Marty

I'll sneak this in before @Valkyrie has to remind me what day of the week it is... My week 30 out of 52 monochrome. I called this one "Fungal Fruiting Bodies" (that's just a fancy way of saying "mushrooms").

What Page said.

I know. The more usual typo is for people to leave the "t" out of my name. I've even been known to do that myself when signing emails.

Huh?

Hi, Page! That's good to hear.

We'll take that as a no. Hi, young Albert!

Good evening, all. Hope you're all having a good Tuesday. It's still raining over here in Ireland, although the northern half of the country seems to be fairing a lot better than the southern half, with floods up to a meter high affecting parts of Cork at high tide this morning. I've not really left the house all day. It's past 7:30 pm as I type this, and it's still raining. The Government announced last night that the whole country will be moving to the most stringent, Level 5, Covid-19 restrictions for six weeks, to start at midnight tonight. That means that, apart from essential journeys, no-one is advised to travel more that 5 kilometres (about 3 miles) from home, and people should work from home wherever possible. Schools and child-care facilities will remain open, but all non-essential retail and service outlets are to close. That includes hairdressers and garden centres. I suppose if the weather doesn't pick up and allow me to do some work in the garden I shall be forced to actually get back to the indoor decorating work that I keep putting off, so that could be a blessing in disguise. I'm going to start dinner shortly. Have two Christmas puddings in a large pan steaming on the hob at the moment, and wholemeal bread dough almost ready to go in the oven. I'm also planning to make a couple of Christmas cakes in the next day or so. I'm determined not to let the pandemic get in the way of Christmas! (Even if I do finish up having to celebrate it on my own.)

Hey, Drew-Pi-Doo!

I've decided that it's best to try to see what little humour there may be, as well as feeling sad and frustrated. Sometimes it seems to be the only way of trying to stay sane amongst all the insanity...

In the early hours of the morning, exactly five years ago today, I met up at Dublin Airport with the fellow members of a team who were travelling to Peru for a five day trek along the Inca Trail, culminating with a visit to Machu Picchu (plus time spent exploring Lima and Cusco). We were to initially catch a flight to Amsterdam where, after a wait of several hours, we would take a twelve hour flight to Lima. (One of the girls missed the flight from Amsterdam and had to join us three days later. She apparently got confused over the time difference between mainland Europe and Ireland.) I'd love to be able to do another trip like that again, but just at the moment I'm waiting for the Irish Government to finish its deliberations and announce its response to the current pandemic situation. I'm likely to hear, in the next hour or so, that, even if I am allowed to leave my own house and garden, I'll not be allowed to travel further than 3km (about 2 miles) from home, let alone fly off on a holiday thousands of miles from home... Here's a photo I took of Machu Picchu itself: And here's one of the party I travelled with: And here's one of yours truly with the three local guides who looked after us every step of the way. The guy on my right, Christian, was basically a life saver for me on the second day of the trek. We'd had a long walk out the day before and then camped overnight in icy conditions at almost 4,000 meters (13,000 feet) above sea level, before getting up before the sun the following morning and trekking over a mountain pass of 4,400 meters (around 14,435 feet) and then facing a long steady descent of around 16 kilometers (10 miles) to our next campsite. I was definitely flagging toward the end of that day, but Christian stayed with me the whole of the way, even carrying my backpack for me, before phoning ahead and arranging for a horse to be sent out for me to ride the last few miles on. _______________________________________ And finally, here's some coca plants being cultivated on one of the terraces on Machu Picchu. Yes, it's perfectly legal in Peru. Leaves of it were even on offer in the foyer of the hotel we stayed at in Cusco alongside the teabags and coffee next to a kettle for making our own complimentary hot drinks. The hotel manager did strongly warn us, though, not to have any in our possession at the airport when we were leaving Peru (otherwise we might not be leaving for several years).

Fingers crossed all goes well for you, clo.

A similar restriction has been in place in parts of England since early in September. I video chatted with my niece over there on September 18th, as it was her eldest child's tenth birthday. They've four kids, which means there's already six people in the house. I said they were lucky they don't have five, as they'd probably have had to either sell one, or lock one in the garden shed otherwise.

Good afternoon, all! Hope you all have a good Monday. It's currently piddling down here in Ireland, with the weather forecast promising floods, and the likelihood that the rain may not even stop until Wednesday. https://www.thejournal.ie/rainfall-warning-ireland-5237313-Oct2020/ Added to which, it looks likely that later today the Government will impose new nationwide restrictions on travel and socialising, on foot of a recent surge in Covid-19 cases. https://www.thejournal.ie/new-restrictions-5237255-Oct2020/ I'm going to head out in the car shortly, and do some last minute shopping and stocking up, just in case I'm not allowed to for the next 4 to 6 weeks. I'll follow all necessary social distancing rules whilst I am out. At this rate, it's beginning to look like Christmas might get cancelled this year...

Good afternoon, young Albert!

I've just read the first chapter, and it looks as though it should be an interesting story. I'll add it to my ever growing list of ones to read in the future.

Hope all goes well for you, Albert! ❤️

Coming up to 1:00 am here... Good night, all.

Rumour has it that @dughlas enrolled Thistle in Special Operations, and he has been trained in the Extraordinary Rendition of suitable herd members to dughlas' herd... Who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks?

A much belated "Hi" back at you, young, Albert.

How's things, Page?

Hey, bro! Best of luck with the new fridge. The autumn colours are developing well over here, as well. Might take some photographs of them. Probably not the best sort of shots to convert to black and white, though... Greetings, young Albert! Hope you're feeling a lot better than you were a day or two back.

I am really hoping that you meant to type "blend" there, bro...

I think they only exist in her overactive imagination, Albert.

So here it is. My week 29 of 52 photograph... I've given it the title Wonky Carrots. (Due to the Covid-19 lockdown, I was unable to get any standard carrot seeds this year. They just weren't available when the shops finally reopened. One shop did have a few trays of carrot seedlings, however. All the books say that carrots shouldn't be transplanted, as the young roots will be damaged, resulting in forked and twisted carrots. This is what happened to me this year, as this photograph shows. That said, although the carrots are a bit difficult to clean and prepare, they are still perfectly edible.)

Don't worry. There's fractionally over three and a half hours left of Ireland's Friday for me to select, edit, and upload my photograph.