Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: Paul T on April 19, 2012, 09:37:29 AM
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Howdy All,
A little piece of Trivia......
Did you know that if you leave a lemon for long enough (say, since the beginning of October, just before Yvonne went into Hospital) and then decide to check whether it is useful for lemon and honey tea (as I did tonight)..... the lemon is still perfectly useable, although quite soft to the touch. Rather than chucking it out I decided to open it despite the softness. It was lovely and juicy and of excellent flavour. Now here's the Trivia bit..... the seeds in the lemon are all germinating. Given it was still intact and not rotting or anything like that, I'm amazed that the seed was germinating. Some of the shoots were up to 1cm long and green, despite being in a lightless environment inside the lemon. ???
Pretty cool, huh? I thought I should share this little bit of trivia with you all, despite the fact you're all probably going "so what". ;D I am wishing in some ways that I'd left it longer and found out whether those little shoots would have ended up appearing out the side of the lemon after a while. I'm tempted to plant some of them, but I'm not sure how good they'd be as rootstock for grafting. I'd imagine the proper rootstock would be better.
I hope you're all having a good evening. 8)
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pitty you did not take some pictures. ;)
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I can still take come pics. There is a neatly cut half, showing the little green shoots emerging from the seeds. Would you like pics?
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I agree sooooooooooooooooooo with Razvan
and Paul Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
i am most surprised they germinate in this acid environment
Roland
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Pics have been taken, I'll upload them later this evening I hope (if my procrastination doesn't get the better of me!). 8)
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procrastination
sounds as a terrible illness for me ;D
R
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Roland,
Since my wife passed away I have been even more dreadful than usual for putting things off. I am absolutely hopeless. I have so many things that need repotting, but it just never gets done. ::)
I am at the moment however, uploading the pics from my camera to the laptop, so there is hope that you'll see them tonight rather than tomorrow. ;)
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I know the feeling
I have it after all the plant-shows
maybe here it is the end of all the stress
R
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Some citrus seeds are polyembryonic with at least one embryo being genetically identical to the parent plant. With lemons though, you'll get a lemon tree. I do know that they will germinate if left long enough inside the lemon, but their viability drops off if the seeds dry out.
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Anthony,
Sorry that it was an already known phenomenon. I'll still post pics for those like me though who are a bit behind and weren't aware of it.
Roland,
Wonders will never cease..... I've managed to prepare some pics to post. ;D The differences in colour of the flesh are due to different lights. I took pics with an without a flash, and in different lights to see which turned out best. These ones were the clearest.
I only noticed when I was preparing the pics that there are already significant radicals as well as the green shoots. You can actually quite clearly see which way up the lemon was sitting, as all the roots head in the one direction (i.e downwards). I went back and had another look at the lemon and they're quite obvious, although I didn't even notice them until seeing the pics.
Enjoy.
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I find this most interesting :o.... great to see the photos of it happening.
Next time I find some antique (all in the name of science, of course) foodstuff around the house I will be sure to investigate thoroughly. 8)
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Maggi,
Investigate does not just mean eat..... I thought I should point that out. At the very least it is hard to photograph it afterwards, as I was requested to do in this case. :P
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Oh ye of little faith.... I know I have a reputation for being a hungry Horace ::) - but I am sure I can be trusted to "investigate" something without immediately ingesting it ...... I have a reasonable sense of self-preservation, y'know! ;D
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Just checking. Can't be too careful. ;D
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procrastination
sounds as a terrible illness for me ;D
R
Procrastination just a couple of days ago lost me about 2/3ds of my Gentiana depressa seed. :'(
Continuing with a slightly similar post to Paul's, I knew that Nerine seed, if left to its own devices in a small container or in a paper bag, germinates unseen and becomes a small bulb, with shoot and root. This takes a year of its time until blooming, over seed sown in the ordinary way. Last night I learned that Eucomis seed does the same thing.
