Met a new friend the other day....

On June 24th, a parrot came to lunch at our house. Well, not actually at our house of course. It chose to dine in our front yard.  We have a tree (Rademachera sinica) there that is commonly called, depending on your background or preference, china doll, emerald tree or serpent tree. It grows enormous, long seed pods that clearly, parrots like very much.

At about 2 p.m., as Jeanne was descending the stairs from our room, she spotted this bird in our emerald tree. Most of the seed pods on the tree had already been either opened by other species of birds that eat them, or had simply matured, dried out and split open. 

Fortunately for both the parrot and us, there were enough unopened pods still available that the bird was able to make a very hearty meal from our tree while Jeanne delighted in its antics and I happily 'clicked' away beside her.  

Here is my record of its short visit with us. 

This is the tree it was in.

The seed pods. Easy to see why it is sometimes called the serpent tree. 

Empty, dried out pods...look like shed snakeskins. 

There it is...

Because I was only one step down from the top of the stairs to our room, I was in place to get some good pictures of it from its own level. These turned out pretty well for having been taken at an angle through the window glass. 

What a bird, huh?                

Are you curious about what sort of seeds he's eating? It's hard to tell positively from the photos.  I wanted a better look and so opened one up. It was a surprise. (But it explained the picture just above.) 

I had imagined that they might look something like bean seeds but I couldn't have been more mistaken. Here is a photo of one I opened up on our kitchen table.      -djf

BTW, today's visitor reminds me that 'Talk like a Pirate Day' is coming up. September 19th  is the date. 

I'm adrift in a place where I don't know "when" it is.

It's hard to know what season it is here sometimes. The calender doesn't help because that says it's June but the shortest day of the year just happened and it froze, hard, two nights ago. 

And the plants don't help either. All of the pictures that I've lined up for you today were taken within about two weeks of one another as I took various walks around the neighborhood. 

Take a look.

 This is my number one oak tree. 

 About half a mile away, this stone head keeps company with a very green palm tree. 

 And some sort of Aloe, I think. 

And another sort with flower spikes

And bananas, for Pete's sake!

 Then I turn a corner and walk back into fall. 

Yup, it's fall alright. 

It must  be fall, or winter. Jeanne's kumera harvest is in.

 But I turn yet another corner and find this palm with some sort of blossoms.

 And the 'fried egg' tree has flowers all over it too. 

And look at this one. They are some sort of ornamental date I think. (Nothing but seed and skin, but they have a datey sort of taste about them. 

I guess I'm going to have to call it winter here, because it gets dark early, is cold, rainy and unpleasant some of the time. But it sure is confusing.  

Here's a short video of how it rains here in the winter, all too often.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAMUFO7Xd2c

I carry an umbrella practically all the time in the winter, but as you can see, an umbrella won't keep all of me dry when it comes down sideways. And if I tryed to use one in this kind of gale, I think I'd find it wrapped around my neck. 

We go through a lot of umbrellas here.    -djf  

The Moon's 'Golden Handle'

I've shared moon pictures with you in the past. Here is another short post that I'm very pleased with. 

The video below will introduce you to what's called The Golden Handle on the moon. It can only be seen for a very short time during each of the moon's cycles. 

https://earthsky.org/todays-image/photo-waxing-moon-with-golden-handle

Jeanne had shown me pictures of this structure on line a month or two ago and I thought it might be fun to try to find it myself. Here is a very brief record of my success. 

Here's my first try. 

A nice shot, but no golden handle

Next, take a look at this amazing photo taken from an observatory in Europe.

http://spaceweathergallery.com/indiv_upload.php?upload_id=142863

The picture below is mine. 

I took this picture on June 9, 2019. I turned my camera sideways to take it. BTW, Jeanne found the observatory picture after I had taken this one. I didn't copy their orientation.

This is the same photo turned sideways.  The Golden Handle is there.  Nice, but I wish I could make it a bit brighter and more golden...

Eureka! I just turned on the 'Zeke' filter.
There is no mistaking The Golden Handle.              -djf

Candle nuts

I was in the Tofu Shop earlier today and, as I generally do in such markets, was poking around to see what I could find that I'd never seen before. I came up with these. Hmmm.  Kind of look like macadamia nuts. Same size and color. Maybe they taste similar? Might as well take them home and do some research. 

I put away the tofu I had purchased when I got home just before lunch time and was thinking about what sort of sandwich to make. I snipped the bag of nuts open, poured them into a bowl, and grabbed one of them to munch on as I went upstairs to look them up. Hmmm, have a crunch similar to macadamias but don't taste the same. Just a hint of bitterness.

