Here are some more miscellaneous pictures that have collected on my phone over the past few weeks!
First, here's Olga, lying on the floor of the Overground train on the way to Wormwood Scrubs. I heard a boy standing nearby say to his parents, "She looks like a chicken!" Dave says the same thing -- he calls this her "spatchcock" pose. I guess it keeps her belly cool.
We saw this sign outside a cafe where we had brunch a couple of weekends ago.
"I don't get it," said Dave.
I told him I thought it just meant that avocados please everyone.
"But that's just it," he said. "I don't think they do."
Creative hedge-clipping in West London.
This ratty traffic cone stands under a tree on our street. The sticker says, "For charity -- do not move." We've all dutifully obeyed, but I'll be darned if I can see how that cone is benefiting any charity.
One of my co-workers gave us three seed potatoes so we could grow our own potato plants. I'm honestly not very enthusiastic about this project, but once he gave them to us I felt like we had to follow through. So I bought three 25-liter bags of compost, lugged them home and planted a potato in each bag. We'll see what happens.
Someone made a rainbow cake and left it in the staff lounge at work. I didn't eat any, but it sure was colorful!
And now, for the free stuff! First, a weird table I found around the corner from our flat. Dave says those notches are meant to serve as umbrella stands. Apparently he learned that from going to antique stores -- which surprises me, because he hates antique stores. Anyway, I didn't pick it up, but someone did because it was gone a short time later.
Another weird table (or bench?) abandoned on our street. What's up with those handles?
PS -- I was really tempted to headline this post "A Spatchcock and Free Balls," but I just couldn't do it.
An avocado made me so sick once and I have never touched on since, thus I hate them. lol
ReplyDeleteThe piano stool would have come home with me, I have a metal black one that came with my piano and its not half as nice as that one. As for Olga, oh how I wish I could maneuver my legs like that, lol
Briony
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Your " weird table" could be a piano stool maybe?
ReplyDeleteLove the picture of the creative hedge! Outside Number 10 no less! And yes, I agree, it is a piano stool. The handles should adjust the seat higher or lower according to the pianist's requirements. Smashed avocados on toast is supposed to be the breakfast of choice of yuppies and millennials - there was a famous political comment made about that a couple of years ago in Australia, urging those groups of people to quit eating avocados and save for a house instead. Incidentally, we saw smashed avocados on toast advertised on a restaurant blackboard last weekend - for the jaw-dropping price of $14.50! I would hope that you get at least two slices of toast at that price!
ReplyDeleteI love Olga's pose, my George does that too. It must be a bulldog thing. And that hedge is a work of art!
ReplyDeleteI like Olga's pose, she looks happy. The bench with handles adjusts height for those playing a piano, the green in that cake reminds me of mold and I don't think avocados please anyone. Good luck with your potatoes.
ReplyDeleteI think avocados are pretty pleasing. Especially filled with shrimp salad.
ReplyDeleteI love this post, by the way. And yes, all of my bulldogs have posed like that.
I believe that if you do get any potatoes they're going to be worth about ten dollars apiece but they'll be tasty, right?
And you should have given this post that headline! It's such a good one.
Well, that's a novel way of growing potatoes. I'll be interested ti hear about the results.
ReplyDeleteALL of these photos are so very worthy! All of them made me happier than I have been in weeks! I would have loved the title to be spatchcock , rainbow cake and balls. It would have been googled , of course, and you may have added some traffic.
ReplyDeleteYou will be pleased to have planted the potatoes when it is all brexitty over there and food costs are extraordinary. Better potatoes than stone soup.
Wonderful photos. Love that creative hedge. I like avocados, but they don't make me as happy as a glass of wine does.
ReplyDeleteI see that lots of people recognized the piano bench and I have to agree about the hedge. That is a great trimming job. I hadn't thought of the "bulldog" thing but, now that I think about it, I grew up with an English bulldog and she used to do exactly the same thing. We used to think the same as you, it was keeping her belly cool or in the winter, warm.
ReplyDeleteAvocados don't please me - they upset my stomach!
ReplyDeletePotatoes grow very easily and produce well. At least that is our experience. I'm intrigued by planting them in a bag - I may do the same. So much easier (and probably healthier) than digging up a piece of earth. Our house lot had a bunch of fill from god knows where dumped in it to raise it a bit before the house was built. I wouldn't really trust it for food growing. Likewise in the city. I've read there can be heavy metals contaminating the soil from all the exhaust fumes!
