands with some especially vulnerable part of the anatomy brought into sudden and painful contact with some particularly hard object (typically a table with a sharp corner). At least you had the good sense to land on a bed!
But it's still a shock, so you were wise to lay down until you'd collected yourself again.
I've just seen the headlines about the extraordinary weather they've been having in the Alps---thunderstorms and I don't know what, even snow in Austria! A little flood through the roof here doesn't seem like much in comparison. I hope Cambridge weather is completely equable and balanced, anyway!
Perfectly fine today
No lasting damage from my tumble .. just lucky my bed was in front of me as I hurtled forwards .. and the 4 inches of memory foam did it's job beautifully and cushioned me from hurting myself ..
It's a 'funny old day' today .... on the one hand it's my Birthday
.. but on the other hand my dear old dad tragically died on my 50th Birthday seven years ago 
... so really mixed emotions .. ever since that awful day I have kept the 19th as 'Dads Special Day' .. and I now have 'my' Birthday celebrations on the 20th .. sigh ... I really miss him a lot ... 
I'm off shopping tomorrow .. my sister in Australia sent me some Bushtucker spices and herbs she'd bought on a recent holiday to the Flinders Mountains .. so I need some nice foods to cook with them ... should make for an interesting Birthday dinner ... but just as well ASDA doesn't sell Wichiti Grubs .. >gulp< couldn't face trying those ... although I believe you can buy tinned Wichiti Grub soup here in the UK
1) ...
Curiously enough though there is a Horseshoe Bat that is named after my family name ... a nice chap called Martin discovered in 1837 that 'our' particular kind of horseshoe bat has a slightly different shaped lancet
I'm just eternally curious about wildlife and all it's forms .. and for some reason I do remember odd snippetts about a plethora of beasties ... just a pity I can't remember what day it is or to do my washing on time (hence why I was hurrying yesterday, suddenly realised I'd swapped my washing slot with someone!) ... !
2) I think my windows face roughly in a south westerly kind of direction ... (blimey I'd not make a good sailor would I) .. so other than some late afternoon sun shining in my lounge and bedroom windows I am generally out of direct sunshine ... and what sunshine does filter through is softened by the large cherry tree right outside my lounge window .. or by the two silver birch trees outside the bedroom window .. when it gets very warm I use my fans ... and if it gets 'hot' I turn on the little air con machine .. that soon gets the temp down ...
And .. just as i am sure I had posted but it's not to be seen ... I'd read the posts but not seen GC' post the quotes come from .. which is why .. having just read back along the post .. I am only now replying ..
Hiyas!
sorry, I haven't had the chance to read the full thread - but just wanted to say well done!!!!!!
Your post is so inspirational. Very best of luck onwards, look forward to reading more from you!
Caramel Apple, you're spot on there! Patootie is definitely an inspiration to us all----but she's also one of the best writers on the forum! She's had a perfectly amazing range of experiences in life, and she's one of those people who really notices everything, and can write about it amusingly, movingly, perceptively..... This is a great thread to follow, I always look forward to her posts, so do drop in when you can!
Oh Patootie, trust you to have a bat named after you! I see them down here a lot, just after nightfall they swoop about all over the place. (I'm in France at the moment, between Perigueux and Bergerac, which is why we have those remarkable hummingbird moth thingies too.) Do you have them where you are?
It sounds like the flat is really beautifully located, with trees outside all the windows. From your accounts of the birds I knew you had at least some, but it sounds as if you have a lovely setting. Which floor are you on? For some reason I think of you as well above ground, but I might be wrong about that.
And how's the kitchen getting on? There was a while when it was still not settled because the chap next door was keeping his radiator in your kitchen or whatever weird thing it was----is that entirely settled now? And are you happy with it? A kitchen is just SO important that if it's the way you like it, the whole house feels pulled-together.
Pardon my ignorance, but are there special spices and things associated with bush tucker? And if so, what are they? I mean, are they unique to Australia, or are they a collection of more familiar things that are used with (ahem) local produce like grubs? (As a vegetarian I think grubs may be one of the many culinary delights that I will leave to others
)) Last night we had dinner out, and I had a fruit salad for pudding that was just fresh fruit, with a little bit of Montbazillac (locally produced sweet wine) and freshly ground cinnamon. The cinnamon was the striking thing: there was no sugar associated with it at all, and the flavour was much more interesting for it. Yum!
