Scenes on Sunday ~ Stelvio
there are bold drivers and there are old drivers
but there are no old bold drivers
One of the places in the world I most want to go back to is 15 miles of road between Davos in Switzerland and Stelvio in Italy. The Stelvio Pass.
~
I drove it twice, once in a TR6
~
~
and once in a 7
~
Some are stupid enough to ride the Stelvio on a motorcycle. It is to be hoped that they had their life assurance up to date. Do not drive the Stelvio in bad weather or at night, unless you are very brave.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Detroit never dreamed that a road like the climb to the Stelvio Pass existed
Songs on Saturday ~ Shape of My Heart
only the world can keep us apart
It was always in the cards that the world would conspire to keep me apart from she I care for, but that distance is not the shape of my heart. This track from Sting comes some way to expressing how I feel.
A real man, a man who shows and honest and open face to the world can only ever love one woman. And, I don’t own a dog.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
but then, real men don’t play cards
Food on Friday ~ Thyme
I know of a place where the wild thyme grows
Thymus Vulgaris, garden thyme, is one of the four great medicinal and culinary herbs; parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme….. A herb is a plant where the leafy green and flowering parts are found useful in cooking and natural medicine. Whereas, a spice is produced from other parts of a plant; seeds, bark, roots, fruit…. Ergo ginger is a spice, whereas the ash tree is used both as a herb and a spice.
Trust me, thyme is most definitely a herb and an important ingredient in Mediterranean, Indian, and Caribbean recipes. Thyme is also a basic ingredient in perfumery.
In medicine, thyme should be treated with caution because, like all herbs, it contains some very powerful and complex chemicals, especially thymol. Interestingly the antiseptic thymol is a major ingredient of Listerine mouthwash and most alcohol-free hand sanitisers.
Other major and powerful compounds found in the common or garden thyme are; borneol, carvavrol, eucalyptol, menthene, thymene, and tannin. The major effects of these compounds are; antibiotic, antiseptic, antispasmodic, balsamic, carminative, and soporific. (Balsamic really means ‘elixir’)
Thyme tea, (usually made with dried leaves), is calming, helps most people to sleep, fights off coughs, reduces inflammations, and much reduces embarrassing night-time flatulence. As with most natural herb teas women of child-bearing age should take care as it increases blood flow to the uterus. Thyme in wine is good, and I use sprigs of thyme in both olive oil and apple cider vinegar, (makes a fabulous salad dressing) Thyme tea is a potent female aphrodisiac. Thyme and marijuana cookies should be treated with very great care indeed.
A sprig of thyme under the pillow is an aid to calm sleep, and a good bunch of thyme in your bath will help kill off very nasty things like toenail fungus, athletes foot, and the hookworm ancylostomiasis.
Thyme of any variety is easy to grow, it prefers a well-drained gravelly soil in full sun. Collect your thyme in spring and early summer. Bees love thyme as the flowers are nectar-rich ~ real thyme honey has all of the properties you can find in the plant.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
if you have a scrap of space, grow herbs
Food on Friday ~ Herbs; Sage
Sage is an Important herb, especially for adult women
Like most herbs, common or garden sage is a plant packed with complex organoleptic phytochemicals. These compounds are why herbs are great for flavouring food. Organoleptic means affecting the senses, and as we all know there are a lot more than 5 of those. It’s commonly held that humans have 13 senses, but that list may not even scratch the surface. For example, how do you always know when someone is staring at you? Not only that, the complicated stuff in the plants we commonly use as herbs would also seem to bypass the senses and work directly on the brain to affect a person’s mental state. The unregarded sage, Salvia Officinalis, is chock-full of interesting compounds which would be illegal if you tried to buy them over-the-counter.
As any organic chemist will tell you, if you add chemical compounds together, you will often create something that is more spellbinding, than the sum of the individual effects. That is also what happens when we ingest herbs. The separate ‘drugs’ in herbs are engaging, but in combination they can be enthralling. The unique combination of chemicals in sage has a particularly strong influence upon adult women.
The modern urban man with a bit of a garden, balcony, doorstep can easily grow sage. Like a lot of herbs it it very tolerant of poor soil and sun. Sage also comes in a host of varieties ~ different sizes, colours, leaf patterns, in fact you could make yourself a sage garden. Sage reaches a height of about 2 feet, can be pretty rampant, grows best in full sun in slightly acid soil, pH 5.5 to 6.5, and the old growth should be cut back by about half in early spring. The herbs to grow along with common sage are parsley and clary sage. Neither sage nor clary will grow well indoors.
While common sage, (Salvia officialis), is packed with psychotropic drugs, diviner’s sage, (Salvia divornorum), is so psychedelic that its legality is under consideration in some US states.
Two very important words of warning. Diviner’s sage really is a potentially potent hallucenogenic. Pregnant womenshould avoid clary sage, it can bring on child labour. In fact if you are thinking about using sage for medicinal purposes, then it may be best to have a word with your doctor before you start experimenting.
