Bran Tub # 22 … Slosh, Bubble up, Toad in the Hole …

 

Slosh - Sloshing around … but I never thought I'd find these connections …

He amused me as a 'slosher' ... 

I usually scan the main page of Wiki - people, subjects, art or things of interest that might superficially educate me, connect to something I'd been thinking about or interested me knowledge-wise …

… my life is like that the bubbling spring of eclecticism, I never quite know where I'm leading myself …

The first bullet point under Care of
Tables - Equipment: where it states
only Snooker, Billiards and Slosh
are allowed!

So yes – here's some more randomness … as I get on with other things here – before reverting to something approaching intelligent posting …

Slosh … popped up – oddly as a game (a cue sport) – but also known as Russian billiards, Indian pool and it beggars belief 'toad-in-the-hole' - a game lasting 30 minutes, or to a score of 100 points.

Russian definition 'slosh about' ...

Anything Russian I check in on – we're studying the Revolution from 100 years ago … I'm giving some talks on Russian Revolutionary Art from that period … so now into that mode too …

Not much, if anything is known about the origins of the game … except its obviously been adapted over the years … it seems to have been around since the early 1900s …

Tibetans playing carrom in Delhi

Carrom, a table top game - very popular in the Indian sub-continent, appears to be favourite link … I know nothing about these sorts of games – except know that I've seen them being played in market squares, or local cafés ...

There are other names too … but I'll leave you to look at those … with modified rules for each country or game …

But as I look I spot a link across to an English-Russian Dictionary … to find out what 'slosh' means when translated … as shown above ...

Toad in the hole ... 

Now Toad-in-the-Hole takes me back to childhood days … an easy, cheap and satisfying supper that we had at home … always good and tasty – sausages in a batter mix … what's not to like?!

Taking me back to the previous post of 'my' little Desert Rain Frog … here's the differences between a frog and a toad …

Interesting to note the differences

So forgive these wanderings – I'm never sure what's going to happen … but I'll be back to a degree of normality in the coming days …

Russian mustard and 
horseradish sauce

How you get a game played with a cue be called 'slosh' I'll never know … let alone a sausage supper dish named from an amphibian, with a dash of Russian ( In Russian, mustard is called “gorchitsa” from the verb “gorit'” meaning to burn) or in Indian ( The mustard plant is called rai or raya in India) added here for 'good measure' …

Frog hopping happily

We continue to learn … enjoy the week ahead …

Toad in defensive stance

 
and thanks for tolerating these snippets …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories

Bran Tub # 21: Jiminy Cricket, another oddball post …

As I do, wherever I am, I seem to muse about blog posts … yesterday I was happily sitting outside having lunch up at a local hotel – with a croquet lawn to admire, the English Channel waves undulating a few hundred feet away …

Outlook from hotel

...an idyllic sunny day to spend a bit of time with a friend … soon after we first met we were having lunch … as we were enjoying ourselves … a mighty seagull powered its way from the roof and whipped my friend's piece of salmon off her plate! Yikes and yugh!

Seagulls scavenging ... I must say that looks
quite a good tasty pasty - better than some

We haven't been eating outside since … but the manager informed us - they had seagull scarers now – so we risked it …

… oh yes – we were safe! But no … a very pretty emerald golden spider was flitting around me … matching the thistles on my skirt … I managed to release him to the care of the earth …

He's quite pretty isn't he?

… looks like he might have been a Cucumber Spider – they seem quite common, but I've never noticed one before, though they appear at this time of year …

… but as I go to various group classes – history, memoir, life-science and music appreciation (today's class) and others … I ended up pondering humans … and how odd we all are … how our behaviours are all so varied … all good fillers for a blog post!

But I digress – I think! - and then remembered the Desert Rain Frog and my time in Namibia … that I'd intended to write about …

Desert Rain Frog

… he's a plump species with bulging eyes, short snout, short limbs, spade-like feet, and webbed toes … charming little fella, n'est pas?

Added to which he has an unusually high-pitched cry similar to that of a squeaky toy.

Another view of a Desert Rain Frog

Also he's unique as he develops directly from the egg into an adult – so no tadpole stage. He pads happily about on the sand, not requiring water in his habitat for survival.

Their habitat is a very small strip of land in the Cape Province of South Africa, and the coastal strand in southern Namibia … where the Skeleton Coast Desert can be found – an area stretching from Angola in the north, into the Cape Province further south …

The marked edge of southern Africa -
where this little frog si found

The Desert is magical … fog provides most moisture in an otherwise arid and dry region and it's amazing how much can survive in the coastal dunes – about 24 miles wide, and 310 miles in length …

… our little Desert Rain Frog is one of those incredible species … sadly its habitat is being lost to human 'needs' (mining and tourism) …

Namibian homelands 1978 - 
the Skeleton Coast is marked, as 
too the Desert

I'd like to think that we will realise what we have on this earth … and which we should be looking after for future generations …

My mother and I went there about 35 years ago … strange but true!

Thanks for visiting – another Bran Tub post … so many other subjects to get to: I'll get there …

Hilary Melton-Butcher

Positive Letters Inspirational Stories