Before Hoopoe in the kitchen

It all began when my wife and I heard shuffling in the under-drawing. We thought the starlings had rediscovered a nesting location. My first move was to block their entry point with wire netting. I remembered the previous residency of breeding starlings when at one stage it seemed almost to rain lice. We were not keen on the same again.

Using a ladder I peered through the trap-door in the bathroom ceiling and there to the left, about three meters away was this hoopoe looking right at me with what seemed like no fear at all. I asked my wife to pass up my camera and was lucky enough to get a number of satisfactory shots. What amazed me was the apparent lack of fear on the hoopoe's part, not even a wing flap. I then returned outside and removed the netting.

My plan was to discourage the bird from taking up residency and building a nest with its mate, so I left the electric lamp up there, hoping it would perform the duty of a scarecrow. Needless to say the ploy did not work. I then decided to leave be and allow nature to take its course.

The following few weeks proved to be a busy time for the birds. I suspect it was the male we saw regularly swooping past the kitchen window with a worm in beak, food for the female who was incubating the clutch. The sight was a rare treat. I am sure that they shared incubation duty, although on this I could be incorrect. Soon the new chick or chicks made their presence known with insistent high pitched chirping that really made feeding time a demanding chore for the parents. The frequency of colour swooping passed the kitchen window increased with the need to keep the food chain moving, relieving the tedium of my dish washing chore as I gazed through the kitchen window.

After roughly twenty nine days the activity ceased. Another happy task completed by nature.

That was not quite the end of it though. We were to meet one of the hoopoes fairly soon, but that is another story.

Hoopoe in the kitchen

I was lucky enough to find this hoopoe in our kitchen. It had gained entry through a small hole in the ceiling. I ushered the dogs out of the kitchen and grabbed my camera. A real opportunity!

I think this is the chick of the pair that had been nesting in the ceiling. It all started when we began hearing noises in the under-drawing. I blocked the entry gap in the tiles and went up to investigate, and there was this hoopoe, not starlings as I had thought. I remove the blockage so as to allow freedom of movement. We were obviously thrilled with our new tenants. It was a real pleasure to see the parents busy back and forth at feeding time, which seemed to be all the time.

After that things seemed to quieten down and we thought the birds had left the nest, until this morning when I heard the shuffling in the ceiling. As it turned out, most fortunate, as it resulted in my getting the luckiest shot of all.

I thought that this kind of thing only happened to other people!

Fish dish.

Fish dish.

Main ingredients.

2 tins light meat tuna.
A tin of denny mushroom soup.
The larger packet of crisps, any flavour of your choice, I tend to stay away from cheese flavour, or any other that may be overpowering.
3 level teaspoons of English mustard powder should go into the roux making the white sauce.

Make the sauce
Drain then add the tuna
Add the tin of soup
Add most of the crushed chips
Pour mixture into baking dish
Sprinkle the surface with balance of crushed chips.

Bake at 170 for 25 minutes

Allow to stand for 5 minutes

Then serve with leafy salad

Optional: Fresh fruit and cream for dessert

The Mess

Sunshine

Sunrise
All bright colours pushing up on the horizon, heralding the start of a new day, the hills bathed with soft light, growing stronger as the shadows shorten with the rising of the sun. Feel the warmth on your face, on your back if you turn, warmly enveloped from top to toe.

And it goes on
Sunshine encouraging growth, giving birth to a flower, many times over with such variation of colour, pleasantly perfuming the air where ever you are.

And you
With warm. welcoming smile, sparkle in your eyes and softness all about you.

Saturday

Open my eyes and find it is going to be a cool, crisp day with sunshine. Breakfast in bed? No, not for me. There are things that need to be done; walk the dog, wash the dishes, hang out the washing, mow the lawn and tidy up in the garden. It is another thing to see what task is completed.

The dishes are done.
The washing is hung out.

