Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!

The agapanthus is as high as an elephant's eye

There’s a bright golden haze on the ocean,
There’s a bright golden haze on the ocean,
The agapanthus is as high as an elephant’s eye,
An’ it looks like it’s climbin’ clear up to the sky…

 

Well, it was a beautiful morning and there was even an elephant in the sky, and other animals and faces. Then the clouds held hands and there were a few showers… but I took some shots on the terrace while the going was good – before going about the chores on a busy day.

 

 

 

Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’

Music by Richard Rodgers, lyric by Oscar Hammerstein II
Copyright © 1943 by Williamson Music
Copyright Renewed.
International Copyright Secured
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.


There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow,
There’s a bright golden haze on the meadow,
The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye,
An’ it looks like its climbin’ clear up to the sky.

Chorus:
Oh what a beautiful morning,
Oh what a beautiful day,
I’ve got a wonderful feeling,
Everything’s going my way.

Repeat chorus

All the cattle are standing like statues,
All the cattle are standing like statues,
They don’t turn their heads as they see me ride by.
But a little brown mav’rick is winking her eye.

Repeat chorus

All the sounds of the earth are like music,
All the sounds of the earth are like music,
The breeze is so busy it don’t miss a tree,
And an ol’ Weepin’ Willer is laughin’ at me.

Repeat chorus

Read more: http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/beautifulmorning.html#ixzz4FpT3wNg6
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Sunset Over the Harbour at Cockwood

After dinner at “The Anchor” on Saturday evening we (Mary and Geoff, Roland, Chris and me) took a stroll around the harbour. The tide was in (we don’t always catch it), the sky turned to gold and then fire; and we were in the flight-path of a flock of Canada Geese taking off in an orderly fashion. What a treat!

Another Weird Evening

I’m just bringing the red hot lasagne, and the equally hot dish of left-over stuffed marrow, out of the oven and putting them on the table mats. Firstly, I divide the marrow into three and pop a piece on each of the three plates. While I’m dividing the hot lasagne Chris decides to help make space on the small table by clearing away the empty dish and putting it on the worktop beside the sink.

The dish is still piping hot, and it’s not exactly empty either – a large spoon, weighted more heavily at one end, is in the hot dish. Using a tea towel, Chris picks up the hot dish and the large spoon falls out of the dish and onto the table, but as it falls it first hits the fork on Chris’s plate; now the fork is rather like the strangely weighted serving spoon in that the fork also is weighted more heavily at one end… Hence the fork flips off the plate and is in mid-air when my husband cleverly catches the fork before it hits the floor.

By this time the heat from the dish is making itself felt through the tea towel and Chris makes a mad dash across the kitchen to the work top by the sink… He makes it. The hot dish, now with the serving spoon back inside it, is safely on the work top; and, shaking his hot hands, Chris returns to the table.

I am placing the last third section of lasagne on my plate when there is a mighty crash on the ceramic floor tiles beside the sink – the serving spoon (not exactly free of the stuffed marrow) had tumbled over, out of the dish and over the work top, and deposited its cheesy load onto the tiles. Our friend and house guest Roland (AKA the “Bird-man from Brisbane”) cracks up and has a fit of the giggles, Chris cleans up the floor and I have to be told what was so funny because I have been busy dishing out the hot lasagne from the other oven dish.

After the giggles and the dinner I leave the men to do their bit by washing up. I am going into my studio when I hear Chris answering a comment Roly made about our unusual sink island:

“Oh yes, this sink is designed for three people to use at the same time. We’ve never used it that way yet but… oh well…”

I crack up and head back into the kitchen to see Chris proceed to wash up in each of the three positions. Roly has the giggles again.

Jet Streams and a New Pair of Legs

What weather! What skies! What lovely mornings and pretty sunsets on the terrace! And what of the “new pair of legs”? Well, they don’t belong to me (although my happy feet can be seen lolling on a chair in the photographs). No, the new legs to which I refer have come all the way from Australia (although mine also have come from Australia – just not recently); you might recognise that they are Roland’s. Our old friend wasn’t joking when he promised to bring the sunshine with him. And the people jetting off to other climes will be missing out on our perfect English summer.