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Paul,
thanks for sharing. Very interesting and entertaining. ;D ;D ;D
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Bet your seedlings get a fright Paul if they get squeezed into the glass of gin. ;D
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Did you know that if you leave a tomato long enough, say since the beginning of March and then poke about in the bowl because you're making a Greek salad, the tomato has turned to a disgusting soggy and smelly mush which has to be scraped onto the compost heap? There are also little white stringy thing which I estimate to be larvae of fruit flies. I do not believe they will germinate, except into fruit flies. ???
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I was always told that if I ate an apple core a tree would grow through the top of my head, so I have never eaten apple cores. I only found out a few years ago that this wasn't true when I watched a friend eat an entire apple, including the core. His mother had told him the same as mine, but regarded it as a challenge and not a warning! I found out about lemon pips when trying to inhibit germination in an experiment. It failed miserably. Should have picked apple pips! ::)
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Lesley,
Are you sure about the Eucomis? They are a hard black seed and can last for years, retaining good viability. To germinate they would have to at least have been thoroughly wet to start the process. Nerines and many of the fleshy seed Amaryllidaceae have these auto-germination seeds. Very handy if you lock them away and forget about them. I have Haemanthus albiflos growing that were seed exchange seed that I lost for 18 months. All had formed perfect little bulbs and were waiting for better times. Something else must have happened to the Eucomis to get them to germinate I think..... I've stored them for years without any germination or any significant loss of viability for me, whereas the Amaryllidaceae tend to germinate if left for more than a couple of weeks. I find most of the fleshy seed ones germinate in the envelope when being sent. 8)
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Did you know that if you leave a tomato long enough, say since the beginning of March and then poke about in the bowl because you're making a Greek salad, the tomato has turned to a disgusting soggy and smelly mush which has to be scraped onto the compost heap? There are also little white stringy thing which I estimate to be larvae of fruit flies. I do not believe they will germinate, except into fruit flies. ???
Yuk! :P Fruit fly maggots are yellowish and miniature versions of blowfly maggots. I have both breeding outside for the geckos. Today I noticed a baby northland gecko in the adults' cage so put a jar of fruit flies into it.
The best place to find tomato plants is the sewage works. The seeds are designed (not intelligently, by the way) to pass through the gut unharmed and be dolloped elsewhere, complete with "compost" (there's that word again).
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I was actually taking the mickey a little Anthony. :) Still, it has happened here, more than once. :-[
Paul I was told about the Eucomis seeds, I haven't seen it myself. At our OAGG meeting last night a member said she had put Eucomis seeds in a jam jar then forgottten them, to find little bulbs later. I asked was she sure they were not Nerines as per my own experience but she said they had not only been collected off her own Eucomis (she admitted to some dampness in the jar over time) but had subsequently planted the little bulbils and eventually had had them grow and flower as - Eucomis.
I still haven't done Eucomis leaf cuttings of my TPR (much admired last night. The stems of flowers have been very long-lasting) and it may be too late now with shorter, cooler days but I'm off out now, to try some. No sign of seed forming, though honey bees have been gathering large quantities of pollen from it every day.
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We keep our tomatoes in the salad chiller and still some turn to mush if they fall out of their bag and get missed, especially if we have had a glut from our tomato plants. No fruit flies though. We had a bowl of feijoas turn rotten on us before we could work out what to do with them. No-one like the flavour or the texture, which is rather like guava, another fruit we don't eat.
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Lesley,
With Eucomis there would have to have been a fair amount of moisture involved I think. With moisture, I'm not surprised that they germinated. And in a jar they may have had enough light to photosynthesise a bit and set bulbs. Still not a usual occurrence for Eucomis I would think.
I get bees around my Eucomis all the time, but only seem to get seed set when I hand pollinate. Obviously there is better seed set when cross pollinated with another one, but I have had some seed set by selfing, but only a few seeds. Where I have been hand pollinating, I keep to a ring of flowers around the stem, so that I have some idea whether they set successfully or not. It is usually pretty obvious where I have been working, as those pods swell. Sometimes where are seeds in them, sometimes not. I've just collected seed from Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy' x vanderwerwei and the reciprocal cross, and my best pink flowered x vandermerwei and the reciprocal cross. It will be interesting to see in the future what these turn out like. 8)
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How long do they take from seed to flowering Paul?
