Saturday 6 July 2019

10:00 We tumble out of the shower cubicle and talk a little on whatsapp with Sarah, our daughter in Perth, Australia -  5 pm Western Australian time. The family has not been out of the house today - Lily (6) is not feeling well. The twins' school closed yesterday until after its 2-week winter break. With winter over there, and summer here – good grief, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

The National Geographic Society tries to explain the situation on their website, but I am thinking about calling them sooner or later, some time in the near future, perhaps - their explanation raises more questions than it answers, no doubt about that!

the seasons and the hemispheres: but the National Geographic Society's official

explanation raises more questions than it answers, that’s for sure !!!

10:30 The call from Australia ends and Lois and I relax with a cup of coffee on the couch. We discuss an interesting Washington Post web article, which Steve, our American brother-in-law, sent me the other day, all about various current issues with the US Constitution.

An interesting article that gives details on, amongst other things, the original debates between the federalists and the anti-federalists in the 18th century, although Lois and I unfortunately have various gaps in our knowledge of the practical implications of the Constitution, including recent landmark trials, etc.

The anti-federalists contributed to the development of  the constitution by insisting on including a Bill of Rights - and Lois, who is very into history, tells me a little about the at-that-time 100-year-old English version (1689), which the Americans updated considerably and improved.

We know that, according to the Constitution, there was supposed to be a separation of powers between the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Lois says that in the 17th century, the doctrine of the separation of powers was defined by John Locke in his work “Two Treatises of Civil Government” in 1690, where Lock delineates the three powers; the legislative, executive and judiciary.

John Locke’s "Two Treatises of Civil Government"

We come to the conclusion, after reading the Washington Post article, that there has recently been a tendency for Congress to adopt very generalised and not very detailed laws and ideas, and afterwards to leave it to executive agencies to carry out all 3 functions on the bill before it’s sent to the President for approval and signature, which maybe doesn’t sound such a good idea. But I think Lois and I need to do a bit more studying here. It’s an interesting constitution, so different from ours on the surface, but with a lot of aspects that seem strangely familiar.

Isn’t politics totally fascinating? Who would want to study anything else? !!!

10:45 Debbie from next door calls round to tell us that her father Bill died last night in the hospice, just about 10 weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer. "Carpe diem" is the message – don’t assume you necessarily have 5 / 10 / 20 / 30 / 40 or whatever number of years left – yikes!

Debbie’s mother Mary, who has suffered from dementia for a few years, and whom Bill looked after, was moved into a care home a few weeks ago. 

Later today, after 10 days of dry weather, light rain falls on the flower-beds and shrubs that Bill loved – poor Bill.

our back garden to the left, and Bill's to the right

11:15 I sit down at the computer with a long to-do list, which I unfortunately do not make much progress with. I would like to apply for visas for our visit to Sarah next year, but the Australian Foreign Ministry's computers are down for maintenance - damn! I book our airline seats after a lot of airline site issues - damn (again) - if only we had used a travel agency !!

Every problem is doubled because Lois' tickets have a different booking reference from mine: I must have made some mistake when I originally booked them - damn! I wonder what I did wrong.

And I'm also not making much progress with my fight against the Kaspersky company, who are trying to charge me for the use of a virus program I dropped my subscription to 2 years ago.

What a morning !!!

12:00 We have lunch and then go to bed for 2-3 hours - we deserve it! We are in our daughter Sarah's old double bed - her room overlooks the backyard and there is no traffic noise at all, just the sounds of nature - brilliant! We read about 20 pages of our respective bedtime books and get up at 4 pm.

16:30 Lois hurries into the kitchen and makes one of our favourite Scandinavian desserts: red porridge, with home-grown fruits - yum yum!

18:30 We have dinner: cold chicken with potatoes, green beans and broccoli - yum yum! And red porridge for dessert (yum yum again) !!!!

Our Scandinavian dessert: red porridge, made from

home-grown fruits - yum yum! [That’s enough yum-yums – Ed]

20:00 We spend the rest of the evening watching a bit of television. The third episode of a series about the annual Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival is showing on BBC2. The programme hosts are the charming Joe Swift and the DJ Jo Whiley.

An interesting episode - and Lois and I take notes on all the bee-friendly and insect-friendly plants and flowers mentioned by the programme's participants, including honeysuckles, bergamots, daisies, lomceras, verbenas, sabeas and especially achilleas, which have petals that bees and butterflies can use as landing pads. How cute they are!!!!

achilleas, with their convenient landing pads for bees - how cute !!!

We also get exciting new ideas for the planned new "mini-meadow", which we would like to transform our current "secret garden" into.

