Night Dives

I was really unsure about them at first.  Afraid of the dark, but underwater.  Now I love them.  I may even prefer them to daytime dives.

Giant moray going out on a hunt

I love how the daytime fish go find a hole in which they can spend the night.  Parrotfish enrobe themselves in a bubble to protect their fishy scent from attracting the patroling moray eels and sharks.

remnants of a parrot fish's mucus bubble

On morning dives, we will sometimes come across the remnants of those mucus bubbles.

Feather stars starting the show

The feather stars come out at night as well.  They look like an underwater Las Vegas floor show!

basket star

 Basket stars are even more amazing.  I keep having to remind myself that they are animals, not plants.

The man of the place and I had one particularly great dive at dusk during our trip.  We saw dolphins and sharks almost at the same time.

bottlenose dolphins

silky shark

Diving Again!

So, I wasn't just ignoring my blog again after promising that I would be much more faithful about writing.  I was out of town!

Google Map view of where we were

I was in Egypt doing some dives with The Man of the Place.  We were also there to visit George who has been there since December.  He has had some time to establish himself down there with a bit of credit.

Tracy, Luke and George

 We thought we'd undermine that.

Tracy in charge of two goofs

We tried to keep the safari trip as a surprise for George but he inadvertently found out.  We took him away from his dive guide and desk duties for a week and went on the boat Emperor Asmaa.

The ship's route was the southern Red Sea near the border with Sudan.  There are exquisite corals and pristine dives to be had on this route.

Someday, I'd love to dive in the Red Sea further south in Sudan but I can't the political climate won't allow it.  I'll just have to wait here until there is peace.

Yes, we saw sharks.  We saw white tipped reef sharks, oceanic white tipped sharks, grey reef sharks, and silky sharks.  We also saw some bottlenose dolphins and loads of moray eels.

Two firsts for me were smaller, less glamorous fish.  I knew what I was seeing as soon as I saw them! I certainly wrote notes in the margins of my field guide and lots of exclamation points in my dive log.

I saw the exquisite Oranghead butterflyfish - Chaetodon lavatus

Orangehead Butterflyfish - not my photo

and the Whitehead butterflyfish - Chaetodon mesoleucos

Whitehead butterflyfish - not my photo

Both were seen toward the end of the diving holiday and I was thrilled to see them.
Another treat was this little sea slug or nudibranch, the Red Sea Nembrotha.

Red Sea Nembrotha - Nembrotha megalocera

 It was right on the sand just as I was descending on the first dive of the day.  I know this isn't very exciting to non-fish nerds so here is something exciting!
The Man of the Place and I did a dive at dusk.  The daytime fish were going to bed, the anemones were curling up and the nighttime creatures were starting their day.

The first exciting thing happened when my husband was pointing out something to me and two bottlenose dolphins swam right under him.  "Never mind about the fish, DOLPHINS!"

bottlenose dolphins

Silky shark in the distance

Literally a minute later two silky sharks swam by!  That was about the extent of our shark encounters this trip.  Sharks swam by us with no interest in us whatsoever.

Bird Ringing Demonstration

Because my good friend Sybil came out and helped ring our baby swallows, I have been made aware of what the British Trust for Ornithology or BTO does to track birds in the UK and Europe.

I found out there was a bird ringing demonstration at a local wildlife reserve.  It was a dry and bright Saturday morning and I went along with my camera and binoculars.

I was familiar with the basics of putting rings on birds.

Set up mist nets where you think birds will be

Mist net

Catch birds in a mist net and put the birds in a clean, cotton bag.  One bird per bag please

Coal Tit with next bird in a bag

Get blackbirds out of the mist net immediately as they can get their tongues caught in the nets and be double tangled.

Male Blackbird getting measured

2. Weigh them and measure wings. Try to determine sex and age.

Reed Warbler getting wings measured

3. Write all the information down

Male Chaffinch getting inspected

4. Put a numbered ring on the bird's leg and add that number to the information

Robin being documented

5. Let the bird go

I was there for over an hour watching them pluck birds from the nets, talking to other people and inspecting the area.  I had a good time.  The staff and volunteers at the reserve are charming.  You know what?  They know their birds too.

The club that rings birds was ringing the birds was separate from the reserve itself.  I have tried to convince them that they should come out to our place and ring the visitors to my feeders.  Turns out they are really busy and have plenty of gardens available.  My little birds are competing with the Bass Rock gannets and the puffins at Ailsa Craig.

Grandsons are perfect!

Grandmotherly pride has been restricted to social media for almost the last two years.  Highlights have seeped onto the blog when my exuberance overflows.  Today it bubbles over again.

