Ed Rooney Posted December 14, 2023 Author Share Posted December 14, 2023 (edited) Mark, I agree what what you and Rebecca are saying about avocados. In Mexico, I had some sort of avocado dish every day. Latin America is avocado land. Edited December 14, 2023 by Ed Rooney 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 That bit of twisting sounds good. I am from California...the land of avocados.. and I just use my thumb. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted December 14, 2023 Share Posted December 14, 2023 I whack the pit with a butcher knife on a marble cutting board, keeping the other hand well away. The knife sticks in the pit, then I twist it out. Easy peasy. I love that cutting board, I’ve had it over 30 years. If my daughter saw me wielding a butcher knife, she’d probably faint. She began witnessing my kitchen accidents when she was a preteen. I have gone to the ER twice with a thumb injury, though. Once when Bogie bit me, (the webbing of my thumb) and once when a fishing lure hook stuck in the top of my thumb. I got a lot of strange looks in the waiting room with that feathery thing resting on my thumb. Those treble hooks are wicked sharp. I wasn’t fishing but rearranging & sorting my tackle box. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 15 hours ago, Allan Bell said: I'm being buzzed by the red wasps again today. Allan I’m just about as afraid of wasps of any kind as I am by spiders. I’ve been attacked & stung by the former, and bitten by the latter, hard enough to bleed. A wolf spider. Also stung by small yellow jackets in Tennessee. What they call yellow jackets isn’t what we call yellow jackets in Oklahoma. Theirs look like small hornets, smaller than an honeybee but vicious, and ours look like black & yellow striped wasps. Bob & I, our son & his wife, walked up a path in the Smoky mountains past a rotting log on the ground. The hornets allowed us to go down the path to a stream, but on the way back, they attacked. My son got the worst of it, multiple stings (at least 10 stings) & I got stung a few times while beating them off him. He would have had it worse if I hadn’t knocked them off him to the ground & stomped them. They had chosen him as the enemy. Our spouses got a couple of stings each. They ran like Lily-livered cowards! Kidding. We did absolutely nothing to antagonize them other than walk about 8 feet away from that rotting log they were gathered in. I guess a mother never quits being a mother no matter how old the kid is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 Hi Betty, The red wasps are actually the Red Arrows Royal Air Force Display Team.😃 They are fun to watch and I like having them here near me but when I am trying to work and they are flying at low level over my bungalow the noise is quite distracting. Problem is by the time I hear them it is too late to take photos of them. They have come and gone.☹️ If I stand outside with my camera ready they do not fly over and I could be there for hours. Allan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 3 hours ago, Allan Bell said: Hi Betty, The red wasps are actually the Red Arrows Royal Air Force Display Team.😃 They are fun to watch and I like having them here near me but when I am trying to work and they are flying at low level over my bungalow the noise is quite distracting. Problem is by the time I hear them it is too late to take photos of them. They have come and gone.☹️ If I stand outside with my camera ready they do not fly over and I could be there for hours. Allan Aww, my mistake. But you must realize not everyone in forum land intimately know British things. To me, a bug is a bug, everywhere. 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Ventura Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 21 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said: Aww, my mistake. But you must realize not everyone in forum land intimately know British things. To me, a bug is a bug, everywhere. 😊 I was thinking they were bugs too. I was imagining a wasp with a fully red body, kinda scary in my mind. Maybe they needed to be capitalized, The Red Wasps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 3 hours ago, Betty LaRue said: Aww, my mistake. But you must realize not everyone in forum land intimately know British things. To me, a bug is a bug, everywhere. 😊 2 hours ago, Michael Ventura said: I was thinking they were bugs too. I was imagining a wasp with a fully red body, kinda scary in my mind. Maybe they needed to be capitalized, The Red Wasps. Sorry! I was not thinking straight.😔 I was having a bit of fun calling them wasps as they are buzzing me by flying low over my bungalow. Note not bugging me. I am not complaining you understand as I like having them around as I sometimes am able to take photos of them when I am out doing my rounds in the village. Allan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 15, 2023 Author Share Posted December 15, 2023 Lincoln looks like a charming small British city, Allan. I didn't know the Red Arrows were based there. They used to fly Gnats, I think. