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Hello, Elle!
Been raining here, too.
I saw Nicola Benedetti on BBC4 earlier with New York youngsters.
She likes working with young folk.
And I watched the Tour come home to Paris.
Enormous crowds there, especially Colombians to see Egan Bernal.
There won't be cow milked in Colombia this night!
LouLou was awarded the prize for being the "most combatitive" rider of the Tour.
Is it fiction books you have ordered?
My daughter-in-law owns a printer and is going to print off several Robert Frost poems for me.
But "Poetry for Kids" I am giving thought to buying.
It looks perfect for me.
I read an analysis of "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" and I could understand almost nothing of it.
The analyst was telling about "syntax" and "ABCD" etc.
Not a clue about what he was on about.
He reckoned it was about suicide, but Frost was asked that many times and said it was not.
God preserve us from experts and analysts!

rusty- don't bother your head with analyses of "Snowy Night" or any other poem. It means to you what it does. Why anyone thinks it's about suicide I have no idea. I think it's about duty versus pleasure but it reads, rhymes and scans beautifully so what's the odds?
elle- I think you would love "The Ginger Tree" by Oswald Wyld and "A Month in the Country" by J.L. Carr. Currently these are two of my all time favourites. I also like Stef Penney's "Under a Pole Star" but certainly not everyone does!
"The Last Tram to Southwick" by Norman Kirtlan is a really, genuinely funny book and evocation of childhood. You have to buy it through the Sunderland Antiquarian Society but it is worth the effort.

I am taking the grandchidren to Crocodiles of the World soon. I shall hold on tight!

Good morning, Rosalind!
Thank you for the kind advice!
I agree it does read very well and "duty versus pleasure" seems more like it, to me.
I find these analysts off-putting!

Good morning, Rusty!
A lovely sunny day here ...warmer than yesterday, but still pleasantly fresh.
You seem pleased with the outcome of Le Tour de France....
Well done to Egan Bernal!
It was nice to hear that LouLou (of the wonderful waggly eyebrows!) won an award after all his efforts.
Yes, I have ordered fiction books.
I was looking for some lighter reading for relaxation!
I enjoy a good detective murder mystery... ..such as by Michael Connelly or John Harvey...or a horse racing mystery by Dick Francis.
Yes I agree with you about experts' analyses!
And in the case of Robert Frost's poem "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening", .how can they know better than the author himself?
I suppose you can always ask your daughter-in-law to print out further poems for you....but the volume itself looks very attractive with its illustrations.
I think it would be nice to own?
I am just away now to the vets.......the dog is due her booster vaccinations.




Hello, Chris!
I am always open to recommendations.
Discovering a "new "author whom I like, and whose books I want to continue to read, is always a delight.
I looked up "The Villa in Italy" on Amazon books .....and saw your review!
I am seriously considering this, as you enjoyed it so much.
It would be interesting to compare our views......
We had diverging opinions on "Engleby"..... and also on "The Life of Pi"!



Hello, Ros!
Thank you....yes, I shall look up those books later...
Just off to the vets now.
Have a great day with the grandchildren..... and the crocodiles!

Good morning, Elle!
It is dullishly cool here, today.
Yes, I am pleased for Bernal.
When the Tour started I was hoping Geraint Thomas would win, (I like "G" and follow him on Twitter) then LouLou really impressed me, on and off the bike, and I hoped he would somehow hold on to Paris, but the Alps did for him.
Now, we have a new young champion and that's good!
I think it's fairly unanimous that we shall ignore the experts and their "imaginative" analyses.
I may try to track down what they mean by "ABCC" etc?
Seems to be a secret code!
Now, I am going to tackle SSE who are my energy suppliers.
Two weeks ago they asked for readings, which I supplied, and I have received a bill which was based on "estimates"!
Not good enough!

Hi, Rusty!
Home again from the vets!
The dog has had her booster vaccinations, plus her annual MOT.
All okay, except unfortunately for her teeth.
She has a loose tooth, which will need to be extracted.
There may possibly be more extractions needed, when the vet examines the teeth under anaesthetic.....but this remains to be discovered, as the dog was not keen (understatement) to have her teeth checked this morning!
She is booked in for the third week of August.
Now I think this poetic lettering has something to do with iambic tetrameters?
I can recall the term but not what it means!
Let me know when you find out!
Good luck with the energy suppliers...... I have had similar arguments in the past.
I always insist on a new bill being presented, before I will pay........
I think I need a coffee!

Hello, Elle!
Overall, your dog did well, I'd say?
Well, now, I have found out about the "AABB" etc, but it is way over my head!
Our two poems, "The Road Not Taken" and "Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening", get a mention, coincidentally!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhyme_scheme

I'll let you tell me what is it about! I am lost!

Got on fine with SSE.
The young lady is going to send another bill.

Update, Elle!
I meant to mention,
the girls are in the air now, flying from Orlando to San Francisco.
I am tracking them on FlightAware.

Hi, Rusty!
Well done on sorting out your energy bill!
I wish I could do something to prevent our water meter being activated shortly... our bills threaten to be quite a bit more expensive then.
The advice given by the Water Board visiting "expert" is "not to wash very often"..... either oneself or one's clothes!

Lordy, Rusty! I couldn't understand much of the Wikipedia reference!
The technical terms went right over my head.
I think the basic facts to come out of it is that a four -lined stanza (called a quatrain) usually rhymes as ABAB, where the first and third lines rhyme at the end, as do the second and four.
And a NON -rhyming four -lined stanza is described as ABCD, showing that none of the end words on each line rhyme.

All the other variations given, can be worked out around these premises.
It is certainly complicated, though.

It is a long way from Orlando to San Francisco , isn't it?
About 3000 miles?
How long will the flight take?

Hello, Elle!
Your water board do not sound very encouraging!
Well, you seem to take in more than I do regarding rhymes!
I will pay no heed, I think.
I may explore more of Robert Frost's work, later.
The flight to San Francisco takes just over five hours from Orlando.
They are over Arizona, now.
Should land around 17.20 our time.