The main
photographic season usually finishes in July as it gets wetter and errant smoke
from Indonesian forest fires engulfs us. Currently we have had wet spells followed by dry spells and we have even had ultra blue skies.
The significant news this month seem a little on the low side. My main activity was running a
workshop at Fraser’s Hill. It went pretty well and we had 3 days with no
weather interference. I won’t repeat the images and activities in this blog as it can
be found here.
Helen has also had
a mixed month with her teaching as many of the students are on holiday. The
George Town festival is on and she has enjoyed various activities with that.
Together with friends we went to the Melbourne Comedy festival with 5 comedians
doing their thing. We saw the equivalent show last year, which was a better
performance. This year was not bad but also not good.
Penang had a
famous butterfly exhibition, which closed around 2 years ago for refurbishment.
The upgraded version opened around a month ago and entry fees were reduced for
July. Helen and I took advantage of that and made our inspection. Both of us
were disappointed. The place is now called Entropia and they cover all insects.
We thought the butterfly enclosures were better in the old establishment and the
exhibits although well conceived mostly are situated in strange environments….like
doing an exam in a disco. Some of the ponds outdoors are already sad-looking
and green. It is a pity when good ideas founder on the small details or
over-ambition. There are many butterflies and bugs in Malaysia and it would be better to concentrate on them.
There is quite a
lot of activity now with building the island offshore. Cranes on barges are
dumping rocks for sea walls and other barges are continuously conveying sand
into the water.
The Otters do no
seemed to have been put off with all the activity. There is one group with 10
members, including some quite small babies. I had a close encounter with them
in a pre-dawn hour and even this morning I came across a lone pair out of
the water. When there are babies in the
group their high-pitched squeaking betrays their location.
It has been a good
month for the pub quizzes…the last 5 results read 2nd, 2nd,
1st, 1st, 2nd. The questions are somewhat
Anglocentric and we have done better with the inclusion of Mike, an ex oil man
with a good general knowledge and English Heritage, despite his French surname.
I have been
entertained with the final chapters of the 2015/16 Super rugby competition.
Alison and Craig are happy campers currently with the results.....but we have a final to go
The in-house food
industry continues. Kefir, ginger beer and bread are regularly made and
recently Steak and Guinness pies were recently prepared. The next target….with
more pie expansion will be sausages. Stephen, from Fraser’s Hill makes his own
sausages and they are to crawl across broken glass for...or journey 4-5 hours surrounded by maniac drivers.
The only unhappy
camper currently is Coco. She caught a grass seed on her head and it embedded itself
and the wound became infected. We were alerted by her ‘hairdresser’ and after a
few days observation we decided it was a vet’s job. The scab was removed, the seed
extracted but unfortunately a lampshade collar was applied. She was rather
subdued and kept bumping into peripheral furniture on the first day. She needs to be encased for
a week as the wound is treated. It currently looks clean. Coco’s confidence is growing
but her elimination tubes still seem unsure.
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