Large Parsnips Grown In A Grass Box From An Old Ride On Lawnmower.

According to that English band Bucks Fizz: "My Camera Never Lies."
The Parsnip is approximately twelve inches long - honest!.  It's not had any special ingredients except half a grass box full of garden soil (all stones) removed and filled up with a cheap bag of compost from Aldi.  Then we placed about 6 Parsnips seeds in the compost and waited about 28 days for them to germinate.  Then I turned on the polytunnel irrigation hose twice a day and gave the Parsnips a handful of chicken pellets and a few months later I have show Parsnips.

It's so easy to grow large Carrots and Parsnips if you give them plenty of room to stick their tap root down.  If they find manure or stones the roots fork.  I am going to sow some Spring Cabbage seed and sow some Autumn King Carrots this week.  Think I will make some ridges to get a good depth of soil.

What veg plants are you planting and sowing at the moment? picked when they are small.  I often see people in the supermarkets picking a large Swede and I think:

"That will be so tough and bland."

You can't beat homegrown vegetables , fruit and meat.  

Tagine Dream In The Kitchen?

I bought a Tagine last week and I brought it home and was asked:

"What's that for?"

Here's a Beef and Veg Tagine recipe for you:

Beef  (our own heifer) cooked in our Tagine.  They originate in North Africa and the meal could be said to be stew like and you could even use an electric slow cooker.  But I don't think it would taste the same.

Place a tablespoon of oil in the bottom of the Tagine.  Add a sliced (homegrown) onion.  Place the meat on top of the onion. Then add four (homegrown) chopped and peeled potatoes, a couple of tomatoes and what ever vegetables you have at hand.  Then we sprinkled Paprika on the top of the ingredients.  We place 150 millilitres of water over it.  Put the lid on leave it to simmer on a very low heat (we cooked on the ring of our Stanley range with wood for fuel) and cook it for three hours or until meat is nice and tender.  We really enjoyed the meal and couldn't believe how little energy it took to cook the meal.

A Visit To Vienna Zoo.

Photograph  (sorry the date says 2008 - silly camera!) of the new Giant Panda which was born recently in Vienna Zoo.  It was heart wrenching to hear little children point out the Panda to their parents and say:

"Aw Mama, Papa."

I think they thought the Panda was a teddy bear.  It wouldn't pose for a photograph though for me.  It was more interested in tearing and eating Bamboo shoots.  Vienna zoo is the only zoo in Europe that successfully managed to breed Panda's in a zoo.  Some people think zoo's are cruel.   They are very successful in breeding and preserving endangered species that probably wouldn't survive in their natural habitat due to predators like humans.

Giraffes eating their breakfast.  I had a a Frankfurter and a small can of beer at 10.15 on a Saturday morning.  You wouldn't get a drink of beer in Britain or Ireland at that time of day or at a zoo.  Even our supermarket here in West Cork doesn't sell alcohol until 10.30 weekdays and 12.30 on a Sunday.  

Hippos eating a trailer load of grass.  There was no "mud glorious mud" to wallow in.  But they did have their very own swimming pool.  Notice their glistening backs from their recent morning dip.

Elephants.  Why do Elephants not ride bicycles?  Their thumbs are too big to ring the bell.  

Exotic birds.   Are they Pink Flamingoes?

Vienna zoo is the oldest zoo in the world.  It gets over 1 million visitors a year.  My son emailed me that very morning to ask him to bring him something back from Vienna zoo.  So I bought him a furry Meercat from the zoo shop.  I asked the shop keeper for a bag and he said:

"Ja.  Of course."

When I got back to Shannon airport (Ireland) on the Sunday.  I was met by my wife and two sons.  I told number 2 son to:

"Look in my bag there's some inside there for you.  I had an awful time getting it through quarantine."

He rather nervously searched my bag and found his Meerkat and smiling he said.

"I don't know with you.  It could have been real."

His face was a picture.  

No Need For A Balaclava When I Went To Visit Bratislava. Trip To Poland, Czech Republic, Vienna and Slovakia Part 4.

Hey I'm a poet and I know it!  We paid fourteen Euro each return for the one hour train ticket from Vienna to Bratislava.  To those of you who didn't do metal work at school.  It's in Slovakia.  The ticket is valid for 4 days and you can use it on any of the public transport.

