Week two of November

Friday 8th November 2013

Pond & canal
Swans come and go on t’pond. Appears to be a bit of cradle snatching here.

 
 

Looks like a wooden model. Not, by any means, a good picture, kes was a long way off.

 
 

As I remarked last week, ivy is a boon to flies and wasps this late in the year.

 
 

Nearing town there was a “Whump; whump; whump” from behind and the swans from the pond flew overhead heading south over town.

 
 

I know they’re as common as muck but they are beautiful.

 
 

Reasons to insert a break …

Somebody (No names – no packdrill [Alison]) reminded – or was it “told” – me that the email notifications for my blog actually include the whole post. The cure for this is to put a “continue reading” marker in.

The thing to do, I suppose, is to make sure that the reader’s attention is grabbed to make them want to see what comes next.

So:
Coming up after the fold: Monastery, mongoose and owl! and lots more:

Mongooses of sundry shades and sizes

Murder in the monastery

Naked Austrian
Owl Dancers;

Pics ex Wikipedia )
(never said they were anything to do with me, although I have seen one of them* up close)

Saturday

Just for a change walked round the pond and down the canal to town and back.+
Thought these ducks looked rather sinister silhouetted against the sun. “The Black Ducks of Godfrey’s Pond”

 
 

Thought this was a vole (Arvicola amphibius), it swam and dived so quickly, until I checked the picture on t’computer. It’s a rat!

 
 

These flowers, as well as being quite late, are among the smallest around.

 
 

Looking down to see clouds …
… reflected in the canal.

 
 

Can’t recall exactly where this fungus was but I’m pleased I got it.

 
 

Two views of the same gull.

 
 

Looking West from Morse Lock.

 
 

Colours of autumn on the pond.

 
 

Another young swan visiting.

 
 

“Our” kestrel over the canal.

 
 

Young grebe passes by as a coot preens on the carpet in the pond.

 
 

Couple of gulls landing and demonstrating why they’re called “Gullwing” doors.

 
 

“No: I’m not getting you any more fish! Time you’d left the pond, Junior.” Parent giving short shrift to one of the kids.

Tease

A comment on my last post got me googling “tease” Apparently it does come from teaseling as in “running thorns through wool or flax to separate, shred, or card the fibers” which can be traced back to Old High German “ziesen” “To tease, pick wool”. In the early 17th century the figurative sense: “vex, worry, annoy” emerged.

Teasels play a little known part in the manufacturing of many textile fabrics. The stiff needle-like bracts which form just below the flowers in the head or burr are used to raise the ‘nap’ or ‘pile’ of the cloth to produce desired finishes on specific fabrics.
The cultivated form of this plant is commonly called Fuller’s Teasel, because the gigging or napping operation in a mill is done under the supervision of the fuller, who supervises the fulling, or felting of the fabric.
Teasel occurs in Anglo-Saxon, before the English Language as we use it had evolved, and is directly related to the word ‘tease’-not in the later sense of annoying but referring to the act of disentangling fibres. http://archive.bsbi.org.uk/Proc7p377.pdf

Anyhoo: onward:

Sunday

Walked up Tranker Lane and in to Tranker Wood via what I’m told was Dormer drills factory site but is now an expanse of concrete foundations. I think that Dormer was where Tom Wheen, a friend of my father’s worked in Sheffield.
On with the pics:

Anyone saying this blog has too many grebe pics will be banned forthwith.
1) They’re beautiful birds;
2) It was trying and failing to get pics of grebes doing their courting dance on the pond that got me interested in photography and “nature”.

 
 

Titled “Autumn”

 
 

Reflection in the canal.

 
 

I went into the wood to see if I could get near to the dike that took the water from the rubbish fire to the Ryton. Failed!
Some ENORMOUS mushrooms in the wood. Some were over 25cm across, I’m sure.

 
 

Any English wood could stand in for Mirkwood or Fangorn. This was almost impenetrable in some directions.

 
 

Back out on the concrete of ex-Dormer ground, there’s loads of buddleia. Have to come and look for butterflies in the summer.

 
 

Globules of water on a fallen oak leaf. Just an odd thing that caught my attention.

 
 

As far from the coast as Worksop is seagulls find us easily.

 
 

Haws against the sky;

 
 

Had this down as a chaffinch but twitter has convinced me that it’s a bullfinch. 🙂

 
 

This I captioned thus for Twitter:

“Never”, they said, “take a picture straight into the sun”.

“Sure about that?” I asked.

Cause I think it’s not bad.

 
 

Just a dead seedhead – rose bay willow?

 
 

One of the many sparrow trees around the pond.

November pomes

After N0! last post getting some nice comments and tweets I thought I’d dig out some more Novemberish stuff

---

November Night
LISTEN . . .
With faint dry sound,
Like steps of passing ghosts,
The leaves, frost-crisp’d, break from the trees
And fall.
(Adelaide Crapsey (1878 – 1914))

---

Even Guns N’ Roses:
November Rain
“When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin’ when I hold you
Don’t you know I feel the same
‘Cause nothin’ lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it’s hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain.”

---

Some prose quotes:

“The gloomy months of November, when the people of England hang and drown themselves.” (Joseph Addison)
A friend has just done the buggerin’ off to Tenerif for a fortnight. Whether it’s to forestall impending self-destruction I know not.

