1. Morning Munguinites. I’ve got some treats for you today. It’s only three bananas to get in…2. Some cats have all the luck…3. Lunch time.4. Cherry blossom gets everywhere.Cerisier rose…5. What kind of snake was this, found in Bulgaria, by a certain cat?6. Prague.7. OK now could you all just shut up. I want to get to sleep.8. Do you think they look like me?9. Hummmmmmmmmmmmm…10. Wadi Rum, Jordan.11. I’m a tree frog. I’ve got my eye on you and it’s a very nice eye, even if I say so myself.12. I’m just sitting here pondering stuff.13.Un nuage—voilà l’orage.14. Huh, the French don’t know squat about .. . clouds and storms…even if the call them silly foreign names They wanna come here to Scotland and see sgòthan agus stoirmean.15. On our block all of the guys… oh wait, we did that one yesterday.16.Why can’t I have Wisteria like that in my garden?17. Damned cheek. Woof Woof.18.I’m even older than the queen!19. I’m watching you.
Great, tris. I have a soft spot for the golden retrievers.
And as for Pic 15, having read (and reread multiple times) Naomi Mitchison’s “Corn King and Spring Queen”, I can never look at a flamingo again without thinking of Der Erif’s encounter with her reincarnated mother.
Shhhhh… dont say that in front of Munguin. He won’t let me read it.
I’ve just read the synopsis on amazon.
Set over two thousand years ago on the calm and fertile shores of the Black Sea, Naomi Mitchison’s The Corn King and the Spring Queen tells of ancient civilisations where tenderness, beauty and love vie with brutality and dark magic. Erif Der, a young witch, is compelled by her father to marry his powerful rival, Tarrik the Corn King, so becoming the Spring Queen. Forced by her father, she uses her magic spells to try and break Tarrik’s power. But one night Tarrik rescues Sphaeros, an Hellenic philosopher, from a shipwreck. Sphaeros in turn rescues Tarrik from near death and so breaks the enchantment that has bound him. And so begins for Tarrik a Quest – a fabulous voyage of discovery which will bring him new knowledge and which will reunite him with his beautiful Spring Queen.
That synopsis covers just the first third of the novel.
The second third takes place in Greece (mostly Sparta), before the scene of the action moves to Egypt.
It’s one of those books you can read and reread. And that flamingo . . .
#16 It’s all in the pruning Tris. To get wisteria to flower like that, you need to prune twice a year, every year.
In July or August, prune all the new, whippy growth to 5 or 6 leaves, excising any you don’t want and any deadwood. Cut the same growth to 2 or 3 buds in February. Do any structural pruning at that time too; it’s much easier when it’s bare; as always get rid of dead material. Wisteria wood is really soft, you’ll get through quite big cuts with decent secateurs and loppers. A folding pruning saw (look out for them in Aldi or Lidl at £3) will cope with cuts up to 4″ on wisteria.
You’ll end up with the shrub covered in short spikes, each producing one or more flower panicles.
Off topic. I expect an announcement tomorrow that the Great British will no longer be lowering themselves to take part in some lower order foreign song contest and will in future have a Great British song contest, which will consist of superior music sung by SIR Elton John and SIR cliff Richard with music by LORD Lloyd Webber. England will always win because… Well, none of the other nations will bother their backsides to compete… And you’ll find them over on the continent. Ecosse dix points; Pays de Galles huit points; Irelande du Nord six points.
I’m not being early again – promise – just late for AOY. Realised that I hadn’t explained the significance of No 21 yesterday, but when I went to rectify that, discovered that Drew had come up with not only the story of the etching but my main point about the first rail fatality and the MP who lost his life but made history. Now that readers will be on to SS, thought I should acknowedge Drew here lest his contribytion be missed. Yet another justification for the Munguin Encyclopaedia.
As for today’s crop, Ziggy the No 1 bar cat makes a second appearance in as many weeks, seen here having a post-prandial snooze on Martin’s lap after having his dinner brought by the cat ladies, Kay and the RS. Tris, do think Munguin might be tempted to emigrate??
Another lucky Bulgarian beastie is the snake in the plastic box. It was a ‘present’ brought by Numbi (also seen here often) for the RS, who thought it dead and put it in the tupperware to keep it fresh. She then suggested it woyld make a good SS photie. ‘Not in that box!’ I declared dismissively and went outside to search for a suitable diorama background for a creative shoot. I heard a suawk behind me and ‘Oh shit! It’s still alive!!’ as she hurridely tried to get the lid back on without decapitating it.