Love the Olga shot, too! She looks quite comfy travelling on the people conveyance :)
ReplyDeleteI think that bench is a piano bench. The knobs on either end are meant to be turned to raise or lower the seat. (Maybe)
ReplyDeleteGuess I should have read the comments *before* I posted mine. Oh well, I love that creatively trimmed hedge, too.
ReplyDeletenote to self......people love rude blog titles
ReplyDeletea chicken? she doesn't look like any chicken I have ever seen. that first table must be a homemade job. the 'legs' look almost exactly like my antique 'authentic English pub stool' that I bought many years ago at a garage sale an interior designer was having prior to retiring though mine is not painted black. I grew potatoes one year and had so much fun digging them up. too late now but if you try it again, take out most the dirt leaving about 8" or so and when the plants get about 6" - 8" tall add more dirt so just the top couple of inches show, when they grow another 6" to 8" add more dirt, etc until you run out of room. when you harvest you'll have layers of potatoes with big ones at the bottom and small at the top and medium in between.
ReplyDeleteI love the picture of Olga. I haven't seen one from the angle before. If you look from the tail up, her markings look like a clown wearing sunglasses! Both my pug and my beagle take that pose sometimes. I also think it's to keep cool. Also love that shrub around the window with the plants on the sill. Nice and orderly! I was thinking someone hopes you drop your change in the opening at the top of that cone for charity. They probably go check it each night after dark!
ReplyDeleteOlga looks like a well traveled dog like going on a train is the norm love the trimmed hedge around the window as well. I think you could have used the other title because I think we are used to that kind of banter as we seem to all follow "going gently"
ReplyDeleteThe "rude" title would have been too funny. Olga does look spatchcocked, we do that to game hens so we can grill them.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Dave -- I like avocados, but they make my stomach hurt so I don't eat them anymore.
ReplyDeleteBriony: It wasn't quite as nice as it looks in the picture -- one of the legs was very loose. But someone picked it up and took it away!
ReplyDeleteFrances: Maybe, but it seemed too small for a piano bench. At least compared to the ones I've seen in the past.
David: I didn't even connect the hedge-clipping to the house number! Brilliant! I've read about this millennial fascination with avocados. I grew up with them in Florida so to me they're not exotic at all. CERTAINLY not worth $14.50!
Jennifer: Yeah, I've heard that's a bulldog pose!
E: Well, SOME people like avocados, I think! I like 'em in moderation. My mom used to make avocado sandwiches that were delicious.
Ms Moon: The potato venture is completely ridiculous but we'll see where it leads.
Red: Easier than digging up the garden!
Linda Sue: I hope things never get so bad that I am forced to rely on food I can grown myself. That's a little too apocalyptic for me. Especially since we could probably eat the output from these potato plants in about a week.
Robin: I with you! Vitamin W rules!
Sharon: My dad used to breed English bulldogs. I don't remember them lying like this but maybe I just didn't take notice at the time.
Jenny-O: Yeah, God only knows what's in our urban garden soil. Probably lead and who knows what else. The bags seemed an easy way to get them planted in nutritious soil, but the squirrels keep digging in the bags, so that may cause some problems. (They can't dig deep enough to get the potato, though!)
Catalyst: I guess it could be, but it seemed very small. (You don't really get a sense of the size from my picture.) Maybe it goes to some other instrument, or a small piano?
John: Somehow it seemed OK to make that joke in small print, but in large type it was just too much!
Ellen: Well, those back legs ARE rather chicken-like. I can see the similarity. I've heard about that potato-growing method. There's some room in the top of the bags for more dirt if we want to get that ambitious!
Sue: I always think the face on Olga's back looks like a skull -- but a clown wearing sunglasses is an even better description! I'm willing to be there's NO change in that cone, LOL!
Comox: Olga is used to the train. We take that trip fairly often and she's always happy as she knows she's going for a fun romp. John is much better at those jokes than I am! LOL
Allison: Oh well. It's not an entirely missed opportunity, since I could still make the joke in the "small print." :)
Elizabeth: The thing with avocados is, a little goes a long way. You would never want to eat a whole one. Or, God forbid, MORE than one.
I am always so intrigued by the things people put out on the street. I wonder if I walked around new york they way you do around london, if I would find it is the same here. Somehow i dont think so. That notched table is kind of beautiful to me.
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