Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 14 November 2021

PAT: I absolutely agree with you about huge institutions with too much power. I hope all of my dear friends here will not have gas (or any other heating fuel!) supplies cut off.

Clare: Those photos are STUNNING and REMARKABLE!!! I'm so glad you had a nice birthday. 

Heather: I hope you had a wonderful day, too, with only enjoyable surprises. 

Lindy: Hope you're feeling better and the iron is working. I've been worried about you. 

OG: Oh, dear. Sorry about the cold. Hope it's short-lived. Sending strength.

OG & ANNETTE – The Roses are standards, those on 3-foot stems. Only 2 remain now as Next-Doors are not gardeners and roses have been neglected. They cannot stay as they are both planted on the boundary, exactly where the fence will be. I don’t expect child to play outside – kids don’t these days. Other neighbours’ kids are rarely seen, probably inside in front of i-thingies.

CLARE – Amazing photos. Thank you.

I doubt we shall see the eclipse. Thick cloud all day.

Just a thought

Mistakes are a fact of life. It is the response to the errors that counts. (Nikki Giovanni)

Hello all !
Well, the enquiries about being at home turned out to be three lots of flowers delivered ! The difficulty getting hold of my brother was because he was looking for their lost dog. He found the dog, eventually , but then fell asleep when he got home, he's not been 100% since his stroke. The dog, a husky, escaped from the garden and must have gone for a long run !

All well then HEATHER.

Enjoy your flowers, Heather!

Good Morning. A pretty pink & blue sky here this morning. The last mild day before a cold snap descends over the weekend.

Entertaining phone call from our Youngest last night - apparently little Rosie, who has always been vocal, is now learning her words fast, although she is struggling with her own name, which comes out as "Rowee!"

Heather: I love to get flowers.  Glad your bro and his dog finally showed up.  Is this your bro and family who used to/still live in France?

AQ:  Our formerly new neighbors planted a row of Iceberg roses along their driveway.  One has clearly not had enough water since the start but I didn't feel comfortable pointing that out. They also have a giant plumeria (frangipani) in a giant pot at the end of their driveway that they don't water and every now and then I 'accidentally' get careless with the hose....  It also desperately needs some structural pruning but I haven't got that much nerve.

Lindybird: It's so interesting to watch how kiddies' language skills develop.  Glad the guy at the park managed to fix the boiler.

Diane:  I managed to miss the eclipse last night having fallen asleep when it started and woke up apparently when it was done.  Nature needs to organize these things at more convenient times!   :-))

Unknown said:

Will Limpy be posting photos as well?

Oh dear, I first read this as "Will Limpy be POSING as well?" :-D  The first falcon cross mesmerized me. And the photo looked like an old painting, so I may be inspired...

I did happen to wake up around 4 am when the partial lunar eclipse was at its peak, so I got up to look out the window, and the sky was cloudy. So I went back to bed, but then remembered that these events are often live streamed. So I did see it through the Kopernik Observatory's stream (they are in New York), where the young astronomer was struggling to stay awake! So I got to see it with explanations from the warmth of my house. Tuns out it would have been tiny in the sky since the moon is at its apogee, furthest from the earth, which is why the eclipse lasted almost 4 hours. It was reddish in earth's shadow and quite beautiful.

I googled the beautiful Mackinder's Eagle Owl, Clare, and Wikipedia says it is either viewed as one of three subspecies of Bubo capensis as: Bubo. capensis mackinderi, or as a species on its own: Bubo mackinderi. It lives in southern Kenya south to the northern half of southern Africa. Mackinder's Eagle Owl is the largest of the three subspecies. The mid-sized one, the Abyssinian eagle-owl (Bubo. capensis dilloni) lives in southern Eritrea & the Ethiopian highlands, and is the most northern of the three subspecies. The smallest of the three subspecies, Bubo capensis capensis (Cape Eagle Owl) is the the one living farthest south in the southern half of southern Africa. The name Cape Eagle Owl is sometimes used for the whole group of three, See: en.wikipedia.org/.../Cape_eagle-owl