Lois and I have talked about transforming one of our lawns into a "mini-meadow" with a lot of uncut grass, poppies, dozens of wild flowers, etc., and the like, which will be a refreshing change and also good for the insects. This garden of ours is completely surrounded by high hedges so it will be "our secret" and will not bother our neighbours who might otherwise think we are just too lazy to keep it "nice and tidy" ha ha ha!

our current "secret garden", in other words,

our upcoming mini-meadow ha ha!

Last month we visited our friend, Fran, and saw her "mini-meadow-garden", which impressed us a lot.

flashback to June 6 - we visit our friend, Fran,

and admire her "mini meadow-garden".

In this evening's episode, we also see a lawn that has been transformed into a clover lawn, and which Springwatch host Chris Packham says is much more attractive, softer to lie on, more fun to run through, and also provides a lot of food for bees and other insects. That sounds just great, I have to say.

Springwatch’s “clover lawn”

Also tonight we see Joe Francis's garden, called "Calm amid Chaos".

Joe's garden is very beautiful, calming and peaceful, we have to admit. But unfortunately he has chosen to surround the garden with a lot of garbage, discarded computers, discarded supermarket trolleys and the like.

We see what he is trying to achieve - the garbage gives a sharp contrast with the tranquillity of the inner paradise. But we would be afraid that such a pile of garbage would just encourage the neighbours to add even more unwanted electrical appliances and other various unwanted belongings to the pile. My goodness, what a crazy world we live in !!!!

this pile of garbage could be a magnet for neighbours

to add all their garbage to – yikes!

22:00 We go to bed - zzzzzzz !!!!!

Danish translation: lørdag den 6. juli  2019

10:00 Vi vælter ud af brusekabinen og taler lidt på whatsapp med Sarah, vores datter i Perth, Australien, kl 17 australske tid. Familien er ikke kommet ud af huset i dag – Lily  (6) har det dårligt tilpas. Tvillingernes skole lukkede i går indtil efter sin 2-uges vinterpause. Vinter derovre, sommer her – du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

National Geographic Society prøver at forklare situationen på deres websted, men jeg overvejer at ringe til dem før eller senere i den nærmeste fremtid – deres forklaring efterlader flere spørsgmål, end den besvarer, ingen tvivl om det!

National Geographic Societys forklaring efterlader

flere spørgsmål, end den besvarer, ingen tvivl om det!!!

10:30 Opkaldet fra Australien slutter, og Lois og jeg slapper af med en kop kaffe i sofaen. Vi diskuterer en interessant Washington Post webartikel, som Steve, vores amerikanske svigerbror sendte mig forleden, som handler om forskellige nuværende spørgsmål med den amerikanske forfatning.

En interessant artikel, der blandt andet giver detaljer om de oprindelige debatter mellem de føderalister og de anti-føderalister i det 18. århundrede, selvom Lois og jeg har desværre forskellige huller i vores viden om forfatningens praktiske konsekvenser, også om nylige spilskiftende retssager osv. De antiføderalister bidrog til processen med at insistere på at inkludere en Bill of Rights – og Lois, der går højt op i historie,  fortæller mig lidt om den dengang 100-år gamle engelske version (1689), som amerikanerne opdaterede og forbedrede.  

Vi ved godt, at ifølge forfatningen var meningen, at der skulle være en magtadskillelse mellem den lovgivende, den udøvende, og den dømmende magt. Lois siger, at i det 17. århundrede blev magtadskillelseslæren blandt andet defineret af John Locke i hans værk Two Treatises of Civil Government fra 1690. Her opstiller han de tre magter; den lovgivende, udøvende og den dømmende magt. 

John Lockes ”Two Treatises of Civil Government”

Vi kommer til den konklusion af, efter at have læst Washington Post-artiklen, at der for nylig har været en tendens til, at Kongressen vedtager helt generaliserede og ikke særlig detaljerede lover og idéer, og bagefter overlader det til den udøvende magt at udføre alle 3 funktioner på lovforslaget, før det bliver sendt til præsidenten for godkendelse og signatur.

En interessant debat, alt i alt. Er politik ikke helt fascinerende? Hvem ville ønske at studere noget andet? !!!

11:00  Debbie fra nabohuset ringer på for at fortælle os, at hendes far Bill døde i aftes i hospicet, kun 10 uger efter at han var blevet diagnosticeret med kræft. Carpe diem er budskabet - antag ikke, at du nødvendigvis har 5/10/20/30/40 osv år tilbage - yikes!

