Category: Nature
General observations, generally during dog walks
Grateful for the blue sky
After watching the first 20 minutes of this amazing documentary (allowed online one week by the Chinese government, 200 million views), in which the presenter interviews a 6 year old girl in China who has never seen a star or blue sky, I was dazzled anew by, and grateful for, the clear blue sky here: 10 in the morning and the moon is plainly visible.
Which is not to imply Uruguay is an ecological paradise; in contrast, most cropland is annually (or more) drenched in glifo (a.k.a. Roundup herbicide). And the beach was filthy today, including hundreds of meters of fishing line left behind by fishermen.
The Young Man and the Sea
Beach feasting
Could be worse (DTOTB)
We live near the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, and the water at the beach goes from being salt-free enough that the dogs will drink it, to being so salty that I can float (and I generally cannot float). Occasionally, best I can tell, the “wrong” water sweeps in, killing fish that aren’t adapted to it, which then wash up on shore. This looks a bit odiferous, and it was; I didn’t go for a walk this morning.
However, twice since we’ve been here I’ve seen the entire beach carpeted with dead fish, all their eyes pecked out by the birds.
Loverly, eh?
More DTOTB*
I used to think of myself as a mountain person, and perhaps still do. I can’t wait to explore Bolivia (this week’s armchair travel :).
But my usually-daily 2-mile walk reveals a beach that constantly changes — not as much as the mouth of the Solís Chico in parque del Plata, my favorite. A couple of things it served up this morning:
* dead things on the beach
Fig report
My friend Mike has written about the weirdness of his garden this year, and asked me about our figs tree in the country. I frankly don’t pay much attention because I have no expectation of every enjoying figs from it, given the voracious wild parrots.
Alas,
the fruit is very small and the leaves are turning brown and dropping off.
¿Cambio climatico? indeed.
Look at all the kitesurfers! (oh shit, that’s my dog)
Parque del Plata, mouth of the Solís Chico. Very energetic and fun place compared to the beach in Atlántida.
A forest of fishing poles
Lovely day, not too hot, slight haze so the sun doesn’t feel strong, pleasant cool breeze. The way summer’s spozed to be!
Uruguayan lemonography
After five years, our backyard lemon tree has sprung to life.
But not without mysteries. For example, this fruit …
.. which appears to have the letter P on it. But before you crank up the synapses to explain this one, recall that your task is more difficult: because Uruguay: is that really a P or is it a 9?