What day is it?
It’s today, squeaked Piglet.
My favourite day, said Pooh.
~A.A.Milne~
The celebration started early with Red Nose Day. Since its launch in 1988, it had become something of a British institution. It was the day, every two years, when people across the country got together and do something funny for money at home, school and work. Comic Relief spent the money raised to help people living tough lives across the UK and Africa. My only criticism was that millions of pounds donated had been invested in funds with shares in tobacco, alcohol and arm firms. That aside, at work we’d a cake day where all the talented bakers showed off their skills and donated cakes to be sold. Check out those cakes. I’d lost the number of times I popped over to the staff room to buy a slice of these delicious home-baked cakes. In total, we made £200 for the charity. That was a lot of cake :-)
There was also a fantastic night of tv on the BBC, with comedy and entertainment to inspire the nation to give generously. But unfortunately, I didn’t watch any because I’d a pre-birthday dinner with CC. I was never a fan of Indian food unless the restaurant served thali, which was a platter containing little bowls of a wide variety of different dishes. It was an opportunity to taste the many Indian dishes at the one sitting. We googled a few restaurants and CC suggested a newly opened establishment that had amazing reviews called My Dhabba at Spon Street.
The restaurant was quite small and there were about half a dozen people already in it. We were both seated at the back in very opulent surroundings. The decor was pure Bollywood with Hindi songs being piped through. Before we even sat down, poppadoms and dips with mint yoghurt, mango chutney and raita was laid on the table. I ordered a hot drink which wasn’t on the menu but they prepared a delicious masala tea for both of us. It was milky tea with a hint of spice. We enjoyed the starters while perusing the menu.
I zeroed on the thalis and they’d vegetarian, seafood or meat and off course, I chose the seafood while CC had the vegetarian. We chose the mild curry. We also ordered extra poppadoms as there was plenty of dips left. More people started arriving and as the restaurant don’t serve alcohol, a lot of them brought their own bottles. Our meal arrived and there was boiled Basmati rice surrounded by little bowls of raita, potato aloo, fish curry, prawn tandoori, dhal, mango pickle and salad. Yum…yum. The different textures and aromas enveloped our senses and whipped our appetites into a frenzy. There were lots and loads of tantalising flavours. We requested nan bread to scoop the sumptuous glooggy mess. I was quite surprised that the nan was extra.
We’d a wonderful time catching up with stuff. CC had a lot to tell because she just started a new job. We had a good laugh as she impersonated her new colleagues. Looking around, this place was really awesome and the food was brilliant. I would definitely come here again. The staff were friendly without being overbearing. We’d a lovely surprise when the bill came and our drinks weren’t included. We did asked and they said that it as on the house. Whoop … whoop will definitely come again. The bill came to £13 each. We were given tiny orange chocolates and a hot towel to freshen up. A definitely 9 from me. Keep up the good work, My Dhabba. Then it was a slow stroll to the bus stand to catch the bus home.
The next day, Babe and I drove over to Ashlawn Cutting to see if the frogs had returned. Although the weather had warmed a bit, the reserve still looked sparse and lack of greenery especially when the volunteers were clearing quite a lot of the undergrowth and hedgerows. But these didn’t stop the resident bird species from being active. Robins, Blackbirds and Dunnocks were singing their hearts out while Great tits, Blue tits and Goldfinches were flying through the branches chasing after the females. As we slowly zigzagged our way down towards the pond, we listened to the woodland coming alive with birdsongs.
We’d to be careful because the path was seriously flooded and then only we realised that our boots weren’t either waterproof or they had holes in it :-). But everything was forgotten when we spotted several clumps of frog spawn jelly in the pond clinging to the weeds. Whoop…whoop. That meant we’d missed their mating session. That was quick because we had only visited the site a week ago and there was nothing. As our eyes adjusted to the bright sunlight, a few heads popped up and at least half a dozen frogs were watching us. All you could hear were our ankles creaking away as we bent down to get close to these adorable amphibians.
