Curly's Capers

" Salutations from The Manse, Upper Pensionville, Bucks.   Just taken delivery of our Christmas Cards for this Season. Mr man Baxter was in charge of the lenses and I have to say has made a jolly decent effort. The photograph was shot in black and white, in order Baxter said, to give it a certain cachet. It shows the Memsahib and myself in side profile, with a roaring  log fire in the  background. Directly in front of the fire  our two pugs Algy and Pugwash  looking like somnolent bookends. Whilst in front of them is a small table upon which is placed a tray with cut-glass crystal glasses and two bottles; one with the legend ' Flowing Empire ' (our natural water) and the other , " Parson Pear's Spiced  Mulled Perry." a new line which we have brought to market  for future frosty days ahead. Baxter showing his computer skills, cleverly has introduced colour to show the  fire flames and naturally our bottle labels. Good show what. This photog...

Mr. T. From paint to brush to canvass, Confident almost impudent in the destination of the stroke. Bold, passionate and  self-assured in the delivery. Unafraid of opinion  other than his own . Towering waves endorse his sexual ardour. Lashed and spent  in the climax of the storm. The redemptive energy of the sun  bringing calm and hope in the midst of chaos  Sketches remind the eye of  location and memory delivers the emotional  charge. Where then  do we store these pictures if we cannot paint or draw? For the mind's eye is imbued  with  spirit and infuses the subject with persona, lacking the clinical starkness  of the lens. Thank you Mr. Turner for  your life views;  of people,  places,  scapes of land and sea  and most  importantly for   bringing  the aura of light   upon   the matter in  ha...

Last Tuesday ( 11/ 11 ) D. and I visited London to see our daughter L. and to view the " Late Turner " art exhibition at Tate Britain. In a jokey fashion, I have always referred to London as " Up The Smoke "  in celebration of its industrial past. It was therefore interesting to note that the artist Joseph Mallord William Turner ( 1775 - 1851) not only lived in  this industrial period, but also used it frequently in his paintings. He was, for example,  the first major artist to use the steam train as a subject and delighted in smoke, fog and mists through which he could express the properties of light so effectively. The exhibition marked the last period of his life from 1835 when he was sixty years of age. He constantly travelled widely in Europe drawing sketches at all points on his journey. He was drawn to water and therefore especially loved Venice, with its natural mists and shadows. He was famous for his sea views and in fact developed the idea...

there is not a great amount of news to report this week,   as the inclement  conditions kept D. and I from venturing out much. I did however master my computer worries and successfully installed 'Yosemite' Apple's new operating system for the Mac, last Monday( 3 / 11 ). It was a 5GB download, so a big chunk of data indeed. I have to report, it went very smoothly and was ' done and dusted ' in just over an hour and a half. The colours are  of the pastel variety. It has clearly been' tweaked ' and appears to run a tad more efficiently. Apple released it, in order to accomplish their eco-system, in which Apple devices ( computers, phones and iPads ) ' talk'  to each other and exchange documents, music, photographs etc. Now I can answer my iPhone on my Mac. Neat.  A virtuous circle of information. I thought I might spend a few sentences examining two  of the  key Apple business policies:( for those not interested please move swiftly on to the next...

The Poet Edward Thomas was travelling through this village, near to Stow on the Wold, in a train ( station closed 1964) during the First World War. This poem describes a moment which for many people sums up an English summer day. The added poignancy for Thomas himself, who never set foot in Adlestrop, was his death in Flanders in 1917. It needless to say immortalised this place. Here are  the first and last stanzas: ' Yes I remember Adlestrop- The name because one afternoon, Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June. And for that minute a blackbird sang Close by, and around him, mistier, Father and farther , all the birds Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. ' Phillip Edward Thomas ( 1878 - 1917 ) Yesterday ( 31 /10) D. and I revisited a walk from Adlestrop, which we first tried on 21st April 2003. It was a beautiful day as  we ventured forth from the village hall car park, on the last day of October. This...