The one hour train journey passed over the Danube and through many fertile fields full of abundant crops for humans and livestock.  I noticed quite a few windmills, artesian well type pumping stations for irrigation and fields (about an acre) of solar panels.  I was quite quite excited looking forward to visiting a former communist country.  Here's some photographs for you:

I captured this picture of a Storks nest.  It looks like it's a bar.  perhaps they should call it 'The Storks' rest'?

A rather blurred Welcome To Slovakia sign at the railway station.  Nobody asked for our passports.

A wonderful statue display in a park in Bratislava.

The same park.  I liked the way the gardeners wore similar uniforms complete with hats.  

The Presidents Palace.    Notice the guards in traditional costumes?

The unbelievably cheap prices in Bratislava.  We went in this bar and ordered two drinks.  One was Dunkles and the other a lager that reminded me of  snake bite.  The drinks cost a Euro each and my friend bought a cake for fifty cents. 

Noticed a few of these posters.  The striptease starts at 8 until 5 in the morning.  Noticed a few English stag parties and groups of lads drinking outside the bars.  Wouldn't like to have been about when they were all drunk.  Don't think the Slovakian police would have any messing though.

Noticed this gardener cutting the verges with a scythe and gathering it up by hand.  I think health and safety wouldn't have liked his foot wear?  

One of the cafe bars advertising it's food.

I thought Bratislava was a very historical place with lots of Hungarian inspired architecture.  The beer prices are incredibly cheap and the natives welcome you.  It was great to go in a Slovakian bar and watch the natives playing chess, having a drink and not really taking any notice that you are there.  I think I like Bratislava!  A Euro for a pint and some of it is 14 percent!  How do they make any money?  They seem happy though.  Next time it's Vienna Zoo pictures.    

Smallholders Trip To See Suzanne Vega And Vienna. Part 3.

We went to see Suzanne Vega on the Wednesday night (23 July) at the Stodola in Warsaw.  I preferred the Progresja the night before when we watched Kansas.  The Stodola had big bouncers (for a folk concert - please!), it was an all seater affair.  I think the venue makes the concert don't you?  When we watched the Kansas gig the night before.  There were no seats and people took photographs and freely walked about to the bar, toilet and different parts of the venue.

The Suzanne Vega Stodola concert  was over by nine O'clock and photographs were strictly forbidden. Not forgetting the pedantic punters who insisted we were sitting in their seat (was she called Goldilocks?) and we moved along the bus/seats and we had an even better viewer of Suzanne Vega in her Marlene Dietrich style collapsible top hat.    It reminded my friend of one of his friends visiting a museum and taking some photographs and a chorus of German tourists told him:

"It is forbidden."

Any way Suzanne Vega I enjoyed your concert.  Especially the old classics and the Horizon ("There is a road")off your new album and your drummer reminded me of a classic progressive rock musician.  It was a bit different to last time I saw you when I was half drunk at Glastonbury in 1989.  Sorry there is no photograph of Suzanne Vega:

"It is forbidden."

Next morning we got up at 3.30 AM and we had a breakfast of bananas and peaches and turned off the gas and water and set off on our epic adventure to Austria via Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria.  We caught the 6.15 train to Vienna.  This was a very long journey (nine hours) and we traveled through many miles of flat countryside.  I was surprised that we only saw 3 cows grazing in the whole of Poland.  We were accompanied in our compartment for the majority of the journey by an elderly Polish man who spoke to us in German and Polish. My friend told him I was an expert in malt whiskies and I attempted to tell him that Dalwhinnie is of course the best and his favourite Jamesons wasn't bad.

We crossed over the border into the Czech Republic and two soldiers asked for our passports.  They smiled when they saw we had English passports and wished us a good journey.

We finally got into Vienna something passed two and negotiated the underground to our accommodation.  I was knackered, blistered feet from wearing synthetic leather boots and just wanted a pint or two of Dunkel.  My friend had other ideas.  We dropped off our rucksacks and travelling bag and went on a sightseeing tour of Vienna.  Here's some photographs:

Picture of the famous Danube river.

Photo of a Dunkle beer tap.  It was like drinking a really good pint of home brew.  Not that I can make it like that.  