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Anthony,
From around 3 years I think. I think I had the first of a previous batch from seedex seed flower in the third year. Probably quicker if looked after better, which I am guilty of not doing with my seed pots. ::)
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That's quick! :o My first seedlings from this year's seed exchange, mostly cyclamen, are sprouting, but I'd be lucky to get them to flower in three years. Narcissi will take even longer. I have a pot of 'grass' labelled Narcissus obsoletus which was sown last April, but there seem to be more seedlings now than appeared last May. 8)
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I love guavas tho' I've only had them canned. They grow and can be bought or picked fresh in the far north of NZ. Feijoas are delicious ripe, peeled and microwaved with some brown sugar until tender, then served for dessert with cream.
Must do a picture at the weekend of my non Colchicum luteum seedlings, the other things that have come up in their pots. They're beginning to look suspiciously like Impatiens glandulifera, the balsam thing that pings and distributes everywhere.
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Anthony,
Narcissus are notoriously long to flower.... I hear 7 years often bandied about. The exception I think is the bulbocodium/romieuxii types as they are quicker? Cyclamen I have had flower from 3 years, depending on the species. I have friends who flowered Veltheimia in 3 years from seed, whereas mine took 5 years I think. Very variable according to what you're sowing, what your conditions are, and how you look after them. :-\
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I've not grown the larger Narcissus from seed, the largest is N. nevadensis and that took 4 years to flower but for me all the roughly bulbocodium types, b itself and the romieuxii types etc, any hoop petticoat types, take 2 1/2 to 3 yrears depending on whether they're sown autumn or spring, and cyclamineus takes the same. 2 1/2 from autumn sowing or 3 if sown the following spring. Likewise rupicola which often flowers before I get it out of the seed pot.
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One or two Forumists have said how much they have enjoyed some of the music clips I've posted (and Cliff has posted too) over the years so I thought the time was right to start a thread (hope Maggi doesn't mind!). So some here for you to enjoy, I hope.
A duo I've started to listen to a lot of late-The Civil Wars, "I Want You Back". Check out some of there other stuff too.
The Civil Wars - I Want You Back (Live) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6dPVydzKZQ#ws)
The Country Sisters- "Cotton Eyed Joe". Makes an old man very happy!
COUNTRY SISTERS - Cotton Eyed Joe (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZvpHwoQfqk#ws)
Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin and Jerry Douglas- "The Boxer"
Alison Krauss The Boxer (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60vZ__-uJCQ#ws)
Alison Krauss and Jerry Douglas-on James Taylor's "Carolina on my Mind. Get that Dobro Mr Young!
CAROLINA IN MY MIND by Allison Krauss & Jerry Douglas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjGcIhxGP3c#)
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Spotted this on the news feed at the local ANZ branch this afternoon. Dull (near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland) is to be twinned with Boring (Oregon, USA). http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/27/the-most-exciting-dull-and-boring-story-youll-read-today/ (http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/27/the-most-exciting-dull-and-boring-story-youll-read-today/)
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Yes, it's done the Press rounds. What's an "ANZ Branch"
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ANZ is my bank David. We have ANZ; ASB; BNZ (Bank of New Zealand); TSB Bank (Taranaki Savings Bank Bank); HSBC; Kiwi Bank (Post Office) and National Bank (complete with prancing horse like the UK Lloyds TSB).
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Spotted this on the news feed at the local ANZ branch this afternoon. Dull (near Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland) is to be twinned with Boring (Oregon, USA). http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/27/the-most-exciting-dull-and-boring-story-youll-read-today/ (http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/04/27/the-most-exciting-dull-and-boring-story-youll-read-today/)
Anthony
From my past nursery romps through the Pacific Northwest to round up new plants for the local nurseries I can tell you that Boring, Oregon is by no means boring. It has some of the most exciting nurseries in the USA. One in particular comes to mind http://www.stanleyandsons.com/ (http://www.stanleyandsons.com/). There are many many nurseries in this area and every time we went we'd spend the entire day in that one town though I can't recall ever seeing an actual town. Back then when you crossed over from Washington to Oregon you could pick up a book at the tourist stop - something like The 1200 Nurseries of the Greater Portland Area and it was revised annually! Sadly last time I was there it was no longer produced. Bet there are some great gardens in Dull too. ;)
johnw
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I don't know how many of you are fans of the late, and much lamented, Sandy Denney but I'd guess there are a few? Well a singer by the name of Thea Gilmore has released an album of songs from lyrics found in Sandy's papers after her death. Well worth a listen, and a purchase.