I am at my PC. The rest is forgotten for the moment. All is quiet on Facebook, may be a little early! Not a soul online. Click to enter my web page but seem to lack inspiration to add anything new, cannot think of anything that may be of interest. Click on my blog and my follower count is still pegged at zero.

Emails from Plaxo and Twitter. Invitations to follow pretty girls. I click to see where that leads me. Register on this site and see more, is the invitation, but I prefer the real thing..

May as well go and mow the lawn.

Corner Cafe

The corner cafe in Port Elizabeth has all but disappeared. There was a time when they were dotted all over the place, so much so that you would trip over them, even with eyes wide open. The reason for this may be the proliferation of shopping malls and attendant supermarkets.

The cafe as it was used to remain open until 10 or 11 pm, useful for that forgotten pint of milk or pack of cigarettes. Their penny lines in sweets were a drawcard for kids spending their pocket money, satisfying the sweet tooth, not to forget soft drinks sold by the case, I am sure, to quench a hot day thirst.

Then a major food retailer began buying up these outlets and they were absorbed into the group and given the same name. Many independents closed, whittling down the numbers, and gradually closing time became 8pm.

Of course no help was afforded by the securiy situation, so this relatively early closing became the norm.

Ruby grape-fruit marmalade

Marmalade

Ingredients:

4 litres water
Approx 1.7 kg fruit (limes, oranges, lemons or grapefruit, or mixed)
2.5kg sugar.(The original recipe suggests 1 kilogram of fruit, but succumbing to my adventurous spirit, I increased the volume of fruit, resulting in a marmalade packed with peel.)

Method:
Slice the fruit, unpeeled, as thinly as possible.
Boil in a large pot in your 4 L water, until peels are soft. This can take up to an hour.

When done, remove from heat and add all the sugar. Ensure that it all dissolves properly by returning to the heat and stirring. It is best not to stir once boiling has re-started.

The sediment that floats to the top during this stage needs to be removed with a slotted spoon.

Setting point is at 225 degrees Fahrenheit, taking approx 2 hours to be reached. A jam thermometer is virtually indispensable. When you think it is done take a plate you have allowed to get cold in the fridge, and spoon a desert spoon full of your marmalade onto the cold plate. Allow to cool for a minute or two and then run a finger through it. Where your finger ran through should remain separated, or at least not come back together again. If satisfied, allow the marmalade to cool for about an hour, after which you stir well for the first time.

While the marmalade is cooling, clean jars and lids. Sterilize lids in pot on the stove and jars by boiling water in them in the microwave.

After the hour or so cooling time and first stir, bottle in the jars, ensuring that they are warm when you so. Seal the jars with clingfilm and lid.

Set aside 4 hours for the whole process.

Have funn in the kitchen.

Never happy!

The middle of winter has almost arrived and it is damn cold.

Why is it that when we are freezing in winter, we wish it were summer, then come summer and the intense heat and humidity that goes with it, we want winter to return?

I guess the answer is that we wish to be comfortable all the time, without the need to shed clothing until you can shed no more, as in summer, and still be decent as far as covering is concerned. Without having to add too many layers in the winter months; this makes undressing tedious, cooling progressively as you shed.

In the end we have to grin and bare it. Part of the solution lies in the variations in colour and style that we choose, adds interest and takes the mind off the sometimes extreme variations in the weather.

Today

So much to be said but no courage to say it. That may be me, or you, or you. Especially in current economic conditions. But the less said about that , the better. We are at the bottom of a natural economic cycle, and the outlook will improve, it always does. Start by cutting the gravity of news you read in half.

Look to the positives.

Sunshine!

My day started with my favourite customer:- Positive

I went on to see othe clients, and the main topic seemed to be what a screw-up this month has been with all the public holidays. Next month should have a better flow. That is positive.

It would not be positive to say how I wondered this afternoon. I am sat here, where I like to be, in front of my PC, pondering where all the other positives are, but I will chase after them and find them.

Service

My professional watchword is Service, to provide the very best possible at all times, to listen and to respond promptly.