Friday Night Photos - Toad in the Hole edition

the meal awaits, so here's a shot of Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus' view of the world:

As always, keep warm and have fun.

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janis b's picture

Is that a photo of the remnants of your 'Toad in the Hole' meal soaking in its casserole dish? You English have some odd names for your cuisine. To me though, from the way the cooked dish looks, it should be called 'T--d in the hole ... but that's probably because I am a crass American ; ).

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Bollox Ref's picture

@janis b

That looked 'mapesque'.

Toad is glorious comfort food. To be relished.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

travelerxxx's picture

@Bollox Ref

It's actually a puddle in Rome

Well, I was pretty far off with my guess. I was sure it was slushy, kinda muddy icey stuff, splashed onto the windshield of a car ...before the wipers got to it.

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janis b's picture

@travelerxxx

in its eternal nature.

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dystopian's picture

@travelerxxx think in parallel... or get stuck in the same rut?

I too thought 'snow debris on windshield'. So don't let anyone tell you, you are crazy, otherwise I am too. Wink

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

travelerxxx's picture

@dystopian

So don't let anyone tell you, you are crazy, otherwise I am too.

Guess we'd better keep this to ourselves then......

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janis b's picture


.

The first photo was taken directly after a Nikau shedded its protective pod cover. The intensity of colour only lasted hours. By the next day the flower was largely faded, and the yellow in the bulge at the base of the crown was already turning green with exposure to light. The change was so fast and dramatic that my appreciation of the value of a moment in time was greatly elevated. The second photo is of a very old Nikau, my guess 150 years-old-plus, still going strong.

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Socialprogressive's picture

@janis b
That Nikau Palm produces a very beautiful flower. How sad that it fades so fast.

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When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

dystopian's picture

@janis b awesome pix! what a beautiful palm! My what a spectacular flower. A lot of cactus are 24-48 hours for the open bloom. You would think that would be a pretty narrow window to ensure pollination.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

There were a massive number of bees in the flowers for the first couple of days. There are still a few around. My neighbour keeps bees. This is what it looks like now, 3 days later ...

The mystery - appreciate every moment?

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dystopian's picture

@janis b amazing... if the bees are there, there is pollen or nectar, and they are pollinating.

and yes, the now moment is all we really know we have...
we owe it to ourselves to live it well!

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

Socialprogressive's picture

Some colorful lights for the holiday season.

From the San Diego Botanical Garden.
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14 users have voted.

When I offer to wash your back in the shower, all you have to say is yes or no.
Not all this "who are you, and how did you get in here?" nonsense.

janis b's picture

@Socialprogressive

White deer and palms, what a fantasy.

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lotlizard's picture

@Socialprogressive  
Those white deer are like seeing Harry’s — and Snape’s! — Patronus materialize in real life.

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@Socialprogressive
This is pretty much what I have in mind.

I sometimes struggle with the notion that I share a planet with folks who believe such a display is beautiful. I live in a small town where there is competitive lighting displays so we have our own versions of trashy. But because it is Minnesota and we can have postcard Christmases, there is a subset of the must-doll-up-the-dwelling crowd that also has remarkably refined taste in these matters. So I just shut up because at the very minimum, these displays are a lot of work and it is bad form to criticize such projects.

Merry Christmas

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Bollox Ref's picture

just after his 3rd birthday bash...

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

janis b's picture

@Bollox Ref

Cheers you two!

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edg's picture

Sonoran Desert Toad. This is a small one, only about the size of a human male adult's fist. We had one come in the house one time that was about a foot long. I couldn't get a photo of it because my wife was screaming at me to take it outside. They secrete toxin, so it's best not to handle them or let your pets near them.

toad.jpg

Horned Toad. Actually not a toad, it's a lizard. They are cool critters. They play dead if they spot you coming and if they're seriously threatened, they squirt nasty tasting blood out of their eyes as a defense mechanism.

Horned Toad_0.jpg

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janis b's picture

@edg

you've tasted their blood? I'm impressed. I'm also impressed by foot-long toads, wow.

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edg's picture

@janis b

I am nice to them so they don't treat me as a threat. Other than 1 or 2 I've accidently run thru the lawnmower.

