Re-cycling criteria

Philippa - recently left home/flatpack furniture blog - has been sorting out some of her abandoned clothes with a view to either keeping or re-cycling. She is not particularly renowned for disposing of anything. After the deed was done and the re-cycling had been collected, I happened upon her hand-written list of criteria, referred to in the process and felt that it was too good to keep to myself. Here it is.

(1) Will I ever wear it again?
(2) Is it very nice/vile?
(3) Does it make me look 13?
(4) Does it make me look 40? (I had something to say about this)
(5) Is it falling apart/holey?
(6) Does it remind me of anything bad/cringey?
(7) Would I rather wear something else? (this was added later)

The following picture has been provided by the re-cycler of the process in action.

Planting progress

Beginnings

Herbs and things

Sweet peas and willow in my favourite pot 

Buildings, bluebells and birdsong

I've spent too long in buildings this week and have resented missing out on what's been happening outside. I rushed out in a hurry and flurry this morning  to capture some bird song on video, because it is still extraordinary in its loudness. There is almost always noise from the nearby road and the air, but in these two hurried clips the birds still dominate. You may be able to pick out the Bluebells which I attempt to focus on in the garden next door.

Oh, to be in England

How poetic is that title? You're about to find out. Even the huffing and puffing human from the last blog can't compete with the birds singing. A little Chiffchaff singing its heart out on a wire of all places; a Great Spotted Woodpecker doing the same on an electricity post; the constant presence of a melodious Blackcap; even the yaffling of a Green Woodpecker (these are all happening at once, around our house); lots of Robins, Wrens, Blackbirds with beaks full of worms et al, and the very loud wheezing Greenfinch which is attempting to outdue the resident human patient.

The puffing patient is progressing so well that he too has been marvelling at the birdsong. By the time I get round to recording it, they will have quietened down. An easier solution is provided by Robert Browning in this poem, which sums up all that has been happening outside for the last few days.

Home - Thoughts, from Abroad
Oh, to be in England
Now that April's there,
And whoever wakes in England
Sees, some morning, unaware,
That the lowest boughts and the brushwood sheaf
Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf,
While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough
In England - now!

And after April, when May follows,
And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!
Hark, where my blossomed peartree in the hedge
Leans to the field and scatters on the clover
Blossoms and dewdrops - at the bent spray's edge -
That's the wise thrush; he sings each song twice over,
Lest you should think he never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture!
And though the fields look rough with hoary dew,
All will be gay when noontide wakes anew
The buttercups, the little children's dower
- Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!
ca. 1848
(from The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume 2, 1993, Norton: London)

Across the road - imagine the birdsong

Whilst out snapping the above at the weekend, I came across this greenhouse in nearby garden.

Continuing the literary theme, it probably belongs to Miss Haversham in Great Expectations.

Strong pong

A strange enough title, the essence of which I haven't been able to capture in pictures or elsewhere, thankfully. My usually hardy travelling companion husband came home from Nepal with a dry hacking cough, which has persisted. It started when one evening he entered the tent at Kosi Tappu, pictured in the last posting. There was a very strong pong in the air, resulting from our attentive hosts spraying chemicals to ensure that we were mosquito/bug free for the night. Unfortunately it had an instant impact on the aforementioned's bronchial and other tubes and has remained with him since. Following a recent breathless incident and prompt medical attention he is now learning to use an inhaler.

When the world seemed a much more optimistic place, pre the above incident, I drove very slowly home from a garden centre with a vehicle stuffed full of carefully selected pots. I don't suppose I was too popular with surrounding traffic, but I managed to get these back home without any breakages - with the help of muddy wellies. Ignore the two little ones on the right of the picture. 

A sample of the traffic-slowing pots

View from our boat

This is the view from our boat as per yesterday's posting. Note the whereabouts of my scope.

In case you think I've given up on everyday life at home, I found and photographed some suitable garden  pots today. My unusual garden centre behaviour didn't go unnoticed, but led to a very pleasant chat with my interrogator - about many subjects not concerning gardening. 

Coloured pots at last - just what I've been looking for!