The box and contents then went off to the pub where Kay ID’d it as a harnless grass snake and Martin released it into the undergrowth adjoining the veranda – after taking a pic for the record. Kay rightfully should get the photot credit for that – and supine Ziggy. Lucky cat, lucky grass snake.
As for the rest, surely the coo in 14 should also be praising the impressive sights of ‘Dealanaich cuideachd!’ And 15 must be at Balloch and the Flamingo Park that Ed was so much looking forward to yesterday. No??
Great selecton, as always, and congrats to Munguin for all his hard work in bringing us the compilation.
Some very life-affirming photies in there as usual, Tris. Of course I particularly liked the orangutans. Alert Munguinites will recall that the cheetah is a duma in Swahili.
The Bristlecone Pines aren’t the handsomest trees in the world, but you make allowances for trees that are often older than the pyramids. The Methuselah tree in California was 2200 years old when Khufu applied for his building permit.
I remember reading about the young scientist, Donald Currie, who ordered the cutting down of a bristlecone pine (Prometheus?), to record climatic changes going back to and beyond the little ice age. The tree cut down, by a park ranger, turned out to be the oldest living thing on the planet at just short of 5000 years old. Oops, or some other well used phrase. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-accidentally-killed-the-oldest-tree-ever-125764872/
Thanks Alan……What an amazing story! It prompted me to do a little internet searching.
I see that Wiki reports the age of the currently known oldest REMAINING Bristlecone to be 4,852 years. It’s named “Methuselah.”
And I see the note (dated 2016) at the end of the Smithsonian article which links to an article about another super old Bristlecone having been discovered with a reported age of over 5,000 years. Here’s a comment dated 2017 from that article:
“May 2017: A new old age tree record holder was recently recognized, a Pinus longaeva (Great Basin bristlecone pine) growing in the White Mountains of eastern California. The date on this tree was reported to me by the late Tom Harlan. The tree was cored by Edmund Schulman in the summer of 1957 but unfortunately Schulman never had a chance to date the tree before his untimely death in early 1958. Starting around 2009, Harlan worked up many of the cores Schulman collected that summer of 1957, and discovered the tree’s age at that time. Tom reported to me in 2010 that the tree was still alive, and the age reported to me at that time was 5062 years old. HOWEVER, as of 2017, the age of this tree has not been able to be confirmed; the core dated by Tom Harlan has not been located at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. Therefore, I have removed this tree from OldList until such time as it is able to be confirmed.”
So the story seems to be that in 1957, Edmund Schulman took a core from an old tree that he did not date before his death. Schulman told Tom Harlan where that tree is located (locations of historic trees are not publicly disclosed), and Harlan subsequently dated Schulman’s core at 5,062 years……which would make it the oldest Bristlecone ever confirmed……even older than the 5,000 year old Prometheus tree that Donald Rusk Currey accidentally cut down when he was a young graduate student in 1964……and certainly older than the 4,852 year old Methuselah tree, the currently recognized and verified Bristlecone age record holder.
Unfortunately, Tom Harlan passed away and never told anyone where Schulman’s old tree is located, and no one at the lab can now locate the core that Schulman bore and Harlan presumably authenticated. Therefore neither the core can be verified, nor the location of the tree confirmed.
Seems that the OOPS spirit of Donald Rusk Currey and Bristlecone Pine age research endures. 😉
The Bristlecone grove in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, where the Prometheus tree grew that Currey cut down:
I am livid at the EU giving Britain no votes in the Eurovision. Nobody cares anyway. Sammarino? Don’t make me laugh. We could send a single frigate in their and blow the place to smitherines. And how come Belgium, a country with NO coastline are so keen on shellfish? Probably at other people’s expense. Ours. We invented pop music in 1960 and we should be the winners. Switzerland? Don’t make me laugh – they have to beg for food at bus stations.
Love it, Claudia! Mind you we might have a bit of a problem getting that frigate to san Marino as it’s a landlocked country. Still, where there’s a will, there’s a way. I’m saddened to hear that Belgium has NO coastline. It must have washed away since I took steamers to Ostend some years ago 🤪
I’m sure that GREAT Britain would simply have San Marino moved to the cost.. and then dump all their rubbish close by Belgium, thus denying it a coastline.
