Mutterings - 31 July

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Nag :: bother (the plain text version of the words has 'nap' for which my association is 'cat'
2. Smug :: Bug (..rug)
3. Barry :: Daniels (a friend long, long ago)
4. Righteous :: Anger
5. Hairstylist :: Scissors
6. Vibrate :: Bell
7. Deal :: Dover (Cinque ports..)
8. Communicate :: Impart
9. Telling :: Important
10. Andrew :: Regan (a friend less long ago)

Teaser Tuesday - 26 July

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

He was overpowered, the train brought to a standstill, and they took him to the police station raving mad - thence to an asylum. Always considered rather queer in the army, the Mahler business had broken down his brain.

.. not a thriller but a work of musicology! From Norman Lebrecht's Mahler Remembered - an assembly of reminiscences of Gustav Mahler by his contemporaries - that one comes from Ethyl Smyth. I really ought to quote some of the previous sentence otherwise the teaser would be too much! - Weber (the grandson of the composer and the overpoweree)'s wife was having an affair with Mahler and on a train trip to Dresden, Weber draws a revolver and takes 'William Tell-like shots at the head rests between the seats', it doesn't suggest that Mahler was on the train...

Bacon and Cheese Whirls

I had some nice things said about the bacon & cheese whirls I served at this morning's after service breakfast, here's a rough recipe:

Scone Dough

• 250g plain flour
• 250g Grated cheese
• 30g Margarine
• Pinch dry mustard
• 10g Baking powder
• 200ml semi-skimmed milk

Filling

• 175g streaky bacon, minced
• 50g grated cheese

Make dough - mix marg & flour add cheese, then the milk and knead.
Roll out, fairly thinly, into rectangle
Spread with filling, roll up across the shorter side and cut into swiss roll-like slices - use a sharp knife for cutting, a palette knife won't get through the bacon bits!
Arranged on a greased tray, bake 20-30 minutes in a hot oven.

Mutterings - 24 July

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Stewart :: Tartan
2. Leafy :: Glade
3. Ridiculous :: Idea
4. Constipated :: Bloated
5. Bullied :: School
6. Permanent :: Way
7. Surgery :: Dental
8. Mosquito :: Bite
9. Meat :: Casserole
10. Stupefy :: Amaze

walking party

walking party, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Here we are towards the end of the last of the Summer walks (with the days getting shorter we stop before the evenings get too dark). Maurice took this so that I could be in the picture - just! There Shutlingsloe in the background.

Teaser Tuesday - 19 July

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

There's something strange about the way she's walking, a manner that I can't quite put my finger on or explain in words. She's running her hand along the side of the hedge as she walks, childlike knocking off some of last year's crumpled brown leaves that seem to cling tightly to beech right through into spring.

This is, I expect, my last teaser from our book group book of the month - Poppy Adams The Behaviour of Moths - here's last week's entry, it is keeping its fascination....

Engelberg panorama

Engelberg panorama, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Back in 2009, I posted here some attempts at stitching together a couple of panoramas from photos I took on our Luzern walking holiday (one here, griping slightly that the gimp plugin I was using didn't seem to be enabling me to line things up sensibly. Having now tried hugin (available for Linux/Windows and Macs) this makes things much simpler. Here's an Engelberg panorama and if you go to my flickr pages (click on the photo) you'll see 2 other panoramas - one of Fluëli-Ranft the other from last year in the Alpujarras.

Mutterings - 17 July

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Puzzled :: Amazed
2. Ordered :: Sequential
3. Unusual :: Pattern
4. Speculation :: Uninformed
5. Tutorial:: College
6. Dangerous :: Moonlight
7. Second :: Life
8. Evidence :: Court
9. Course :: Of (and Golf)
10. Reason :: Logic

through the bracken

through the bracken, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

Last night was a walk in the Peover Hall area, very gentle but lots of ancient buildings, old trees and greenhouses stuffed with chrysanthemums - a drink at the Olde Parkgate pub - well supplied with chips!

Identity and Worship

Church congregations are often predominately feminine which can give problems to men wishing to attend. This however only entrenches the issue - Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill calling for the exposing of effeminate worship leaders.... some back peddling but no apology!

Teaser Tuesday - 12 July

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

They have no emotions, no sentiment, no interests and no mind?' the rector continued, with practised eloquence and feigned disbelief, his voice rising in volume and tone for crescendoing drama.
'I do', Clive said, as though it were a vow.

Another piece from our book group book of the month - Poppy Adams The Behaviour of Moths - the 'they' are insects...

Mutterings - 10 July

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Ceremony :: of Carols (by Benjamin Britten - there's also John Ireland's Scarlet Ceremonies - altogether darker!)
2. Thread :: of life
3. Need :: Wants
4. Sarcasm :: Scriabin (I've wandered into the titles of piano works here!)
5. Domain :: Power
6. Take :: Five
7. Cast :: away (as in the single word - though there's also Ecclesiastes 'A time to cast away stones')
8. Zone :: Berlin (when it was divided into zones)
9. Lose control :: Brake
10. Gambling :: Den

Teaser Tuesday - 5 July

Teaser Tuesday
The rules are:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) 'teaser' sentences from that page, somewhere between lines 7 and 12.
• You also need to share the title and author of the book that you’re getting your 'teaser' from .. that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you've given!

I don't reply, not because I don't agree - I don't even have a telephone - but because it seems a good place to end the conversation. And, believe me, I desperately want it to end.

Our book group (BATS) book of the month - The Behaviour of Moths by Poppy Adams. Only started it last night - here's a review from the Independent - yep, thought so, another unreliable narrator! - Stevie Davies (the reviewer) writes:

This is the book's real fascination, watching the author play her mischievous game of bluff with the reader. Purple passages concerning moth pathology are laid as bait to lead us up the garden path, a stomach-turning sauce for the plot extravagance. The novel is a divertimento on a mothy and insubstantial theme.

Mutterings - 3 July

This week's free word associations from Unconscious mutterings are:

1. Google :: -plex (actually googolplex
2. Cooking :: Home (lunch)
3. Pillow :: Book (no doubt from The Pillow Book (枕草子 Makura no Sōshi) or it may just be reading in bed
4. Star Trek :: Frontier
5. Wake :: Funeral (busy arranging one for a relative at the moment)
6. Chili :: Pepper
7. Premise :: supposition
8. Share :: distribute
9. Celebrity :: fame
10. Stream :: of consciousness (like this!)

Purple patches

Purple patches, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

A kohl rabi was acquired from Macclesfield market this week, I took it out into the garden ...talking to vegetables? - and was struck by the variety of purples which happened to be around.

Sunset over Astbury

Another sunset!, a photo by rajmarshall on Flickr.

I managed to get to the walk this week - yet another fine evening with lovely views of the sun through the clouds. We did a circular route from thee village hall to Astbury Mere round the mere and then back - I don't think I'd ever seen the mere before.