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| Random Ramblings |
| Personal observations on a wide variety of subjects. Photographs of creatures and things that are taken on seeing the unusual as well as everyday things. |
| Language: English |
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| Unique Visitors: 569 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 4401449 |
| Visitors Out: 431 |
| Total Visitors Out: 8109 |
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| Pholcus phalangioides affectionately called the daddy long-legs spider |
| 2010-02-28 17:17:00 |
I was so surprised to find this wonderful spider on a door post. These are lovely creatures and should be warmly welcomed into any home. They are very clean and mop up any small insects and mites that they find whilst on patrol. They prefer to walk away from any humans and so once they have seen you it may be quite a while before you are able to see them again. They are the nursery nurse of spiders as they take special care of their young – ferrying them about and feeding each youngster directly from their mouths. Pholcus phalangioides affectionately called the daddy long-legs spider They have a way of trying to remain safe and that is to shake quite violently until they appear to be a blur. ...
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| Home of charity |
| 2010-02-24 07:57:00 |
The meaning of charity is simply - love. Love is to be able to give yourself without requiring any return. To give yourself unconditionally. Very few of us achieve this. Most of us yearn for some kind of reciprocation or reward. Occasionally, in our lifetime we meet individuals who do not have the badge of religion, organization or official charity to prop them up but merely act upon their own. These are exceptional people. I only know of one who totally fulfils this premise he is known in the blogging community as ‘Windy.’ Windy is building a home for a family without one. He is trying to do this all out of his own pocket. Now I do not want to copy anyone else’s post so I would ask you to hop over to Lainy’s Musings blog to read all about the help that Windy is giving to a family...
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| Stardust |
| 2010-02-21 12:58:00 |
One of the most interesting facts that I have ever learned is that all life comes from stardust. Everything that is on the Earth including the Earth itself comes from the stars. All the elements that make up life comes from the stars. To whit, all life originates from particles of stardust. We are therefore related to everything upon the Earth including the Earth itself. Our ancestors are the stars … so when you gaze up at the night sky take time to reflect and know that everything that you see is connected to you. All life, including human beings are made of stardust ...
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| Alphabet |
| 2010-02-17 17:47:00 |
There is an alphabet that is known by many, usually referred to as ‘the International Alphabet’ which is used by police forces, pilots, and so on and so forth. It is used so that no mistakes are made when information is passed from one person to another over radios, telephones, etc. International alphabet There is another alphabet which was used during the Second World War for spelling out words verbally which is different to the International alphabet. This alphabet is as follows: Signalling alphabet used during the Second World War The words in deep gold were never to be deviated from whilst the remainder could be improvised. Most people nowadays use the top alphabet known as the International alphabet … but which one do you prefer? ...
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| Late Spring |
| 2010-02-16 17:13:00 |
It was announced today that it will be quite awhile before we see blooms in the garden as Spring will be delayed by a month! Although this announcement in itself sounds truly terrible, Spring has been getting earlier and earlier … so now it is falling around the same time as it did in the mid-Nineteen Fifties. My poor, lovely cat is so fed up with all of this cold weather and whereas normally she enjoys going out on patrol – now she wavers, standing at the back door and sniffing at the air. She ventures out only when she has to do her toilet and, at times, she holds that in for longer than is desirable. No matter how much I try enticing her outside - she stubbornly refuses to jump down off the step into the garden until she is desperate. This delay may mean waking up someone in the mi...
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| Cup of tea |
| 2010-02-15 17:45:00 |
I have always found it interesting to listen to elderly people talk about their lives when they were younger. Many years ago I was having a cup of tea with a lovely old lady who began to tell me all about her life as a child growing up. She was born in the late 19th Century somewhere around the year 1894 and so had vivid memories of what life was like at the time. It is never the same reading a book about a particular era as it is listening to someone who has experienced it first hand. There are so many things that are never written down or printed in books. One of the many pieces of information that she told me was about what some of the people would do to preserve their youth. That is to say to make themselves appear slightly younger. At the time, probably just as today, people would of...
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| Sprouting |
| 2010-02-08 17:36:00 |
After a break from sprouting, I decided to wash out my sprouting trays and begin using them once again. Sprouting seed trays Sprouting seed trays – different viewSprouting trays Top viewAlfalfa seeds – soaked and laid in the top tray So … having soaked the first lot of seeds, which are tiny alfalfa seeds that have been soaked for four hours in a little jug of water, I drained the water off. Then laid the seeds fairly evenly on top of the the first tray which has been put back onto the little sprouting tray rack and placed in a light airy place to encourage the seeds to germinate.The seeds sprout – firstly the roots pop out followed by the green shoots – once both ends of the seed has begun to grow the seeds or the sprouts as they are now called, can be eaten. They are a useful ...
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| The oldest English joke |
| 2010-02-05 17:19:00 |
Humour over the ages often dwells on matters concerning the human body and bodily functions. It is no surprise, therefore, to learn that even the earliest joke uses these same thoughts. Here is the oldest known English joke … ‘Of all the leaves, which leaf is the cleanest?’ ‘The holly because no man will wipe his backside on it.’ Too prickly to be used! Prickly holly leaf ...
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| Fungus find |
| 2010-02-03 17:35:00 |
I took the following picture of some fungus during the late Summer and ever since have been trying to identify it. Tree fungus enlarged Tree fungus The fungus is relatively flat on the top with a slightly swollen underbelly. It has a mottled pattern on the top surface. It bears some resemblance to Perenniporia fraxinea but it is unlikely to be this variety as it is quite rare in England. It could also be Piptoporus betulinus which is lovingly called ‘Razor Strop.’ The problem I have is identifying the plant that it is actually growing on as although it is one of the most commonest of tree fungi, razor strop grows almost entirely on the trunks of birch. These particular fungi are noted as greyish brown and smooth topped … this is the correct colour but it does have a knobbl...
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| Footprints |
| 2010-02-01 17:49:00 |
Last night, large snowflakes fell and we awoke to an icing sugar world. A grey mist hung low and instilled the bleakness of the morning. The snow crystals balanced themselves high and thin on the fence tops - and the birds called out loudly. By late afternoon the snow had tried to melt but once more began to harden as the frost clawed it sharply back to set hard like diamonds .The back garden displayed evidence of where the birds had trod … Large bird footprints in the snow Bird tracks ...
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