southern42

Tuesday at 18:49

' evening all from red dragon land.

19.50 A big yellow ball is lighting up our part of the great universe... 😎

and the wind has taken itself off somewhere else.

I have just about managed to keep up to date on here over the last few days but no posts - that I recollect, anyway. 🤔

OK! I own up - I have been putting more effort into my toot on the flute. There were some aspects that were not coming on as I would have liked and rather than give up I decided to do a lot more repetitious note bashing...er...blowing! I also decided to stop acting like a Novice and play a bit more like the (silver) flute player that I once was, even without the twiddly bits. Amazingly, it seems to be working as, this morning, I was gobsmacked at how well (....for me!) the first line of the song came out, with all the twiddly bits nicely in place. So, I know I can do it but do not be too appreciative as I have a dozen more lines to go...

Take care. Be good. Plod on!

Polly

April 11

' morning all from red dragon land.

Still windy but not as much and sun squeezing out through the clouds. 11.8C though I doubt it feels it!

Just about managed to catch up on the last 24hours on here, so it must be coming up to mugadecaf time so I will be short.

Time put into lots of toot on the flute repetition is showing some benefit, but it still needs more but I am encouraged to continue, simply because some of the more tricky bits occur later on as well.

Oooooh! Sun has popped out. 😎

Some paperwork work from officialdom will have to be sorted and filed away this afternoon. So that will clear one part of the worktop!

Take care. Be good. Keep on top of things.

Polly

April 10

' afternoon all from red dragon land.

Wetnwindy. I will say no more!

Still not favourable for the outdoor G word. I can see some things are doing well: the clump of Espano-Anglish bluebells after I cleared their growth area of overlying stones but we will have to wait to see how well the flowers do; the peony, in bud, looks mighty promising; but not sure about the iris which did really well last year - so much wind some of the leaves are broken already. Lots of flowers are doing extremely well, namely the yellow variety threatening to reveal its clocks is spread all over the weed patch...er...lawn. Some G investigation will have to take place when the weather improves.

Flute maintenance this morning, bamboo flutes having had their monthly clean and oil. ~~Played~~ brushed up a bit on a few world lullabies on the plastic flute this morning just for a change.

Time to think about dinner.

Take care. Be good. Keep an eye on things.

Polly

April 9

19 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Back in 1975 Aditi spent ages making handouts with lovely maps or landform diagrams for her geography students. When I did my PGCE at Keele there were courses all about classroom technology , Banda copiers, stencil cutters and how to make clever ohp slides with overlays. Also how to use a video tape (not cassette) player and film projectors. Eventually all that lot were replaced by computers. They also had some weird teaching machines that someone somewhere reckoned would replace teachers. They didn’t.

1990s. I had just completed a couple of art & design courses, when Mr Suvvern came home and said one of the uni professors wanted an oceanography drawing redone for publication and later other requests came from others such as for diagrams on ohp slides to be redrawn. The department had just lost their team of draughtsmen (pen and paper job - "old hat"!) and many academics were not at that time adept at using the computer. I started with Freelance Graphics which began a short career in computer aided design (CAD), eventually becoming a web authorer (programming in html, etc, and designing web pages and drawings, charts, etc for them) in several uni departments. "What's a webpage?" was my first question when asked to do the given job in the first department. By the time I retired, systems for doing the job were increasing and fast changing and I was glad to be out of it! Excellent while it lasted. I still do a bit of graphic design stuff but mainly for myself and family and, occasionally, on a voluntary basis for any of the groups I belong to. Designing Apps is all the rage, now, among other things. I only have to look at one of our offspring's CV to see that one! And, of course, you only have to look on here to see the take up on the latest ~~craze~~ illustrative packages, @iL Dottore and others in which I have been well and truly featured. 🎀 🎶

April 8

' evening all from red dragon land.

Mix of sea mist down yonder, and alternating rain and sun.

09:30 this morning.

I delved into my little book about ragas, today, but, although it has a glossary at the end, I find I shall have to create my own glossary for all the words and phrases in the book that are not on its list! My memory is not brilliant at the best of times, and I find I am constantly looking up familiar words to rediscover what they mean. Nothing knew - I have the same trouble in English - hence I go for the so called "easy" crosswords - mostly, anyway! The trouble I find with the easy crosswords, is the high repetition of clues and answers which tend to make me head for the more edicated puzzawls.

April 7

birthday
It's my birthday too, yeah
They say it's your birthday
We're gonna have a good time

I'm glad it's

April 7

Me and my shadow - Robbie Williams & Jonathan Wilkes

April 7

16 hours ago, DaveF said:

followed by another attempt at a crossword, why do some compilers set such odd clues?

and weird answers!

