He is back. Jet lagged. Exhausted.
This was tonight. The wood burner lit in July. Although I too was feeling the unseasonal chill. And I hadnt been anywhere tropical.
A proper wild Orang Utang. To see this involved tramps in the jungle, camping in the jungle, eating in the jungle and c******g in the jungle. Quite exhausting.
A bit of R and R was factored in.
The view from his bungalow. Pity he also shared it with bed bugs.
So - all in all quite an adventure. Not many birds as they were at the top of the trees in the jungle. So the expensive book "Sumatran Birds" was the only views he got.
But he is back. Safe. Jet lagged and tired. But back.
The Dawn Patroller has gone to Sumatra with his sister. She is an inveterate traveller but has run out of people to accompany her. Hence family pressure was applied.
He and she up a Sumatran volcano.
Sumatran natives.
And the obligatory Yellow duck. (See previous posts for more information on yellow ducks.) This one has a Saltire (Scottish) flag on its chest. The DP forgot to take a yellow duck and bought this at Edinburgh Airport.
They do not smile much in Sumatra do they? Could be something to do with the strange British person carrying a yellow duck.
So I am alone apart from the two cats for two and a half weeks.
I have to say it has not been fun. Feeding the garden birds I have had to use my inventive powers as to how to fill twenty feeders a day without collapsing. Carrying three plastic jugs to and fro from garage storage to feeding stations was way too much. I now have carrier bags in the kitchen for the top garden feeders and the same in the studio for the bottom garden feeders. If I fill carrier bags they last two days and its one walk to feeders. The ones on the fence I cannot reach so tough. Should you be interested to know why I cannot do more, just do all your chores with a straw to breathe through. You will soon get the idea of the challenge.
However I have taken full advantage of the DP's absence. I have totally trimmed the book shelves. Only of mine own books I hasten to add.
Half way through. 14 carrier bags full gone at this stage. Agatha Christie, lots of other crime writers, many classics I have read over and over again and will never read again.
All being collected by my favourite charity, New Arc, who rescue anything including wild life. In turn we have taken from them the odd duck. Real feathered ones, not yellow plastic.
I will show you an after picture. To be honest once the shelves are sorted you cannot tell that great swathes of books have gone. But like the animals and birds from the New Arc I hope my books will be enjoyed by others via their charity shops.
One very interesting fact coming out of me being on my own for two and a half weeks is the offers of help I have had. Dinner, drinks, lunch, bit of company......all offers from the males of the human species. Presumably I still have some allure?!
So 6p.m. door locked, jamas on and endless repeats of Midsomer Murders - I am fine.
This post is dedicated to my fellow blogger at Rusty Duck. Jessica battles with nature attacking her garden. Including deer. You need a higher fence.
5a.m. out on his Dawn Patrol just by our house.
The Dawn Patroller is better at taking pictures of animals and birds. Calling out my name and snapping the camera at the same time is not a good idea.....
The photograph was taken at Fraserburgh Art Summer Exhibition's private viewing. Private viewing just means invites only and lets all get paralytic. After being accused of drinking any profits last year I took my own bottle......
Once in full swing the following day and the day after that it was fun all the way.
Three of mine hung. I had five more but the DP did not want me to get too big headed.
I also had eight unframed, mounted, displayed which he also neglected to picture for posterity.
Below are the results of a group exercise of one of the Art groups who meet at Dalrymple Hall.
Mine is not amongst them. One of the few I produce that went straight in the bin.
We had Activities for children and adults.
And, no, we could not keep the yellow ducks out.....
A good time had by all.
Sold to a very discerning purchaser.
Sooooooo back to the drawing board.
