The plants in my last post were chickpeas. The pods are weird - like green bubbles of air, but inside somewhere is a little chickpea or two.
I've had a lovely day today - well, I'd prefer having more John in it, but you know, can't be helped! He was called out early, so I had the boys to entertain right from the off :)
We had pancakes (don't hate me, John!), then I really wanted to get some guitar practice in, so I strung up loads of wool from the bannisters to the wall (sorry about the sellotape, Mrs H...) and challenged Sherlock to get through it all like lasers, not touching any, as if he was robbing somewhere. To encourage him I promised him an ice cream sundae if he managed it.
Anyway, lots of arguments and 'You touched it!/no I didn't!/Yes you DID' conversations later (I'll get bells to put on the string next time, cheeky little theif.) he got there, I'd had a good hour of guitar playing, and we all headed to the park before the dogs got trapped in the web.
It was lovely and sunny all day. We searched for turtles, ran about, climbed trees, played a lot of fetch with the hounds.
John appeared again just before lunch, so we managed to have that together, but before he'd had his last mouthful he was off again.
Sherlock isn't sure about tomorrow. He doesn't really understand why I want to visit the grave of someone who might have meant I didn't meet them and John. Understandable. So he might stay with Mrs H. I've told him he doesn't need to decide until the last minute.
I'm sure lots of you - being far more internet savvy than me - have heard of the 'Everyday Sexosm' project. It's...well, it's about everyday sexism! But now the BTP have teamed up with it, and are actively pursuing cases brought up by it, which is great, in terms of police adapting to the modern world.
And..names. Isn't it amazing, how names differ all over the world? I mean, the conventions behind them. I'm glad - although occasionally wonder - that in the UK you can have (almost) any name you want. I can't imagine being like in Iceland, where you have to pick off a list of 1700 or 1800 names...
And finally, have a picture of some local bobbies at work in Crystal Palace, 1927. Back in the days when your local copper would do anything for you...
33 comments:
You sound like you've had a lovely day with the boys and John being at work does give you that rare treat of a day when you're (pretending to be) in charge ;-)
Sometimes I wonder if we should have more rules about names because some kids really are unlucky with what they get given but at other times I wish that babies were born with their name written on their forehead so parents didn't have to think of them themselves.
The idea of having to name another human being would terrify me! At least it's easy to change your name if you hate it here though.
I did have an illusion of being in charge for...literally minutes at a time :)
Chickpeas! I would never have thought of them. (And they are good to eat, especially in salads--I know most people think of hummus, but I don't like hummus.)
It does sound like you had as nice a day as you could have without more John in it. :)
minutes?!! my word you did well ;-)
The worst bit about picking baby names is that there are descriptions attached to names as if by giving the name you are deciding on the persons personality. I rely on the fact the kids can change their names in order not to feel too guilty about the ones I give them ;-)
I know! (Although I also know Mycroft was in charge all the time, and just giving the rest of us an illusion of being so to buoy our spirits...)
Yeah... never call a kid Finchley, that's my advice.
RR - I love houmous. But fresh green chickpeas I'd probably make into some sort of pesto style dressing.
There's nothing wrong with Finchley! Which sounds like the title of a novel, actually. (Or a guide book.)
Pancakes :(
I wish I'd been home more. The on call thing is somewhat less convenient when the call comes before you're even done with the last one.
he's a good lad that Mycroft ;-)
I've never eaten chickpeas which seems a bit odd for someone of my advanced years but somehow they've never turned up on my plate, I think its something I should do something about :-)
There is everything wrong with it. Not that I'm doing anything about it.
And yes, that is the problem...you don't get a second on call you can call when you're busy and another call comes... Well, the other problem is I don't get to spend the day with you :)
Yeah, I don't like that part either.
(Although I do like Finchley.)
weirdo :)
If you do ever get me preggers, I'm not letting you go to the registrar's alone! God knows what it'd end up being called. Islington? Crouch End? Battersea? Cockfosters? Harringay? Dulwich? ;)
Islington's not bad... Probably not Cockfosters though. That seems needlessly cruel.
Finchley makes me think that Justin Finch-Fletchly got tired of having his name hyphenated. I mean, I know it's a place, but my brain takes as many left turns into Harry Potter Land as it possibly can.
We have a smattering of Dakotas and Montanas and Brooklyns out here. Oh, and I have an aunt named Virginia. Who lives in Virginia. Seriously.
-Ella
Finchley is needlessly cruel. But I'm glad you do at least have some limits :)
Suppose it could have been worse. Gregory Martin Tooting Lestrade... or Barking Lestrade...
