Povey Prattle

  My Bristol U.K. niece Leah is a dab hand at cake making. She is often asked to make a "specialty cake" for her pals; and she also makes them for her daughters. Such Imagination......................Such Skill To resemble a Christmas  Pudding For a friend who evidently likes a "cuppa tea" and some biscuits. --------------------------------------------- By happenstance my niece-in-law Chrissy  is also a cake maker. A birthday cake to resemble a Wrestling Ring. A "Drip Cake" with Biscoff cookies. I have such admiration of the imagination and skill of my niece and my niece in law. (I can "just about" make  Banana Bread, using a mix from the store!).

  I am not a vegetarian, nor a vegan. But I do not like to waste leftovers. Today's lunch utilised leftover and curried vegetables; baked in two halves of  a red pepper (which was beginning to show its age). Oh so yummy!   Waste not, want not again. 

 Eta came and went. The storm was not an occasion for joy, but it was bearable in my neck of the woods.  Lots of rain; with heavy though not outrageous winds. and very little local damage. At Sarasota's Bayfront Park early this morning,  Zion and I saw some of the "results" of what was most probably the 9:00 p.m. high tide and storm surge. I took too many photo's so I will not label them all;  they are not in  any order. You will see some   boats which drifted from their moorings;  shells which were  washed inland and covered parts of the walkways - up to four inches deep in places; seaweed on the grass, indicating the high point of the 9:00 p.m. surge tide. You will not see the death and destruction that happened when  ETA passed through what we dismiss as Central America. Add caption Recovery vehicles at hand, but not needed.

NOT THE BEST OF DAYS My local and small Supermarket will be closed for good by 7:00 p.m. today (11/11/2020). I've shopped at it since 2006. Even though the chain has a virtual monopoly in Florida ( BAH to monopolies of all sorts) it's been a convenient place to shop with its ten small aisles.  Small is beautiful.     Clearing out The replacement PUBLIX store will open at 7:00 a.m. on 12th November 2020, less than a 1/4 mile south of the closing store.   It will be bigger and bolder.  Is that good? Not for this old coot! NOT THE WORST OF DAYS. Hurricane/Tropical Storm ETA is moving up the w(b)est coast of Florida. We've had gusty (but not violent) winds, and very heavy rains. I've not been too troubled or worried  (except when we were placed under a tornado watch  at 5:00 p,m.)  My chief concern has been to get the ever wonderful Zion outside to "do his business" in the midst of the storm. The score to date is Piddle 4 -  Poop 1....

  Millions of humans were slaughtered in "The Great War". A blood letting for the vanity of Kings, Emperors, Prelates,  and a Czar. Most who died were conscripts.  They had no choice in the matter.  They were sent by their Lords and Masters and ordered to kill. There were other conscripts.  Noble beasts one and all. Horses, donkeys, mules. The noble horses.   Many soldiers had to shoot to kill their trusty steed to put it out of its misery A Tableau in honour of the Horses. Date and place unknown. War Memorial Park, Romsey, Hampshire. Estimates of the numbers of deaths of horses, mules and donkeys rang between one million and eight million.  In the meantime the asses stayed safe in their palaces. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------   WW I Military deaths  (from the Encyclopedia Britannica) http://www.100letprve.si/en/world_war_1/casualties/index.html

  Had some almost past their best  vegetables; cauliflower, broccoli, mushrooms (which are probably not vegetables). Curried them to eat later in the week, maybe with a bit of pork loin.  

In the U.K. and in the U.S.A. until the beginning of the 19th Century the dead were buried in the Church or Chapel Grave Yard;  or in a Church Crypt;  or (for the poor, criminal or indigent) in "Potter's Field" Burial Ground in a unmarked space. (Potter's Fields still exist for those who die without kin, and without money. ( I said the prayers at the internment of one such person in a Potter's field in Sarasota). English villages might have a non-sectarian Grave Yard.   In the U.S.A. African-Americans had to have their own Burial Grounds;  many of which were later  paved over in the interests of "development".   As the U.K and the U.S.A. moved from  agrarian to urban communities it became clear that the old Grave Yard/ Burial Ground system was inadequate  Thus emerged the modern Cemetery. First and foremost was the Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Watertown/Cambridge, Massachusetts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Auburn_Cemetery To ...

Just before the election; in a grumpy mood because of Florida's retrogressive politics ; and our flat, dull and boring landscapes .   I ventured to my friends John and Rick that, (if I could afford  it) , I'd return to New England.  Even our Florida cemeteries  are flat and  dull, designed for utility and not for beauty. In New England, the politics are half-way decent (with Massachusetts and New Hampshire having pretty good Republican Governors). New England  landscapes can be stunning.  I know because  I lived in the beautiful Western Massachusetts Berkshire Hills for sixteen years Even the cemeteries , and hilly graveyards in New England have a beauty all their own. John and Rick reminded me that it can be bone-chillingly cold "up north" in winter.  'Tis true.  But y'know, the homes have central heating; and the auto's have efficient heaters! What I miss most are the four seasons.   If Vivaldi had lived in Florida ...