Presents from Percy.

This is not what Percy the Peacock  usually leaves if he has been hovering in the garden or hiding under the trees. It must mean that Summer is drawing on as peacocks start shedding their tail feathers in late Summer. They will grow a new bigger set next Spring before the mating season. They renew the feathers each year as they get tatty and would be a nuisance during Winter. I have noticed him scratching and preening a lot so I guess it must feel itchy while they are dropping out. I found one yesterday and another this morning. Apparently he could drop as many as 5-10 in a day.
       Peacocks are the national bird of India and especially the Punjab province and so Percy is always greeted by the Indian pruners or pickers  who come to the orchard.   It has now been discovered that the colours in the ocellus ( eye ) are caused by nano particles of colour on black.( not pigment ).
       Percy is probably 6 or even 7 now, so in his full glory.Yesterday afternoon he spent  time with me down in block 2b where I was working thinning kiwifruit. He looks at me and thinks, " I know you will have some of that fruit bread I like....I will just sit here by the tractor and wait till smoko time." ( he sat there for 2 hours patiently, listening to the radio.)
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This year I have planted 2 capsicum, a yellow and a red right beside the wall of the house at the back of the herb garden.

they have big healthy leaves and are setting fruit quite well.

These lettuce and radish are looking healthy. The radish are ready to eat so that always spoils the display, but I guess I am growing them to eat. I planted this lot deeper and have watered them a lot and it seems to have produced a better result.
 Leanne my strawberries have been abysmal this year but are just having a second crop now so hope it goes on for a while.
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   On Sunday I got a little me time while R and J were at the Airshow and V was off shopping. These have grown a bit and all 4 are now 18 inches long. It is a slow process.( they are borders for my selvage quilt also made out of selvages. Some are quite narrow so only an inch or less is added with each piece.

I also did some reading. Molly you may be interested in what I am reading.

 I know I said I wasn't reading any more big fat books, but I have read over 300 pages of the over 900 here and am enjoying it. At the moment it is still  1689 , and ends up after the 1st World War.  As usual with Edward Rutherfurd he tells the history using fictitious families. Imagine what the population of Ireland ( and a lot of other places ) would be if the Catholics and Protestants hadn't been so intent on killing each other. ( haven't got to the famine yet. ) I didn't know the history this far back as at school we only covered English / Irish / Scotish history from 1840.

 We both wish we had read this book before we visited Ireland last July, but at least I can visualize Dublin and other places now .Yes I crossed the Liffey by bridge so can see that quite clearly in my mind.

 ( so Molly by the time I finish this I will be much more informed about your homeland. )