Saturday, 25 February 2012

A is for........aardvark.......

......and is commonly referred to as the first word, and animal, in the English Dictionary. And, no children this is not the first in a series of animals from A-Z, whether in the form of a general list or one that includes all of my preferred creatures in an orderly, alphabetised manner. Before I reveal my motives for including the clip that Jon sent to me, I know that I have posted a picture of a baby aardvark before on this blog, many moons ago. However, apart from anything else, I see no reason why I cannot immerse myself, and anyone else who happens to look at this, in a spot of self-indulgence now and again, hence another look at one of these fascinating little creatures.




OK - So my motives other than self-indulgence?  Absolutely none whatsoever.  I hold my hands up and declare my guilt.  I simply have a soft spot for aardvarks, especially baby ones.

"Ethel the Aardvark was trotting down the lane one lovely summer day, trottety-trottety-trot, when she saw a nice Quantity-Surveyor..." (John Cleese, Graham Chapman)

http://io9.com/5887775/nobody-knows-if-this-baby-aardvark-is-a-boy-or-a-girl


Sunday, 12 February 2012

CFZ People: Lars Thomas

Our old friend Lars Thomas has asked us to post this:

On friday, his wife Jeanett left home. She was only meant to be gone a few hours, but she has disappeared. There has been no contact from her.

Lars has contacted the police, but asks: "Please, if you know, or have heard anything, let me know".

Contact Lars: lars_thomas@msn.com


Our thoughts and prayers are with Lars at this terrible time.

Saturday, 14 January 2012

Watcher of the skies

Named after a song from the greatest ever band from my youth, Genesis (with Peter Gabriel I must add), any eagle-eyed persons out there may notice a new link on my sidebar called Watcher of the Skies.  It has recently come to my notice that there are an awful lot of stories concerning birds out there these days, so I mentioned this to Jon and - Heavens to Betsy - I have been given a spot on the blog for writing about such things, instead of including them in my regular Daily News efforts.


So if you are interested in such things, please do hop on over there to check it out once in a while.


I may well have added a video of this song before, but due to a lot of my photos, links etc., disappearing a while back due to that old chestnut, 'technical difficulties', I find this is a really good excuse - and opportunity - to indulge in a spot of  'down memory lane' with a tear in the eye for what once was. And as one comment by someone known as Hatmap on YouTube so rightly states:  "Phil Collins in his proper role and place---in the background! Gabriel and Hackett rule! "  Well....der.........  right on mate.

 

Saturday, 31 December 2011

To lose one computer may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness

I am undone.  I am without.  At the beginning of the week my laptop died on me which was bad enough, but the following day my desktop pc was found not to be working either.  What fun.  I am now having to try and get things done on the slow computer in the corner of the office, without access to my files at the moment.  So I beg forgiveness and more than a little patience from those who may have emailed me for something.  I am behind in most of my work, and methinks it will take a while for me to catch up.

But I guess I shall get there in the end.

But......the real reason for this posting is to wish you all a Happy and Prosperous New Year.  I hope 2012 is good to you.

Sunday, 25 December 2011

Merry Christmas 2011

Wishing you all a very
Merry Christmas dear readers,



I hope you have a fun day.



Thursday, 1 December 2011

Saturday, 26 November 2011

Enigmas by Pablo Neruda

Poetry corner:  just seemed appropriate for the day. 

ENIGMAS

You've asked me what the lobster is weaving there with
his golden feet?
I reply, the ocean knows this.
You say, what is the ascidia waiting for in its transparent
bell? What is it waiting for?
I tell you it is waiting for time, like you.
You ask me whom the Macrocystis alga hugs in its arms?
Study, study it, at a certain hour, in a certain sea I know.
You question me about the wicked tusk of the narwhal,
and I reply by describing
how the sea unicorn with the harpoon in it dies.
You enquire about the kingfisher's feathers,
which tremble in the pure springs of the southern tides?
Or you've found in the cards a new question touching on
the crystal architecture
of the sea anemone, and you'll deal that to me now?
You want to understand the electric nature of the ocean
spines?
The armored stalactite that breaks as it walks?
The hook of the angler fish, the music stretched out
in the deep places like a thread in the water?

I want to tell you the ocean knows this, that life in its
jewel boxes
is endless as the sand, impossible to count, pure,
and among the blood-colored grapes time has made the
petal
hard and shiny, made the jellyfish full of light
and untied its knot, letting its musical threads fall
from a horn of plenty made of infinite mother-of-pearl.

I am nothing but the empty net which has gone on ahead
of human eyes, dead in those darknesses,
of fingers accustomed to the triangle, longitudes
on the timid globe of an orange.

I walked around as you do, investigating
the endless star,
and in my net, during the night, I woke up naked,
the only thing caught, a fish trapped inside the wind.