The Abandoned Shogun – I’m Your Man

“Isn’t a Shogun a Japanese warrior?” I asked Chris upon returning to the spot where I’d left him on the bridle path.

He looked at me nonplussed and, thinking he hadn’t heard me (well my husband is a tad deaf), I asked again:

“Isn’t a Shogun a Japanese….”

“Yes,” Chris snapped (a bit annoyed that I thought him deaf), “I heard what you said but I was taking a few seconds to compute your words, considering that I was just enjoying the countryside while I waited for you to return to that abandoned bike and photograph it.”

“Well, the bike is a “Shogun” – at least that’s what is printed on it – and it reminded me of that programme on television years ago.”

“With Richard Chamberlain,” Chris remembered.

“That’s right,” I was glad he remembered. “Don’t you think Burt Reynolds would have been better in ‘Shogun’?”

Chris may have heard me but chose not to answer.

“I’m so lucky to have a husband who understands me,” I said.

A bit earlier, when we were leaving Cockwood Harbour (tide out, yet again!), I held my empty coke tin in my hand and asked Chris:

“Do you remember if there’s a rubbish bin around here?”

“I don’t think so,” answered Chris.

“No,” I agreed, “I’ll have to take it home with me.”

Suddenly Chris began singing in a deep gravelly voice (not dissimilar to one of my favourite singers, Leonard Cohen):

“You’ll have to ‘take it for a ride… I’m your can!”

Lucky for me – I understand him too. If you don’t understand just click on the link below to the song on Youtube or look at the words below that. And on a final note, if I go back tomorrow on the bridle path and see that the abandoned “Shogun” is no longer there, i shall rename it “Shogone”.

 

Leonard Cohen – I’m Your Man – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yOnXe8ttmjY

11 Apr 2011 – Uploaded by Makiaveliko85

I’m Your Man by Leonard Cohen Album: I’m Your Man Year: 1988 [Lyrics] If you want a lover I’ll do …

“I’m Your Man”

If you want a lover
I’ll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I’ll wear a mask for you
If you want a partner
Take my hand
Or if you want to strike me down in anger
Here I stand
I’m your man
If you want a boxer
I will step into the ring for you
And if you want a doctor
I’ll examine every inch of you
If you want a driver
Climb inside
Or if you want to take me for a ride
You know you can
I’m your manAh, the moon’s too bright
The chain’s too tight
The beast won’t go to sleep
I’ve been running through these promises to you
That I made and I could not keep
Ah but a man never got a woman back
Not by begging on his knees
Or I’d crawl to you baby
And I’d fall at your feet
And I’d howl at your beauty
Like a dog in heat
And I’d claw at your heart
And I’d tear at your sheet
I’d say please, please
I’m your manAnd if you’ve got to sleep
A moment on the road
I will steer for you
And if you want to work the street alone
I’ll disappear for you
If you want a father for your child
Or only want to walk with me a while
Across the sand
I’m your man

If you want a lover
I’ll do anything you ask me to
And if you want another kind of love
I’ll wear a mask for you

Cycling or What?

We were going to cycle over to Cockwood Harbour after breakfast this morning… Well, it was so sunny and inviting out on the terrace, and we agreed that you have to grab your opportunities for cycling on these rare hot and dry days in the English summer. But first I had to shower, and while I was in the shower our girl from New York (Airbnb) called out to say that she was leaving; then we decided to do the change-over before cycling; and while I was in cleaning mode I cleaned the upstairs loo and bathroom, and when I was watering the garden I noticed there was a little more to do – the steps leading down to the front garden were in desperate need of bleaching and scrubbing with a yard broom (and a colony of snails had to be annihilated).

