Ramblings

Remember this?* We brought it home with us cos it had fallen into the ground. I hang it up under the Senecio bush and keeping our fingers crossed that it will survive. And guess what? On a a windy evening II spotted a cloud of silvery fluff floating about. I got closer and saw this dainty thing* hanging on to my Hosta. The ugly caterpillar had turned into a real beauty, Spindle Ermine (Yponomeuta cagnagella).We brought it into the casa and kept it overnight.

The next morning we released about 3 more and wasn’t pleased when a wasp too had emerged. Oh no, we think that it had used some of the caterpillars as reproductive hosts. So we decided to put it back in the garden and let Mother Nature takes it course. But, I’m soo pleased that a few managed to survive and populate again.

It was also the end of the summer term. Most of the students have gone, peace at last. No long queues everywhere. But hang –on, the university had now turned into a conference centre. More lost souls trying to get somewhere, still more queues and motorists driving into one-way street. Aargh…help.

To celebrate the end of term, my colleagues and I had a fish and chips picnic on the lawn outside the MRC building. Bliss…the sun was shining and CC bought a bottle of lemonade squash which I made into a cool jug of lemonades. What a wonderful way to end the week!!!

Early in the week, HR and I had lunch at the Fusion Bar. HR had just recovered from a bad experience and wanted to celebrate. What better way than having lunch together. She’d the mixed platter of crisp dumplings with dipping sauce while I had Japanese teriyaki Hakabaku udon noodles. All washed with tall glasses of fruit juice. We had a wonderful time contemplating on what happened and what we are hoping for the future. Salut!!!

On Saturday, Babe and I went into the city-centre. I wanted to do some serious dent on my allowance. At the entrance to the car-park, we were told not to leave between 1-2pm cos the Godiva procession will be passing through. Ooh..goody. I’ll have q quick nip into H&M and tried on a few clothes. When we came out, the procession had come and gone. Grr…I kicked myself. I couldn’t believe that I was in H&M for an hour and I still came out with nothing.

As usual the city centre was humming and buzzing. The weather was fantastic anyway. We went into Primark, Monsoon, BHS and it was only in Peacocks that I bought something. Not happy at all. And the shops were just too warm and stuffy. Shouldn’t they have the air-condition on in this sort of weather? We checked out Past Times and quickly left cos the heat was soo unbearable.

Later in the evening, I made myself comfortable for the main match of the week. And what a match it was. Germany tore Argentina apart to book their place in the semi-finals and, for now , ending Maradona's dream of winning the World Cup as coach to go with his victory as captain in 1986.

Inspired by Schweinsteiger and two-goal hero Klose, Loew's side scored four times for the third game at this tournament in a devastating attacking display. After Mueller's early header, Germany coped with everything Argentina could throw at them before finishing off Maradona's men with a lethal late burst.

At times this win was reminiscent of the way the Germans had ripped through England's backline in the second round a week. The Argentines were seen caught out by their speed and incisiveness on the counter-attack as they chased the game. Espana, you have been warned!!! 

We were so pumped up with adrenalin  that we need to go somewhere to chill out. So where else huh? We went for a late evening walk to catch up with the natives. We were greeted by this juvenile Great Crested woodpecker having the best seat in the reserve.

From Baldwin hide, we spotted this family of Tufted ducks. Aren’t they adorable? At such a young age, we observed them bobbing and diving for food. Fingers-cross they will make it through.

As we walked back, this amorous couple landed on Babe’s top. A pair of Comma was so engrossed that we were able to observed them making sweet music. What a wonderful sight to end the day.

On Sunday, my colleagues and I went strawberry picking. Woo-hoo…CC and I were here 2 years ago and it rained and rained. But we still picked in the pouring rain and then started pelting each other. We were the only ones in the field. Not now!!. The sun was shining and everyone were here. Don’t blame them.

How could anyone resist these red, plump, juicy strawberries. They were calling our names. But first we did a taster session of all the berries in the farm. Cheeky I know, but you need to taste before you pick :-)

So we tasted blackcurrants (too sour),tayberries (raspberry / blackberry cross, a bit tarty), gooseberries (taste like a sour grape cos not fully ripened) and raspberries (divine). We couldn’t pick the raspberries cos they weren’t fully ripened.

I picked about 2 kilos of these succulent, fragrant fruits. At the farm shop, I also bought a tub of fresh cream, made locally. Yummy…As soon as I reached home, I had a huge bowl of strawberries and cream. Hmm…summer in a bowl. Just delicious

I spent the evening pottering in the garden. I planted my Soleil courgettes into a bigger pot. They produce yellow fruits which I’d never seen before. Couldn’t wait to harvest them. The lily beetles are still busy doing what they do best.  The flowers have bloomed but the leaves of my poor lily plants  have been thoroughly trashed by the larvae. I know they are pests but I just couldn’t destroy them.

This robin was my constant companion. From the corner of my eye, I saw her gathering some lichen and flying back to my next-door neighbour ivy-covered fence. And she kept on repeating the process. Is she building a nest??? I hoped so.

I had a wonderful weekend. A time to day dream with no urgency to do anything or go anywhere. I hoped your day dreams were as wonderful as mine.

 

* Will be added later