We could always export some of our innovative jams to Switzerland to save the natives from starving in bus shelters too.
Maybe if they want to try again, get a decent song, and get a more interesting setting.
Lovely stuff. Been a trying week for me so very much appreciated. Nice to see Ziggy again, what a sweet little tiger and the duma were delightful. Plus the life affirming orangs.
Anyway if you want to get to the other side of the road, always use a pedestrian crossing 🙂
When i searched, i found this “rude” statement on Anguis fragilis:
“ANGUIS FRAGILIS OF EUROPE
The most common legless lizard in Europe is the Anguis fragilis, or, as some language-challenged Brits call it, the slowworm. They also sometimes call it the blindworm, despite its capability to see just fine through its admittedly small, lidded eyes and it not being a worm. The lizard can be found all over most of temperate Europe and as far east as Turkey.”
MUNGUIN'S NEW REPUBLIC 
Great, tris. I have a soft spot for the golden retrievers.
And as for Pic 15, having read (and reread multiple times) Naomi Mitchison’s “Corn King and Spring Queen”, I can never look at a flamingo again without thinking of Der Erif’s encounter with her reincarnated mother.
Now, there’s a novel full of sex and violence.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Shhhhh… dont say that in front of Munguin. He won’t let me read it.
I’ve just read the synopsis on amazon.
Set over two thousand years ago on the calm and fertile shores of the Black Sea, Naomi Mitchison’s The Corn King and the Spring Queen tells of ancient civilisations where tenderness, beauty and love vie with brutality and dark magic. Erif Der, a young witch, is compelled by her father to marry his powerful rival, Tarrik the Corn King, so becoming the Spring Queen. Forced by her father, she uses her magic spells to try and break Tarrik’s power. But one night Tarrik rescues Sphaeros, an Hellenic philosopher, from a shipwreck. Sphaeros in turn rescues Tarrik from near death and so breaks the enchantment that has bound him. And so begins for Tarrik a Quest – a fabulous voyage of discovery which will bring him new knowledge and which will reunite him with his beautiful Spring Queen.
Sounds not bad.
LikeLike
That synopsis covers just the first third of the novel.
The second third takes place in Greece (mostly Sparta), before the scene of the action moves to Egypt.
It’s one of those books you can read and reread. And that flamingo . . .
LikeLiked by 1 person
#16 It’s all in the pruning Tris. To get wisteria to flower like that, you need to prune twice a year, every year.
In July or August, prune all the new, whippy growth to 5 or 6 leaves, excising any you don’t want and any deadwood. Cut the same growth to 2 or 3 buds in February. Do any structural pruning at that time too; it’s much easier when it’s bare; as always get rid of dead material. Wisteria wood is really soft, you’ll get through quite big cuts with decent secateurs and loppers. A folding pruning saw (look out for them in Aldi or Lidl at £3) will cope with cuts up to 4″ on wisteria.
You’ll end up with the shrub covered in short spikes, each producing one or more flower panicles.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Drew. It’s a beautiful sight when done right.
LikeLike
Off topic. I expect an announcement tomorrow that the Great British will no longer be lowering themselves to take part in some lower order foreign song contest and will in future have a Great British song contest, which will consist of superior music sung by SIR Elton John and SIR cliff Richard with music by LORD Lloyd Webber. England will always win because… Well, none of the other nations will bother their backsides to compete… And you’ll find them over on the continent. Ecosse dix points; Pays de Galles huit points; Irelande du Nord six points.
LikeLike
Set up a petition for Moira Anderson to host the contest.
LikeLiked by 1 person
She can host it and perform a selection of her greatest hits… then she can present herself with a prize.
🙂
LikeLike
I’m not being early again – promise – just late for AOY. Realised that I hadn’t explained the significance of No 21 yesterday, but when I went to rectify that, discovered that Drew had come up with not only the story of the etching but my main point about the first rail fatality and the MP who lost his life but made history. Now that readers will be on to SS, thought I should acknowedge Drew here lest his contribytion be missed. Yet another justification for the Munguin Encyclopaedia.
As for today’s crop, Ziggy the No 1 bar cat makes a second appearance in as many weeks, seen here having a post-prandial snooze on Martin’s lap after having his dinner brought by the cat ladies, Kay and the RS. Tris, do think Munguin might be tempted to emigrate??