We were going to go cycling to Cockwood Harbour after our guest had gone and all the watering, scrubbing, snail culling, cleaning and washing was done… well, it was such a beautiful hot day. But I had to make some scones because we had family visitors coming for afternoon tea at three o’clock…

We were going to take a shorter ride to the ford this evening… it was still lovely and sunny and we like nothing better than to dangle our feet over the little bridge into the cool running water at the ford. But after the goodbyes to family and hellos to new visitors from Belgium (Airbnb), and washing up, and watering, and a nice refreshing shower and hair-wash… we didn’t feel like cycling anymore. Tomorrow morning we’re going cycling – whatever!

Sex on Legs

“I know he’s probably too young for me, Sally, but I really like him,” said a bubbly friend of mine at the wedding reception evening do at Powderham Castle last night.

“Me too,” I gushed,”yes, he is too young – and I’m married – but let’s have another photo taken with him anyway!”

I’d already had my photo taken with him twice – near the bar they had a free photo booth and a dressing up box to coax the shy folk into becoming wild and extroverted. We found him by the photo booth and beckoned him back inside (just as the previous bevy of ladies had done). He didn’t require much coaxing. He favoured the two-horned viking helmet, which he’d worn before, but I fancied he would suit the cowboy hat (which he did).

“Who is he?” demure ladies whispered in my ear.

“I don’t know but he reminds me of a young Ian Botham,” I enthused.

“Ah yes,” they all agreed. “Is he married?”

(Back in the eighties Ian Botham was the handsome six-foot-two English cricketer who was always in the news for his exploits on, and off, the cricket field. A few years ago he advertised the breakfast cereal “Shredded Wheat” – “Good for your heart!” – and more recently I saw him on television advertising a foot bath (or similar) for old people. Not so inspiring as the old days…)

He wasn’t the groom, or the best man… or even father of the groom. His name was Charlie (like my dad). No, he wasn’t the Charles of Powderham Castle (Charles Peregrine Courtenay, 19th Earl of Devon) – gorgeous as the Earl is (met him years ago when he was a twenty-three year old student and rugby player) – but our Charlie was none-the-less charismatic.

“You’re nice,” Charlie said, kissing me goodbye on the cheek, “It was a pleasure to meet you.”

Now that’s what I call a gentleman.

The River Mild

What do get when you take a sunny summer’s evening and a couple on their bikes, send them off into the countryside just one mile and a half from their seaside house, and they find a familiar little bridge to sit upon while they take off their shoes and dip their bare feet into the ford that runs across the narrow road and under that bridge? Answer: Happy feet!

“Avon Calling”

I rang the bell and called out loudly:

“Avon calling!”

Between twenty and thirty ramblers stopped in their tracks to turn around, then jump out of the way.

“Nice big bell,” admired one lady looking at my bell.

“I like your horn,” remarked a saucy woman a little farther on up the path. (Chris had sounded his horn after me.)

“I’ll have a ninety-nine,” quipped the bald man at the end and everyone laughed. (In case you don’t know much about quaint English customs and terminologies, a “ninety-nine” is a vanilla ice-cream with a chocolate Flake bar sticking out of it!)

I don’t always call out “Avon calling” after ringing my bell, sometimes it makes less of a door bell tone and more of a “na na” sound; therefore I’m apt to find myself singing, “Na na, na na na na naa, na na, na na na na na naa, na na, na na na na na, na na na,na na na naa.”

No, I’m not bananas! I’m singing the “Colonel Bogey March” – the theme whistled by the soldiers in the movie Bridge Over the River Kwai. And if you can’t remember it just click on the Youtube link below.

 

 

 

Bridge on the River Kwai Theme – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83bmsluWHZc

12 Dec 2008 – Uploaded by ColdWarWarriors

Bridge on the River Kwai Theme from the movie. Category. Entertainment. License. Standard YouTube License …

History[edit] (From Wikipedia)

Since at that time service personnel were not encouraged to have professional lives outside the armed forces, British Army bandmaster F. J. Ricketts published “Colonel Bogey” and his other compositions under the pseudonym Kenneth Alford.[1] Supposedly, the tune was inspired by a military man and golfer who whistled a characteristic two-note phrase (a descending minor third interval About this sound Play ) instead of shouting “Fore!” It is this descending interval that begins each line of the melody. The name “Colonel Bogey” began in the later 19th century as the imaginary “standard opponent” of the Colonel Bogey scoring system,[2] and by Edwardian times the Colonel had been adopted by the golfing world as the presiding spirit of the course.[3] Edwardian golfers on both sides of the Atlantic often played matches against “Colonel Bogey.”[4] Bogey is now a golfing term meaning “one over par.”