Lennox who lives in Chicago is going to be two next month.  He will be two freaking years old on the 10th of March!  I sure wish I could be there to celebrate with him.

He has grown to be just exactly what I expected, extremely bright, gifted with just a dash of precociousness.  He is such a good-natured little guy and he charms all he meets.  He loves to sing and bend his family to his will.

Big help with cooking!

Lennox also loves to cook.  It is adorable to watch him sprinkle imaginary spices into what he is creating.

Jack, the Scottish grandchild follows with his second birthday in April.

Look at this cherub!  Those curls have wrapped right around my heart.

He is also quite advanced for his tender age.  Look, if you think I am going to be even slightly restrained when it comes to my grandchildren, guess again.

Jack has the most wonderful sense of fun and a tiny flair for drama has been poking through.  He is also showing signs of being a tidy and organised little child.

I am so very very happy that my life includes these two beautiful children.

The thing I discovered when I became a mother myself is how ferociously you love your child.  I discovered when the second child came along that love expands to fill the need.  You don't love your first child less because a second one has showed up, your ability to love grows to encompass the new child.  The genius thing is that it works over and over again.  I have yet to run out!

This is brilliant because it is going to need to grow again!

I am making this baby quilt for the grandchild that is expected to arrive in June!  Each child has had a quilt from Nana.   Lennox's mother selected the colours with me for this project.  I have finished the top and am now at the very long and involved process of hand quilting it all together.

There are loads of squares left over from this quilt and the two that I made before.  It was suggested that I make a Nana's quilt out of these.  That's a brilliant idea!  I think I'll be making up the blocks soon!  Here's the big question though. . . . when I do stop?  If I complete it and then "surprise" another is on the way. . . this child's quilt will not be in the Nana quilt.  I'll worry about that later.  I have sewing to do.

The Record Collector

The Man of The Place is a committed vinyl junkie.  He has a large and diverse record collection that is the work of a lifetime.

It was obvious a few years ago that the shelves that he built in 1992 were no longer enough.  We had small stacks of records on the floor leaning against the shelves as there was no more room.

There used to be room, but over the years, that shelf space shrank.  To prevent records from being squished, an annex to the shelves was made.

As you can see, to the left there was a bit of space for the shelves to stretch out.

Now the shelf annex is done and the records are off the floor.  Look!  There's space!

This means that there doesn't have to be a lull in the acquisition of more records.  Not that there ever was.

Yesterday we found ourselves in Stirling dropping Polly off to have her knee fixed.  After saying goodbye to our dog we trundled to the centre of town and Europa Music.

The front of the store looks like every music store that I've been to before. In addition to CDs there are Beatles mugs, band t-shirts, bongs, etc.  The USP that draws my husband is the back room.

This back room is not the place to go if you are hunting for a specific album.  It is a place to flick through stacks and stacks of cool but unsorted records to find one that you don't have and have always wanted.

Here are a few action shots.

The 45s under one of the tables - Notice there is somebody's old 45s carrying case that was exclusively for Status Quo singles.

Over in the back is the World Music...stretch!

He has a recurring dream in which he is in a record store just like this.  A bit of a jumble and there are boxes of records that are undiscovered gems.

In this dream,  The Man of the Place gets a dusty box down and discovers a single with a picture sleeve.  It is REM doing a cover version of The Crusher by The Cramps.  At this point he is woken and the thrill of discovery swiftly changes to sadness.  It was all a dream and REM never did a cover of The Crusher. 

I asked if he liked having somebody in there with him.  This way he could have somebody with him when he finds a brilliant album "Look at this!  I used to have it, but the first wife kept it during the divorce." or if he preferred to be by himself.  

He thanked me for my sensitivity but this flipping through records activity is really best done alone.  

I took the three that had already been selected up through to the front of the shop.  I told the staff that these were for the vinyl junkie in the back room and that if or when he surfaced, I wouldn't be far away having my lunch.  It felt like record collector day care.

Good Insulation!

We had snow last night. This afternoon when coming back from work we were delighted to see so much snow still on the roof.

Having looked out the window this morning, we still have loads of snow up there.

This means - we have the right amount of insulation!

I love living here.  The few snowy days that we get remind me that we are very very fortunate! 

Personal Uniform

When it comes to winter clothing, I have developed a uniform.  Long sleeved black turtle neck sweater and jeans.  I wear this almost every day.  If it is colder than normal, I will add an additional sweater.  If I'm going out, I put on some lipstick, put in earrings add a scarf and I'm good to go.

Last month, Henry asked if I wanted to go clothes shopping. Perhaps he was worried that I had been wearing the same thing for a bit.  I took pains to reassure him that I have more than one black turtle-neck sweater and wasn't wearing the same garment every day.  I'm actually okay for clothes.  I have plenty.  In fact, I have more than I need. Because I have decided on a regular winter wardrobe, there are a lot of winter clothes that may never see the light of day again.  They'll be going into the local charity shop drop box soon.

