Spikes

We have a very spiky plant in our garden. It has been there as long as we have, and we have to trim the ends of the spiky leaves so we don't get stabbed going to get our bicycles. It can be quite painful.

Earlier this year the spiky plant did this:


We had nothing to do with it. Perhaps there was a strong wind and it got tangled up and stayed like that. Or perhaps, eventually, something is going to hatch from inside the folded over leaves.

It looks very strange, but we are leaving it that way. Less spiky is good.

Fair dinkum

Today as I was just about to leave work, one of the Japanese English teachers stopped me to ask a question I found myself completely unable to answer. I hate it when they do that. Sometimes I wonder if they're doing it on purpose.

Today's awkward question was this:

"What is a dinkum, and why is it fair?"

To which my answer was, intelligently,

"Er. Um."

I felt less stupid after coming home and looking it up. Apparently I am not the only one without a clue.

In other news, the weather has become cooler, and the leaves have started to turn.

Big river

Today I cycled to the big river to see if I could get any pictures of the cormorants, herons and egrets that hang out there. I got a lot of pictures, and I got very hot. (The bits I missed with the sunscreen are now very visible.)

Unfortunately most of the pictures aren't very good. Most of the birds have moved further up the river to places where it is hard to get close enough for good pictures. The only halfway decent pictures I got were these two, of a flower amongst the weeds alongside the river, and of a dragonfly.

The dragonfly picture isn't all that good, actually, but I'm just pleased to have got it at all. Dragonflies tend not to sit still for very long, and I had to be quick.





One of the reasons I went to the big river today is that I did not sleep well last night. This is because I finished classes for the semester on Tuesday, and without work, I become lazy. I spent yesterday sitting around congratulating myself on finishing another semester without falling out of my tree completely, and didn't do anything much. This meant that when bedtime came I was not tired. Also, it was very hot, so I spent the night tossing and turning and sweating and cursing to myself until The Man got mad and kicked me out of bed, more or less.

That wasn't very nice, so I decided that it would not happen again tonight. I determined to wear myself out by doing something physical.

I think I have succeeded in wearing myself out, but I am not so sure about the heat thing. I think I am going to feel even hotter tonight. In fact, I suspect I am going to spend the night lying awake and cursing the glowing, patchy spots on my shoulders and legs.

Fleg

Yesterday I had my very low level students at the women's university writing answers to some questions in the textbook. One of the questions was,

Do you like your house? Why or why not?

One girl had written.

No. Because fleg.

This was puzzling, and I asked what she meant.

There were a lot of fleg, she told me, then switched to Japanese. They were EVERYWHERE. They were clinging to the screen doors when she came home. When she had a shower, they were often in the bathroom, and sometimes jumped and surprised her. They even got into her bedroom, and into cupboards, leaping out when you opened the doors. They said kero kero all the time. It was kimochi warui, she told us, dramatically, and the rest of the class shuddered and agreed.

Eventually, when she had finished her story, I told her the correct word in English.

I never did get around to asking her where she lives, but I'm told that this problem is quite common in mountainside areas. But I don't think they are kimochi warui. I think they are cute. We get them in our garden.

Besides, I told her, they probably eat mosquitoes. That makes them her FRIENDS.

My students think I'm weird, and I think they are unnecessarily squeamish.

Snow monkeys

I had the snow monkey web cam up on my computer today, and I notice the snow monkeys are getting a lot of snow this year. In the mornings it must be particularly cold, because more of them seem to congregate in their hot pool before noon than after.

I love that web cam. I posted about it a few years ago but I think they've changed the camera since then – I remember the picture being a lot smaller and not such good quality. It refreshes every three minutes.

It's not refreshing now (too dark) but you can click on the times underneath (left side is today, right side is yesterday) and see what they've been up to. Sometimes there are so many people crowded around you can hardly see the monkeys, but the monkeys don't seem to mind. They're probably too warm to mind. After all, they're the ones in the lovely warm water, and the humans are the ones standing in the cold fiddling with their cameras with frozen fingers.

This picture was downloaded from the webcam, from 8am Feb 18th.



(If you want to read about the monkeys, there are some pages in English. It may not be perfect English, but it is understandable.)

Autumn

Sunflowers

We have not had much in the way of sun recently. In fact it has been the longest rainy season that I can remember, and I cannot believe how cool it still is, considering we are well into July. By now I am usually becoming lethargic with the heat, but this year, while the humidity is high, the temperatures are relatively low and the nights are still bearable.

I noticed as I cycled home this afternoon that the little patch of sunflowers I pass is not doing very well. The sunflowers are rather spindly, and droopy from the lack of sun. Also, they are not as big as they usually get.

But my road home is fairly dismal and gray, so it is nice to come across a cheerful spot of colour. They are doing their best. Maybe when the sun reappears they will do even better.

Wisteria

I didn't know that beans grew on wisteria vines.