Tirsdagstips: Fuglekugler - Bird Feeding

     Fuglekugler med net er bare nemmere for fuglene - de "rigtige" fugle altså: mejser, musvitter og sådan - at spise af. De hænger i nettet og hakker løs. Men nettet er et problem, vel at mærke, hvis det får lov til at flyve væk og lægge sig sære steder i haven. Det sker ikke her!

-- 🟢 --

     Netted fat balls are just easier for the birds - the "good" birds: blue tit and friends - to eat. They cling to the net and peck away. But the nets can be a problem, if they're allowed to fly away and settle in odd corners of the garden, that is. Won't happen here!

Et stykke rød og hvid pakkesnor bindes til en løkke, der trækkes igennem hullerne i nettet. Så har man noget at hænge den op i og den blæser IKKE væk.

-- 🟢 --

A piece of red and white string is tied into a loop and pulled through the holes of the net. It serves a dual purpose. Something to hang it from, and an insurance it does NOT blow away

Her hænger kuglerne på vores valnøddetræ. Dekorativt og sikkert og til gavn for mejsefuglene.

-- 🟢 --

Here the nets are hanging on our walnut tree. Decorative and safe and for the benefit of the tits.

Poetry Monday :: Hanukkah -- Updated

If you want to read some better  poetry,  Diane - who has taken over the hosting of  this challenge - and Mimi of Messymimi's Meanderings - who also supplies us with topics - are writing wonderful, funny, thought-provoking, ingenious and honestly well written verse. Go and read.

  Karen of Baking in a Tornado has joined us in this crazy pursuit, and promises us at least a poem a month - may  we hope for more!
  SpikesBestMate often publishes a nice verse in the comments.

  Jenny at Procrastinating Donkey who has been a faithful participant, is slowly returning to blogging after her husband's passing from this world. Let's continue to send warm thoughts, good energy, and lots of prayers her way. And dare we hope that she will join Poetry Monday again.

-- 🕯 --

  As it's not yet Christmas, I decided to tackle Hanukkah. I knew next to nothing, so reading the relevant articles on Wikipedia and elsewhere was necessary to compose this short poem. I hope I succeeded in showing a bit of what Hanukkah is.
  I said in the comments, that I do not know any Jews, because I do not live in a big city (Copenhagen). That requires an explanation, I think.
  From the reformation until 1849 all Danes were by law Lutheran. The law required all non-Lutherans to leave the country. The exceptions were foreign diplomats, a Jewish community in Copenhagen, a township for the Moravian Brethren in Jutland, and the town Fredericia (in Jutland) a free city, where everyone could stay.
  After the 1849 religion freedom by law. Jews still stayed in Copenhagen (and Fredericia), I think because of the walking to the synagogue thing, whereas Catholics, Methodists, Muslims, and other spread out - and today it's still this way. 

Come let’s celebrate.
A miracle in Jerusalem!
An end to deprivation,
lack and woe.

Hannukah - fest of faith and light 
Menorah’s oil was burning bright
For longer than it ought to
One candle first then two, then three,
Until all 8 are burning free.
For every day the wonder grew.

- - - - -

Coming up:

Ice Cream (December 13)
Music (December 20)
Fruitcake (December 27)
Sleep (January 3)
Peculiar People (January 10)
Ditch Your New Year's Resolutions(January 17)
Opposite Day (January 24)
Typo Day (January 31) Celebrate those funny (autocorrect) mistakes.

Sunday Selections :: Winter Edition

  The Birch trees have long since turned yellow, but this one won't drop its golden leaves.

  Birds in a field on my way home. They were very loud. Sorry for the not so stellar quality, zoom on an overcast winter's day makes for fuzzy pictures.

  It's geese on their way south.

  Some still are pulling themselves together on the ground. I think the snow will help them make up their minds.

  More geese on the wings. I'll keep an eye on them to see, when they leave.

  PE and a snow covered fountain. It prettifies it a bit.  
  These photo fits with Life in Colour, as Novembers colour was black or grey and Decembers is yet to be revealed, but maybe it's in here somewhere? I go for Violet as Jude promised it would make an appearance later on here.

  At least one of these small sweaters fills the bill. This display is a permanent feature showing part of what we do in our local weaver's guild.

Sne, haveuglen og vafler.

Snow, GardenOwl and Waffles

Endelig lykkedes det Haveuglen at opleve snevejr. Men nu er han båret væk. Han tåler nemlig ikke frost særligt godt.

-- ❄ --

Finally GardenOwl experienced snow. He is now put away, as frost is conming.

-- ❄ --

     Den 1. december sneede det - meget passende for den første vinterdag. TIl vores store glæde var jorden helt dækket af sne. Det betyder snevafler. .
     Så Uglemor producerede et veritabelt bjerg af opvask, helt præcist en gryde, to spiseskeer, en gaffel, en kniv, tre skåle, en dejskraber, en bagepensel, to piskeris, to decilitermål og to vaffeljern.
     Og så bagte Uglemor selvfølgelig en masse snevafler. Det lykkedes oven i købet at bage den næsten perfekte snevaffel! Der manglede kun en lille bid.

