...are particularly splendid this year, large and glossy and bountiful. I have always found that the problem is that they are so beautiful that of course one must collect some up - and then, what to do with them? But in the Daily Telegraph the other day there was a list of Useful Hints for Saving the Planet, or something - noting that what used to be thrift is now being green and eco-friendly and not having carbon footprint and things. And apparently, conkers are excellent as an alternative to mothballs! So there you are. A good reason to collect them and put them in with Jamie's socks.
Also collectable are quick jokes. Thanks to B. for this one: Luciano Pavarotti arrives at the Pearly Gates. St Peter is pleased:"Squeeze in Luciano - good to have you here. I'll go and tell the boss." And he goes off to tell God: "I've got the tenor I owed you..."
I am off to speak at a Family Day tomorrow, but today, with so much to do and write and tackle at home, it's urgent that we leave some of it, get out into the glorious blue and golden September.
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7 comments:
The weather's glorious..we're still blackberrying!
I hope that the conkers in J's socks will be removed before they're donned - else 'twill be akin to the penance of prilgrimaging with peas in one's shoes...
Fr Peter, New Malden
Uh . . . what's a conker?
Not only as mothballs !
Spiders also hate the smell of aesculin [the glucoside in horse-chestnut - ethylbenzene based so very akin to camphor].
Anyone who uses 'badedas' will tell you their bathrooms have little problem with either spiders or moths except in the dryest of weather.
Another great use for them is on your soft fruit/salad veg patch...
although unconfirmed, aesculin seems to have weak antiviral capabilities [not good enough for us ; but it may help keep away the destructive viruses that latch on to the fungal diseases]
People will tell you to freeze woollens for a week to evade the nasty larvae; but it damages the wool - the easiest and probably the cheapest means of keeping the moths away is a chaotic wardrobe rail - instead of folding away all those regularly washed t-shirts/vests in drawers - hang them in between jackets and jumpers - the smell of the new detergents/fabric conditioners drives moths crazy as they are all glucoside /ester based...
I could also say net curtains and a clean hoover stored far from clothing [larvae love it inside hoover bags] work wonders but [and this may sound fatuous] learning to close doors after oneself is the best remedy.
[One friend of mine had irreplaceable chinese raw silk ordination vestments ruined because a certain monsignor liked both his fresh air and to read at night]
Liked the tip about keeping spiders away. Mike, a conker is a shiny brown thing in a spiky green case that falls out of horse chestnut trees around this time of year [well, usually slightly later but the weather has been strange this year].
Fiorella,
Oh. I'm from Ohio, and them things is called buckeyes.
The conkers here have some sort of disease so the crop is extremely poor.
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