Last night we got home pretty late, since we were here at George's office checking email and calling home until like 11pm. So it was about 11:30 by the time we pulled into our "driveway." We don't have an outside light, so our little path was very dark. But from the streetlight I could see a big old snail right in the middle of the path! I love snails- I've always been fascinated with them, what they do, how the live, what's their purpose in the ecosystem (besides eating my plants)? So I picked up this big old snail so I could relocate him (or her, or it as the case may be) into my garden, where there are lots of other snails. I stood up and took another step, and there was another snail! And another one! All total there were 4 big snails that I picked up to relocate into my back garden. George took some pictures of them inching around on my hand- they were so big, and they're very curious about their surroundings. So they were crawling all over my hands. Well we opened the door to go in, and there on the outside of the door are 2 gigantic snails! Just crossing the door on to somewhere else. :)
Anyway I turned on the back garden light, and there were tons of snails everywhere! I was so excited- I put the snails down with the other snails, and wandered around looking at all the big snails to see what they were doing and where they were going. Too interesting! Tomorrow I'm going to some resale shops to see if I can find some old books about snails. :) If you're interested, here's a link to a BBC website about garden snails. I'll have pictures up of our snails soon. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/415.shtml
Yes, I'm aware that snails eat plants. But snails really like dead and decaying matter, and the snails for the most part eat the dead and decaying leaves that I leave in a little pile in the garden. But slugs have been eating my basil which isn't so happy for me or the basil. I think I'll bring the basil in. Slugs are hard to kill without killing the snails as well. I saw a 4 inch long slug last night- I didn't know they could get that big! I just can't bring myself to spear them or poison them, so I'll try repelling them around the plants that they seem to like, and leave out dead stuff on the patio stones for them to eat instead. I love all creatures and I'll have to live with the slugs. :)
So we went to the car boot sale this morning.....but unfortunately it was pouring down rain, and we didn't find much. Alas. But we did buy a giant box of tomatoes, so now we can have a whole tomato each for breakfast. :) It was pouring at some point and people just left their stuff out there that was for sale- it doesn't make buyers feel that their things are worth buying if they don't care about them getting drenched. :)
One of my new favorite things to do here is hit the thrift stores (which they call "charity shops") for classical music CDs. There is a great selection here- classical music is very very popular and I've bought 8 CDs at least for super cheap.
Overall it's been a good weekend. I hope you've had a good weekend as well.
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