Friday, January 16

Prickly Heat, Scratchy Moods.

First up, I must belatedly say thankyou to Ms Burrows of "What Its About", for this cute little award.


These are the rules, & as I have said to Ms Burrows, it is not that I don't appreciate these awards, I am flattered. However I break the rules about passing them along, since many people ask not to recieve them.
If you read here, & would like to take this award, please feel free to take it, with my good wishes!

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs, which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude! Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
3. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
4. Share the love and link to this post and to the person from whom you received your award .

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We have had 2 really hot & sticky humid days, which are very hard for me. I seem to suffer so much from the humid heat, & find it saps the life out of me. Yesterday was a real killer, over 40 degrees celsius, & the late thunderstorms did little to alleviate things, since it remained very humid for the night.

I wake with bags under my eyes after the restless tossing & wakeful patches of the night's sleeplessness. Needless to say, I become a little short in the grain, & become grumpy & tetchy.

I had several gripes I wanted to rant about. One of them is the time spent filling out these bloody Word Verification things, only to find, after you have jumped through all the hoops, it will not be visible until after blog owner approval! Why bother! As Lee so eloquently put it all on his rant about the problem, it is really unnecessary to have both, or even any. Comments are easily deleted if they are unpleasant. I have deleted several permanantly, & the pests have not been back. I suppose it can be a 'guard dog' if your blog is controversial or insane, as one I found seemed to be. I thought it must be a hoax, but alas, it was real.

Over the past few posts, I have had much higher than usual comments. I have tried to answer them all, personally. I am still undecided whether it might be better to answer them via the comment box, as others very sucessfully do, or stick to the personal reply. I suspect people often do not return to see their comments, once they have posted them, unless the blog owner has set a precedent of answering all comments on the blog.

Perhaps you could let me know what you think. Or which you prefer?

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In lighter vein, I have been thinking back on the wonderful colourful language of our parents & grandparents, which seems to have largely died out.

I remember going home to my mother, almost pop-eyed after some old chap had told us stories of his supposed life.
My mother laughed & said "You don't want to take any notice of him! He is just a blatherskite!"
Now, the Irish will know about that word, I would think.
Or she would say, when we retold some far fetched sounding story of derring do, "I think he's telling you tall stories!"

Our Grandmother was from Yorkshire, & she had some odd little sayings, & I can remember her saying, "There's nowt as queer as folk" Though she didn't normally speak that way at all! It always puzzled me that would speak that way.

There are many other snippets, which some to mind at odd times. I am sure my Beloved Brother can remember many more than I can.


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Out in the garden, which took a battering from yesterday's scorching heat, there is not much in flower at present. I tried to take a clear photo of this beautiful Gardenia, but I just couldn't seem to get a perfect pic. It is under the shade of a Grevillea, so perhaps was more sheltered.


The Diplodenia are climbing the arch, & have decided after about 6 years to flower with a decent output!

We have a little visitor who makes regular raids into our kitchen. There are several of these little Skinks that live in our garden, & luckily they are too fast for the dogs!
I have watched this little chap/girl come into the dining room, & listen carefully, then quickly run out the door if it hears noises.
I discovered, they like to eat the dog's dry food, so will sneak into the dish, if there is any leftover, & take a pellet, & run off into the garden, then run back for another.
Quite often when I am eating my breakfast out in the garden there will be a little lizard regarding me from a safe distance.
Gom found a small one in his wardrobe this afternoon. It was only about 2 inches long, so I scooped it up, in my hands, & let it go out in the garden.




Ray Charles. You Don't Know Me.

27 comments:

Kitty said...

Sorry to hear you are so enervated ;-)

I always reply to comments in my comment box. When I go back to a blog on which I've commented, I'll look at the last post to see if there was a reply to my comment - or on Blogger at least, there is an option to get emailed if your comment gets a response. I think you should do whatever works for you personally - sod everyone else.

I too have no verification, or 'blog owner approval' mechanism - I haven't as yet needed one. I just delete spam, and there hasn't been a huge amount of that.

