Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 14 May 2017

Love it, LINDY!

I'll vote for that Lindybird. Things were so much simpler!

A quick Tuesday “hello” from me – OH was cleaning the study this morning, (being a wet non-garden day) and then I sat and directed the Chicken Marengo recipe – some variations to use up some bits and pieces again!

Lots of advice from Diane re cyber attack – but I loved Linda’s poem!  Sorry Heather’s refurb is going to cost more – our fence man couldn’t start today – too wet – so he is now aiming for tomorrow!  Pleased Annette’s sister is sounding good!

Seems everyone has been very busy today, so not much written on here!

Thanks! - just some musings.  

It's rained all day here, pretty much. I can almost hear all the plants and trees going "Aaah!"

Looking back life seemed much simpler before computers. But I wouldn’t want to go back as far as pre-electricity. Think of life without washing machines or a stove that heats at flick of a switch. I could go on. I am now prepared for our next power failure. I bought a camping light and radio, both battery operated.  I hope the light is bright enough to read by, certainly to knit, while I listen to classical music station. What OH will do, I’ve no idea – he is lost without TV or computer LOL. Looks bleak & overcast this morn, expecting showers, perhaps I’d better continue weeding sooner rather than later.

Well, we're all reeling here from the latest fiasco. Susan Collins, a Republican Senator from Maine said "Can't we have just one crisis-free day?"  No, Senator Collins, we can't. So if anyone sees any papers marked Top Secret laying about anywhere, they're probably ours.....  

Good Morning, All.  Drizzling outside, and my OH has cried off from playing golf today. (I would have preferred that he went, as he sometimes gets under my feet, LOL!)

Sorry you're living in "interesting times" Annette. You must wonder what's coming next.

I wrote the poem with tongue in cheek - I'd hate to live without most modern conveniences but I do sometimes think that life was better when it was simpler. Plus of course, I couldn't be able to talk to you all now without The Web. ;-D

Here's today's pic:

"I love you, Mum!"

My OH has gone off to the allotment, so I'm playing hookey and have come on to put up the last of my holiday pics.

I didn't quite finish the ones of our long day out, here they are:

After we left the sea, we turned back inland and headed north once again, but on a different route to the one we came down on. This is a general view.

I never tire of seeing the local windmills:  here's a more modern one, in a village.

On a farm.

A camel!  There are a few, they were brought over as beasts of burden, from nearby Africa. I don't know why there were two or three here in the middle of the island, usually they are a tourist attraction of some kind these days.

Where the camels were, we had left the main road and taken a short cut through some agricultural parts right in the middle of the island. We like to see the local houses, and sometimes there is a pretty villa to admire in the middle of nowhere.

As we tootled along, I looked out of the window.   Suddenly something in the sky caught my eye.....  a   H U G E  bird!  a raptor!  -- I could hardly speak!

It was just lazily riding the air, as they often do, to save energy, and looking down from a great height in the valley we were going through.  By the time I had managed to say "Big Bird!!"  and tried to stop my OH from going off the small road we were on, I saw another one!  They were just swooping around in big circles and hunting.  Too far away to identify, and no binoculars with me - bah!

I told my OH to stop before he went into a ditch or a local cow or something on the tiny winding road.  We both looked upwards - he missed them altogether as he looked in the wrong place, and they had moved on by then, behind us and were travelling quite fast.  I was soo excited!!  Its possible they could have been Egyptian Vultures, which we had just seen in the posters in the Visitors Centre that morning.  I wondered if they had in fact been Eagles, as there are some but they are rare there, I think.

Here's a reminder of the Egyptian Vulture as on the poster:

They have quite a wingspan, but as I was mouth agape at the size of the pair of birds I saw (they must have been a good five feet across at least) I just don't know.   I got out the camera as they disappeared, but didn't even snap them as by then they were two small dots.

EDIT:  If you Google this bird, it is described as being much larger than normal when found in the Canaries,(its usually found on mainland Africa) because of Gigantism which is sometimes how animals and birds evolve on islands, being isolated and changing to suit conditions.  Sometimes birds can be larger or smaller than the norm.

It was a big highlight for me, that day!