Juvenile Chinese Blackbird

Juvenile Chinese Blackbird (Turdus mandarinus, 乌鸫).

Every summer there are great numbers of juvenile blackbirds around the parks. They are not very shy when they are young and they are invariably ugly, but in a cute way.

Cynicism

 all cynicism is so damned sentimental

Cyril Connolly, The Rock Pool (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1954; 1936), p. 131.

Snow Fungus

Snow Fungus (Tremella fuciformis, 银耳).

Wet summer weather means fungus. This one is more common in a soup than in the wild, and I have not often seen it on Yuelu Mountain (perhaps due to foragers), but there is was, amidst a pile of decomposing branches.

Living in a Foreign Country

ὑμεῖς δ᾽ ἐς ἀλλόφυλον ἐλθοῦσαι χθόνα
γῆς τῆσδ᾽ ἐρασθήσεσθε· προυννέπω τάδε.

If you travel into some land of foreigners,
I warn you, you shall come to love their country.

Aeschylus, Eumenides 851-52. My translation.

Eurystylus Coelestialium

Eurystylus coelestialium (眼斑厚盲蝽).

The ramie plants on Yuelu Mountain are always brimming with life. I have not seen many of this particular true bug, but there being so many insects about it is easy for a species to be overlooked.

Our Time

horae quidem cedunt et dies et menses et anni, nec praeteritum tempus umquam revertitur nec quid sequatur sciri potest. quod cuique temporis ad vivendum datur, eo debet esse contentus.

Hours, days, months and years pass by, the past never returns, and the future cannot be known: but we should be content with whatever time we are given to live within.

Cicero, On Old Age, 19.69. My translation.

Ricania Taeniata

Ricania taeniata (黑带广翅蜡蝉).

In spite of the frequent rain, there have been plenty of insects out and active. On some reeds near the Xiang river there were many of these plant-hoppers. The are remarkable for the audible mating call they emit: I don't recall another plant-hopper one can hear!

Literary Delights

semper aut discere, aut docere, aut scribere dulce habui.

I always find learning, or teaching, or writing to be delightful.

Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English People (5.24). My translation.

What Students Drink

From Ælfric’s Colloquy. My translation.

Teacher: & hwæt drincst þu?
Student: Ealu, gif ic hæbbe, oþþe wæter gif ic næbbe ealu.

Teacher: And what do you drink?
Student: Beer, if I have it or water when I don't have beer.

Japanese Knotweed Leaf Beetle

Japanese Knotweed Leaf Beetle (Gallerucida bifasciata, 二纹柱萤叶甲).

A ladybug-like beetle: they can be black and red or black and yellow with considerable variety in the patterns of their spots. Regardless of their colour, they all have large antennae.

Evergreen Wisteria

Evergreen Wisteria (Wisteriopsis reticulata, 网络夏藤).

A scrambling shrub, they started to bloom on Yuelu Mountain in the first week of June, though I saw some plants blooming a couple weeks earlier further East of here near Liuyang. Its burst of purple and yellow are always striking, whatever part of summer they first appear on the edges of the forests.

Reed-like Men

Arundo etiam videtur exterius solida, sed intus est vacua: sicut sunt quidam homines, qui habent arundineas gratias, utpote corporis pulchritudinem, membrorum sanam fortitudinem, linguae facundiam, et hujus seculi sapientiam, et caetera hujusmodi, quibus raro merentur, sed saepius demerentur.

A reed, however seems outwardly solid but it is hollow on the inside: just like some men, who have reed-like graces: such as physical beauty, robust strength of limb, eloquence in speech, and the wisdom of this world, and other qualities such as these, which are rarely found, but easily lost.

Albertus Magnus, Sermones: de tempore, de eucharistia, de sanctis, ed. by Hippolytus a Cruce (Toulouse: Édouard Privat, 1883), p. 12 [In Dominica III Adventus. Sermo III.]. My translation.

Mussaenda Shikokiana

Mussaenda shikokiana (大叶白纸扇).

In the past I have only seen a few of these scrambling shrubs on Yuelu Mountain, but I believe this summer I have been seeing more: perhaps they have been taking advantage of some of the sparser tree cover, a consequence of a destructive winter?

Thoughts and Dreams

 אין מראין לו לאדם אלא מהרהורי ליבו
 
A person is only shown [in a dream] what is suggested by his thoughts.

Babylonian Talmud, Berakoth 55b My Translation.