One For The Girls

Have you ever been flicking through the channels and, hang on a minute, let me re-phrase that...you are watching tv whilst the man of the house is flicking through the channels and Oh! "Go back a minute .... who is THAT?" The 'THAT' in question was Tyrone Power Jr

Star of the silver screen in the 30's - 50's, tragically he died of a heart attack whilst filming a typically swashbuckling scene in Spain in 1958 at the age of only 44 (I have learned all this from the wonderful worldwide interweb) Phwoar as they say in these parts.

And so, pardon the departure from normal topics/photos, I felt I should share with the girls. (Or boys of course, if that's your thing)

Been busy round here of late, usual stuff. But the fun part was picking up a new (ish) car today, Italian of course! And far more economical, fantastico! So, I was thinking about cars, movie stars etc. and thought I'd start up a MeMe. Here goes:

1. First car

2. Fave star

3. Oh bollocks, I'm bored with this, make up your own ending.

Ciao tutti!

Pugliese Flower Power

Time to brighten up the pages with a few bursts of colour.

Fleur du France

When you are a 'Big Dog' you fly from Seattle to France with no fuss, you know how to deal with the paparazzi, you are comfortable in your own hair and you can show a stuffed hedgehog who's boss.

When you are a 'Big Dog' they name a town after you (oh yeah, and some unknown philosopher bloke)

When you are a 'Big Dog' you contemplate chasing the kite thingy but in the end, decide to just take in the view, conscious as always, of the camera following you.

Big Dog Fleur... a dog to match my mountains.

Une bonne weekend

"Where there is friendship, there is our natural soil." Voltaire

High Sky

Fair weather this weekend and it was nice of our friends to have us over for a hog roast. Yes, the very same pigs as pictured here and here but not the ACTUAL prize winners!

I thought long and hard about posting the pictures of dinner cooking, but decided you might not appreciate it. But take my word for it, it was great to taste real food with zero food miles (apart from a short trip to the ... well, you know where).

Back to work tomorrow, looks like being an interesting week. I am reminded of this.

And the Winner is...

...a pig called Miriam! Well done guys.

Seems everyone's gone to the fair this time of the year; check out some really nice shots over at The Farmer's Wife.

Meanwhile, we're casting around in search of Summer. Or that could be birds.

Choc Full

Busy ole week.

Looking ahead, it's show time again this weekend - Good Luck Suzy.

Wow Factor

Best Foot Forward, all 4 of them

If you were reading last June, you'll remember this. Nice one Renee (and thanks Abi for the shot).

It's been a while since I posted any horsey pics. Bunny went off to pastures new (literally) back in May and so I haven't been in the company of horses for a while. It was lovely to get this and other pictures through today, and in time, I hope to have one showing Bun in her new home in the Yorkshire Pennines.

(Betty) Western Sheep

Pics from the Royal Show a couple of years ago. Click here to read about yet further problems to beset our producers.

A word or two

This blog started out with no pretensions of being anything other than a place to put up some pictures of my favourite things. The 'theme' if you like, was I guess, outdoor/rural/country. I'm not religious about it and of course the odd (sometimes very odd) thought occurs and I put something out there. I admire people who have taken blogging to another level - I always thought blogging was the preserve of pseudo-political gobshites, people with no real talent but an overpowering need to see their often glib observations in 'print'. They are still there of course, if you look hard enough.

A few days ago, I came across a writer with a different edge. He's using blogs to compile news stories linked to and intertwined with his thoughts on rural issues, and he wrote the book I've just finished reading - see the new link to the right. Do check him out - the book was a real find.

Meanwhile Ian's writing has inspired me to look a bit harder at the state of our countryside. Whilst TV chefs lobby greedy supermarkets and the Sunday supps bang on about my carbon shoe size, farmers just try to keep going.

Biscotti Totty or Hobnob Heaven

When I was little, my parents said my middle name should be 'Biscuit Tin'. We always had a tin of biscuits on the go in our house (for what is a cup of tea without a biscuit, huh?) But I wasn't allowed to hog the tin otherwise, well, of course, I'd eat them all.

Nowadays, I have more restraint...ok, so maybe just 5 or 6 at a time. I don't really have all that sweet a tooth but come on, when there's an open pack of Malted Milk on the go, or a loose wrapper on some Rich Teas, or perhaps you dropped a packet of Custard Creams so you ought to open it and just check the damage...oh the temptation is too much.

The biscotti pictured above were a holiday favourite; they came in a great big sack which of course meant they needed to be finished off quite quickly...well, there are fewer worse culinary mishaps than stale biscuits, am I right?

For those of you similarly affected by God's own snack, I highly recommend you check out this little worshipful site, dedicated to our love of biscuits I seriously laughed out loud on a number of occasions. Don't forget to take their very important Business Meeting Biscuits poll.

So, what's your favourite biscuit?

Realisation

"Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction . . ."

Antoine de Saint'Exupery

4 Years Young

Happy Birthday little dudes.

Digging the Dirt

Post holiday and time to take stock of a few jobs at home. The 'tree' in the back garden needed thinning out and so out came the loppers. You can see from this picture a distinct lack of colour, all growth being confined to shrubs as yet, untasted by you-know-who. If you read this last year, you'll appreciate gardening chez Cocker is a bit testing to say the least.

As if to prove my point, whilst I was busy creating my own pile of branches, the boys thought they'd try their paws at a little gardening of their own ...

They really put their backs into it ...

Thankfully, there's life in the front garden and, although the veg patch didn't work out (too many slugs, too little diligence), June is busting out all over (well almost).