Monday, April 1, 2013

Uneventful Easter


This pigeon fluttered down onto our balcony railing yesterday morning, to pick red berries from that mysterious potted plant. (The plant predates our tenancy here and I have no idea what kind it is.) Olga never saw it, which is just as well. Pigeons drive her crazy.

We didn't do much in the way of Eastery things. I was just telling Dave yesterday that all the eggs I've seen in British supermarkets have been brown, so I wonder if people even dye eggs here? I've seen no evidence of them. We were going to ask our neighbors during a planned pub outing yesterday evening, but that got postponed because our neighbor Chris wanted to watch a war movie on TV. (Besides, we'd had gin & tonics with them the day before, so that was probably enough neighborly socializing for one weekend.)

We had traditional hot cross buns yesterday morning. Then Dave made a steak dinner and a yummy plum tarte tatin, and we watched a couple of movies on iTunes ("Dances With Wolves" and "2010: The Year We Make Contact"). Our television has been out the last few days -- our receiver seems to be on the fritz. Fortunately it's still under warranty so we're going to try to get that fixed or replaced today.


While walking near Queensway, I noticed that construction has begun on the Queens Cinema, an old movie palace near our neighborhood being transformed into ritzy condos. Since I last wrote about it a year ago, scaffolding has been erected at the sides of the building, the windows have been removed or covered and the phone boxes out front have been boarded up. Here are some architect's renderings showing what the building will look like when it's finished next year. Pretty swanky!

6 comments:

Ms. Moon said...

Brown eggs dye beautifully. They add a richness of tone and I'm not kidding you.
That may be a nandina with the red berries. Hard to tell from the shot but that pigeon- on my god! It looks like a fake bird, you got such a good shot of it.
Did Dances With Wolves make you cry? It always makes me cry. I love that movie.
That new building IS going to be swanky. Nice!

Lynne said...

The bird does look fake! Good job in capturing it with your lens. You took care with the aperture too so it must have been a good subject and stayed around for a little while. ;)

After telling you about My Father's Glory/My Mother's Castle the other day I had to watch it again. It was just as good as the first time I ever saw it.

I haven't seen Dances with Wolves in a very long time. I should watch it since I think we even have it on DVD.

ellen abbott said...

I say nandina too on the plant. That's pretty amazing how they put the remodeled building in a real photograph.

Anonymous said...

Dances With Wolves AND Last of the Mohigans...my faves.

Steve Reed said...

Ms Moon: No kidding?! I've never heard of dying brown eggs! That plant IS a nandina. And yes, "Dances With Wolves" always makes me cry. It's one of my favorite movies.

Lynne: Actually, I have to confess I shot the bird entirely in Program mode. :)

Ellen: Yeah, architect's renderings are incredibly sophisticated these days, aren't they?!

Helene: I've never seen "Mohicans." I gotta keep an eye out for that one!

Wayne said...

I don't think we really dye eggs? I've never done it anyway ... hmm. You've got me thinking :/

I'm jealous of all the gardeners identifying that plant!