April 4

' night all and nos da.

April 4

' evening all from red dragon land.

Sunny today. Cheered up Mrs Suvvern no end.

Just a quickie before my retreat to the TV.

New dishwasher arrived yesterday and was installed by Mr Suvvern. It ran ok but the washing tablet remained in its little compartment instead of falling out. A second attempt with the tablet on the bottom tray, additional things for washing added, and it went off smoothly. Kitchen cupboard re-loaded with its bits and bobs and all went well. 👍

The last few days, toot on the flute has been getting very particular - work on the first line of the song only and how one twiddly bit fits in - EVERY time, please! Pleased to report it is fast getting there and I have moved onto the next twiddly bit. This is more about the sound of it which depends on a combination of air movement, the lips, breathing, as well as the fingers. Simple sound but getting it right every time has been difficult but is improving.

That's it. Not very exciting but I feel a lot happier now things are moving.

Take care. Be good. Look on the bright side.

Polly

April 1

' morning all from red dragon land and happy bank holiday, if you have one.

Unexcitingly overcast. 7.0C

Pinecone pundits say its precipitating <<look out of the window!>>, nearly put off Mr.Suvvern going out on his bike ride. <<Ah! I wonder if they are trying on their AFD* antics...>>

Getting into a wash-up, leave-to-drain, wipe-up, put-away, wash-up....routine. New dishwasher should arrive tomorrow. << 😁 >>

Yesterday, I made a start on sorting out "stuff". Weeding out for the recycle bin is top priority...this will take some time which is, partly, why I have left it so long... <<massive sigh>>

A toot on the flute coming up after a few quick manoeuvres with Henry around the place.

Take care. Be good. Just gerronwivit.

Polly

*April Fools Day

March 30

20 hours ago, Hroth said:

You have to play a tune against that if only to stop going mad!!!

In my case to stop me going mad when I keep failing to keep time.

Well, it seems to have done the trick as, apart from the need to come up for air every so often, I kept going for 20 mins on the beat box's tabla accompaniment. I had another session yesterday evening with the metronome (volume turned as low as possible!) to sort out a couple of details on the first line of the song and some encouraging progress was made.

So, this morning's session with the beatbox, I just played the one line over and over, with extra time out focussing on one of the short phrases that was upsetting the balance of things. Although not 100% happy, the 5 note twiddly bit now fits within its allotted 1/2 beat and the following phrase starts on its beat, if a bit wobbly - some more repetition with the metronome should cure that.

Nice and sunny so thinking of taking a walk...or I could just sit here and watch the little fellas on the bird feeder. I will catch up on here later.

Take care. Be good. Be persistent.

March 29

' morning all from red dragon land.

Sun and blue sky. Shame it was chuckinitdarn not long ago because everything is saturated. To top it all, showers all afternoon are prescribed by the pinecone pundits. Garden temp. 7.2C warmer in the sunny part, of course.

EN (earlier news)

So much for getting the Jobbies done before the groceries arrived, yesterday. When I went to put the dishwasher on, there was a problem. (One for Mr S.) So I spent the rest of the morning washing and drying its contents by hand. A new machine job, maybe? Doh! Mr S will be investigating/fixing it this afternoon.Even a temporary fix will suffice for now.

In the meantime, there is some washing up to be done!

ION

Thereafter, a toot on the flute session in the warmth from the fireplace - trying to make the most of it as time for the stove's winter use is fast running out. Yesterday evening I spent half an hour just on the first line of the song with a videoed metronome set at 36bpm* . It will be interesting to see how I get on this morning at that speed with my own beatbox setting which has a different rhythm.

*Giving the beat of the basic notes before additional notes (ornamentation aka my "twiddly bits") are added.

Be good. Take care. Enjoy the sun/other offering of your choice while it lasts.

Polly

March 28

' morning all from red dragon land.

Some white stuff everywhere this morning. Where did that come from? And down beyond the bottom of the village too. Supposedly, it was only destined for higher places.

Melting by the time I got up. Garden temp. 1.7C by then. ~~4.8C~~ 6.2C now. Sun arrived at the end of the garden.

08:15

Melting fast even in the shade.

C&C groceries shifted to this afternoon instead of tomorrow so better get crackin' and get the place sorted before they arrive.

Take care. Be good. Be ready.

Polly

March 26

' afternoon all from red dragon land.

Yay! Sun has popped out! Lots of cloud around though.

