SNAP SHOT MON 23 MAY AT 5:30

Main Grow Bed

Samphire bed

Beetroot bed

Runner Bean Pot

Post germination grow on bed

Grow tubes

grow tubes

seed germination

Watercress bed

View of the grow shelves

My Granddaughter made this

HOUDINI

Cooking dinner tonight I glanced out of the patio doors. A  six inch trout stared back at me from the patio floor. Covered in dirt I picked him up and gently washed him in the trout tank. He moved in my hand. I let him go. He floated, upside down, slowly descending to the floor of the tank. I again held him.

He swam free of my hand.

Contrary to reports on family social media CPR was not required. At no time was mouth to mouth resuscitation performed.

Our patio door is about 4.5 meters from the trout tank. A look at my previous post will show the plastic netting I habitually use on trout tanks.

I have just checked,”Houdini “ All well. 

PURPLE BABKA

I spend, a lot of time sat at my kitchen table. It is the centre of my universe.

Over endless cups of tea the fortunes and misfortunes of our family are discussed at length.It is the backdrop for the majority of photos I post on this and other sites.

The table is round.

Our chosen positions vary. This adds to its attraction. There is no head of table to lecture from or bottom of table to be banished to.

3 O clock has the best view of the TV, but  also the closest to the sink and the dishwasher.

 9 O clock is closest to the cooking side.

Once nine has served the dinner three better think about clearing the dishes.

Sat at nine I could see the comforting light of the UV filter.

Shining in these cold wet January nights. All is well. The pumps are running. Fish are fine.

I no longer needed the UV light and decided to switch it off.

The dark January nights somehow seemed to creep closer to the round table.

Your thoughts turn to comfort food. Let’s be honest things mum used to cook.

Long, long ago in a camp in a very cold land my wife’s family survived on Babka. Today we eat it because we like it.

The recipe varies. Tonight. Two slices of pork belly. Diced as finely as I can be bothered. A couple of rasher of smoked bacon. Low heat. Do not add oil let the fat render out of the pork. Fry till crispy. Add the bacon towards the end. Set aside

Meanwhile Peel and grate about seven medium potatoes. Also one large onion.

I then put these into a plastic carrier bag. Add two eggs seven tablespoons of flour. Salt and pepper. The now cooled meat and rendered fat. Mix.

Turn out into a suitable baking tin. Bake for about an hour.

Slice and enjoy with your favorite pickles.

Optional.

Add a small red/blue LED light to the pump circuit.

Comfort food

Purple Babka

AMO AMAS AMANT

The ruler descended at the close of  each and every  final syllable.

Amamas, amatis amant. I can still feel the smarting in my right hand.

Learning Latin a long time ago came with real time physical feedback.

Never have a use for this dead language! 

How wrong I was.

A wet cold afternoon. The remains of some American storm. Jonas?

Why can’t we have our own storms?

Almost without thinking I pull into a garden centre.

I want some Mealey worms for the birds.

£1.99/100grms thats nearly twenty quid per kilo! I must be mad.

I wander round the plastic storage boxes.

That CD storage box at £4.99 could make a three stage filter.

Or an inclined plane fines filter.

I am deliberately delaying the final moment. To heighten the pleasure.

The seed display.

I love seeds. One look at a Tumbler Fi Hybrid package and I can really see them in my garden.

My eyes are drawn to the bargain bin.

all reduced to £0.7 

Many are Italian seeds. In Italian!

Mr Murphey. Forgive me and; Thank you!

UV LIGHTS and OTHER DISTRACTIONS

They say that holidays are a time to recharge your batteries.

Trouble is when you hit 65, everything takes a bit longer.

In Barcelona on my birthday we were upgraded to the Presidential suite.

Gosh. If I had known how well Presidents lived I would have been one earlier.

Private bar. 15th floor. Lights of Barcelona at night!

Not bad!

Home to reality.

One small piece of advice I would give to those contemplating retirement.

Don’t!

You have more time so you need more money.

Plane landed at 23.50. Back to work at 7.55am.

I need to work to maintain my standard of living. Truth is I would also be bored.

Work however sometimes get in the way of doing the things I love.

I can buy pickled onions.

I choose to sit watching old movies wearing a diving mask. Peeling onions.

Pounding cabbage for sauerkraut and coring apples to dry.

I get distracted.

Robert Harris the author was launching his new book in Hungerford. A town about 8 miles away.

My son flew in to Bristol. I picked him up and we went on to The Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Australia v Fiji . I have to confess I wore an Aussie scarf but chanted Fiji too. An evening to remember.

I wanted to take some local photos.

