Wednesday 27 January 2016

Burn's Night, and rat boxing

We were out last night.
(Well, actually it was the night before, but I have been slow in getting this blog posted!)
Anyway, ....good company, good food, and good wine
 (although I didn't drink any but it looked top notch judging by the merriment of all present by the end of the evening. I wish I could drink but it offends my internal plumbing system. It is a bit depressing when all around are getting happier by the glassful and I am getting more and more in need of my bed as the evening goes on!)
 
Borrowed from Wikipedia:
'A Burns supper is a celebration of the life and poetry of the poet Robert Burns, author of many Scottish poems. The suppers are normally held on or near the poet's birthday, 25 January.....'
 
So that is where we were, at a Burns Night, and being fed the traditional food of:
fish soup, followed by mashed potato, mashed swede, carrots, and haggis.
Cheese and biscuits to follow (not sure if this is 'traditional Scots')
Last was a dessert of raspberries and cream (definitely not traditional!)
 
And Lester and I played music during the evening (accordion, violin, and mandolin),
with friend Mike on the guitar, John (host), (whistle, harmonica, and upturned flower pot drum.)
It was a fun evening, and one to be remembered with fondness, especially because I was able to contribute something to the evening by playing music. I am always happier when I am contributing. I tend not to be so comfortable at events which require of me just social chatter and, if possible, will go sit in a quiet place and watch everyone else chatting.
I find people watching a fascinating occupation.
 
****
 
There was this rat.
Move, it did not want to.
Oh dear!
 
Lissie, 
 she did not approve of the rat's attitude,
brought down her horns to ram the rat.
The rat stood up on hind legs,
and boxed away those horns.
 
Lissie swept her horns from side to side,
wishing oh so very much to impale that rat,
who had ventured into her living accommodation,
for which she was not happy.
 
Lester to the rescue.
With milking bucket in hand
he did swipe at the rat.
The rat toppled over.
Stunned.
Another swipe.
And then a new home found,
which was in the woods,
so that the body of the newly deceased
could return to the natural juices of nature.
 
Another rat down.
One less to romp over Lissie while she sleeps.
One less to run around Lester while he milks.
 So, this skirmish was won by the Home Team.
No doubt that there will be plenty more opportunities to do battle.
 
******
Everyone is outside today.
The sun is shining, and Spring seems to be arriving well ahead of when it should.
The only two left inside are me and Boolie,
Bools because he is always no more than a half a metre away from my side,
and me because of house jobs.
I was going to carry on with cutting the brambles down,
but didn't, because I had a nap instead,
which was a glorious chunk of sleep,
which was fractured only by a loud whirring noise,
which alarmed me somewhat, as I thought that the washing machine was about to spin itself silly,
this thought then being replaced by one which centred on very low flying jets,
an alarming thought, as my mind grazed over the possibility of having our new chimney pots damaged by low flying aircraft.
 Well the noise was loud and sounded very close, and I was fugged up with sleep.

But no, none of these things,
just Lester getting another huge bail of hay in to the Courtyard,
assisted by the might of his old tractor.
I was not needed this time.
Which was a good thing.
Because I was sleeping, or trying to!

As for Bools,
he is still being high spirited,
bless him.

Off to walk him now and get the last rays of sunshine.
Tomorrow I will get some time outside,
even if it is to sit on the front door step and do some spinning!

Bye for now.

Vx

13 comments:

Cro Magnon said...

I'm down to my last small tin of Grant's Haggis; I can't bear to eat it as it would probably go un-replaced. I am a big Haggis fan (especially Grant's tins).

Vera said...

CRO, My friend made her own haggis last year, but this year she bought it online, which must have been a large one because she fed 28 people with it! Not a great lover of haggis, but it slides down easily enough when eaten with mash, carrots, and swede.

Ohiofarmgirl said...

Lizzie is my favorite cow. ha! yay! i had to look up swede. we'd say rutabega.
:-)

Vera said...

OFG, 'mashed potato, carrots, haggis, and mashed rutabega'.....not sure if that 'fits' a Burns Night supper!

Kerry said...

Love the menu all except the fish soup. Bought one in a jar once and couldn't get past the smell. Never again. Perhaps a homemade one would be better.

Vera said...

KERRY, I am not fond of fish, but the fish soup the hostess made was soooo delish that I had a second helping!

DUTA said...

An evening of music and food sounds great. "A glorious chunk of sleep" sounds great too.
I'm a fan of all three: music, food (mashed potatoes, fish soup), and sleeping.

Vera said...

DUTA, it is the simple things, as in music, food, and sleep, which are the best! Plus some good company of course.

Jean said...

Being the only sober people in the room of drinkers is so......annoying. I love your description of people getting happier by the glassful. It's not easy trying to look that kind of happy when you're only an observer.
And well done on the rat. One down is always one less - hooray.

Vera said...

JEAN, oh I am so glad that someone else understands the plight of a non drinker amongst drinking folk!

Lisa @ Two Bears Farm said...

Well shoot. Now I'm terribly disappointed I didn't celebrate Burns night here.

Vera said...

LISA......Burns Night is excuse to have a party, particularly emphasizing on lots of wine and whiskey, and there will be another Burns Night in January next year!

Diane said...

We always used to celebrate Burn's night in South Africa but have not celebrated since we left. Think we must make a plan for next year! Diane