Thea Gilmore, dont stop singing - a collaboration with Sandy Denny's lyrics (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MAko86q9I7k#)
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ANZ David, is Australia and New Zealand Bank and like all the others except Kiwibank (whose Micky Mouse name I don't like, though it's my own bank) is overseas owned, which is why Kiwibank was started in the first place, 10 years ago. The National Bank is an offshoot of Lloyds as Anthony points out and Westpac, is I think, or maybe it's the Bank of NZ is owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland. So many people were outraged that all our banking profits were going overseas that in an election a few years back, a wholly owned NZ bank became a major issue and swung the election for the Labour party, with support from others. (We have MMP as an electoral system at present.) Most of the banks WERE NZ owned at one stage but sold out for bigger profits to the shareholders, to hell with the customers of course.
It is interesting and again a source of much anger that ANZ, a wholly Australian owned bank now, charges much more for every single service here, than it does in Australia. Either bigger dollar amounts or bigger percentage amounts. There is no justification for that at all, except that they can. If I buy a bank draft from ANZ it costs me $25 whereas if I buy one from Kiwibank it is $15. (We are still an ANZ customer as our slowly lowering mortgage is with ANZ.) Still too much for a bit of paper with a few typed words.
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Too true Lesley. I heard on the BBC World Service about the "jobless recovery" in the USA. 93% of the (so-called) US recovery is going to the top 1% of the people. ???
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Despite losing our kids several times while growing up, they are now adults and don't hate us too much! ;D
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A little music for the weekend:-
The Staves
The Staves - Mexico (Official Music Video) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYV0Wp0MdZ4#ws)
Alabama Shakes
Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQhXYJfI0S8#ws)
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Loving those choices David 8) 8)
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Because its Edward Lears 200th birthday,
http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html (http://www.jabberwocky.com/carroll/jabber/jabberwocky.html)[/url]
8) 8) 8)
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When we occasionally have children who have mislaid their parents or vice versa at the market, we immediately, as a matter of policy and on their own advice, phone the police, though we've never had anything sinister happen to any child. Yesterday a man came to the site office and said he'd lost his wife. Said he didn't think he'd bother looking. :o
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Anthony,
Sorry that it was an already known phenomenon. I'll still post pics for those like me though who are a bit behind and weren't aware of it.
Roland,
Wonders will never cease..... I've managed to prepare some pics to post. ;D The differences in colour of the flesh are due to different lights. I took pics with an without a flash, and in different lights to see which turned out best. These ones were the clearest.
I only noticed when I was preparing the pics that there are already significant radicals as well as the green shoots. You can actually quite clearly see which way up the lemon was sitting, as all the roots head in the one direction (i.e downwards). I went back and had another look at the lemon and they're quite obvious, although I didn't even notice them until seeing the pics.
Enjoy.
Terrific pics, Paul, from page one.
A friend of mine bit into a granny smith apple some years ago, she found the seeds had germinated and potted them up.
I have one of those seedlings, it has just come through its 3rd winter.
Have no idea what sort of apples it will eventually get but it is very interesting.
Only things I have seen germinating inside the fruit at times are tomato seeds.
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Quite a number of species from Rosaceae will germinate inside the fruit, including roses themselves, inside the hips, peaches and apricots, and rowans of different species. The fruit instead of ripening and shedding its seed by whatever means, simply falls to the ground and rots, releasing the already germinating seeds.