 This week is, ‘Mop’ week. In the past this was a time local landowners would hire new workers. Today the celebrations include a, ‘fair’ in the main street. I figure you have all seen fairground rides so no photos. Next week.

Busy busy.

 Also a time for reflection.

Five years ago I was diagnosed with cancer. Five year survival prediction. Less than 50%

It has been a great five years!

Looking forward to many more!

Oh! Forgot to say. Added 9watt UV light to my quarantine tank set up.

New fish coming soon.

Life is not about delivering a perfectly preserved body to the finishing line.

It’s skidding across,  at the last second. What a rush!

WONDERFUL WEEKEND

We sailed the boat down to Devizes on Friday. A boat on an English canal travels at around 7 Km/hour. Walking speed. Time to think.Shake the concerns of the World and relax. Watch baby ducks skimming the water surface, to get back to Mum.

Drink tea!

Smoke a cigar!

There are no locks between Pewsey and Devizes but there are two swing bridges.

A swing bridge allows light traffic. Pedestrians and cattle to cross the canal.

Constructed of Oak this is a heavy structure. Normally chained. So only boat owners with the BW ( British Waterways) key or a LOCK handle can open it.

Imagine an old fashioned car staring handle. This is a lock key. Sized to wind lock gates or open swing bridges.

By choice my wife chooses to operate the locks and swing bridges.

I sit on the boat!

Smoking my cigar and sipping my Mojito.

Initially I felt guilty watching her struggling with heavy lock gates and swing bridges.

Many other female partners choose to do the heavy lifting! I watch middle aged women running, lock handle in hand, whilst their male partners steer the boat.

Why?

On the boat twenty feet down in Bath deep lock.Wet,cold and dripping. The sky a small blue oblong above you. I understood.

That little bit of bent metal in your hands empowers you.

We have been to The Devizes Beer Festival many times.

This was their sixteenth year. “ Sweet sixteen”

Organized by CAMRA ( The campaign for real ale) it is beer drinkers heaven.

You need to book online well in advance. They sell out very quickly.

You get an inscribed glass mug. This is your entrance ticket.

This year I lost count of the number of beers available.

Now this is real ale. A living breathing drink.

Two stand out.

White Gypsy(Tipperary Ireland)

Dubhain stout(ABV5.2%) - Classic dry Irish stout.Nice on cask. “ Hello darkness my old friend. I’ve come to talk to you again”

and

Waterloo (Devizes Wiltshire) ABV 4-0%

A special from our local brewer that manages to celebrate the 1974 Eurovision song Contest, a station and a battle, all in one.

Beer. Cigar. Reggae music and Chinese take away. Bliss.

Sailing home on Sunday. Roast Beef and all the trimmings at, The Barge Inn, Honey Street. The perfect end to a wonderful weekend.

I forgot to mention, “The Vaults in Devizes” Our Friday night began here. Our first visit. NOT our last!

Discover. Enjoy.

JUMPING JACK FLASH

A wet Saturday night! Bank holiday weekend.

We have eaten our broccoli soup. Feeling good!

‘Age Concern’ says that dancing improves coordination and reduces the risk of Alzheimers in mature adults. 

Russian vodka from the freezer at minus 18*C and salted popcorn convinces me They may be on to something.

The red blue spectrum LED lights in the garden draw us like moths to a, “Purple Haze”

Jimi, sighs and The wind cries Mary!

Then it hits me.

High intensity strobe lights!

High density illumination for the plants with minimal electricity costs!

I’m Jumping Jack Flash and its just a Gas!

FISH HEALTH

The dentist said, All OK!

I can’t help thinking something is missing

THE BRUCE TUNNEL

A few miles south of my home The Kennet and Avon Canal winds its way through The Vale of Pewsey

Built between.1794 and 1810. It links London and Bristol.

 Needless, to say along it’s length there are many pubs. Boat men are thirsty people.

The Barge Inn at Honey Street is one such gem. Segments of an episode of ‘Morse’ the TV series were filmed here. I do not know wether the actor, John Thaw was a beer drinker but Morse himself would have approved of the ale.

By the side of the canal time passes slowly. You watch the clouds tempting the White Horse, cut into the hillside opposite, to run after them. She never does! Perhaps the moon will have more luck? Another round?

It is also ‘Crop Circle Central’. 

Croppies, from all over the world come to; not really sure what they do but drink beer and talk. Nought wrong with that.

 One Sunday afternoon I waved at a low flying helicopter. That’s Goldie Hawn they said.  I don’t know. The helicopter dig wiggle it’s tail!

