Morning chat.

Duke meets his only friend, Hokto, 

for a chat about once a week.

Old Gypsy

Old Gypsy, who has been overshadowed by Duke

in past blogs, will be 14 this year. 

Like Duke, a stray, she appeared in a storm toward 

the end of the last millennium - a wet, scraggy pup.

          Nowadays,  her favourite spot in the garden is this nest 

                  she has made for herself near the seaside patio.  

               When she eventually leaves us it will probably be 

                                 here she will be laid to rest.

(click to enlarge)

Apologies

Careful analysis of the blog picture and interviews with the 

photographer have since determined that the person on the roof

(blog of June 14th) was in fact myself, 

and not someone who had fallen out of an airplane.

I apologize for any alarm and/or distress 

the previous misinformation

may have caused.

This man, found clinging to our roof

by his fingernails, seems to have fallen

out of an airplane passing over Yoron. 

Luckily he survived and only a few roof 

tiles were damaged.

Please take this as a warning 

to keep your seat belts fastened at all times.

Being in the midst of a farming/fishing community 

neighbours tend to overload us with the latest crop or catch. 

There are still chunks of octopus in the freezer

from some benefactor last year.

 This is last weekend's collection. 

I wish they grew something useful like apples or rhubarb.   

What does one do with so many cucumbers?

An easy answer is the classic, English cucumber sandwich . 

(Perhaps a dab of mayonnaise ?)

Mama Mia!

Seems that Mama Turtle just made her annual visit to our beach, 

looking for somewhere to lay her eggs, and met a  wall of garbage.  

I've not had chance to clear up since I came back. 

After a wander around she decided to look elsewhere.

So there goes my plans for an Eggsperiment (see March 31st blog). 

Laying season is almost over.

There are surprisingly few egg sites on the beaches this year. Last year

there were at least a dozen along this bit of coast, this year only one.

All of the beach garbage (or at least 99%) is generated by fishermen.

Those darn PET bottles arrive in their thousands on the beaches, 

flung into the ocean from the numerous 

small fishing craft along the coastlines

of Japan, Korea and China. 

The black floats are usually Chinese. 

Hundreds arrive every year. 

Someone should teach them how to tie knots .