Maximum temperature today 24C, minimum 12C. Rain early yesterday morning, a very welcome 8mm; Dry again today. 12 km/h North-easterly winds with up to 36 km/h gusts.
A few photos from the garden. I have more photos taken today at a new restaurant, but I will see if photos download a bit quicker tomorrow!!! I am averaging 3 to 4 minutes a photo download at present and they are all resized!!!!
House Sparrows - both females (Passer domesticus) cooling down.
Common blackbird, male (Turdus merula).
Hibiscus.
Viola - they are amazing they have been flowering since early spring.
Californian Poppy.
The first of my cosmos flowers. Note the little crab spider. Possibly Misumena vatia.
Syromastes rhombeus -We seem to have a lot of these around at present.
Mealies in the garden. if you did not live in Africa then you would know this as sweetcorn or maize!
Ready for cooking. They are delicious and so sweet.
My bird blog
has been updated HERE
Lovely corn. I haven't even had any yet this summer. I was going to purchase some the other day but they were well picked over. There will probably be more in this next little while as summer winds down. I do love all your beautiful photos. I'm sorry it takes so long to upload and download. I know what a bummer that can be as somethings my computer is very slow. It's getting very old.
ReplyDeleteThink this home grown corn is the best I have ever tasted :-)))))
DeleteThe WiFi speed is always slow, but at the moment it is worse than ever!! I struggle to see other people's blogs as well. Take care Diane
Oh, your corn looks really good!
ReplyDeleteNice to see you, Diane, and as always love your photo's. Our hibiscus here doesn't look like yours. I'll have to take a pic next time I'm at my granddaughters. :)
xoxo
Hibiscus growns in many colours, single flowers and double. Ours in Africa also looked different.
DeleteThe corn is superb, best ever. Diane xx
That rhombeus photo is exceptional!
ReplyDeleteThanks Marie, we seem to have far more around this year than usual!! Take care Diane
DeleteMmmmm. I love sweet corn.
ReplyDeleteWe do as well but it is the first time since moving here we have grown our own. Keep well Diane
DeleteI have tried growing corns before and looking at your corns makes me want to grow them again. I hope your wifi will be back to normal soon.
ReplyDeleteNancy even normal is slow, but this is just the worse ever. We had cable in the UK, think we were then 20 Mbps. Here when we are at our best we are only 0.5 at the moment we are even slower!!!!!!! Enjoy your speed, Diane
DeleteHow do you cook your corn? We simply immerse it in boiling water for about five minutes and that’s it. It is sweet, tender and delicious. Some people use butter and salt but we just eat it right out of the pot.
ReplyDeleteDavid we microwave 2 cobs at around 6 mins with no lquid, covered so they steam as well, in the container you see in the photo, and our very old microwave is only 600 on high. I turn them in the middle of cooking but not sure it is necessary. We do put on a little butter and freshly ground black pepper. We do not cook with salt at all. Keep well Diane
DeleteI'm surprised that, with your sort of internet connection speeds, Diane, that you have the patience to include any images at all in your blogs. I just can't imagine coping with that level of frustration - I'm glad you do, however, as your posts are always delightful, and your photography is excellent.
ReplyDeleteHave a great week - - - Richard
Richard at times I just want to scream at the whole system. Downloading photos to my blog, I can walk away for a bit and come back later to see if anything has happend, but when I want to look at other people's blogs then I get very frustrated. I dare not count up the hours in a day I waste!!!!! Having had a great connection in the UK makes us realise just how bad this is, but then we want to live in the country!!!!!
DeleteBest wishes and thanks for the visit, Diane
When I see Cosmos I think of seeing fields of them in SA, but not close enough for the cute little spider. Is there a booster that would help with your terribly slow connection. I do know how frustrating that is.
ReplyDeleteGaelyn I think we have tried everything. Satellite is the only other answer here, and the few that have it say it is no better than Orange which is what we are on. The only booster we can get is to boost the signal to other parts of the house which is not needed, we have both our computers right next to the LiveBox. I find it even more frustrating when I get a call from Zimbabwe from a friend who is on fibre optics there!!!! Keep well Diane
DeleteWonderful series of images Diane, how cute are the house sparrows, do they sound as sweet as they look? Just thought how long it's been since I had sweetcorn, does it remind you of Africa when you see it growing there?
ReplyDeleteGrace at this time of the year it is so like Africa, lots of maize around and sunflowers. The sparrows are not so melodious as the blackbirds, but they chirp away happily wit lots of chattering. I love it when there is a whole bunch of them in the hedge and it sounds like they are all talking at once :-) Happy week Diane
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