The Land of the Free

1) Rant,          2) recipe                                                     3) knitting   4)Kindle read                5) Snippet

1)  The Land of the Free

The first time I knew of this description (land of the free)  was when reading a poem by DH Lawrence, who wrote it when his paintings were deemed obscene and the exhibition closed down, prompting him to write

“Oh what a pity, Oh! Don’t you agree
that figs aren’t found in the land of the free!
Figs don’t grow in my native land;
There’s never a fig-leaf near at hand
when you want one; so I did without;
and that is what the row’s about.”
(there is an interesting article on this event here: http://www.andrewgrahamdixon.com/archive/readArticle/335
And it was the land of the free that occurred to me on hearing of all the constraints being placed on people who have bought tickets to see the Olympic events.  Even what they wear can ban their entrance, or carrying a bottle of water of more than 100ml. Any object or clothing bearing political statement or overt commercial identification is not allowed.  Oh dear all those people who wanted to wear their Dave Cameron is the Greatest P.M. ever, are going to be banned.   I haven’t found out if they would prefer topless spectators!  They are also advised to arrive two and a half hours before the event starts to ensure they get through security procedures.  So if in a queue for that length of time their 100ml of water will be consumed before they get in!  Traders have been in trouble because they have committed such terrible crimes as creating window displays using tissue paper in the form of the Olympic Rings, or horror of horror displaying bagels in the Olympic Ring pattern.  Oh yes, we live in the Lane of the Free alright.
Rant over.  I don’t care as I am not going!

2) Recipe On a more cheery note.  A seasonal salad has bought a smile to my face a couple of times this week as it is my favourite.  I call it Sunshine Salad, as the bananas are arranged to depict sunrays. 
Ingredients for two servings are: a packet/bunch of watercress, 2 tangerines or satusmas, quarter of a cucumber, 2 bananas, 12 dates – stoned and halved, and optional sunflower seeds.
Simply cover the base of each plate with watercress which has had the coarse stalks removed.  Round the edge of the plate place sliced cucumber, place the segments of tangerines, add the date halves.  Then the slices of banana go on the top and finally if desired a sprinkling of sunflower seeds. 

3) Knitting
I was on Ravelry and liked something another knitter had made and then looked at her other projects, one of which was a project I have been queing for ages.  This prompted me to cast on.  I have some carpel tunnel syndrome problems at the moment and cannot knit anything weighty and this seemed a nice idea as it was light with short rows.  So I have done a few inches of it and it is surprising how different it looks  another colour.  Check out on Ravelry the Pimpelleise pattern projects or see here  http://straw.com/cpy/patterns2/accessories/PSilkDeb-Shawl.html

  I am using sock yarn and will post a pic when it is completed.  I would recommend this as a handy project when travelling as it is certainly portable.  The pattern is easy to understand, and if someone wants to try lace it would be a good starting point. 
I was hoping to join the Caithness Craft Collective KAL to make the  
Adirondack pattern by Sarah Pundeson but am loathe to commit myself to a particular project until I know I can knit for a meaningful length of time without putting my knitting aside due to discomfort. 


4) Kindle Thanks to the newsletters I get about free Kindle Books, I have read another free book that I enjoyed this week.  Henry VIII’s Seventh  by Steve Farndon. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Henry-VIIIs-Seventh-ebook/dp/B0082PF3NY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342791689&sr=8-1
The synopsis on Amazon includes this: What hardly anyone knows is that he actually married one of his mistresses in 1538 so in fact the school yard rhyme should read ; divorced, beheaded, died, murdered, divorced, beheaded and survived.

Read all about his fourth wife, a Lady Mary Shelton.

5)Snippet, finally I found this really interesting and wonder how many other people on statins could benefit by reading it.  Of course, they should check with their own GP before deciding if it is a course of action suitable for them.  http://musingsofaseniledelinquent.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/miracle-cure-sort-of.html
I like this blog and read it regularly.