Read the Comments and you'll see I'm being spammed in Chinese.

I've deleted the most recent and reported the problem.

If it continues, I suppose I'll simply shut down the Blog.

Photo Poem

I.

II.

III.

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went into town with E. & had lunch at Mappa Mundo (surely the best deal for a beer & a sandwich in central Brussels?). Took these pictures on the way to the bus stop.

BBC radio for iPod Touch outside UK

Knowing that I get - now and again - some accidental (baffled?) visitors to the Blog hoping for ex-pat type info on living here in Belgium, here's a tip for those of you who (like me) want to get BBC radio on your iPod Touch but can't use iPlayer.

It's simple. Go on the App Store and search for Wunder Radio. It'll cost you a few euros but then you have the luxury of interference-free BBC radio. Your Touch becomes a tranny. How cutting edge technology can reinvent the old.

A trial post using this iPod Touch. A fabulous little gadget - even if the BBC block access to iPlayer for us Radio 4 listeners over here in Belgium.

There had to be a catch ...

With the coming of autumn a new routine has established itself - a cup of tea and toast with the girls after school. A discovery: toast tastes different in the late afternoon than at breakfast time.

Why?

Recipe for Pumpkin Soup

Cut the pumpkin or onion squash into slices. De-seed. Brush segments with oil and garlic. Place in the oven at 200 degrees for about 25 minutes. (The smell is fantastic).

Remove and dice - skin included.

Then fry onion and chilli. Add the diced pumpkin plus dried sage, plum tomatoes (whole), tinned tomatoes, chick peas and enough water to make it a soup. Simmer for 25 minutes.

Then, to serve, ladle into bowls and sprinkle handfuls of grated parmesan, flat-leaved parsley and smoked bacon bits. Season according to taste.

Delicious.

Autumn in a bowl, I promise you.

*

"the kin at the hearth, the continual cauldron that feeds forth the earth, the heart that comes into being through the blood, the householder among his familiar animals, the beloved turning to his beloved in the dark ..."

('The Structure of Rime IV', Robert Duncan)

A day off here and so we go into town to nose around. I find myself upstairs in the children's section of Tropismes in amongst the bande dessines (there's an 'e' acute needed there). I'm following a hunch that this is where some interesting crossovers are happening between word and image - going into much more interesting territory than the ubiquitous Tintin et al.

And I strike lucky - Rebekka Baumann's Lemon Ink. Or, as she seems to prefer lower case: rebekka baumann's lemon ink.

What is it exactly? Part sketchbook, part day-in-the-life of the artist, part poem, part discursion (i.e. a discussion as excursion) upon the idea of lemon yellow. Her use of papers, positive & negative space, sense of line and omission, traced and retraced images ... wow! I had to buy it.

The images here are taken from her site: http://www.rebekkabaumann.com/

Highly recommended.

No, not the Oasis track. One of those films that would only have been possible in the sixties. None the worse for that, of course.

Joseph Cornell as Peeping Tom with patchouli.

It's raining. Pouring. The plan was for us all to go for a walk but discretion is the better part of valour (or something like that). So in the end I was the only one to struggle out against the elements. Half an hour later, my boots, coat and jeans are drying down in the basement.

Went swimming this morning - at least I got as far as the car park which was suspiciously - significantly - empty. Closed. One of the very few days of the year. I drove up to the woods and went for a jog-run-walk. Then sat watching the leaves fall onto the ponds. Right now it seems important to make such efforts.

It's meant to be pretty lousy weather for the coming week. I'll be crossing over to England early on Wednesday staying on until Sunday. Simply being there will probably be a help.

The challenge these days is to find periods in which to settle. Various things keep nagging away in the background. Plus work starts next door tomorrow - which entails yet more sorting, chucking, lugging, arranging. So not so much a holiday then rather a different type of activity.

And I trod on one of the cats.