The effective parts of the plant for culinary and medicinal uses are the leaves and flowering tops, and these are best gathered in spring. The active compounds in sage include; asparagine, borneol, camphene, eucalyptol, oestrogens, pinene, salvene, saponin, tannin, and thujone. Thujone has a very similar effect on the human mind as does the THC in marijuana. If you can get hold of a plant, diviner’s sage, (a.k.a. Mexican Mint Sage), contains a lot of Salvinorin A which targets the brain’s kappa opoid receptors. Salvorin A is the strongest natural hallucenogenic. Basically, sage has similar stuff in it as the wormwood used in absinthe.
Sage is best picked fresh and used straight away. You can easily dry it for use all year around, but dried sage isn’t always as effective as the fresh article. Don’t pick it after early autumn, in fact don’t pick much sage after the flowers have all gone.
Sage, especially clary sage, (Salvia sciarea), is a woman’s herb. The other spices herbs and oils to use with it if it’s to help a woman with anything at all are; cinnamon, geranium, jasmine, sandalwood and lemongrass. Mixing these with a lot of alcohol is not necessarily a brilliant idea unless the effect you are looking for is euphoric desire. In that case, run your lady a tub and add sage oil or fresh sage leaves to the water. Get a couple of scented candles in jasmine or sandalwood. Mix your lady an aphrodisiac drink ~ creme de cacao and tequila are good with sage. Wash her hair and give her a head massage using fresh sage leaves or sage tincture ~ which also treats dandruff. If she’s a smoker give her a sage cigarette, which is also good for asthma.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalknet
a sage bed makes a great addition to any garden, or a garden all of its own
RMS Titanic
April 15th 1912 RMS Titanic Foundered
RMS Titanic
Off the coast of Newfoundland, the White Star liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg in the early hours of the morning 109 years ago today. She was four days into her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York and travelling at 22 knots when she sideswiped the ‘berg. Of the 2,240 souls aboard, more than 1,500 perished in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, making this one of the deadliest peacetime disasters ever to happen at sea. Fortunately Titanic was not carrying her full capacity of 3,500 souls at the time of the disaster.
Yet, even though carrying only half of her maximum passenger capacity, there were still not enough lifeboats for all those aboard, and the evacuation was badly managed meaning that not all of the lifeboats were full when they rowed away from the sinking ship. Some carried as little as 28 souls out of a capacity of 65.
Of the 892 crew only 45 were trained seamen or watch officers, capable of commanding a lifeboat.
Following this great disaster an International Convention for Safety of Life at Sea was convened in London in 1913. Eventually new rules were declared requiring that every ship have lifeboat space for each person embarked; that lifeboat drills be held on each voyage; and that all ships maintain a 24 hour radio watch. Modern safety at sea is largely a result of the Titanic Disaster.
The wreck of the RMS Titanic was eventually found on the floor of the Atlantic Ocean on September 1st 1985, by a submersible launched by the U.S. Navy research ship Knorr.
Perhaps the best movie about the sinking of the Titanic is A Night to Remember from 1958.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
Sinking of the RMS Titanic
Food on Friday ~ Aphrodite’s Herbalist
herbs demonstrate the earth’s nurturing love
~
there is a love called the herbs
which knows seasons and extraction
~
which chooses and uses through filtration
the pungent perfume of timed infusion
~
aromatic alchemical warmed fluids
medicinal herbs mystical magical uses
~
richly potent oils from maceration
concentrated to potions by decoction
~
glistening alcoholic secret distillation
Aphrodisiac attention to her golden skin
sensual memories of myriad loves
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
sage is a psychotropic aphrodisiac
sensual women should beware
its dreams of desire
Tunes on Tuesday ~ Björk
Iceland has only one telephone directory
I like this clip because it briefly features a frogeye Austin-Healey Sprite. In any event the Icelandic diva Björk is sufficiently weird to be quite interesting. But you wouldn’t ever want to date her.
Having said that, Iceland is sufficiently weird as to be quite interesting, but I wouldn’t ever go there again.
If you ever go to Iceland don’t buy a beer, it will be stupidly expensive.
And in Iceland never, ever eat any of the local delicacies.
Every Icelandic woman I’ve ever met was blonde.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
there are trolls in Iceland
what Women want from Men
women need to feel protected by the man in their life
~
women would be dishonest if they ever said they didn’t like hot looking men
~
some women would be dishonest if they ever said they didn’t prefer men with money
~
women like men who are supportive, understanding, kind, and considerate
they also like men who tell them what to do
~
a guy who can, at least, put up a shelf without it turning into a disaster
~
women hate it when men don’t pick up the check
~
adventure, excitement, new experiences
~
hot sex whenever she wants it
~
a partner not a child
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
women like guys who own a cool car
better than guys who take the bus
Thought For Today ~Dreams
All men dream, but not equally.
Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity;
But the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their dreams with open eyes, to make them possible.
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalknet
and some dreams are but nightmares
Random Jottings ~ Dreams
her dream road trip didn’t turn out so well
~
don’t ask what your dreams mean
you don’t want to know
~
nothing happens until we dream it
~
woman is a creation of dreams and desires
not a creation of wants and needs
~
she dreamed of finding the perfect lover
and then she bought one
~
OH GOD! she exclaimed
then she realised it was just a hot wet dream
~
real life is both a bad dream and a nightmare
~
jack collier
jackcollier7@talktalk.net
the future belongs to women who follow their dreams