The famous Wiener Riesensad ferris wheel.  Constructed in 1897.  It's 200 feet high and it's at the entrance of the Prater amusement park.  The wheel is featured in the films. 'The Third Man', Scorpio and the James Bond film The Living daylights'.  

How the othe half live.  Private berths on the river Danube.    Once again readers I am sorry for my silly digital camera displaying the wrong dates.  I can assure you all photographs were taken this year.

Next time I will show my photographs of my day trip to Bratislava.  

Trip To Warsaw, Vienna, Bratislava (Kansas Concert And Rural Dwellings On the Outskirts Of Warsaw) Part 2.

Last Tuesday my old friend and me caught the tram and bus out to the outskirts of Warsaw to look at some of the rural Polish country dwellings.  On the way I was twice asked for directions by Polish people.  I shrugged my shoulders and shook my head and quickly passed them on to my friend.  He spoke to them in Polish and explained that I only spoke English and we all smiled.

I took this photograph of an old lady gathering pine cones.  I think these must have been for the fire.  I bet they give off a wonderful aroma when they are burning.

  

The building below had been re-constructed with modern materials in the traditional style instead of using wood.  I think a lot of these houses are 'holiday' homes and they had high fences and alarm systems.

On the Tuesday night we went to the Klub Progresja  (great venue) to see the American progressive rock band : Kansas.  I have wanted to see them for over thirty years and they didn't disappoint me.  In fact I had a rather surreal experience watching them.  Tears ran down my face.  Perhaps it was the seven percent Czech beer, the 30 degrees temperature outside or my subconscious.  But there I was watching one of my favourite bands with tears running down my cheeks.

My friend took these fantastic  pictures and this one captures the lead singer and amazing keyboard player Steve Walsh in all his glory.  Steve is leaving the band in August.  But like the true pro that he is.  He still fulfills his contract and puts one hundred and ten percent in every performance.  You will be truly missed Steve.  Not bad for a band that's celebrating it's fortieth anniversary.  I feel honoured and privileged to say I have seen Kansas.

Trip To Warsaw, Vienna And Bratislava And A couple of Concerts. Part One.

Hi everybody.  I got back late Sunday from a very hectic week in Poland, Czech Republic, Austria and Bratislava in Slovakia.   Will try to catch up with my other blogs that I follow and some I read but don't follow all the time.  I flew on my own on the 20th (Sunday) from Shannon to Warsaw Modlin and was met by an old friend  from childhood who now lives and works in Warsaw.

On the Monday we rode the underground and tram to Wola to visit the Warsaw Uprising Museum.  Sorry about the photographs displaying the 2008 date.  My digital camera is acting daft again.  Here's a few photographs from the museum.

Warsaw Uprising Museum tower.

Found this delightful picture of a cow taken during the Warsaw Uprising among the barricades.  She was kept in the war zone for her milk, cheese and no doubt because she is beautiful.

Poster of a Polish woman taking up arms.

There is even a statue in Warsaw for the child soldiers who took up arms against Germany.  I found the museum very emotive and very disturbing.  I read that between fifty and sixty thousand people were exterminated in the Wola district.  Hitler gave the order to take no prisoners and they didn't.  The museum showed displays of weapons,  grave constructions and a film of bombs destroying Warsaw.   There were also little light boxes that you looked down into and saw gruesome pictures of dead bodies.  I found it very disturbing but incredibly moving and much though had gone into the exhibitions.  My only suggestion would be to include English translations to the Polish writing on each display.  I noticed a few English and American tourists visiting the museum.

A photograph of the Warsaw Spire which is currently being constructed behind the Warsaw Uprising Museum.

 The Spire will be the second largest building in Warsaw when it's constructed this year.  One thing you notice about Warsaw is the many enormous office buildings.

A photograph from the Jewish cemetery.  A lot of the graves seem to be no longer tended by their loved one's.  So many who lost their lives them selves during the Second World War.  I found the experience very sad but incredibly peaceful.  

Warsaw is a very modern and vibrant European city with great parks, museums, public transport and leaves fine tributes to it's dead and to all those who fought to save their country from Fascism.  Yesterday I switched on the news to see conflicts in the Ukraine and Gaza.  When will we learn to live a life in peace and harmony with each other? It's a crazy world.  But a very beautiful one.