Hooray for British Summer Time . . . !

Hooray, we get an extra hour's daylight at the end of the day! I expect I'm unusual in this, but I didn't mind losing an hour's sleep last night when the clocks changed as I seemed to have a supercharged battery today.

I often get up an hour later on Sundays anyway but tend to wake up at my usual working-day time so getting up was not a problem. Seeing the sunshine outside, I was eager to get up and start the day.

After Mass I had a nice, long gap before Rosary and Benediction in the afternoon, with no lunch to worry about as the Pater Familias disappeared after Mass to do something energetic with a racquet and a shuttlecock.

My body kept telling me it was an hour earlier than it actually was, if you see what I mean, so I managed to make a start on a couple of jobs that I haven't been able to summon the energy to tackle for some time.

First of all, the shed. Now this is going to be a major project, I feel, but I made a good start and managed to fill a couple of bin bags with rubbish and had a big pile of items that needed to be relocated to the garage or the loft.

Next, after I got back from Rosary and Benediction, the white plastic garden table which had accumulated an interesting greyish green patina over the winter. Now it's almost luminous!

Finally, an hour's ironing.

I think I deserve a pat on the back, or at least a little glass of something to help me relax . . .

By the way, isn't our camellia looking lovely in her Spring coat? I took this photo today.

Quiz answers . . .

Answers To Quiz:

1... The one sport in which neither the spectators nor the
participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends:
Boxing.

2. North American landmark constantly moving backward: Niagara
Falls .

(The rim is worn down
about two and a half feet each year because of the millions of gallons of
water that rush over it every minute.)

3. Only two vegetables that can live to produce on their own for several
growing seasons: Asparagus and rhubarb.

4. The fruit with its seeds on the outside: Strawberry.

5. How did the pear get inside the brandy bottle? It grew inside
the bottle.

The bottles are placed
over pear buds when they are small, and are wired in place on the tree
The bottle is left in place for the entire growing season. When the
pears are ripe, they are snipped off at the stems.

6. Three English words beginning with dw: Dwarf, dwell and dwindle...

7. Fourteen punctuation marks in English grammar: Period, comma, colon,
semicolon, dash, hyphen, apostrophe,question mark, exclamation point,
quotation mark, brackets, parenthesis, braces, and ellipses.

8. The only vegetable or fruit never sold frozen, canned, processed,
cooked, or in any other form but fresh: Lettuce.

9. Six or more things you can wear on your feet beginning with 'S':
Shoes, socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, skis, skates,
snowshoes, stockings, stilts.

How did you fare?

I didn't get the fresh vegetable one, nor the backwards-moving landmark. I kicked myself when I read the answers.

Get your thinking caps on . . .

I like a good quiz. Here's a straightforward, though not too easy, one sent to me by Sr Anastasia.

No trick questions, though it's worth remembering that it originates in the US so make allowances for the 'transatlantic influence' in some of the answers.

Have fun . . . I'll post the answers tomorrow.


The Quiz for People Who Know Everything . . .

There are only nine questions.

I found out in a hurry

that I didn't.

These are not trick

questions.

They are straight

questions with straight answers.

1. Name the one sport in which neither the spectators nor the
participants know the score or the leader until the contest ends.

2. What famous North American landmark is constantly moving backward?

3. Of all vegetables, only two can live to produce on their own for
several growing seasons. All other vegetables must be
replanted every year. What are the only two perennial vegetables?

4. What fruit has its seeds on the outside?

5. In many liquor stores, you can buy pear brandy, with a real pear
inside the bottle. The pear is whole and ripe, and the bottle is
genuine; it hasn't been cut in any way. How did the pear get
inside the bottle?

6. Only three words in standard English begin with the letters ' dw'
and they are all common words. Name two of them.

7. There are 14 punctuation marks in English grammar.
Can you name at least
half of them?

8. Name the only vegetable or fruit that is never sold frozen, canned,
processed, cooked, or in any other form except fresh.

9. Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet beginning with
the letter 'S.'

What are the practices of Lent . . . ?

One of the great things about Twitter, to me at least, is the way that it alerts you to things that in all probability you would never even know existed. This might be a link to a news item, a photo, a blog post or an interesting video.

A very good example of what I mean is this excellent video featuring Fr Barron on the subject of what we should aim to be doing during Lent.

Thanks to @catholicseeking for linking to her blog post and for posting the video there.

Ash Wednesday Walk . . .

Wednesday is my day off and I try and fit in a walk if I possibly can. I can definitely recommend it if you're struggling with fasting today. It's a great way to take your mind off thinking about all the lovely food you could be eating, if only it wasn't Ash Wednesday!

I walked with a friend around about the Colley Hill area in Surrey.

Unfortunately it was rather hazy today so this photo doesn't really do justice to the magnificent view from the top of Reigate Hill.

Nearly at our destination - the tea hut at the top of Reigate Hill, and we stopped for a breather at the Inglis Memorial. This 'folly' was originally a drinking fountain for horses. This would have been the main route over Reigate Hill at one time. It has a magnificent mosaic ceiling picturing the Signs of the Zodiac.

After a refreshing 'cuppa' we made our way back home. I couldn't resist a snap of this sign as we passed by. I assume the Adders referred to are not a bunch of dangerous accountants lurking in the field to pounce on unsuspecting walkers.

Have you been shriven yet . . . ?

I knew Our Eldest wouldn't let me down on providing a great photo for the blog today!

I don't know how he managed to fold this creation before attacking it but he did.

And yes, that is banana . . . and cream . . . and ice cream . . . and chocolate sauce! Oo-er, I don't feel very well . . .

I'm more of a 'pancake purist' myself - just a little sugar and lemon juice on my pancake this evening.

Fortunately we did have an opportunity to be 'shriven' recently too as we have Confessions after Mass on the first Sunday of every month so the timing was excellent this year.