Mushroom Time
Got the first mushroom crop of the year today.
My dad and I went for a nice long walk with our wicker baskets, some coffee, a book on mushroom identification and my camera.
It was nice. I have now dried them all in the oven and already some were used for the Spaghetti Bolognese we had for tea.
Here's a shot of some Amethyst Deceiver before they slipped into my basket:)
Unsure how it deceives, but it's sure attractive. Loads were just popping out of the ground and I might have to go back to pick them in a weeks time.
Holy mackerel
So, what is up with these mackerel. I have never caught any mackerel before this year and I had never actually seen a shoal/school of them. But this year was to be different. For some reason I have had the fortune to catch mackerel on two occasions, most recently this past Friday night, where I went to the coast with my brother in law and we immediately spotted them hunting tobis and other small fish really near the coast. I got 3 but my brother in law didn't manage to get any.
Didn't manage to get a photo this time, but here's one from last time:
Looking forward to having fresh smoked mackerel with the family again.
Funky fly and The Terrible Sadistro
Another evening in the lovely sun and did a macro trek to the few spots where there's always something strange going on.
Found this funky fly with amazing eyes:
"I know it looks like some really cool shades, but it's my eyes. Really! Yes, they are striped, you're right - I've never thought of that!"
So after a while spent desperately trying to find some spiders, I stumbled across two of these fellas. They look terrifying with their spiked spikes, and remind me of a character in a book my dad read to me when I was a child. The character is called "The Terrible Sadistro", and in the story, he basically captures innocent bugs and puts them in his terrible prison for no reason whatsoever. He captures a ladybird called Marietta and the heroic boyfriend - whose name escapes me - gets loads of other insects involved in a rescue mission the crux of which includes Sadistro being squashed under a twig. All very dramatic.
So tonight, I got to see the caterpillar which may have been the inspiration for the book:
Behold The Terrible Sadistro - he takes ladybirds as slaves in his secret den...and probably does unspeakable things to them.
Garden macro
Got out my macro lens this afternoon. I also dug out the old macro flash and had a mini phototrek around our garden for some bugs.
I managed to find a fair few bugs, but because I had chosen the warmest part of the day, all the bugs were far too active and thus really difficult to photograph. Also, the sun was a bit harsh, so I had to find shady spots to work in.
Here's a spider hanging out at the top of a nettle near our compost.
"Why is my belly so itchy?"
Nice to photograph a bit again. May have to do it more often.
First coast trip 2011
I managed to get to the coast last saturday. Finally. The sky was a clear blue and there was a fair wind blowing from the west.
I was supposed to write an assignment, but due to a missed course day, I failed entirely at understanding the task at hand and thus elected to go fishing instead.
The water was clearer than schnapps and/or vodka. I was entirely alone on the coast. Birds were singing and I felt the sun on my face.
I started out with a piggy on the bombarda and fished a stretch of about 300 meters in 30 minutes. Nothing at all. I swapped to the 12g stripper, but lost it to a very stubborn bit of seaweed after 10 minutes and swapped back to a Polar Magnus on the bombarda and fished back the stretch to the car. On my last cast, the line got all tangled and snapped by the fly so I lost that as well.
I did get to try out my new wading jacket and can't understand why I haven't acquired one before now. It's great with the pockets and my new net sits nicely in the loop on the back for just that. Ohh, and the extra handwarming softly lined pockets behind the other pockets. It's magic.
Thanks Chicken!
We've never celebrated Thanksgiving in our family - after all, it's not really a Danish tradition.
I know it's not Thanksgiving until Thursday, but today we had a Sunday roast and decided it was our Thanksgiving meal.
The procedure:
Chicken with parsnips, garlic, red onion and carrots.
Mix butter with fresh chopped coriander.
Slip your fingers under the skin of the chicken and rub it with the butter. Cover the chicken with bacon and pour some white wine over the chicken:
Chicken ready for the oven
Stick it in the oven at 200 degrees for ages and ages:
Chicken in the oven
Do some veg so it's ready in time for the chicken to come out. Pour the liquid around the chicken into a suitable receptacle and peel the meat off the chicken. Serve with the bacon and yum it up with the family:
Yummy meal for Sunday
Keep the bones and all the rest of the stuff left over. Put it in a large pot with a bit more white wine, some vegetable stock, an onion and whatever bits of vegetables that are going off in the fridge. Cover with water and boil for ages and ages:
Soupy loveliness, here with chili and brocolli.
So not only do you get a great Sunday lunch but also another two meals from the soup cooked on the bones and all the veg you would probably have thrown away anyway.
