A pair of winged visitors

We had a sudden downpour a few days ago and soon after a pair of birds of a kind we don't often see flew into our yard.  Were they kookaburras, we wondered, but we dismissed that after a closer look at the photos taken through a telephoto lens. Our friend Patricia, more knowledgeable with the winged friends was quite sure they were butcherbirds. 

That was Christmas lunch 2016

As usual, we had Sally and Ashok joining us for the Christmas lunch, and also it was time for culinary experimentation !

Kay's porchetta went down well - the crackling!

Sally's egg plant dish was unforgettable!

Sally's mango salad was not just pretty !

Obligatory potatoes.

Kay's multi-layer ice cream and sorbet that would impress Christine Manfield.

Sorry Ashok, the next photo the camera took was even worse!

Super Moon

Everyone had a shot at it, so did I. This was taken with my Canon SLR hand held, with a 18-200mm zoom, plus a bit of photoshopping.  Shot taken tonight, a night after official full moon because we were clouded out last night.

Coping with nature

This time of the year our Chinese Pistachio sprouts new leaves . . .

But within a week the new growths quickly become this . . .

Year after year, the tree ends up an unsightly mess with a denuded top . . .

We initially thought it was due to some insects, but we found the real culprit, the common possums . . .

The creature is protected, so we cannot do anything to it. The local shire does not even permit us to trap the mammals and transport it elsewhere. We tried many ways to deter the mammals but to no avail, such as hanging socks full of naphthalene, cover the trunk with smooth plastic sheet to stop them climbing up, and even offer apples as alternative feed. Ultimately, we may just have to replace the tree with one that is not so delicious.

Back to old haunts

Back to Singapore for a week and caught up with a few places I have not been for a while.

The house where I lived. I thought they had abolished trishaws . . .

Jalan Kayu shops. Last visit was probably when we met up with Michael.

Jalan Kayu, looking north towards old Seletar base.

Old British bungalow houses still there.

Another old British bungalow house.

Meeting up with Anthony at CSC.

Colours of Spring 2016

Not quite Kyoto, but always pleasing to the eyes.

City of Leicester

My friend Anthony asked me specifically to tell him about my recent visit to Leicester, of which he has some fond memories from a visit many years ago.

We found Leicester a quiet city that we could unkindly describe as having "seen better days" as it has a good collection of fine buildings that date back to the industrial boom years of early 20th century or even earlier, a time when the midlands and northern England were the manufacturing power house of Great Britain.

Today Leicester is well known for its football team that performed well unexpectedly, but more deservedly for the remarkable discovery of the remains of Richard III under a car park. These two attractions are giving a badly needed boost to the local economy.. For us, we will never forget Kayal, the Keralan restaurant that produced dishes that could easily match any Indian restaurants that we have ever been to.  After all, Leicester boasts of a large percentage of residents of Indian ancestry.

Pedestrian mall covers a large part of Leicester CBD.

The Clock Tower

The XY Club, whatever that is.

Town Hall

Leicester Cathedral

Final resting place of King Richard III.

Keralan meal. My dosa was half eaten before we remembered the camera.

Leicester market place.

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