Those tomatoes do look yummy, Spanishliz. Ours are still green it's been so cool here (except for the past week when it sky-rocketed into the 90s). Heck, we even had to break down and run the wood stove one night back in July (but only after we suffered through blue lips and fingertips for nearly two weeks prior!).

Kapuskasing, thanks for the kind words and good luck with your up coming procedure--hope it goes well for you.

bhs63, another great photo! Very artistically composed, in my opinion; quite eye-catchy with the colors, shadows and arrangement.

I had intended to show you all a picture of a drone (male bee) that was facing the death sentence, but my camera almost always refuses to cooperate with me when taking macro shots. My husband insists that it's the operator and not the camera. However, when I shove the camera at him and say, "Ok, you take it then!" the results typically aren't much better, but I digress...

Anyway, the other day when we were up watching the bees do their morning hive cleaning duties (dragging out dead bees, etc.) we noticed two workers escorting a drone to the edge of the landing board. His wings had been chewed off so that he'd be unable to fly. In other words, he received the death sentence--a fate common to all drones in the hive. Drones are not permitted to winter because they are essentially dead weight to the hive--they don't forage for food; they don't help clean the hive or rear the young; they can't help defend the hive because drones don't have stingers; why, they don't even feed themselves! A drone's sole purpose in life is to be available for mating with the queen if necessary. That's it. So come winter when the hive's survivability is at stake the drones are disposed of.

I'll keep trying to get that picture, but in the mean time...anyone want to see if they can spot the drone in the photo below? (Hint: they're larger than the female bees)


Larger View

Click here to see if you picked the right bee...no cheating!

By the way, what the bees are doing here is called "bearding." This can be a sign of over-crowding in the hive, but it's also a normal activity in hot weather. For example, right now the bees are trying to make honey and this is done by evaporation so they don't want all those extra bodies in there giving off moisture, so some of the bees just cluster around the hive entrance and hang out like seen here.

Kapuskasing, it could very well have been tofu (I'm a vegetarian) but it was feta cheese. Assuming you're not talking about the courgette and aubergine on the left side of the photo.


My photo for today was taken in the town I grew up in. Vincent van Gogh's parents lived in this house and Vincent spent a few years with them there. The house also appears in his paintings.


Larger photo here.


For a picture of van Gogh's painting of this house, click
here.

This full-sized biplane hangs from the roof of a shopping centre near us. I hope the wires are strong! It represents the area's connection with flying history. The home of the Farnborough Airshow is not too far off:



Link to a larger photo

Went to the Keith Show today, but the for first half it was pouring rain, before the sun came out. The 70 odd members of the pipe band had a bad time in the mud - it's grass they should be walking on.

Copago - what kind of bird is that? Native to Australia?

Here's a squirrel that was eating this morning.

Your close-ups are fantastic, Burnone.

This windmill at Rye in Sussex is now part of a guest house.

Is that a satellite dish on that windmill TT ? Cute squirrel Burnone.

This is a little statue I bought to hide the extension cord behind that runs the pump for my water fountain. I'm sure Ren can appreciate it.

Well this is me and Gayge in a taxi driving under the Harbour Bridge, not very artistic, but we live in the city, and we were on our way out of the city for a friends 21st in Parramatta, i took ALOT of pictures at the party, but they are not he kind of pics to post on here.

Anyway i took this as a test for my camera to make sure it was fully charged and ready to go. Our cab driver was cool, he let me put MCR on the radio.

Yes, Argus, I may be very wrong, but he LOOKS like the lion who chases away the bad spirits at the end of the old year so the New Year can start. If you know the story of the animals race to decide on the order of the years, the lion arrived too late for it, but was allowed to do this.He is a nice lion.
Here is the buffalo, who came second, cheated by the rat , who ran over his back and onto the bank, just as they reached the end.

Excellent Ren, thank you for the information. I will have to make sure I put him in the house during the winter. I don't think he could take minus 30 C. The story sounds interesting I will have to do some research.

Great story, Ren!

When I was out walking the other day, I was somewhat perplexed to see this stencil on the bike path, instead of the usual outline of a bicycle.



My sister and I decided that perhaps someone thought they'd declare the riverside path a "loud music zone".

Hunting Island Lighthouse
Hunting Island, South Carolina

Several years ago this lighthouse had to be moved back because of beach erosion.

Leau, your photo brings back memories of our trip to the Netherlands. We went to that house and the only difference between your photo and mine is the foliage. We went in winter and the trees in front had no leaves. We toured around this area looking at various places that Van Gogh painted and visited the Van Gogh Documentation Centre which is just a very short walk from the house. Almost all my relatives live around this area.

Re: the lion with the ball. Apparently, he is a male lion(they are the ones that play with a ball, the female is depicted looking after the cubs.I did not say a word.)

Another from the Show I went to yesterday. Four horses were performing various tricks, they were also film stars. This one made it's acting debut as Ginger in Black Beauty 13 years ago.

Mothergoose your Gatsby is as old as the one you were thinking of.

Another van Gogh photo for MotherGoose. This is the church that Vincent van Gogh's father used to preach at. It's near the house on my previous photo.



Larger picture here.

Compare van Gogh's painting.

Frost, West Virginia

I spent the week-end participating in a festival of British history; these re-enactors are Roman standard bearers.

I was curious about the Keith Show, so went to its website, http://www.keithshow.org.uk/index.htm where they had this leftover hopeful comment, "The long range forecast at present is for a dry weekend and we are lucky in that the recent wet spell has not affected under foot conditions to date."

The pipe band might not agree!

This is my son on his wedding day in Japan, he's the tall one in black.

Good one romeomikegolf! Congratulations to the happy couple.

The blackberries seem early this year:

The Keith Show website is a bit out of date Kapuskasing - it doesn't say the Monday program was cancelled, as was the Perth Highland Games Local press report. I took part in the five mile race - it was more of a cross country race with the mud and water on the woodland paths.

I remember going to the Keith Show a good few years back and seeing the race horse Red Rum. Good of him to come, as we're over 100 miles from the nearest race course (at Perth).

That is too bad about the show cancellations... seems like a huge amount of work and anticipation drained away.

Meanwhile, I found the cats' Monday morning agenda quite enviable...

Oh, I should introduce the little fellers: that is Waydon on the left and Mitu on the right. Way is a naughty so-and-so, but his loud purr makes up for it. The name is short for "What Are You DOing Now?" which I asked an awful lot after he moved in.
Mitu is a model cat -- kind, well-behaved and wise. He likes to join in activities, thus his "Me, too!" name.