Happy Thanksgiving.
I now have flickr
I was asked recently if I have a flickr account. I didn't. I just always thought that it would be yet another thing to maintain and I have plenty of that sort of thing to contend with as it is.
But then I remembered having seen a small icon on my android phone to do with flickr. It turns out that my phone will upload and integrate seamlessly with a flickr account and so...I now have a flickr.
It's solely for the purpose of having somewhere to story the photos taken with my phone, and it works startingly well for exactly that.
On the photo note, I have started to rediscover my creativity and interest in photography.
I suppose that is healthy and my wife agress. I have started always having the camera in the car with me to and from work and find myself stopping more often than I had expected.
Took this on the way to work the other day:
Stopped in a pleasant beechforest on the way to work and played a bit.
I love forests.
Out every monday
I do actually fish every monday, but so far, I have only caught some seaweed and 1 trout below minimum size and this even unhooked itself before I managed to grab it. I've had some bites that were definitely from large trout, but haven't managed to hook them properly.
Instead, I have had some very nice evenings by the sea. I have caught the sunsets and watched porpoises play in the evening light. That calm and quiet sensation of being there, just feeling the waves and the air move around you and the sounds and smells become amplified by the feeling of being present. That feeling of being part of nature and not just a witness. That's why I go fishing.
Going again tonight and looking forward to testing my new kit.:)
New gear
My old fishing rod and reel have both seen better days. I bought them about 2 1/2 years ago and they have been with me every time I have been either at the coast or by the lake. I have cought numerous rainbow trout and 3 sea trout on it. I have alto caught 2 small cod on it and a hell of a lot of seaweed.
All this use has made the ferrule (the join between the two sections of the rod) quite worn and loose, so for a while, I have gotten used to checking that it's still put together firmly every 5-6 casts. I have been very close to loosing the tip sections several times.
The old reel has actually been excellent and it still works. Ok, it doesn't run as smoothly as it did when it was new and the break is getting slightly wobbly. The chrome on the handle is starting to chip from all the saltwater as well.
So I have ventured out to spend a little bit on a new rod and reel.
This could be a review of the new items, but it isn't. I simply have neither the experience nor the desire to review anything these days. So this is just what it is:
The Rod:
Seems like a really nice rod. A whole foot longer than my old rod and carbon fibre, which makes is significantly lighter. The cork handle is nice quality and the fastening mechanism of the reel will take a little getting used to. The rod is in 3 sections and while this is a potential disadvantage to the action of the rod, it is outweighed by the compact size of the rod in the bag. I drive a Lupo and haven't previously been able to fit neither flyrod nor spinning rod in the boot, so this is a welcome change.
The rod just feels nice. Mind you, I still haven't had the time to fish with it, but from everything I hear and my own hunch, it's gonna be really nice.
The Reel:
If not pretty, this reel is cheap. It feels like my old reel, but comes with an extra spool included. The two spools are identical. It has rear drag (old one had front drag) which is quite a sensitive thing with a small ratio, making it slightly more difficult to adjust accurately. I'm sure I can get used to that. The line placement is better than my old reel, more even. It's a fine reel. Nothing more to it.
The rod and reel in combination feel kinda strange. The reel is quite heavy compared to the rod, which means that the weight is distributed kinda strange. I hope it will be an advantage when casting, but I will find out monday.
A note on line:
I have been fishing with Fireline in 0.17mm for a while now, and while it was a huge improvement on traditional nylon lines, it has bothered me that the line is flat and not round. It also seems to fray quite easily. It's hard to tie knots with it and it feels kinda stiff.
So I have bought some Spiderwire Ultracast in 0.14mm and it feels better. Not only is it nice to have it so thin, but it actually feels more supple and round. I look forward to fishing with the whole setup to see how it works.
I had a full 1000m roll of clear 28mm nylon rolling about, so I have filled the extra spool with that. It might come in handy if fishing on a day where the air is below freezing - as this tends to make braided lines quite stiff.
If facebook dies
I'm not on t'book, the yorkshireman said.
Even more reason to find this statement funny:
"If Facebook ever shuts down, you'll see people roaming the streets shoving pictures in others faces screaming 'Do you like this!?..DO YOU??"
I hope it happens. No-one will be any worse off. Actually, I would argue that many people would be better off.
It might actually force some people to maintain personal relations...in person. Suddenly, the logistics of actually contacting someone, facing them, looking at them, and speaking to them will appear as almost unsurmountable obstacles. So sad.