The beautiful Picture 1 is not mine, it belongs to Bungus and was photographed on one of his nature walks with Ralph. He feels, and I am sure that he is right, that it is a wild orchid.What lovely understated colours !
It is difficult to tell but I am guessing that it is only a few inches high rather than delphinium size.
He aks what I mean by 'candy-floss' water. Many photographers take pictures of water using exposures of several seconds which gives the water a very blurred appearance. Next time I see such a picture I will attribute it and 'blog' it.
With regard to his occasional complaints of 'technical' language - it is impossible to please everyone. Several readers are both 'photographically' and 'computer-wise' far in front of me in their understanding and I try to make the blog of interest to them too. So - Sorry Bungus! - you will just have to grin and bear it !
Picture 2 shows the spot on one of our paths where the thrushes prepare their snail-fests. If I can be quick enough I shall try to catch one actually doing it. They hold the snail in their beak and bash it on the concrete till the shell breaks up. Having looked closely, in order to obtain this picture, it seems that, after eating the snail they carefully put the top of the empty shell back on the bottom.
Whatever their reason is for doing all this, we have no objection because they are welcome to as many snails as they can eat. Invite your friends and relations - the more the merrier.My lunch in Mansfield with Bungus was, as always, very enjoyable although by the time I returned to base I was tired. I collected Y from the tram terminal around 6.30pm and she also reported feeling tired, but happy-tired. We are all getting older !
I had a late start on the blog (it's just after 10pm now) because I spent far too long messing about with some 'campion' pictures in which an accurate 'red' continues to elude me. When I've sorted it, I will publish.
David called last night which was lovely, but Helen isn't very well. Love her - she does so much,
and I hope she soon feels better. Tomorrow I will send her a Jacqui Lawson e-card but, for the moment this 'ballerina' close-up is just for her.I've got lots of notes I haven't used this evening but I want to listen to all the news about the new cabinet and things. I suppose bringing in talented people is OK provided he arranges for peerages for them where appropriate. At least that way they are a bit accountable. I certainly didn't and don't like the idea of people having power over us who haven't been elected. Most undemocratic!
Catch you tomorrow.
Re the size of the orchid: I would say the flower spike might be about 4” long, possibly 100mm.
ReplyDeleteThe description of ‘candyfloss’ water is fine. I now know just what you mean.
I sometimes feel it necessary to be tetchy and technical language is a perfectly good target.
What tends to annoy me most is when perfectly good English words like ‘typeface’ are replaced by Americanisms like ‘font’ (which, as I am sure I have pointed out before, is a stone bowl for drowning babies in).
The trouble is we all fall for it eventually – ‘dot’ for fullstop’, ‘dash’ for ‘hyphen’, ‘underscore’ for ‘underline’, ‘slash’ for ‘stroke’ and many others.
All right, I’ll bear it. But I’ll be boggered if I’ll grin.
I cannot read the mind of a thrush but when I was a child I was always encouraged, having finished my boiled egg, to turn the shell over in the egg-cup and swap it for my father’s.
Oh how we laughed.
I enjoyed my rack of ribs in Wetherspoons but needed to go and have strip wash afterwards. It was all a bit 'Charles Laughton as Henry VIII' but no peasants to catch the bones.
I too felt completely wilted when I arrived home. Mind you, Graham had persuaded me (with enormous difficulty) to have a second pint of Pedigree which is never a good idea at lunchtime).
While in Mansfield I had an eye test. No change in prescription for the 3rd year in a row and the nice man cleaned my glasses which has made things much clearer (perhaps I shall now understand the technical terms?).
I also replaced my black Casio watch. In 25 years I have had 5,all much the same, the straps having broken each time. The latest one is just ‘splash proof’ as I am unlikely to dive to 50 metres just to beat the Puffins (they can only manage 30). I have never had to renew a battery.
As a new strap is £7 and the cost of a new watch has gradually come down from £13 to £10, replacement seems the better option. I don’t like throwing things away, so there are now 4 strapless watches distributed about the house, all showing the right time to within seconds. Fortunately I have not set the alarms (but it’s a thought).
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