Globe and Cone

As I sat on the garden bench reading a couple of days ago, I noticed several hoverflies hanging in the air around me, audibly buzzing like little helicopters. I decided to try to get photos of them in flight. This is harder than you'd think -- they're so small the camera won't auto-focus on them, and although they hover, it's only for a second or two before they zip to a new position. I did get a couple of decent, only slightly blurry shots.

This was when I was reading "Hidden Valley Road," which as I mentioned previously is about schizophrenia. It occurred to me that I might look slightly off-balance myself trying to photograph these flies, staring at the air around me and pointing the camera at seemingly nothing.

I spent a couple of hours working on the garden yesterday. I once again trimmed the neighbor's rose bush looming over our patio ("the monster"), pushing it even farther back toward the fence. Even more sun on the patio now! I also lightly trimmed the hedges near our bins and in the front of the house. The front garden is technically our landlord's responsibility but they never touch it unless we raise the alarm and I don't want to let it run completely wild.

Mrs. Kravitz texted me in a panic a few days ago saying she'd seen rats in her garden. She called an exterminator to put down poison and suggested we do the same. Now, I am not about to put poison in the garden. I don't want that stuff anywhere around me. But of course I can't control what she does.

I felt a little bad, thinking that the rats had been drawn by our bird feeders (which have been removed for weeks now), but apparently Mrs. K has a compost container and is also growing vegetables. The rats are in her veg plot and around her compost bin. Perhaps that's what attracted them to begin with. Anyway, their days are numbered. I asked her exterminator if squirrels would eat the poison by mistake and he said, "Not usually." Which isn't quite the unqualified answer I wanted, but then I saw the black boxes that contain the poison and it seems unlikely a squirrel would go in there. I still worry about foxes or owls possibly eating the poisoned rats. I hate poison.

Here's a flower photo I forgot to post yesterday -- our petunias on the front patio. I bought a different variety this year and I really like them.

Dave and I took Olga to the vet in the afternoon for her annual vaccines. As always, she acted like she didn't even feel them and was mostly interested in the treats the vet was doling out. Afterwards, we walked down to the high street, and Dave went to the grocery store while Olga and I took a walk.

We passed the Oxfam thrift shop, and as I stood looking at the stuff in the window a couple stopped and stood next to me. "Oh, look at those crazy martini glasses," the man said to his companion, pointing to two globed-shaped glasses with conical inserts. Ice goes in the globe and, obviously, the liquor goes in the cone. He proceeded to tell her how he'd been served in a restaurant from such a glass and how cool they were.

Well, as soon as they left I went inside and bought the glasses right away, because -- martinis! And they were only £4 each.

Don't you love the "Made in Romania" sticker? I probably shouldn't have put that front and center, but oh well. That was an incredibly awkward photo to take and I was more focused on holding the glass level.

Anyway, as the cashier rang me up, she said, "Do you know what these are used for?"

"Martinis!" I enthusiastically replied.

"Well...no," she said. She contended that they're meant to serve prawn cocktail. But then her younger co-worker joined her at the register and wrapped them for me while she helped another customer, and he said, "Vodka, right?"

So I guess they're multi-purpose.

I can attest that they work really well for martinis, though.