29 April 2008

Cattle Egret


Bloody hell,
there's a lot
more to this
birding lark,
ha ha,
no pun intended,
than I thought.
Having been
entranced
by Darrel's
superb
photographs
at
I thought I'd
give it a go,
after all it
can't be that
difficult can it?
Having spotted the birds, which took a while, there was the little
problem of i.d., and as for the shots?
Usually, if close enough, the noise of the lens extending, scared
them off, or, if further away, it took me so long to find the
zoomed in spot, in the camera window, they'd flown long since.
I despaired, this was hard. I was miserable, how the hell some
people manage to actually draw birds is beyond me.
Rescue was at hand. Just as I was about to give up, I read
this at Blyth Birder, made me feel much better.

28 April 2008

26 April 2008

Produce


Yesterday,
I
was,
mostly,
picking
beans

and
cucumber.
Saturdays
are
when
we
go
and
sell
what
we
have.
It
is
also
our
day
out.

24 April 2008

Birds in Grenada

Today was
weeding
more tomatoes,
fortunately,
there were
plenty of
diversions.

A new
Antillean
hummingbird
and nest







with
apologies
for the
quality
of the
photographs













but,
just to
give some
idea of
the size,
here is an
old,
abandoned
nest,
next to
a Coco Cola
screw cap.







A party
was held
by the
Smooth
billed
Anis
in the
bamboo












and
a
Grenadian
fly catcher,
on the
bamboo
stick.

Click and
zoom please.

All
corrections
on
i.d.
welcome.

23 April 2008

Bordering on Birding.

Corn Buck
is situated
above the
waterfalls.
We park
close to the
track that
crosses
the river.
A pair of
blackfaced
grassquits
welcome us.
They are
fascinated
with their
reflection
in the wing mirrors.

Still from
the van,
a pair of
Lesser Antillean
Tanagers,
in the peas
tree.




Honestly.









A male
and female.
















Aaah,

Zooms
has
found
the
zoom.













A male
Lesser Antillean
Bullfinch
















shows
his true
colours.
















In
the garden
a
Zenaida
dove














and an
Antillean
crested
hummingbird.
A
camera shy
Grenadian
flycatcher
was also,
momentarily,
present
and an
unseen bird,
that sounded
exactly like
a phone ringing,
had me
confused.

21 April 2008

For Chocoholics

There are
still some
cocoa trees
remaining
in Corn Buck,
and despite
years of
neglect
and the
passage of
Ivan,
the remaining
few,
valiantly,
continue
to bear.



The pods
display
beautiful
colours,
from the
deepest mauve,
(not ready yet)
through to the
red
and
orange
and yellow
of maturity.






They have
to be cut
from the tree,
as they do not
fall
by their own
volition.
When they are
cracked open,
with a cutlass,
a sweet, sticky
mass
of creamy beans
is revealed,
which is scooped
out
and left to dry
in the hot sun.


This year,
instead of
taking
the wet beans
to the pool,
we are drying
and, later,
roasting,
them
ourselves.










Hopefully,
this work
in progress
will result
in
our very own
cocoa tea,
or, if I am
really lucky,
chocolate.

20 April 2008

17 April 2008

Ross Hill


This is
Ross Hill,
as seen
from
the
shade
of the
Julie
mango
tree.
The
Immortal
Tree
is
in flower,
announcing the arrival of the rainy season.
Acrylic on ply. 12" x 12"

8 April 2008

Champions League - Liverpool dump Arsenal in thriller - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

Champions League - Liverpool dump Arsenal in thriller - Yahoo! Eurosport UK

Spoilt child.

It was a measure of how sick you really were, if, as a small child, growing up in the 1950's post war Britain, when your mother was heard to ask,
"Could you manage a dippy egg, with soldiers?"
The proper response, so as not to sound too enthusiastically well,
" I'll try"
would herald the imminent arrival of a tray, (naturally being sick one was confined to bed) upon which would be, a boiled egg in an egg cup, a teaspoon, with which to hit the top of the egg to remove the shell, attendant 'soldiers', (slices of buttered toast cut into strips of a width that could be dipped into the soft yolk once the top of the egg had been removed) and a cup of weak, sweet, milky tea.

I have a tickly cough,
and a bit of a temperature
no egg cups, toast or butter.

2 April 2008

Cocoa riggee for Guyana-Gyal

It was fun
yesterday
flying my
cocoa riggee
kite,
that T made
from
a cocoa leaf,
with
dry fig straw
for tail
and
sewing thread
for twine.
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