Names *are* interesting. I used to keep a book which I would write interesting names in, for the day when I eventually changed my name (which I did when I was 23). Nothing wrong, as such, with my birth names, but people never spelled them right, and they just weren't *me*.
Of course, people rarely spell my new names right either, but I don't mind as much because I feel more at home with the names!
That's brilliant, that the BTP are teaming up with Everyday Sexism! Excellent initiative!
Ella, Virginia is a middle name I gave one of my daughters. In our case, it's for "Yes, Virginia".
I'd never have guessed chickpeas. I guess I didn't realize you could grow them; which is stupid, but I thought they were grown someplace hot. I love them!
Did you find any turtles?
I can sympathize with Sherlock. It is strange thinking about a world that went down a different path than the one you're in. But maybe he can accept that you wouldn't have been the same person he knows and likes if it hadn't been for the people you knew along the way.
Names are funny. My mom shares the name of a city, where she lived for a year or so after college. My sister, who has the same name, (but has never lived there) used to answer her work extension saying "This is A______" and the people on the other end would apologize for calling the wrong city.
Chickpeas, hm? Now I'm hungry.
I like my name because I'm named after my mom's mother and grandmother. And the name I go by is a nickname for both names. It's sort of quirkily alliterative but I like it.
I don't know how my mom managed to give me both my names, now that I know more about how her and my dad related to each other, come to think of it. Glad it turned out that way, though. If I'd been named for his side of the family I would've changed it.
I like to look up meanings of first/middle name combinations and see if they make cool phrases.
Ella
I hope you have a peaceful time visiting Steve's grave today.
Thanks - we all went. Blazing sunshine, instead of the promised rain... took some flowers, spent a bit of time there. Did some weeding - guess this weather recently has made everything grow very fast.
Now in the park :)
I'm glad you all had a good visit, and that you had the chance to have your family with you. Was Sherlock OK?
Lovely sunny morning ere, but it's about to start pissing down, I think, and not stop until tonight. *peers nervously at the sky*
He was...a bit unsure. But wanted to come. He hung onto John quite tightly. Then hung onto me a bit. Bit quiet. I don't really know what to say to him, except...you know, this all happened, here we are, it's fine. It's okay to be sad about things that happened, but still happy about what's happening now.
It's raining here now but I wanted thunderstorms and it smells nice and Mycroft says that's bacteria.
Pretty much everything's bacteria, Sherlock. :)
Ella
It's lovely smell, isn't it, Sherlock? It's called petrichor.
Lestrade, that's a really good sentiment, very true, but something that's not always easy to accept or understand, I think. Sherlock's very lucky to have good people to help him with this kind of stuff.
That smell has a NAME?! You just blew my mind. Thank you. :)
Ella
Mycroft said it was Greek. Everyone's being boring Lestrade has his headphones on and is playing his guitar and John's on his computer and Mycroft is reading and there wasn't any thunder or lightning. And we let more of my butterflies go earlier but there's still five that haven't hatched and I hope they do.
I saw lightning and there's thunder! But not very much. But I SAW it!
Oh, I'm jealous Sherlock! We've got lots of rain, but no thunder or lightning.
Have you found something to entertain yourself with while everyone else is busy doing their own thing?
Lestrade stopped playing the guitar and made us dinner and John said we should decide what we want to do when he's got days off but I don't know yet.
I'm glad your visit this morning went ok Greg and that you got guitar playing time this afternoon :-)
I hope you and John are having a nice evening.
It's amazing how many things have names that you don't expect to have names. Sometimes they're hard to find, though. Sherlock, do you know the name of the curvy bit between the bottom center of your nose and the top of your lip?
Maybe for your time off you could go visit some place you've never been, or go back to some place you didn't have enough time to visit properly before. Or you could take a road, roll a dice to see how many miles to go, and then after you'd gone that far, play eeny-meeny-miney-mo with the next four turns and take mo before rolling the dice again. (It's more interesting with a twenty sided dice). And then when you come across something that looks interesting, stop!
Lestrade - bit late here but wanted to say that the picture in your last blog entry made me think of walnuts (& made me wonder whether a joke about nuts was on the way!). Interesting to see that they're actually chickpeas.
If any of you are up for a jaunt to the seaside and looking for something to do then you might be interested in the touring exhibition that's currently down there: Curiosity: Art & the Pleasures of Knowing (http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/find/hayward-gallery-and-visual-arts/hayward-touring/future/curiosity-art-and-the-pleasures-of-knowing)
I've not been to see it, just had a look online, but it looks to be full of all sorts of quirky odds & ends. Including the fantastically overstuffed Horniman walrus, which is possibly worth a trip to Margate all on its own...
...I do have a photo of some walnuts I could provide ;)
Margate, huh? Not sure I've ever been there...
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