Admin Fred has added a much needed spellcheck (thanks) and it tells me when I've typed r instead of t and all the other typos with which I litter my text but so far as I can see, there's no-where to add the genuine words that are underlined in red squiggles. (such as Rosaceae, rowans, and even, Maggi! If I can add those and others, it will be fewer squiggles in subsequent posts. Is there somewhere to add these words Maggi? (as can be done in a Word doc for instance.)
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I've just tried the spell check, and was given the option, via the correction box, to change, ignore or add the words underlined. They still came up in red in the post box but were ignored in a second check test.
Can't say I understand all this stuff, but it seems to work, sort of!
Only a moderator can remove a post altogether, as was the case in the previous forum setup. It's for good reason... trust me, I'm not a doctor!
Oops, shouldn't have mentioned docs if you have to have treatment... sorry. Good luck with it, though. :-*
Maggi
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Oh Maggi, I am totally blind or stupid or both. Please forgive me. I saw the note elsewhere that Fred had added the spell check, had the red squiggles under some words but totally failed to see the Spell Check button to the right of Post and Preview. Sorted now.
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It is interesting and again a source of much anger that ANZ, a wholly Australian owned bank now, charges much more for every single service here, than it does in Australia. Either bigger dollar amounts or bigger percentage amounts. There is no justification for that at all, except that they can.
Lesley,
I had my mortgage with them and when I paid it off I expected the title to be returned to me - apparently I'd have to pay for that privilege! Why I asked a bank teller "Why?" she just said "Because they can"!
Banks - aka B@st@rds! :-X
Even the Bendigo Bank which is touted as a "community" bank follows the lead of our "big 4" and hasn't passed on the full interest rate cut when the Reserve Bank cut rates earlier this month.
Oh, correction - the banks did pass on the full rate cut but only to investors, not borrowers! So you get paid even less interst on money you have with them but pay more interest on money you borrow! >:(
cheers
fermi
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Fermi, you forget that we have to pay the chief executives' salaries. 30 years ago they were 10 times that of the basic worker; they are now 100 times that of the basic worker. Holiday homes, London penthouses, Ferraris, Aston Martins (both plural), yachts and a private education (yes, it is still called public school in the UK, as that was its original intention) for Tarquin and Henrietta don't grow on trees (perhaps that should be rockery plants?). >:( No wonder governments can't balance the books. All the money has been syphoned off into the private sector. To take a US example: Apple could still make a fortune even if it employed Americans to manufacture its iPhones, but it chooses to have them made in China! Dyson is the same. I bought a Lightline sleeping bag in 1983. My son uses it on his tramps in NZ. It was lovingly made in the UK. I know, because on the original label were the names of the ladies who were involved written in ballpoint. These bags are now made in China and these ladies are doing something else.
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Trivia Time: the title is the clue.... light-hearted fun..... get it?!!!
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;D ;D ;D
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If anyone listened to the clip I posted in early May of Alabama Shakes and liked them here's another:-
Alabama Shakes - Hold On - David Letterman 4-12-12 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq8hlz75sc8#ws)
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A tiny rolling wooden ball plays Bach (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBzon0p4BH4#ws)
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That is absolutely brilliant :o
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A real gem Anthony
Thank you
Göte
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I wish I could play Bach as well, myself. :D
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You and me both Lesley. Fortunately I get the chance to sing wonderful music. Today we had 'Locus Iste' by Bruckner and 'Lord I Trust Thee' by Handel as motets in today's 9.30 Eucharist at St Mark's, Remuera. The preacher was the Right Reverend Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Chelmsford. Next Sunday we are going to the free family concert in Auckland town hall, and the attraction for me is the Saint-Saëns organ Concerto.
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Next Sunday we are going to the free family concert in Auckland town hall, and the attraction for me is the Saint-Saëns organ Concerto.
That will be a blast. I hope they provide seat belts.
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A blast indeed. I heard Gillian Weir play it years ago in Wellington at one of the International Arts Festivals, held every two years. I went to 11 concerts/recitals/plays in 9 days!
