The Day Before Yesterday,

the combined weight of Cable and Hogue,

pulled the mosquito net away from its frame on the front door, so we were off with the frame to the corner of Thepprasit Road and Soi 8, 

about 10 shop houses along going towards Jomtien on the right hand side there is a shop that makes and repairs mosquito screens,

they have a manner of aluminium mouldings to make windows and doors,

 the good news for us was that they were not busy so they replaced the netting while we waited, 260 baht later and we were on our way home,

 where the white cat we thought had died was waiting for us,

 underneath the lemon bush, it is unwell, normally we can not go near it, but today we put a plate of food next to it and it did not move away, 

 on a happier note Mariana helped Diana cleaning the kittens pool,

Cable played with one of the plastic plants,

 then had a look at the pool filling, Houge decided to take a nap,

 for myself a 40% water change for the aquarium, water out,

and water in,

 in the evening Kai arrived from the UK, with some of her friends, next week all of the girls, Diana included, will be going to Korat for a friend of Kai's wedding, so a couple of days peace and quiet for me then, on to our evening bar-b-q, garlic bread to start,

 followed by lobster bisque,

 tonight we were fortunate to be able to see Venus and if you look carefully two of it's moons,

 on with the barby, lots of smoke,

 showers of sparks,

 and on with the food,

 tonight pork chops and a baked potato, 

 we finished with a selection of Tesco's own brand ice cream,

we continued listen to music until nearly midnight, then for us we were off to bed.

Found, Then Lost, Then Found Again,

it appears that the founts of knowledge, museums,

do sometimes lose wonders of nature, in the decade before he published On the Origin of Species, Charles Darwin corresponded with Japetus Steenstrup, then head of the Royal Natural History Museum in Denmark (the precursor to the current Natural History Museum’s Zoological Museum), who lent the scientist some fossilised barnacles in November 1849 for his Species research. “It is a noble collection, & I feel most grateful to you for having entrusted them to me,” Darwin wrote Steenstrup when he received the box of barnacles in January 1850. “I will take great care of your specimens.” (According to the History Blog, when the packages were late, Darwin was so concerned that he actually put an ad in the paper offering a reward for their return.),

when she was studying the correspondence between the two scientists, Hanne Strager, the head of exhibitions at The Natural History Museum of Denmark, noticed in the correspondence that Darwin mentioned a list of 77 additional barnacles he had sent as a gift when returned the borrowed barnacles to Steenstrup in 1854. That list was found in Steenstrup’s papers, and the museum was able to locate 55 of the barnacles, with the original labels—not an easy task, because they had not been kept together; as The History Blog notes, there wasn’t a reason to keep them together: “On the Origin of Species was five years away. The barnacles were seen as specimens like any other, not the curated collection of a great pioneering scientist. They were spread throughout the museum collection according to their species.” The museum has since put the specimens on display. Most of the missing barnacles come from one genus, and were probably lent out to another institution or scientist who never returned them, 

a number of Darwin specimens have been lost and then rediscovered, including a beetle he discovered on an expedition to Argentina (which was named Darwinilus sedarisi in the scientist’s honour 180 years later),

 the taxidermied remains of a tortoise he captured in the Galapagos and kept as a pet, 

 and a Tinamou bird egg he collected during the HMS Beagle expedition, and there was me thinking that exhibits in a museum were safe!

We Have Often Dreamed Of Going To India,

and whilst reading about the country,

 we came across an art form where the artists uses leaves as his canvas,

 from the Peepal tree, the tree has great significance for Buddhist as it was this tree that Buddha sat under to gain enlightenment, the art form is thought to have originated in Kerala, India,

 before the invention of paper the leaves of this tree were used for writing and painting, 

today Indian artist Sandesh S. Rangnekar continues the Indian tradition of painting on Peepal leaves, each picture usually take two days to complete, due to the fragile nature of the canvas, the paintings have to be framed for better keeping. “The life of the leaf depends on how you preserve it. It has to be framed though, if you keep it open the dust will settle on it and the painting will be gone, you can’t clean a leaf,” the artist told Barcroft TV,

if you have time for a mug of coffee here is a short video of the artists at work, for more of his work have a look at his Facebook and Instagram pages, painting on leaves, amazing.

Good News,

a fresh crop of mushrooms,

 not as many as previous crops,

 but by tomorrow they will have grown some more so mushrooms in garlic on toast for breakfast, delicious,

 in the afternoon we called into Friendship, we thought about going into the Soi Bukaow market opposite, but it was just so hot we decided not to,

 the first part on the new concrete in the Friendship car park had cured and was being used,

 stage two, the area outside of the new wing was next to be surfaced,

 shopping finished we called in at the rear of TukCom,

 for a takeaway ice tea and coffee,

 we then called into a small market that was just setting up, not many in the motorcycle park, just us,

 I stayed by the motorcycle but Diana went off to buy some vegetables, and would eventually arrive here,

 for some fresh pineapple to snack on later in the evening,

 and here she is,

 the pineapple expertly cut,

 in the late afternoon we were off again, this time to the Thepprasit Road weekend night market,

 I was intrigued by this stall selling sweetcorn,

 the purple variety, I will have to buy some just to see if it tastes different to the normal yellow sweetcorn,

 looking towards Jomtien,

 the pigeons on their normal perch,

 one of the ice cream sellers makes a sale,

 I decided to walk along a different aisle, past the sushi stall,

 and along I went,

 looking inland cloudy skies, I should have mentioned in the afternoon we had a huge rainstorm,

 I thought these looked cute,

 little hand made shoes for kids,

 the motorcycle spares shop still setting up,

 the pet shrimp stall already up and running,

 another stall I do not normally see,

 selling small standing lights,

 at the end of the aisle the massage section,

 behind the bar this evening a 50 baht stall, 

 and one selling shoes,

 the new roof over the steelworks now complected,

 so I guess stage two will start soon,

 I made my way downhill past the fresh fruit section, 

 this one a new stall that was not here last week,

 the pet section with hardly any customers,

 I walked along the aisle to the store we use,

 a quick calculation and I was on my way,

 in the stall before the petting area I noticed these little cuties, I am guessing they are Prairie dogs, but I could be wrong,

 no customers yet in the petting section,

 sunset over the market,

 I walked parallel to the road, 

 passing some of the souvenir stalls,

 and one of the ice cream sellers,

 only one customer at the bar,

 as Diana arrived this group of similarly dressed friends appeared, Diana had heard them talk as she passed, she said they were from England, I am guessing with numbers and names on their backs they are from some sort of sports or keep fit club, 

 by now it was getting darker, 

 so we made a move for home, unfortunately the sweetcorn seller had already left, so no chance to try the purple sweetcorn,

 arriving home a delicious aroma greeted us,

Diana had prepared a chicken casserole, delicious,

we watched a few from Judge Judy and Cops, then to round off the evening a couple from Broadchurch, as I have said before the story has more twists than a barrel full of twisty things, great series and with that we were off to bed.