Awwww look what I just saw on a tv programme ... a pygmy seahorse http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pygmy_seahorse it's only about as big as my thumbnail ... soooo tiny ... but soooo perfectly formed ...
http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/Content/pygmy-seahorse-doubilet-1084213-sw.jpg
It's it wonderful how precise miniature things can be? Just extraordinary the delicacy that nature can plan with---and produce!
I thought of you two days ago when we went to a place called Beaumont. It's one of the hilltop bastides that the Kings of England built here in the 13th century when this part of France was still ruled by the English crown. (It was never part of England, of course, it's just that the chap who happened to be King of England was also Duke of Aquitaine.) These places are all laid out the same, like a board for noughts and crosses, with a central square and a series of roads that converge onto it and a series of gates in the surrounding walls. We went in through one of these gates, and found the whole of the lane that led from the gate to the square was covered by a broken canopy made up of long strands running lengthwise down the lane, and on each strand at distances of about 10 inches was a sort of big paper flower. Looked like something made from crepe paper, but I think they must have been made of some kind of plastic so they could withstand the heavy showers here. Anyway, we went down this yellow-canopied lane, and at the first little cross-lane we found it too was canopied but this time in bright green. The next was in red. And so on, until we got to the central square, which had the strings arranged so the effect was like a circus tent of bright pink, with a central pole that was entirely wrapped in the colour. It turned out that every little lane was decorated this way, and the effect was like something out of a child's imagination: so brilliant, so fanciful, so beautiful! It turned out that Beaumont had hosted an Occitan fesitval a week or two earlier and that was the reason for these fabulous decorations. I'll never forget them---you would have just loved it!
I think this might be the festival you speak of ..
http://www.dordogne-vezere.com/gb/article.asp?IDArticle=21
http://libiza24200.canalblog.com/archives/2009/07/06/14310562.html
It sounds like it's a really interesting festival .. what a shame you just missed it .. but how lovely the festival decorations were still in place .. ! What a shame we don't have more of these lovely old fashioned festivals .. these days we seem all too eager to be ultra modern and glossily up to date ... but there is so much joy and fun in old fashioned festivities .. hand crafted banners, villagers all geting together to decorate their meeting places .. we do have some old festivals that are still celebrated .. in the Peak District they 'dress wells' with beautiful flower panels ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A51606957
... and I dare say there are many other little festivals .. but sadly they rarely get publicised these days.
Patootie, you are very naughty! I imagine, knowing you, that you have indeed found the right festival----but the internet here is so slow that I daren't even try to load the site!
This is very annoying as we have tried everything: dial-up was really impossible, so we tried a dongle; that worked fairly well, but since it's on the phone system, every now and then the line would drop, and once it happened to Mr C when he was trying to do some internet banking and they threw him out of the system, so that's no good. Then last autumn we decided decent internet was really non-negotiable, especially with both boys being in uni from September, so we all opened our piggy banks and pooled our money and got a satellite broadband system. It works better than anyting else we've had, but it is frustratingly variable: sometimes things will download quickly and easily, other times it can take 2 or 3 minutes for a big site like RW to load. So trying to look at websites is only an option when you don't have anything else dto do! I will return to your post next week, when I'm back with a reliable system, and enjoy it then.
But I'm with you on the principle of festivals. One of the very striking things down here in rural France is how many local festivals there are, with people finding any pretext for one and making their own amusement. Two nights ago we went to 'Les Noctambules' in the nearby village of St. Avit. They closed off the little street and put some long tables in it, and everyone had a simple meal (tabouli, then sausages and kebabs and roast potatoes, then a choice of home-made sweets). There was live music by a family of four (Mum sang, and she was really good---show tunes, that sort of thing; Dad played guitar; the older son played bass guitar; and the younger one did percussion. Very simple, but the result was surprisingly good, and everyone enjoyed it. What could be a nicer way to spend a summer evening than sitting with family and friends, eating and drinking and chatting and enjoying the moment?
But of course some festivals have a deeper significance, like the Occitan ones which are a very firm assertion of a cultural identity. So I'm looking forward to your websites!
