Apples and Strawberries from New Malden.
As my general growing and farming ability improves, I thought I would share a few decent photos of the first ever apples growing on my Cox’s apple tree and a strawberry.
Strawberry living in New Malden
Arcticterntalk.org
The blog of a travelling psychiatrist and football lover. Who happens to be a halfway decent photographer. Takes a cynical view of the world
Archive for the tag “surrey”
Crab Spider Visiting New Malden. I think he is from Texas.
Over the last few years I have become more cogniscent with nature and insects due to the interest from my 12 year old. Sitting in the garden last week I saw what I thought was a piece of paper or rubbish in the plant pot that is filled with bright blue and yellow pansies and reed type leaves. On closer inspection it was moving and had legs. Quick rush to get camera with Macro lens attached.
Told 12-year-old when she got home and cue excitement and Google searches. No doubt it was a Crab Spider. Now this must be a particularly stupid one as one of their attributes, other than that they resemble a crab, is that they change colour and can camouflage themselves. Considering the pot is filled with bright blue and yellow pansies and green reed type leaves, said Crab Spider did not do a good job being bright white.
Few facts about Crab Spiders. Crab spiders (Thomisidae) resemble crabs. Their first four legs extend out to the sides and are longer than the back four legs. Crab spiders are almost always found outdoors. They do not make a web; instead they catch their prey using their front legs. The crab spider can stay in the same place—a flower or a leaf, for instance—for days, or even weeks, waiting for its dinner to arrive. The good news for me is that the spider is not poisonous, well to me at least, and lives worldwide especially in North America. We recently had a Texan visitor so I am blaming him as all sorts of strange things come from Texas, and most things seem dangerous and poisonous there!
This spider has very strong front legs, and it uses them to wrap its prey. The spider then injects venom into the prey to immobilize it. It eats insects and bees. This is bad news for the many Bees that live in our garden. Crab spiders are reminiscent of water crabs in both shape and movement. They can walk forwards, sideways or even backwards. Crab spiders range in color from pale yellow to white or green. They change their color to match their background, so you may have to observe a flower or leaf for a long time to be able to detect a crab spider sitting on it. Goldenrod crab spiders can change their color to match the flower they are sitting on. It takes about 10-25 days for the goldenrod crab species to change its color to match the flower it sits on. So lets see what our little specimen manages to do in the most few weeks. The good news otherwise for Crab Spiders is that they do live 2 years!
Doing a search on Google images, there are many different types of Crab Spider but this one most definitely is one!
Crab Spider visiting New Malden
Sussex V Surrey at Arundel. The last game of Chris Adams reign
Arundel is one of the most beautiful cricket grounds to watch cricket. 
Sussex v Surrey at Arundel. A painting.
Arundel is one of the most beautiful cricket grounds in the world. A couple of painting style photographs from today. Enjoy
Cricket at Arundel by Chris J Bushe
The price of Ice Cream
Walking along the small high street of a surrey town I happened to glance in at a cafe shop that recently started up, selling mainly coffee, cake and a few other items. Few tables outside on the pavement and looks overall quite nice. What however caught my eye was the price of a single scoop of ice cream or ” italian gelato” as it was described, a single scoop was £2.21. When did this happen? Recently Iceland were selling huge packs of white Magnums for 4£ and that got you I recall at least 8. A huge 2 litre tub of a nice ice cream like Kelly’s cornish can often be got on special offer for as little as 2£. Crazy pricing. Let me know the most expensive scoop of ice cream that you know of, outside of central London or other touristy areas.
Woking 2 Wrexham 0
The nearer one gets to the end of the season the more certain matches matter. Woking are safe in the conference and in fact are the most successful part-time club in the UK. Wrexham are a full-time club striving to be back in the football league where they belong. The reality before this game was that their most likely channel would be the playoffs and after this game this is now a certainty. However it is worth just thinking how much football needs to be played by the better sides that are successful in the cup competitions and in fact Wrexham won at Wembley the FA Trohpy a few weeks ago. They looked tired and most likely were tired having played 48 hours before. Woking were on top for most of the game and always looked the likelier team to score and they duly did twice in the second half in front of 1500 supporters. Jayden Stockley scored both goals and missed a simple chance for his hat-trick. He was the best player on the pitch. The other player to impress, mostly in the first-half was Dele Adebola, who is still a physical handful at this level.
LOOKING WORRIED
chris Maxwell
Dele Adebola
CHRIS MAXWELL BEATEN FOR THE FIRST GOAL
Jayden Stockley scores his second goal versus Wrexham
Which is the best Book Cover?
Opinions please. Which is best choice? Should this author ever complete a non-medical book?
Mordor Returns
Winkworth Arboretum
Winkworth Arboretum is a National trust property about 5 miles from Guildford in a quaint town called Godalming. The most striking thing about Godalming is that the houses are massive and the Waitrose in the centre of town even larger. The impression given is that a huge crater was created into which Waitrose slotted to fill the hole, and the road then re-built to bypass said Waitrose. But I digress. The Arboretum is a decent place to walk but sadly the extensed winter meant that few plants were visible today other than the occasional daffodil or snowdrop. No evidence of the Magnolias coming to life.
The walk is also not an easy one, many steps and slopes means that the walk might not be suitable for all. Can it be recommended? Maybe. One needs to return when spring has made an appearance to be decisive but I suspect it will become a nice place to walk. The Boathouse, is what it sounds, an old hut by the lake, but with chairs and old books in it gives the impression of a real old room. A sign on the door mentions that the NT have applied for permission essentially to have music and alcohol in here. Sounds good.
Candidates for the Most Ridiculous Lampshade in the world
This is a new annual competition I am running. Here is the first entry from Barcelo Raval Hotel Foyer in Barcelona. A life size horse, with the lamp coming out of its head. This one gets 7/10 for nonsense factor. 
Brentford 2 Chelsea 2
It has been a long time since I have been so proud of my team. For those not familiar, Brentford are a small West London team averaging crowds of around 6,000. Chelsea are the current European champions. In the 4th round of the FA Cup today they drew 2-2.
A great day was had by all. It all started well by us meeting the Brentford manager Uwe Rosler on the way to the ground and he was kind enough to pose with my family for a photo. A good MCDonalds breakfast, and a great game of football in a packed stadium.
At no stage of the game were Brentford overawed by Chelsea and in reality came close to knocking Chelsea out.
A few photos as moments but sadly all I Phone photos and the camera on the phone underwhelms me totally.
The only negative might be those who thought it clever to let off flares in a packed terrace. 
A Great Place
The rants and warblings of an active and some would say disturbed mind. A Brentford Fc supporter and a psychiatrist and photographer. Welcome to my musings and rants.
chris1957
Arcticterntalk.org 