Harvesting

 Just for a change from talk of travel!

I was on the telephone to a cousin in Australia this morning when the OH brought in the following and put it on my desk. He'd picked the roses in TWWCTG, brought them in and put them in a vase. They're beautiful.

Then later on he brought in these. We're having a good year for raspberries this year, after a couple of years when they didn't do much at all. Probably not much more room for them in the freezer so I will have to get some preserving sugar and make some jam I think. 

Final Prague Post (5)

I enjoyed most of the Keynote talks and presentations at Prague, and I also enjoyed meeting up with people I hadn't seen for the most part since Vancouver 2017 and also meeting some very nice new people. The lowlight was two academics almost coming to physical blows during a coffee break, carrying on a major disagreement they had had during one of the morning sessions. Not very edifying. But I came away with lots of new ideas and of course a long reading list, only half of which I am likely to achieve. 

The numbers attending in person were lower than for previous Congresses, mainly due to some countries still having covid travel restrictions in place, but also because of covid uncertainties when people would have been booking. Hopefully they will be back up when the next Congress convenes in Nottingham in 2024. 

I've go a few random photos from the proceedings, I was too invested in them at the time to think to take pictures really an they won't mean anything to anyone but me really, but here they are 

Presentation to Conference Organiser, who did all the work and her boss who took all the credit. 

As far as Scot Lit circles go, there are some famous faces here

Conference Dinner - very nice restaurant on the river. 

I took this one, not for the tower, but for the building behind it, which is where Edwin and Willa Muir lived while they were working for the British Council in Prague. Edwin Muir irritates me, partly  because he was the sort of man who does irritate me, and partly because he took all the credit for most of his wife's work, but also because, however annoying I find him as a person, he wrote some damn good poetry.  

Post Conference Blues.

Prague (4)

So I managed to sneak the time to do one blog post while the visitors were here, but there's still a bit of catching up to do. 

Our boat trip on the Vlatava was a bit frustrating as the boats are a) very slow and b) don't go very far, but I still got some good pictures. 

This is a European otter. We'd been told some lived on the islands on the river but I wasn't expecting to see one so wasn't really prepared to take the photo when this one appeared. They are much bigger than the otters we get in Britain, sort of beaver sized, but still cute,

The people who do the boats also have a museum about the building of the Charles Bridge and although it didn't sound like my sort of thing we were lured in by the promise of an excellent cafe. Which, when we arrived, was shut. But actually the museum was quite interesting and had various scenes like the one above displaying the various trades involved in its building. And it was cool, which was more than could be said for the outside. 

And that was the end of our sightseeing. We came out of the museum and took ourselves off to the Arts Building of the Charles University to register for the conference. Which after all was the reason we had come. 

Prague (3)

This was the first of our free days that we had deliberately booked at the beginning of our trip and we wandered out in the vague direction of the old town. Happy to say we found it and by happy chance came across the astrological clock just as it was about to strike. Also more shops selling garnet jewellery than you could shake a stick at. This developed into a bit of a theme and I certainly looked at a lot of it, without ever actually buying myself any. 

Astrological clock.

There were some beautiful Art Deco details on some of the buildings

and, as always at the World Congress it seems, a weird  statue.

 We crossed the river as we had planned to look at the castle area in the afternoon. We started off finding somewhere quiet and shady for lunch - not as easy as it sounds in Prague in June. 

It was a long steep walk to the top of the hill where the castle precinct is (quite naturally) situated. Great views on the way up though. 

This is the outside of the Cathedral. We  peeked inside at the truly magnificent stained glass but couldn't get far in without paying  that was as much as we saw. There are several things to see up there but you can't buy tickets just for the bits you want to see, just an overall ticket for everything. We decided against because it  was very very hot and some things we really couldn't be bothered with. (I know - shocking. And I used to be such a culture/history junkie as well) 

We also didn't have totally unlimited time as we were due at the opera that evening. The opera house has been recently restored to its original rococo magnificence. Those of  you who know me In Reel Life as it were, will know that rococo isn't really my thing, but for what it is, it is magnificent. 

 We saw The Flying Dutchman. Wagner would never be my first choice but that was what was on so that was what we saw and it was very good. Conductor let his orchestra play a bit too loudly for the comfort of the singers but apart from that all was good. It was a weird production but since it was Wagner that didn't bother me. It was weird but it worked. 

And then to bed. We'd decided on a boat trip on the Vltava the next morning followed by conference registration in the afternoon and the first session in the evening. The work was about to begin. 

Yes I'm Back, but ...

aware that I am hopelessly behind with the blog. 

I didn't manage to finish Prague before I went away, and now I have the Gaskell Society Conference, and a fabulous few days in Wales to write up. Only I can't do it now, because our return to Orkney was delayed by two days due to ferry problems and so we had only this morning to get the house as ready as we could for the arrival of our daughter in law and two grandsons from Canada. I'm not likely to have much time to blog while they're here and their visit will be yet another thing to record here  in due course. Oh my! will I ever catch up? 

However, remember the time recently when we  went to a jeweller in Glasgow to order a 'sparkly thing'? 

Nice, isn't it? 

Baking Subscription June

 

Lime and Coconut Bars, although obviously the photograph was taken before it was cut up. This is delicious. The OH isn't keen on the biscuit base which has desiccated coconut in it, but I think it's fine, and the lime topping is lovely. I made this yesterday and the favour as developed and so it was even nicer today.

I note that the finishing off was very simple; just dust the top with icing sugar. Which suited me, not being, as regular readers will know, a fan of overly  faffy finishes. 

And no I haven't done May's yet. I'm keeping that for August when my sister's coming to visit and we can make it to celebrate my birthday.

In other, less pleasing, news I recently tested positive for Covid. The timing is not brilliant, but apart from a very irritating cough and feeling like I had the flu for most of last night, I'm OK really. Lucky to have avoided it this long I think and presumably picked up in Prague. 

We had plans for later in the week which had to be cancelled/rejigged, and some for the weekend which may also have to be cancelled but we'll see. I think I probably had the virus several days before I tested myself, so I may be clear and testing negative again quite soon. Fingers crossed. 

Prague (2)

After we had fortified ourselves with something to eat we thought we'd have a quick explore in the vicinity of the hotel. We ended up walking rather further than anticipated, as it was a lovely warm evening and the light was beautiful.  We got as far as the Charles Bridge and then crossed it - to see what was on the other side. What was on the other side turned out to be a  steep hill at which point we turned back.  

Naturally I took loads of pictures, of which a few are offered here

Al of these were taken from the famous Charles Bridge, except for the statue of the man whose head is almost lost in leaves. That's Smetana, and apparently, although I have been taught to pronounce it Smyet'na, it should in fact be Smet-AH-na. So now I know.