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Just for fun: the random, useless announcements thread!
@Bunks back in the mid 80s through to the mid 90s I was a member of the NZ Entomological society and one of our many excursions ( hunt for new species of insect) was to Tiritiri Matangi, it's a beautiful island, I remember the friendly takahē wandering around with no fear of humans...
It started about a week ago, a guy plays the Japanese flute sitting on his deck across the valley, every afternoon as the sun goes down... Very relaxing, soothing, serene ...Sorry about the poor sound quality of the video, I can hear it clearly....There are the cicadas singing along to the flute.... can't get better than that
@Shoshin said: @Bunks back in the mid 80s through to the mid 90s I was a member of the NZ Entomological society and one of our many excursions ( hunt for new species of insect) was to Tiritiri Matangi, it's a beautiful island, I remember the friendly takahē wandering around with no fear of humans...
Ah, yes @shoshin. The Takahe. There was (is?) a famous one on the island called Greg who stole my mother's lunch while she was picnicking there.
There has even been a book written about him!
Bought three Islamic malas yesterday in a charity shop as a set. These have 99 beads to recite the 100 names of god (the 100th is traditionally only known by camels). If you are a bead counter, then Buddhist and some Hindu necklaces/malas have 108 beads. The ones I prefer have a complete circle without merit accumulators.
On my way to work in the morning I came across what I first thought was a dead Monarch Butterfly lying in the middle of the road, however on close inspection, it was a couple getting down and dirty (having a sexual encounter) ...A more unpleasant climax to what they were expecting popped into my head, one of a car's wheel crushing the mating pair...So I gently picked them up and positioned them safely on the grass verge so they could finish in peace and not in pieces...
In the afternoon I had to go to the City of Sails to pick up my new prescription glasses
it's the only overseas trips I can afford, I always enjoyed the ferry ride over though...Sadly no manta rays, dolphins or orcas spotted on the way over nor coming back ...( Sorry @SpinyNorman )
Oh and I forgot... Whilst in the city I bought some Oolong chocolate tea, and was also given a free sample of "Buddha's Tears" tea to take home ...I tried the Oolong chocolate tea this morning
Hey, all. I'm still alive. Samsara's been, well, samsara. Lots of stuff going on and things I've had to ponder and reflect upon, but I'm none the worse for wear.
@Rowan1980 said:
Hey, all. I'm still alive. Samsara's been, well, samsara. Lots of stuff going on and things I've had to ponder and reflect upon, but I'm none the worse for wear.
Welcome home @Rowan1980 ...How was the Costa Del Samsara ?
Welcome home @Rowan1980 ...How was the Costa Del Samsara ?
Same old, same old.
Well recognition's always a good start ...Did you get to visit the resort area of 'Dukkha' by any chance ? 'Desire' & 'Aversion' are two areas of Dukkha to steer clear of, they are a real rip off.... so "I" have heard
[NB. Lobster is not sponsored by porridge 'r us, Irish Porridge Foundation or other vested interests]
@lobster in Table of Nutritional Information, they have missed a vital ingredient...The eggs, larval (and at times adult) stages of pantry pests, they are an important protein
You would be amazed at the amount of tiny bugs (at different stages of life cycle) can be found in packaged cereal produce.... You are what you eat...Eat well
[NB. Lobster is not sponsored by porridge 'r us, Irish Porridge Foundation or other vested interests]
@lobster in Table of Nutritional Information, they have missed a vital ingredient...The eggs, larval (and at times adult) stages of pantry pests, they are an important protein
You would be amazed at the amount of tiny bugs (at different stages of life cycle) can be found in packaged cereal produce.... You are what you eat...Eat well
Had a friend come visit me at the beach this morning...It plonked itself down on the sand next to me, rolled over on its back and couldn't get upright again, so I gave it a helping hand... ( Some might think having a friend like this, is enough to make one's skin crawl )
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Love this:
"Be like the weather: No matter what happens, IT doesn't give a damn what people think of it."
^^^ Tee Hee. Gonna change my name to 'Whether 2 Lobster' ... maybe ...
Meanwhile saw a Tibetan nun in my local supermarket (Lidl) looking at the luxury easter food treats. A gal after my own heart. We both resisted temptation. We are so virtuous!