That is such a beautiful white flower.

x

Ulrike said...

Hi Meggie, when the weather is so hot, it really does sap energy, doesn't it. Makes me understand why some countries have very long siestas in the middle of the day, but start their days early and end late.
About posts: I agree with Kitty - you should just do whatever works for you. It is very nice to get an individual reply, but if you are getting very many comments, it is probably very time-consuming to do this.
Blatherskite is such a lovely word!

Joyce said...

It's -40 here. I don't know which is worse. My Mum used to say "I'll do it in two shakes of a dead lamb's tail". No idea where that came from but her father was English so I'm assuming from there. When I said that could mean never because a dead lamb can't shake its tail, she said that it didn't have to shake its own tail. Hmmm...I've never heard anyone else use that expression.

Unknown said...

I love the pics thanks for sharing that is a very cute Skink :D. As for answering peoples messages I try to answer them in the comments then visit their blog. I have had one person answer the question I posted on her blog in my comments section and that worked fine too.

Unknown said...

No worries, about the rules. :) It's kind of a pain in the neck anyhow.

I agree about the word verification et all. I turned mine off as soon as I figured out how. I figure if I ever become so well publicized that I need a machine to fight spam for me, then I'll cross that bridge when I get there.

workhard said...

i love the pics, im just a beginner so dont know much, still exploring and learning

BPO work from home

shara said...

It is freezing here! It was snowing yesterday, so I appreciate the sunny pics and the reminder that there may be flowers yet again in this area!

A friend of mine used to have a saying about rotund young women- "My, but she is a wee big lass (or lad if it was a young man). I always loved it.

I will turn my word verification thing off, as soon as I figure how.

I know that Google or maybe it is another site, helps libraries with hard to decipher words by using one word from a document and then just a Google word. I do not think this site is helping them or me, though.

I like returning and reading your comments. I haven't done so lately, but as a rule, I enjoy it.

Mike said...

I answer via the comment box. I have to agree with you about the word verification thing. Jesus, that is aggravating. To make matters worse, half the time I put the letters in wrong and have to go back and do it again.

It takes about a second to delete a spam comment so unless it is a constant thing, I am not going to bother with it.

Anonymous said...

Hi,

I just saw your entire post on:

http://www.projectbackslash.com/page/2/

Didn't know if you knew.

Anonymous said...

Meggie , ' As scarce as hens teeth' was often used for something hard to find , 'Making a Wigwam for a Mongoose's Bridle ' was given as an answer for What are you doing ? -- Later on M. often used ' All piss and wind like the Butchers cat' to describe anyone full of bluster and hot air and little substance.There were literally dozens of marvellous sayings and expressions .
Hylton used to say anything rare or scarce was ' As scarce as Rocking Horse shit ! '

meggie said...

Hi All, some good comments here.
As I recall it is easy to turn off WV when on the settings page in blogger from the dashboard.
I remember Mary used to say "As tight as a fish's bum" & also "As mean as cat muck". I get the fish one, but can't really see the cat muck, although I guess it is mean on the nose!!
OUr family too, used the 'shakes of a dead lambs tail', Joyce, so guess it was an English one.
Oh & Kitty, the Gardenia smell divine! I love the perfume, & wish I had the shrub near our backyard area. I grew that one from a cutting, so will try to get another one going.

Rosie said...

my granny was from the next door county of lancashire..she said "nowt so queer as folks" too!
I lived in london, and when I went to see her it was as though she spoke another language

Mary said...

I love blatherskite too.!

I have only just set up the thing on blogger which emails me as comments come in. I actually am enjoying responding to individual comments by email - ...

You do what is simple and easy for you...

Pen Pen said...

OMG! I LOVE this song!! It was a treat to see hear it again- it always seems to make me want to cry. I love your flower photos as well!!

Ali Honey said...

I think skinks are great wee things. Haven't seen one here but used to have them in my rock garden in South Taranaki.

