• frogwireI had a sneeky feeling last year that something ate my frog spawn. I also had a paranoid thought that someone may have come and stolen it for a joke! Anyway, last year all my frog spawn disappeared overnight. The only possible clue was a disturbance of the gravel on “the beach”.

    I wondered if it could be a fox. I guess a load of frog spawn may look like caviar to other creatures.

    The best explantion I could find was Newts, that apparently eat spawn and tadpoles as if they are going out of fashion.

    This year I decided not to advertise the laying of the spawn on my site in case a trickster was involved. each morning I made sure that new batches of spawn were protected by chicken wire. I soon found one possible culprit. My dear cat, Darcey. He was desperate to get at the spawn. He prodded and poked between the chicken wire and licked his paws a lot. Frog spawn must be tasty to cats.

    darcyatfrogsHere is the evidence – naughty cat!

    I think he could have been responsible for some of last year’s loss, but not all. Last year one ball of spawn was laid a good 80 centimetres from the shore and about 30 centimetres deep. That disappeared the same night as all the rest.

    I can’t see a cat going that deep or that wet to get at frog spawn. I can believe that a fox might though.

    One side effect of all this protection was that the water turned a thick pea green colour as the tadpoles began to emerge.. I was worried it might affect them. I removed the chicken wire and now, two weeks later, I can report that the water has has become crystal clear again and the tadpoles seem to be doing fine.

    tadpolesIt’s quite hard to take photos of them. I think I probably need a polarising filter.

    This year there are pond skaters skipping about the surface of the water. A new species for this year.

    I visited Stourhead Gardens last Sunday and spotted water boatmen in their lake. I always enjoyed watching water boatmen as a child. I d be very happy if they somehow found their way into my pond. I suppose I could introduce them, but that seems a bit unfair. one of the things i like about my pond is watching to see how the wildlife discovers it is there. Mind you, I suppose protecting the frog spawn is an unnatural thing to do.

  • istockphoto/maodesign
    istockphoto/maodesign

    I had the most amazing time in Guam last month, I hardly know where to begin. It was last October when I received an email from Elizabeth Hamilton of the Guam Council of the International Reading Association, asking me if I’d like to come and visit her beautiful island in the Pacific Ocean. Silly question really – of course I would – I even knew where it was as my Father had visited the island on military matters in the 1960s.

    The months went by and I flew off to Japan where I changed flights to Guam.

    I cannot begin to explain the overwhelming warmth of the welcome I received. As a grumbling Brit from the dark frozen north the warm, sunny outlook of the people I met was a revelation. Guam is actually America, so the culture is different in many ways.

    The first surprise was to have a lei of flowers put round my neck. This is not normal in stuffy old Britain! It was the first of many. I visited 17 schools while I was there and was given a lei of one kind or another at every one.

    Flower Power!
    Flower Power!

    Everyone seemed really pleased to have me there. They were so proud of the island and wanted me to share as much of it as was possible in my short time there. Cyndy and Joe took me out my second day. I was wildly jet lagged but really enjoyed my trip around the island.

    Cyndy with Vietnamese food
    Cyndy with Vietnamese food

    They also introduced me to the amazing food on the island with a Vitnamese lunch. There are so many different influences on the food. You can eat different cuisines for every meal. Everyday I visited a school the staff put on the most amazing feasts featuring all the best local delicacies. minced chicken with lime and coconut is what I remember best. I was sent back to my hotel with bursting doggy bags everyday. Lucky I had a fridge in my room. Did I say room? It was a suite with two balconies looking out across the reef, lagoon and soft white sands and an night the bright lights of down town Tumon.

    Tumon is a favourite holiday resort of the Japanese who are catered for with shopping malls that feature stores like Tiffany, Bulgari, Gucci, Channel and Dior.

    Tumon
    Tumon

    The Cliff in the distance is Two Lover’s Leap where two thwarted lovers leaped to their death with their hair tied together rather than being made to marry other people! Very Romeo and Juliet.

    Hafa Adai! - Chommorro for hello!
    Hafa Adai! – Chommorro for hello!

    I signed a lot of books while I was there. I had worried how my stories would translate to an American audience. W not only use different words, we have a slightly different take on things and certainly have a different sense of humour. But everything went swimmingly. As the week went by I worked out all the different words and changed them as I went along. By the end of the week I was telling the stories completely translated into American. The last day I was treated to a dramatic performance of the Swamp Man that had me in stitches.

    My British accent seemed to get everyone excited. I don’t think many Brits go to Guam so I was a bit exotic. I was often asked to repeat myself just because the person I was talking to wanted to hear me say it again. During storytelling sessions we had a lot of fun with Tomayto and tomahto.

    more to come…

  • I had an email from Before and After Magazine this morning, pointing up an online article called Why we design by John McWade.

    The article is a reprint of an old editorial. It was kind of interesting and then, towards the end of the article, I thought, what did that paragraph say? I had to read it again:

    “As a designer you have a privilege, one that others do not. It is the privilege of making visible that which others can only imagine, feel or think. When you do this, you open a window through which your audience can see, know and understand.”

    How clearly put… how succinct. This doesn’t just apply to a designer but to writers, poets, film makers and artists too – as well as many others I suspect.