I went to open the bathroom window this morning and this little fellow sneaked in and dropped to the floor...It's a native (Celatoblatta) and can't survive long in the inside environment (It's too dry) ...I caught it in a jar and put it outside...
They are quite amazing really...Cockroaches are believed to have reached the peek of their evolution (body structure-wise) some 300 million years ago (according to a cockroach found in resin which is believed to be 300 million years old)
The little buggers are fast movers...The American cockroach ( Periplaneta americana ) is believed to be one of the fastest land creatures for its size, it can move around 1.5 metres per second (well something along those lines)
These new/hybrid magpies with blue feathers, seem to be very common. This one is surveying a new wetland area created near me. Come summer the wildlife is gonna be amazing ... hope to see rare birds ... perhaps even a garuda ...
My new boots from sweat shop supremos Primark, got a good work out, walking almost wading through path. I thought the boots were £16, nope at check out they assured me £8 was correct. Doing my bit to support capitalist exploitation of the worlds poorest
Meanwhile am wasting all my pennies on the new smaller ipad pro from Apple, another exploitative manufacturer ... in girly pink gold and with a 12 mega pixel camera ... too wonderful for a geek to resist ... Dewachan is real (for some). Namo Amitabha.
My new tablet arrived yesterday. Been setting it up. Using it now. Happy geek ...
... meanwhile I guaranteed a sighting of a kingfisher today. We saw him twice. Magic.
Also saw a golden crest and two (for me) unknown birds. Tadpoles in formally dried out ponds and I believe newt spawn.
My new Laughing Budai chocolate mold arrived yesterday and so far I've made two chocolate Budais
Um which reminds me of two important teachings in Buddhism...Form is Emptiness ..."Gulp".... Emptiness is Form Well that's one I think I've got down pat
And as for the other... well.... The Impermanence Nature of All Things including Chocolate Budais
I have started using Opera Coast web browser http://opcoa.st/077kB
on the IPad Pro. Very different. Takes some getting used to. Beginning to rather like it.
For example it suggested this inspirational friendship of a x-marine and ageing child... which I might never have read ... http://opcoa.st/07X05-9b2d0
I spent part of today sunning, beaching and oceaning , but alas Mother Nature and Father Time's Sun (son) has decided to call it a day and is no longer as close as he once was to this fair land and is starting to spend more time elsewhere, he is gradually weaning us off of his warm companionship....
Also the crickets have now joined the cicadas singing a duet as I took my walk this afternoon...Such is life ...Such is the impermanent nature of all component things...But as they say... "A change is as good as a holiday"
"In Spring hundreds of flowers-In Summer refreshing breeze-In Autumn the moon- Free your mind from idle thoughts and for you everyday is a good day!"
I was walking into the village ( taking my as new, secondhand SPCA shop $4 skechers shape ups for a test run)...On the way my eye consciousness came in contact with a form of a young man (in his early 20s) barefooted carrying a brown bottle walking slowly in the same direction as myself...
My first impression was he looked wasted and was no doubt walking off last night's drinking session hangover, using the hair of the dog (the brown bottle he was carrying and drinking out of) but as I came closer, I saw it was not a beer bottle. but the kind of bottle used to make home made juices...
However his eyes had a friendly glazed over look about them...He spoke first, commenting on it being 'a nice Sunday'...I smiled and said 'every day's a nice day-the day's been wasted if we think that it's not ' ...He smiled then blow me away by saying 'Blessing to you , may peace be in your heart'...I said "Thank you and may the same be with you"...I then asked if he would be on the island next Sunday as Geshe-La a Tibetan Lama who visits the island, is giving a Dharma talk at a local hall, I gave him the time of the talk and then with a smile we parted company ...
He, in deep contemplation (maybe a little stoned or tripping or neither.... who knows???) and I, revving up my Skechers and burning up the bitumen...All the while thinking what a nice pleasant young man he was...
I walked home along the Thames from London Bridge yesterday. Not many tourist pics, enjoyed the boats, locals (look as if they need a holiday) tourists (happy to be on holiday) ... same place different mentality.
tech details: took the pics often with zoom, transferred to iPad Pro and used iMovie to join, add some sound, music, filter, then uploaded to youtube and added 'stabilise'.
