Evanston: signs of the season
Evanston: signs of the season
Although it has been summery here for several days, the ladybugs, as well as the geese, know that it isn’t and they want in for the winter.
This past weekend the ladybugs attacked en masse, as they did last year. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, crawled across our screens and balcony. Too many found their way inside. For a while I tried to evict them gently; but opening the screen doors to toss them out only enabled more to fly in. So I had to adapt more drastic tactics.
It is cooler today and I don’t see any around at the moment.
It is also catalog season. We are averaging around ten a day, but last Friday got fourteen.
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Two readers--one in New Zealand and one in England--have forwarded a link to an article about a four meter long crocodile who has been captured with human remains in his stomach. The remains are believed to be those of a man who never returned from checking a crab trap on the Endeavour River near Cooktown in far north Queensland.
I did not stop there this year; but did in 1987. We rowed ashore several times then, and only heard later on Australian radio about a big crocodile who had dramatically reduced Cooktown’s dog population.
When you sail across the Pacific, there are few dangers until you get to Australia. But Australia is a tough place. In addition to crocs, there are sharks, several deadly species of snakes, poisonous funnel web spiders, and the greatest killer of them all, box jellyfish.
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There are more round the world races now than I can keep track of. The most famous for fully crewed vessels is sponsored by Volvo, and began last weekend in Spain.
A reader from Connecticut reminded me of this and sent along the url to the website, where some videos have already been posted. I watched one of the start, which, despite an over-the-top, over wrought commentary, is interesting. The speeds these boats achieve were unimaginable thirty years ago.
http://www.volvooceanrace.org/
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Sometimes you unexpectedly see people close to you from a completely new perspective.
Carol and I rode our bicycles together over the weekend. Most of the way it is necessary to ride single file and I usually am the one in front; but as we came up the final stretch on South Boulevard, a car came between us and Carol rode ahead. For as long as I’ve known her, Carol has looked a dozen or more years younger than she is; but from behind, riding her bicycle, she looked younger still. Something made her seem a young girl, pedaling determinedly into the future. It was touching, and I felt protective toward her.
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The geese were honking loudly in the cemetery this morning, so I walked over and took some pictures of them.
This one is of a general inspecting his troops.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008