Birds Feeding and Fun in the Snow

There was a fairly heavy fall of snow yesterday, and it was obvious that the local bird population were finding it hard to get at the worms. There was a constant stream of them flying to the bird feeder in the front garden all morning.

At times the feeding perches became quite congested, with a queue forming in the branches of the tree. (I can't say it was orderly as there seemed to be constant squabbling and jockeying for places on the perches!)

There was, however the odd bird who was more clever than the rest, and instead of fighting for a place on one of the perches, he simply positioned himself on the lawn, below the bird feeder and ate to his hearts content from all the seed that was spilled out as the other birds squabbled amongst themselves!

Ruby sat by the window and for a while was quite entertained by the comings and goings of the birds, but it dawned on her that it would be more fun to be outside in the snow, and after some gentle reminders she was off into the field.

 

Birds Feeding in the Snow and Ruby Enjoying the Snow

It was snowy still on Thursday morning, and as I was up early, because I had a funeral to play for at 11.30, I took the opportunity to take few shots of the weather.

The birds were obviously greatful for any food they could get at. Here they are of top of our garage busily eating the food we had put out for them.

Of course there is nothing Ruby likes better than a romp in the snow. Once she gets in the field at the back of our house she goes absolutely beserk and not only romps across the field trying to catch any crows that may be about, but she will also roll in the snow, and finishes up looking like the abominable snow dog!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let it Snow!

Wow! the weather forecasters got it more or less right! They have been predicting snow for a few days before it actually arrived, but they reckoned that it would first fall on Monday, and lo and behold it did. Not copious amounts, but enough to give a slight covering.

Cold Enough to Freeze the Balls off a Brass Monkey!

I had this interesting little explanation sent to me by a friend I e-mail in Australia. I cannot vouch for the truth of the explanation but it does sound plausible! 


CANNON BALLS!!! DID YOU KNOW THIS?


It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.



Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.



The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.



Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.



Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.




Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, folks thought that was just a vulgar expression!

Doom and Gloom!

This time of year, when all the excitement of Christmas is over and done, (doesn't it seem like months ago now?) and the weather hasn't really improved much, and there is darkness in a morning when you get up, and it's dark when you come home from work, it doesn't really put you in a "get up and go" type of mood does it? In fact it really seems to me that the wild animals have more sense than we have. At least some of them avoid this by hibernating!

This time of year, there always seems to be lots of doom and gloom stories in the papers. Policeman killed on his way to a road traffic accident (on the same road we travel when we visited Masham, riots in Belfast, an organist murdered on his way to play a midnight service [I'm seriously thinking of demanding danger money!]

At least there was one spot of enlightenment from the doom and gloom. We paid our annual visit to Harrogate Theatre to see the pantomime. This year it was Jack and the Beanstalk, with Tim Stedman in his usual role - this time that of Simple Simon. His opening entrance saw him dressed as a bullfighter, but having a docile cow called Buttercup did little to persuade the audience that he was up to the job!

Polly Lister, who played the Good Fairy and Morag, the Giant's housekeeper did sterling work. As a slightly upper crust Good Fairy she raised some titters from the audience, and as Morag she kept up an absolutely convincing thick Glaswegian accent, which not only baffled the rest of the cast, but had the audience straining to understand what she was saying. She was a sort of female Billy Connolly.

The Baddie, Fleshcreep, initially seemed to be playing the role in an understated manner, but he had a way of telling the audience "this is the clever bit" every time he plotted some evil deed.

As I came away from the pantomime I wondered how I would explain what a pantomime is to someone who has never seen one before.........

How can you get away with...the leading boy is a girl dressed up as a boy, the dame is always a man, dressed up as a lady, with a wig, bright red lipstick and outrageous clothes. It begins to sound a bit like a show for transvestites!

None the less it was as enjoyable and entertaining as ever.

But back to the doom and gloom. It always seems that just after Christmas there is a glut of people dying, and it's not just because the crematorium has closed over the Christmas period! In the next fourteen days I will have five funerals to play for.

So I will close with my best wishes for you all to have A Happy New Year!

Christmas Crackers

In this crazy world people seem to rush headlong into the season of Christmas. It never fails to amaze me how many people get sucked into the commercial celebration of Christmas, but show no recognition of what Christmas is really all about. Usually in the middle of August you detect the first signs of "Christmas Fever!" This is followed in quick succession by Christmas decorations in shop widow displays, present adverts on the televison, adverts for the latest "must have" toys, reminders of only so many shopping days to Christmas 

Then suddenly in every house Christmas decorations appear (usually in the first week in December). Those of an electrical bent festoon the facades of their houses and gardens with garish illuminated figures - Father Christmas, Reindeer, snowmen, robins etc. and when you stop and think about it, what have any of these to really do with CHRISTMAS?

We wouldn't be celebrating if it wasn't for the birth of a baby in a stable in Bethlehem.

These self same people who have spent at least a month preparing themselves for Christmas are very unlikely to appear in a church over the Christmas period, and by December 26th are hastily dismantling the Christmas decorations!

Isn't it time someone explained that the season of Christmas doesn't actually start until Christmas Day and continues for twelve days (hence the song The Twelve Days of Christmas) and doesn't finish until Twelfth Night, which is January 6th (when the Wise Men/Kings/Magi put in an appearance.)

By the way we do have some Christmas decorations in our house, but they are usually put up as near as possible to Christmas, and stay there until January 6th!

A Break in Masham

Having survived all the Christmas Festivities, Carol Services, Nativity Plays, Crib Services and Christingle Services here we are at the first day of a New Year.

As is usual Dot and I took a break of a few days at the Kings Head in Masham. The weather has not been very good, and there has been an exceptional amount of rain over the last two or three weeks, so it was not surprising that we encountered lots of fields which were flooded, and the occasional road which had huge puddles across it!

Flooded Road near Masham

Due to their being a lot of rain, I didn't get the opportunity to take many photos during the hours of daylight, but on Friday evening, around about 7.30 pm the rain ceased and I took the opportunity to take some photos of Masham and the market square. Having brought my tripod with me I was able to take a goodly number of time exposures.

 The Kings Head, where we stayed.

 Masham Parish Church Spire.

Christmas Decoration on a Wall near the Bruce Arms Hotel.

 

The Bruce Arms Hotel.

 Masham Market Square.

Parish Church Spire in the moonlight. 

Moonlight View.



On Saturday morning we drove to Castle Bolton and as the castle was closed for the winter we had a wander round the local St Oswald's Church. 

 Bolton Castle Noticeboard.

                             St Oswald's Church, Castle Bolton. 

                            Christmas Crib - St Oswald's Church, Castle Bolton.

                                 St Oswald's Church - East End. 

St Oswald's Church - West Window.

Rather than return home by the main road route, we took a detour via the small village of Carperby, where Dot's Cousin and her husband have a house. We called in to the local pub for a coffee, and noted that on the wall outside was a board which informed us that James Herriott (the famous Thirsk Vet and author) had spent his honeymoon here.

Leaving Carperby we travelled to the Aysgarth Falls, which were in full spate and spectacular.