Natural things

Two interesting "natural things" were observed whilst staying at M. Le Patron's. One was at the river and the other at the campsite.

When in water we both wear swimming goggles as this means we can have a good look at what's underneath. In the river there were many small fish. Many, means a lot and they were gathered together in specific places which we realised were under the drops.

After watching the water for a few minutes from above, this is what you see.

They are trying to jump the little waterfalls! It was like being in Lilliput because they are so small and I doubt that any would be able to get up but presume that they must do eventually.

The other phenomena is to do with blue things. We have a blue lidded butter box and Dawn has a big blue mug. We have been hassled by large flies with yellow/black wings that have the aerodynamics of a jumbo jet. They crash land onto anything that is blue. The natural thing that we observed is that the burnt grass of the campsite is covered in long spindly flower stems. They looked dead until the mornings when they are covered in blue petals. These are then systematically eaten by the jumbo jet flies until they all disappear. 

So this seems to be one of those things that happens in nature. The fly needs to eat the petals and the flowers needs the petals to be eaten!

We visited Corte, the university town of Corsica. It was nice to wander the streets which in July feel touristy. The statue of Pascal Paoli is prominent. He was the 18C leader of the Corsican resistance and spent some of his time gaining support of the British. In fact he died in exile in Britain.

We have been told several times about the low level or absence of petty crime and when I wanted to go and get my Landy key from the ignition, I was laughed at by one campsite owner. Walking along the street in Corte I of course spied a Landy parked but the keys were in the ignition and the window was open. It was still there a few hours later when we walked back.

One speciality that tasted very nice was this Migliacciu, a flan made with sheep's cheese (de brebis).

It was a successful morning, a flan to eat (for both) and a dress to wear (Dawn only).