My Daily Banana

 

 

Photo of the Day:

 

A Siamese Apple

 

Event of the Day:

 

11th July 1969

 

David Bowie releases "Space Oddity"

it went up to #5 in the UK charts
 

 

11th July 1969

 

The Rolling Stones release "Honky Tonk Woman"

it went up to #1 in the UK and Billboard charts
 

 

 

Birthday of the Day:

 

11th July 1959

 

Suzanne Vega

 

She released "Luka" in 1987; it is a song about child abuse and home hostility as seen from the side of a child.
 

 

 

Died on this Day:

 

11th July 1937

 

George Gershwin
 

 

He was only thirty-eight when he died, but he left a very big footprint behind. I know I'm repeating myself but I love the musical "Porgy and Bess" especially when Louis Armstrong sings the part of Porgy and Ella Fitzgerald the part of Bess. Here they are with their studio interpretation of "It Ain't Necessary So"

 

 

Thoughts:

 

My mood picked up today, yesterday was terrible, I even stood in my own way.

We had our lunchtime sport again, that seems to be the only sport that I am participating in, it is about time I took my bicycle out again: the weekend is not far off and Heike has to work on Saturday; so I am aiming on that day. My weight is going up again, that isn't bad though; I felt too skinny before I went over to England on my holidays. The trouble is; when I take-off weight my face gets thin; at my age that means wrinkles and I look much older than I want to be.

 

The brambles are growing;
mmmh, I love bramble jam and compote



Wild rose

and rose hips

That's me in the right lower corner
Great selfie?

I took a shot of my hand also.
I never erase my fail shots, they can be quite interesting,  sometimes!
I know these aren't, I still find them funny.


See you all tomorrow

My Daily Banana

 

Photo of the Day:

 

Found this in my photos of 2005

 

 

Event of the Day:

 

10th July 1040

 

According to legend:

 

Lady Godiva rides nacked on horseback through Coventry, England.

 

 

She rode to persuade her husband to lower taxes that he had imposed on his tenants. The expression "Peeping Tom" originates from a later version of the legend in which a man named Tom watched her and was struck blind or deaf for doing so.

Peter and Gordon recorded the song "Lady Godiva" in 1966

 

Birthday of the Day:

 

10th July 1947

 

Arlo Guthrie
 

 

A folk singer-songwriter, the son of the legendary Woodie Guthrie; who together with Pete Seeger dominated the protest wave during the depression of the thirties in the USA.

He wrote and recorded the hilarious conscription protest song "Alice's Restaurant"

I've got the LP in my collection

 

 

Died on this Day:

 

10th July 138

 

Emperor Hadrian

 

The builder of Hadrian's Wall; which was built in the year 122 AD; to keep the barbarian Scots out of Roman Britania

 

 

Thoughts:

 

I've hit a sore spot again!

It's too hot for me and I'm not feeling very hungry (at least not at the moment), Heike's just called me for dinner.

All was good, until I got choosy.

I didn't want the salad, it has nothing to do with the salad dressing (there wasn't any) and I hadn't the palette for the curd cheese dressing that was served with the spuds. So I just ate what I wanted (spuds and tofu burger with a little bit of dressing to urge the dry potatoes through my throat.

Bad, bad! Now I've got someone who won't talk to me and is ignoring me--raspberry.

 

It's warm here today, between twenty and twenty-seven degrees centigrade; and the wind is blowing strong from the north-east; as I have said before wind from the east is a dirty wind; it causes hay-fever and bad moods, like the one I'm in. Tomorrow is going to be the same (so the forecast says). 

So watch out, don't get too close to me, I might explode; especially after watching football tonight.
Argentina and Holland are playing; the game starts at 10 pm which is later than my usual time for bed. The World Championship is just once every four years so I'm gonna watch it-basta.
I managed the first half-time, then I fell asleep. That was a boring game, I'm glad I didn't stay up to watch all of it; the last penalty landed at one-fifteen AM in the Dutch goal. I would have been even more tired than I am now if I had stayed awake.

Here are some views of the St. Mary's Parish church in Melton Mowbray:

Through the trees
I was sat on the beer garden of the Anne of Cleves pub

Now a series of stained glass windows.

The altar

The nave (in Germany we say "Kirchenschiff" the church-ship)

That's it for a day.
Sorry for being so taciturn, I hope I have more to say tomorrow!

 

My Daily Banana

 

Giant Rhubarb (Gunnera manicata)

Event of the Day:

9th July 1540

King Henry VIII annuls his marriage to Anne of Cleves;
she was his fourth of six wives.

