Show Me The Treasure

Why exactly is Bart Brassica taking up this heroic, romantic pose mid blossom? Has it something to do, or something to outdo, with Mr Farmhand's recent foray into elegant world of gardening magazines? 
 In any case Granny Egg  (who, you guessed it, took this photo with her paparazzi special lens from Innovare), has been ringing Bart to see if the phone might tempt him to get out down from the ornamental cherry tree. This is not because she wants to talk to him, but because she has a bet with Mavis that Bart is pretty nigh stuck.  It is the kind of one-sided bet that has been irritating Mavis since she was four years old.  Mavis, who says she has to go over to the Brassica  Farm to pick up some more postcards (see Tinned Fruite Coupe ), which have, surprisingly sold out,  and make sure Bart gets his head out of the clouds.

Why exactly is Bart Brassica taking up this heroic, romantic pose mid blossom? Has it something to do, or something to outdo, with Mr Far...

It may come as a bit of surprise to some parties, but Mr , or as Mavis Eggwhistle now calls him, our Mr Farmhand, has landed a job as a male model for an upmarket English gardening glossy. This recherche chic has Bart Brassica approaching as near to cross-eyed with annoyance as a one-eyed man can get.  There is no doubt that Mr Farmhand looks deucedly elegant here, in what we might say is a turnip for the books.
Naturally, it is Ms Periz who is in charge of the photo shoot.

It may come as a bit of surprise to some parties, but Mr , or as Mavis Eggwhistle now calls him, our Mr Farmhand, has landed a job as a ma...

One of Farmer Brassica's natural concerns is the weather and how his farm  can cope with the increasingly wild weather events thrown his way and still produce vitamin rich cash crops. With this in mind, and taking into account the popularity of tinned fruit Bart has set out to develop his own line of  specially bred fruit that is not tinned but fibre-glassed. Due to certain economies of scale the fruit has to be rather oversize, and somewhat unnatural looking. Exterior wise it is tougher than tin and looks, at least to Bart, reasonably appealing. Mavis Eggwhistle, who has said she would not so much as attempt to peel one of the grapes in case her arms fell off again, has said Bart would be better using them as a tourist attraction - The World's Largest Fruit Coupe . Now Bart is trying to sell this postcard of him for 50cents apiece and Mavis has reluctantly agreed to stock them at The Whistle Stoppe Floriste Shoppe, though she says she meant  laughing stock.

One of Farmer Brassica's natural concerns is the weather and how his farm  can cope with the increasingly wild weather events thrown h...

 It might be that I've missed something but in the trips to Falls I've ever taken, and...

You might remember from when we last saw him, Mr Farmhand was suffering from the effects of vertigo atop of a Cardoon (see Cardoonifications)  with his cousin Frank Winkler, gesticulating in a florid way at a lower echelon. In this parlous state Mr Farmhand was practically stuck, muttering something about he couldn't face getting down and when he did he would be taking Frank to the cleaners. Frank, in an encouraging way, promised to give Mr Farmhand his purple cardigan, if he would just finish the job. Mr Farmhand, who has never had more than shirt, trousers,bowler hat and hoe to his name was so incensed by Frank's namby bribe, he starting yelling out I'll give you Purple Cardoonigan, I'll give you Purple Cardigoons, - well, quite a few times. Seeing the force of the sentiment actualised in this way Frank has now skedadled, adding, the advice, which perhaps has some merit in it, that Mr Farmhand was off his face.
Thanks to Ms Ingrid Periz for the photograph.

You might remember from when we last saw him, Mr Farmhand was suffering from the effects of vertigo atop of a Cardoon (see Cardoonificatio...

The kohlrabi with its lanky arms seems like it could have evolved in a centrifuge, the body spinning top shape and arms flying out as if trying to slow the process down.  It looks downbeat but then that regal rich purple, suggest it might be King of the Brassica.