A few toot on the flute exercises this morning were not brilliant but do suggest some progress. Another bash, shortly, may pave the way for a better session, tomorrow but no guarantee but I live in hope.

I was thinking of putting on my nice newly cleaned up and polished boots and going off for a walk until I opened the front door... Nor'easterlies...Brrrrrrrr. Hmmm....

Decided on a mugadecaf instead.

Take care. Be good. When in doubt, put kettle on!

Polly

March 26

14 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just watched a program on BBC4 about the Darjeeling Railway, very interesting. There's three more programs to come this week at 7 pm Tues-Weds-Thur, you can pick up tonights program on I-player.

Delighted you chose to reveal this as I saw a muddle of it at AlyPaly some years ago and fell in love with it! Already had a sneak preview on the mac! Will try and catch up with the first part on the beeb at 1:30 - biggggggggger screeeeeeeen!

March 25

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

Ben Supervising Collie, watched from a safe distance doing his sphinx impression.

Laugh rating given as I was at that minute imagining His Sphinxship in a CC reconstruction.

March 24

16 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

there are many, many novelty socks out there.

Sh! I know. I hang them* up for *C*mas.🤶

*commonly known as something else beginning with the *s* word.

March 23

On 22/03/2024 at 11:13, iL Dottore said:

Captain Cynical's CCI GmbH DeepWeb-Investigations present

Unknown Facts About ER Posters

Polly ( @southern42) is known to be a talented flautist, but what is not known is that she has (probably) the largest collection of flutes in the world - from Sumerian and Babylonian antiquities to flutes made of precious metals such as gold and silver to the truly odd and weird (such as the Peruvian Nose Flute or the Slobbovian Bottom Flute [unused])

As modest about her collection as she is about her prodigious musical talent, Polly merely says that "yes, she has few odds and ends collected during her travels"

Nice collection* - I wish...

Don't worry about my good looks,** though long fingers like those would be most useful.

*Update on origin of present collection : Japan, India, USA, England and Ireland. Put it that way, it does sound exotic!

**er...I did have them once, I guess! 🤣

Oh, and thanks for giving me the credit for being talented. Maybe one day, after completing all the tutor's exercises (in 3 speeds), I might start to believe it.

March 23

23 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Just Google 'polar bear socks' and you will find plenty varying in price from less than £2 a pair to HOW MUCH!

I kinda fancy these ;) https://www.heat-treats.co.uk/polar-bear-fluffy-novelty-slipper-socks/

March 22

' morning all from red dragon land.

Sunny -ish. A lot of white cloud around. Hopefully a bit warmer than the out of sun reading of 7.2C.

Off to do some Jobbies and maybe a quick toot on the flute - Not got a lot of time before collecting and stowing C&C groceries as we had to change our pick up time as our usual slot time was fully booked. I decided to go for an earlier slot rather than the later one so that it leaves me plenty of time to worry about getting dinner, afterwards.

Take care. Be good. Be adaptable.

Polly.

March 22

9 hours ago, Two_sugars said:

a spade is for digging, a shovel is for shifting stuff . . . . .

Goodnight all . . . .sleep well.

John

Stuff? Surely, you mean coal?

March 21

'

9 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Thanks, but Sheila ALWAYS carries her sunglasses with her, regardless of the weather conditions!

Me, too, as we always seem to end up driving into the low sun, whether during the winter months or when the sun is going down in the evening during the summer months. Being short, even pulling the sunshade down does not always help keep the sun off.

Toot on the flute was a bit late today as, when I went to put the dustpan and brush round the sitting room, I noticed a trail of mucky stuff leading from the front door to the fireplace - and on the bottom of Mr Suvvern's slippers! After cleaning up, more was discovered in the porch so a bit heavier cleanup there.

I am surprised I actually got set up to play after that lot but there we are, the heart rules sometimes.

Still struggling with Line 2 of the song but using a lot of repetition and playing with the beat turned off for a bit to focus on what is actually going on in the tune is helping me to make at least some progress. Though as I have said before, I never did do fast before! Guess I never really had the time before nor the resolve and it is certainly taking a lot of both.

I think I shall have to have a new motto - Don't give up!

Time for some shut-eye, methinks.

Take care. Be good. Watch the time.

' night all and nos da.

March 20

36 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Gosh, isn’t it marvellous what you can do with technology.

Back in my day all you could do was give ‘em an old-fashioned “clip ‘round the ear” - there was nothing fancy like noise-cancelling hadphones!

Back in my day, I do not remember there being an obligatory, or otherwise, screaming child on the train.

March 20

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I was rather pleased to see a few daisies in flower on the lawn

Dandelions here!

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