Walking back from the village, taking the Esplanade route, walking towards me were a young Argentinean couple, the young man was gently holding a Monarch butterfly that had landed on him...I asked if I could take a photo.
He not only obliged me with a photo, he offered the butterfly to me, which I gracefully accepted.
However it fluttered off my finger and onto my flowery top, and there it remained like a brooch on my top all the way home.
Yesterday I had some sad news that a dear friend had died, she had been quite ill for a number of years, so I decide to pay my respects to her partner (I still had the butterfly with me), so I get into the car and drove to my friend's place, however her partner was not home, so I took the butterfly to her garden area and gently allowed it to crawl onto a plant, and by this time its 'solar panel wings' had warmed up, and it soon took to the air...A fitting send off for a dear friend.....:)
Oh what a pleasant surprise I got as I walked out of my driveway on my way to work this morning...
A pair of Eastern Rosellas just chilling on the above phone line (they even put on a little dance for me)....On rare ocassions I've seen the pair perched on the wooden frame structure supporting the upstairs deck, just by my kitchen window, however, by the time I get my camera ready they have taken off...
It's been a very colourful week this week what with the Rosellas this morning plus my earlier encounter with the friendly Monarch butterfly
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Well, we had snow last night....... "Oh to be in England now that April's there....!" Back to winter woolies and thermal undergarments - !!
1
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited April 2016
I would welcome a root or tuber of the Colocasia Esculenta 'Black Magic' plant. It's also known as 'Black Taro' or 'Elephant's ears'. Can't find a tuber or plant here in the UK for love (N)OR money, but apparently they are available in the USA....
Can anyone help?
Will gladly pay costs, postage/shipping and package....
0
silverIn the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded.USA, Left coast.Veteran
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Thanks, but I'm in the uk, and it clearly states "May not ship to the UK"...
0
silverIn the beginning there was nothing, and then it exploded.USA, Left coast.Veteran
Oh, didn't see that.
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
I found some 'available' in the UK - but in reality they're all shipped from the USA and the cost is totally prohibitive... Around £17.00 per tuber with over £11.00 postage.
As ocean kayakers we are pretty much used to camping with bears. There is frankly much easier ways for 99% of the bears to survive than on chowing down on humans.
But......
as we are probably soon coming up to our hundredth potential bear contact,
Jan says when that particular bear shows up, her tripping me as we try to run away will surely be accidental.
Gotta love that woman.
4
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
edited May 2016
Two Naturalist photographers are hiding out in the long grass on the Serengeti plain, photographing and filming a pride of Lions...
Suddenly, one canny female lifts her head, sniffs several times, then turns her gaze, directly on them.
("Uh-oh...." they both think....)
Without shifting her look, the lioness slowly gets up, and begins slowly walking towards them, with that tell-tale shoulder-blade action....
One photographer (well call her....Oh, I dunno....Jan?) gets up slowly, and without taking her eyes off the slowly-approaching lioness, flips off her sandals, and rummaging around in her bag, pulls out her Nike trainers...
"What the hell are you doing?!" asks her partner, How, "You ain't never gonna outrun a lioness!"
"No," replied Jan, in a low voice, but all I have to do is outrun you...."
Lately my grown stepdaughter has been helping out friends, a family where the husband is very sick and has been in the hospital for a while. The wife is practically living there and they have two young kids that my stepdaughter has been babysitting on the weekends. For all her faults, my stepdaughter has a compassionate heart and tries to help people.
Friday my stepdaughter came down with rash all over, small bumps that itch terribly. Doctor told her that she had chickenpox. She called her friend up, who said, "Oh, I've been meaning to call you. My kids came down with chickenpox Monday so my brother has been keeping them since they couldn't go to school."
I'm amazed that my stepdaughter never had chickenpox or apparently the vaccinations, but she came from a very troubled childhood and her mother is dead so we'll never know. Of more concern is, those kids are well past the age to be vaccinated. It appears the idiot parents were anti-vaxers. And of course the kids had to catch it from another kid at school whose parents also are anti-vaxers.
Modern medicine can perform miracles, but can't fix stupid.
The other day two mating jays (colourful raven family) flew directly towards us. Unusual behavour. One of the jays flew and attacked a young guys face. He was relatively unhurt but shocked.
The biggest land mammals we have around are all gone, apart from the ape family I belong to ...