Another lucky Bulgarian beastie is the snake in the plastic box. It was a ‘present’ brought by Numbi (also seen here often) for the RS, who thought it dead and put it in the tupperware to keep it fresh. She then suggested it woyld make a good SS photie. ‘Not in that box!’ I declared dismissively and went outside to search for a suitable diorama background for a creative shoot. I heard a suawk behind me and ‘Oh shit! It’s still alive!!’ as she hurridely tried to get the lid back on without decapitating it.
The box and contents then went off to the pub where Kay ID’d it as a harnless grass snake and Martin released it into the undergrowth adjoining the veranda – after taking a pic for the record. Kay rightfully should get the photot credit for that – and supine Ziggy. Lucky cat, lucky grass snake.
As for the rest, surely the coo in 14 should also be praising the impressive sights of ‘Dealanaich cuideachd!’ And 15 must be at Balloch and the Flamingo Park that Ed was so much looking forward to yesterday. No??
Great selecton, as always, and congrats to Munguin for all his hard work in bringing us the compilation.
LikeLiked by 3 people
Thank you, John.
I apologize to Kay for not having her name in the acknowledgments.
I’m thinking that there are a lot of very lucky animals in Bulgaria.
Munguin might consider emigrating, but he would have to approve the menu first.
He’s a tad on the fussy side when it comes to food… not to mention drink.
LikeLike
I was actually going to suggest “Bulgarian grass snake”, but had second thoughts. I’m better at taxonomy than I thought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks John.
I did a little almost peerless Googling (almost, with the obvious exception of other Munguinites) to take my mind off Hibs’ no-show yesterday.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Almost peerless is as good as MOST of us get…. 🙂
LikeLike
Number one in the charts at the moment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some very life-affirming photies in there as usual, Tris. Of course I particularly liked the orangutans. Alert Munguinites will recall that the cheetah is a duma in Swahili.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Munguin says that all his readers, with the exception of Tris, who doesn’t really count, are alert!
🙂
LikeLike
The Bristlecone Pines aren’t the handsomest trees in the world, but you make allowances for trees that are often older than the pyramids. The Methuselah tree in California was 2200 years old when Khufu applied for his building permit.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Calendar confusion errata: Actually, the Methuselah tree is about 200 years older than the Great Pyramid…..not 2200. Still pretty old though. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Seriously elderly!!!
Made Prince Philip look like a spring chicken!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember reading about the young scientist, Donald Currie, who ordered the cutting down of a bristlecone pine (Prometheus?), to record climatic changes going back to and beyond the little ice age. The tree cut down, by a park ranger, turned out to be the oldest living thing on the planet at just short of 5000 years old. Oops, or some other well used phrase.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-one-man-accidentally-killed-the-oldest-tree-ever-125764872/
LikeLiked by 2 people
We’ll stick with ooops for the sake of decency.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Alan……What an amazing story! It prompted me to do a little internet searching.
I see that Wiki reports the age of the currently known oldest REMAINING Bristlecone to be 4,852 years. It’s named “Methuselah.”
And I see the note (dated 2016) at the end of the Smithsonian article which links to an article about another super old Bristlecone having been discovered with a reported age of over 5,000 years. Here’s a comment dated 2017 from that article:
“May 2017: A new old age tree record holder was recently recognized, a Pinus longaeva (Great Basin bristlecone pine) growing in the White Mountains of eastern California. The date on this tree was reported to me by the late Tom Harlan. The tree was cored by Edmund Schulman in the summer of 1957 but unfortunately Schulman never had a chance to date the tree before his untimely death in early 1958. Starting around 2009, Harlan worked up many of the cores Schulman collected that summer of 1957, and discovered the tree’s age at that time. Tom reported to me in 2010 that the tree was still alive, and the age reported to me at that time was 5062 years old. HOWEVER, as of 2017, the age of this tree has not been able to be confirmed; the core dated by Tom Harlan has not been located at the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. Therefore, I have removed this tree from OldList until such time as it is able to be confirmed.”
So the story seems to be that in 1957, Edmund Schulman took a core from an old tree that he did not date before his death. Schulman told Tom Harlan where that tree is located (locations of historic trees are not publicly disclosed), and Harlan subsequently dated Schulman’s core at 5,062 years……which would make it the oldest Bristlecone ever confirmed……even older than the 5,000 year old Prometheus tree that Donald Rusk Currey accidentally cut down when he was a young graduate student in 1964……and certainly older than the 4,852 year old Methuselah tree, the currently recognized and verified Bristlecone age record holder.
