Cute baby owls

Haha! They're painted stones!

Spreading colour

Kiss kiss

Many years of happiness

Today is our wedding anniversary. In the past 33 years we had our ups and downs, but today we're happier than ever. I'm a very lucky woman!

Defying gravity

These make me dizzy

So many creative people out and about...

I'm a big fan of street art. These pictures are really good:

This camelia is almost too perfect!

I'm terribly late posting today. We went to Tulle and it took us longer than expected... Here's a photo of a perfect camelia:

The pitfalls of automatic translation

Hahahahahahaha!

Mind boggling at first...

This is a very original clock:

Going down Peter's memory lane

When Peter was  little,he used to spend the school vacations in Liverpool, where his mother's large family lived. They were originally from Scotland, but moved en masse to Liverpool at some point.

Peter often uses Liverpool slang, and a particular word keeps coming up because of the walks around the village. The word is jigger, meaning narrow passage or alleyway. 

Jigger - a back entry or alley, recorded since 1902 - the word jig was often used to refer to something small or narrow, and it developed several slang uses, such as a narrow door, a prison cell, an illegal distillery, and (as in Liverpool) a narrow passageway.

Here are some Liverpool jiggers:

There are jiggers everywhere around here. In fact, they're conspicuous in any village dating back to medieval times, but they also appear out of nowhere when walking around the village. These are not as narrow as some inside the village, and can easily accommodate a car. 

Today we ventured down one of Peter's jiggers and had no idea where it would lead. We discovered that the surrounding areas seem empty, they look like forests from a distance, until you go down one of the passages that appear to lead nowhere. There are spectacular houses tucked away in the woods. Some have great views down the valley, but we would never suspect they were just around the corner, hiding away in some jigger! One hour later, we emerged near the supermarket, greatly relieved to find out we were not halfway to next village.

I didn't have my camera with me (and I don't own a smartphone) to show you some of the nice houses, but I'll make a point of taking it with me from now on.

Going back to Peter's memories, he tells me that jiggers were used as access to the houses' back entrances, as shortcuts, and as hubs for gossip. The women would have a good chinwag while hanging the clothes to dry! (BTW, chinwag is a British informal term for chat.)

Surreal answers, surreal joke

Interviewer: How much milk do these cows give?

Farmer: Which one? The black one or the brown one?

Interviewer: Brown one.

Farmer: A couple of litres per day.

Interviewer: And the black one?

Farmer: A couple of litres per day.

Interviewer(naturally a bit flummoxed): I see. What do you give them to eat?

Farmer: Which one? Black or brown?

Interviewer: Black.

Farmer: It eats grass.

Interviewer: And the other one?

Farmer: Grass.

Interviewer(now annoyed) : Why do you keep asking which one when the answers are the same?!

Farmer: Because the black one’s mine.

Interviewer: Oh, and the brown one?

Farmer: It’s also mine

Capturing the essence of nasty traits

Gerald Scarfe is an English artist, illustrator and all-round talented guy. His caricatures of political figures are legendary. I didn't know he had tried his hand at sculptures, and this one caught my eye. It's called "The Racist." Interesting, eh?

Scarfe's Margaret Thatcher:

Blair didn't escape either:

Politicians of both parties being manipulated by our old friend, Rupert Murdoch:

Brexiteers:

Gerald Scarfe also created the animation for Pink Floyd's hit "The Wall."

He's still active at the age of 80, and he hasn't lost any of his sharpness!

 

Finally, a bonus, for old times sake:

Amy's friend, wondering where she is...

This is a nice photo, and I immediately thought of Amy...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Let's party!