Scatterday #4: no pictures, just ideas

Oh deary deary me. There has been a small glitch this week, which means that I can't upload my scatterday pictures at the moment. For some reason my computer will allow me to upload pictures of cute cats, but not things beginning with Q. Sigh. But in the spirit of the thing, here is my entry for this week anyway, which I will redo as soon as my computer stops playing silly b**gers.

This weeks letter sent me running for the dictionary, which is always an exercise in education.

So, I have discovered that a Quadroon is a person who's parents are a mulatto and a white person, so is one-quarter black by descent; a Quaich is a traditional Scottish shallow drinking cup with 2 handles; Quartan is a mild form of malaria where the fever recurs every 3rd day; and a Quean is an impudent or badly behaved girl or woman.

All very fascinating, but not particularly helpful. However, after much deliberation I bring to you the Triplet of Qs:

• A quaver from husband's latest piece from his piano teacher
• A quadrangle (at Durham Cathedral)
• And some rather dodgily drawn Quidditch robes!

Scatterday #3

Today's scattergories are brought to you by the letter R.

I nearly managed to fulfill all three categories with the same word, but was foiled at the final hurdle (more below).


So, for the Plant World I present my loverly Rhubarb in the autumnal sunshine (twice for some reason best known to picasa). Slow off the mark, this plant was nearly removed in favour of a larger raised bed, but in the end I relented and gave it one last chance. The result - last weekend we had home made rhubarb ice cream (yum indeed)!

The Childhood picture came to me in a flash of inspiration - my all time favourite in the days when children were allowed to eat sweets - Rhubarb and custards! I bought these in a fit of reminiscence, but can't eat them as I have two, yes 2 mouth ulcers! Can you believe it? I haven't had one since I swapped my toothpaste years ago and then 2 come along at once - tsk! Still, at least I won't be hyperactive!

Then there was the Arts - As I said, I almost managed to fulfill all three categories with the same thing, and if I had only been able to find a picture, the Arts category would have been filled by ...

Roobarb and Custard - a marvellously surrealist cartoon from the 1980s, narrated by Richard Briers.

However, I didn't want to borrow from elsewhere for this, and so instead I present my favourite piece of studio pottery, this gorgeous mermaid plate by Barbara Ross. Husband thought I was strange coming home from a charity shop with a plate with a naked lady on it, but she just called to me - I love the lilac and orange glazes on her tail and her face is beautifully painted.

Now then, Q .... hmmmm ... might have to get the dictionary out for that one.

Scatterday #2

Oops, I missed the deadline - not great for a second attempt.

The only excuse I have is that a remarkably cute miniature kitten made its way into our garden last night, so I spent considerable time removing our cats into the house (they wanted to beat it up, poor thing) and putting out a box and some food for the kitten. I felt so bad about not bringing it into the house, but we've only had our monsters for a few months and they are still a bit insecure as they are rescue cats. It really was the cutest cat I've met (barring our lovelies of course) - a brown and grey mottled long haired puss, with black and white short hair legs, and a b&w spotty nose. A true mongrel. No sign of it this morning though. Hopefully it has made its way home, as if it turns up again I might not be so strong willed.

Anyway, Scatterday ...

My colour is Gold, which for me means my wedding and engagement rings, being the only gold objects I own. They are really chunky, and now rather battered. There's a story behind that though ...
Vehicle was rather difficult, as I do not own a gig, nor play golf. But then, while flicking through an old photo album I came across something perfect. So here, for your amusement and my embarrassment, is a photo of me (on the right, some years ago I hasten to add) and my babysitter Lorraine with our rather fabulous GO-CART!

Finally, for a household object I present my favourite Gadget. When we got married my workmates gave me a voucher for an expensive cookery shop in York, and rather than buy sensible house things we decided to spend the lot on a single silly funky gadget. So this is my marvellous kitchen timer, made by Alessi and costing all of £35!
You may notice that as a fail-safe there is a grater in the background, but I think this Gadget is funky enough to count as a G object don't you?

Scatterday

I'm posting this early as on the 25th I'll be in York, celebrating my birthday and trying not to fall into craft shops with my friends.

Random Applique and friend have challenged us to a blogging game of scattergories. This weeks challenge is brought to you by the letter L and the categories Animals, Food and Sewing. Miraculously I had some of these photos already (those are the ones with the good images - its been truly awful weather here, as it often is for my birthday - sigh). I've taken the categories quite loosely to make it more fun to investigate, hope this still qualifies!

Oops, I've just reread the rules, and I'm only supposed to post one picture per category. Ah well, the more the merrier I say!


So we have from left to right, top to bottom:

1. Lemon thyme, which went into a lovely tea of garlic (from our garden) cooked slowly in lots of olice oil until golden and soft, then add the thyme, stir into cooked pasta and add crumbled piquant goats cheese - yum!
2. Lemongrass - you can't see, but this is a packet of seeds, as I'm expanding my culinary horticultural experience - so it will be food in a few months time!
3. Leeks - our first leeks looked like grass for many months, but turned out delicious, particularly shredded and fried with cooked potatoes, shredded sprouts, garlic and cubes of bacon
4. A lorikeet, at Woburn safari park. Took a liking to husband's beard. I volunteered to be photographer rather than cup holder - phew!
5. Lionel, the leopard. Nuff said.
6. A Loghtan sheep (I think). This is a rare breed from the Isle of Man, seen in Rockingham Forest. The type we'd love to have on our theoretical smallholding ...
7. Linen - waiting to be turned into number 8. This is from a shop called russell and chapple, and is gorgeous heavyweight linen, just dying to be turned into a hanging. It was pretty expensive, at £20 a metre, but as it's theatrical fabric it is over 2 metres wide, which means as long as you don't mind the herringbone going the wrong way it will make a perfect Tree of Life hanging for the firebreast
8. My first crewelwork hanging (on linen). I love the simplicity of the stitches, combined with the medieval earthy colours.
9. Leftovers (yarnwise) waiting for something exciting to happen to them. I wonder if it will?