a pear-shaped day

Still Life with an Earthen Bowl and Pears
Vincent van Gogh

Sometimes things don't go according to plan.
On those days you go to bed early
and hope that tomorrow will be better.

Sunday Afternoon

The sun was shining and it was the perfect day
to stroll along Piccadilly to Fortnum &Mason
and arrive in time for lunch in the Gallery.

Cornish Crab with cucumber and chives

Is it really two years since MasterM sold chocolate
in his red tail coat and pinstripe trousers?
We felt sure that if we turned around he would be there.

Pan fried pollock with cannellini beans

After lunch we went upstairs to the stationery department
and thought how elegant the assistants looked
in their A-line black brocade jackets.

Custard tart with apple and cinnamon compote

Then we bought some multi-coloured macarons
for the Lovely Ladies in the office
and went to the V&A museum
to see the breathtaking Raphael cartoons.

There are worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon.

at the train station

This story is for bb

As we approach the ticket office we realise that the man in front with the white stick is standing at the wrong window because the blind is down. He is not aware of this because he is visually impaired.

stop right there...
don't feel sorry for him...
this story has a happy ending...

We help him find the correct window and when the lady at the till sees him she smiles and greets him like a friend.

"Hello! I haven't seen you for a long time!"

"Hello Fatima I have some good news...
I have been allocated a guide dog!
I went to be introduced to Eddie last week...
he has a cold wet nose at one end
and a waggy tail at the other.
I think that he will bring me here at Mach3."

His happiness is infectious and we are all smiling. Fatima sells us our tickets and then closes the ticket office and escorts him to the platform.

It is a good start to the day.

from my Inbox

To: Geography
Subject: Henry Smeathman - Explorer and Naturalist
From: royalsociety.org

Good afternoon,
I would like to draw your attention to the following lecture, to be held at the Royal Society Centre for History of Science next week:

Henry Smeathman – Explorer and Naturalist
Speaker: Dr Starr Douglas
Friday 15 October, 1pm

Henry Smeathman is remembered today for his work in two different but connected fields of knowledge - natural history and colonial settlement. His sponsored expedition to Sierra Leone in the 1770s resulted in a ground breaking treatise on tropical termites, and paved the way for his plan of settlement for Sierra Leone - a plan which later came to fruition. This talk will explore the life and legacy of this unusual and energetic man, including a discussion of the monkeys from the Leverian collection.

The event is free but as space is limited we recommend registering for a seat in advance.

I hope this may be of interest, and would be grateful if you could pass this information on to any of your colleagues or contacts who might also like to hear about it.

Thanks and best wishes,
Information and Promotion Officer
The Royal Society
6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5AG

See further with the Royal Society in 2010 – celebrate 350 years of excellence in science

******************************************************************************

I thought I would pass it on...
I have a wide readership...
somebody might be interested in termites.

A Meditation on Bagels

1.
I ate my first bagel in 2001 in a New York deli

2.
I had to ask what lox was...which was embarrassing

3.
I slightly prefer multigrain

4.
I am not sure why people eat bagels

5.
Especially cinnamon bagels

6.
In my defence...I do own a bagel knife

7.
The enthusiastic academic ate two bagels in the lunchtime meeting

8.
If I ate two bagels for lunch I would probably explode

9.
The enthusiastic academic is now a Professor

10.
MissM eats a salmon and cream cheese bagel every day

11.
I conclude that bagels are good for brain development

12.
I would rather eat spinach

be careful what you wish for

I'm home alone
and it is unbearable.The house is just as tidy
when I come home
as it was when I left.

I have no-one to cook for
and I must eat by myself.

The silence is doing my head in
because it is so loud.

I am reduced to
downloading pictures of soup tureens
in the shape of rabbits
to keep myself occupied.

Just as well MrM is back tomorrow.

Shopping with MissM

It is easy to go shopping
and find the Perfect Black Skirt
and the Perfect White Shirt
if you are the Perfect size.

It leaves plenty of time
to stand patiently next to your mother
while she tries on Less than Perfect Knitwear:

the 'I dragged this off my bed by accident' style;
the 'my pockets are weighed down with wet hankies' style;
the 'Niagara Falls edge to edge' style';
the 'this is so cheap that they didn't sew up the arms' style;
the 'I couldn't afford a cardigan so I used a rug' style

until you can eventually say,
in a gentle voice,
"Lets stop playing
the 'Trying on Silly Cardigans' game
and go home."

Raspberry Torte

Today I made raspberry torte for an autumn Sunday lunch
but the last time I used the recipe
it was summer and we were in the cottage.
MasterM invited a group of friends to stay
and when I came down stairs in the morning
there was an untidy heap of young men in sleeping bags
who had arrived long after I had gone to bed.
The torte was shared around for breakfast
with summer fruit salad and yogurt,
and today, as I weighed the ground almonds,
I thought of MasterM and his friends,tousled and hungover
but making every effort to be charming.
A happy memory indeed to fold into the mixture.

black on grey

When I leave the Department
the sky is a black swirl of rooks
and the sound of their flight fills my head.

On this evening, after a day of rain,
the sky is milky grey
and I stand in the car park, watching.

It makes my heart ache a little,
this ending of another day,
and I wait until the flight ends,
my face turned up against the wetness of the air.

Shed Your Love - The Helio Sequence

pause

Ebba Bohm
Henry Brown Fuller

thank you for your kind messages for MissM

I am also grateful to Lucy and Coffee Lady
for thoughtful and generous emails

sometimes an email conversation
can transform a day
and yesterday was one of those days

have a lovely weekend...

MissM starts work on Monday
and she has been planning her work wardrobe...

apparently we need to go shopping...

I'll keep you posted