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dystopian's picture

@edg very neat beasts edg! One smooth and slimy, the other dry and pointy. I thought it was the Colorado River Toad that was the monster toad over your way. Taxonomists are changing names of things all the time, it is what they do. I caught one of those once that filled a 3 lb. Peanut Butter jar on its own. Once somewhere in your area there was one of those hatches or emergences of tens of thousands of spadefoot toads, that burrow until it rains. You couldn't drive without hitting them. It was terrible.

Our Horned Lizards in central Texas have largely disappeared, most say due to the invasive non-native Fire Ant. They were fine with the native Texas Fire Ant, but these Argentine ones are horrible. They say that is what got rid of the tick problem as well.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

dystopian's picture

I have to say your skills with the abstract are most excellent, always impressive.
Fred seems to be growing a nice belly there? Wink

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4 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

dystopian's picture

you have to be vewy vewy quiet... to sneak up on a snipe without it flushing.

This was today, the rusty leaflets of the cypress carpet the ground, and water.
UPcypress121120a.jpg
note that little pondlet way in the back...

sure enough there one is... dead center
snipe121120c.jpg

I got 'em before he went into 'crouch so you can't see me' mode...
snipe121120d.jpg

and then I got 'em again even better...
snipe121120a.jpg

In the forested east the American Woodcock is somewhat similar in general appearance. A very long-billed, fat, shorebird. Snipe are usually in more open habitats and more tied to water.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Play it safe amigos!

best all,

edited to add: the correct name now is Wilson's Snipe, which it was a hundred years ago, then lumped with the Eurasian type, Common Snipe for a few decades, now resplit, and is properly Wilson's Snipe again.

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

@dystopian You must be a reformed cat burglar! Lol!

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

dystopian's picture

@on the cusp I should have been one... my wife complained for a long time about not hearing me move around the house, as she said, like a cat. So ROFL at your comment! Smile Prolly missed my calling...

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2 users have voted.

We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

janis b's picture

@dystopian

as sharp as a bird! Thanks dystopian.

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earthling1's picture

@dystopian
As a kid in Appalachia the adults would send us "snipe" hunting with a burlap bag at night.
What fun....for them. Ha
It wasn't till I moved out west did I discover that a snipe was a real animal.

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Neither Russia nor China is our enemy.
Neither Iran nor Venezuela are threatening America.
Cuba is a dead horse, stop beating it.

lotlizard's picture

@earthling1  
Mr. Fredricksen tries to get rid of the gung-ho “Wilderness Scout,” merit-badge-grinding nine-year-old kid Russell by sending him on a snipe hunt.

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dystopian's picture

@earthling1 I think it was nearly one of the rites of passage for kids at summer camp to be taken on a snipe hunt. So when I was a kid they had to take me aside and explain it first with a warning not to blow it for the other kids. Because they knew I would likely have broken into 'this is not how you hunt for a snipe' and explained it to them... and blown it for all. Wink

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We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein

travelerxxx's picture

@dystopian

I think it was nearly one of the rites of passage for kids at summer camp ...

Absolutely true. The adults took it a step further for us than simply hunting the snipes. First, we had to go after the elusive snipes after dark. Further, we were required to tuck our pants into our socks, as we were informed that snipes had a tendency to go up the pant legs of those disturbing their evening. Hats had to be worn, but backwards. Why, I don't remember.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

Is Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus the name of your pet toad?

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

janis b's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

it could be. He knows lots of obscure ancients, Romans included.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

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TinA.jpg
the-picasso-school-of-cosmetic-surgery.jpg
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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

janis b's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

My favourite is the Picasso school of cosmetic surgery.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

@janis b I mean, I started out trying a little, but I went to playing by ear pretty quickly.

What would YOU say the theme was?

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

janis b's picture

@The Liberal Moonbat

Toads, Romans, Art, Bees.

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lotlizard's picture

was the gentrified amphibian anti-hero of The Wind in the Willows being sent to solitary confinement during his time in gaol (= “jail” in American English).

It seems Mr. Toad can’t resist stealing cars — Grand Theft Auto, Kenneth Grahame edition.

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orlbucfan's picture

Rec'd!! Smile

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.