The vagaries of weather. Stately homes. Is Marge Simpson allowed to vote?

Draping the washing around the house to dry indoors yesterday worked like a charm, as I predicted. Had I hung it out to dry in the garden it would undoubtedly have started to rain again instantly. As it was the day improved as it went along, with sunny spells and patches of blue sky.

Consequently, in the afternoon we decided to walk up Lark Hill, otherwise known in our family as The Quarry Road, one of the steepest walks around here. The path itself, after the very lowest section, neatly tarmac-covered as far as the entrance to last house - only about 100 yards - is in a rather bad state. Over the years heavy rain has washed much of the soil away from around the stones which at one time made a reasonable surface to drive perhaps a horse-drawn cart on and in later years a 4x4 vehicle.

The heather was blooming nicely.

 

And the farmers were out muck-spreading,

 creating a bit of a stink and attracting masses of seagulls! 

Today was forecast to be wet. It stayed dry for my ride to the market at Uppermill. Later my daughter and I had planned one of our “adventures”, this time a walk to Uppermill(yes, two visits in one day!), a picnic in the park and a walk back along the canal tow path and the Donkey Line bridle path.

We saw some brightness on our way there





but our return journey saw rain on the canal

 and on the river. So it goes.

Amongst the various reports about our slave-owning past (not mine personally as I don’t think my family was ever wealthy enough) I came across this:-

“Almost a third of stately homes owned by the National Trust have links to slavery or colonialism, a report is expected to announce next month, as the heritage charity announced plans to keep most controversial objects on its sites to avoid “shutting down debate”.”

Hardly a surprise, surely?

As rallies for both Republicans and Democrats, real or virtual, get under way, fantasy meets reality in the weird world of American electioneering, as demonstrated by this story:-

“America’s already wildly unpredictable 2020 election campaign has taken a further bizarre twist after a top Donald Trump adviser got into a spat with Marge, one of the characters of the hit animated comedy show The Simpsons.

The fight began when Jenna Ellis, a senior Trump campaign adviser, sought to mock the California senator Kamala Harris after she was picked to become the Democratic party’s vice-presidential nominee. “Kamala sounds like Marge Simpson,” Ellis wrote on Twitter referring to the much beloved mom character on the long-running cartoon series.

From decades of being married to the hapless Homer Simpson, Marge (or her creator) has probably learned not to suffer fools gladly. So it was that the show’s official Twitter account struck back against Ellis by posting a short clip in which Marge took on the criticism with an implicit scolding. 

TheSimpsons
@TheSimpsons

Marge Simpson has something to say.

 3:58 PM · Aug 14, 2020

“As an ordinary suburban housewife, I’m starting to feel a little disrespected. I teach my children not to name-call, Jenna,” Marge said.

She added: “I was going to say I am pissed off but I’m afraid they’d bleep it.”

That did not end the fight. Ellis later tweeted in response: “Marge is probably going to vote Democrat … by mail.””

And the question of postal voting continues to cause some controversy over there. Strange times!

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!