Rosie Wench's Cottage

But unlike the adult in this strip, Calvin’s dad actually APOLOGIZED for yelling at him when he saw how guilty his kid was:

Parenthood makes one have to plan how these situations will be dealt with. We've never had cause to regret taking the path of

'We'll be much less cross if you tell us about it, than if we have to find out about it.'

It requires a lot of self discipline. Child admits to something, so you make the effort to react calmly, and focus on guiding them to put things right.

'Yes, it was was wrong to do it, but you did right by telling us. Now we can help you to learn from it.'

And I feel for Calvin's Dad here. We're just human, we don't always handle it right. There are times when we mess up and get more cross than necessary.

It's as important for a child to hear that we're sorry for that, as it is for them to be sorry for what they did.

Puppy smile

✨ A solar eclipse is coming!

🌒 The eclipse Britain almost gets 🇬🇧

On the evening of 12 August 2026 the whole of the UK will see its most dramatic partial solar eclipse in nearly three decades.

The same eclipse will be visible across Europe and some will enjoy the ultimate solar spectacle: a total solar eclipse.

Millions are expected to gather in Greenland 🇬🇱 on the west coast of Iceland 🇮🇸 , and in northern Spain 🇪🇸 hoping clear skies will allow them to experience an awe-inspiring event as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth line up in space. The moon will pass in front of the sun, creating a total solar eclipse.

Viewers in the UK and Ireland will still see a major partial eclipse. No part of the UK is inside the path of totality, and yet the whole country is nearly swallowed: 89.6% of the Sun covered at Aberdeen, 94.7% at Plymouth, 95.8% down at Penzance. Nine cities, four nations, not one of them dark.

That gap is bigger than it sounds. Obscuration counts area, and the last few per cent of the solar disk is still raw, undimmed sunlight — enough to keep the sky blue, the shadows sharp, the corona invisible. Plymouth sits 680 km from the centre of the shadow band, Aberdeen 1,109 km. The difference between 94.7% and totality is not five per cent; it is everything.

The whole thing happens on the way down. First contact sweeps south from Aberdeen at 17:06:42 UTC to Plymouth at 17:18:53, and maximum falls between 19:03 and 19:15 BST with the Sun only 10–15° above the horizon — low, hazy, straight into the western evening.

I won't want to miss it! ✨🌒 🕶️

📽️@lunardelight

Circumstances computed from the JPL DE440 (released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris)

#eclipse2026 #solareclipse #partialeclipse #uk #astronomy #skyfield #ultimatesolarspectacle

✨ A solar eclipse is coming!

🌒 The eclipse Britain almost gets 🇬🇧

On the evening of 12 August 2026 the whole of the UK will see its most dramatic partial solar eclipse in nearly three decades.

The same eclipse will be visible across Europe and some will enjoy the ultimate solar spectacle: a total solar eclipse.

Millions are expected to gather in Greenland 🇬🇱 on the west coast of Iceland 🇮🇸 , and in northern Spain 🇪🇸 hoping clear skies will allow them to experience an awe-inspiring event as the Sun, the Moon and the Earth line up in space. The moon will pass in front of the sun, creating a total solar eclipse.

Viewers in the UK and Ireland will still see a major partial eclipse. No part of the UK is inside the path of totality, and yet the whole country is nearly swallowed: 89.6% of the Sun covered at Aberdeen, 94.7% at Plymouth, 95.8% down at Penzance. Nine cities, four nations, not one of them dark.

That gap is bigger than it sounds. Obscuration counts area, and the last few per cent of the solar disk is still raw, undimmed sunlight — enough to keep the sky blue, the shadows sharp, the corona invisible. Plymouth sits 680 km from the centre of the shadow band, Aberdeen 1,109 km. The difference between 94.7% and totality is not five per cent; it is everything.

The whole thing happens on the way down. First contact sweeps south from Aberdeen at 17:06:42 UTC to Plymouth at 17:18:53, and maximum falls between 19:03 and 19:15 BST with the Sun only 10–15° above the horizon — low, hazy, straight into the western evening.

I won't want to miss it! ✨🌒 🕶️

📽️@lunardelight

Circumstances computed from the JPL DE440 (released by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Development Ephemeris)

#eclipse2026 #solareclipse #partialeclipse #uk #astronomy #skyfield #ultimatesolarspectacle

It absolutely can be tasteless. But that's down to being badly prepared, not the dishes themselves.

Steak and Ale pie - Fish and Chips - Cottage Pie/Fish Pie (mashed potato topping, not pastry)

Sausage and Mash with onion gravy, Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding, Roast Chicken with Sage and Onion Stuffing, Lancashire Hot Pot.

All these can be delightful when well made with good ingredients.

Herbs are used more than spices

But black pepper and mustard are popular.. Beef may be eaten with mustard (English mustard has a kick to it) or horseradish sauce.

Lamb may be cooked with garlic and rosemary or eaten with mint sauce.

(No, we were never strangers to garlic. We just stopped using it, which I grant you wasn't clever.

Glad to say it's now back. Usually it's garlic bulbs. But the Wild Garlic aka Ransoms that the Anglo Saxons called Spear Leek, and features in Culpeper's Herbal, still grows abundantly.

I don't know if the bulb is used. Perhaps someone can enlighten me? But around March, April and May, the leaves are at their peak. Think of the taste of chives and the green parts of Spring/Salad Onions aka Scallions, spiked with garlic.

I use it in mushroom soup. It's wonderful!)

Tartar sauce is delicious with fried fish, and chunky British chips are a match made in heaven with ketchup.