The summer wardrobe is much more colourful as I have not formulated an opinion on summer clothes yet.  Despite wearing black a lot in the winter, I adore colour. Wearing bright orange in the summer makes me happy even if it isn't flattering.

I never made a conscience decision to just wear black turtle-necks.  It just grew over time.  Now years on, I have four or five  (I think...I've never counted).  Knowing what I am going to wear every day, takes the guess work and trauma out of getting dressed.  If one gets dirty while cooking or if I slop something on my front, I just change into a clean one and keep going.

I realised last week that Steve Jobs also did this and delving deeper there are others/  It does just release you from so much of what the fashion industry throws at a person. Find what you like, get a bunch of them and just wear that.  If you like it and are convinced that it is a flattering garment then . . . . then nuts to everything else.  

Birds Birds Birds

When I first started this blog many years ago, I wrote a list of the bird visitors to the place.

Here is the list for 2014

Chaffinch - most common and frequent visitor to the garden

female chaffinch

Blue tit

Coal tit

coal tit

Robin

Dunnock

Great Tit

Blackbird

Greenfinch

green finch

Goldfinch

Bullfinch

Pheasant

male pheasant

Siskin

male Siskin

Redpoll

House sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Tree sparrows

Great Spotted Woodpecker

Tree creeper

Nuthatch

Brambling

Wood warbler

Wood pigeon

Stock dove

Crow

Jackdaw

Buzzard

Swallow

Swift

Pied wagtail

Grey wagtail

Wren

Starling

Collared dove

Jay

Jay

Tawny owl

Barn owl

Heron

Barnacle goose

Curlew

Cuckoo 

trio of red sqirrels

 We also had visits from red squirrels.  I love them too!

 We've had an increase in the number of birds and an increase in the wildlife. We do miss the thrushes. The Mistle thrush and Song thrush have not been here in a bit and the lapwing that used to be in the field has not come back.

New Baby - New Tree

In March and April of 2013, I became a grandmother to two exquisite children.  Lennox and Jack.  They are the delights of my life!  I adore being a grandmother.

When my daughters-in-law told me that they were expecting and that our family was going to grow, then and there I made a decision.  No advice!  I was going to trust them to raise their own children.

Even though my own children are grown, I still get advice on how to raise them.   I can't remember any unasked for advice being helpful.  This unsolicited advice also smelled of criticism.  So I am not going to go down that road.

If I don't give advice, I certainly will never criticize!  Laura and Medea are loving, smart and sensible mothers.  They are both amazing parents.  I am so thrilled that my grandchildren have such wonderful beginnings in life. If they want my input, they know they can ask.  In the meantime, I'm going to keep my damn mouth closed.

I feel my job as Nana is to provide support, encouragement, gifts and love.  The hard part is down to the parents.

When the boys were born, an apple tree was planted on their behalf in the garden.  It follows a tradition that began when George was tiny and we planted a walnut tree for him.  I planted two Bramley's Seedling apple trees in celebration of the safe arrival of the grandsons.   I already had a James Grieve and a Discovery apple tree.  Both of those varieties are pollinators for the Bramley.  The Bramley cooking apple needs two pollinators to grow fruit  So now, I've got the set.  See how it all works out?

Four apple trees is plenty for any private garden.  I've got two trees that grow eating apples and two trees that grow cooking apples.  We're set for apple trees.  Maybe one year, We'll have too many apples!   I also have a Victoria plum tree that is coming along slowly.  I bought it at the supermarket one year . . . It's still alive and fruiting so it can stay.

I also have a cherry tree.  It has been sickly and not right ever since we planted it almost 18 years ago.  We have never eaten a single damned cherry from this tree and every year, I say I am going to cut it down and plant something else.  That may happen now.   I need the room.  I have to plant another tree!  My eldest son and his wife are expecting child number two in June.  Yipee! More babies to love!

After getting rid of the blighted cherry tree, I will be prepare the ground for the next tree.  

Core muscles

It turns out everybody has them.  Who knew?

I took up this suggestion by one of my friends.  I am to hold this position for as long as I can. Beginning in the shallow end of the pool I am to hold the position for 20 seconds working up to a minute.

the core muscles under attack are highlighted in orange

I've  worked my way up to 40 seconds so far.  I thought it was going to be a doddle.  It isn't.  It's been almost a week now of holding this position for half a minute.  I can actually feel the muscles that were happily residing in  my body with no complaints.  Because I am now aware of muscles that I was previously unaware must mean that this simple thing is doing some good.  I am gaining benefit.  I actually like having toned muscles.  They feel good.  I just hate exercise.

