Dancing.

People who know me in 'real life', will be aware that this subject matter has followed me through my 'career'; man and boy.

I must have drawn and painted this simple subject hundreds of times, and I recently came across this little sketch in a dusty old portfolio; I have a feeling that it was the VERY FIRST one I did, and probably dates from my college days.

Keen dancers may spot something odd in the drawing....

Lady Magnon attended a rather exclusive girls school (no nasty boys). So when dancing was taught, SOMEONE had to be the boy. It seems that Lady M took to her 'boy' role, with rather more flourish than was decent, and she picked up the habit of 'leading'. She still occasionally tries to when we take to the floor!

Anyway, when I started doing these 'dance' drawings and paintings, I thought it fun to make reference to Lady M and her predeliction for the MALE role.

And NO, she's not taking up 'hammer-throwing'.

Haddock's; mid-spring.

Things are progressing at Haddock's. In the top picture you should be able to see the artickokes, two varieties of tomato, and a few rather well-hidden Chasellas vines.

In the lower picture are the spuds, broccoli, red onions, carrots, aubergines, peppers, perpetual spinach, cherry toms, Brussels sprouts, and Swiss chard. And in the little section right at the top are the still tiny courgettes, cucumbers, and butternut squash plants.

Still to go in are winter brassicas, red cabbage, more butternut squash, and more leeks.

I have left one broccoli plant, and one kale plant to produce seed for next year.

My only real worry at the moment is a reasonably serious infestation of WHITEFLY. If anyone knows of a non-chemical solution to this (mostly cosmetic) problem, I would love to hear from you; THANK YOU.... Otherwise, all looks set for a bumper harvest.

Rico sings L-O-V-E.

Here's the wonderful Rico Rodriguez again, singing at Jools' 2009 New year's Hootenanny TV show. He never quite hits the right notes whether singing or playing, but who cares; the man's a legend. And he is about 76.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frh_JcQDKp4

Rico Rodriguez.

Rico Rodriguez is a Ska legend. At present he plays with the Jools Holland big band (and elsewhere).


Here he is (in the middle, above) with Jazz Jamaica, featuring Courtney Pine, playing a Don Drummond number called 'Green Island'. Courtney manages to squeeze some mighty sounds out of that big sax of his. Rico is just his usual self on the slide-trombone. Get that tea-cosy; I've seen him wear worse!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsqe9bVLCrs

Dog Danger.

Many friends will remember that my friend Terry's dog 'Molly' died recently.

The dog above 'Poppy' belonged to my next door neighbours. Not long after I did this drawing she was run over, in our nearby town, as her owners dropped their daughter off at school. Unfortunately 'Poppy' jumped from the car and was hit by an oncoming vehicle.

A few days ago I learned that another friend's dog 'Freddie' was killed in the same nearby town by another motorist. In this case he was just wandering around; as dogs do, and was hit.

I suppose it's not the fault of the motorist if a dog runs in front of his or her car. But the tragic results are upsetting for everyone; owner and driver alike. Maybe all dogs should be kept on leads whilst in town.

We seem to be losing a lot of dogs recently.

Anyone for Elderflower Champagne?

It's almost Elderflower Champagne time again (here in France anyway) and this is a reminder to get those bottles ready.

If you don't have any, now is the time to aquire some of these wired flip-top, sometimes known as Corona, bottles. They are the only ones that really do the job! This stuff can be firey.

Otherwise you will need about 4 dry sun-kissed elderflower heads (obviously), a lemon, some sugar, and a splash of white wine (or red wine) vinegar.

I shall give the recipe later (if you don't already have your own). This is for the kids, so get them prepared.

I usually make 5 litres (at each brew). So, if you wish to follow my method, you will need five 1 litre bottles.

The Sunday Story: Couscous, marriage, and John Lennon.

When Lady Magnon agreed to become Lady Magnon, I whisked her off to Paris for all the legal stuff. Unfortunately we would have to have stayed for two weeks before becoming eligible to marry there, so we decided on Gibraltar instead.

Being a sort of upside-down person, I thought it would be fun to have our honeymoon first, so we took the ferry from southern Spain to Morocco.

This was culture-shock 'par excellence'. One minute Europe, the next Maghreb. In Spain the people were just like anyone else, but over that tiny strip of water it's all change. Morocco is another world; another culture. Everything is different. They even made Lady Magnon cut off my 'art student' shoulder length hair!!!

We found a hotel thanks to one of those 'charming young boys' who pester you around the docks, and ended up sharing a large hotel room with 3 Americans. The guy was a New York dentist, and the two girls were secretaries (I think).

This was the first time I'd heard of, and tasted, couscous; and I've never looked back (I'm actually writing this mid-tagine-cooking). I love it, and not a week goes by without my preparing a big dish of couscous, with a chicken or lamb tagine, merguez sausages, and plenty of firey harissa.

We had to return to Gibraltar by 'plane, as the Spanish were in a huff again, and had closed the border on their side. We were married a couple of days later, just after John Lennon and Yoko. The registrar thought 'she' looked like a little rat (but don't tell anyone he said so). I once cut most of her clothes off (you can tell people that).

Couscous then disappeared from my life for a while, but when we first moved to France in 1972 I was amused to see couscous on several menus in and around our nearby town of Fumel. I soon learnt that a high percentage of its population was from either Algeria or Morocco.

Couscous is now available, and popular, everywhere, but back in those days it was almost unheard of outside of north Africa. As with potatoes, pasta, and rice, life now wouldn't be the same without it.... Bon appetit!