Some TV Is GOOD!

Image courtesy of The Telegraph

Taking one of my niece's blackboard reminders from my previous post, I have to say that last night,  BBC's first installment of a five part documentary, showed how good TV can be.
(You can read the full story if you click on the link in the caption of the photo, or if you're quick, you can watch it on iPlayer HERE)

Three families each spent a week living facsimile lives of  three very different Edwardian families -  lower, middle or upper class - their houses cheek by jowl on one street, but equipped according to status.

There was no going back to 21st century lives each time the cameras stopped rolling. Oh, No! The pattern of their lives followed their historical counterparts twenty four seven.

The younger children from the upper class household had a full time Nanny, and their parents soon realised how at odds with present day family life this arrangement was, with only a couple of hours interaction per day between parent and child. Nanny was a substitute for both mother and father.
Father lead a somewhat lonely life of leisure, but Mother and eldest daughter, incarcerated at home, almost died of boredom - until they discovered the delights of bicycling.

I think the two youngest of the middle class children were below school age, but they were the most traumatised to begin with, when their father suddenly turned into the strictest of ''My word is law, and children should be seen and not heard!' kind of parent. In fact, it was not long before he chose to ignore the given script, and cuddle his small son. Their teenage daughter was co-opted to the role of a virtual unpaid servant, there to assist Mother in the running of the home, while Father spent a long day working as a clerk in a local government office.

But the unwary teenage daughters of the lowest class home had a rude awakening, when they realised they needed to work to supplement the family income, for their father had no permanent employment, but had to go out into the real world each day, to find any casual work he could. The eldest girl was taken on as a scullery maid in the 'rich' house two doors away, while her sister and their mother, took in washing to earn a few pennies.

Although this lowliest family of the group had the hardest task to survive on the pittance they earned, their teamwork  served to give them a true, family spirit, and despite deprivation, it became clear they had the most rewarding emotional life.

Children from the other two classes would have been lucky, back in the day, if they managed to survive emotionally, with virtually no parental loving as we understand it today...

I can't wait to see next Tuesday's installment of the series.

House Rules

My enterprising niece has several painted surfaces in her kitchen, specifically for writing on. This is actually a black cupboard door with white writing, but I chose the negative version as being a tad easier to read, I thought - plus black has never been one of my favourite colours.

But her latest effort on the fridge I give you exactly as she intended! Don't you just love it to bits?

Oracle

At art college, we were always encouraged to 'make the most from the least', and I can't help thinking this is a good thing to do in all kinds of circumstances.  The concept ties in well with 'small is beautiful', too, if you  think about it. Life doesn't have to be one huge, exciting spectacle, to make one feel good to be alive.
Once our focus goes into 'macro mode' - which all photographers will understand instantly - even a humdrum day can present us with delight: the laugh of a child: a bird singing:  a friendly 'Hello'. Each tiny moment, when given its true worth in the scheme of things, becomes magnified.
And when I begin playing with graphic images, the same thing happens.

A photo my son took, using only his mobile phone, has provided rich pickings for my imagination over the past day or two.        

From this incredible image, came a series of creations, which if you scroll upwards on In Tandem from the post I've linked here , you will see how, by applying the 'most from the least' principle, I arrived at the surreal image I entitled 'Oracle'.
I honed in on this detail, for it 'spoke' to me, as you might say, asking to be noticed.
On the left, a wise old bird  sits on a branch outside his tree-house, while a laid back tortoise seeks his advice, in the best traditions of Greek Oracles!
I rest my case.
But talking about wisdom, there's a whole heap of that to be had if you click here In Tandem, thanks to Khalil Gibran.
And I think my post should have been written Thursday, to comply with this!

It's Experiment Time!

With two inquiries about the possibility of owning a print of my graphic the other day, I decided this morning to see what kind of a job printexpress.co.uk would make of it, so I've asked for an A3 poster, which will cost me the princely sum of £4.80.
If I managed to save and send my file in an acceptable quality - and so far, they haven't told me it's NBG -I may be able to tell Pearl and Suldog I could indulge their wishes at some future date.

As for me, I think I would quite like to have a print of the 'painting' below, which I did when I first got my Bamboo Tablet.. I'm sure I posted it on some blog, somewhere, but I'm quite happy to have another look at it, and hope you will be too, if you happen to have seen it before.

Only in England...

...would anyone think up an opening ceremony for the Olympic games, which would feature farming and livestock!
You can read all about it HERE.
Long live eccentricity!

When you think about it logically, it does make sense. There is no way our tiny country could hope to compete with the spectacular, opening whizz-bangs and glitz of the previous production in Beijing, so why try? What we do have, is a 'green and pleasant land', enough to make many less fortunate spots on the earth, merely green with envy.

Now I have a taste for it....

...for what? Waffle blogging, of course, about whatever comes to mind! This morning, I'm gloating at the music of Beethoven, and a clever contraption as pictured here, on the right.
It's a Roberts Radio Stream 83i, which uses its magic, internet radio sounds to fill my day with glory, since I treated myself to one. At the moment, Herbert Von Karajan has just finished his rendition of the Symphony no.5 in C minor, opus 67 (2. Andante con Moto) according to the scrolling information on its little blue screen.
And here he is, just for you...
The joy about the internet bit, is that I can choose a composer listed by Abacus FM on computer, and listen to uninterrupted, crystal clear music to suit my mood. Yesterday it was the turn of Mozart. Who knows what it might be tomorrow? Not I! I shall play it by ear, when tomorrow comes. Hehehe!

It comes to something...

...when people start asking, "Where are you?"  Or rather, "Why have you been a lazy git and not posted anything lately?"
Yesterday, my cousin in Bournemouth, and Merisi, my Blogpal in Vienna both thought the same thing, so this morning, I determined to get my act together to produce another Napple Note. This is the result:-

"What, a picture?" I hear you cry."Where is the waffle?"
That comes next, in this case. It will be no surprise to UK residents in the South, when I tell how we've been blessed with more than out fair share of the wet stuff, recently.

As I braved the elements to retrieve my green wheely bin from the spot on the pavement where the bin man had deigned to abandon it, after emptying, I was entranced by the crystal-raindrop necklaces on the montbretia outside my door.

"That will be good for a blogphoto" says I to myself, and rushed to grab my cheapo Canon.

It's so long since I last played with it, I was fumbling to find the macro option, when a trio of figures walked past, and I snapped them instead, taken as I was by the Mum-and-daughter, matching pink wellie boots.

However, in my haste, the picture was blurry, and not fit for human consumption...until...aah! A little Photoshop magic, and this image asked to be saved. I thought it captured the puddle-strewn feel of the morning quite well, and the funny face of the parked car in the top left quarter of the picture, made me smile - as I hope it will you. I do believe Napple could waffle about anything...

Please, click on the Merisi link I've put in for you, and you will see how REAL photographs should look!

And specially for RWP, here is the original, blurry shot, as it appeared on my camera - sideways!