Everyone is different with their blogs - each to her own.
I haven't time to write back personallyso either reply in the comments section on on the next post I write. If the reply is something with personal details or similar then I try and email.

It is hot here too. Working in the orchard is rather sweaty itchy work. About 30 degrees here most days. ( but high humidity )

Emma said...

Hi Meggie :) Humidity is so draining, isn't it? In spite of a lifetime spent in the tropics, I do not cope well with heat, so you have all my sympathy there. Your little skink visitors are so cute. How amusing that they are brave enough to come in and steal food. The one in the photo looks a bit tubby!

Coachdad said...

Love the pics...sorry about the heat. I just ove your blog!

Granny J said...

meggie -- 1) I'll usually check back at blogs where the host posts comments to my comments, tho it can be nice to get the emails, too.

2) agreed 100% on those awful word verification thingies that just take up extra time. I've found that I don't get that many spams, which I just take down.

) I'm having the opposite problem from you -- being ennervated by the need to keep up my body heat in the middle of winter! It gets very tiring to wear all those layers of clothes -- so I am looking forward to our warm weather.

quiltmom anna said...

Hi Meggie,
I often come to your blog to read your stories and adventures. It is always a pleasure to see your photos and hear about the things that have happened present past and future. I usually don't come back and check your comment box though I know that I can have the comments emailed to me.

I hope that you are feeling better and the heat is not so unbearable. We have had a couple of pleasant days where the weather was unseasonably warm for January ( around 0 to plus 6 or 8 C.

My mom had lots of interesting expressions - colder than a witches tit and 3 shakes of a lamb's tail and scarce as hen's teeth are among them. My gran would talk about being plum tuckered out or that made her plum mad ( she was religious and would never have used the Lord's name in vain).
My teaching assistants laugh at some of the expressions I use too- among them - you are acting like a turkey, don't run around like a chicken with its head cut off or I didn't fall off of a turnip truck.... I am sure that they are expressions of my mom that grew up on a farm... There are worse things to inherit:D)
Happy quilting.
Regards,
Anna

Coachdad said...

Thank you for comment. I am honored that you have decided to follow my blog. It means a lot to me!!!!!!

Ian Buchan said...

From another in the southern hemisphere (over there, across the Indian Ocean): we've had it 35°C to 39°, and then rapid drop to 20 or so! Join the club. Also violent thunderstorms, at the first hint of thunder I disconnect the power and telephone, and wait for the lightning to cease -- a neighbour had her motherboard burnt out by lightning! I enjoy your posts, I would like to link your blog to mine? PS I think moderation of comments is fine, there are some real loonies out in cybnerspace. Ciao

VioletSky said...

I had forgotten about 'blatherskite'. There are some great old world phrases out there.

It had actually never occurred to me to reply personally to each comment, I've always used the comment box. And I always check back, or get follow-up comments emailed. I rather like the interaction of the comments and sometimes see a 'conversation' going on which is rather fun as other people jump in with their added two cents worth.

The Fibers of Life said...

Well as me mum and grandmum were fond of saying..."it'll never show on a galloping horse". I too love blatherskite. Not sure where I heard it but it might have something to do with Frank McCourt and Maeve Binchy. I think it would be great fun to gather some of these bits of "wisdom" and put them all together somehow.
I am so jealous of your skinks. I have nothing that comes in to visit except mosquitoes and flies. I have always thought it might be fun to have house geckos. I've heard about them too. Lovely to read you today. I will be putting some of my quilts on my blog over the weekend.
MaryLou

Christine Thresh said...

I'll turn my word verification off as soon as I figure out how.
Oh, I love Gardenias. They have the most lovely scent. I've never been able to grow them.

Tanya said...

I guess I don't go back to the original comments page to see if the blogger has commented on my comment. (Oh no. Does this mean I should go back and check your comments Meggie?) I'm so out of it I don't even know if I have verification on my blog or not. Tell me if I do! I find them somewhat annoying too but they don't deter me from commenting.

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