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Maybe.

This came across my Facebook feed labelled “Earliest photograph of a cat 1880”. I know, cute…but that date sounded a bit late to me. On a Google Image Search of “first photograph of a cat”, this image appears first (Reddit) and eighth.

But there were also lots of pre-1880 photos of people holding cats which, I suppose, is technically different from a photo of a cat.

On reflection, I’m going with this photo from Harvard University’s Houghton Library as the oldest. It’s 1840-60, and the cat is blurry and almost indecipherable. That’s cats (and daguerrotypes) for you.

Things here start to open up a little on Monday, though I’ve just heard the sad news the Sussex bonfires have been cancelled. They do most of their fundraising in the Spring and Fall, you see, and who knows what our emergency services will be like in September/October/November.

Still, another almost unbelievably beautiful weekend coming up here. I hope the weather is at least bearable where you are. We keep telling each other what a different experience lockdown would have been in a miserable, wet Spring.

Comments


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: May 29, 2020, 11:08 pm

A good weekend for SPAM!
(lovely SPAM! Wonderful SPAM!)

https://theenglishkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/05/spam-fritters.html

this is all your fault Weasel!


Comment from CantHarkMyCry
Time: May 30, 2020, 12:10 am

Sweaz–utterly OT & out of nowhere. . .but I’m curious. What do you do with your excess kefir grains?


Comment from Uncle Al
Time: May 30, 2020, 2:58 am

I submit this contender for earliest photo of a cat, unless you’re one of those people who say that just past midnight is “late” instead of “early”.


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: May 30, 2020, 1:43 pm

Ten Quatloo prize awarded to Uncle Al!


Comment from weasel again
Time: May 30, 2020, 2:20 pm

Mine haven’t ever overgrown, Can’t Hark. I did ruin them and have to buy afresh once. I put some cream near its sell-by in because I didn’t want to waste it and it changed the flavor of the kefir for the worse.

I confess, mine is currently taking a break in the fridge at the moment because I am unfeasibly lazy.


Comment from CantHarkMyCry
Time: May 30, 2020, 3:43 pm

Wow–I’ve been doing it only for the last year or so, and they keep multiplying to the point where I have to get rid of some of them. Wonder what I’m doing wrong!


Comment from BJM
Time: May 30, 2020, 3:58 pm

@CantHark In the winter I fall behind drinking cold beverages and I keep the excess in the fridge. I think Katz addressed this in his book, but whatever, it works fine for me.

Half-fill a quart jar with cool water, mix in 2-3 teaspoons of raw sugar, add the grains and store in the back of the fridge. You will need to leave the lid ajar.

Your water kefir grains will keep for up to 2 months stored this way and they keep the dormant sourdough starter and kimchee company. One day they will burble out of their jars mix on the shelf… BAM!…the fridge will be propelled into Chickenworld…what the chikkens will make of it I can’t say.


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 30, 2020, 8:05 pm

I read an article by someone who was given grains and left them in the fridge for a year before bothering to reignite the culture. Worked fine.

I’m doing milk kefir. I wonder if water kefir is different?


Comment from OldFert
Time: May 30, 2020, 8:50 pm

Back to space at 3:22PM eastern.

https://apnews.com/da66485df4d82c055ce9d6b84a20e450

Yaaay!


Comment from S. Weasel
Time: May 30, 2020, 10:02 pm

We watched the launch. Awesome! And the speech afterwards in praise of Trump was… satisfying.


Comment from DurnedYankee
Time: May 31, 2020, 11:10 pm

Somewhere in the next life Robert Heinlein is smiling at private enterprise based space flight.

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