Monkey's Blog - with a little help from Alice

Harvieston

Yesterday we visited an eccentric friend who lives in this splendid-looking mansion.

However, it's been allowed to deteriorate into a very sorry state, and is now up for sale. The remaining tenants are hanging on in there, hoping someone will buy it soon and restore it to its former glory.
    Our friend stays in the bit sticking out onto the balcony. Beautiful when it's warm and sunny. Extremely bitter in winter. Brrrrr. Maybe that's why they seem to have a passion for bonfire parties in the nearby field. Too smokey for me. . .

Yesterday was actually sunny!

First time for ages. I'd almost forgotten what it feels like.

The pastoral view from up there is very soothing. I became quite contemplative, dozed a bit and and almost fell off. Luckily I'm built to withstand such impacts, but, my dears, the shock to the nervous system... It was bad enough just coming so close.

They had to let me have a nap to recover.

Ollie and Bear, who live downstaris by the side door, let me bunk in with them.

You can tell they're quite the intellectuals by the nature of their reading matter.

Our friend calls himself an "arthropodologist" (He means he's into insects.) As he imagines he's a re-incarnation of Alfred Russel Wallace (where do humans get these weird notions from?) he has called his study The Wallace Room. I believe he's even dressed up as Wallace in the past. He says that was for an educational project with schoolchildren. Oh yes?
   Still, I mustn't be mean. He kindly allowed me to look at a specimen through his microscope. It was just a bit tricky getting in position over a device designed for big people, but with my usual determination and agility, I finally managed. It was well worth the effort.
   Wow! See what I saw (below). Do click on this and view it in more detail. I found the quote on the Alfred Russel Wallace website - it sums up my own emotions precisely.

The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, and none but a naturalist can understand the intense excitement I experienced when I at length captured it. On taking it out of my net and opening the glorious wings, my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than I have done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what will appear to most people a very inadequate cause.

(From Wallace's 1869 book "The Malay Archipelago")


Being a Monkey I solved the Puzzle of this Tree in the grounds.

["That's a pretty puerile sort of joke." Alice.]
["We are not amused." Vera.]

I choose to ignore such deprecating remarks while I'm dictating.

I shall have my own good memories, despite those two.
What a wondrous and exciting day it turned out to be!