Saturday 11 August 2012

A Saturday Stroll round my Brain


 
Chasing the Sun

Spesh having told us she’d spent Thursday in the sunshine on the West side of the island (while we were under cloud all  day) we decided to go chasing the sun today.  And we found it, even if, at one stage, we had to run down the beach after it.  Well, not exactly run, more sort of walk briskly.  Well, not exactly walk briskly, more sort of stroll with the occasional stop to photograph the view or the shells but eventually we caught it.  I had a super day out and shall blog some photos once I’ve downloaded he camera.  Thanks GB for a great day out and a lovely lunch at the Old Schoolhouse (must check what it’s proper name is).


Meteor Watching

After a clear and sunny day and an early night I got up at 1 a.m. to go to the loo (too much information?) And decided I was awake enough to clothe my body for the outdoors and go to watch the meteors showering down from the sky.  I haven’t seen shooting star for years.   The Perseids,or to use an expression against which GB recently commented – The Perseids! Not!  Or I might say The Perseids – haar, haar.  Some of you might by now have seen where I am going with this.

Dictionary definition –
haar [pronounced hɑː]
noun (Earth Sciences / Physical Geography) British English – dialect : a cold sea mist or fog off the sea.  [related to Dutch dialect harig damp]

I went out of the front door and couldn’t even see the bird table or the house opposite, let alone the night sky.  By the time I had finished a cigarette a vague breeze had sprung up and the mist had thinned enough to see the light in the house opposite.  I could even see a very vague spot of lighter mist where the moon was.  At least I assume it was the moon.  By the time I’d put my distance glasses on it had disappeared again.

Another day /year perhaps…

(That was written at 2 a.m. – by 3 a.m. the mist had largely cleared and I was rewarded with five meteors.  They occurred at intervals of 68 seconds, 40 seconds, 310 seconds, and 30 seconds and 62 seconds.  None were very bright but there was still a faint wispy cloud over some areas of the sky in the direction I was looking. Then I decided I had seen enough and would just wait for one more.  I gave up after fifteen minutes…)


Code from an English Coffee Drinker

About the only family blog I don’t generally follow is Son-in-law-who-cooks’ Code from an English Coffee Drinker.  I feel guilty about this so sometimes I dip into it.  But then I have to give up when I reach sentences like “So you can easily prototype an idea with an Arduino, record the prototype in Fritzing, and then generate a permanent version by printing and populating the PCB.”  Sorry, Mark, but I’ll leave it to you….

Some Hebridean Flowers

 
So I don’t give you a posting without photos here are some of the flowers I’ve seen this holiday.


Blood-drop Emlets



Meadow Buttercup

 
Eyebright



Northern Marsh Orchid  (Dactylorhiza purpurella)


 Have a good day (please).


18 comments:

  1. Wonderful selection of flowers...One day you'll lie down to shoot eyebright and be stuck.
    Mark can get much more baffling than this post. This one was almost decipherable...I find them entertaining and if I'm on top form educational.

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  2. The sky here was too cloudy for me to see any Perseids, too... although it probably not quite as cold, especially not where I stood (at my kitchen window - where else!).
    I'll try again tonight, with RJ here, I know we'll still be up after midnight.
    Love the bloodrop emlet - such a pretty flower, and one I've never seen before! Is it very rare, or just not common where I live?

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    1. This creeping perennial, Mimulus luteus, is a long way from home. It came here in the 19th century, from Chile, as a garden plant but escaped into the wild and became naturalised. It is now rare and declining. It hybridises with Mimulus guttatus (Monkeyflower).

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  3. I have to say, not driving you crazy with syntactically correct but uninterpretable sentences was part of the reason I started the Code blog. So if you'd suddenly started to understand it all I'm not sure what I would have done!

    If I post anything really interesting/useful (like fixing problems with Blogger etc.) I'll let you know you might want to have a peep at a post.

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  4. Such pretty flowers, but no meteorites!

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  5. They are absolutely marvellous - can hardly believe they are wild.. I quite often take photos of wild flowers and can imagine how spectacular these are just because they come out so well on a general shot. Wow!

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  6. The first photo here could be from a Swedish meadow; the blood drop emlets I can't even find a Swedish name for, though. All a joy to look at, though!

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    1. I don't know if this plant - Mimulus luteus - was ever introduced to Sweden from Chile. If it has a Swedish name looking up Mimulus luteus should find it.

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    2. I googled it before I commented and I did find info in English but not in Swedish.

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    3. I should have realised you'd do that! It sounds as though if it was introduced to Swedish gardens it never escaped the way it did here.

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  7. I went outside at midnight, looked up and saw a meteor whiz by! I ran inside and got Richard and he came out, we looked up...wait...wait...wait...and then, another one!!
    That was all that we saw, but we have a lot of light in the sky from all the neighborhood security lights, so we were grateful to see these.
    And I love your wildflowers photos. Your buttercup photo reminds me of the walk to Beachy Head on the Downs.

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    1. At home I wouldn't stand a chance of seeing any, Kay, the light pollution is far too great there.

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  8. Was so full of delicious Indian food last night that I forgot to look for the meteor showers... will do so tonight when I get home from work!

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  9. The vast field covered with wild flowers is the place I want to visit to take photos!! What a lovely and soothing landscape!!
    Have a wonderful week!
    keiko

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  10. Hi,
    I made a mistake. I used another ID, keiko(snowwhite), to post my comment. I was asked to post a news to NARAWALK sometimes. After writing there,I did not log out and visited your blog. I found this mistake in several blogs.
    Sorry, made you confused.
    keiko

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    Replies
    1. No problem, Keiko. I too sometimes blog with another identity and have made the same mistake on occasion!
      John

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  11. The Hebrides flowers are beautiful as I am sure the whole of the Hebrides are and of course your descriptions make them even more interesting.

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