Thursday, July 14, 2011

Been away, came back.

We've been at my brother's and sister-in-law's place,


just sitting around (my brother is probably watching the Tour, hence the drawn curtains),


eating and drinking,


enjoying the light on this and that.




One of the funny dolls my sister makes.


I grew up with those wheel-back chairs, always nice to see them again.


'Where dem cats?'   Mol enjoys her visits here, the resident cats enjoy them rather less.

Mol's in good form again, though she developed a peculiar case of 'broken wag', also known as cold or limp tail (no kidding), ten days or so after her operation, which has now worn off, thankfully.  She couldn't lift her tail, and it hung down at a sad angle, she could only twitch the end of it a bit. It was quite distressing at first, like seeing someone who normally greets you with a warm smile with a frozen face, unable to do so, though she didn't seem to be in any pain, and Emy the vet was quite worried, as she'd not seen such a thing before.  Day by day though, the she was able to raise and move the organ of wag a little more, and now it is back to normal.  Thanks be to the internet, for reassurance about such anomalies.



Sister-in-law made a lovely curry; she went to get the ginger and found it had most curiously sprouted.

We did get out and about too, and I'll sort out some more photos shortly.

~~~

Two of the swallowtail caterpillars were still there when we got back,


  one on the Mexican orange (another we found on that had disappeared), and the other on the parsley.


Then the parsley one made a trek across the thyme and climbed onto the fennel, which I understood was their preferred food crop of all, where I'd tried to put this one in the first place but been unable to make it hold on.  However, rather than moving up to the juicier leaves it seemed inclined to hunker down on the lower twigs.  Then at about the same time both caterpillars disappeared, though I've looked around a bit for them.  It seems unlikely that they've all been eaten at once, so I hope they've tucked themselves away somewhere invisible and are turning into chrysalids. 

14 comments:

Rouchswalwe said...

Good to have you all back, sweet Lucy! The chairs are interesting. Why wheels, I wonder. And I'm relieved that Molly's tail is in working order again!

Zhoen said...

Light and dolls and sprouting ginger.

I've heard of happy tail before, but never sad tail.

Dale said...

Oh, I've missed you!

HLiza said...

Siblings reunion is heavenly..(though you guys might not be as nasty as us..hehe)

christopher said...

What a lovely meander. I am sure Mol is happier with a working tail. Imagine what it must be to have a piece of oneself droop like that. An embarassment, a dismal spot in an otherwise warm doggy heart. I hope the cats did not succeed at revenge, though I understand their distress.

zephyr said...

You had me with the title of this post.

Sprouting ginger, sad tails that are happy again...and light, everywhere! i'm so glad Mol's tail is better.

Kelly said...

Returning from considerable travel myself, I realized that I have been not only neglecting my blog but also the blogs I enjoy reading. Here I am, looking at your latest entries and find myself yet again captured by the wonderful pictures and text of your post. After months of absence, I will plan to post a few details from some of my trips soon. I love what you post.

HKatz said...

Your visit sounds sweet and relaxing. I love the caterpillar photos.

herhimnbryn said...

Hallo again!

Bryn had a 'broken wag' last year. He fell onto his back from the verandah to the path. The vet prescibed a couple of pain killers and said it would right itself soon. It did. But like Moll he did look odd!

Marly Youmans said...

Those caterpillars are so punchy! Perhaps you will find the chrysalids?

Glad all is wag-happy...

J Cosmo Newbery said...

This isn't a blog, it's a whole biography!

Anonymous said...

It does seem like part of vacation -- and a mini-vacation itself -- to wonder at how the light falls. Horray for vacation. I'll be doing our annual vacation with my parents, my siblings & their families in three weeks, and I do look forward to it.

Anne said...

Oh, what pictures! I'm glad you had fun, glad you're back to write more and photograph more.

Sheila said...

So glad you had a good visit.

I just love your pictures of the caterpillars, and I am rather amazed that you know so much about them, to know what kind of food they might prefer, even if they didn't quite go by the book.

I do hope they make it!

Oh, wow, is this a sign? My word verfication is blogi. And I actually did start writing something for my blog today (will have to finish it later, though.)

Funny.