Now then, ladies and gentlemen!  Ooh, that was good, huh?  Did you notice how I started with the ‘N‘ there?  The very letter that ABC Wednesday happens to feature this week!

I didn’t have to look very far for my first picture, as you see.  The Pirate is always sleeping somewhere nearby with his cute nose pointing in my direction, so there it is. For my first ‘N‘ I give you a Pirate Nose!

And while we’re on the subject of the dogs, here’s something they both hate.  Those of you with dogs will recognise these instantly as a pair of doggy nail clippers.  When The Pirate sees them in my hand he tries to hide his feet underneath himself so I can’t find them.  He’s a nervous little fellow, and he flinches and twitches and squeaks - I can never get his nails all done at once.  However, while The Princess rolls her eyes, she’s resigned and she lets me neaten her up.  She does want to look nice, after all.

I’m just waiting for her to ask for the nail varnish once her pedicure is done.

She does like to be well turned out, especially when she goes to Nene Park to stroll among her public.  Here she is with The Pirate checking out the latest pee-mail at the beginning of their walk.

And here is a gratuitous picture of the Norman arches inside the gatehouse of Peterborough cathedral, where the dogs never walk, it being in the town centre.  I put that there so you don’t notice what I’m going for next.  Although it’s a waste of time, really, isn’t it?

You see, a short while ago, it was my birthday. OH ordered some very special gifts for me, which arrived this morning. Can you guess what they could possibly be?

No, you can’t, can you?  I shall have to tell you.  Inside those three HUGE boxes are my new posters!  I can now have Secret Window, Sweeney Todd and Pirates of the Caribbean (At World’s End) up on the walls … if we can find the space.

And soon it will be time to turn the page on the calendar and find Mr November.  Here he is -

It’s ‘that guy’ again, as my sons call him.  This time in character as Fred Abberline, in the movie ‘From Hell’, and very nice too.

Oh - I mustn’t forget the ‘N‘ movies!  Up above the utility room door in the kitchen, there’s my mini Ninth Gate poster.  Looks rather good, doesn’t it?

And the other ‘N‘ would be Nick of Time.  Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of that one.  Johnny does his best (as always) and is very sweet and all, but the script is just not that good, and it’s hard to look sexy when you’re in a cold sweat the whole time and not being at all decisive.  Truth is, Depp’s character, Gene Watson, is a bit of a nonentity, although he does surprise us in the end.  Anyway, there you go.  And see what it says?  “Ninety minutes, and no choice”.

But the movie itself cannot be called notable.

I’ve still watched it a few times though.  Of course I have!

So elsewhere in the Blogosphere, we’ve been shown food that looks like stuff, and very funny it was, too!  But now I bring you ‘things that look like things’!  Well, to be strictly accurate, things that look like faces.  Anyway, it’s all new and very exciting!  I bet you can’t wait.

That little face up there was lying in the grass watching us go by with the dogs. It was OH who spotted it.

‘Hey!’ he said.  ‘There’s a little face in the grass!’

And he was right. There it was, complete with ears, eyes, nose, hair, and everything - including a couple of projections out the back which could possibly pass for deformed arms … or something.  It may, or may not, be sticking its tongue out at us.

He thought it was a leaf, but on closer inspection I discovered the truth. The Thing which Looks like a Face is, in fact, a piece of rabbit spine.  Pretty, ain’t it?  It might even be from the very same slimy rotting piece of rabbit that The Pirate brought me as a gift not so long ago.

The second Thing that Looks like a Face is less gruesome.

It’s just a bit of stump in  a hedge which has been butchered by an automatic flail-type hedge cutter. Over and over again, year after year.  I guess that could be considered a little bit gruesome if you’re a lover of vegetation, but there it is.

And look!  See?  It has a face!

It seems to have lost the top of its head and part of an arm, poor thing.

And it seems to me that the face is expressing a certain fear and loathing for flail-type hedge cutters.

What do you think?

