Kwiet Kettle Klub

I was chatting to Pauline on the phone this morning before she went gallivanting for a few days.  All of a sudden her words were drowned by the jug boiling.  I mentioned ‘jug’ yesterday.  In the UK it is called a kettle.  I have no idea what it is called in the US or anywhere else where this is being read (I certainly don’t know the Swedish but that doesn’t matter so much because Dawn Treader has a better understanding of the English as she is spoken than I have.)  Many citizens of New Zealand have a Zip jug.  You know the standard conical jug that stands on a separate base.  It’s a noise devil.  When I’m at my computer in the study I often have the New or some other programme on the TV.  The TV is at the other side of the living room.  As you look through the door from where I’m sitting and turn immediately right the jug sits on the kitchen worktop/counter/work surface.  If I put the Zip jug on then I couldn’t hear the TV.  So this year at vast expense (in one of Briscows many ‘everything reduced’ sales – you only buy something full price in Briscows if you need it desperately)  I bought a Sunbeam ‘Peace and Quiet’ quiet boil jug.  Well that’s how it sounded when I bought it.  Now it seems just as noisy as any other jug.  I’m sure it is much noisier than my cheap while plastic jug in Eagleton which I never notice.  The problem is that you can’t walk into a store and ask whether is jug is quiet or not and they certainly wouldn’t demonstrate it. 

So, if you are bothered by a noisy jug, please join the KKK – the Kwiet Kettle Klub to campaign for kwieter kettles.  Apologies to Kiwis (and anyone else who doesn’t call a kettle a kettle) but the Quiet Jug Club just doesn’t have the same cachet.  Oh and by the way I hereby acknowledge that I have freely pinched the term from Pauline. 

Just Another Day

Really speaking I should just go to bed because it’s well after midnight.  But I’m not particularly tired and our clocks go back tonight and daylight saving comes to an end for another summer, so I can have an extra hour in bed if I want.

The day started when I woke and got up and went to switch on the jug (kettle – thing for boiling water and making tea - whatever you call it in your neck of the woods) and the computer.  As I walked across the living room Comet – the Family’s cat – who had obviously come in when the family were here last evening, appeared from the spare bedroom, stretched, yawned and sauntered out through the ranch sliders without even a thank you.  At least she’s had the good grace (and sense) not to meow during the night!

Today has been a day of highs and lows.  A friend in Blogland is having to cope with serious family health issues amongst other things.  She has been in my thoughts today.

I played an Association Croquet match this afternoon on lawns in tip-top condition with a cool breeze and a flawless sunny sky.  It was the most rewarding match I’ve ever played.  I lost 20:26 to one of the best AC players in the Club but I have never played better.  I was well pleased.  Perhaps I won’t give it up after all!

A friend had asked me to take come photos of kittens she has been rearing so that she can find  homes for them.  So I went round this evening.  My reward was an excellent dinner, catching up chat and the end of a James Bond film involving a large ship and some submarines and lots of goodies and baddies and, of course, Roger Moore having good clean fun with beautiful women.  I still have no idea what it was called or what it was about!

I drove home on a cool evening with the lid of the car down and the stars and moon providing a fabulous roof over my head.  I played piano music and drove at a modest pace home along the sea front, through a deserted town and along windy country roads.  I shall miss The Handbag when I return to Scotland for the winter/summer.

I shall remember this as a Good Day but I shall be thinking of my friend and her family tonight.

Dozy Me – Again!

I was commenting on one of Katherine’s old postings with aerial photographs and mentioned the problems I had with high UV content and scratched plane windows when I did my post on South Island a few days ago.  Those photos were straight from the camera because although I have Picasa for basic fixes and Paint Shop Pro for the full treatment I very rarely use them.   Katherine suggested the very simple remedy of altering the contrast.  Of course.  Why didn’t I use my noddle and do something about the issue instead of just accepting it.  So this morning I’ve done a very quick fix and already the alterations are noticeable.   I’ve not deleted the old posting so for contrast here are the images again; this time with the quick fix.  Thanks Katherine.  I’ll try remembering next time.  Just like I’ll try to remember to empty my pockets before I put things in the wash!

I Won’t Do That Again!

Mind you I’ve said that before.  This time I really mean it.  Mind you I’ve said that before too! 

One of the reasons I use a handkerchief and not paper hankies (tissues) is the mess they make if you leave them in a pocket when clothes go in the washing machine.  Another is that I prefer handkerchiefs but that’s a side issue.  This morning as I put the washing on the line I noticed that there was a huge sprinkling of white fibres all over my black underwear and my black poloshirt and, in fact, over everything to which a fibre could cling.  Which, in clothing terms, is pretty much everything.

It couldn’t have been a tissue so what…  Oh dear.  I keep a small notebook with all my jottings and things I have to remember and names I must put in my address book and ….  CJ once blogged with the name of such a notebook but I can’t recall what it was.  Anyway the clue as to what had happened to it appears in the picture – all that remains of my almost full notebook.  I wonder what information I shall be trying to recall.  I wonder what gems of postings will never be posted.  I wonder.  Ah well.  Another lesson learned.  I must make a note of it.  Now where’s that notebook…..

Thrushes Like Snails

I made the mistake recently of not putting jandals on to go to the car.  I trod on a shattered snail shell on one of the paving slabs.  Ouch.  The culprit using them to break open the snails shells could have been the subject of these photos or one of the many others who live around here feasting on the plentiful supplies of food.

   

South Island From Above

When I flew up from Christchurch recently the weather was beautiful and I had one of the few seats on the plane suitable for photography.  These are a few photos of the mountains in North East South Island around the Seaward Kaikoura Ranges.  For me they have a magical, mystical quality.  Please don’t look at them as photos but as images (if that makes sense).

     

Success Is Sweeter Than Failure

Important: This post carries a self-indulgency warning! 

Well I can’t deny that I’ve had a Good Day.  I have mentioned previously that I wanted to win the Sweetapple Trophy for a third consecutive year.  The Trophy is, ostensibly, for the ‘best’ Golf Croquet player in the Club.  By that I mean it’s an open competition and played without handicaps.  In theory, therefore, the best player will win.  Of course life isn’t like that but looking at the list of past holders of the trophy it would seem to have a certain validity.  For the previous two seasons I have had the lowest handicap in the Club.  That is no longer the case and I’ve had a relatively bad season as regular readers of this blog will know.  But I’m playing well at the moment.  And I’ve won again.  And I’ve achieved my ambition. 

Now I want Zoe to improve and have a really good season and take the trophy next year.  Then I’ll be really happy.

The Law The Lawyers Know About….

When I was a young man (I was once, honestly) I read the following somewhere and wrote it in my notebook.  I still have it and a few days ago its relevance popped up.  I thought you might like it.

The law the lawyers know about
Is property and land;
But why the leaves are on the trees,
And why the winds disturb the seas,
Why honey is the food of bees,
Why horses have such tender knees,
Why winters come and rivers freeze,
Why faith is more than what one sees,
And hope survives the worst disease,
And charity is more than these,
They do not understand.

Did You Know

that the square of 111,111,111 is 12345678987654321 ?

One For Adrian

Yet another memory from the Art Deco Weekend.