0
federicaSeeker of the clear blue sky...Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubtModerator
Lately my grown stepdaughter has been helping out friends, a family where the husband is very sick and has been in the hospital for a while. The wife is practically living there and they have two young kids that my stepdaughter has been babysitting on the weekends. For all her faults, my stepdaughter has a compassionate heart and tries to help people.
Friday my stepdaughter came down with rash all over, small bumps that itch terribly. Doctor told her that she had chickenpox. She called her friend up, who said, "Oh, I've been meaning to call you. My kids came down with chickenpox Monday so my brother has been keeping them since they couldn't go to school."
I'm amazed that my stepdaughter never had chickenpox or apparently the vaccinations, but she came from a very troubled childhood and her mother is dead so we'll never know. Of more concern is, those kids are well past the age to be vaccinated. It appears the idiot parents were anti-vaxers. And of course the kids had to catch it from another kid at school whose parents also are anti-vaxers.
Modern medicine can perform miracles, but can't fix stupid.
Oh, I dunno...it's amazing what a full-frontal lobotomy can do....
I'm surprised to read that Robert de Niro is an anti-vaxer, convinced his son has autism because of it.
I would have thought him more intelligent than that.
So, Robert de Niro's son has autism. One of mine does too. But, it did not come from a vaccination. I seriously doubt his son developed autism as a result of a vaccination. The study linking vaccinations to autism has been debunked and debunked and debunked.
It is amazing how a little bad science just won't go away.
That reminds me, on another front: South Florida is in serious danger of being reduced to a relatively small archipelago of mangrove islands because the governor and a few others in high places refuse to admit that we are going through climate change and/or that the sea level is rising. The only ones that appear to be prepared for this seem to be the good people of the Netherlands.
Of course, some are looking forward to the opening of the North-West Passage.
Don't count on the polar bears, walruses and seals or (on the Southern front) the penguins to be overjoyed with that news.
Hey @shoshin - my wife's uncle "Stoney" is leaving the island permanently to move to the Coromandel.
Apparently the whole island is invited to the farewell party!
You might want to get along. It will be a fair shindig!!
Comments
Have you been to Tiritiri Matangi @shoshin? Well worth a look if you haven't.
http://www.tiritirimatangi.org.nz/
@Bunks back in the mid 80s through to the mid 90s I was a member of the NZ Entomological society and one of our many excursions ( hunt for new species of insect) was to Tiritiri Matangi, it's a beautiful island, I remember the friendly takahē wandering around with no fear of humans...
It started about a week ago, a guy plays the Japanese flute sitting on his deck across the valley, every afternoon as the sun goes down... Very relaxing, soothing, serene ...Sorry about the poor sound quality of the video, I can hear it clearly....There are the cicadas singing along to the flute.... can't get better than that
^^^ Very nice
I can hear the sun shining, the birds, a small plane, cars and people stirring. We do have our preferences. Flute is one of mine ...
Ah, yes @shoshin. The Takahe. There was (is?) a famous one on the island called Greg who stole my mother's lunch while she was picnicking there.
There has even been a book written about him!
Bought three Islamic malas yesterday in a charity shop as a set. These have 99 beads to recite the 100 names of god (the 100th is traditionally only known by camels). If you are a bead counter, then Buddhist and some Hindu necklaces/malas have 108 beads. The ones I prefer have a complete circle without merit accumulators.
OM MANI PEME ALLAH
A busy day yesterday......
On my way to work in the morning I came across what I first thought was a dead Monarch Butterfly lying in the middle of the road, however on close inspection, it was a couple getting down and dirty (having a sexual encounter) ...A more unpleasant climax to what they were expecting popped into my head, one of a car's wheel crushing the mating pair...So I gently picked them up and positioned them safely on the grass verge so they could finish in peace and not in pieces...
In the afternoon I had to go to the City of Sails to pick up my new prescription glasses
)
it's the only overseas trips I can afford, I always enjoyed the ferry ride over though...Sadly no manta rays, dolphins or orcas spotted on the way over nor coming back ...( Sorry @SpinyNorman
And walking up Queen Street (Auckland's main high street-the opticians' shop is there) it turns out there was a big fashion show was going on, they had blocked off the street to traffic, I had to weave my way through the crowns to get to the shop...