Mmm.  That sounds spooky, doesn’t it?  And rightly so …

One day last week, we had just set out with the dogs on their morning walk, when I saw this ladybird sitting on the side of our house.  Naturally, I asked OH to hold the dogs while I got a picture.

It took a while because each time I got close, the darned thing flew off and settled somewhere else, and in fact I was just about to give up when he kindly allowed me to take my shot.  By this time I was breathing a little fast due to having run up and down the drive a few times chasing him, and that may account for the poor quality.  Sorry about that.

Anyway.  I sent a picture to Babs of Beetle Blog, because I know how she loves ladybirds, and this one was quite unusual. As you see, instead of the familiar red wing cases with black spots - or even the yellow wing cases with black spots, he has black ones, with only two dark red spots which are rather large and badly formed.

Now ladybirds do vary a great deal, and almost all of them can sport a melanic variant which results in the normal colouring being reversed.  You can even find yellow or red ladybirds with their spots ringed with white - sort of like a leopard - these are called ‘eyed’ ladybirds, and I wouldn’t be too surprised to find a black version of those!  So, while I was intrigued enough to take a picture, I didn’t give it much thought, until Son No. 2 came home, saw the photo, and told me he’d seen a news item about a new variety of ladybird which wildlife experts were very concerned about - the Harlequin ladybird.

The Harlequin ladybird is a definite threat to our native species.  Not only does it compete for their food supply of aphids, but it will directly eat our own native ladybirds.  It also causes damage to soft fruit by sucking large quantities of sap, and it can invade houses causing damage to soft furnishings with its nasty sticky droppings.  So, not a welcome guest, then.

Naturally, I looked it up on the interweb (or webernet, whatever you like to call it), and found a lot of stories and articles and bits and pieces of news.  The truth of the matter is that it does seem to be an illegal immigrant, and it does seem to be a notable threat to our native beetles … but the one I found is probably not a Harlequin, which are much bigger than our own melanic two spots.  That one up there is just a normal ladybird-sized ladybird.  And thank goodness for that, because as you all know, I hate to kill things.

Oh, and ‘Halloween Ladybird’ is an alternate name for the Harlequins, probably because they look as if they’re dressed up in Halloween colours.  It’s a happy co-incindence for me that I’m writing this halfway through October, when our American friends are already up to their necks in pumpkins, spooks, ghouls and witches, and going to Pumpkin Festivals and the like.  I mean, one has to grab the attention of readers somehow, doesn’t one?

Hey .. if these things suck sap, maybe we can get them to nibble out the designs for jack o’lanterns?  What do you think?

Seems fair to me!

Walking in Sheffield town centre today with our son’s girlfriend, I was surprised to see a couple of very large, spiky green people.

It seems that Sheffield has spiky green people! And they are award-winning spiky green people!

Sheffield Stan, and his friend, Mary the Buffer Girl, are award winning entries in Britain in Bloom, and stand in front of the Town Hall. I think they’re rather charming, and it’s certainly the best use I’ve seen house-leeks put to recently!  They celebrate Sheffield’s history as a steel town.  Stan represents a crucible worker, pouring molten steel into moulds, and Mary represents the workers who buffed, or finished, the cutlery. Sheffield is famous for cutlery.  Yes, people, they make knives!! And do you know what?  I didn’t see one knife shop!  Isn’t that a disgrace?

Anyway, we met up with OH and our son and together we decided to get some lunch.  We looked around for somewhere suitable. and found a little Italian place and thought we’d give it a try.

Trouble was, we weren’t at all sure we could afford to eat there.  I mean, if the menu alone costs nearly fifteen quid … ?

As it turned out, it was actually rather nice. It was quiet and elegant, and the service was excellent. The food was good, too, and in the end, it didn’t break the bank.

So all in all, I’d recommend the Cafe Nova on Surrey Street, if you want something light for lunch when you’re out and about in Sheffield and you’re done looking at the green spiky people.

And don’t take any notice of that sign on the marquee.  They don’t actually charge for the menu at all!