A small film for a small bird

I've had problems coordinating my patience with the length of time it takes to upload films on this blog, which is the reason for the lack of moving pictures. However... I came across this weeny film, misfiled amongst the non-movers, and it appears to have uploaded due to its compact size. It stood a better chance of successful arrival due to me popping out to clear some dishes during the process. The bird in question is a Small Pratincole filmed at the beginning of the Nepal trip, when we took to inflatable boats on the Kosi River. I wrote a very brief diary at the time, and the following is what I wrote for that morning.

Wed 16th March
"First night in tent, and I had forgotten that I said I would never camp again, after our long African trip. The bed in the tented room, under a thatched protective roof, was as hard as a butcher's block. There were plenty of torches and candles and room to move about. The ablution block was out back and not too far. Just far enough to check out the wildlife in the night. Night noises were a plenty, with noisy drumming background music - apparently wedding related and which carried on for what seemed like hours. For once, my travelling companion was sound asleep and totally silent. I didn't see any night creatures, except hundreds of flying ant types during the cold showing process. It is very hot, so the cold was welcome. Was wide awake at 5.00am and my back was keen to leave the butcher's block. Spent a long morning on the shallow Kosi River, the group split between two boats. It became very hot later. Had a picnic breakfast. Some of the highlights were Small Pratincole which I managed to digi-scope, Sand Lark, Wild Buffalo, Elephants, Loads of Ruddy Shelduck and 30 Bar-headed Geese. "

Action on the Kosi River

Spacious tents housing butchers' blocks

Pots and crops

I popped out to a garden centre to check out pots in which to plant and grow flowers to adorn my new front porch. I'll show you a picture when the aforementioned flowers, not yet purchased/planted, are in bloom. I wasn't inspired but took photos, which was much easier (and cheaper) than making a purchase.

The flower and plant arrangements at the garden centre were very impressive and I nearly took pictures but felt that by then my behaviour could have been construed as suspicious. You'll therefore have to make do with the gardencentre-esque line up at the front of the Hotel Marshyangdi, Kathmadu http://www.hotelmarshyangdi.com/ , photographed because there were no other subjects/objects at the time, during the recent visit. If you want good Nepalise food (not plants!), this is the place to go.

Crops growing in a rural Nepali garden.

More cycling

The weather is unusually hot, sunny and summery for April and I am making the most of it.

Cycle-stopping cattle by the track

Seaside as the sun goes down

Cycling buddy

Exe Estuary cycling is a world away from Nepalise family transport

On my bike

Glorious spring day and a dusting off of the bike.  Adjustments made to accommodate a new handlebar bag (Miss Marple style) last winter resulted in major clunking and grinding and general engineering problems. Probably more importantly, apart from alarming other cyclists, walkers and dogs, the gears were particularly uncooperative when travelling uphill.

With all this still haunting my recollections of last year's estuarine cycling experiences, off came the bag this morning. A quick poke of the gear-related bits and pieces in an attempt to put them back where they probably should have been, a lot of complaining about the bike, lack of bag, and my probable inability to ride it after a break of a few months, and I was off.

The long-awaited Ebford link is now open and today I would be able to cycle all the way from Ebford to Exmouth, without having to risk death by riding on any major roads. Just in case, I was wore my new flourescent yellow cycling jacket - another reason for feeling somewhat reluctant to take off with enthusiasm this morning. Yellow has never been a favourite colour.

View from the Ebford stretch of cycle track

Gulls that didn't get my sandwich!

The seaside at Exmouth

A washing line to add to my collection - on the Lympstone foreshore



Birds and branches

Digi-scoping did not quite work out as planned and consequently you need to relish this Brown Fish Owl, which I was determined to add to my owl collection. Please excuse the branches.

Water and washing lines

Newly returned from Nepal, I'll never again take tap water for granted - or complain about its taste; hardness; softness; over-chlorination; lack of pressure; too much pressure; leakiness (..well, maybe); occasional brownness, and the rest. It's unfortunate that we have to pay for it, but... at the moment, I'm even grateful for that privilege.

Nepal's lack of available clean water reflects its position as one of the poorest countries in the world. It made a big impact on us as fleeting visitors. The Nepali Times http://www.nepalitimes.com/ is compulsory daily reading for the time being.

I couldn't help but home in on all things water-related during our travels and as a result, established a natural interest in washing lines. Here is one of many.

Most rural households have to make do with a pump to provide all their watery needs - for people and animals.

Cattle and washing lines...