We have just passed the halfway mark between the Winter Solstice and Vernal (Spring) Equinox. It is called Imbolc (Imbolg or Oimelc) in Celtic pagan tradition, and one of the eight festivals (sabats) that consist the Wheel of the Year.
Eastern Asian cultures mark the progress of seasons at shorter intervals, with no fewer than 24 solar terms. The beginning of the "start of Autumn" term for Northern Hemisphere will be on 8th August, which will be the beginning of the "start of Spring" term for the Southern Hemisphere.
Either way the baby Spring seems under way. Though Plants and the weather are still to catch up, days are longer. Birds are active. And the Sun is moving.
And the fog is moving in 😀 Have had some warm days lately, some even have sun :yes:
Originally posted by darkesthour:
:yes: We also had a good run of sun last couple of days. Today's not that great, though. Supposed to be clearing up, but no sign of the rain going away. :(Have you noticed the birds are becoming active? The tui have been doing their acrobatics and fighting over perch on power line. I saw three wood pigeons flying over my house one after another a couple of days ago.
I like the Fantails best, someone told me that when you see two together its going to rain. Oddly enough I have always found this to be true so far :yes:
I like them, too. A fantail often follows you when you walk in bush and can come surprisingly close. I think it's after the flying insects disturbed by trampers. But cute and curious nonetheless. The bird sign of rain I found most accurate is the grey warbler (riroriro; linked page include also its singing). A senior tramping club member told me when grey warbler sings in a certain way it's a sign rain is coming.
Nice little song it has too
They (http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/native-birds-bats) seem to have a quite good collection of native bird songs, as well as other interesting resources. Thanks, DH. It was your comment that made me go look for sites with bird songs. 🙂
I have come across that site before, for the same reasons, its a useful way to look up new birds that I see
Well, it seems now the plants are catching up, too. I've noticed the big pine at my back section started to sport flower buds(?). They were not fully open. But I eyes started to feel increasing level of pine pollens in the air. Luckily my allergy is relatively minor and I only get a slight eyelid inflammation and heavy-headed feeling. Still bothersome all the same.
The pollen is going pretty wild here now, all the puddles have a yellow coating round the edges
Originally posted by darkesthour:
:awww:
I shouldn't complain too much, either. It's only minor. And I don't get the hey fever (grass pollen allergies).
I am lucky, it doesnt affect me at all 🙂
Thats a good thing because there is no shortage of pollen, my car is looking yellow now and its supposed to be blue..
Originally posted by darkesthour:
Maybe time you washed it? :p
Of course 😆
Not until the pollen season is over 😆
Why do a job twice in one year when you can do it once 😀
You are as bad as me! 😆
Really!? :p
Originally posted by darkesthour:
Totally agree!! 😀
Life is too short to waste it washing cars 😆
If they were meant to be clean then they wouldnt get dirty 😆
When I was into tramping, I often asked myself, 'Why am I cleaning my boots, when I know very well they'll get muddy again next weekend?' 😀
Precisely, its the same principle… 😆
You are supposed to take your tramping boots off at the door. In my case, they usually came off before getting in the car. 🙂
Just dont leave them on the roof of the car
Not when it goes on the carpet.. :eyes: 😆
Aside from one tiny fact, mud on boots means extra weight I'd have to carry! 😀
Probably the latter… 😀
Let's hope so. Going for a walk. Beautiful day. TTFN. :bye:
Probably. Of course, as soon as I got home, I rang Telecom and had the phone locked. The operator told me it wasn't used since I lost it, and I could transfer my credit as soon as I got a new one. So not a lot of harm was done. And now I have a spare phone I could re-connect if its successor broke.
Originally posted by darkesthour:
Yeah, I know. Once I left my cellphone on the roof of a friend's car and lost it. We went back but could not find it. I thought it fell and ended up in a gutter or something. Several months later I had a call from the police telling me they found it "on a young man that was picked up by police last night, who telling them he doesn't remember how he got it". I still don't know if the cellphone was nicked from car roof or dropped by road and someone picked up and decided to keep it.
Mine is showing the first signs of failure… Turned it off and on again and I got all my texts from the last 3 days that I hadnt received before :awww:
I hope that is the case… I dont want to go get a new one
TTFN 😀
Originally posted by darkesthour:
Could be network issue rather than your cell? One of the tramping friends who used to text me a lot had a Vodafone cell, and a couple of times her texts didn't arrive at my Telecom cell after 24 hours.
I'm back! :DWe are having a real beauty here in Welly. Seems every creature is out enjoying it. Will update post & photo album hopefully by end of today. 🙂
Originally posted by mimi_s_mum:
Pictures are uploaded in the usual walker's album. I also tried some "arty" pictures. Not sure how successful I was but I've put them in a new album for those.Blog post coming up. I need to have dinner first, though.
Nice work, good album
Thanks DH 🙂