..and we are getting big bumblebees in our conservatory. They are not very bright and we have to help them find the wide open doors and roof vents. But having heard rumours of a dearth of them, we are delighted to see them.
No ash here in London yet, but much joy in West London without aircraft coming over one a minute.
BTW, someone noted that we actually asked the Icelanders for Cash …
Hepatica nobilis. In Norwegian they’re blåveis . I think they are hepatica, in English, also called liverwort, they’re a kind of anemone. Later we get the white ones that are called wood anemones or windflowers in England.
I love bumble bees. I haven’t seen any so far this spring.
How wonderful!
Do you realize the impact of these pictures and these stories about hiking with goats in the woods for those who live in big cities??
(sigh!)
We lunched outdoors by a river today – the ash may be a bugger at 40,000 feet, but it’s been gloriously sunny down here at about sea level. The countryside is awash with blackthorn blossom – it’s going to be a marvellous autumn for sloes (if the Icelanders allow us to have a summer, of course).
P.S. I once had a Portugese chum who became rather peeved about words like “blackthorn” – you can’t have four consonants in a row, he’d cry. Or perhaps it was five that he objected to? Anyway, he was multiserialconsonant-averse.
P.P.S. There’s a riverside pub near us that, when we used to go to it, always had a goat in its beer garden. http://www.lazy-otter.com/homepage.htm
The -veis of blåveis and hvitveis is another German loan. The almost forgotten local names are blåsymre and kvitsymre.
I read that most flowers named symre are in the genus Anemone, indeed the Norwegian Wikipedia entry for the genus is named symrer, but blåveis has been made a separate genus Hepatica. Kusymre is Primula vulgaris.
Symre looks like it might be derived from sumar “summer”. It could be named so because it’s the first sign of summer. But I don’t really know.
The mink was pootling along a river bank – normally it would have been hidden in the grass, but it crossed a small concrete landing just as we passed by on the other bank. Ooh! Ah! Our side of the river was a Nature Reserve, its side presumably a Nature Red in Tooth and Claw. (I’m assuming that The Authorities forbad it to cross the river.)
Your Spring photos are making me wonder when our unusually warm and mild Autumn will finally slide into Winter. We had a damp, inclement Summer, humid and cooler than normal, then slipped into an Indian (Native American?) Summer that is still going strong.
I’m also wondering about the “missing” legs on the last goat photo – very nicely done. Where was the 4th goat when these shots were taken?
“he was multiserialconsonant-averse” funny – I love the sound of Te Reo Māori but am always brought to a screaming halt by words with 4 or more *vowels* in a row – its strict “no dipthong” rule makes them a real mouthful.
“Ooh! Ah! Cantona?” – Eric? Great footballer and not a bad actor either – enjoyed him in “French Film”
Cantona as a mink is a pretty good thought – he had to deal with that ferret Sir Odious Ferguson.
When we lived (briefly) in NZ we found Maori names a mouthful, though my wife did master the name of the historical figure whom I referred to as “Adolf the Maori”.
Stuart, we all were wondering about the missing legs too, it makes her a little bit 2-d. They show up in the shadow so I’m assuming they just got buried in all the wool.
Topsy the fourth goat was being played in the third picture by Alex, the fifth goat.
A Bad Guide
What a beautiful sunny morning! It seems that Eyjafjallajökull has definitely brought the spring to you.
What are those blue and white flowers? We have a similar one but it should come out weeks later.
..and we are getting big bumblebees in our conservatory. They are not very bright and we have to help them find the wide open doors and roof vents. But having heard rumours of a dearth of them, we are delighted to see them.
No ash here in London yet, but much joy in West London without aircraft coming over one a minute.
BTW, someone noted that we actually asked the Icelanders for Cash …
Hepatica nobilis. In Norwegian they’re blåveis . I think they are hepatica, in English, also called liverwort, they’re a kind of anemone. Later we get the white ones that are called wood anemones or windflowers in England.
I love bumble bees. I haven’t seen any so far this spring.
