Larvae Relocation Scheme

Yesterday Dave and I put in a couple hours of work on the garden. You may remember we had some ladybird (ladybug) larvae living on the borage at the back of the garden. Well, that borage was looking really terrible and needed to be cleared -- it had all gone to seed and the plants had collapsed -- but at the same time I didn't want to just mow it down and kill all the larvae.

So yesterday I combed over each plant, snipped away pieces where I found larvae and carried them farther into the borage thicket near the back wall. Then we mowed the plants that were closest to the lawn, which makes things look a whole lot better.

We also discovered tons of those little larvae on our apple tree. We're going to be swarming with ladybirds around here.

I worked on another negative-scanning project yesterday, too. Remember how I compiled that book of travel-related photography a couple of months ago? Well, I'm going to have more of my Morocco photos scanned and maybe do another book, focused just on my time in the Peace Corps. We'll see how the scans turn out. The idea is to boil all those photos down to just the essentials, and then I won't ever have to haul out my photo albums. (Ideally, I might even be able to get rid of most of them.)

Dave and I Skyped with my dad and stepmother. It turns out the "ridiculous" things they've been doing are mostly health-related and not ridiculous at all -- but it sounds like everyone's doing OK now, thankfully. Their chihuahuas were furiously barking during the entire call. I'd forgotten how annoying those dogs are.

Finally, Dave and I went to dinner last night at Duck & Waffle to celebrate his birthday (which is today). Duck & Waffle is a trendy place on the 40th floor of a high-rise near Shoreditch, where the specialty includes the namesake dish as well as a spicy ox cheek donut. I opted for fish and lentils, but I did try their "filthy martini," made with vodka, gin, Branston pickle and an oyster (!). When I ordered it, the waiter actually returned to the table to make sure we understood it contained an oyster -- like maybe they've had problems with customers who get the drink and say "What is THAT?!" It was interesting -- pleasant, but definitely not something you'd drink every day. The oyster didn't kill me, so I'm happy overall.

(Photo: Fitzrovia, on Thursday.)