I use that anecdote sometimes to remind my wife. After all these years I still merit the occasional wiggle. Even from two thousand feet!

Today it’s wet and cold.We choose the local pub for our pre Sunday afternoon snooze drinks.

I got chatting. A local boy in his eighties told me; No!  Chronologically speaking that’s not accurate. Geographically  it is.

Anyway we got talking about the K&A as us locals call it.

He told me that his grandfather, a bit of a Jack the Lad, in his day pushed a hand truck through the Bruce Tunnel. Oh yeah sure!

The Bruce Tunnel allows the K&A to pass underneath Savernake Forest. Just under 500 meters long it is the only tunnel on the canal and took three years to complete. 1806 to 1809. 

There is no towpath.

 In the days of horse drawn boats the horses went over the top. The boat men would pull the barge through using the chains fixed to the walls

Even today taking a boat through a tunnel is a strange experience. You hang around a bit at the entrance to make sure nobody is coming the other way. You then sail into the darkness. There are no lights except the boats own.

You steer literally for the light at the end of the tunnel.

The brick walls throw back the sound of the diesel engine on tick-over.

There are drips. At least two always hit me. Cold and dark.

Last time we went through I kept the navigation lights on but switched off the bow light. The grandsons sat on the front with torches. To help me through.

 Their torches guided the way but their eyes lit up the day!

And then you are out! Once more,  back into the light.Generally a bit warmer too.

Just after Christmas in 1895 the frost set in. The canal was frozen for seven weeks reported The Marlborough Times.

His grandfather Mr Bob Davis had been asked to collect goods from Burbage Wharf Goods Station.

Now I was listening.

He said that his grandfather had heard that the canal was frozen and decided to take the short cut through the tunnel.

The ice cold wind blowing from the East through the tunnel had frozen the water in layers.

Cracks radiated out as he slowly pushed the trucks into the darkness.

The chains on the wall were helpful when the trucks broke the surface of the ice.

Half way through near the pumping station the ice was thinner.

He sank through the ice up to his knees. The lower level of ice held up.

With the chain in one hand and the trucks in the other he finally emerged from the end.

Now I was reading. 

He had produced clippings from old editions of The Marlborough Times.

“The extent of the cold can be somehow gauged from the fact that when he emerged triumphant at the other end of the tunnel there were icicles about a foot long hanging from the trucks.”

His achievement was witnessed by Mr Briant. a ganger on the railway, who at that time resided at Wotton Bassett.

When asked..............

“ I’d never do it again, even if I had the chance is Bob’s verdict.

The pub door opened. The cold wind entered.

We looked at one another. No. me neither!

But his eyes lit up the pub.

I will never go through that part of the canal again without thinking of him and his grandfather.

FIFTY SHADES OF GREY

So we went to see this movie;

It gave me some ideas.

One of them  to use cable ties;

On the SLO at 50 mil intervals

Me Too!

The downside of an outside aquaponics system in the UK is that inevitably you are going to get cold and wet.

I need sunshine! I lipread from outside, on the cold and wet side of the double glazing! Hmm. Me too!

We fled south to Spain for a few days. A walk on the,’Sunny Side’

A ‘Chiringuito’ is a bar/restaurant on the beach.

 I will never tire of watching the Mediterranean. 

Combine this with grilled sardines and a cold white wine. Hmm Me too!

After lunch we found : ‘The Racing Club in Torrox Costa, Malaga, Andalusia, Spain.

On Saturday afternoons they have an open jam session: Mandolin Mick joined us that afternoon. Enjoy!

FISH NAMES

It’s half term. the grandchildren have come to visit.

The boys 11/12 want to name the fish.

RULES: No family names No easy names.

BOYS                                                        GIRLS

                                                                    

tyreece                                                      willamina   

tiger                                                           yolanda

bobeth                                                       rizzeta

budwazio                                                   smaugetta

swagzonzo                                                orketta                                                          

yoloswaginson                                          lepricorna                                          

platapuso                                                  tanyazia

dumbizio                                                   tonzanza

tus                                                             teneyzia

fecious                                                      banteta

jimbo                                                         scalatuna

tinchy                                                        tankaria

marquisi                                                    perchida

kowiegawa                                                grapetta

Forty five minutes of fun for all the family

Tomato Thief

TROUT FINGERLINGS

Trout fingerlings are high up on my Christmas list.

Mrs Fishcake just dropped a hint that our little Angel fish was buying them. Yippee!

She moved out of our tank several years ago and now lives nearby in a very nice pond.

However I am worried.

She is famous for her exquisite packing of Christmas presents!

Please Not newspaper! Please No salt and vinegar!