At last!

The Marmite drought is over.

Handy sized plastic jars were available at Tesco's in the UK.

Very likely an Australian product, as the label is printed

upside down, but tastes the same.

Bit of a struggle to get through Japanese customs and the 

forklift truck was costly, but well worthwhile.

Should be no problem with yeast deficiency for a few months.

Back in Japan after three weeks in Italy and the UK.

Delightful to see family and old friends again.

And delightful to get back to my oldest friend - the sea.

Here she is on my first morning walkies with Duke. 

A rainy season dawn, humidity hanging heavy in the air.  

Four egrets winging north.

    And a fat Duke (what has he been eating?), glad to be back in the hunt for crabs.

Guppies love the sunshine and crowd the the edge of the pond where

the shallow water is warmest.  Looks like they all survived the warm 

winter this year so we could be heading for an overpopulation problem. 

I'll let nature sort that one out. 

Friday was a holiday for Yoron islanders.

A time to celebrate the low, low spring tide.

A good day for farming families, who enjoyed a day on the beach.

A bad day for beach crawlies.

Anything that hadn't scampered to safety 

went into the pot for the evening's festivities.

Morning Glory

Turtle Eggsperiment

In past years our little beach cove has often been used for maternity purposes 

by the occasional Mama turtle.  

After a clamber up the beach from the sea  she lays her eggs in the deep sand, 

well above high tide level. Usually around April/May.

But last year was a disaster. Early rains, heavier than usual, gushed down 

from the rocks and her brood of ping-pong size eggs were washed away. 

Only this empty canyon remained.

So this year, to prevent a tragic recurrence, we're going to try an experiment. 

The cove sand is back to normal and we now await the tell-tale tracks of Mama T. 

on her motherly mission.

Once she's deposited and disappeared the plan is to remove half the eggs 

and rebury them in identical sand in the garden. 

Yes, we'll wear gloves.

There's an ideal spot - my golf practice bunker, 

deep and safe from flood waters and predators. 

A net surround should keep the tiny turtles in when they pop out, 
which is usually at night. Come the dawn we can then put them onto the beach, 
hopefully to scamper off seaward and find their mum.

Should be interesting, though I'll have to hold off on my practice sand swings.

Weird things that crawl from the undergrowth are not uncommon

on Yoron, especially after a local drinking party.  

But this fella, making a first time appearance, takes some beating -  

half lobster, half crab, or a giant bedbug?
Folks tell us they are very rare and make a gourmet dish - Yoron style.  

We managed to return this one to the wild before news of its presence got around.

Of particularly interest was the unusual egg it left behind.