Saturday, 5 February 2011

Saturday morning bees and trees

A cool morning started out with bluegrey mists and rapidly turned into a very Summery day.
Here are three out of 12 very sleepy bees, not frosted just covered in heavy dew, so sleepy I could stroke them.

This one has a collar of parasites, if you click on the picture it will zoom in.
 
Artichokes are flourishing.
 Intense colours in a Livingstone daisy.

 The last few lemons are slowly getting there.
 Arum lilies waiting for a harsh frost to melt them.
 It took half a day to get the old van back up and running its a long story involving not having much space to work in, transmission oil, a punctured tyre and various other obstacles so I won't explain but it is now back on wood gathering duties.
 That is the mission, clear the trees, a few hours before this photo you couldnt see any trees just a jungle of brambles and bracken. Does it look hot - it was baking, I should have worn long sleeves I am a bit tingly this evening.
 Gorse smells wonderful wherever it is.
 Gazenias are settling in after being transplanted in late December.
I should get that wall painted while the weather holds up but the grey bare render really stores the heat unlike the white painted bits.


Thursday, 3 February 2011

England then back to Galicia again

Wonderful to get to the UK for a couple of weeks to see the family again, Callum seems to be enjoying learning Sax.

 There are some lovely footpaths in Sussex if a tad muddy for bike riding at this time of year.
 At the end of the footpaths are sleepy tree lined quiet lanes perfect for getting back in the saddle after a few months with no bikes.
 We had a trip to the coast near Worthing it was bitterly cold, unfortunately the sand dunes were on the other side of the river but the boys enjoyed throwing some stones.
 I timed the crossing back to Spain well there was a very calm sea all the way and lots of sparkles in the sea all night.
Still and hour or two out from Santander and the mountains looked to be covered in snow, it was much harder to see the snow when I drove along the coast though.
 A snap out of the window focused on the tree not the mountain ah well I wish I had had the time to drive up and play.
 The new road marches onward, although the road I am on hardly looks crowded, when that traffic is on the old bits it gets congested very rapidly as the old road goes through endless towns and 30kph limits. The warmth in the sun was wonderful to feel, although it was only 15C I had to put the aircon on for most of the trip.
 In the garden Spring is in the air.
 Why are Physalis fruits so expensive in the shops they are very productive even without much tending, that is the leftovers from half of one plant.
 The scent of Daphne fills the top of the garden, flowers are almost over but the bees are enjoying them.
 The first calibrese ready for my evening meal.
 There are sprouts too but the less said about that the better.
 Bottle brush flowers are less vibrant than last year but still lovely.
 Nicotina have not really stopped flowering since the Summer and still smell lovely in the evening.
 Millions of little flowery things self seeded all over the veg patch it should be a mass of colour in a few months.
 Our one early tomato just coming into flower. I am not convinced it will survive but worth a shot.
 These are strange chilis, eaten raw they taste of nothing but leave my mouth numb, cooked they have a fair bit of flavour but are not really hot.
 These are just evil and hot.
 Ahh I won't even beging to try and spell this one.
 or this.
 My favourite Azalea has been flowering here and there for weeks now.
 Every evening between 3 and 6 bumble bees of various varieties settle on these flowers with their bodies facing to the sunrise, they get dewey or frosted overnight but slowly come to life as the sun rises and just keep on eating as if nothing had happened. They do make forays off to nests every few mins during the day. Its a weird world is bee world and there are no shortage of them, big ones with black rear ends smaller ones with ginger black or grey and several other stripe variations I think about 6 or 7 varieties active in any day is fairly usual.
 Ginger flowers are lovely but don't last long however the follow up goes on and on.
Hiding at the foot of the ginger the marigolds are busy being lovely.
This pink bush thing took a pause from flowering mid autumn but is now back in full bloom again. 
The big red electric thing is back, cables are being changed the supply cuts out for a few minutes a few times a day as they switch from one source to another with no notice and always at just the wrong time, at least there is a big red box this time, sometimes it just goes off for hours with no explanation.
Next on the agenda is tidying up the house, then hopefully some improvements time at the weekend.

Sunday, 2 January 2011

missing holiday

I woke at 5 this morning and for the first time in the festive period I did not have a screaming pain in my ear, or nausea permeating my body; I am not going to try driving yet - still 100% deaf in one ear and its uncomfortable and still affecting my balance I feel totally washed out but definitely improving, I have even eaten food that is not plain boiled rice - marvelous I will be well enough to be back into the joys of assessment on Monday. This seems to be a fairly consistent pattern of being ill as soon as I get a few days off work and I know colleagues and ex colleagues who report similar and years ago as a Primary teacher the same was often reported amongst staff. It does seem rather odd as well as inconvenient, if I can stave off illness week after week while working why does it overwhelm me when I have the chance to do what I love doing? That is the time I need to be fending off illness. Stress is supposed to make us more prone to illness but in my experience work based stress helps us at least stave off the symptoms if not overcome the cause; I guess something in me tells my body it has to keep going if I am at work but once time off arrives it is merely a case of 'I would like to keep going' but I guess I don't internally tag that as essential even though there is fun to be had and a house in urgent need of being sorted out. Its been perfect weather for kayaking, walking or even snorkeling, I missed a chance to make music with friends on the 31st, no doubt Monday will see the wind get up and weeks will pass before tranquility returns. Hopefully that is me well again, at least until my next holiday at Easter.