Unfortunately, Tom Harlan passed away and never told anyone where Schulman’s old tree is located, and no one at the lab can now locate the core that Schulman bore and Harlan presumably authenticated. Therefore neither the core can be verified, nor the location of the tree confirmed.
Seems that the OOPS spirit of Donald Rusk Currey and Bristlecone Pine age research endures. 😉
The Bristlecone grove in Great Basin National Park, Nevada, where the Prometheus tree grew that Currey cut down:
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am livid at the EU giving Britain no votes in the Eurovision. Nobody cares anyway. Sammarino? Don’t make me laugh. We could send a single frigate in their and blow the place to smitherines. And how come Belgium, a country with NO coastline are so keen on shellfish? Probably at other people’s expense. Ours. We invented pop music in 1960 and we should be the winners. Switzerland? Don’t make me laugh – they have to beg for food at bus stations.
LikeLike
People clearly don’t know their place…or is it places.
LikeLike
Love it, Claudia! Mind you we might have a bit of a problem getting that frigate to san Marino as it’s a landlocked country. Still, where there’s a will, there’s a way. I’m saddened to hear that Belgium has NO coastline. It must have washed away since I took steamers to Ostend some years ago 🤪
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sure that GREAT Britain would simply have San Marino moved to the cost.. and then dump all their rubbish close by Belgium, thus denying it a coastline.
We could always export some of our innovative jams to Switzerland to save the natives from starving in bus shelters too.
Maybe if they want to try again, get a decent song, and get a more interesting setting.
LikeLike
No17 looks like a poster for Lord Rockingham’s XI.
“There’s a Moose loose aboot this hoose”
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great Minds, Marcia!
LikeLike
🙂
LikeLike
A visit to Wadi Rum – includes a train which looks like it is running late by 100 years.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I can imagine Lawrence of Arabia attacking that train. Maybe he did!
LikeLiked by 2 people
That will the reason for it being late.
LikeLiked by 3 people
At least Great British Railways haven’t come up with that excuse…YET!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was beautiful, Marcia.
I see what you mean about the train. Probably slightly worse than one of the Great British trains.
LikeLike
Lovely stuff. Been a trying week for me so very much appreciated. Nice to see Ziggy again, what a sweet little tiger and the duma were delightful. Plus the life affirming orangs.
Anyway if you want to get to the other side of the road, always use a pedestrian crossing 🙂
LikeLiked by 3 people
Awww… that was lovely. Thank you.
I hope next week is better for you.
LikeLike
tris
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/feb/23/vintage-photographs-edinburgh-in-pictures-robert-blomfield-photography
LikeLiked by 3 people
Lovely, Niko. Thanks.
LikeLike
While I’m unfamiliar with European reptiles, i would hazard a guess that it’s not a snake but a legless lizard. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
rakali, the legless lizard is known as the European slow worm, Anguis fragilis.
See, Danny, I can do taxonomy as well! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Is there no end….
LikeLike
LOL… Do lizards get legless..?
I thought that was only us.
Only joking:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legless_lizard
LikeLike
Thank you DonDon.
When i searched, i found this “rude” statement on Anguis fragilis:
“ANGUIS FRAGILIS OF EUROPE
The most common legless lizard in Europe is the Anguis fragilis, or, as some language-challenged Brits call it, the slowworm. They also sometimes call it the blindworm, despite its capability to see just fine through its admittedly small, lidded eyes and it not being a worm. The lizard can be found all over most of temperate Europe and as far east as Turkey.”
https://www.reptilesmagazine.com/six-legless-lizards/
🙂
I was actually thinking the illustration is of the European Giant Glass Lizards (Pseudopus apodus)
http://reptileapartment.com/giant-glass-lizards-scheltopusik/
LikeLike
I love the “blindworm” name, though it’s neither blind nor a worm.
It’s a bit like calling Johnson an inspiring leader…
LikeLike
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E2GkvyvXoAUpiXT?format=jpg&name=small
LikeLike
Wonder who’s paying…
LikeLike
No 5 is surely a youthful Michael Gove.
LikeLike
LOL. I doubt he was ever that good looking.
LikeLike