The kohlrabi with its lanky arms seems like it could have evolved in a centrifuge, the body spinning top shape and arms flying out as if t...

The Cardoon has arrived in Lambertville, and Frank Winkler, ever on the look out for schemes that scam, and noticing  how similiar ...

About 20 years ago I bought a set of three cast iron fry pans from Chinatown, one – the least useful size-wise – I gave away to a ...

Like most of us with busy lifes, Farmer Bart Brassica is always on the lookout for time saving devices, and in Farmer Brassica's case, given that the weather can be curmudgeonly, too much rain and his experimental crop of wasabi will suffer from wasabi blight, too little and the crop will fail to thrive. So he has often wished he could go back and rejig  his planting strategy.  To this end Bart, perhaps after watching too many episodes of Dr Who has devised this Clock O'later - the idea that he winds the invisible elastic attaches it to the clock hands, hops on board and as the hands start spinning backwards viola! so will time. He has explained to Mavis Eggwhistle that the extra candy loop is designed to provide an aura field and fuel source.  Mavis says something about Fool Source being well supplied already.

Like most of us with busy lifes, Farmer Bart Brassica is always on the lookout for time saving devices, and in Farmer Brassica's case,...

Life drawing is an odd term, as if the human form has a monopoly on life, but only as long as there are no clothes involved. Of course ...

There is more than a strand of nostalgia in my prediliction for volumes in the World Book Club series.  As a child, in a small town without a bookshop, these, and the Time Life Ancient World Series, would arrive in the post, the robust packaging promised a deft exit to another place.  Not all the novels in this series were the best work of the novelist, and Chatterton Square being a good example. I first met EH Young via Virago and her  Miss Mole, and then The Missess Malletts,  both mild domestic depictions of middle class life, with fine character portraits, invariably featuring a stalwart spinster, often with a pointy nose, an abrupt manner, a repertoire of tics and a generous heart sometimes undermined by ill-judged actions to protect herself or her loved ones from further loss. Chatterton Square, is the mild sort of thing that intrigues despite of it being far too well larded with political declarations of the dreadful complacency of English pollies and people that would bring everything badly undone in the lead up to World War 2. I wondered, given this must have been, at least, E H Young's tenth novel, if perhaps the editors had just given up on her, or her, them.

One reason why I ploughed on to then end was my curiosity as to whether Young might flaunt convention and let her heroine, deserted by an irascible out of the scene husband, have an affair, or at least a fling with a suitor, who if not exacting dashing,  at least had a dash. Perhaps, given E H Young's reputed personal circumstances of being the third party in a menage a trois, the conventional ending here shows that the editor, might after all, have had some exercise.

There is more than a strand of nostalgia in my prediliction for volumes in the World Book Club series.  As a child, in a small town withou...

How did Bart arrive at this floored state of quasi-electrification?  Impatient in his on-going quest for enlightenment, [see In the Ponderings Episode 3]  Bart decided that the process could be accelerated by standing, well if not on the shoulders of The Enlightened ( below), than at least by standing on their pedestal and,  given that more is more, he also set up a live circuit, figuring the electricity is the natural fluid medium for enlightening. Adding to this sure fire method  he recruited the Buddha's friend Padmapani, to speed things up.  While the Buddha and Padmapani are non-plussed by 240 volts the questions is will Bart recover from his singed state?

How did Bart arrive at this floored state of quasi-electrification?  Impatient in his on-going quest for enlightenment, [see In the Pond...

After too many seasons where the possums got in first and ate all the flower buds from my zygopetalum orchid,  this year I bought it inside early and was rewarded by three, by my modest standards for orchid culture, perfect flower spikes. These have been out for about four weeks now, and by the second week the nodes started to produce a sticky clear nectar which takes delicious to a new level. It might be that just having a single drop of the nectar makes it precious but this is sweet, in well, a complex floral way  that subtly echoes the flowers perfume. This must be what Coleridge wrote of in Xanadu.

