11 July 2020

Rambling

Rambling in North East Derbyshire
"Rambling" is a good word. It is quite uncontrolled and free for rambling does not follow a plan of action. Synonyms for "rambling" include circuitous, digressive, by way of, meandering and roundabout.

You can get rambling roses that climb up walls or trellises - doing their own thing. In conversations or monologues, people may ramble as they move in an instinctive manner between topics and stories. Also, we must not forget rambling as a synonym for country walking. In fact, the leading walkers' organisation in Britain called itself  The Ramblers Association. Needless to say I am not a member - for I am not one for joining clubs or organisations. Forgive me for rambling.

Yet this particular blogpost will be a rambling one.

Stewart and Frances went south yesterday afternoon with their fifteen week old unborn foetus. Alfred is currently the strong favourite name if  the babe is male and Phoebe remains the only name Frances will entertain for a girl child. They will be spending two nights in Bristol with Stew's parents before heading home to north London.

As soon as they had gone, Clint carried me up to "The Norfolk Arms" at Ringinglow. I sat outside with Mick and Mike and a former policeman called Danny. I drank two pints of delicious "Barnsley Bitter" while Mike and Danny drank "Moonshine" by our local Abbeydale Brewery. We chattered away like old women in a knitting circle. (I hope that last remark is not sexist.)
Frances and Stewart on honeymoon in Sri Lanka
In the evening, after watching the last of a gripping Australian TV drama called "The Secrets She Keeps", I resumed my work upon a new wedding album for Frances and Stewart - using an online photobook design facility by Cewe Photoworld. I am putting in pictures from their two honeymoons - in Tuscany and Sri Lanka - and even a couple of photos from the time Stewart proposed to our princess on a mountaintop in Austria. For me, making this album is a conscious act of paternal love - in the full knowledge that it will be around long after I have gone. I want it to look brilliant, capturing a magical, happy time in all our lives before The Virus arrived like an invisible character in a horror film.

Looking outside, I can see that our front privet hedge needs a haircut - just like me. If it stays dry this afternoon I shall trim it - the hedge, not my hair which Bert described as looking like a "bird's nest" on Thursday night. I have my first ever proper hair appointment  next week. Normally I just walk in or walk away.

And that, my cuddly blogophiles, is  enough rambling for today...

47 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I don't look at my e-mails every day. I will have a look later on.

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  2. Well I have to say that, on all fronts, you have rambling down to a fine art.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Ramblin' rose, ramblin' rose
      Why you ramble, no one knows
      Wild and wind-blown, that's how you've grown
      Who can cling to a ramblin' rose?

      Delete
  3. And let us not forget the AMC Rambler that my grandfather owned which was probably cleaner on the day he finally quit driving it than it was the day he received ownership of it. I doubt my grandfather did much rambling in it. It seems to me that everything he did had purpose and destination in mind.
    Making that wedding album is a true gift of the heart.

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    1. I just went to Google AMC Rambler. A splendid, affordable car but of course we never had them here in Great Britain. American cars were always exotic vehicles that inhabited the world of film.

      Delete
  4. I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler, I'm a long way from home
    And if you dont like me, well leave me alone.

    Great drystone wall photo YP,

    ReplyDelete
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    1. But I do like you Northsider! So I will not be leaving you alone!

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  5. The album is a lovely idea, an enduring gift that will be cherished long after the toasters have died and the bedding worn out.
    The painting is nice. Who painted it and where is it? It looks familiar, North East Derbyshire being my neck of the woods (currently).

    ReplyDelete
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    1. It was not far from Linacre Reservoirs and I cheated Jean! It looks like a painting but I used an amazing app called "Waterlogue" to transform my photo of the scene.

      Delete
  6. An accomplished avoidance of the phrase "and now for something completely different".

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Ramblers don't need to say that Tasker. We just ramble along.

      Delete
  7. Everyone I love has a nickname and one good friend has been Pheebs for years. Love the name Phoebe.

    I am two tone on top. Despite my daughter now being a licensed cosmo I've yet to have the 5 inches of dark mixed with gray attended to. Ah well....it could be worse.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Just keep wearing that nice hat you are wearing in your profile picture Linda!

      Delete
  8. My grandparents house was called Ramblers. After the rose, not the walkers. It was later demolished to make way for a police station car park. The photobook will become a treasured possession, I am sure.

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    1. How sad that a house that was special in your memory is now just a car park.

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  9. Well, I left a comment and somehow Blogger ate it. Phooey!

    Will Frances and Stewart find out the sex of the baby in advance, or are they planning to be surprised?