-- ❄ --

  December 1st is the first day of winter. To prove this we had snow. Not much, but enough to cover the ground, which made us all mile in anticipation, as this means snow waffles!
   Thus MotherOwl produced a veritable mountain of dirty plates and cutlery. To be exact: one pot, two tablespoons, one fork, one knife, three bowls, one spatula, one basting brush, two whisks, two measuring cups, and two waffle irons.  By using all this MotherOwl made a lot of waffles, enough for all the inhabitants of the Owlery. She even produced an almost perfect waffle.  Only a tiny bit was missing.

Og her er opskriften:

Vafler
190 g mel
5 spsk sukker
8 spsk hvidtøl
4 æg
175 g smør
1½ dl piskefløde
     Rør mel, sukker, æggeblommer og øl sammen - det bliver tykt. Smelt smørret og bland det i. Pisk fløden. Rør flødeskummet i dejen. Varm vaffeljernet op, og pensl det med lidt smør. Pisk hviderne stive. Når vaffeljernet er varmt vendes æggehviderne i dejen. Vend jernet og hæld knapt en dl dej ad gangen på midten af jernet, vend det efter ca to minutter, og vend igen inden næste portion kommer i. Der bliver 10-12 vafler af denne portion.
     Serveres rygende varme med syltetøj, æblemos, kanelsukker eller ahornsirup efter smag.

-- ❄ --

And the recipe:

Waffles
190 g flour
5 tbsp sugar
8 tbsp malt beer
4 eggs
175 g butter
1½ dl whipping cream
     Mix the flour, sugar, egg yolks and beer together - it will be thick. Melt the butter and mix it in. Whip the cream. Stir the whipped cream into the dough. Heat the waffle iron(s) and brush with a little butter. Beat the whites until stiff. When the waffle iron is hot, fold the egg whites into the batter. Turn the iron over and pour just under 1 dl of batter at a time onto the centre of the iron, turning it after about two minutes, and turning again before putting in the next batch. This will make 10-12 waffles.
     Serve piping hot with jam, applesauce, cinnamon & sugar or maple syrup to taste.

Den allersidste vaffel er altid Uglemors! Nam-nam.

-- ❄ --

The very last waffle is always eaten by MotherOwl - Yummy.

Words for Wednesday -- 1 December

  Please! all reading this go to Elephant's Child's place to find the prompts, read some good stories, and be inspired to write your own.
  This is a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true, therefore: Please, remember to go back, read other peoples' stories there or follow their links back. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction.

The prompts we were given are these words. The embellishments in brackets are my own.  

   Thread    (the spell thread they need OR the one Susan repairs with)
    Butterflies    (dancing in the air over ???)
    Say        
    Unsuitable    (Who / what is)
    Sea          (Omnipresent at UF)
    Shattered    (at the news)

And/or

    Press        (They want in - news)
    Eyelids    (heavy with lack of sleep)
    Spaghetti    (all the Nisser could cook)
    Standing    
    Cardboard    (Box with ?? in it made of C)
    Dumped    (Who dumped what in the lake - a solution in a cardboard box?)

Well I ended up almost using no words, only say and standing. But as you can see I'm not lacking ideas of what to write. This is a re-work of a post from over 3 years ago. I fervently home your memory is not that good :D
  It's a continuation of  this re-write.

In the evening Susan accompanied Heidi home. When they entered the house, Lis and Tage were already in the kitchen with Sandra, their mother. Lis was in the middle of a long explanation: "We spoke to Professor Kuusisaari, the brother, this morning and told him about our suspicions about David. You may know that we've been keeping an eye on him for a while. On the way to school we saw him leaning against a tree, and then suddenly he waved his wand and disappeared."
"Disappeared?" Sandra said, "maybe he just walked off? He can't just disappear, can he, and the path is twisted and full of trees and hedges."
"No, Mum," Tue came to her aid. "We were... hiding in the park by the old sugar factory. We were spying on him."
Sandra lifted her head.
"Yes, I know it's not nice to spy on people, but he's so devious." Tage tried to make Sandra listen. "And he stood out against the tree .. and then he waved his wand and disappeared!"

"Professor Kuusisaari, he made exactly the same movements with the wand when he teleported away after we talked to him," Susan said. When Sandra still didn't react, Susan lost her patience: "It's just that we don't think the professor believed us." Susan spoke quickly and indignantly. For once, she forgot her good manners and almost yelled at her best friend's mother. But now Sandra was actually listening to what Susan was saying, and Heidi pulled a large note out of her bag: "We know as well as you do that teleporting is only for those who have passed their exams. David, like Susan and me, isn't allowed to try until August." She pointed to the date written in big, red, reassuring letters on the note. Lis and Tage are due earlier, because they are older. Look."
    Heidi's mother felt exhausted. How many times had she warned Heidi, not to mention Lis and Tage, the unruly twins, about the dangers of teleporting before being cleared. The risk of something going wrong was always lurking, and not a possibility a mother liked to think about. "Do you want me to talk to Taavi?" She asked.
    "No, Mom!" Tage replied in a calmer tone. "I don't think it will do any good, he obviously didn't believe us, and I'm sure David has a good explanation as always. We need to catch him in something more serious, something we can prove, before any of the professors will believe us."
    "You're probably right," Sandra said. "And it probably won't do any good for me to come and say you're right, either. After all, I can't prove anything either. I can, however, predict that if Lis and Tage don't get the table set in a hurry, they'll be in trouble with dad. He's on his way home!"