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On the 28th of this month, it will be sixty years since I came to live in the United States.
Over all those years, I must have been asked thousands of times where I came from. 99.99% of those who asked wished to know where I was born.
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In all that time, no-one ever came back with:
“Where’s England?”
British friends of mine were recently asked this.
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England is a small country. Would one necessarily need to know where it is? I always thought it was important to have an at least approximate idea of geography.
Had I been asked that question I would have been fascinated to ask a few of my own. I wonder if that person knew where Canada or Mexico are, for example.
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Is there any point in ranting about modern education?
While I was considering it, I came upon this picture taken last night and realised I had completely missed a rainbow!
It is very faint and I had gone out briefly to photograph the storm clouds. Excuses!
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Grant took pictures yesterday of my little groundhog friend busily eating corn while I cut carrots.
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They all look very much alike, so I can’t be sure, but I think this is one of the “twins”.
The other twin puts its nose out and looks at me but ends up diving back down the burrow.
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There is a very short clip of it running away but alas, technology has allowed me to post one video and it seems that must be my lot for today.
I think it’s the one on the right that is nervous.
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Later that day a squirrel was lucky to find a few kernels of corn leftover.
I took its picture because of the tail.
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“You like my handsome face, missus?”
“Yes! Yes I do!”
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Yesterday I was late rising which messed everyone up.
Peanut keeps watch and comes to feast first, followed by crows, pigeons and assorted furry creatures, but I guess she got tired of waiting.
My tardiness saw Peanut and Uni the deer competing for any morsel the others might have missed.
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“Oh, this is hopeless!”
said Peanut, huffing off.
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Uni resorted to licking the stump.
Make me feel bad, why don’t you?!
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The Twins were alright, though.
Deer and foxes don’t eat carrots.
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“Glub. I think I’m going to be sick.”
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A short while later, I called out to Grant to take water up to Scooter’s burrow but he smiled:
“Can’t. Peanut’s there.”
She knows I leave nuts there too.
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Uni is very thin but there is actually plenty of forage for her at the moment, not least a glut of apples in our trees.
And of course there’s always the roses of Sharon but I hope she’s gone off those.
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“I hope so, too!”
“Don’t want to end up in deer tummy.”
Thank you, Carolyn, for such a delightful post! It is wonderful that all the wild creatures trust you so much! I love your sky and all the photography!
Joanna
I have not yet mastered the language of Hibiscus, or its inhabitants!
What a privilege to be so close to wild animals, unafraid! Thanks for sharing that video. I never get tired of those little munchers. And those digging claws are most impressive.
It may seem a simple thing but it gives me such a thrill to be so close.
I’m surprised to see the groundhog keep eating while you’re so close (and just love the video of the little guy chewing like crazy)! So many stunning pictures of all the animals – how can it not put a smile on one’s face!
I once saw a YT video of random people in Chicago being asked to point out the state of Illinois on a blank map of the US. None of them could do it. Not that things are much better here. When we took my twin step-daughters on holiday to Bulgaria (they were 13 at the time) they asked me if Bulgaria was next to India, and could we visit India while we were there.
Best wishes, Pete.
I was on a KLM flight from Amsterdam once with Tim. Our seat mate was a travel agent. Tim asked how long she had been in the Netherlands and she said “Oh we didn’t go there. Just to Holland.” A travel agent. God help us.
Oh…and an American flight attendant once asked Tim “whereabout in Africa is South Africa?”