How are you doing otherwise? Is the weather still carp in England? It's been such a horrid summer, too hot and sticky and the beginning and now apparently unending rain, so I'm hoping that there has been a change for the better, at least in Cambridge!
)
Hehehhhheee .... been struggling with pain this morning .. (got my new chest of drawers arriving for the bedroom tomorrow .. last piece of furniture I can possibly fit in without crowding .. they are discontinuing the furniture range I have .. so I thought I'd get it .. may as well have everything matching .. then I can get rid of the two rather rickety canvas drawer sets I have) ... yesterday I was bending down sorting out what was in the bottom drawers and .. >poyaing< ... felt a back muscle groaning at being over stretched ... spent an hour on the bed resting the poor muscle .. but it was too late ... it's just under my shoulder bone .. so everytime I move my arm about or turn round sudden it seems to 'nip' the muscle .. so I am doing a lot of ... ooohing and aaahing, owwwwing and aarrgghhing ... hahahahahah
I was going to take the canvas things apart today .. but it looks like I will just have to push them out the way so I can at least vacuum where the new drawers will go .. everything else will have to wait until my back is more comfy .. amazes me my back can still hurt this much with all the pain killers I take .. later on I will do some very, very gentle 'warming up' exercises ... just enough to move the muscle .. then another liberal 'slathering' of arnica gel ... so by tomorrow it should be loads better
Computers: ... I love google ... doesn't seem to matter what I ask of google it always finds the right answer ... I have tried several other search engines .. but nothing even comes close to the power and accuracy of google
Oh Patootie, how awful. When you pull one of those muscles high up in your back, under your shoulder, you quickly discover that EVERY movement seems to involve them. Having that out of commission would be annoying at the best of times, but especially now with new furniture coming. And being in that much pain is really awful. I guess this is one of the things that the fibro magnifies?
Well, you are being sensible and not trying to do more than you can manage; resting the muscle, and then moving it very cautiously and deliberately, just to keep it from seizing up altogether; and using arnica. I do hope that the combination has worked and it IS feeling a lot better today. Because even though you laugh bravely, this has got to be both frustrating and really awfully painful.
(((((((((((((((((((((((Patootie)))))))))))))))))))))))
We've had a nice time today: two friends from Cambridge, both history dons, came for lunch. They are holidaying down here, and it was such fun to see them. The onversation, of course, was really wild and wonderful and would go something like this:
He: Bastides weren't really border fortresses so much as the mediaeval equivalent of shopping malls. They were founded during periods of peace. Although not so many were founded in the early 14th century which was also peaceful.
She: Not really. There was no active war but it was only because the armies were temporarily exhausted.
He: Well, yes, that might be right. The attack in 1304 by someone or other was only repelled with difficulty.
She: Yes, and in 1308 such and such happened.....
It was wonderful to listen to, and has just whetted my appetite to work in this field!
Hmmm .. I thought Bastides were more the local landowners attempts to increase the amounts of taxation they could screw from the locals .. from my Mediaeval Murders and Mystery books .. people from the area who moved to Bastides became free men .. so didn't need to pay the landowner tithes .. but then had to pay taxes on their homes and goods they sold ..
Funnily enough in the last book I read ... some English vill residents were complaining to the Crowner who had come to investigate a murder (1st finder had hid the body so he didn't have to pay the 1st finder tax and to save the vill the murdrum tax) .. that their landowner wanted to build one of these fancy Bastides he had seen when in France during the Albigensian (sp?) war ... !
I'd have really enjoy the chat too .. I love all that stuff .. every time I pick a book up I learn something new about the background of our taxes and laws .. and of course it's all tied up in the Templar story too ... definitely a much 'overlooked' exciting era of history ..
Obviously my 'knowledge' of the era is sketchy to say the least (especially French Middle Ages) .. but I hope I make up for my lack of academic knowledge with unbounded 'layman' enthusiasm ...
One day we must all meet together .. I shall be sat on the edge of my chair .. listening to you and your erudite friends .. it would be like having someone from the era telling travellers tales
... how fantastic would that be ... I might even get to add one or two of my little bits of info too 
.. well probably not 
... or get shot down in flames for having it all wrong 
Hi, Patootie, sorry to have been offline for a little while but I got a truly miserable bout of food poisoning last Wednesday that put me out of action for several days, and then we had the drive home etc etc so only now am I getting more organised.