Yes John, I shall be going to the Czech Conference, everything booked now except an airfare from Dunedin to Christchurch and back. Hoping the Czech Phil will be doing something exciting at the time as I'll have a few days in Prague before the main event. ;D
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Gillian Weir played one of the inaugural recitals after the new Flentrop organ in Dunblane Cathedral was installed in 1989. I remember having a hilarious time afterwards with her and members of the choir in a friends kitchen. Plenty of wine was had by all! ;D She had this fantastic way of introducing a piece and then swinging round and launching into the music in one graceful movement.
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And wore glorious gowns. :)
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thanks Anthony for sharing it with us . What an ingenious way to interpret Johann Sebastian , my favourit composer of all times '
Otto.
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And wore glorious gowns. :)
Yes. Very flowing. I wondered at the time how she managed to play the organ.
thanks Anthony for sharing it with us . What an ingenious way to interpret Johann Sebastian , my favourite composer of all times '
Otto.
I'm with you there Otto. I think the B minor Mass must be the best choral music ever written. 8) I feel so fortunate to have been able to sing it twice. I wish I'd stuck in at the organ. :-\
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You wished you'd what? :P ;D
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::) ;D
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After some Bach maybe it is time for Grieg now.
http://youtu.be/gww9_S4PNV0 (http://youtu.be/gww9_S4PNV0)
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I hope there were lots of tourists on that train!
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Really lovely John, thanks so much. The happy faces said it all.
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Homage to the master.
Eric Clapton - Layla (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX5USg8_1gA#)
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that's amazing, interesting and while reading was hoping to see pictures, then joy, pictures. brilliant
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WHAT IS A YORKSHIREMAN?
An American photographer on holiday was inside a church in Oldham taking photographs when he noticed a golden telephone mounted on the wall with a sign that read '£10,000 per call'.
The American, being intrigued, asked a priest who was strolling by what the telephone was used for. The priest replied that it was a direct line to heaven and that for £10,000 you could talk to God. The American thanked the priest and went along his way.
Next stop was in Manchester... There, at a very large cathedral, he saw the same golden telephone with the same sign under it. He wondered if this was the same kind of telephone he saw in Oldham and he asked a nearby nun what its purpose was. She told him that it was a direct line to heaven and that for £10,000 he could talk to God.
'O.K., thank you,' said the American.
He then travelled to Blackburn, Darwen, Burnley, Rochdale and Littleborough. In every church he saw the same golden telephone with the same '£10,000 per call' sign under it. The American, upon leaving Lancashire decided to travel to Yorkshire to see if Yorkshiremen had the same phone.
He arrived in Huddersfield, and again, in the first church he entered, there was the same golden telephone, but this time the sign under it read '50 pence per call.'
The American was surprised so he asked the priest about the sign. 'Father, I've travelled all over Lancashire and I've seen this same golden telephone in many churches. I'm told that it is a direct line to heaven, but in Lancashire the price was £10,000 per call. Why is it so cheap here?'
The priest smiled and answered, 'You're in Yorkshire now, son. It's a local call.
;D
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I think this one started in Rome with prices in Euros and the version I heard finished in St Giles, Edinburgh. Yorkshire's God's Own Country, so much more better. :P
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;)
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;D
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I grow all my primulas in straight lines ;)
Bineuse GARFORD InRow sur salade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZwwYWRKLa0#ws)
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;D ;D ;D
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I grow all my primulas in straight lines ;)
Bineuse GARFORD InRow sur salade (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZwwYWRKLa0#ws)
Santa was kind to you then, Giles?!! You must have a helluva chimney. ;D ;)
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Camera/computer recognizes the crop plant - a hoes around it.
It can cope with gaps etc in the rows
(I want one, and I want it now!)
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Is that primula variety found on Kos?
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Is that primula variety found on Kos?
[attachimg=1]
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..and what with climate change and all that, will it cope with Icebergs
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..and what with climate change and all that, will it cope with Icebergs
- might need the 15 row version for those.......... ;D
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Let us hope there will be no more lettuce jokes :P
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Sadly, I fear that many more romaine........
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Let us hope there will be no more lettuce jokes :P
I think you mean 'Lettuce hope there will be no more lettuce jokes' ?
-no chance-
especially when Anthony has Butterhead start on the rest of us
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Each a little gem. 8)