Here's a news article and short video clip about the event.....
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/longest-catwalk-in-new-zealand-shuts-down-aucklands-main-street
Oh and I forgot... Whilst in the city I bought some Oolong chocolate tea, and was also given a free sample of "Buddha's Tears" tea to take home
...I tried the Oolong chocolate tea this morning 
Hey, all. I'm still alive. Samsara's been, well, samsara. Lots of stuff going on and things I've had to ponder and reflect upon, but I'm none the worse for wear.
Welcome home @Rowan1980 ...How was the Costa Del Samsara ?
Just found out my local supermarket have my favourite jumbo porridge oats - yum
http://www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/flahavans-organic-jumbo-oats-1kg
[NB. Lobster is not sponsored by porridge 'r us, Irish Porridge Foundation or other vested interests]
Same old, same old.
Well recognition's always a good start
...Did you get to visit the resort area of 'Dukkha' by any chance ? 'Desire' & 'Aversion' are two areas of Dukkha to steer clear of, they are a real rip off.... so "I" have heard 
@lobster in Table of Nutritional Information, they have missed a vital ingredient...The eggs, larval (and at times adult) stages of pantry pests, they are an important protein
You would be amazed at the amount of tiny bugs (at different stages of life cycle) can be found in packaged cereal produce.... You are what you eat...Eat well
YUM! Especially with all that added protein.
When a humorist passes, the world is poorer for it.
Had a friend come visit me at the beach this morning...It plonked itself down on the sand next to me, rolled over on its back and couldn't get upright again, so I gave it a helping hand... ( Some might think having a friend like this, is enough to make one's skin crawl
)
Love this:
"Be like the weather: No matter what happens, IT doesn't give a damn what people think of it."
^^^ Tee Hee. Gonna change my name to 'Whether 2 Lobster' ... maybe ...
Meanwhile saw a Tibetan nun in my local supermarket (Lidl) looking at the luxury easter food treats. A gal after my own heart. We both resisted temptation. We are so virtuous!
I went to open the bathroom window this morning and this little fellow sneaked in and dropped to the floor...It's a native (Celatoblatta) and can't survive long in the inside environment (It's too dry) ...I caught it in a jar and put it outside...
They are quite amazing really...Cockroaches are believed to have reached the peek of their evolution (body structure-wise) some 300 million years ago (according to a cockroach found in resin which is believed to be 300 million years old)
The little buggers are fast movers...The American cockroach ( Periplaneta americana ) is believed to be one of the fastest land creatures for its size, it can move around 1.5 metres per second (well something along those lines)
Does a cockroach have Buddha-nature?
Only the ones that don't cause suffering (by infesting the interior of homes/buildings) .... as for the others...well they are just cockroaches
These new/hybrid magpies with blue feathers, seem to be very common. This one is surveying a new wetland area created near me. Come summer the wildlife is gonna be amazing ... hope to see rare birds ... perhaps even a garuda ...
My new boots from sweat shop supremos Primark, got a good work out, walking almost wading through path. I thought the boots were £16, nope at check out they assured me £8 was correct. Doing my bit to support capitalist exploitation of the worlds poorest
Meanwhile am wasting all my pennies on the new smaller ipad pro from Apple, another exploitative manufacturer ... in girly pink gold and with a 12 mega pixel camera ... too wonderful for a geek to resist ... Dewachan is real (for some). Namo Amitabha.
A useless joke:
The president of Russia goes on vacation in Europe. At a border crossing:
Customs Official: "Your Name, please?"
Putin: "Vladimir Putin."
Customs Official: "Occupation?"
Putin: "No, just visiting."
My new tablet arrived yesterday. Been setting it up. Using it now. Happy geek ...
... meanwhile I guaranteed a sighting of a kingfisher today. We saw him twice. Magic.
Also saw a golden crest and two (for me) unknown birds. Tadpoles in formally dried out ponds and I believe newt spawn.
My new Laughing Budai chocolate mold arrived yesterday and so far I've made two chocolate Budais
Um which reminds me of two important teachings in Buddhism...Form is Emptiness ..."Gulp".... Emptiness is Form Well that's one I think I've got down pat
And as for the other... well.... The Impermanence Nature of All Things including Chocolate Budais
I have started using Opera Coast web browser
http://opcoa.st/077kB
on the IPad Pro. Very different. Takes some getting used to. Beginning to rather like it.
