Contrary to what this picture would suggest -- and we'll get to it in a moment -- I had a quiet morning at home yesterday. I worked on a couple of houseplants that needed some attention. We have a sort of elephant-ear plant with striped stems that has been prospering in our dining room for several years now, and lately it's been looking a bit yellow. I thought it might be too big for its pot, so I repotted it. But in doing so, I realized that it may be suffering from root rot, so it may not be long for this world.
I lose something to root rot every winter, it seems. This is why I tried to lighten up on the watering and wound up almost killing my maidenhair fern. Where is the balance?!
Anyway, I also repotted the bedroom rubber plant and I dealt with some outdoor plants that have died. The blanket flower, or Gaillardia, went deader than a doornail several weeks ago, and the brook thistles vanished from their pot as thoroughly as if they'd stood up and walked away. They were both several years old so it could be they'd just lived their life spans. I moved some tulip bulbs from the brook thistle pot into the ex-Gaillardia pot and now all vessels are back in use.
Well, wasn't that exciting?!
Then, Dave and I headed down to Marylebone to have lunch with our pals Gordon and Chris, who we haven't spent time with in a while. We work with Chris and we used to work with Gordon before he retired, so discussion mainly involved what was happening at work and our own retirement plans. (Dave doesn't have any specific plans yet but it won't be too long.) We booked a noon table at a pub and we got there just a few minutes beforehand to find the place dark and locked up tight. Turns out someone didn't show up for work. Some co-workers appeared at noon and got the place up and running before letting us in and it only delayed our first pints by a few minutes.
Afterwards I went walking through Marylebone and down Edgware Road toward Marble Arch, before turning around and walking all the way back up to West Hampstead. It's been a long time since I've done a photo walk so it felt good. Anybody want a free giraffe?
That top photo was the scene outside Shishawi, a shisha place in the very Arabic neighborhood along Edgware Road. I don't know what the heck was going on with that big pink stretch Humvee or whatever it is. How does the driver even turn a corner in that thing? I took 27 pictures of it before I got one that I liked, with just the right break in traffic.
Back home again, I downloaded the garden cam. When I set it up most recently, I apparently screwed up the date and time settings, because they are totally wrong, so just ignore those.
I wanted to film an area at the base of the hazel trees where I was pretty sure the foxes were making a nest. I'm not sure it's a proper den -- in other words, I don't think they're living there -- but they use it as a rest spot. I've surprised them there a couple of times when coming out the back door.
So this week's video first shows a couple of squirrels, followed by lots of back-and-forth by the foxes. Check out the one with the disfigured tail! It looks like he/she got it caught in something. We even see one of them in daytime, which is always a plus.
Finally we get some footage of them going back behind the trees and lying there, and even nuzzling each other there before making their funny little fox sounds. I dunno. I may have a fox family on my hands soon enough.
Baby foxes!! (Maybe.) I imagine places for proper dens will be hard to come by in the gardens of London‘s average houses.
ReplyDeleteSome of my (few to begin with) house plants seem to have reached the end of their lives, too. It might help to repot them, but I honestly can‘t be bothered to start on that task… it would involve having to lug a sack of potting soil from a shop to my flat and then all that messiness…
I'm surprised those extended limos still exist and in pink, no less. I once watched a report on how they're made. Always assumed incorrectly that they were custom made. They cut a regular car in two and solder the middle part into it.
ReplyDeleteWhile the F temperature and trying to convert the date format so distracted me, it does look like you might have a lair in the making.
ReplyDeleteIt's nice to see red phone boxes remain, even if they don't have a phone within.
Kind of exciting to imagine having a fox family in your backyard. The whole kit and kaboodle (just thinking of the kits). Those humvee super-stretch limos are obscene and ridiculous. But they get attention which is I think all they‘re after. I’d have the giraffe dry-cleaned. But I want the phone box. When we bought our house in San Diego, the owners had a red phone box in the living room. I was hoping they wanted to leave it behind, but, no.
ReplyDeleteThe pink limo must have been booked to transport a very tall customer, providing plenty of leg room. Someone like The Big Friendly Giant or an ultra-tall American basketball player like Zach Edey of the Memphis Grizzlies. He's 7'4".
ReplyDeleteI imagine painting it pink is a way to gain visibility so people will understand when it has to swing wide to turn around a corner.
ReplyDeleteIn front of the bushes looks like an acceleration ramp to for the freeway since they never are slowing down. It has been awhile since I have seen some kits in my yard. I'm guessing 8 to 10 years by now. It has been probably 5 years since I last saw the fox behind our house.
Ah, that brings back memories of terrific Middle Eastern food on the Marble Arch end of Edgeware Road back more than a decade ago. It was hard to choose a spot! That pink stretch is something else! It sounds like a good day, a productive one and fun. That's some terrific fox video. It does look like they might be moving in -- and why not? It would be a wonderful spot in the city, secluded, spots to "hide."
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see that pink limo try to negotiate our roads over here!!
ReplyDeleteStoked About The Pints With Friend - Congrats On Shooting Those Photos Again - And Baby Foxes Running Around , Outstanding
ReplyDeleteParty On ,
Cheers
The stretch limo needs a hinge in the middle.
ReplyDeleteI have trouble convincing my neighbor that plants have a lifetime. He gets heartbroken when they finally fail, thinks I'm quite heartless about it.
That pink thing is a monstrosity and I also wondered how they get that thing through traffic and around corners!
ReplyDeleteI just read recently that one should poke a chopstick into the plant soil and if it comes out with any dirt on it, then do not water. If it comes out dry, time to water. Do you think this works?
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the movie "The Magic Christian" with Ringo Starr and Peter Sellers? I do believe there was a vehicle not unlike that one in the movie as an example of how things just keep getting bigger and bigger to the point of absolute absurdity.
ReplyDeleteI could be misremembering. It's a movie worth watching though. At least in my opinion.
Baby foxes! Yes! I see that the fox gestation period is around 40-60 days so by spring you may have some.
You have reminded me that I should probably do a watering of my house plants.
Ooooh. Your foxes are whispering sweet nothings. There is nothing cuter than baby foxes!
ReplyDeleteOh, wouldn't that be fun, watching baby foxes.
ReplyDeleteThe stretch...not only how does the driver turn it but must be hell getting a parking space. And who would use it? Moving an entire party around?
There is certainly a lot of fox activity going on in you yard. I think you just might see a family of foxes back there one of these days.
ReplyDeleteThat pink limo is quite atrocious. I can't imagine paying someone to ride around in that thing.
That stretch Hummer is just awful, they're bad enough in black, but that pink..................
ReplyDeleteI would have had that giraffe , of course. Fancy leaving that on the street instead of a charity shop? That pink atrocity is a useless bit of landfill isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYou could tie biscuits on the lower branches of whatever that is and watch a fox circus- fox family, raccoon family- no vet bills! Fox and raccoon PETS are trending...