Debbies mor Mary, der har lidt af demens i nogle år, og som Bill passede på, blev flyttet til et plejehjem for et par uger siden. I dag, senere på dagen, efter 10 dage med tørt vejr, falder let regn på de blomsterbede og buske, som Bill elskede - stakkels Bill.

vores baghave (til venstre) og Bills baghave

11:00 Jeg sætter mig med computeren med en lang gøremålsliste, som jeg desværre gør ikke meget fremskridt med. Jeg vil gerne ansøge om visaer til vores besøg hos Sarah næste år, men den australske udenrigsministeriums computere er nede for vedligeholdelse – pokkers! Jeg booker vores flysæder efter en masse problemer med flyselskabets websted – pokkers (igen) – hvis bare vi havde brugt et rejsebureau!!

Hvert problem er dobbelt, fordi Lois’ billetter har en anderledes bookingreference, end mine: jeg må have taget en eller anden fejl, da jeg oprindeligt bookede dem – pokkers! Jeg undrer mig, hvad jeg gjorde forkert.

Og jeg gør også ikke meget fremskridt med min strid mod Kaspersky-selskabet, der prøver at forlange mig for brugen af en virusprogram, jeg droppede mit abonnement på for 2 år siden.

Sikke en formiddag!!!

12:00 Vi spiser frokost og bagefter går i seng i 2-3 timer – det fortjener vi! Vi er i vores datter Sarahs gamle dobbeltseng – hendes værelse har udsigt til baghaven, og der er overhovedet ikke nogen trafiklarm, bare lydene af naturen – dejligt! Vi læser omkring 20 sider af vores henholdsvise sengetidbøger, og står op kl 16.

16:30 Lois skynder sig ind i køkkenet og laver en af vores yndlings-skandinaviske desserter: rødgrød, med hjemmedyrkede frugter – yum yum!

18:30 Vi spiser aftensmad:  kold kylling med kartofler, grønne bønner og brokkoli – yum yum! Og rødgrød til dessert (yum yum igen) !!!!

Vores skandinaviske dessert: rødgrød, lavet af

hjemmedyrkede frugter – yum yum!

20:00 Vi bruger resten af aftenen på at se lidt fjernsyn. De viser det tredje afsnit i en serie, der handler om den årlige Hampton Court Palace havefestival. Programmets værter er de charmerende Joe Swift og dj-en Jo Whiley.

Et interessant afsnit – og Lois og jeg tager notater om alle de bi-venlige og insekt-venlige planter og blomster, som programmets deltagere nævner, inklusive kaprifolium, bergamot, tusindfryd, lomcera, verbena, sabea og især achillea, som har kronblade, som bier og sommerfugle kan bruge som landingspladser. Hvor er de dog søde!!!!

achillea, med bekveme landingspladser til bier – sødt !!!

Vi får også spændende nye idéer til vores planlagte nye ”mini-eng”, som vi har lyst til at omdanne vores nuværende ”hemmelige have” til.

Lois og jeg har talt om at omdanne én af vores græsplæner til en ”mini-eng” med en masse uklippet græs, valmuer, dusinvis af vilde blomster osv, og den slags, hvilket vil være en forfriskende forandring, og også godt for insekterne. Denne have er fuldstændigt omgivet af høje hække, så den vil være ”vores hemmelighed”, og vil ikke genere vores naboer, der kunne synes, at vi bare er for dovne til at holde den ”pæn og ryddelig” ha ha ha!

vores nuværende "hemmelige have", med andre ord,

vores kommende mini-eng ha ha!

Sidste måned besøgte vi vores ven, Fran, og så hendes ”eng-have”, som imponerede os meget.

tilbageblik til den 6. juni – vi besøger vores ven, Fran,

og beundrer hendes ”mini eng-have”.

I aftenens afsnit ser vi også en græsplæne, der er blevet omdannet til en kløvergræsplæne, som Springwatch-værten Chris Packham siger, er meget mere attraktiv, blødere at ligge på, sjovt at løbe på, og også forsyner en masse mad for bier og andre insekter. Det lyder fantastisk, det må jeg nok sige.

Også i aften ser vi Joe Francis’ have, kaldet ”Ro blandt kaos”.

Joes have er meget smuk og fredelig – det må vi indrømme. Men desværre har han valgt at omgive haven med en masse affald, kasserede computere, supermarkedvogne og lignende.

Vi ser, hvad han prøve at opnå – affaldet giver en skarp kontrast med roen af den inderlige paradis. Men vi ville være bange for, at sådan en bunke affald bare ville opmuntre naboerne til at tilføje flere uønskeede elektriske apparater og andre forskellige uønskede ejendele til bunken. Du godeste, sikke en skør verden vi lever i !!!!

22:00 Vi går i seng – zzzzzzz!!!!!