PUPPIES AND GARDENS AGAIN.....
Yes, it's time for little (or not so little) Merlin's latest pics. He is an energetic lad, with lots of bounce, and lots of barking, whining, grumbling, muttering and all sorts of strange noises. He particularly likes clambering in the dishwasher so he can lick the cutlery while you're loading it. But he likes his beauty sleep too, as these pictures show......
I love that last one! God, I wish I could sleep like that. Not with my bollocks on display to all and sundry, you understand. But he just looks so chilled!
And I took this in our front garden on Sunday evening, in a very flat light with a flash. There is a cropped version of this in my Gardens folder, but I think I prefer the uncropped one, with the soft diagonals. Judge for yourself.
So. I am stuffed full of painkillers and muscle relaxants at present. My back, which is always a little dodgy, gave up on me yesterday after gardening at the weekend. A muscle in my lower back goes into spasm, and pulls my spine out of place, putting a lot of pressure on my sciatic nerve. At its worst, this usually involves my knees giving way, and feeling like I can't control my bodily functions. Fortunately, a fair amount of physio and yoga seems to mitigate the worst of it. So I loaded up with co-codamol, diclofenac and valium last night. Oh, I love the valium when it kicks in! What a sweet drug. I slept like a baby. I'm just a bit sore now, but a little stretching and yoga will help later.
I have an article tucked away which relates the story of my back injury in part (although seven years as a countryside ranger was also quite debilitating), which a climbing magazine once offered to publish, and then completely forgot about. I'll root it out and put it on my blog soon. Let's just say for now that the indoor fall that did for my back was eye-crossingly painful!
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Listening to: Under One Sky - A winner - bursting with virtuoso musicianship, vibrant dynamics, killer melodies and a rhythm section so rich it should have a cholesterol warning. . . a great example of the current barrier breakdown between folk and mainstream music...just beautiful.
Reading: Seamus Heaney - District and Circle; his latest poetry collection
Watching: nothing, now that Wimbledon has finished.
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Looking forward to: The Ashes!!! One of the world's greatest sporting events, the biennial clash of England and Australia in the five test cricket series begins tomorrow. As well as being regarded as the pinnacle of cricketing contests, it has one of the most iconic trophies ever. The tiny, terracotta urn, standing no more than 4 inches high; the story of its contents still the matter of some contoversy, but allegorically containing the ashes of English cricket, cremated after it died when Australia first won on English soil in 1882. The Aussies, as usual, are still the favourites. But we'll see.
Now I know that cricket is seen as a rather esoteric pastime in many parts of the world. The concept of a game that can last for five days and still end in a draw is viewed as bizarrely and eccentrically English. So to make it easier to understand, I have added an abbreviated set of rules below, so you can all follow this magnificent sport in the traditional fashion.....asleep in a deckchair with a pint of warm beer, safe in the knowledge that, when you eventually wake, you won't have missed much....
The Rules of Cricket - a layman's guide
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men are out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.
Glad we cleared that up. HOWZAAAAAATTT?!?!?!
p.s. best radio commentary cricket quote ever? "The bowler's Holding. The batsman's Willey" (Brian Johnston - 1976) - cue childish giggling across the nation.
Right up there with the quote from the University Boat Race a few years' back - "Ah, look! The Lady Mayoress is kissing the cox of the Cambridge crew."
Yes, it's time for little (or not so little) Merlin's latest pics. He is an energetic lad, with lots of bounce, and lots of barking, whining, grumbling, muttering and all sorts of strange noises. He particularly likes clambering in the dishwasher so he can lick the cutlery while you're loading it. But he likes his beauty sleep too, as these pictures show......
I love that last one! God, I wish I could sleep like that. Not with my bollocks on display to all and sundry, you understand. But he just looks so chilled!
And I took this in our front garden on Sunday evening, in a very flat light with a flash. There is a cropped version of this in my Gardens folder, but I think I prefer the uncropped one, with the soft diagonals. Judge for yourself.
So. I am stuffed full of painkillers and muscle relaxants at present. My back, which is always a little dodgy, gave up on me yesterday after gardening at the weekend. A muscle in my lower back goes into spasm, and pulls my spine out of place, putting a lot of pressure on my sciatic nerve. At its worst, this usually involves my knees giving way, and feeling like I can't control my bodily functions. Fortunately, a fair amount of physio and yoga seems to mitigate the worst of it. So I loaded up with co-codamol, diclofenac and valium last night. Oh, I love the valium when it kicks in! What a sweet drug. I slept like a baby. I'm just a bit sore now, but a little stretching and yoga will help later.
I have an article tucked away which relates the story of my back injury in part (although seven years as a countryside ranger was also quite debilitating), which a climbing magazine once offered to publish, and then completely forgot about. I'll root it out and put it on my blog soon. Let's just say for now that the indoor fall that did for my back was eye-crossingly painful!
------------------------------------------------------
Listening to: Under One Sky - A winner - bursting with virtuoso musicianship, vibrant dynamics, killer melodies and a rhythm section so rich it should have a cholesterol warning. . . a great example of the current barrier breakdown between folk and mainstream music...just beautiful.
Reading: Seamus Heaney - District and Circle; his latest poetry collection
Watching: nothing, now that Wimbledon has finished.
------------------------------------------------------
Looking forward to: The Ashes!!! One of the world's greatest sporting events, the biennial clash of England and Australia in the five test cricket series begins tomorrow. As well as being regarded as the pinnacle of cricketing contests, it has one of the most iconic trophies ever. The tiny, terracotta urn, standing no more than 4 inches high; the story of its contents still the matter of some contoversy, but allegorically containing the ashes of English cricket, cremated after it died when Australia first won on English soil in 1882. The Aussies, as usual, are still the favourites. But we'll see.
Now I know that cricket is seen as a rather esoteric pastime in many parts of the world. The concept of a game that can last for five days and still end in a draw is viewed as bizarrely and eccentrically English. So to make it easier to understand, I have added an abbreviated set of rules below, so you can all follow this magnificent sport in the traditional fashion.....asleep in a deckchair with a pint of warm beer, safe in the knowledge that, when you eventually wake, you won't have missed much....
The Rules of Cricket - a layman's guide
You have two sides, one out in the field and one in. Each man that's in the side that's in goes out, and when he's out he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out. When they are all out, the side that's out comes in and the side thats been in goes out and tries to get those coming in, out. Sometimes you get men still in and not out.
When a man goes out to go in, the men who are out try to get him out, and when he is out he goes in and the next man in goes out and goes in. There are two men called umpires who stay out all the time and they decide when the men who are in are out. When both sides have been in and all the men are out, and both sides have been out twice after all the men have been in, including those who are not out, that is the end of the game.
Glad we cleared that up. HOWZAAAAAATTT?!?!?!
p.s. best radio commentary cricket quote ever? "The bowler's Holding. The batsman's Willey" (Brian Johnston - 1976) - cue childish giggling across the nation.
Right up there with the quote from the University Boat Race a few years' back - "Ah, look! The Lady Mayoress is kissing the cox of the Cambridge crew."
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
Gosh, you probably think I'm an evil person by now.
eee, i'm sorry about your back! my boy throws his back out about once a year or so, and it's a similar thing - drugs, sleep, then stretching and such. our dog loves it tho, 'cause it means they can stay in bed together for a few days.
hmmm...maybe i can come up with a mix cd that would be good for laying around on muscle relaxers?