The Bluestocking - Invoking Split Pea Annexe B

[Magpiecomplex]

Welcome all, pull up a gerbil and make yourself comfortable!

But was it fun, driving the tank?

As it was just in my imagination it was brilliant. It was a newer style tank, so we (a couple of the guys from the Staunch Ally <swoon> helped me as crew) weren't being poisoned by the engine fumes, or worried about getting caught in the moving parts and there was an ice dispenser and WiFi. We had to keep to the speed limit because the cannon had been decommissioned, so we couldn't just blow up the speed cameras. That, unfortunately, also stopped us from cooking bacon just by wrapping the rashers round the hot muzzle. Scaramouche set up a barbecue on top of the tank...blokes and barbecues eh!? But as the designated gunner he was a bit redundant. There was a bit of backseat driving because...men but a stern look and a raised eyebrow soon stopped that. It was quite pleasant being addressed as Tank Commander Cake.

I had to go back to yesterday's posts to see the Actual Photos of the tank driving adventure, and I was reminded of the selfless courage the brave freedom-fighters who fearlessly approached an enemy tank and decorated it with lovely neat pink piping - such courage, such dedication to The Cause...
¡No pasarán sin decoración rosa azucarada!✊

One thing to be aware of when knitting squares for Woolly Hugs is that, for most of the projects, they are very prescriptive over which yarns and colours you should use. This makes total sense when the squares are being joined to other people’s work, to make a harmonious whole which is easy to wash.

If you are using stash, especially easily washable yarns, then Little Hugs is a lovely project to consider. They need whole blankets but they can be any size over 18” square, and they are not limited to knitting and crocheting but could be quilted, for example.

Two things I really like about Woolly Hugs: they send things where they are wanted and appreciated, and they treasure everything that’s sent to them, posting pictures and warm words on the WH Facebook group soon after they arrive.

That was Scaramouche again. He's an artiste with the piping bag and, between you and me, I think he's a bit dim. One of the others joked we should pipe the Captain aboard <sigh>. Good job he's got his looks going for him.

A group of haggises is a(n)

Illusion
lost mountain
Burns night
unbalancement
ferociousness

No pasarán sin decoración rosa azucarada

You win. You made me google translate it.😂

😁
I just made that up, there must be a proper Spanish word for 'piping' but I knew it would take lots of wading through musical definitions to find it, and the Moment would have Passed before I got my post posted!

Seems you had a great time at the luncheon afterwards, too.

The cake on the left is very impressive (well done you), but I'll have a piece of the drip on the right please.

Google has an interesting take on 'dripping cakes'.

Hmmmm

Collective term for wild haggis??

A tumble
A mischief
A mirage
A deceit
A mulct

@ifIwerenotanandroid

Google has an interesting take on 'dripping cakes'.

It doesn't actually know but doesn't want to admit does it?

mulct?
You made me look it up!

It's one of those words that should get used more I reckon.

gosh…like Lardy cake but beef.

nah. Beef dripping should be used for Yorkshire puds and roast potatoes.

I think it's just conflating two different things. I like the thought of someone making the traditional English cake & then decorating it like that. A clash of two times, two worlds.

Is a dripping cake = a lardy cake? And what about a Wiltshire?

I did feel very self-conscious squeezing the icing out of the bag.

Just discovered the tide does get low enough to get to the Penmon Point lighthouse without getting your feet wet. I'd have sworn that wasn't possible.

Fella called the RNLI because he saw a speedboat capsize in front of where we're staying this morning. He thinks they were fooled by the tide, took it at speed into shallow water and flipped the boat.

The four men who were on board were rescued by a passing jetski and yacht. Their speedboat floated for long enough for me to wonder if I swam out with a rope could I claim salvage. There must have been an air pocket in the bows. But it gradually got lower and lower in the water, eventually disappeared and, as far as I know, is now lying at the bottom of the Straits possibly being a menace to navigation.

Thanks @AsWithGlad - will take note.

That was an exciting morning. The blokes on board the speedboat were fortunate to get clear.

Someone I know used to be in the RNVR and help with things like Sea Cadets. He said he was on the safety boat once, and watched a dinghy capsize. One kid popped out from under the hull... and he waited a moment, but the other kid didn't emerge, so there was nothing for it but to dive in, swim over, find the other one, and get him out - which he did. The kid was in an air pocket, which was a relief to his rescuer...

They were lucky the boat capsized. There've been some awful incidents where people have been thrown out of boats and the boats have carried on going, sometimes circling round.

I've been thinking that capybara, being aquatic, quite large and generally sensible, would make excellent lifeguards.

An exciting morning, Cake, but scary too, when you think of how things could have turned out. They were lucky people to be rescued by 'passers-by' even before the RNLI got there.

I like 'a tumble of haggis' Boily, I can see them entertaining themselves by running up a hill [either clockwise or anticlockwise, depending on which two legs are shorter] and then all tumbling down together, uttering that distinctive giggling call of the entertained haggis: the haggle.

After a dreadful incident a few years ago there was quite a lot of publicity about how vital it is to always use a ‘kill cord’ on powerboats. https://www.rya.org.uk/water-safety/kill-cord

Thinking about dear Swash a lot this morning for some reason - thinking about how time moves on inexorably, bringing so many emotions before it eventually, eventually, hopefully brings some healing.
It's a long hard road, Swash, no way to shorten it. But we're with you 💙

I think about Swash often.

Sometimes I remember that Chinese story "the happiest story in the world":

Grandfather dies.
Father dies.
Son dies.

The reason this story is described is "the happiest story in the world" is because this is how things are supposed to be. Grandfather, who is old and has lived many a long year, dies.

In the family, people grow old and die. But if the father dies first or the son dies first, that is not any kind of happy story.

The happiest story in the world is that people live and die as they are supposed to, in the natural order of things. It may not be a thrilling story, but it is comforting.

We know that the happiest story in the world is simply a story. We long for it to come true.

I have many friends for whom the story has been the saddest story in the world. In my own family, young people have died before old ones. Grieving and mourning fades eventually, but memories are there for ever and ever, and there is some comfort in sharing those memories, and honouring the dead.

So dear Swash, and her daughter, and her beautiful son, forever changed in a moment, are more real to me than the happiest story in the world, which is just a story.

Sending much love

😂

It has absolutely no idea.

So true, so wise, inkymoose.

Even healing can feel wrong at times - I remember coming home from a very busy day at work a month or so after my mother had died - one of those 'happy' deaths - and realising to my horror that I had not thought of her even once during the whole day.
I felt guilty, it was as if I had just forgotten all about her, I was very upset because I felt that I had betrayed her memory.

Of course it was no such thing, it was an important stage in the grieving process, I had reached a stage where I could give my demanding job my full attention.

I understood that eventually, but at the time, not feeling the loss of my mother for a period of time felt like like a betrayal.

The pain of loss is a powerful connection to the loved one you have lost, and healing from the rawest pain can feel like losing that connection...

It's a hard road.