When I was on my vacation in England I travelled to Melton Mowbray, where Henry VIII gave a building to Anne of Cleves as a good bye present. The building is now a Public House and listed as a grade II* building (first listing in 1950)

 

Beware when visiting this Public House it is highly recommended to wear oilskins!

Birthday of today:

9th July 1956

Tom Hanks

An amazing actor he has played in countless good films such as The Green Mile, Forrest Gump or Philadephia

Died on this Day:

9th July 2006

Milan Williams

one of the founding members of the Commodores; he wrote their first hit single, an instrumental tune called "Machine Gun"

Milan died of cancer at fifty-eight years.

Thoughts:

As I was saying before; during my holidays in England I visited Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire with Kerry and Lee. It is quite a nice town, mostly well preserved with many historic buildings and a history worth mentioning. Such as: Have you ever used the saying "Painting the town red", when you go out for a happy night? The saying originates from Melton Mowbray. In 1837, after a successful hunt the 3rd Marquess of Waterford and his cronies went into town for a celebration. They got happy and when they found some tins of red paint they went on a painting spree through the High Street.

Another interesting fact is that there are tunnels running under the old town; for instance between the church and the Grapes pub. From what I have just read there seams to have been jail cells under the Grapes and the tunnel was between these and the church.

The Melton Mowbray church is also an outstanding building first under construction in the Norman era. Very unusual for a parish church are the transepts (the two side wings of the church ship); they are normal in cathedrals but only five churches in England are built this way. Like in every church I visited in England there was a child's corner; I like that.

 

 

The High Street, Melton Mowbray

The Pork Pie Shop in the High Street
in 2008 the European Union awarded the Melton Mowbray pork pie a Protected Geographical Indication status

The Market Square

The Grapes Public House
under which was a jail for prisoners awaiting trial and transfer to Leicester

The Church Street
On the left was all part of the Swan Inn (now the Grapes),
 under which ran a tunnel from the jail to the church.

St Mary's Parish Church

Read and learn facts about Melton Mowbray,
a contrast to the drivel I write

The Anne of Cleves Public House
The house was taken from the Roman Catholic Church and given to Anne of Cleves by King Henry VIII
when he annulled their marriage

The Bar

The beer garden
In front you can see my very dear friends Kerry and Lee
(be careful though when sitting at the same table when there are full glasses there upon "Überschwemmungsgefahr!")

The loo in the Anne of Cleves

That's it again for another stroll through my holiday in England.
Hope you enjoyed it.
Bye till tomorrow

My Daily Banana

 

 

Photo of the Day:

Proud that Opa chalked her nose.
Isn't it nice how little things can please?

 

 

Event of the Day:

 

8th July 1977

 

Vicky Huber aka "Nitro the Snake Dancer" belly-danced for over one hundred hours to gain her place in the Guinness Book of World Records

 

Birthday of the Day:

08th July 1934

Marty Feldman

British comedian with the resemblance of a chameleon.

Died on this Day:

8th July 2003

Ladan Bijani and Laleh Bijani

Conjoined twins from Iran; they died during the operation to separate them. They were joined at the head and had lived as one twenty-three years and separate a couple of hours.

 

Thoughts:

 

Today the legend Bob Dylan is giving a live concert in Flensburg, Germany

Although Flensburg is only an hour away from my home, I haven't bought myself a ticket. It's not because I can't afford it, or I wouldn't want to see and hear him, it's mainly because of laziness!

The lesser excuse is: I want to keep him in my memory as I remember and that was his music from thirty years ago. That is the reason why I hardly ever go to concerts anymore, most of the artists to whom I have positive musical memories are old.

This weekend Elton John is appearing in Kiel; that's only ninety minutes drive from here. He is one of my favourite artists, but like me he's getting on and it's about time he gave up giving live concerts, his live voice is beginning to croak!

James Taylor is another one, when he was young he was so cool, his voice so immaculate but now; he can still pick a guitar like a young god, his voice is live still good, but to sing like a he does he has developed a method that makes him contort his face; it looks unnatural, uncool.

You guys have earned your millions from the likes of me, why don't you step back? It's time!

 

Yesterday was Jan's birthday and we had a great time visiting the Petersens, we hadn't been there for four weeks; the wee one has grown!

 

Jan, the birthday man thirty-six already with "monster" Martje <3

Kirsty, Martje and Gretje

 

Fentje, hasn't she grown to a beautiful lady?
Next year she starts school (in Germany the kids start school at seven)

This little one (Gretje) has a few years longer before reality grabs her.

Thanks for having us yesterday, it was a very nice afternoon xxx

See you all tomorrow!