---

Of course some, me included, like the season:
“I like spring, but it is too young. I like summer, but it is too proud. So I like best of all autumn, because its tone is mellower, its colours are richer, and it is tinged with a little sorrow. Its golden richness speaks not of the innocence of spring, nor the power of summer, but of the mellowness and kindly wisdom of approaching age. It knows the limitations of life and its content.” (Lin Yutang 1895 – 1976)

---

And some admire its necessity:
“Have you ever noticed a tree standing naked against the sky,
How beautiful it is?
All its branches are outlined, and in its nakedness
There is a poem, there is a song.
Every leaf is gone and it is waiting for the spring.
When the spring comes, it again fills the tree with
The music of many leaves,
Which in due season fall and are blown away.
And this is the way of life.” (Krishnamurti 1895 – 1986)

Tuesday

Ivy fruit.

 
 

Rather bolshy looking robin.

 
 

We do the hokey cokey and we turn around. That bullfinch again.

 
 

Kestrel:Hovering over the canal.

 
 

Just then flew down a monstrous crow,
As black as a tar-barrel;

 
 

Sheffield

Note: t’ represents a sound that varies by context – anything from “th”,“t”, “d” to “uh”.
Spellings are guesswork.
Some of these may be national but I think they’re Sheff:
Sheffielders are known as “Dee dars” by some in surrounding areas for the (supposéd) pronunciation of “thee” (dee) and “thou” (dar) in phrases such as:
“Nah den dee, wot dar doin?” → Now then you, what (are) you doing?

“Snap” → Lunch. Specially when taken to work in a “snap tin”. (Note the manufacturer and imagine Wile E. Coyote’d with one – it’s “Acme”) They were apparently miners’ gear as the tight push fit and handle allowed the contents to be kept clean and safe from vermin.

“Mardy” → Easily upset; with overtones of grumpy and moaning.

“Put t’wood in t’oil.” → Put the wood in the hole. → Close the door.

“Sylin’ down” → Raining (a lot (a hell of a lot (really chucking it down)))
  Also “Comin’ down in stair rods”.

“Nesh” → Unusually susceptible to cold weather. Often disparaging and implies that one is mardy about it.

“Mash” → I hadn’t realised that this was a Sheffieldism. One “mashes” tea rather than “brews” it or whatever outlandish things are done in other parts.

“Skutch” → A glancing blow to the side or top of the head using the flat of the hand. “A skutch round t’earole”

“Mimmimoke” → To imitate someone in an unflattering way. Often behind their back to amuse those in front of them.

“Lug” → A little tangle in the hair causing pain when combed.
“Lug(ole)s” → ear(hole)s.

“Togger” → Football, the game, not the object.

“Gormless” → Stupid.

“Teeming and Ladling” Pouring liquid from one vessel to another. From steelworks.

“Thee thee and tha them as thees and thas thee” → You talk uncouthly to those who speak uncouthly to you. (command, not observation)
Note) see comment by T below.

Wednesday

Just the usual:
A mini murmuration and subsequent standing room only on an aerial.

 
 

A wagtail on M&S roof. Pied wagtails are quite common but we do get the occasional grey – saw one t’other day on a bobbing Lucozade bottle in Morse Lock’s bywash spill.

 
 

The ribs on this leaf made it look almost look like a dead animal. The photo doesn’t capture it.

 
 

Often, a short while after rain or dewfall, the only thing showing traces of water are grasses.

 
 

Another gull. This one I got against a darker background – I think it shows up better.

 
 

Didn’t realise this was a kestrel until it flew. This dead tree is a common pigeon’s resting place.

 
 

Do moles cast up more molehills in colder weather? The rugger field is often invaded by them.

 
 

A couple of skyscapes:

 
 

Alice

I was a precocious reader, having consumed, among others, Alice in Wonderland before I went to school at five years old. It wasn’t, however, until fairly recently that I discovered that many (most? all?) of the poems in Alice were parodies of other “worthy” writings.

While I was googling “tease” I found:

“Speak roughly to your little boy,
And beat him when he sneezes;
He only does it to annoy,
Because he knows it teases.
…”

Which is what the duchess sings to the baby before it turns into a pig. Turns out that it’s a parody of the rather doleful:

“…
Speak gently to the little child!
Its love be sure to gain;
Teach it in accents soft and mild;
It may not long remain.
…” (Sir Robert Stout)

---

This got me off on a google hunt:

---

“‘You are old, Father William,’ the young man said,
‘And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head –
Do you think, at your age, it is right?’
…”
is from:

“‘You are old, father William,’ the young man cried,
‘The few locks which are left you are grey;
You are hale, father William, a hearty old man;
Now tell me the reason, I pray.’
…” (The old man’s comforts and how he gained them; Robert Southey)

---

I knew, of course, that:

“Twinkle, twinkle, little bat
How I wonder what you’re at!
Up above the world you fly
Like a tea-tray in the sky.
…”
Was from:

“Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are!
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
…” (The Star Jane Taylor)

---

You might like to check others for yourself.

 
 

Thursday 14th November

Another of those “first” pics of the pond.

 
 

Having a kip.

 
 

Another of my obsessions: ripples.

 
 

Leaves held by Deep Lock’s top gate.

 
 

Trees with socks on.

 
 

Grass on Shireoaks tip.

Tried to catch the movement of the grass.

 
 

Teasel against the sky.

 
 

Wind in a different grass.

 
 

The extreme thornyness of this rose stem impressed me.
Captioned: “Nemo me impune lacessit”.

 
 

These are the flowers, male and female, of the alder tree.

 
 

Gotta be one of the last ladybirds of the year.

*Seen

Of the three things the one I’ve seen is the monastery; It’s “Stift Melk” at Melk overlooking the Danube in Austria. I went there in 1960 on an exchange with Harald Schmidt. Unfortunately we didn’t get on and haven’t kept in touch. It was a bloody good month though.

Done.