HAPPY NEW WEEK!
I just walked through the door, back from dog-sitting for friends in Indianapolis. Except for cuddling the dogs, it was an awful time in every possible way. I don't think I'm going to do it again. Probably won't be asked. My friend and I had a bad argument on the way home. I will do you all a favor and not detail my 5 days for you.
No wildlife stories from me this week, except that there were also raccoons in the attic there.
I will now read and catch up with all your news. Everyone have a good week. Love and hugs to all.
Rusty: That's definitely what they call a "cottage garden" here, but unlike here, there's an actual cottage to go with it! Just gorgeous.
OG; Happy Belated Wedding Anniversary.
Lindybird: I have a shrub along the back of the house that I trim in such a way that the higher branches form a sort of shady arch (just a hint of one), but last time he was here, the gardener misunderstood me (I probably wasn't entirely clear on what I was blathering about) and sheared it all back neatly. Sigh. I'm beginning to wonder if I shouldn't loop some brightly colored tape across it for next time.
Heather: I was thinking you'd mentioned some time back that you listened to the BBC World Service at night when you couldn't sleep but these days I imagine it would just create more anxiety. The world has some seriously nasty and ruthless leaders - mostly old men desperate to hang on to power no matter how many people suffer. They're disgusting.
OH and I were tired of cleaning up the mess under the bird feeder which was, once again, attracting squirrels and rats (the former cute, the latter not so much). I checked around and found this wonderful bird feeder hoop online. It's made of a fine mesh, is 3' in diameter, attaches to the base of the feeder with adjustable ties and catches about 90% of the dropped seeds etc. . We were very happy - but the squirrels were absolutely thrilled. They discovered it made the perfect landing site for their leaps from the nearby hedge and from the roof above the feeder. It hadn't been up 24 hours before we had one bouncing around in it, scarfing up the seed and making an even bigger mess. Not only that, it had managed to create small holes in the mesh. After a few days, I took the darn thing down and I've been trying to find another spot away from critter highways and byways. No luck yet.
Anyway, the kids and I are off to see El Desfile Historico (The Historical Parade) that is one of the highlights of Old Spanish Days, Santa Barbara's annual celebration of its Spanish roots (it's the 100th anniversary). It's one of the largest equestrian parades in the country: Most of the hundreds of horses are decked out with lots of silver on their bridles and saddles; the male riders wear colorful traditional outfits with sombreros while the female riders wear elaborate outfits with lots of lace and long dresses that drape over the horse's hindquarters. The horse troupes are interpersed with Mexican bands, traditonal Spanish dancers, Mexican folkloric dancers and horse-drawn carriages from that period bedecked with flowers (and various honored guests!). Dotted in between are mounted police teams from all over the state (a little more sedate than the other participants). It's quite the event.
Anyway, time to call it a night. Take care everyone.
ANNETTE - I just Googled it and also watched a video on YouTube. Fantastic !
Heather - snap! I just googled it as well Annette - its looks great - enjoy! I am a very light sleeper and fall asleep to Radio 4 then on it goes again during the night when its the World Service and I agree there has not been much to celebrate lately. I am truly ashamed of the mindless rioting by numbskulls here in the UK and I hope they all get custodial sentences. One bit to be proud of was the response from the locals to help rebuild and repair the damage at the local Mosque.
OG - I do hope the crow managed to clear his throat and he has been back also Happy Anniversary!
AQ - Read and rest is just what you need at the moment - so carry on.
Rusty - that garden is beautiful.
Well its another Friday - the week has flew by again, so all have a great weekend and stay safe.
That sounds fun ANNETTE. We had fun at the canal this morning. We went earlier than usual - before breakfast - and saw an otter splashing around. This is a first.
It began dull and cloudy here, but has brightened up: my OH has gone off to a golf competition leaving me free to do as I please, so I'm trying (trying!) to go through a lot of small annoying things. One was to clean out the shelves with the cookbooks in the kitchen - I hardly ever refer to most of them, now, but can't bear to part with any! At least they will look neat and dust free!
I do operate a reward system, as mentioned, but sometimes its just "clean the bathrooms then you can spend half an hour on the pc!" So here I am.
Annette, that special Santa Barbara day sounds wonderful - I'll Google it in a minute. The wildlife are soo anoying at times, when you try to help one lot, the others take advantage!
Harelady - I agree about the kindness of others, helping to dilute the madness. One man was going to the flowers every day and making sure that most of them were in buckets to make them last longer.
A quote for Heather, and of course,everyone else, which was in the paper the other day -- good advice I felt.
The way to deal with the sorrow of the world, Mma Ramotswe thought, was not to think you would ever necessarily understand why the world was the way it was. Rather, you should list the things you felt were good, and work towards bringing those into the lives of others.
From A Far & Lovely Country by Alexander McCall Smith (Scottish writer - his books are lovely light reading)
dibnlib- You came on at the same time. An otter! I'm so jealous, never seen one in the flesh! What a thrill.
LINDY What a lovely thing to say. This was our first sight of an otter in the wild. There are many in Shetland where we used to live but we didn't see any, probably because we always had our dogs with us. We did know they were seen at the canal and this morning we saw one coming out from beside the sea lock gate then further into the water where it frolicked for a few seconds then disappeared......we were wowed.
I have seen otters on Mull, but nowhere else ... until about six months ago, when I saw one in the lake at Hever Castle! I have never heard of them being there, but it was a definite sighting. As Lindy says, what a thrill! They are so 'private', and just a glimpse is indeed thrilling.
Been a windy day here, but still warm and dry. Gas engineer came this morning to service boiler – well they call it morning up to 2pm but we were actually eating our lunch. I didn’t go to the supermarket this afternoon as my legs were having trouble sitting down and getting up – too much sitting in the straight chair, so we decided I should stay at home with my feet up. Not so bad right now.
The crow missed a day, but we think it was one of the three which came late yesterday evening, and it was definitely among the group of four playing about on the front lawn today – and then playing “chicken” with the cars coming up the road!
RUSTY – I loved that real cottage garden!
LINDA – sitting in the garden for enjoyment is not lazy! Laziness is the way we are when we can’t even be bothered to go and get the chairs out and carry a tray outside!
ANNETTE – a nuisance that the gardener mistook your instructions re arching shrub. Is it a fast grower so it will come back next year? I hope you all enjoyed the parade in town. There is still stuff going on here, but we haven’t felt like joining in at all this year – finishes at the end of August with a “gathering of the clans and families”. They are now planning a new “public artwork “ in town to commemorate the two historic bridges which washed away in the storm two years ago – only footbridges so “they” aren’t sure when they might ever be restored.
DIBNLIB – congrats on seeing the Otter! There are some in the river Nith in the centre of Dumfries – great to know they are around, and even near where people are.
Evening all:
OG: Re the parade, this was the first year I bought tickets: You get a chair under a canopy and a nearby parking place (which is almost worth the price of the ticket by itself!). Parade was late starting; we'd arrived earlier than necessary so lots of time on our hands. The one nice thing is that the staging area for all the horse troupes was near us and they had to pass by on their way to the starting point so we enjoyed an informal sort of parade before the real thing. Some of those horses - around 500 of them - were magnificent! Not sure we'd spring for the seats again; would probably take a pop-up tent and picnic and park ourselves on the grass on the beach side of the road under the trees, though granddaughter had the bright idea that it would be worth buying one seat ticket just to get the handy parking spot.
I'm all for lazy.... :-)
Heres a link to a very lightweight story with photos put together by a couple of surfers who were distracted by an osprey on the prowl for dinner. www.edhat.com/.../