    I love a rambling sort of blogpost. And if it's about one of your rambles in the beautiful English countryside, all the better!

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    1. They don't wish to know the baby's gender before his/her birth Jennifer and I very much approve of that. Throughout human history parents never knew the gender ahead of the birth. I remain conscious that something could go wrong but if you were a gambler you would happily bet on a successful outcome.

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    2. ". . . parents never knew the gender ahead of the birth", you say. Well, dear Grandpa-to-be, let me tell you this is not so. Condemned by my obstetrician to put my feet up as much as possible during the last six weeks or so, and in an idle moment, I did the circling thing above my naval. A coin on a string or something with a hole, say a ring, will do. It's magic. If it goes round one way it's a boy, if it goes the other it's a girl. Where it goes if it's a hermaphrodite I do not know. Witchcraft instructions gloss over that one.

      U

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  10. A ramble in your beautiful countryside is always wonderful. But the question is - were you rambling clockwise or anti-clockwise?

    I love the sound of the album gift you are making for Frances and Stewart! That is a wonderful and personal gift they will cherish forever. I made something similar for my youngest son when he graduated with his doctorate in music. I included pictures from his musical career starting as a young boy.

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    1. so you know what I am talking about with the album Bonnie. Those online photobook tools give wonderful results - so many options. Your youngest son must be a very gifted man in the field of music. What are his preferred instruments?

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  11. He is a percussionist and plays all percussion instruments particularly marimba but he also plays and teaches guitar. Unfortunately, after working as a professor of music at a university for a year the school received cuts in the music program and he has since worked as a computer engineer. It pays the bills but does not reach his passion.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. That's so sad Bonnie. I think the world needs music more than it needs computers.

      Delete
  12. I love the idea of the album I'm sure they will love it.
    cuddly blogophile suits me fine.lol
    Briony
    x

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I was thinking of you when I came up with "cuddly blogophile".

      Delete
  13. A photo album sounds like a lovely gift and one that will outlast you. Not that you're old (cough,cough).

    Your daughter is a beautiful young woman and they look so happy. It does my heart good.

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    1. Cough, cough? I hope that COVID Hasn't got ya Lily!

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  14. Rambling, ambling, at leisure. Stream of consciousness, YP. If you let your thoughts roam free, not least on one's own blog, few will have a clue what you are talking about. Which is great - if confusing for the simple minded reader.

    On a practical note. I rarely ask for help. However, I need help finding a suitable blog name to throw myself on the page. So, if you or any of your readers could inspire me (don't be shy, I can take it) I'd be grateful.

    U

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Please be unreassured. I am setting my feeble mind to your request.

      You may be a Wiccan, and I like Wiccans, but I looked up Saint Ursula's legend on Wiki. Her story is like Sunniva of Norway, also on Wiki. Sunniva I like.
      The Order of Ursulines was founded in 1535 by Angela Merici, nice name, and was devoted to the education of young women.
      The street in London called St. Mary Axe was dedicated to Ursula and her 11,000 virgins. All the lads were gay in those days, ay?
      All too churchycentric?

      There's a brainy website in the USA called Patheos which hosts to mostly Christian agnostics, progressives and liberals, not my theology. But one I enjoy is a Wiccan Jewish lady who keeps getting hounded by male rabbis for supporting paganism. I can get you her name later.
      As a despised Evangelical I go to a number of New Age and Pagan fairs, and I find them to be the most open-minded people in the world. They never go, *The Bible? Get the fcuk outa here.*

      Delete
    2. John has got there before me Ursula. My advice for a title that might last a long time is - don't be too esoteric or clever. Keep it pretty simple. Will your new blog contain thoughts and reflection's on life? Perhaps it will be Pandora's Box or using a thesaurus for "reflection" - Ruminations...or maybe... Paraphernalia. You know that your name is connected with bears... The Grizzly Bear? Bearable? Unbearable?... Just some food for thought.

      Delete
    3. Thanks for your input and consideration, Hamel(d). Are you sure of your dates and location?

      The intriguing story is the one set in 383 or some such (21 Oct - Ursula's name's day) when the virgins were done for. In Cologne of all places. Still, better than being remembered as a chocolate (Lady Godiva). I like horses. As long as I don't have to sit on them. Naked. Giving a whole new meaning to Ursula Andress.

      Your suggestion of "Wiccan" intriguing in as much as in the motherland it'd be pronounced "Weeeeee kann" which, of course, I can. No use by date.

      My question set me thinking of how a name gives us identity. Maybe I could name my blog Jesus Christ. That way people could address me as "JESUS effing CHRIST", and then proceed. I'll offer them the other cheek. Even the money lenders will be welcome in my temple. Judas' fee will be doubled - in gold. I'll leave Peter and Paul to their own devices. The rooster may crow as many times as he likes. I'll be awake before him.

