Wednesday, August 06, 2008

The greens, in or out and wildlife.

1. Two ocean green skirts -- one in the broderie anglaise that is everywhere at the moment; and one in strips of silk and cotton.
2. While we have lunch in the pub, two long-haired alsatians asked to be let out into the garden. One is brown and could be mistaken for a lion in times of dodgy perspective. The other was deep, velvety black. Having asked to be let out, the dogs decided that they'd prefer to be inside, and lay with their noses against the window. In due course, the landlady opened the door let them in. The lion dog stood up and came in, but the black dog had gone. 'Midnight! Midnight!' It seems he had found his own way in through another door, because he responded to his name by walking quietly past our table and sitting down behind her. 'Midnight! Midnight!' Puzzled, she turned to shut the door and nearly fell over him in surprise.
3. A documentary about scientists collecting creatures in Nicaragua. A woman spends ten hours a day sitting in a tree waiting for monkeys to come and be filmed. An entomologist crawls into a hollow tree after crickets the size of your hand. An anxious climber descends into the cauldron of a waterfall to find a cold, rainy world of orange crabs and giant tree frogs. He and his team spend the night in a cave full of cockroaches which do their washing up by feeding on dirty plates.

Poached egg, acer and bramble.

1. Carefully opening my poached egg so the yolk runs on to the toast. 2. The acer tree -- lime green edged with crimson. 3. Bramble shoots, ...