Estelle's garden grows

We have received some produce from Estelle's garden mostly tomatoes but the best thing is a huge corn still wrapped in it's green cloak.  I am told that a corn is now forming in our patch but I have not seen anything recognisable.  We have also had our lemons returned to us in the form of Lemon Butter! Now this stuff is very tasty and we have more lemons dropping with a thud each day now.  Most likely they will go onto the front lawn as handouts.  The birds love nectarines. I would say we have lost half our fruits to the birds. They peck them thru the netting.  We retrieved 10 nectarines just now and they are a good size.  We have not been counting but have eaten around 10 already and they are juicy.

Estelle's corncob

Can you eat fruit pecked at by birds?

The Lake Route

We are looking at ways of extending our bicycle distance as we are still a long way from where we were at last year. As well as that I am having bicycle trouble. The cross town bike has a flat tyre at the back as well as being bald . (The tyre that is)  The gears are also slipping a bit. The bike man says the chain seems a bit loose. The sprocket teeth look a bit pointed to me but in any case nothing can be done until next week as they are flat out and I also had to take the bike back home as they have no space.  So I went over to the road bike for our ride around Lake Lorne.  Our distance this time was 17km.

Estelle's Drawing

This drawing arrived by purse post. I am not sure of the exact method that this works but in any case I have the letter as below. I did send Asher a letter last year after she was getting on with her reading and writing.  Estelle and Evie have a way to go so I am hanging back yet for a postman's delivery. Mind you there have been many drawing sessions where my creations have been coloured in, scrunched up or generally drawn over. 

Beach Update No 899

 The water was murky after yet another morning storm so I got the rubbish bag out for a cleanup.  Again the general beachgoer seems to be cleaning up better this year. I did get a modest amount including one can and a pair of socks but mostly small stuff like butts, rope and lids.  There was also a pair of goggles which I tried to salvage but are so encrusted on the glass I could not clean it. There is the curious case of the 10 speed bike that has been laying around for a couple of days. Maybe it was stolen and left there.  I have added a video from my previous swim which shows a plant with contrasting green and red colours.  I thought it may have been a seahorse at first as it was tethered which is how I have seen a seahorse previously.  If anyone has any ideas post a comment.

Mars

 We went outside two nights ago when then full Moon was rising around 9pm. It was still light and there were some clouds around and Mars was supposed to be viewed nearby to the Moon.  We did not see much.  Last night I tried it again but had to wait til around 10:00pm for the Moon to get clear of the houses. However another smaller circle was clearly there higher in the sky. I went back and brought the telescope down and set it up across the street.  I have always pointed it at ships or dolphins but never at the sky. The Moon filled the view easily picking out craters etc but Mars was tricky. It was still a bright circle thru the scope.  I was amazed at the number of people still walking around out here at 10:30pm.

tried a Moon shot thru the scope

Mars despite street lights

My name in Print

 My reading has had many distractions in the last few weeks so I have been slow to turn the pages. I have read a few of Freddy Forsyth before. You know what you are going to get especially with this title.  There have been true examples of what he is describing in this book which was published in 2013.  You have to wonder if a book like this is an influence on the guy in New Orleans. Most likely they get their ideas online.  The book has one other notable inclusion. My namesake gets a mention and was a true participant.  He was a SEAL who goes down fighting.  The battle mentioned occured in Afghanistan in 2002. In any case in this story, the bad guy is removed, as per usual.  

Nectarine Nets

These fasting blood tests are a pain. No breakfast until they get their blood from a vein. So fill in the time with an early blog update.  We decided to make an effort to keep some nectarines from the birds.  The higher fruits were well shaped but they were getting demolished.  We netted the best shapes that were reachable and have left the rest.  Maybe the birds will be full up.  Indoors, the warped orchid is turning into a curly splendour and there are two branches.  It seems to make no difference that the initial sprouting was caged and hampered.  The second branch is still in the bud.  I'm still hungry.

Nets of Nect

split form