Babe thought he saw a pair mating but they were hidden under the undergrowth. Males arrived at these ponds first and attract the females by loud croakings. Successful males grasped the females in a mating embrace and fertilised the eggs as the females released them. Each female laid between 1000-4000 eggs. The adults guard the spawn for a few days after they have laid them. After about 21 days as spawn, the embryonic frog will leave its protective jelly as a tadpole, complete with organs, gills and a long tail. Frog tadpoles grew back legs first, then front legs and were ready to leave the pond between June and September. I am very pleased to see this reserve as a breeding sites. These were because agricultural sprays, draining wetland habitats and filing in small ponds that frogs used as breeding sites, were the main reasons for their decline.
“Frog in a little pond can be much happier than fish in a vast ocean!
~Mehmet Murat Idlan~
Pi Day was celebrated on March 14th around the world. Pi (Greek letter “N”) was the symbol used in mathematics to represent a constant ie the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, which was approximately 3.14 159. Every year, on this date, mathematicians were prodded out of their burrows like Punxsutawney Phil on Groundhog Day, blinking and bewildered by the fuss and questions of what is a Pi?. The date was special and it was not just any Pi Day. It was Pi Day of the century because the date 3/14/15 was Pi to five digits. A once-in-a-lifetime thing. To celebrate the day, it was suggested that people should eat pie and memorize digits.
The next day was Mothering Sunday in the UK and Ireland. Traditionally, it was a day when children, mainly daughters, who had gone to work as domestic servants were given a day off to visit their mother and family. Today, it was a day to show love, gratitude and appreciation to all the wonderful mums everywhere, through acts of kindness and the giving of Mothers Day gift and flowers. Although they represented the same meaning, Mothering Sunday and Mother’s Day both have different origins. I often got my dates mixed because Mother’s Day in Malaysia was in the second Sunday of May.
Hundreds of dewdrops to greet the dawn,
Hundreds of bees in the purple clover
Hundreds of butterflies on the lawn,
But only one mother the wide world over.
~George Cooper~
Then the big day, the Ides of March, heralded my birthday. Although I have been around for well over five decades, the day still excites me. I am so grateful and thankful that I have been around for that long and fingers-crossed more years to come. The day passed with a small celebration to mark the occasion with a few cards and e-mail wishes, the wonderful presents from Babe, a lovely meal with my favourite dessert and several outings promised. Thank you.
“And in the end it’s not the years in your life that count,
it’s the life in your years”
~Abraham Lincoln~
March 15 was the Ides of March, the first day of the Roman New Year. It also marked the first day of spring in the Roman calendar. On this day, Julius Caesar was warned by soothsayers to beware of the day. Unfortunately, he didn’t heed the warning and was stabbed by Marcus Brutus in 44 BC at the foot of the statue of Pompey where the Senate was meeting. The ancient Romans considered the ides of any month unfavourable. And thanks to Shakespeare’s dramatization, March 15 was forever linked with the assassination and with the prophecies of doom.
“Beware of the Ides of March”
~William Shakespeare~
A trip to Astley Book Farm was on the card. We drove through the leafy and winding Warwickshire country lanes past the tongue-twisting village of Fillongley to check out this place. A very stony drive led us to a huge converted barn that was converted into a 2nd hand bookshop which was situated on the Arbury estate. This estate was also the birthplace of Mary Ann Evans (22 November 1819-22 December 1880) or better known as George Eliot, one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. Astley Book Farm was the largest 2nd hand bookshop in the Midlands and housed 75K books under one roof.
“The smallest bookstore still contains more ideas of worth than have been presented in the entire history of television.”
~Andrew Ross~
First we headed towards the ten-bob barn where gems of yesteryear, duplicates and overstocks, from the unread to the well-loved lived. They were shelved but unsorted so we dived in and rummaged around. Unfortunately, it was just too cold to mooch longer and with 2 books tucked under my arms, we made our way towards the main building. At the entrance, we were greeted by the owners and a few tools used in the book-trade such as a book press caught our attention. My heart beat a little faster and my tummy did an excited flip as we saw the specialist collectors’ stock which included first edition copies of Eliot and Dickens, antiquarian, rare and out of print books. I was dribbling with ooh’s and aah’s. I think I need to negotiate an overdraft with my bank manager :-)
Then we walked through the door and came across an Aladdin cave of shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books all snaking around the barn. Round corners, every nook and cranny filled with books. There was even a magical stairway into the children’s hayloft. Aah… how I wish I was a child again to check out the children’s den of bookish wonder. We continued walking right through the end where the bindery was located. Unfortunately, it was closed today. It would be lovely to see a traditional bindery at work. I have my eye on a couple of books and will definitely come back again. The very narrow corridors were getting crowded as more and more people were coming in. I would love to have a drink at the coffee shop but all the comfy chairs were taken as customers thaw out in front of the log-burner. I will definitely be back.