Bastides....I guess there are different ideas about what they were for. The old idea was that they were sort of frontier posts, but now they seem to think they were more like commercial centres. I don't know enough to know either way!
But like you, I'm fascinated by the period. Being a lawyer, I get deeply interested in all the really strange aspects of it. Like the murdrum fine: an idea imposed by the Normans, who (no doubt quite rightly) assumed that the local population hated them. So if someone was murdered, the assumption was that the local populace had done in a Norman: and the only way to avoid the local community being fined was to show that the murder victim was an Englishman (since the Normans naturally didn't mind at all if you murdered one of THEM). This enchanting legal process was called 'presentment of Englishry'.
Or the fact that the early Plantagenet kings had no fewer than FOUR official seals. There was the Great Seal for the big state business; the personal or privy seal, for the business run by the king's administrators; the griffin seal, that was used for business relating to some specific properties whose revenues were assigned to the crown; and the secret seal, that was for messages that came from the king personally. Must have been a blessed jewelery shop in there! (Although I think one of the kings actually wore his secret seal as a ring.)
Did you ever read the Sister Fidelma mystery series? She's a bit early, 8th century Wales, but they're interesting too!
And how are you doing, by the way? I was very impressed by your exercise programme, hope the heat hasn't interfered with it too much.
Hmmm .. wonder why I am not getting notification of posts again??
me again ... hadn't ticked the box for some reason .. 
Poor you getting food poisoning followed by a long drive .. not a good combination .. hope you are well and truly over it all now.
Sister Fidelma mystery series: Not a series of books I have come across before .. Peter Tremayne seems to be a prolific author .. 20 books in the Sister Fidelma series alone .. I shall look for them at the library when I next go ..
Heat didn't affect me too much .. but the high humidty is very tiring .. last night we had a flash storm .. the Heavens opened .. and very heavy rain fell ... a lot of homes flooded nearby .. our car park was just a big lake .. ! No breeze at all today .. still got rainwater in the car park gutters and a LOT of mud everywhere .. supposed to be better over the weekend I think ... let's hope so !!
THERE you are....I'm glad to see you, I was afraid this weather might be making the fibro really bad. Of course the hot and humid stuff is exhausting at the best of times, and I'm sure it's worse for you, but as you said, that weather is meant to move over here this weekend and hopefully you will get some fresher air soon. The worst of that heavy weather is that it's impossible to sleep well----sometimes it feels like it's almost impossible to breathe, so I really do hope you get shot of it quickly now.
Yes, I'm pretty well over the food poisoning now, but it was a nasty go; apparently I had one of the more aggressive bugs, to judge by the intestinal bleeding and all that. But I'm fine now, and this weekend I'm going to try a modest run/walk and see if I can still waddle. (The silver lining, of course, is that eating very little for 5 days dealt with quite a bit of the holiday weight gain
))
If you don't know the Fidelma mysteries, do look for them, I think they will appeal to you. I heard about them from a friend of mine who is a musician, musicologist and an expert on chant; she's studied chant all over the world (Japan, India, Africa) but these days she is a specialist in mediaeval chant. She's a fascinating person who does original research in the area: she'll find something like a manuscript sent back from Metz by a couple of nuns who went there in 1300 to pick up some new music---it hasn't been performed for centuries, so she will get a group of specialists together and they will do a performance from the original manuscript.
And for a really magical experience, listen to this: Guillaume de Machaut was a musician (and clerk, obviously) living in Reims around 1300. He wrote some of the really early polyphony, the kind that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. (I often think the effect on people of that time who heard it for the first time must have been rather like the moment in The Wizard of Oz when, after the cyclone has carried the grey house from the grey plains, Dorothy opens the door and---pow! Oz is there in colour! That's not quite fair, because there are other ways to embellish music besides harmony, but you know what I mean.) Anyway, he wrote a special Messe de Notre Dame to be performed regularly in his own beloved cathedral of Reims. And Rebecca and her choir (about 10 highly trained specialist musicians) actually recorded it there, in the cathedral for which it was written. But---get this---the cathedral is open to the public, of course, and for the recording they needed silence in the background: so they were literally locked into the cathedral one night, and spent the night making the recording, right there in front of the altar for which the music was written nearly 700 years earlier. What an experience---when they listened to the music reverberating off the stones that were its original home, I think they must have asked very metaphysical questions about what time really is.
