Hang on , I'll Just Google it ....

A few of the things Googled this week ....
How to open an old Cable Turtle  ( you can't if it's really old and not bendy , I gather ) , which leads me onto How to Cable Stitch Crochet , bypassing the unattractive sounding Cable Gland , which two pages later segues into How to clean a turtle tank ( no , you can't just hand them each a dish mop )

Tashkent ..

How to cook Red Camargue Rice .... again ..... it's my recurring Senior Moment . I can never remember how much water to use .

Victor Mature .

Lotus Eating .

How much cholesterol in liver ( too much if you're on a low cholesterol diet . You'd be safer just eating the bacon ) .

Springing hedgehogs .... don't panic ! Macrocranion Tupaiodon lived thousands of years ago and was  wooly rather than spikey , anyway . There's a very nice  fossil in our local Nature museum , if you're passing .

Junket .

This year''s Top Names For Babies .But somehow I can't see Will and Kate choosing  Atticus , Magnus or Hank if it's a boy , while neither Juno nor Lizzie seem quite right if it's a girl . We'll just have to wait and see .

Encyclopaedia Britannica .
See , hours of fun !

Summer Popped In For A Brief Visit

Sonata :
 The sun shone and the new shorts were worn and declared good ( well , O.K. was actually  the expression used . They'll only be accepted wholeheartedly when worn to a shred )  . We lounged by the river

 and ate an inelegant number of sandwiches and tiny cherry tomatoes . Clouds of Queen Anne's Lace frothed everywhere and distinctly beefy-looking sheep chewed endlessly .

 A stork played peek-a-boo , rising up above the trees every time I'd put the camera away  .Idyllic .
But  Husband declared himself all pic-nicked out after this ... he prefers eating at a table ... so I went out on my own as often as possible while the good weather lasted and packed as much summer as I could into the next few days .
 Back up the bike path with the unlikely name ,

 past the genuine ramshackle country bits

 and the picture-postcard country bits

through yet more Queen Anne's Lace

 and horses in buttercup fields .

Past the odd sudden surprise ,

 little churchyards and the rather grandly named Leeuwarden Wood , planted twenty years ago and finally looking almost woodlike

 And I'm very glad I did . It's raining and early dark again today . Summer 2013 at its best .
 Never mind .There's Cumin Crusted Aubergines and apples with cinnamon baking in the oven and another Anne Perry Victorian whodunnit to read ... Who needs a heatwave ?

We've Taken To The Streets

Sonata:
 I sat in the sun with  no socks on today . Oh , the heady delights of a Dutch summer ! In fact , all Leeuwarden has crept out of their burrows and , blinking , rushed outdoors . On Sunday , I sat toasting on the balcony as a mini marathon pounded past the end of the street .

 Now it's the turn of the Four Evenings Walk , where anyone keen can sign up to walk a  5 , 10 or 15 kilometres route each evening for four days  , with a medal for those who complete the challenge  . Hundreds of children join in each year . In rainbow colours and all chattering nineteen to the dozen , they were like  flights of cockatoos .

 I look forward to their return tomorrow . I do like to see other people keepng fit .
 Mind you , there was a downside of the sudden ending of winter/spring ( indistinguishable this year ) and that was the resurrection of The Shorts . No , not mine ... I last wore shorts fifty-odd years ago ..... but Husband's . I'd hoped to lose them in the move but of course they came along , too  !  So ,  when he appeared this morning in the checked bloomery things again , any vague plans for taking a picnic lunch upstream and breathing hearty country air vanished .
 Instead , we joined the procession of mature couples heading towards C & A gents'  department  . The queue for the changing rooms consisted solely of sheepish men and their steely-eyed wives .By the looks of it , by tomorrow   there won't be a flapping trouser leg to be seen  in Friesland    . And by the time we're  sitting by the river under a tree tomorrow, eating our sandwiches , I hope Husband has forgiven me !.