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I PULL UP a lot of Sun Spurge. This common weed is a member of the Euphorbia family. It oozes milky sap when the stem is broken. The flowers are set against yellowish leaf-like sepals. It's oval seed capsule explodes, scattering the seeds which are often picked up by ants.  An oil-rich attachment to the seed is the attraction. The ant carries the seed away, eats the oily offering, then discards the seed.
Don't try this at home  At our bonfire night party the fireworks start early when we decide to roast Sweet Chestnuts in the oven without going to the trouble of pricking holes in the shells. A dozen of them go off one after the other, making muffled thuds, as if logs are dropping on the roof. Superheated pulp sprays the inside of the oven, which we'd cleaned only last week.
They taste delicious.
Redwings by Night
Our guests hear the calls of Redwings flying over the garden in the darkness. I can't pick them up at all.'You must have heard that! It sounds like a squeaking gate!' Actually it's higher-pitched than a squeaky gate and beyond my range, as I've lost the upper frequencies of my hearing. When I had a check up a few years ago, the specialist asked if I worked in industry. He said that I have a form of partial deafness typical of people who work in noisy environments. It's too late to worry about it now, but I wonder whether it was a result of the only punk rock concert I ever attended, a concert so loud that you heard the 'music' as vibrations in your stomach. Or was it the paint sprayer I used to use without ear protection? . . . or all those nights in the disco at the end of the Abba era? If I could have my life again Redwings in the night would win over punk rock every time!
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