Holiday reading

Hope to get through some New Yorkers (have packed 7). And will have a stab at the following:

Beechcombings: The Narratives of Trees - Richard Mabey
Loitering with Intent - Muriel Spark
The Uninvited - Geling Yan
The Three Evangelists - Fred Vargas
Maeve Brennan: Homesick at The New Yorker - Angela Bourke (seeing a theme here!)

I'll start Beechcombings at the airport, always more difficult to start the heavier reads in the sunshine. Loved the Muriel Spark book years ago, hoping to still enjoy it.

Update, post-holiday: Relaxed a good deal so only read two books and two New Yorkers.
Beechcombings was interesting, learned lots about beech trees (naturally) and woodland management (should woodlands be managed?). The bits about art history and the meaning of landscape I found less gripping.
The Three Evangelists was good, Fred Vargas is a new writer to me, I'll be looking out for more. The evangelists of the title are three down-on-their-luck academics who investigate a neighbour's murder. The investigators each have their foibles (however contrived) which help them eventually solve the crime(s).

All potted up

Finally got the last of the seedlings potted up - 92 in all! They'll be looked in on, and watered, at the end of the week by the bro or sis-in-law. Now to pack for the hols ;¬)

Potting on, pricking out

Before I go off for a few days in the sun (yay!), I had to knuckle down and pot on all of my seedlings from their seed trays. This is usually called pricking out, but I’ve left it a bit long and some seedlings are quite sturdy by now, so it’s more like gouging out (gently). Doing a count at the start of the week, I’ve 92 seedlings to pot on, got through 51 so far.

Sturdy Cobaea scandens:




Some of the 51:

Connections

Had one of my epiphanies (a small one) on the walk this morning. Noticed a parked van, which set me thinking, as you do, woman walking with dog, van, serial killer, Silence of the Lambs. So, I suddenly realized that the senator’s daughter in SOTL, was in Weeds! She was the 1st wife of Sarah Louise Parker’s DEA husband. And, was in Crossing Jordan a couple of weeks ago. Had better check on Google.

Name is Brooke Smith. (What Miss Marple could have done with Google!)

New poll in Washington Post

Friggin' doom n gloom for Hills.

U.S. election bits

Haven't been keeping up these last couple of weeks, busy. Chance of a small breather today so here are a couple of links.

Pennsylvania make-or-break for Hillary - 22nd April

Obama’s ‘bitter’ remark

Jon Stewart’s take on it, via the Huffington Post (which originally broke the story).

Review of Sorrento restaurant, Bandon

Sorrento restaurant, Bandon

Went out for a quick meal last night in Bandon. Decided on a local Italian, Sorrento, based on the brother’s recommendation about their steaks.

Wanted just a shared nibble to start, and went with a foccacia (allegedly). Essentially a cold pizza base topped with pesto and chopped tomatoes, with olive oil. Not the best really.

We both had the fillet steak (from a local craft butcher), I specified rare to medium, and S. asked for medium to well done. The chef did well, we each got a beautiful piece of steak, cooked perfectly. Accompanied by a handful of fresh salad, fried potatoes (not a lot), and nicely cooked veg.

I didn’t realize there were still restaurants in Ireland serving dire house wine. My glass of red was like a vile ribena, and my co-diner’s white was likened to something used in wasp traps (it was that sweet).

Overall, if you’d like a really good steak, you’ll get it in Sorrento. I’ll reserve my opinion on the rest of the menu, judging from the starter and wine.

Sorrento, South Main St, Bandon, Tel: 023-29839

Rated 3/5 on Apr 10 2008

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Review Tags: food, restaurant

Review of The Breeders gig

The Breeders gig

I’ve been a huge fan of the Pixies, and then The Breeders, for a long while. Testament to this is a scrapbook I found recently with photos and gig tickets from the mid-90s, including one from 1993 in The Tivoli with The Breeders (supported by Grant Lee Buffalo, if I remember right).




Revisiting my distant youth I couldn’t pass up a chance to see The Breeders again. Kim’s been through the wars (the usual), but her voice remains unchanged and instantly recognisable. The opening few tracks were from the new album, Mountain Battles, which I’m not familiar with yet, nevertheless they got the gig off to a flying start. No Aloha from the Last Splash was the first oldie and the crowd was onto it straightaway. The other tracks they played were New Year, Divine Hammer, and of course Cannonball which really had the crowd going.

Treats from Pod, my favourite, included Happiness is a Warm Gun (so, so good!), Fortunately Gone, and Iris. For good measure a couple of tracks from The Amps album were thrown in.

Couple of gripes, they only played for an hour, did one encore, I think everyone expected them to come on for a second, no dice. And, mid-way through the gig the sound went to shit for a while.

But, I do love ‘em still.

And they're playing Electric Picnic, so I'll see them again ;~)

Rated 4/5 on Apr 09 2008

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Review Tags: music, the breeders, vicar st

Aintree

It's time for the yearly flutter.

After last year's first, and only, success with Silver Birch I wonder can I get two in a row?

Seed germination - update 4

Holy crap, what a week. The dog is attacked, work is mad busy, and I've seedlings sprouting all over. Babysitting the 5 treasures on Sat, then up to Dublin on Sunday for The Breeders gig.

Seed news
Cobaea scandens has finally sprouted, three are peeking up this evening. I grew this a few years ago, stunning climber. Foolishly I tried to control my own plant by cutting it hard back, the sap bled non-stop for weeks and it died. Meanwhile, in Kilkenny, the one I gave my mother flowered its head off, and generally did wonderfully well. So I'm starting from scratch again. (Ignore descriptions of it as a tender perennial, it thrives in frost-pocket Kilkenny.)

Very disappointed in Tomato Suncherry Premium, only 4 out of 12 seeds have germinated.

And with the very sunny weather today some of the Chili Bulgarian Carrot seedlings have crisped up a little. I've unplugged the propagator, should help prevent the compost drying out so quickly.

[The table shows the number of days it's taken each variety, from seed sowing on 17th Mar, to germination of the first seed(s), and the total number of seedlings now up. The number in parentheses is the number of seeds sown.]

	Days	Seed(s) 1st day	Current total
Tomato Sultana (HP*)	8	4	9 (10)
Chili 'Meek & Mild' (HP*)	9	1	11 (13)
Chili 'Bulgarian Carrot' (HP*)	9	2	17 (18)
Chili 'Inferno' (HP*)	10	1	12 (12)
Chili 'Joe's Long' (HP*)	10	1	11 (11)
Tomato Ruby (ST**)	9	2	5 (5)
Tomato Tommy Toe (ST**)	10	1	8 (13)
Tomato Suncherry Premium (ST**)	10	2	4 (12)
Tomato Incas (ST**)	11	2	5 (5)

* Heated Propagator
** Seed Tray with clear plastic lid

Pinch out sweet peas

Reading Alan T. in the April Gardeners' World. He recommends pinching out the tops of your sweet peas when they reach 3 inches. Now, mine are more like 5 inches, but tried it anyway a couple of days ago. It's started to work already, you can see the lower down branches developing. Makes for sturdier, more robust plants.

Down injured

A buggerin’ bollix of a dog had a go at poor Dolly on Sunday on the beach (all she wanted to do was play!). It was all over in a flash and I only fully realized how big the gash was when we got home – 3” long, and a round wound above that. She’s on antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, and I’ve to wash the wounds with an antiseptic solution morning and evening. She’s a bit confused, mainly by the collar she’s to wear while I’m out of the house (keeps bumping into things), but it prevents her from licking the injury. I’m told she’ll get used to it. Back for a checkup next Wed.