An arrival is announced

Mr. & Mrs. Ha are pleased to announced the arrival of PomPom on August 31st 2008. Puppy and credit card are doing as well as can be expected.

What big eyes you have

Well I survived the typhoon. And this dragonfly did too thanks to Mrs. Ha. She found it upside down on the sun terrace and called it "dead". In fact it was simply soaked through and could not do the necessary backflip with twist, double somersault piked to get on its pins again. Or have I been watching too much diving? There is, by the bye, a debate going on in the house about what to name the new dog when she arrives. One option is (Guo) JingJing and the other is Gong Li. Or maybe Pom Pom as it will be another Pomeranian. Anyway, we are all Olympicked out.

During the eye of the typhoon, a two hour lull as it passed over Sai Kung, these dragonflies, Pantala flavescens, came out in their thousands. Sadly of course as the eye passed and the back end of the typhoo unleashed itself, many of them simply became so bed-raggled they couldn't fly.This chap made it though to morning, I dried it off, gave it a bit of a blow with the hair drier (ok, not really), snapped its physiog for the records file and off it went.

The Blue magpie in a recent post got an overwhelming response (2 comments I think) so here is a less sensational one; still quite pleasing none the less.

Finally, my willpower (that with the breaking strain of a KitKat) gave in and the new lens is on order. Off to Taiwan then Pakistan this week so more debilitating travel hot on the heels of another "Stan" last week. I do like Stan but Hilda was always my favourite. "Can I do you now, Mrs. Walker?"

Carry on up Coronation Street? Bring back Len, Ena and Minnie. Those were the days.

Round and about

A bit of a mish-mash here but some nice flutterbys, a froggy thing or possibly a toad in the pond, some rather fetching flora and it's just not cricket. And then I threw in a dragonfly for good measure. All taken with my 300mm f2.8 lens which gives nice OOFBGs (out of focus backgrounds). I am wrestling with my conscience at the moment as Canon has brought out an 800mm f5.6 lens - a snip at HK$90,000. My willpower has the breaking strain of a KitKat so I expect it will make an appearance in the mailbox at some stage.

Enjoy.