The highlight of my birthday was a visit to the Stratford Butterfly Farm in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Opened in 1985 by David Bellamy, it was the UK’s largest tropical butterfly paradise. Set in a large tropical walk through greenhouse, landscaped with waterfalls, ponds and tropical plants, we saw hundreds of exotic butterflies from all over the world flying. But we encountered problems with our cameras because it steamed up. Oh no… we spent about half an hour cleaning the lenses and waiting for the lens to acclimatise to the humid conditions with all these colourful confetti flying around us :-). We sat on a bench and in front of us were butterflies landing on special nectar feeding tables. What an amazing sight. These tables were placed throughout the farm.
I've watched you now a full half-hour;
Self-poised upon that yellow flower
And, little Butterfly! indeed
I know not if you sleep or feed.
How motionless!--not frozen seas
More motionless! and then
What joy awaits you, when the breeze
Hath found you out among the trees,
And calls you forth again!
This plot of orchard-ground is ours;
My trees they are, my Sister's flowers;
Here rest your wings when they are weary;
Here lodge as in a sanctuary!
Come often to us, fear no wrong;
Sit near us on the bough!
We'll talk of sunshine and of song,
And summer days, when we were young;
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
~William Wordsworth~
We stopped at every tree, branch, flower, bench, wall because there was always a butterfly perched on it. We just don’t know where to point the camera because they were free-flying everywhere. It was a lovely stroll through the exotic rainforest which reminded me of home, a lush landscape of tropical blossoms. It was very humid too. There were over 250 different species from 20 different countries with an average of 1.5K butterflies flying about. Apart from the butterflies, the greenhouse were covered with tropical plants to feed the butterflies. Among them was the Lantana, a very important nectar plant with its tightly packed blossoms rich in sugary nectar, but considered a weed in Asia.
Moss covered paths between scarlet peonies,
Pale jade mountains fill your rustic windows.
I envy you, drunk with flowers,
Butterflies swirling in your dreams.
~Ch'ien Ch'i, translated by Kenneth Rexroth~
There were also quite a few birds in the flight area adding some very colourful noise in the flight area. They were chosen because none of them were insectivorous, which would be a disaster if they were. There were the beautiful green Kakariki parrots from NZ, Rosey Bourkes, a very mischievous Australian Cockatiels, Indian Green Ring-necked Parakeets and the adorable flightless Chinese Painted Quails, which were scuttering around on the floor. I was looking forward to see the latest additions to the birds, the African Mousebirds with their distinctive hairstyles but they were nowhere to be seen.
Thou spark of life that wavest wings of gold,
Thou songless wanderer mid the songful birds,
With Nature’s secrets in thy tints unrolled
Through gorgeous cipher, past the reach of words,
Yet dear to every child
In glad pursuit beguiled,
Living his unspoiled days mid flowers and flocks and herds!
Thou winged blossom, liberated thing,
What secret tie binds thee to other flowers,
Still held within the garden’s fostering?
Will they too soar with the completed hours,
Take flight, and be like thee
Irrevocably free,
Hovering at will o’er their parental bowers?
Or is thy lustre drawn from heavenly hues,—
A sumptuous drifting fragment of the sky,
Caught when the sunset its last glance imbues
With sudden splendor, and the tree-tops high
Grasp that swift blazonry,
Then lend those tints to thee,
On thee to float a few short hours, and die?
Birds have their nests; they rear their eager young,
And flit on errands all the livelong day;
Each fieldmouse keeps the homestead whence it sprung;
But thou art Nature’s freeman,—free to stray
Unfettered through the wood,
Seeking thine airy food,
The sweetness spiced on every blossomed spray.
The garden one wide banquet spreads for thee,
O daintiest reveller of the joyous earth!
One drop of honey gives satiety;
A second draught would drug thee past all mirth.
Thy feast no orgy shows;
Thy calm eyes never close,
Thou soberest sprite to which the sun gives birth.
And yet the soul of man upon thy wings
Forever soars in aspiration; thou
His emblem of the new career that springs
When death’s arrest bids all his spirit bow.
