In The Afternoon We Were Out,

Steve and Kai had invited us to a bar-b-q,

so glad rags on, 

and out of the park,

we walked to Steve and Kai's home passing the Beck,

in Cator Park,

Jess sitting next to Kai was here from Thailand with Keith, on the right Diana,

Kai had already started preparing the food,

as Steve did the honours,

with the bubbly as the cork went flying,

easy does it, 

from left to right, Diana, Jeab, Kai, Gop and Jess,

the grill fully loaded,

we had not seek Keith and Jess since we left Thailand,

time to tuck in,

ready, steady,

go!

Linda was pleased to see Steve,

and here we all are, also joining us Paul and Phanee, 

Kai continued preparing our dishes, 

Paul and Phanee, 

the afternoon flew past and then,

it was time for goodbyes,

a hug from Linda for Steve,

and Paul,

a king sized ashtray for Keith,

as it was getting dark,

Kai brought out some candles,

and nice they looked too,

then it was time for fortune telling,

I wonder what the future holds? we all had a wonderful time, and many thanks to Steve and Kai for making our day so enjoyable, after saying our goodbyes we made a move for home where it was feet up for a nightcap and a Midsomer Murder, before we were off to bed.

It Is That Time Of The Year Again,

the Wara Art Festival 2023 is taking place, 

the festival will be running until Tuesday, October 31, 2023, 

 wara, or rice straw is leftover after the rice has been cropped, it has a number of uses, it can be ploughed down as soil improver, fed to livestock, or even woven into decorative ornaments,

and it can also be crafted to make creatures, for the past 10 years Uwasekigata Park has hosted a Wara Art Festival by teaming up with art students to create artworks, both large and small, from rice straw,

the theme for this year’s festival is “Echigo no Umi” (Sea of Echigo). Echigo was an old province in north-central Japan, on the shores of the Sea of Japan, that corresponds to current-day Niigata, as it happens we have featured the festival a few time before, some of the posts are here, if you are lucky enough to be in Japan the festival is held at 1 Matsunoo, Nishikan Ward, Niigata, 953-0015, Japan, a map of Uwasekigata Park is here, the Japanese website is here, showing a artist impression of the works to be completed.

It Is A Whale Of A Dish,

and bound to bring a smile to your table, 

the dish was designed by Akira Yoshimura,

featuring a natty brass handle to open, 

the dish was crafted at the workshop of Takaoka-based Sanomasa, 

the Whale Butter Dish is made from sand-cast aluminium and the entire process from modelling, casting, polishing, and coating to the engraved eyes, is done in the city of Takaoka (Toyama prefecture), which is famous for its metalwork, yours for US$190, dare I say it? it will bring a whale of a smile to your dinning table!

Diana Was On Late Shift,

and had bought a few things the day before,

so we could start the day with a fry up,

'Cheers!', with a mug of tea, after Diana left for work in the afternoon I decided to make another short video of the trip Neil and myself made to India, we visited Assam, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh, looking for new species of fish that could be of use in the aquatic trade,

we continued our tour, the bridge is evidently replaced after every rainy season, some of the locals on the bridge stopped by to watch us, 

where we found a frogmouth catfish, (Chuka chuka), I inadvertently used this photograph in a previous post about the fish, the old bridge in the distance, we then transferred to canoes, but not before looking at the top of a tree where plants were growing, this marks the level of how high the river is in the rainy season! As we drifted down river we stopped by some fishermen using a net from the shore and inspected their catch, there were also a couple of ladies using hand baskets to catch fish, finally a couple from the net, the last one is a catfish with sharp spines, it is the one you do not want to tread on!

after completing the video I watched Brian and Charles, the film is a mockumentary about socially awkward hoarder and oddball inventory named Brian who builds a companion robot from a pile of junk, delightfully shot Brian, confides with you the audience, as Charles becomes more adventurous, a odd ball of a movie but quite enjoyable,

in the evening time for a read and a sherry, 

tonight I shared the evening with Gerald Walcan Bright, known as Geraldo who was born in London, England on August 10 1904, in later life he founded the Geraldo Gaucho Tango Band,

and experienced great success with the public at the Savoy Hotel, the above footage filmed at the Savoy, as well as on cruise ships, during the 1950s he served as musical director for Scottish TV, where for more than three decades his composition "Scotlandia" was used as theme music, not to everyone's taste I know, but I enjoyed listening to him and his orchestra,

as they were playing I heated my meal for the evening, liver and bacon,

eyes down and tuck in, 

after my meal I watched Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which I had not seen before, the special effects were as you might expect with a estimated $200,000,000 budget, spectacular, as the film ended Diana arrived home, for Diana a hot chocolate, a nightcap for myself as we watched one from Midsomer Murders before we were off to bed.

What Could Be Worse Than Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds?

it actually happening in real life!

for several months the people of Pravia, a town in Spain’s Asturias Region have been under attack, by crows! Many of the towns residents have reported the crows fly into their homes windows with such force the birds actually bleed, “It looks like something out of an Alfred Hitchcock movie,” a Pravia woman told La Voz de Asturias. “Today, 17 of them were grouped together in front of the same window, and nothing was going to scare them away.” Another man said, “A neighbor had to paint his car completely because of the amount of scratches he had and the pieces of paint that were missing,” 

many local people believed it had something to do with the crows being very protective of their young and keeping humans away through their behavior. But that period has long passed, the Pravia local council and mayor have received hundreds of complaints about the crows’ behavior, but they are powerless to stop them, despite several attempts. They tried catching them with traps, scaring them away with balloons and now they want to use nets to keep them at bay, “It’s very peculiar, it has to have some explanation because they crash very violently,” Pravia Mayor, David Álvarez, said, admitting that his administration cannot currently keep the birds at bay,

in a bitter twist of fate this is the Municipality of Pravia (Asturias, Spain) coat of arms, 6 crows and a crown, I guess the birds are wearing the crown now!

I Occasionally Look At Fashions,

earlier this week, 

images courtesy Undercover, I looked at the Paris Fashion week, here, and here is another look, dresses are by designer Jun Takahashi’s in the designer’s iconic brand Undercover, the collection was titled “Deep Mist.” after some time the house lights were dimmed, showing off the dresses in all their glory,

born in Gunma, Takahashi studied fashion at Bunka Fashion College in 1988. He launched Undercover in the early 1990s, Undercover showed for the first time at Tokyo Fashion Week in 1994 and debuted in Europe at Paris Fashion Week in 2002, I wonder if Diana would like one for Christmas?