I found a Wikipedia article on them and read, several paragraphs down, that they are mildly toxic when eaten raw. Oh great, that's good to know. Note to self. From now on, read first, taste afterwards. Farther on I discovered that I could expect stomach upset and a laxative effect. Oh boy.

When I got back downstairs, I looked more closely at the label and did see the warning written in tiny print beneath the barcode. 

I figured that one nut wasn't going to do much to me. They're only mildly toxic after all. However, I had learned my lesson and would cook the rest of them before trying any more. 

I put them in a pan, added just a little oil, and keep flipping them. When they were nicely browned, I transferred them on to some papertowels to remove the oil and salted them. Here they are. 

I discovered that they aren't all that good. That macadamia-like crunch was still there, but the flavor didn't do much for me. I decided that this experiment was concluded...but wait... 

...I had learned a little more in the article about this 'candle' nut. Why do you suppose it's called that? 

Well, of course, because you can light them and use them like a candle. Look at how nicely this is burning. Now THAT is a high oil content. I started thinking about eating a bunch of them. If they are that high in oil, wouldn't they have their 'laxative effect' whether or not they were cooked? 

I took this shot with the lights on the deck turned off. Very cozy looking and the smell of the smoke from the candle was pleasant. 

Apparently, each nut will burn about 15 minutes. In the tropical islands where these grow, it was common to string a bunch of the nuts together and light one end. As they burned, the candlenuts not only provided light, but were used to keep track of time. 

I may not have found them all that palatable, but I like these nuts very much.   -djf

BTW:  Twenty four hours later I can report that I experienced no ill effects whatsoever from eating one raw and about half a dozen cooked nuts. 

Elliott Stables

Okay, let's say you're strolling up Queen Street from the harbour and you decide to walk over to Elliott Stables for lunch. It's not far, but how do you get there?  

Well, you could take Darby Street here and walk from Queen Street (in the distance) to the point where I'm standing now. Then you would turn left, (your left, my right) and proceed up Elliott Street. 

Or, you could have walked a little farther up Queen and then cut through this shopwalk to get to Elliott.  (Good route in case of rain.) 

Either way, you are now on Elliott Street and following it will lead you up a gentle incline to 'The Stables.' 

This building was built in 1910 and was originally a warehouse. It was put to many uses over the years and was nearly demolished in the '70's when a plan for a rail link was discussed. That didn't happen obviously and we are still able to enjoy the flavor of earlier times inside this historic site. 

A few restaurants have their own internal seating, but the others are spread out around the central 'food court' area. 

We've always enjoyed our meals here. I especially enjoyed the jambalaya, the gumbo and the skillet corn bread from Bonz Cajun Kitchen. The guy who runs it is an American. 

I hope that you have enjoyed the look around. It's only about a five minute walk (for this old geezer) from here to the Sky Tower. Allie and the boys could make it in three I'll bet, less if the street crossing lights were in their favor. 

I plan to show you around the Sky City building soon. (If you guessed that I took the pictures of both 'The Stables' and the Sky Tower the same day, you'd be right.)      -djf

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 A special place nearby

The photo below is the inside of a little cafe that you would have passed if you had walked down Darby Street on your way to Elliott. I can't call it 'a hole in the wall' because it has too much seating to qualify for that particular designation of mine. However, it's just the next thing up from a. h. i. t. w. because it does have 'limited' seating. It's main claim to fame in my opinion is it's coziness. Look at that narrow staircase, the low brick arch at the top and the little dining alcoves that go every which way. 

I intend to take Jeanne there one of these days for a cup of coffee.   Gotta sit upstairs of course.   

Many, many years ago I read a book called The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui** Way of Knowledge, by Carlos Castaneda. One of the first tasks that was given to the writer when he arrived to study at Don Juan's home was to find "his place," on the porch. Don Juan explained to Carlos that there was a spot on the house's front porch that was the perfect place for him to sit, and he had to find it. Something similar to feng shui I think. Energy flow and fields and all that sort of thing. 

I think of that book and the writer's search sometimes when I encounter such a space as this cafe. I wonder where "my spot" within it lies. 

The writer spent all night and into the next day in search of his spot and the whole thing sounded quite unpleasant. Didn't sound as though he got any food, water or sleep until he was successful. Whew! I would not have enjoyed studying there. 

The path I intend to take will be different. It will certainly take me upstairs and through that arch, and the flat whites Jeanne and I will be served will make our experience all the more rewarding. I may need to change tables now and then and even switch chairs with Jeanne at times. Repeated visits may be necessary, who knows? This is important. There is a perfect spot for me here and I intend to find it. This is my 'Yankee Way of Knowledge' at work.                 -djf

** The Yaqui are indigenous people who live in Mexico and some southwestern American states.