Reception[edit]

The sheet music was a million-seller, and the march was recorded many times. At the start of World War II, “Colonel Bogey” became part of the British way of life when the tune was set to a popular song: “Hitler Has Only Got One Ball” (originally “Goering Has Only Got One Ball” after the Luftwaffe leader suffered a grievous groin injury, but later reworded to suit the popular taste), with the tune becoming an unofficial national anthem to rudeness.[5] “Colonel Bogey” was used as a march-past by the 10th and 50th Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force,[6] the latter perpetuated today by The King’s Own Calgary Regiment (RCAC) of the Canadian Forces, who claim “Colonel Bogey” as their authorised march-past in quick time.

The tune is also used for a children’s song, Comet, that varies by locale, but typically goes something like: “Comet, it makes your teeth so green. Comet, it tastes like gasoline. Comet, it makes you vomit, so get some Comet and vomit today!”

The Colonel Bogey March melody was used for a song of The Women’s Army Corps, a branch of the U.S. Army from 1943 until its absorption into the regular Army in 1978. The lyrics written by Major Dorothy E. Nielsen (USAR) were this: “Duty is calling you and me, we have a date with destiny, ready, the WACs are ready, their pulse is steady a world to set free. Service, we’re in it heart and soul, victory is our only goal, we love our country’s honor and we’ll defend it against any foe.”[7]

The march has been used in German commercials for Underberg digestif bitter since the 1970s,[8] and has become a classic jingle there.[9]

The tune has been used in more than forty films, including The Love Race (1931), The Lady Vanishes (1938), The Mouse That Roared (1959), The Parent Trap (1961), and The Breakfast Club (1985).[10]

In The Simpsons episode “Stark Raving Dad”, Bart sings a tune reminiscent of the Comet tune with similar lyrics, “Lisa, her teeth are big and green. Lisa, she smells like gasoline. Lisa, da da da Disa. She is my sister, her birthday, I missed-a.”

In the opening scene and throughout the episode of the The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode “I Know Why The Caged Bird Screams”, Carlton and company sings the tune with alternative lyrics referring to the school mascot, “Peacocks! We’re marching down the field. Peacocks! And we refuse to yield! No one’s tougher, ‘Cause we are rougher! We are the Peacocks of ULA!” The song and “march” is called the “Peacock Strut” throughout the episode.

The melody was used in a scene in the film Spaceballs as small “Dinks” walk the desert singing the tune with only the word, “Dink” by themselves and again with the protagonists.

The Bridge on the River Kwai[edit]

English composer Malcolm Arnold added a counter-march, which he titled “The River Kwai March,” for the 1957 dramatic film The Bridge on the River Kwai, set during World War II. The two marches were recorded together by Mitch Miller as “March from the River Kwai – Colonel Bogey.” Consequently, the “Colonel Bogey March” is often mis-credited as “River Kwai March.” While Arnold did use “Colonel Bogey” in his score for the film, it was only the first theme and a bit of the second theme of “Colonel Bogey,” whistled unaccompanied by the British prisoners several times as they marched into the prison camp. Since the film depicted prisoners of war held under inhumane conditions by the Japanese, there was a diplomatic row in May 1980, when a military band played “Colonel Bogey” during a visit to Canada by Japanese prime minister Masayoshi Ōhira.[11]

Fuchsia Cascade – A New Painting

I wouldn’t call myself a flower painter but I am a gardener and this week I’ve had sheer fun immortalising one of my favourite fuchsia plants on canvas. Although I used acrylics, which dry really fast, the painting has taken three days to finish owing to the complicated structures of fuchsia flowers. Aren’t they pretty?

 

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