For a long time I used to use a cafetiere with a plunger. well, a number of them, in fact, because they were always breaking. The thin glass or whatever cylinder seems to be equipped with an autodestruct mechanism so that after a couple of years one
Read more…Rumour and gossip have always been a characteristic of human society and what one reads in the newspapers does often have to be taken with a pinch of salt - especially some newspapers. However, this whole problem seems to have got a great deal worse
Read more…Although, no doubt, we shall have more cold, wet and windy days yet, I think I can declare that here in my little kingdom on the hill, yesterday, Valentine's, was the first day of spring. There was something differnt about the air, and today, suddenl
Read more…It seems that use of dating sites has gone up strongly since the new American president took office. This raises the interesting question of why people want to be with someone. How much of forming a relationship is driven by fear? In uncertain times,
Read more…I almost always have a cereal of some kind. I particularly like porridge - that’s what you call "oatmeal" if you are American - and have it about every third day. There are a lot of opinions about porridge. The original Scottish variety is made entir
Read more…Life here is pretty simple. Today, for instance, it has been mild and windy - a good drying day - so I decided to do some clothes washing. I did two loads, coloureds and whites and got about half dry by evening. In the afternoon I made a chocolate c
Read more…Continuing the commentary upon Summary of Faith & Practice, part 32
TEXT: This knowledge of our condition is part of the essential basis when it gives rise to contrition
COMMENTARY
We have already spoken about contrition in relation to an earlier sec
My thermometer says that the outside temperature at the moment - 11.30am - is minus 4 centigrade. Goodness knows what it got down to last night. There are minutely small flakes of snow falling. They descend with a slow grace, like little fairies, the
Read more…Whatever the outcome of the legal battles around president Trump's immigration order, there can be no doubt that there is going to be a vigorous campaign to deport as many illegal immigrants as possible from the USA. It has already started http://dld
Read more…This evening an orange moon, almost full, in the glistening sky of one of the coldest of nights. By morning there will be a heavy frost. The ice we can thank for the moon halo and the mellow light picking out the landscape with a dulcet magic that th
Read more…Ingredients
4 baby parsnips - wash, peel, cut into small pieces
1 large onion - peel, dice
4 large best quality French field mushrooms - peel, break into large chunks
3 dried figs - cut into very small morsels
A small handful of dried fruit and nut
R
A Walk at Night
I finished my evening meal at about seven o’clock. At this time of year that is well past sunset. Tara the cat was out. I decided to go for a walk. I went out round the north end of the house, where there is a low wall. Although the sk
Take a thin slice of rich fruit cake, squeeze on to it the juice of half a lemon - or as much as necessary to make the whole moist. Add fromage blanc (called fromage frais in UK). Eat in small mouthfuls with a tea spoon. Delicious. Goes very well wit
Read more…FAITH
Faith is fearless, faith sings gaily,
she touches me tenderly when I’m sad.
Faith sits quietly in the sun
remembering all the fun we’ve had.
Faith inspires as a rising fire
then lies in wait as yesterday’s ashes;
she comes in the wind, in the h
In religion we talk a lot about light. Seeing the light, enlightenment, the light of Buddha, the Buddha of infinite light, light brighter than the sun and the moon, and so on.
Yet light stands out in relation to darkness. It is just as important to ta
This week my practical tasks have mostly been set aside in order to clear the decks for writing. I have got some work done on the manuscript of a potential book based on my "Questions in the Sand" series. I've also heard that my Dogen book is now und
It is clear from several recent news items that many of the leading figures in the EU now realise that the EU is under attack and while the threat from the East is obvious it is probably less actually threatening than that from the US. There is a gro
Read more…Well there was no typhoon today, only grey clouds and a mild temperature. In fact it has been the first day of the year warm enough for me to work in the upper room and not bother with a fire in the kitchen. Tara stayed out all last night and has bee
Read more…The end of the month. I wonder if it is the end of the winter. I mean, of course, the real winter, the winter defined by the elements, not the winter designated by the calendar. Here at La Ville au Roi we have well defined seasons for the most part.
Read more…If we were not living in an age of nuclear weapons, I would think that we are currently getting quite close to World War III. Some very high stakes games are emerging.
UK leaving the EU means forming an alliance with the US just at a time when the US
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