More Macro

 I think my camera is stuck in macro mode.
Yesterday I evicted some snails from one of our rose bushes, and just for fun, lined them up for a race.

They shot of at such a speed that I didn't really manage to catch the action, didn't have a high enough shutter speed available, but when one of them came into the pits for a slime change, I got this picture.

This one was the eventual winner of the race, purely because the other three failed to appear in the paddock at the end of the event. ;)

Anyway, continuing with the macro theme, here's a mystery, or perhaps a moment of truth.
I've always thought that people are a bit like ants, when it comes to some things, such as satellite TV. People worship the multitude of channels they get from Sky, or Viasat, or whatever their local supplier is, behaving very much like ants, in as much that they strive towards viewing the drivel that is broadcast without question, just as ants never seem to question their purpose in life.
But ants seem to worship the feed cable from the satellite dish, and here's two pictures to prove it.

These ants normally run around, being busy at whatever they think is important to them, all day. But today they have discovered the attraction of satellite TV, and have congregated around the feed cable, worhiping it all day. I don't know if it's an attraction to any residual heat from the cable, or more likely the electromagnetic fields surrounding the cable, (they congregate at about 60cm intervals), but they're the calmest ants I've ever seen.
Proof once more, as if it was needed, that television can turn anybody, or any ant, into a lazy couch potato.

Any sensible, or even amusing, explanation for their behaviour would be greatly appreciated.

Yun's aa fir enoo.
:)

National Day

 The National Day, or Grunnlovsdag, is by far the biggest day in the Norwegian year.
It's yet another day for flying the flag, and yet again another day for washing the flag this year. The weather has been miserable, with the temperature struggling to reach 11C. But that doesn't seem to dampen the spirit of the day, especially for the children.
Many folk turn out in their national dress, which I, as a Shetlander find absolutely fascinating. I mean, think about it, what is Shetland's national dress? Wellie boots, flat caps, and dungarees.

Norway takes great pride, and rightly so, in its national identity. I'm just proud to be able to live amongst such a great people, and be accepted by them, even if I may never get the hang of the local language.

The Vestnes Kommune consists of several villages; Skorgen, Vikebukt, Fiksdal, Daugstad, Tresfjord, Tomrefjord, Øverås/Nerås, Rekdal, and Helland, where I live, each of which have their celebration on 17th May.
I took a little video of the parade across the Old Helland Bridge. Pity the weather was so dull, but it's nice to see the costumes, and even nicer to see the way that people of so many different nationalities, are so easily integrated into what is a very Norwegian day

Swallow

We had another influx of Swallows this weekend, and God, these guys are hard to catch with a camera, especially given the time delay on some digital cameras. But, after a long time spent snapping, I eventually got this image.

These guys really are the 'Spitfire' of the bird world. Even the shape of their wings confirm that nickname.
That was one shot from about 80 attempts.
I'm glad it wasn't on  film, the processing cost would have been horrendous.
:)

Big Bird?

Well that's the nickname I've given to this flower.

'She who likes flowers' said that she just had to buy this one because "It looked at her".

Now, I'm trying to remember who wrote 'The Day of The Triffids'

LOL

RIP Tommy Watt

Tommy Watt, curator of the Shetland Museum, has passed on.

A gentle, kind, and decent man, who will be sadly missed by all who knew him.

My thoughts are with his nearest and dearest at this sad time.

Bird Stupidity, Shalder Style

Shalder is the Shetland name for the Oyster Catcher. It's Norwegian name is Tjeld. (It's difficult to explain how the Norwegian name is pronounced, but it sounds a bit like "Tchell", which is likely the root of the Shetland name.)
But in any language, it has to be the stupidest bird that ever flapped a wing... Although maybe that's not true, because I haven't got round to a post I meant to do about the Magpie yet.

Anyway, here's Sammy the Shalder, just over a week ago, sitting on a digger bucket, at the building site next door to us.

As I said in my last post, the weather here changes quickly. So 9 days on, here he/she is again, sitting in the middle of the building site.

Now, why would a bird be sitting in the middle of a building site? Simple.

Now if that ain't stupid, what is?

Yun's aa fir enoo.
;)

Summer has arrived

On Tuesday morning I was contemplating thermal underwear because it was below freezing when I went to work. But, typical of Norway, things can change very fast, and today we were bathing in the glory of +20C.
This, of course, could mean only one thing, since I had a day off. Hard Work...
But before I did anything I sat down on a chair before the door, and had a look at the smaller things in life. Yes, more macro photography.

Damned ants are everywhere.

First job of the day was to move our satellite dish on to the new ground mount I had made. And although the mount is heavy and weighed down by about 150KG of concrete slabs, I know that it would never be able to stand up to a Shetland gale, but it'll do nicely here since there's never any wind, unless I've been eating beans.

But after this I had to set my sights a bit higher. And 'she who also carries a camera everywhere' took the 'bum shot' for today. Me up a ladder trying to clear the downpipe from the guttering.

While I was up there, and since I always have a camera on my belt, I got this nice view over the marina.

And an aerial view of our current gardening project, including my newly relocated dish.

Then we headed off to the garden centre near Tresfjord to buy some plants. The view east across the fjord from there is rather nice.

And here's the view north towards Molde. In the middle of the picture is Skorgenes, and to the right Vikebukt.

So, home with a car load of plants, shrubs, bushes, and a dear little bronze deer which I bought as an early birthday present for my peerie Trowie. Damned thing weighed nearly 40kg, so like the satellite dish, I don't think it'll blow away in a hurry.

Some of these small shrubs which we're buying in pots have a tendency to grow rather quickly. And, as an example, here's a picture of one that was just a pot plant 15 years ago. It's about 12 feet high now.

Some of the plants we bought are the start of a rockery feature to fill in a dead corner in the garden. I sat back and enjoyed the sunshine whilst 'she who gardens' got busy.

After she'd finished, this was the result.

Some of the small flowers, which I thought looked like sea anemones, and which I haven't a clue what they are, have an unusual historical use here. Because these plants have a lot of water in them, they used to be planted around the chimneys of grass roofed houses here to reduce the risk of fire from stray sparks from the chimney.

Anyway, that's all for this post, although I have another post about the stupidity of a local Shalder (Oyster Catcher)