New arrival

Somewhat unexpectedly, back on 3rd June the sprog became a real live baby.

She spent some time covered in tubes and stuff:

After much stress and anxiety, poking and prodding, they finally let her out of special care:

Yesterday they got to take her home:

And before you know it doing dad stuff is just part of what you do:

Welcome to the world Adylaide. 

They are going to be magic parents.

Being a granny is exhausting. 

Can't wait to visit.

Stay safe. Be kind. Flowers are great, but look, a baby.

World Refil Day

 I missed World Refill Day yesterday, only heard about it on the radio. Here are some random things that I refill. Salt pot, owned for at least a decade (the salt still comes in a plastic bag but it is less waste):

Washing up liquid bottle used for nearly as long; I have a five litre one under the sink that I get refilled and then transfer it to the smaller one that is easier to use. Also washing liquid, and more recently fabric conditioner (I hate the stuff but Tish likes it):

Herb and spice jars (the jam jars just go round and round for different uses). Unicorn (in Chorlton) sells their herbs and spices in biodegradable plastic:

Conditioner, a more recent refill, since I discovered Lentils and Lather:

Bagel bags, not refilled with bagels but washed and used for lunches until they go foisty:

Stay safe. Be kind. Refill, reuse, recycle.

Tropical Flowers

We all went to the zoo yesterday. 

Tish took lots of photos of the animals.

Last visit was to the butterfly house, where the butterflies would not sit still.

The flowers on the other hand do. 

While they are very beautiful I am not tempted to start growing anything more exotic.

Stay safe. Be kind. 

Klara and the Sun

I am ambivalent about 'Klara and the Sun' by Kazuo Ishiguro. It left me feeling sad, rather I feel, on reflection, like I felt sad at the end of 'Never Let Me Go'. It is told from the perspective of Klara, an Artificial Friend. I grew to like her, but it was strange, because Klara does not think of herself as a 'person', appears to have few desires of her own, and little understanding of the world, and I wondered how this rather hollow human shaped thing was supposed to make a good 'friend'. All the futuristic aspects of the story are left ambiguous, unexplained; there is some kind of genetic enhancement, making better babies, and only the better ones get advantages, but it is never made explicit. Why does this supposedly sophisticated robot not know anything? She is solar powered and has these weird ideas about the magical power of the sun. She seems to spend much of her time just standing around like a piece of furniture until someone feels like interacting with her. The style is rather stilted, because Klara has such limited life experience she doesn't have much of interest to say and her observations are mostly superficial. It gradually emerges that Klara's role is to learn to replace her owner Josie, who may be dying of some vague wasting condition, raising the question of course of whether there is more to a human being than their physical presence, their way of interacting with the world, their ways of talking. Klara thinks she could learn to imitate Josie, but is not sure that will make her an adequate substitute. In some ways it did remind me of 'Machines Like Me' by Ian McEwan, because nobody is really accepting that the artificial creation is actually the equivalent of a human being, in neither book are they treated as anything other than a thing, a possession. Klara has no autonomy, she is unsure about making choices for herself, does not go places without permission, does not initiate anything, accepts that her role is to be a thing for Josie, not that Josie owes her anything in return. Now while, in some ways, that might be seen as the definition of love, to selflessly sacrifice for someone else, it's rather more akin to slavery, since she is not doing it voluntarily, she has no notion of living a life for herself. She ends up in a junk yard, which was just a huge waste in my opinion; why create this supposedly amazing (and presumable expensive) thing, and then just discard it. So, in the end, I was left profoundly dissatisfied. When I imagine artificial intelligence I think of 'Ex Machina', a robot who wants a life for herself, and will stop at nothing to attain it. Here Klara beats herself up over a trip that she takes alone with the Mother:

"Naturally then, in the days that followed, I thought often about why the interaction meeting should cast no shadows at all, but Morgan's Falls, despite my complying with Josie's and the Mother's wishes, had produced such consequences. Again, the possibility came into my mind that my limitations, in comparison to the B3's, has somehow made themselves obvious that day, causing both Josie and the Mother to regret the choice they'd made. If this were so, I knew my best course was to work harder than ever to be a good AF to Josie until the shadows receded. At the same time, what was becoming clear to me was the extent to which humans, in their wish to escape loneliness, made manoeuvres that were very complex and hard to fathom, and I saw it was possible that the consequences of Morgan's Falls had at no stage been within my control." (p.113)

Stay safe. Be kind. Love the real humans around you.

Day 11 - insect life

 Tish will regularly come around the garden with me and admire all the new growth and new blooms. We spotted some dreaded aphids the other day, for which the most eco-conscious solution is ladybirds. We don't seem to have any ladybirds, so I sent off for some. These are ladybird nymphs that will crawl out of little paper bags and munch on the aphids ... hopefully.

She also spotted this curious little chrysalis on the buddleia... we will try and see what emerges:

Then in searching for places to put the ladybird nymphs I noticed ants doing curious stuff on the dogwood, apparently they are milking the aphids:

Stay safe. Be kind. Love the bugs.

What's new in the garden today

 New things popping up all over.

Perennial wallflowers sent by mum:

Strawberry plants covered in potential deliciousness:

Little sage plant putting out some flowers:

Don't know what this is, but I've been waiting for weeks for it to open

(mum says it's a campanula):

A few ox-eye daisies, in the wildflower pots:

Heucheras flowering delicately all over the place:

The first year it felt like the best thing about the yard was this purple thing. It colonises the walls, pokes out from the window sills and round the edges of the concrete, flowers abundantly and the bees love it. It dies off and comes back each year and give me much joy:

I need my mum to visit and put names to everything, though not knowing what a plant is does not stop them being wonderful.

Stay safe. Be kind. Have a cuppa in the garden.

Day 8 Platt Fields Park

 

Monkey did her last second year exam this morning so when she had finished we all went for a walk to Platt Field park, mainly to spot the cootlings and the cygnets. We did see a dragonfly but it didn't sit still long enough to take a photo.

As we came around the lake we wandered from the path and found a lovely wildflower area, busy with honey bees. Also saw a lovely red-tailed bumble bee, also to busy to pose for photos.

Orange hawkweed

This one might be flax, but I cant be sure:

Come back rain, all is forgiven. 

The water butttt is empty, I have ordered him a friend.

Stay safe. Be kind. Watch the bees.