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted December 15, 2023 Share Posted December 15, 2023 39 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said: Lincoln looks like a charming small British city, Allan. I didn't know the Red Arrows were based there. They used to fly Gnats, I think. Small city is right. Red Arrows used to be based at Scampton which is just up the road from me however they were recently moved to RAF Waddington which is just down the road from me. 14 minutes and 11 minutes drive respectively. Yes they did fly Gnats but fly the Hawk T1 (modified for coloured smoke trails) now. These are due to be replaced in 2030 with the Aeralis 1. Allan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted December 16, 2023 Share Posted December 16, 2023 9 hours ago, Allan Bell said: Sorry! I was not thinking straight.😔 I was having a bit of fun calling them wasps as they are buzzing me by flying low over my bungalow. Note not bugging me. I am not complaining you understand as I like having them around as I sometimes am able to take photos of them when I am out doing my rounds in the village. Allan This is the red wasps we have in my area of the country. When I copied this photo to post, I realize my keywords are woefully inadequate. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Richards Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 (edited) Bad thing......I woke up early this morning with a stinking head cold. Good thing......... I will shake it off before Christmas. Just praying my beloved doesn't catch it from me so close to the holiday!! Bad thing...........I cancelled a trout fishing trip planned for today, just can't face it. Edited December 18, 2023 by Dave Richards added text. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 On 15/12/2023 at 17:58, Ed Rooney said: They used to fly Gnats, I think. Like a British sports car, you didn't get into a Folland Gnat, you put it on. They are tiny. I have a great Gnat story- should be in "a good thing" but hey. Donald Campbell died trying to set the water speed record on Coniston Water in 1967. His "Bluebird K7" was powered by a Gnat engine (Bristol Orpheus) but he didn't take it out, he just used the entire back half of it. Run the film forward to 2000. Donald Campbell was found and properly buried. The remains of "Bluebird" were recovered but the restoration was stalled for want of a Gnat. On a few more frames to 2004. On one of our walks we found a dismantled Gnat in a shed in deepest Essex. We put the restorers on to it and the acquired it. Bluebird K7 is now running again. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 18, 2023 Author Share Posted December 18, 2023 1 hour ago, spacecadet said: On a few more frames to 2004. On one of our walks we found a dismantled Gnat in a shed in deepest Essex. We put the restorers on to it and the acquired it. Bluebird K7 is now running again. Do they have Business Class on that Bluebird? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allan Bell Posted December 18, 2023 Share Posted December 18, 2023 1 hour ago, Ed Rooney said: Do they have Business Class on that Bluebird? Only if you are going by lake. Allan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 While preparing a major international trip for next year, out of nowhere a thought crossed my mind: check your passport. Yikes!! It expires in two weeks' time!! What timing for 10 year validity! I am 4,000 kms away from the French Consulate in Sydney. Panic! Not so much for the trip, there will be time for a renewal, but I hate not to have a valid passport while I'm only a temporary resident. I managed to find a way to lodge my application here in Perth, but French authorities are very peculiar about the ID photo you supply. They recommended a certain professional photographer who, when contacted, turned his nose up on me. Checking his website, he photographed our Premier and various political bods. So passport photos? Pftttt... Talking about nose, bad timing number 2: after my cycling day on Rottnest Island, my nose is burnt, red and peeling. Perfect for a passport photo! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 19, 2023 Author Share Posted December 19, 2023 13 minutes ago, gvallee said: I hate not to have a valid passport while I'm only a temporary resident. It took me 3 months in Montreal to get my Irish passport renewed. Officials everywhere treat everyone as if they were money launders for the Mafia. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 13 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said: It took me 3 months in Montreal to get my Irish passport renewed. Officials everywhere treat everyone as if they were money launders for the Mafia. It shouldn't be too bad as I'm already registered as an expatriate with the French Consulate. But who knows. I'm in glass half-empty brigade. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 2 hours ago, gvallee said: While preparing a major international trip for next year, out of nowhere a thought crossed my mind: check your passport. Yikes!! It expires in two weeks' time!! What timing for 10 year validity! I am 4,000 kms away from the French Consulate in Sydney. Panic! Not so much for the trip, there will be time for a renewal, but I hate not to have a valid passport while I'm only a temporary resident. I managed to find a way to lodge my application here in Perth, but French authorities are very peculiar about the ID photo you supply. They recommended a certain professional photographer who, when contacted, turned his nose up on me. Checking his website, he photographed our Premier and various political bods. So passport photos? Pftttt... Talking about nose, bad timing number 2: after my cycling day on Rottnest Island, my nose is burnt, red and peeling. Perfect for a passport photo! It would be lovely to have a professional photo in a passport but aren't you supposed to look dreadful? Every other shop seems to offer them here... drugstore, UPS. Nice bright flash to make you look stunned. Paulette 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 1 minute ago, NYCat said: It would be lovely to have a professional photo in a passport but aren't you supposed to look dreadful? Every other shop seems to offer them here... drugstore, UPS. Nice bright flash to make you look stunned. Paulette Ha ha. For my current passport, I had got a set from a Post Office specializing in passport photos. It even says so on the enveloppe. Full frame, white background, no smiling, no jewelry, no glasses, exactly what was needed. Nope. Consulate refused them. They forced me to use their own photographer, for a biggish sum of money of course, and ended up with a completely over-exposed and washed out pic in my passport. Honestly, you can barely distinguish a shape under that shiny laminated cover. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Ventura Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 20 minutes ago, gvallee said: Ha ha. For my current passport, I had got a set from a Post Office specializing in passport photos. It even says so on the enveloppe. Full frame, white background, no smiling, no jewelry, no glasses, exactly what was needed. Nope. Consulate refused them. They forced me to use their own photographer, for a biggish sum of money of course, and ended up with a completely over-exposed and washed out pic in my passport. Honestly, you can barely distinguish a shape under that shiny laminated cover. That is crazy! Like Paulette said, passport photos are offered at all kinds of businesses in the U.S. I have never had one rejected and they are cheap, usually under $10 for a set. I once did my own, using a Polaroid back on my old Hasselblad. Selfies before selfies! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gvallee Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 42 minutes ago, Michael Ventura said: That is crazy! Like Paulette said, passport photos are offered at all kinds of businesses in the U.S. I have never had one rejected and they are cheap, usually under $10 for a set. I once did my own, using a Polaroid back on my old Hasselblad. Selfies before selfies! Ha ha, you don't know the French... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ognyan Yosifov Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 (edited) 3 hours ago, Michael Ventura said: That is crazy! Like Paulette said, passport photos are offered at all kinds of businesses in the U.S. I have never had one rejected and they are cheap, usually under $10 for a set. I once did my own, using a Polaroid back on my old Hasselblad. Selfies before selfies! Once, I got into a photographer's shop in a quiet Irish town to get my ID photo taken. Inside the shop, there was a booth like the one you can see in the shopping mall, and I got my photo taken this way. The photographer said to me that he had never heard of a photo taken this way by him being rejected by the authorities, and he was right...N.B. The price was the same as at a shopping mall photo booth. Edited December 19, 2023 by Ognyan Yosifov Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ed Rooney Posted December 19, 2023 Author Share Posted December 19, 2023 3 hours ago, NYCat said: aren't you supposed to look dreadful? Paulette I look like an IRA bomber on my Irish passport and a dangerous idiot on my US one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Ventura Posted December 19, 2023 Share Posted December 19, 2023 18 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said: I look like an IRA bomber on my Irish passport and a dangerous idiot on my US one. I sure miss the laughing emoji that we used to have! 😆 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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