For example it suggested this inspirational friendship of a x-marine and ageing child... which I might never have read ...
http://opcoa.st/07X05-9b2d0
I spent part of today sunning, beaching and oceaning , but alas Mother Nature and Father Time's Sun (son) has decided to call it a day and is no longer as close as he once was to this fair land and is starting to spend more time elsewhere, he is gradually weaning us off of his warm companionship....
Also the crickets have now joined the cicadas singing a duet as I took my walk this afternoon...Such is life ...Such is the impermanent nature of all component things...But as they say... "A change is as good as a holiday"
"In Spring hundreds of flowers-In Summer refreshing breeze-In Autumn the moon- Free your mind from idle thoughts and for you everyday is a good day!"
^^^
Tee Hee.
That is the best description of meditating without meditating I have heard in a while. Meditation iz holiday. I can do holiday!
... meanwhile in the real world (where ever that is) I am off to make sure the sky is still in place ...
I was walking into the village ( taking my as new, secondhand SPCA shop $4 skechers shape ups for a test run)...On the way my eye consciousness came in contact with a form of a young man (in his early 20s) barefooted carrying a brown bottle walking slowly in the same direction as myself...
My first impression was he looked wasted and was no doubt walking off last night's drinking session hangover, using the hair of the dog (the brown bottle he was carrying and drinking out of) but as I came closer, I saw it was not a beer bottle. but the kind of bottle used to make home made juices...
However his eyes had a friendly glazed over look about them...He spoke first, commenting on it being 'a nice Sunday'...I smiled and said 'every day's a nice day-the day's been wasted if we think that it's not ' ...He smiled then blow me away by saying 'Blessing to you , may peace be in your heart'...I said "Thank you and may the same be with you"...I then asked if he would be on the island next Sunday as Geshe-La a Tibetan Lama who visits the island, is giving a Dharma talk at a local hall, I gave him the time of the talk and then with a smile we parted company ...
He, in deep contemplation (maybe a little stoned or tripping or neither.... who knows???) and I, revving up my Skechers and burning up the bitumen...All the while thinking what a nice pleasant young man he was...
Nice meeting @Shoshin
I walked home along the Thames from London Bridge yesterday. Not many tourist pics, enjoyed the boats, locals (look as if they need a holiday) tourists (happy to be on holiday) ... same place different mentality.
tech details: took the pics often with zoom, transferred to iPad Pro and used iMovie to join, add some sound, music, filter, then uploaded to youtube and added 'stabilise'.
Walking back from the village, taking the Esplanade route, walking towards me were a young Argentinean couple, the young man was gently holding a Monarch butterfly that had landed on him...I asked if I could take a photo.
He not only obliged me with a photo, he offered the butterfly to me, which I gracefully accepted.
However it fluttered off my finger and onto my flowery top, and there it remained like a brooch on my top all the way home.
Yesterday I had some sad news that a dear friend had died, she had been quite ill for a number of years, so I decide to pay my respects to her partner (I still had the butterfly with me), so I get into the car and drove to my friend's place, however her partner was not home, so I took the butterfly to her garden area and gently allowed it to crawl onto a plant, and by this time its 'solar panel wings' had warmed up, and it soon took to the air...A fitting send off for a dear friend.....:)
We are where we are.
Our luggage is another story altogether
I iz (almost) film director. Here is a trailer for my debut 'chick flick', filmed entirely on location, this afternoon ...
Oh what a pleasant surprise I got as I walked out of my driveway on my way to work this morning...
A pair of Eastern Rosellas just chilling on the above phone line (they even put on a little dance for me)....On rare ocassions I've seen the pair perched on the wooden frame structure supporting the upstairs deck, just by my kitchen window, however, by the time I get my camera ready they have taken off...
It's been a very colourful week this week what with the Rosellas this morning plus my earlier encounter with the friendly Monarch butterfly
Well, we had snow last night....... "Oh to be in England now that April's there....!" Back to winter woolies and thermal undergarments - !!
I would welcome a root or tuber of the Colocasia Esculenta 'Black Magic' plant. It's also known as 'Black Taro' or 'Elephant's ears'. Can't find a tuber or plant here in the UK for love (N)OR money, but apparently they are available in the USA....