How wonderful!
Do you realize the impact of these pictures and these stories about hiking with goats in the woods for those who live in big cities??
(sigh!)
Do you realise the impact of pictures of Buenos Aires on those who live in the north?
yes: none, zero, nothing!
Those pictures make me inexpressibly happy. Takk and gracias.
De nada, vel bekomme!
¡Lo mismo digo (aunque cuesta creer la parte de Buenos Aires)!
We lunched outdoors by a river today – the ash may be a bugger at 40,000 feet, but it’s been gloriously sunny down here at about sea level. The countryside is awash with blackthorn blossom – it’s going to be a marvellous autumn for sloes (if the Icelanders allow us to have a summer, of course).
P.S. I once had a Portugese chum who became rather peeved about words like “blackthorn” – you can’t have four consonants in a row, he’d cry. Or perhaps it was five that he objected to? Anyway, he was multiserialconsonant-averse.
P.P.S. There’s a riverside pub near us that, when we used to go to it, always had a goat in its beer garden.
http://www.lazy-otter.com/homepage.htm
Are there any otters there?
Dunno: quite a private chap, the otter. But we saw a mink last autumn – I talked of little else for weeks.
Where was the mink?
The -veis of blåveis and hvitveis is another German loan. The almost forgotten local names are blåsymre and kvitsymre.
I read that most flowers named symre are in the genus Anemone, indeed the Norwegian Wikipedia entry for the genus is named symrer, but blåveis has been made a separate genus Hepatica. Kusymre is Primula vulgaris.
Symre looks like it might be derived from sumar “summer”. It could be named so because it’s the first sign of summer. But I don’t really know.
My father about feeding animals in fur farms with horsemeat:
Når det minker med øk, så øker det med mink
Meaning something like “When the old nags decrease the minks increase” (except it’s a really good pun in Norwegian).
The mink was pootling along a river bank – normally it would have been hidden in the grass, but it crossed a small concrete landing just as we passed by on the other bank. Ooh! Ah! Our side of the river was a Nature Reserve, its side presumably a Nature Red in Tooth and Claw. (I’m assuming that The Authorities forbad it to cross the river.)
It’s on the same pattern as ‘when the going gets tough the tough get going’, but with actual puns.
I may have misremembered it, though. Is it better the other way around? Når det øker med mink, så minker det med øk.
(I don’t think it’s my father’s originally. I suspect it may be from a student’s review in his days at NLH (now UMB).
P.P.P.S. I think your woolly pals look very fine in the springshine.
Thank you Dearie. It takes a few days to get the straw out of our fur, but we all look better outdoors in the sun.
Ooh! Ah!
Cantona?
Your Spring photos are making me wonder when our unusually warm and mild Autumn will finally slide into Winter. We had a damp, inclement Summer, humid and cooler than normal, then slipped into an Indian (Native American?) Summer that is still going strong.
I’m also wondering about the “missing” legs on the last goat photo – very nicely done. Where was the 4th goat when these shots were taken?
“he was multiserialconsonant-averse” funny – I love the sound of Te Reo Māori but am always brought to a screaming halt by words with 4 or more *vowels* in a row – its strict “no dipthong” rule makes them a real mouthful.
“Ooh! Ah! Cantona?” – Eric? Great footballer and not a bad actor either – enjoyed him in “French Film”
Oh, so cheering! Thanks Mr Crown!
Cantona as a mink is a pretty good thought – he had to deal with that ferret Sir Odious Ferguson.
When we lived (briefly) in NZ we found Maori names a mouthful, though my wife did master the name of the historical figure whom I referred to as “Adolf the Maori”.
Stuart, we all were wondering about the missing legs too, it makes her a little bit 2-d. They show up in the shadow so I’m assuming they just got buried in all the wool.
Topsy the fourth goat was being played in the third picture by Alex, the fifth goat.
Breaking news: Goat and Sheep Fair in Majorca! Hurry to catch the next plane… er… train!