No I haven't taken up the marshal arts, they look very dangerous to me but I did display great bravery as you will see later in this post. The autumn fruits are plentiful this year. Blackberries not so good but plums, apples, damsons, bilberries and pears are in abundance.
This is what the mush looks like with rolled oats stirred in. I have been eating this once or twice a day for a month and it's not bad. As poofy food goes. Yesterday I decided to cook a steak, I felt a bit queer. I really went to town and made a peppercorn sauce and got some crinkle cut oven chips as a nod towards poofyness. Excellent it was with onions, mushrooms and courgette. Good job I waited till after my haircut or I'd have been chasing Bev round her salon the way I felt this morning.
It was near freezing on our first walk today. The cold helped but then the sun rose. I discarded one layer and decided to go to the Dragonfly pond. I saw two which surprised me. Twice, at this time of year. An Emperor and a smaller something else.
I really like this place as I can drive within half a mile of it on forestry track and it is always quiet.
I spotted this on some, past their best, Rowan berries.
A Seven Spot Ladybird.....I've eyes as good as David Carridine.....When he was alive. I bet he was a Vegan.....He died up to their sort of tricks. Sausages for tea today before I turn into one of them. I did like him in Kung Fu and in the Kill Bill films but when watching the latter I only had eyes for Uma Thurman. A proper film star she is. Enough digression, you have heard my Uma fantasies before. They get stronger as I get weaker. It's not nice getting old. I think back to the thought of a twenty year old apprentice desiring a Hardinge lathe more than a fit hair cutter or Uma. No way. I'd have been ridiculed. For that to happen one would have to have been a Vegan. Suspect I may be turning in old age. More steak required.
I sat around for a while hoping and praying for a Dragonfly to settle close enough for a snap and was rewarded with a first for me. Amazingly I have never got an image of a Glasshopper or a Clicket come to that.
Here it is in all it's Meadow Grasshopper stunningness. It needed stunning. It hopped here and there till I was dizzy so in the end, showing not a morsel of fear, I picked it up and told it to sit and stay. It did which is more than the dogs do.
I'm a happy snapper.
It was near freezing on our first walk today. The cold helped but then the sun rose. I discarded one layer and decided to go to the Dragonfly pond. I saw two which surprised me. Twice, at this time of year. An Emperor and a smaller something else.
I spotted this on some, past their best, Rowan berries.
I sat around for a while hoping and praying for a Dragonfly to settle close enough for a snap and was rewarded with a first for me. Amazingly I have never got an image of a Glasshopper or a Clicket come to that.
Best keep up with the 'healthy' food routine Adrian, it seems to be working wonders for you, not only did you managed to track and run down that grasshopper you also talked it into posing for a photo session…you’ll be walking on rice paper soon! ...[;o)
ReplyDeleteTrevor, for years and years I have heard the little tinkers. This is the first time I've caught one. It behaved perfectly.
ReplyDeleteI still want a Hardinge toolroom lathe with a full set of collets and the wonderful lead screw motor for thread cutting without the numpty factor influencing the job.
The healthy food is not good but I hate to waste it.
That crimson concoction must be doing you some good, Adrian, if you can spot things like that ladybird and the grasshopper. I had to look twice for the ladybird. Your dragonfly pond seems very promising. Looks as if it could be good for Common Hawker (anything but 'common' in these parts, I'm sorry to say).
ReplyDeleteRichard, I wish all this fruit made me feel better. I do pop yogurt on it to vary the breakfast experience.
DeleteIt is a grand spot and it's only a mile or two away as the crow flies. As you can see it covers a fair area but it is very soft underfoot. I will have to spend more time there next year. I was happy to find anythig still about as the nights are near freezing now.
Excellent result with Jimminy Cricket. They are too fast for me.
ReplyDeleteThe only pears I like are the really soft ones. Before the village PO closed Marion always got some in this time of year. I wish I knew which variety the were so I could seek some out.
John, I can often hear them in summer but can rarely find them. I suspect it was a bit sluggish at this time of year. The pears do go soft enough to bite after a week or so. If they are hard I pop them in the microwave. Lidl were doing some reddish coloured ones last year. Not as good as Conference but fine after a week.
DeleteVintage Adrian! I don't have an image of a Glasshopper (sic) either. I'm not sure I've got any images of grasshoppers in this country either although I have plenty from New Zealand. If you hadn't mentioned it I would not have seen the ladybird.
ReplyDeleteGraham, it is a very rare single legged grasshopper. Single back leg anyway. Better than no grasshopper at all.
DeleteGood on you living off the land Adrian. I suppose you had the other leg sauteéd with your snarlers? Nice grasshopper close up, how brave you are! They are rather a mission to snap.
ReplyDeletePS where are you?
ReplyDeleteKate, I like free stuff. No I only noticed that it was jumping a bit on the skew. I have heard that the Locust is edible.
DeleteI am near Auchtermuchty in North Fife. It's about five miles south of the Tay between Perth and Dundee.
I've just wasted a pleasant ten minutes street-viewing Auchtermuchty. What a nice place it is in the sunshine. Are you at the 'Clink'?
DeleteYes Kate. The street view there is an old one though not much has changed.
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