After too many seasons where the possums got in first and ate all the flower buds from my zygopetalum orchid,  this year I bought it insid...

Nothing shows more up more acutely the index finger as a blunt instrument than attempting a parkscape with Express Draw on the small window of an iPhone. This is kind of drawing that is abandoned rather than finished, which raises the interesting question of what, art-wise, is ever finished? When does a work tip from under to over done?  This may be good example of something which may tick all the boxes, abandoned, under and over done.Still, it is Keirle Park, Wednesday 22 May and the day was disappearing like credits on a movie which you are watching hoping to find whose song was playing as a car drove off into the twilight.

Nothing shows more up more acutely the index finger as a blunt instrument than attempting a parkscape with Express Draw on the small windo...

The last time we saw Bart's true Shadow it (well let's be polite and say 'he'), he, had hived off to rural anonymity in the wide pastures of Cooma NSW (see Mysterious Brassica Shaped Space Found) The Shadow eschews any suggestion that he might patch it up with Bart Brassica , who he says in any case prefers his fancy colourised shadow, which the Shadow goes on to say, is an abomination and a crime against nature.  It seems there may be a quantum entanglement between Bart and his Shadow, as both have simultaneously taken up with a pet pig and both are undertaking an advanced course in Pig Training. The Shadow, taking advantage of his monochromatic slightness, has been slipping into even class entirely unnoticed and not paying a single cent, whereas Bart Brassica has deferred his fees on what he calls the Hex Scheme.

The uncanny similarity between their companion pigs might be considered more than a coincidence by some!

The last time we saw Bart's true Shadow it (well let's be polite and say 'he'), he, had hived off to rural anonymity in ...

Though, to quote that famous 'running late and out of time table order' line made infamous by State Rail, I am behind and out of kilter in the Every Day in May's list of drawing challenges,  so far I've got a not at all impressive 8 out of 19,  I did get  #11 -  'something with wings' while waiting in Wagga airport lounge last Sunday morning. If I was going to be a shyster I'd say, after landing into a stiff westerly at Mascot later, that this would qualify for #13 as well, ' something that blows in the wind'.

Though, to quote that famous 'running late and out of time table order' line made infamous by State Rail, I am behind and out of k...

In his episodic efforts trying to figure out what to think (see In the Ponderings) Farmer Brassica has decided that he might go with the flow and tap into the New Jersey zeitgiest, and thereby save getting himself a dreadful headache from concentrating on the high faluting.
With this in mind Bart, ever the agriculturalist, has been cultivating things that are in that verbal vicinity, and thinking that a simple farmer can't be too choosy with an obscure letter like Z, he figures this crop of  Zygopetalum orchids will do the trick.  As you can see the heady perfume has rather lifted him off his feet.Will they have the same effect on Mavis Eggwhistle when she comes around to collect these giants specimens for the Whistle Stoppe Floriste Shoppe?

In his episodic efforts trying to figure out what to think ( see In the Ponderings) Farmer Brassica has decided that he might go with the...

The graphic sharpness of the lowest branch of the Norfolk Pine is what I started out on here, another Wednesday with the light fading fast at Keirle Park, and then the floodlits reverse the distribution of lighter sky, darker ground.

The graphic sharpness of the lowest branch of the Norfolk Pine is what I started out on here, another Wednesday with the light fading fast...

Buddha’s Hand More fingers than thumbs you act like a crown offer the curlicue destiny of scent, persist as jester’s cap ...

Back at Tanpopo for dinner last Monday night, I decide to take the simpler view: one man, one fan, one wall and the Specials. Is this laziness or winnowing? In any case the fan speaks volumes, the fan's three blades, its cagey grill, the elegance of the hanging switch adds instant atmosphere.
We shared the Aburi Sushi - which was excellent, and then my favourite order chai-shu ramen. Perfect.

Back at Tanpopo for dinner last Monday night, I decide to take the simpler view: one man, one fan, one wall and the Specials. Is this lazi...