Cousins are weird, aren't they! You look at your uncles and aunts and you think, surely they didn't have children, did they? And yet, in many cases they actually did, and sometimes you even get to meet their weird offspring later in life, perhaps with their weird "squeezes" (!), which is spooky too. Who would have thought it !!!
And we're learning more and more about cousins every day, in the science pages - there was a story just this morning in Onion News - did you notice it, over your bowl of Cheerios or whatever?
I wonder...!
We're a big extended family, us "Evanses", that's for sure! To be precise, there are about 30 of us "cuzzies" worldwide, all told - two in the States, one in Australia and one in Ireland, so there are bound to be some absentees at the big 'do' next month. But nice to hear this year that the youngest cousin, Hilary will be there, flying in from New South Wales.
(left) the 17th century coaching inn near Gerrards Cross, Bucks,
Watch this space !!!!!
[That's enough birds! - Ed]
Chittka explains that he's been carrying out experiments to see if bees can learn to manipulate tools. He found that the easiest objects that bees can manage to move about are little balls, not big ones, just "bee-size". And if rewarded by food, they would learn to push those little balls about until they could push them into a little hole of "goal".
Well, expect other exciting 'firsts' next month when Yours Truly and my medium-to-long-suffering wife Lois are due to meet up with some of my thirty cousins at an arranged 'do' scheduled to take place at my cousin Jeannette's house in Gerrards Cross, Bucks! And any new breakthroughs or advances in linguistic or other behavioural skills amongst the "cuzzies" and their "squeezies" (sorry, a bit of family slang crept in there!!!) will be fully reported in this column - have no fear!
(left to right) flashback to 2023 and our last cuzzies do at Jeannette's house:
"Young" John, Liz, me, Jeannette, Susan from Colorado USA
David (our 'new cuzzie" identified by a DNA test,), "Old" John,
plus (extreme right) "squeezies" Lois and Alan (Jeannette's "squeezie"
flashback to the 1960's - my cousins Hilary in her early teens (ringed)
at a previous get-together of some of my cousins plus aunts and uncles
(all sadly off the scene now, to put it mildly!)
And some exciting news for me today - my only surviving sibling, Jill, will be staying at the same 17th century coaching inn where Lois and I will be staying, which will be very nice.
where Lois and I, and my little sister Jill will be staying next month,
and (right) Jill with daughter Lucy in Lisbon, on their recent cruise
Apart from this news about Jill, it's been busy busy busy again today for Lois and me. We only moved into our current home in Liphook, Hampshire 4 months ago, and already some of the neighbours are saying a quick "hello" to us, when they see us venturing out of the house!
flashback to January 3rd 2025, the day Lois and I
moved into our current home in Liphook, Hampshire,
and started unpacking all our "stuff" (!)
Even the local birds in nearby leafy Radford Park, are starting to get to know us and are feeling more comfortable, whenever we step lightly through the park, in what for 2 "old codgers" is pretty spritely fashion (well, perhaps not!) More and more birds are plucking up the courage to sing a few notes when they see us, which is good.
It's good to be accepted finally, isn't it, and today a record number of local birds, a dozen or more different types, "sing hello" to us, in their own bird languages - the only way they can communicate, unlike poor Cousin Mark in that Onion story this morning - poor Mark !!!!!
I didn't even know there was such a bird as a "siskin" - what madness, isn't it!
And Lois and I have enough work to do, anyway. "For my sins", I'm the leader of our local U3A "old codgers" Intermediate Danish group. There's probably one near you, if you're interested! And our next online meeting will be coming up in a couple of weeks' time, which means I'll be working hard over the next few days, preparing vocabulary lists for my members - what madness, isn't it!
Lois and me staring at the screen during a typical online
meeting of our local U3A "Old Codger" Intermediate Danish group
Lois meanwhile, is preparing to give a talk at next Tuesday's online meeting of her "sisters' class", when female members of her local church get together to talk about various biblical topics. Lois says it's nice to "get all the women together to have a proper discussion without the men interrupting (!)". And besides, she's noticed that the women are much better than the men at teasing out the subtle character traits and motivations of biblical characters, the side of things that the men tend to dismiss as "of secondary importance" (!).
What a crazy world we live in, don't we!
She'll be giving a presentation on the biblical character, Timothy, confidant of St Paul and first bishop of Ephesus. And I imagine she'll make a really good job of it, if she's inherited any of the traits of her dear late father Dennis, a lay preacher whose books and recorded addresses are familiar to church members worldwide, so that'll be a good start!
Flashback to 1985: Lois's dear late dad, Dennis (left), in
characteristic pose (!), sitting next to his granddaughter
Sharon and me, at a meal to celebrate mine and Lois's
first Christmas in the UK after our 3 years in the States
Today, however, It's a bit of a steamy, muggy afternoon with temperatures up to 73F / 23C - yikes!!!!).
Phew, what a scorcher!!!! And I leave off my Danish work and Lois leaves off her presentation stuff to go upstairs for our traditional Saturday afternoon shower-and-nap.
another steamy afternoon in Liphook - 73F / 23C, phew, what a scorcher - yikes!
and Lois's presentation is left undone on the table as we escape upstairs
for our traditional Saturday afternoon shower and nap
21:00 Back on the sofa for the evening, Lois and I learn a bit more about the birds and bees, mainly the bees (!). This is of particular interest to us as new "guardians" of a colony of bumble bees recently discovered in our back garden, this week blessed with the happy event of 13 shiny new eggs which "popped up", giving the prospect of the upcoming birth of 13 bouncing baby bees - in 9 months' time, is it?
flashback to Thursday - I toast mine and Lois's very own
pet bumble bee queen Elsie after the happy arrival of 13 eggs (see left)
Yes, you've guessed it, in the second programme by naturalist Steve Backshall, all about the secret world of "those buzzy little buggers" as we call them, affectionately (!).
Tonight presenter Steve is joined by bee-expert Prof. Lars Chitka from St Mary's University, London, seen here climbing into his office through a window, for his interview with presenter Steve:
Fair enough, you might say, but researchers dug a bit deeper and found out some even more intriguing discoveries about bees, the first being that bees "just like to have fun", which is interesting.
Prof. Chittka also found out that some bees liked the activity more than others, which is fascinating!
And at the final whistle the score was, like, a billion to 1.5 billion, with 1.5 billion own goals, or something similar, in case you've been doing the new "Bee Pools" from Littlewoods haha !!!
But seriously, so-called "men" - honestly !!!! We can't produce a truly insightful presentation on biblical characters like Timothy, and, if asked, we would probably say we'd prefer to kick a ball around (!).
What a truly crazy world we live in !!!!
Will this do?
[Oh just go to bed! - Ed]
22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzzzzzz!!!!
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