Deduction

          Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson were out for a stroll one morning when they spotted the evil villain Jack Russell lurking suspiciously behind an old dustbin at the side of the street.  Being a master of disguise Sherlock approached him un-noticed but Jack Russell caught a glimpse of Doctor Watson and turned about-tail and fled.

          Holmes and Watson quickly followed, being led though a maze of cobbled streets and lanes in one of the “not so savoury” areas of London until, a few steps ahead of our daring duo, Russell turned into a dead-end and promptly disappeared.

          Doctor Watson threw his arms in the air in frustration but Sherlock Holmes stood and surveyed the surroundings.

          They were faced with a tall wooden fence, no ordinary fence mind you, this one was made up of vertical boards which had been painted in the colours of the rainbow, red, orange, yellow, green …

          Watson stood watching Holmes as he drew deeply on his pipe for inspiration and then stepped over to the yellow plank of wood, the nails at the base of the wood had been removed and it pivoted easily on the one remaining top nail.

          Holmes and Watson stepped through the gap to find Jack Russel eagerly waiting for them after enjoying the chase.

          “Wonderful bit of deduction, Holmes” commented Watson, “but how did you know ?

          Holmes took another puff on his pipe,

“Lemon entry my dear Watson,” he replied, “lemon entry”.

          Sorry, no idea who to give the credit to for the smiles (or groans) caused by the “lemon entry” joke, but if it was you, then thanks.

          The picture of the Baker Street tube stop was taken back in August 2012 when I visited the dentist in London,  we weren’t actually getting off at Baker Street but we stopped there on route and waited for the platform to empty for me to take the picture then got on the next tube to continue our journey.

          Later we stopped at the  “The Sherlock Holmes“ pub and restaurant , which incidentally wasn’t anywhere near Baker Street, if you want to visit then its on Northumberland Street and the nearest tube stations are Charing Cross and Embankment.

          More from before : a daytrip to “London” in August 2012

Banish the blues

          But not all of them …

More from before : a dip into the archives for more “Flora, Fauna and Merryweather“.

Two bugs in a rug

          Ok, two rabbits on a carpet, but Alice and Pepper are getting on great now and settle down together regularly “as snug as two bugs in a rug”.

          They seem quite pleased with the new living arrangements, they wander in and out all day and the doors are closed at night to keep them safe.

          They’re quite happy sharing most things, it’s quite entertaining watching them eating from both ends of the same dandelion leaf like Lady and the Tramp with their spaghetti, but Alice isn’t too happy with Pepper climbing into her bird house and I’m not quite sure where I fit into the garden hierarchy yet, Alice seems to stop to see Pepper on the way to seeing me, and I’ get grumped at if I smooth Pepper before Alice when I go out to see them.

          Apart from that, everything seems to be rosy in the garden.

Time peace

          Walking along next to a small stream and then across a rabbit-filled field, soaking up the early morning sunshine while most people are still tucked up in bed …

                    … a very peaceful time indeed.

Itsy Bitsy Spider My Butt!

Reblogged from Grandma Says..:

• 

There I was, Kindle in hand, sitting on the commode; when I noticed a slight movement on my left.  Marching towards me was my biggest fear; my source of nightmares and my cause to panic...a slippery, slimy, scurrilous, succubus of a spider.

I froze, afraid to breathe and watched in horror as the arachnoid, that looked to me to be the size of a small dog, headed right for my leg.  

Read more… 269 more words

This was too funny not to share the smiles with everyone else. Thanks. :-D

Kitchen update

          Above is another “half way” picture of the kitchen … what a mess.

          In the picture I’ve got as far as dividing the cooking and eating areas by turning the units around and cutting the worktop to size but not a lot else has happened yet.  The wall cupboard for the radiator corner is still on the far wall and I haven’t got as far as putting a back on the cupboards next to the cooker yet.

          Below you can see I added the back to the cupboards  with a little extra height and then tiled it with mosaic tiles, (these were a nightmare to keep in straight lines when I put them on).  The slightly higher backing on the cupboards means that if you’re sitting at the table on the other side after cooking a meal, you can’t see the washing up which will need to be done when you’ve finished eating.  Also, if you’re in the kitchen cooking, you can quite happily still have a conversation with anyone else sitting on the other side.

          More from before :  “my Kitchen“.

Banana loaf cake

          This isn’t my usual banana cake recipe, it was passed onto me by a friend and although my other recipe gives a wonderfully light spongy result, I was enticed by the idea of throwing everything into the bowl and whizzing it for just two minutes with the electric mixer.

          I made one a couple of weekends ago for a coffee and cake afternoon.  I had intended to take a photo for the blog then, but didn’t cut the cake before anyone arrived and by the time they were gone … so was the cake.

          This is the second banana cake I’ve made to this recipe and since I’ve had no visitors during the week I’ve had to attempt to eat it all myself.  Failing dismally, I’m taking the remaining three slices to Mum-in-law’s for “Friday Morning“ breakfast.  I’m sure she’ll help me to finish it off.

100g (4oz) butter, softened
175g (6oz) caster sugar
2 eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
225g (8oz) self-raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 180 °C / 350 °F / Gas 4.

          Measure all ingredients into a mixing bowl, beat well with an electric mixer for about two minutes, spoon the mixture into a lined 2lb loaf tin and bake for about 1 hour until golden brown.  Leave the cake in the tin for a few minutes before turning onto a wire rack to cool completely.

          More from before : “Cakes and Biscuits“.