One of two things may happen with this easy non-aerobic exercise. I will continue to strengthen these core muscles.  Having started I may be inspired to move more and take even more exercise or I make a half-hearted, post-holiday effort and then stop.

Start as you mean to go on

Today I ensured all the smoke detectors in the house had new batteries,  cleaned the refrigerator and

made bagels.

The Man of the Place is a creature of habit.  He has a cinnamon raisin bagel almost every morning for breakfast.  Yesterday the last one was toasted and we were officially out of bagels. (insert ominous sound here)

We have become accustomed to living out of town and prefer it to any other sort of life.  This means that we have become very organised when it comes to ordinary supplies.  I have a little method for ensuring that we never run out of toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, light bulbs and other things that make modern life pleasant.  I also have become adept at not running out of food staples.  If we ever get caught out and find we don't have something in that we need, there are a couple of choices.  We can do without, drive all the way in to the nearest town for it or make it our own damn self.

A bagel is not a staple for life.  It is a "nice to have" rather than a "need to have".  I knew there were only a few left but chose to ignore it when we were in town on Monday.  So when we sliced and toasted the last bagel yesterday, I had a thought.  I'll just make some!

It was my first attempt at bagels.  I looked up a recipe for them in my trusty Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  It was not good.  The instructions included sticking them under the grill! I am not Jewish but I know enough to know that part of the bagel making process includes boiling them. 

Going on-line helped.  I found a good recipe and an accompanying video on YouTube.  Better Homes and Gardens you have let me down.  Please don't do it again.  

The bagels turned out really well!  I haven't had a fresh bagel in years and they were delightful.  I loved the chewy texture of them.  I used more cinnamon and more raisins than the supermarket bagels too.  That's the genius thing about making stuff at home. Sometimes it's better!

I also opened the new bird diary.  I have retired the 2014 bird log to the book shelves along with diaries of other years to be part of the Whitelees nature archive.  A new bird watching year has begun.

I simply write down all the different species of bird that I see in the garden.  I write them down in the order that I see them. Sometimes I will indicate the number of each species. I also will log birds that I can identify by their sound.  There are a number of British birds that I can identify by sound now.  

If a bird entry is out of the ordinary I will highlight the entry in yellow.  So, if I see a swallow for the first time, I will highlight the entry.  Any new bird to me personally or the garden will also get highlighted.  

When the first sparrows returned to the garden after an absence of almost 20 years, that was given a big yellow mark.  I practically had a birdgasm and wanted to put glitter on the page when the tree sparrows showed up.  

I also log red squirrels in the diary.  They get highlighted in pink.  I will write down if it is a male or female if it is known and the number of squirrels seen at one time.  If we get a mole, deer or weasel that's worthy of mentioning as well.  

I note other things in the margins.  If the weather is particularly horrid or if there has been a big snow, I'll mention it.  I will also note when the field next to the house is ploughed, planted or harvested.

There are pages in the old diary with nothing written down. Those are the days when I haven't had time to record what I've seen or we have been away on a holiday.  There are also a couple of days, when I just plain didn't want to do it. Those sorts of blank entry days are rare.

So today there weren't many birds to write down as the weather is so bad.  The wind, which was strong all day is really howling now.  I fully expect to find the feeder on its side in the morning.

Blogging Fail

Well, . . . in 2014, I told myself that I was definitely  going to post more on my blog . . . and I didn't.  I used to put something up on the blog almost every day.

I have not given up on my dear blog, but I certainly suck at posting regularly.

I've had a very mixed year.  I've had some wonderful high points and with one or two sucky low points.

Let's see if I can put this right.

I predict 2015 will be the year of the "do over"

I already know that I will be trying to lose weight.  After losing my job in June - I know, I never said a word on here!  The weight has started creeping up again.  It got worse in October when returning from a trip to visit my son in Chicago, I found that my dog, Polly was lame.  She has surgery scheduled for the 15th of January and is not to go on any walks until after she has healed.  This means that since October,  I have gone on far fewer walks.  I guess I knew that me walking the dog was good in theory, but I actually got more benefit from it than I realised.  Since I can't walk my dog, I've put on loads of weight.  I needed those daily walks as much, if not more than she did.

So, goals for the upcoming year are:  Have a better vegetable garden.  I was given a Rotavator for Christmas to help with this.  That will help with the bulk of the heavy digging.

Get a new job.  It would be nice to have a job that I like and does not cause me quite so much anxiety.

Get back in shape

Post in the blog more


Let's see how we get on then.  :-)

I hope you have a safe and sanitary New Year.  I am probably going to ring in the new year at about 10:30 in my pajamas.