21.13: Oh What A Little Bit of Moonshine Can Do

 

Where do you stand on the current enthralling “Weekend “ debate? Apparently, some poll or other asked the great British public the following question:- “Say it´s a Thursday morning....how do you refer to the coming weekend - this weekend or next weekend?”

It seems that the younger  generation refer to it as “this weekend,” whereas the older ones call it “next weekend.”

Logically, since it is only Thursday, Saturday and Sunday are still in the future, so they should be “next,” not “this”. Then, that being so, the previous Saturday and Sunday to this Thursday must be “this weekend,” and so too “last weekend” must be the Saturday and Sunday previous to that.

But then again, if a friend WhatsApps you on the Thursday,and suggests meeting up “this weekend, do you reply saying “you mean next weekend, don´t you ?”

Some have argued that from Monday to Friday “next weekend” refers to the one commencing on Saturday, whereas “last weekend” refers to the one ended the previous Sunday, and that “this weekend” is only to be used on Saturdays and Sundays.

Then a pilot chipped in (and I don´t know if he was a marine pilot or one of the airborne types) and he said that the distinction between “this “ and “next” is clearly defined for navigators; in a position report (a SitRep perhaps) the time is given for the point just past, then the estimated time for the upcoming point, and the name of the position after that is called “next”. So “next weekend” is the one after “this weekend” (whatever that may be.)

Over to ChrisW and PaulaDev for their views as navigators.

Luckily for our sanity, our breakfast walks are held on Wednesdays. When our small group assembled for this recent one at Herdade Bom Homem , a very nearly full moon was still visible in the sky, the day being the Autumn Equinox. Our in-house photographer had captured it while on his way to the meeting point, and in his enthusiasm he also contributed the following commentary which merits a colourful font befitting purple prose.

 

"The moon in its nest: as I turned towards the Silves road, the moon was staring at me from its perch atop the storks nest overlooking the market field; naturally, I had to answer the challenge despite having only my phone to record the event."

 He also contributed the early morning light shot used as the heading for this week´s blog.

The starters were Myriam, Yves, Hazel, Jane (ChrisD´s sister-in-law), ChrisD, and JohnH.

We started the walk by paying a brief visit to Maurice Clyde´s memorial plaque, Chris and his wife Rachel having been close friends of Maurice and Esmé´s in the old days.

Half our way up into the Serra, the Rest and Be Thankful bench was as welcome as ever.

We then passed one of Yves´carefully constructed cairns, vandalised once more, so repairs were required yet again.

Our path took us past a large group of beehives, their occupants fairly passive at that time of day.

Then on past the old Silves Camera recyling station and its imposing lines of boulders; they seem to be multiplying.

It was good to see that the Camera´s efforts in replanting the Herdade with a variety of trees are bearing fruit.

New Growth

Then a little bit further on, we met again the Camera´s forester who was tending some of the new growth. We had had a long chat with him back in July when he had told us of the damage done to his young trees by the deer.

Back in July

 He told us that he still has the same problem with deer attacking his sobreiros ( cork-oak). The male deer are being particularly aggressive at tis time of year, it being the rutting season, and the males fighting for territory and droits de seigneur. “Typical men” Myriam remarked and he agreed.

Back again to the Rest and Be Thankful, where Yves took another picture embellished with yet more of his purple prose.

 "The weight of year: therein hangs a life story! HE worked all his life, HE was a pillar of family, society and Bank, He led happy-go-lucky unthinking hordes up and down hills, HE never complained…SHE grew flowers and things in her garden, SHE comforted friends and kittens with smiles and warm soup, SHE looks radiant  while HE looks worn and forlorn…C’est la vie, innit, like?"

 (Don´t get me wrong – the more written contributions to the blog the better as far as I am concerned.)

Then it was back to the cars and up the road to Para e Fica in good time for breakfast.

The Track and the Statistics

The Breakfast

Cha Bela Luisa (Lemon verbena tea) good for the digestion and relief of anxiety, apparently. Others had coffees or beers.

Still Life

The breakfast was, as usual, very adequate.

Satisfied Customers

And to cap it all, Myriam produced Chinese moon cakes, sharing with us a gift to her from The Happy Sumo, a Japanese restaurant in Lagos operated by Chinese, to mark the traditional Mid-Autumn Festival.

The basic moon cake has a filling of mung bean or lotus seed paste but there are many varieties and all sorts of different fillings. A moon cake is a Chinese bakery product traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The festival is about lunar appreciation and moon watching. Mooncakes are regarded as a delicacy and are offered between friends or at family gatherings while celebrating the festival.

There are many different styles. For example, in China alone there are Beijing-style mooncake: Cantonese-style mooncake: Shanghai-style mooncake: Hong Kong-style mooncake: Chaoshan-style mooncake: Ningbo-style mooncake: Suzhou-style mooncake: Yunnan-style mooncake. In Malaysia and Indonesia they even do a durian filling to make them extra-savoury.

There is a folk tale about the overthrow of Mongol rule facilitated by messages smuggled in moon cakes.

Mooncakes were used by the Ming revolutionaries in their effort to overthrow the Mongolian rulers of China at the end of the Yuan dynasty.^[8][9] The idea is said to have been conceived by Zhu Yuanzhang and his advisor Liu Bowen, who circulated a rumor that a deadly plague was spreading and that the only way to prevent it was to eat special mooncakes, which would instantly revive and give special powers to the user. This prompted the quick distribution of mooncakes. The mooncakes contained a secret message: on the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month, kill the rulers.^[10]

Another method of hiding a message was to print it on the surfaces of mooncakes (which came in packages of four), as a simple puzzle or mosaic. To read the message, each of the four mooncakes was cut into four parts. The resulting 16 pieces were pieced together to reveal the message. The pieces of mooncake were then eaten to destroy the message.

But in modern times, it is rumoured that Huawei have inserted micro-mini edible chips into the paste so that the Chinese authorities can monitor the movements (no joke intended) of those who have eaten the mooncakes and even indoctrinate the eaters with Xi Jinping Thought. You have been warned.

Traditional styles

Para e Fica did Myriam proud by producing their best gilt-edged crockery for presenting the mooncakes.

Last weeks quiz:

This was, I thought, quite a tough one. What was the connection between these four images?

The answer is:-

Approximate genetic similarity to humans. Fruit flies  ?? !!!

But once again Myriam was top banana with the correct answer. How does she do it?

This week´s quiz:

What completes this sequence?

And as for closing music, what else could it possibly be but that great swing standard How High The Moon. Here´s a version with Nat King Cole, who made his name a s a jazz pianist before becoming a crooner, Mel Tormé, better known as a jazz singer e.g. Mountain Greenery, but here obviously a very keen and capable drummer as well, and June Christie, a featured soloist with the Stan Kenton Orchestra.