Can anyone help?
Will gladly pay costs, postage/shipping and package....
I've seen the green version but not with the blackish tone like the one in your picture. They are all over the place here - the green ones of course. I'll see what I can google around here. They have them on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Colocasia-esculenta-Black-Magic-Elephant-Ear-/262284537488
Thanks, but I'm in the uk, and it clearly states "May not ship to the UK"...
Oh, didn't see that.
I found some 'available' in the UK - but in reality they're all shipped from the USA and the cost is totally prohibitive... Around £17.00 per tuber with over £11.00 postage.
A great secluded lunch spot today after a couple of hours of steep climbing away from
Vancouver.
@how
Are you and your wife on the menu for lunch? .....For the population of black bears that roam around there
@Shoshin
As ocean kayakers we are pretty much used to camping with bears. There is frankly much easier ways for 99% of the bears to survive than on chowing down on humans.
But......
as we are probably soon coming up to our hundredth potential bear contact,
Jan says when that particular bear shows up, her tripping me as we try to run away will surely be accidental.
Gotta love that woman.
Two Naturalist photographers are hiding out in the long grass on the Serengeti plain, photographing and filming a pride of Lions...
Suddenly, one canny female lifts her head, sniffs several times, then turns her gaze, directly on them.
("Uh-oh...." they both think....)
Without shifting her look, the lioness slowly gets up, and begins slowly walking towards them, with that tell-tale shoulder-blade action....
One photographer (well call her....Oh, I dunno....Jan?) gets up slowly, and without taking her eyes off the slowly-approaching lioness, flips off her sandals, and rummaging around in her bag, pulls out her Nike trainers...
"What the hell are you doing?!" asks her partner, How, "You ain't never gonna outrun a lioness!"
"No," replied Jan, in a low voice, but all I have to do is outrun you...."
Karma works in strange ways...
Lately my grown stepdaughter has been helping out friends, a family where the husband is very sick and has been in the hospital for a while. The wife is practically living there and they have two young kids that my stepdaughter has been babysitting on the weekends. For all her faults, my stepdaughter has a compassionate heart and tries to help people.
Friday my stepdaughter came down with rash all over, small bumps that itch terribly. Doctor told her that she had chickenpox. She called her friend up, who said, "Oh, I've been meaning to call you. My kids came down with chickenpox Monday so my brother has been keeping them since they couldn't go to school."
I'm amazed that my stepdaughter never had chickenpox or apparently the vaccinations, but she came from a very troubled childhood and her mother is dead so we'll never know. Of more concern is, those kids are well past the age to be vaccinated. It appears the idiot parents were anti-vaxers. And of course the kids had to catch it from another kid at school whose parents also are anti-vaxers.
Modern medicine can perform miracles, but can't fix stupid.
How wonderful.
The other day two mating jays (colourful raven family) flew directly towards us. Unusual behavour. One of the jays flew and attacked a young guys face. He was relatively unhurt but shocked.
The biggest land mammals we have around are all gone, apart from the ape family I belong to ...
Oh, I dunno...it's amazing what a full-frontal lobotomy can do....
I'm surprised to read that Robert de Niro is an anti-vaxer, convinced his son has autism because of it.
I would have thought him more intelligent than that.
So, Robert de Niro's son has autism. One of mine does too. But, it did not come from a vaccination. I seriously doubt his son developed autism as a result of a vaccination. The study linking vaccinations to autism has been debunked and debunked and debunked.
It is amazing how a little bad science just won't go away.
That reminds me, on another front: South Florida is in serious danger of being reduced to a relatively small archipelago of mangrove islands because the governor and a few others in high places refuse to admit that we are going through climate change and/or that the sea level is rising.
The only ones that appear to be prepared for this seem to be the good people of the Netherlands. 
Of course, some are looking forward to the opening of the North-West Passage.
Don't count on the polar bears, walruses and seals or (on the Southern front) the penguins to be overjoyed with that news.
Peace to all
Hey @shoshin - my wife's uncle "Stoney" is leaving the island permanently to move to the Coromandel.
Apparently the whole island is invited to the farewell party!
You might want to get along. It will be a fair shindig!!