Scientists say something like 90% of our DNA is in common with cat DNA. Cat lovers are, of course, delighted as this validates their passion for their furry friends. They need to be reminded that we also share a lot of DNA with cattle and mice. What does that tell us about human nature?
Personally I wonder about blackbirds as I keep seeing them basking in the sun in our garden. Blackbirds and humans both like to stretch out in the sunshine and let the warmth sink in. It’s quite fascinating to watch the blackbirds choose a spot, settle down, spread their wings out and just relax in the warmth. They get little chance if our four year old granddaughter is around, however, as she likes to creep up on them to see how close she can get.
We have more blackbirds around than really seems possible. And lately they have been in pairs, apparently a parent bird and a fledgling practically as big as its parent and seemingly quite able to fly, but still demanding to be fed tasty morsels by the parent. Is this the bird equivalent of the thirty year old who still lives at home with his parents? One such pair of birds had me wondering if the parent blackbird was actually fostering a cuckoo as the fledgling was so large and more brown that black. On balance though, I think the fledgeling is more probably just a female blackbird.
There has been plenty of sunshine for basking blackbirds this morning. I had a pleasant ride to the market in the morning sunshine. However, everywhere I went people were advising me to enjoy the sunshine while it’s here and warning me that rain is forecast for later. So I am watching the clouds build up and keeping an eye on the washing drying in what remains of the sunshine.
I read this morning about the Yorkshire Gooseberry Competition. My first thought on seeing the headline was that it might be some odd competition to see who could annoy their offspring the most by playing gooseberry. But, no, this is an actual horticultural thing to see who can grow the biggest gooseberry in a place called Egton Bridge near Whitby. This year the victor is an 85 year old called Bryan Nellist.
The competition has been going on since 1823 and has written rules! Last year it was cancelled because of covid but now it’s back. Tourists pop in to see what’s going on. Goodness! I thought it was just Spain that had such food related events. Somehow I don’t think the Egton Bridge Old Gooseberry Society’s annual competition quite rivals the Albariño Festival in Cambados though.
Competitive gooseberry growing in not without its bit of controversy however. It seems that in the Cheshire village of Goosetrey, also held recently, the reigning champion, a certain Terry Price, 76 years old, could not enter because either his home village competition or the Egton one because his bushes had been sproyed and poisoned and killed by a suspect rival! Shocking! The Egton people said they had never heard of auch a thing but then, “That’s the other side of the Pennines, that’s just foreign”. One spokesperson added, “I’ve never come across anything like that. If that really has happened, that is something very odd going on there. I mean, people talk about competitive leek growing and the shenanigans that go on there, but gooseberry growing isn’t like that.”
As for me, I look at the pictures of gooseberries as big as good-sized plums and think to myself that surely that is not natural. How is the flavour affected by this insistence of size? Do they sample the champion gooseberry for taste? And I think back to when my other would enter her Victoria sponge sandwich cake in the flower and produce show at our local church once a year. The cakes were not judged on appearance alone. Oh, no! A minuscule slice was cut from each one so that the lightness and flavour of the cakes could be assessed also by the judges! Could a similar thing be done with giant gooseberries?
My mother, by the way, regularly won prizes for her cakes. All the entries were then sold to visitors to the flower and produce show raising money for the church. My sister still wins prizes at such shows, not for cakes but for knitted baby clothes! Such traditions live on!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
No comments:
Post a Comment