He seeks his hope in thee
Of immortality.
Symbol of life, me with such faith endow!
~Thomas Wentworth Higginson~
We also kept our eyes peeled on the resident pair green South American iguanas named Stumpy and Princess. I immediately spotted one of them high up in the trees and on top of the heater where he warmed his tummy and kept an eye on things below. They were donated to the farm about 5 years ago when they became too big to be kept as a pets. They were joined by a red Iguana named Dusty. These were arboreal animals which meant they lived on trees. It was quite strange to see these prehistoric looking lizards living side-by-side with the butterflies, Thankfully, they were herbivores too. :-)
“I am the lizard king.
I can do anything”
~Jim Morrison~
Then we popped into the caterpillar room where we came eye-to-eye with some of the worlds largest, spikiest, hairiest and most camouflaged caterpillars. Some were so well hidden that we’d to look very carefully to find them. In this room, we saw all the different stages of a butterfly’s life cycle, from the egg, caterpillar, chrysalis and the adult. I was fascinated with the Emerging cage where the imported chrysalis were hang and from where the butterflies emerge. We even saw one drying its wing for the first flight. 
“The caterpillar does all the work but the butterfly gets all the publicity”
~Attributed to George Carlin~
“What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly”
~Richard Bach~
In Insect city, we got closer to the largest insect collection in Europe. There were Bonkers beetles, sizeable stick insects, Mantids, ants, Armoured Ground cricket, Caribbean Hermit crabs, Ecuadorian Lubber Grasshopper and from Malaysia, the Jungle Nymph and Leaf Katydid. All of these were kept in glass tanks and at eye level for the little people. There was a school trip and excited school children were all over the place. There were mini-best handling sessions for them but we gave it a miss. It was not just insects here. We also saw Giant African land snails, millipedes with over 200 legs, tiny frogs, gecko and chameleons.
Over in the creepy Arachnoland, which housed those “spinners of webs and dealers of death.” Here, in the darkened rooms, we discovered an assortment of deadly spiders and scorpions, safely contained behind glass. Phew !!! They included the Goliath Bird Eating Spider, Brazilian red Fire tarantula, Huntsman Spider, the world’s most venomous spider, the Brazilian wandering spider which was housed inside an alarmed cage, and the infamous false Widow Spider. The colony of huge black scorpions were fascinating to watch because they glow under the UV-light.
We made another circuit again following the meandering pathways, just in case we missed something. I was still on the lookout for the Mousebirds and even asked reception. They were around but I just can’t find them. And before exiting, a huge mirror was installed where we checked our backs in case any butterflies had accidently landed on our coats and decided to follow us home. Outside was a butterfly garden, a haven which featured the top 10 butterfly nectar plants in the UK with a special butterfly meadow mix. Unfortunately, it was early Spring and everything was still dormant. These plants which bloomed in July will looked stunning. Once in bloom, the stunning garden resembled a vast sea of wild meadow flowers which attracts hundreds of butterflies.
May the wings of the butterfly kiss the sun
And find your shoulder to light on,
To bring you luck, happiness and riches
Today, tomorrow and beyond.
~Irish Blessing~
We went back to the car and had a little picnic of our own. It was still too cold to sit on the benches under the flowering black hawthorn which adorned the path towards the canal. Goldfinches were busy twittering on top of the branches while various tits were flying in roving flocks and were always flitting around. After warming our cockles, we walked on the footbridge over the Avon river which was teeming with ducks, Canada Geese, Greylags and Mute Swans.
The Bancroft Gardens, in front of the world famous Royal Shakespeare Theatre, was buzzing with locals, tourists and school children. We stopped to watch a canal boat making its way through the locks. I would love to take a canal boat ride but our timed parking was coming up soon. Next time, perhaps. We walked around taking photographs of the statute of Shakespeare sculptured by Lord Ronald Sutherland Gower and presented to the town in 1888. I couldn’t help holding hands with Lady Macbeth. She was part of the Shakespearean characters which included Hamlet, Falstaff and Prince Hai, symbolising tragedy, philosophy, comedy and history. Then it was time to head home full of wonderful memories. I am so blessed.
“Today is the oldest you’ve ever been and the youngest you’ll ever be again
~Eleanor Roosevelt~
*William Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing”
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