      As an aside: I have always felt sorry for Pontius Pilatus. Still not sure whether the man actually had a spine or was just victim of circumstance.

      God almighty,
      U

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    4. "Pandora's Box" sounds grand, YP. Too grand, though. What if I get myself locked in same box, lid closed? Give it a few hundred years down the line and I'd amount to a curse. Not my (current) life's ambition.

      "Unbearable"? That'll definitely make it in the top three of choice.

      U

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    5. Why not just use your existing blog?

      Delete
    6. Kylie, I wish you hadn't asked that. Why not let sleeping dogs lie? History belongs to the past.

      The blog you are referring to closed its door, can't remember now, two/three years ago. Some understood the reason(s), others didn't. Neither did I explain. Whatever my reasons were, why not respect them?

      I asked, somewhere above: "What's in a name?". The blog name I chose more than ten years ago was meant in an ironic way. It was spur of the moment, in direct response to some bloggers, one in particular, trying to tear me apart. (As an aside: The one at the forefront of those bloggers and I are now on friendly and respectful speaking terms. Something no one can say/will expect of the limited you-know-who).

      Yes, Kylie, fresh starts, new beginnings. On the other hand, as I am typing this, your suggestion is growing on me. We'll see where the wind of the spontaneous will take me. Most likely into either the woods or the open sky.

      Thank you for the thought. Neither have I forgotten that you did stand up for me when the swell got rough.

      U

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  15. *Are you sure of your dates and locations, Mr. Hameld?*
    Now that is the witty response I would get from Gore Vidal who, if he had to choose, would go for Wiccan over Christer. A very troubled man beneath his hauteur.

    The Second Temple had become a racket by the time of Later Antiquity. The poor were being fleeced. The priests were lining their pockets. Your sense of justice would have rebelled. Many of the Pharisees were divorcing their wives and *marrying* girls of 15 and 16. That is why Yeshua was hated and feared and why he was flogged and brought before Pilate, a brutal man. Yet Pilate was also intrigued enough to ask, *What is truth?* Many pagans were doubting the existence of the gods and they did ask questions like this. The wives of Roman senators often worshipped in synagogues. Throughout the world from China to Persia there were expectations of a saviour.

    Getting angry with the messenger is as old as John Wesley, read his Journal. The mob threw stones at Wesley in Preston and ignored him in Winchester until he converted some very poor old agricultural workers. His brother Charles wrote lyrics that are not only perfect in diction and metre, but great theology. Hear them on YouTube.

    Maybe Yorkshire Pudding will do a blog, as an honest sceptic, on the Wesleys in Yorkshire.

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    1. You are such an education, Hamel(d), you make me smile, smile and then some. Between you and YP there are too few hours in every twenty four to follow up on both your combined learning.

      "An honest sceptic"? Isn't that a tautology? A sceptic, surely, by definition, honest.

      U

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    2. I have no learning, Ursula. *Honest sceptic* IS a tautology. I should have said *A sceptic who endeavours to be honest in his/her dealings.* Into that category I would place YP and yourself.

      Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones once gave a sermon and afterwards a woman said to him, *This Gospel of yours is so narrow.* The Doctor replied, *Madame, the narrowness of the Gospel is the narrowness of God.*

      An overlooked fact about Pontius Pilate. The chief priests were not able to accompany Christ into Pilate's residence because Pilate was a pagan. To do so would have meant going through a 30 day purification ritual, so they would not have been able to attend that day's Passover, the greatest feast in the Jewish year. Christ could enter in without being made unclean. As Augustine said, He can enter into any human soul no matter how filthy and wicked.

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  16. Rambling reminds me of a tune Nat King Cole made popular...Rambling rose. Give it a listen.

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    1. Thanks Red. I just went over to YouTube for a listen.

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  17. I went on a mind ramble this morning, in fact my mind always rambles sadly! I agree YP about joining organisations though, the ramblers hardly ever lets dogs join the fun, and I would hate to chatter when lost in thought about the landscape around me.

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    1. The Ramblers are largely about togetherness and unity. I guess they have done some good things over the years - preserving rights of way etc. - but I prefer my independence.

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  18. I like physical rambling, but not verbal rambling! Your rambling, though, was actually quite linear, so not really rambling at all. The album is a terrific idea. I'm sure they'll love it and treasure it forever. And Alfred/Phoebe probably will too.

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    1. I am secretly hoping that they change Alfred to Neil. How else can I attain immortality?

      Delete

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