To dog, or not to dog - Conclusion

You might remember Jack, the dog who appeared in our neighbourhood. If you are soft-hearted, you may even have been feeling a little anxiety about what become of him. Well, my neighbour on the corner who has two dogs built a kennel for him by the roadside and feeds him. He's now officially called Jack (the dog, not my neighbour). I take Jack for walks, mostly at night when I've finished work. Jack is used to people again, and doesn't shrink away from them.

In the summer, he got bitten on the nose by a poisonous snake and his whole face swelled up. He looked like a lion for a few days, but the poor lad could hardly move and lay in his kennel for nearly a week. The neighbour took him to the vet who said that four-legged animals generally survive snake-bites. I'm glad about that. He's fine again now, and still sticks his snout in all sorts of places that might hold snakes.

A bit of colour

Recent photos have all been 'dun' colour. Dun is not an attractive colour, but pretty much the whole landscape is dun between October and around now, when patches of more interesting colours appear.

The weeping plum which I pruned with such skill in June, is now putting forth pretty pink flowers. I left a few small branches to see whether or not they would flower (I think that was the purpose -- maybe I just missed a few), and they aren't flowering. They seem to be getting ready to put out some leaves.

New plantings

This weekend, I planted a feijoa of the type "Mammoth", a Papaw, a gooseberry, a rose of the type "Mini Rose", and a Senryo (Sarcandra glabra).

I already have two feijoa of the type "Dunno", and so selecting a different type was a bit of a gamble, but judging from the size of the leaves, "Mammoth" seems not to be the same. You can hardly see it in this picture, but I'm hoping it will grow into something that provides both privacy and fruit.

The new feijoa. That's it in the middle ground.

The papaw. I thought these were supposed to be evergreen...

I plant my first rose. I wish sellers were a bit more communicative
about the type of plant. "Mini Rose" doesn't seem to mean much.

The Senryo. This has inedible red berries that birds like to eat.
We have a lot of birds in the garden now, and I like to see them around.

This wall-type thing will be planted to provide fruit, flowers
and privacy.

A single gooseberry plant. It will be interesting to see if the fruit
are popular in our household.

I went into town last weekend to meet a fellow from London and Tokyo about providing web, translation, and information services to help local companies expand their market. The moon was full and at its closest to the earth, and it dominated the evening sky. I tried to photograph it by the moat of Matsuyama Castle, but as expected, it appears as a pathetic dot in the sky. The actual thing was dramatically beautiful.