What a lot of fascinating things there are in the world, aren't there?!?
Yes !! .. a short and sweet answer to your last bit .. I think in the rush and dash of modern life we overlook so many wonderful things .. we just don't have time to stop and ponder anymore .. it's one of the things I am truly grateful for .. my disabilities ... "are you mad" ... I hear you asking ... but honestly I have the luxury of 'time' .. time to stand still and look up into the boughs of a tree and ponder how many gallons of water it holds, or how many thousands of insects live there .. time to look up at the clouds and marvel that although they are made of water they don't just fall down from the sky .. you know all the 'daft' kinds of things that you only think about when you have 'time' ... and for that .. I am grateful that my disabilities give me 'time' ...
I'm always 'dipping into' new things too ... constantly looking around for something new to learn something about ... just recently I have got interested in the medals of the United Nations .. I know .. weird subject matter for an aging female .. but it's fascinating ... so many times I have seen the news and heard the latest UN stories .. often baffled by the strange names the peace keeping missions have .. UNIPOM, UNIMOG, UNPREDEP etc ... so I bought a book ... now I am even more fascinated .. I mean who is that person who decides on the colours of the medal ribbons ... eg
UNOMIG (United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia) - "the centre of the ribbon is United Nations blue, flanked on either side by white stripes representing the snow covered mountain tops of the Caucasus, the green stripes for the coastal plains and foothills, edged in dark blue denoting the Black Sea."
And your musical friend sounds really interesting .. I dare say at some points during the recording they must have felt the years slipping away ... what an experience .. and no doubt one of those ... hairs on your neck standing up' things too ...
Well that's me done .. only 11pm but I am off to bed .. just going into one of my 'catching up on sleep' phases .. a welcome break from the 'wide awake all night, won't sleep, can't sleep' nights .. yawn
g'night ..
Oh, I'm glad to see you, Patootie. I always worry when you're away that maybe the fibro is being beastly.
You are absolutely right about time. And sometimes I wonder if it isn't actually rather dangerous. So few people have ever actually had the chance (= time and place) to look at nature, even something as simple as really watching while the sun goes down and the stars come out, that more and more people unconsciously really believe that we control it all. Cold? Put on the heating. Dark? Switch on the light. Obvious. But of course we don't, and a jolly good thing it is too. We need to remember that to keep things in perspective.
I'm ashamed to say I never knew the UN GAVE medals, let alone that there was so much significance in the choices of colour and design. What a fascinating thing even to notice, let alone study! I wonder if there are conventions in the way that medals are designed, the way there are in heraldry? There are special ways to depict animals and so on, and it's important to adhere to them so people 'read' what you have 'written' accurately.
That's another area where we are rather impoverished these days. I was in Chartres Cathedral a couple of weeks ago (probably my favourite building in the whole world): it's really a giant time capsule containing everything anyone needed to know in 1230. It's as if the Encyclopaedia Britannica were converted into a series of brilliant cartoons by Leonardo da Vinci, and those were then set into jewels by Faberge. There are literally tens of thousands of figures in that buidling: in stained glass, statuary, carvings, and every single one is significant. The people of that time could identify each one by his dress, the colours he wore, what he was carrying or standing on or riding on; and the significance was not just in identifying that person, but in the relationship suggested between him and the person standing next to, or beside, or below him. So in one window there there is the story of the Good Samaritan and next to it are scenes from the Passion: you are supposed to twig that Christ is the Good Samaritan who rescued humanity when it had been set on by the devil like the traveller was by thieves in the story. We miss this entirely: a modern mind just doesn't think in symbolic terms. We are actually rather two-dimensional in our ideas compared to the people who made those windows.
So keep reading and tell me more about how medals are designed and made and like that!
Have you been out to the theatre again? The first time you went there were some lessons, I know, but you were hoping to go again....
Time to go make dinner for the troops, but it's good to see you, Patootie, and especially to know that you're sleeping so well. That's good for anybody!!
So tomorrow I fully intend to get up a bit earlier ..
