I've spent the larger proportion of last week in London at Imperial College for the Leverhulme Wildfire Summer Conference and the remainder looking after our Welsh Terrier who had to have a mass removed from his leg.
I'm beyond elated to report that Mazowe tolerated the procedure and is back home under watchful care. My new role as a carer involves crushing paracetamol with a pestle and mortar and weighing the doses on digital coffee scales repurposed for this task. Nothing says breakfast like cutting lines of white powder into the dog's bowl. I'm now my dog's dealer.
He has been convalescing well and has enjoyed the domain of our guest bedroom and a suitable wall of cushions to contain his movements. We may have taken 'bed rest' a little too literally, but the open window above the bed ensures a cool breeze. Containment does not suit him, and the kitchen floor will welcome his return soon enough.
The conference was set against the backdrop of devastating fires in Spain and France. I'm going to post a separate summary and reflections on the conference together with thoughts on the fire situation in Europe.
As I write this though, France has documented the first pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb - a storm cloud born from the intense radiative heat that a wildfire generates. This is a rare phenomenon in Europe and more commonly documented in North America and Australia. It essentially means that the fire is no longer propelled by the weather, it's creating its own. PyroCb is able to produce violent, erratic winds capable of driving flames in new directions. For predictive modelling, pyroCb is one of the most challenging in earth system models, as it involves the coupling of multi-physics interactions, extreme scale gaps and thermodynamic feedback together with variable data on moisture representation.
I wanted to share a poignant image that stood out for me amidst the coverage this week.
In some ways, the image about evokes Thomas Hoepker’s photo from NYC and 9/11. The reference is more to do with the allegorical power of photography and the juxtaposition of people to catastrophe than it is to do with the specific events that they depict.
Travel strips away familiar routines, and I tend to reclaim them in the kitchen when I am home. I made a full English breakfast on Saturday morning with the first of the tomatoes in the garden and some local portobello mushrooms with butter, crushed garlic and a little oregano. Not pictured are the chipolata sausages and bacon from our local butcher.
I can't stand mass-produced bread - the chemical additives, flavour or high speed industrial methods. So I continued my experiments for the perfect sandwich and toast loaf and used Tangzhong - a type of Mandarin roux that helps to maximise the shelf life of the bread and ensure a soft, fluffy crumb. I'll post the recipe, as it created superb toast and I also made some rolls for lunch across the week.
