Almost desperation shots here. They were taken from our patio and the closer of the two has burned the white throat, spoiling what otherwise would have been a nice portrait. The second is a distant shot cropped quite a lot. Very ordinary. Long-tailed shrike is a common but attractive bird and you can compare it with the Brown shrike from Sai Kung.
I am soooo tired. Woke up this morning and felt decidedly light headed so despite the gorgeous weather I decided to stay home. Four weeks of almost non stop travel across multiple timezones has left my body pumelled with exhaustion. Friday I start my block leave for 2 weeks and the move to Sai Kung will take place at the end of the break. The old adage is that the 3 most stressful things in life are bereavement, divorce and moving house. Well I have no experience of the middle one but I agree with the two others. This time though Mrs. Ha has truly done everything and all I have done is sign cheques. I am desperate to get into the new house and start recording the birds and moths from a new site. It is strange when you go house hunting and you have to explain to the agent that you need somewhere to run a moth trap. A 125w MV lamp is pretty bright so you need to be able to run it without disturbing the neighbours. I am lucky. The new house gives me opportunities front and back of the house. We went in yesterday, looked around and the builders are on time and budget. They are probably unique. Ask privately if you want to know who they are! The garden gets done this week too so we went out into the depths of the New Territories, got lost but eventually found the nursery we were looking for.
A very wide area stuffed full of goodies and we ended up buying a tree and a load of plants. The tree is called Ham siu fa or smiling flower (Michelia figo). It is common in HK. Most of the plants were untagged so I don't know the names but we certainly picked up what I recognize as marigolds. I have a feeling the gardner is going to tell me they won't grow in our garden but what the heck, its my garden and I'll plant if I want to as Lesley Gore famously didn't sing.
All I need to do now is survive four more days at work. Wish me luck. And by the way, Christmas is cancelled due to packing duties.
5 comments:
I don't recognise this garden centre - where is it? The ones we visit are in Taipo, Shek Kong, and somewhere near Yuen Long.
So, Mr. Ha, you were burning up my jacksie yesterday to negotiate the vending of some leafy comestibles ?
PB, it is off the Fan Kam Road at Tong Kung Leng, Lin Tong Mei, some way past the golf club. It is called Wah King Garden Arts co ltd. Website www.wahking.com.hk. We dealt with Mr. So, known to his mates, I presume as Ah So.
John, you were driving down Castle Peak Road behind us I think. I recognized the jalopy immediately.
do you recommend the gardener? Does he only do the Sai Kung area?
Gweipo, the gardner did a good job but is slightly disorganized. The choice of plants was not huge - lots of them but variety not so great - we ended up exploring other nurseries and buying some stuff separately. HIs English is fair but most of the negotiating was done through my wife, who is Cantonese. If you speak Cantonese you will be at an advantage over me. I suspect he will travel as I know he was doing a garden on The Peak at the same time as ours. There are quite a few garden centres around Sai Kung but not all do hard landscaping. Do I recommend him - just about but I's ask for other recommendations.
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