.. been sleeping in until 10-11am this last 3 days .. wide awake half the night .. then sleeping like a baby from 7am onwards ... more or less back to my old working night shift routine .. so I will take one of my extra mild sleepers tonight .. set the alarm for 8am .. then hopefully will be up and motivated enough to get out .. !
Because, after living here for some 14 months I have only just discovered there is an Italian bakers just past the post office .. so that's my goal for tomorrow ... I used to live 4 doors away from an Italian bakers once ... ohhh myyy the fantastic smell of fresh bread first thing in the morning was virtually irrisistible .. and the buns ... drool, slurp ... so if I get a bun I shall have to 'run' up and down the stairs all weekend to work it off again hahahahah !!!
Got my new Sat Nav ... did I say I'd won an all singing all dancing Sat Nav ?? Well I did and finally it's arrived .. it has full GPS so I shall set it for walking .. and then I can drive up the road to the Italian bakers hahahah ...
It's one of those Sat Navs you can connect to the Internet and download stuff ... lots of places of interest .. your own selection ... games, music, even audio books ... blimey .. it's a proper whizzy thing .. so ... anyone want a basic Sat Nav with only a few miles under it's belt .. ??
Right .. off to bed ... I am determined to get to that bakery .. and before they sell out of the most popular breads ... so .. fingers crossed up and early tomorrow ...
I really enjoyed the sleep ... obviously needed it ... but .. but ... I wanted to get out to the shops this morning ...
.. that's just typical .. any day I wasn't planning to go out I'd have woken up easily hahaha
Never mind .. the Italian bakers will still be there on Monday .. !!
Hi, Patootie, how lovely that you continue to find such nice surprises so close to your new home! I know what you mean about a really good baker. One of the amazing things in France is that virtually every village of any size at all has at least one real baker, who bakes bread fresh every day. Including Sundays and holidays. And in France, where they regard bread as REALLY the staff of life, the price is kept very low so that everyone can afford fresh bread, every day. When we're down there Mr C and like to slip off first thing in the morning, pick up fresh bread and a couple of croissants, and have a cup of coffee in the little Tabac-Presse just around the corner. So I'm looking forward to a FULL account of this Italian baker of yours: what does he make? what have you tried? what is the MOST delish of all???
And now that you have the SatNav, are you planning some more outings? I remember when you first moved in there were a lot of places you wanted to see, but like everyone else you got slightly overtaken by real life, and all the stuff about moving in, settling, having the kitchen done etc etc etc. I do hope you'll find some time to make some excursions now, though, before the winter sets in. The autumn can be the most beautiful time of all in Cambridge.
Have you had this horrible, oppressive heat? The last couple of weeks have been very warm, but the last 2 days have been just roasting, not cooling down much at night and during the day that kind of heat that sits on your skin like a weight. I find it very tiring, and I don't have fibro! Or are you able to keep cool inside??
Big news of today: C3 got his A level results. AABB!!! He got A's in German and Dutch and B's in politics and economics. He was really, really pleased because he faffed off during his AS's so he had to work hard to bring the C's up to B's. The only thing is, his offer from Exeter was AAA; and while they dropped him very broad hints that they would still want him with AAB, you are never sure til you get the result, and so far they have said only that they are 'reconsidering his application'. I still think they will let him in, because he did a very good interview indeed (and I think he got extra marks cos he and Mr C quite literally ploughed through 8 foot snowdrifts to get there----it was at the time of that huge storm last February) but we can only wait and see. Keep your fingers crossed, please!
Congrats to C3 .. good luck with getting into Exeter
Now, I am not sure why ... but ... I've been feeling somewhat .. 'down' ... since mid July ... probably because I still can't get used to having a Birthday on the same day my dear old dad died .. I can 'feel' myself getting 'down' ... but not to worry because I have 'recognised' what's going on ... been really 'edgy' and unusually 'tetchy' this last fortnight .. tinnitus is raging ... can't hold onto my thoughts .. time slipping away too fast ... sleeping 3-5 times a day .. so I need to 'shake myself up' .. I think I shall find a really nice place to go and stay for a couple of days ... and that's all I need ... a short break away .. it will do me the world of good ... and I already feel better just for working out what's 'wrong' .. and doing something about it ... I've short listed half a dozen places ... will make my mind up asap ...
It already feels 'good' to be back in 'control' again ... and doing something positive ... !