tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post5184341889832310037..comments2024-03-29T01:41:15.713+00:00Comments on Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park birds: Ralph Hancockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-25858016085880153942018-01-12T22:31:51.073+00:002018-01-12T22:31:51.073+00:00You really do have a gift for words, so it's n...You really do have a gift for words, so it's not amazing that you are as good at writing poetry as you are at writing very enjoyable prose.Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-6870562973479038242018-01-12T01:23:57.106+00:002018-01-12T01:23:57.106+00:00Yes. I can churn out blank verse by the yard if re...Yes. I can churn out blank verse by the yard if required. See <a href="http://www.hancock.dircon.co.uk/Tildapix.pdf" rel="nofollow">this</a> silly thing if you can stand any more of it.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-56544339556586418812018-01-12T00:28:58.947+00:002018-01-12T00:28:58.947+00:00Is that your own composition? I've had to look...Is that your own composition? I've had to look up almost half of it in the dictionary!Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-60454757183462285732018-01-11T21:04:56.678+00:002018-01-11T21:04:56.678+00:00Sweet wafts of celadour beguile my sense:
Regale m...Sweet wafts of celadour beguile my sense:<br />Regale me now with jujubes, nard and myrrh<br />That I may revel in Elysium.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-4412190014181742212018-01-11T11:47:48.804+00:002018-01-11T11:47:48.804+00:00I was once told 'cellar-door' was Elgar...I was once told 'cellar-door' was Elgar's choice of fave word, but actually it seems to be common currency thus as early as 1903, according to the "New York Times": <br /><br />www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/magazine/14FOB-onlanguage-t.html<br /><br />That article includes an entertaining Gertrude Stein pastiche: “Sell a cellar, door a cellar, sell a cellar cellar-door, door adore, adore a door, selling cellar, door a cellar, cellar cellar-door."harryghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04184350321693687780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-63604122527981440762018-01-11T02:06:07.692+00:002018-01-11T02:06:07.692+00:00The male is called a tiercel because he's two ...The male is called a tiercel because he's two thirds the size of the female. It's from Middle French <i>terçuel</i> and Latin <i>tertiolus</i>.<br /><br />The video was taken with the camera on a little flexible GorillaPod resting on a muddy football field. No way of holding it still enough by hand at a zoom equivalent to 2000mm pointing up at a tower 100m tall.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-45032684874081409382018-01-11T01:59:09.175+00:002018-01-11T01:59:09.175+00:00They always seem to be able to extract the fish fr...They always seem to be able to extract the fish from the weed and swallow it before shaking away the weed.Ralph Hancockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11686354797977020917noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-50535592139835730242018-01-10T22:42:26.687+00:002018-01-10T22:42:26.687+00:00What a lovely word, tiercel! It sounds a bit like ...What a lovely word, tiercel! It sounds a bit like 'cellar door', which Tolkien thought were some of the most beautiful-sounding words in English.<br /><br />For us lowly earthbound creatures it's almost miraculous how the Peregrine just stretches her wings and nonchalantly throws herself off a veritable precipice. What a wondrous creature. Great steady hand capturing the scene from so long away, too!<br /><br />Love the Common Gull's relaxed but curious attitude. In my next life I want to be a gull.Tinúvielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04794275230697959519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8278510471239667560.post-15669551047261255032018-01-10T22:31:15.075+00:002018-01-10T22:31:15.075+00:00Did the cormorant manage to shake off the weed or ...Did the cormorant manage to shake off the weed or is it harmless to them? Do they ever land a catch like that to pick out the fish? JimAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com