Big June Moon

Felix's image of the Super Moon on the 22nd of June 2013

Not much action in the Cabine this week as Toot and I were away having a few days  holiday in Devon and Dorset.

On our return I hoped to see the 'Full Moon' at perigee (ie. at its closest to Earth and when to the eye it appears at its largest). Sadly the British weather did what it does best and clouds over our backyard precluded any views of our nearest celestial neighbour.

Luckily the Moon was observable from Southend and my eldest grandson, Felix, captured this smashing image through his newly acquired telescope and his Dad's mobile phone.

The next time the Moon will look as big will be in August 2014 so not long to wait if you want to see a Super Moon.

Great work Felix, Pappa and Toot are proud of you!

Rabbit or Rarebit ?

Suffolk Rabbit
(so tasty, I ate a mouthful before I took the photograph)

When I was a small wee lad, I thought this snack was called Welsh Rabbit.  I didn't much like cheese in those far off days so thought Welsh Rabbit was the 'Devil's work'.

Nowadays I'm a great fan of cheese and toasted bread products. Yesterday, Toot and I had Welsh Rarebit for lunch, 'Mmmmm stuffed crust'!

Interestingly, my good friend Mr. Wikipedia, states that Welsh Rarebit appears in a cookery book first published in 1747 and in that publication is referred to as Welsh Rabbit.  The first reference to Welsh Rarebit does not appear until 1787 and 'Rarebit' is an etymological corruption of 'Rabbit'.

The attribution of the dish to Wales (Welsh) is thought to be connected to the popularity of baked cheese in Wales.  Welsh Rabbit may be an ironic name coined in the days when the Welsh were notoriously poor: only better-off people could afford butcher's meat, and while in England rabbit was the poor man's meat, in Wales the poor man's meat was cheese.

Pappa's Recipe for Suffolk Rabbit

Grate good quality cheddar cheese into a bowl. You can add a little grated smoked cheddar or a little parmesan if you wish.

Add a few dried chili flakes, half a teaspoon of caster sugar, salt, and black pepper to the grated cheese.

Add two teaspoons of grain mustard, a dash or two of Worcestershire Sauce and a enough beer to enable the grated cheese to be mashed into a paste.

As an option you can add a little anchovy paste to the cheese mixture. This addition converts the dish from Suffolk Rabbit to Buck Suffolk Rabbit.

Toast two medium slices of white bread.  Shop bought, pre-sliced bread is perfectly ok for this dish. Toast on one side only and then remove from the grill.

Spread the cheese paste mixture on the untoasted side of the bread.  Make sure the cheese paste is spread to the edge of the bread or the bread edges will burn before the cheese paste is cooked.

Place the uncooked side face-up under the grill and heat until all the cheese is cooked.  The mixture cooks from the outside of the bread to the middle, make sure the middle is cooked before removing from the grill.

Eat and enjoy whilst hot, drink the rest of the beer as an accompaniment!

Government Health Warning  'Toasted cheese can seriously damage your Health.'  Be careful not to over cheese or become spleeny!

"yup yup rabbit yup yup yup rabbit rabbit bunny jabber yup rabbit bunny yup yup yup rabbit bunny jabber yup yup yup rabbit bunny jabber yup yup bunny jabber rabbit"  Chas & Dave circa 1981

The Last Flight of Sordes Pilosus

The Last Flight of Sordes Pilosus
from the Pterosaur Series of Paintings
by Anthony Egan 1920 - 2003
Acrylic on board

Shortly after my art purchase from the British Heart Foundation I splashed out the cash once more on this original painting by the British Surrealist Anthony Egan.  On his death Mr Egan donated many original works to the 'Age UK Suffolk' Charity.

Now I know surreal and abstract art is not everyone's cup of tea but I know what I like and bearing in mind my passion for ancient life and fossil artifacts, this painting meets all my intellectual and artistic needs.

Anthony Egan was born in Haslar, a small village in Hampshire but spent most of his childhood with his four siblings in London.

During the Second World War he enlisted in the Royal Air Force and served his country for twenty five years.  Anthony studied art at the Ipswich School of Art and went on to teach at Westbourne High School.  During this period of his life he produced hundreds of completed works.  He drew influences from a wide range of subjects, notably the two Great wars, the micro and macro nature of organic cells, black holes in space and other wonders of the natural world.  He travelled extensively in Africa, the Middle East, the Greek Islands and mainland Europe.  He was a noted historian, particularly of the American Civil War and loved the Theatre, Jazz and classical music. He was clearly interested in fossils and must have been aware of the discovery of the pterosaur Sordes Pilosus which was made in 1960's

Sordes had a 0.63 m (2 ft) wingspan. The wings were relatively short. It had a slender, not round, head with moderately long, pointed jaws. The skull was about 8 cm (3.2 in) long. Its teeth were widely spaced, small and slanted. It had a short neck. It had a long tail, accounting for over half its length, with at the end an elongated vane. Unlike many pterosaurs, it had no head crest..

The genus is based on holotype PIN 2585/3, a crushed relatively complete skeleton on a slab. It was found in the sixties at the foothills of the Karatau in Kazakhstan. The fossil shows remains of the soft parts, such as membranes and hair. This was the first unequivocal proof that pterosaurs had a layer of fur. The integument served as insulation, an indication the group was warm-blooded, and provided a streamlined flight profile. The hairlike structures (pycnofibres) are present in two main types: longer at the extreme part of the wing membrane and shorter near the body. Sordes probably ate small prey, perhaps including insects and amphibians.  

Sordes Pilosus
Late Jurassic (Oxfordian - Kimmeridgian)

Credits: Information concerning fossil Sordes Pilosus from Wikipedia.

Amber alert!

Auroral Crown

Today I received an email advising me of an Amber Aurora Alert.  Sadly, the clouds came rolling in from the North Sea, so no chance of spying the Auroral glow on our Northern Horizon.

This year we've yet to see any noctilucent clouds either, so recent atmospheric photographs of any kind are unavailable.  Luckily, whilst tidying up some old databases, I came across some unprocessed and unpublished images of the Aurora that we captured two years ago in Norway.

The above image was taken looking straight up into the centre of the circle of charged Nitrogen and Oxygen ions being channelled down along lines of magnetic force created by convection currents in the Earth's molten metallic core.

Last night was clear and with the Moon below our horizon, the stars shone bright.  I spent an hour with my 11x80mm binoculars.  The constellation Scorpius, for most of the year unobservable from our backyard, was  just visible above our southern horizon.  The red giant star Antares, Alpha Scorpii, could be seen twinkling over our neighbour's house roof.

I managed to spot a number of Globular Star Clusters including;  M13, M92 and M5.  It was also nice to explore the Milky Way streaming through the constellation Cygnus well up in the sky to the East.

Two of the reasons why Dinosaurs became extinct

Small boys

Papa, Toot, Andy, Alice, Pixie, Archie, Ozzie and Custy had a great day out at the London Natural History Museum.