Foo-foo-doo-roo-guay, full moon, hummingbirds and more fires

Maia presenting John with Foo-foo-doo-roo-guay

Most mornings the lego blocks are made into something, more usually related to cars or boats, which are the 'in' toys right now. But this morning, not long after we had Skyped with Carol in England, Maia presented her papa with 'Foo-foo-roo-doo-guay'. All we know is that it lives with the owls in Rio Buho, and has extraordinary, magic powers. Any help on the spelling of 'Foo-foo-roo-doo-guay'?

A photo of Maia means a photo, too, of Robbie and bear.

And Maia pressed the button to take this one of papa!

The countryside around here is tinder dry and these days we live with a real sense of fear, for the prospects of a fire in the deep gorge beside our house. The sides of the gorge are steep but are covered in parched or dead vegetation, all of which is ready to fire up. Today, since early morning, we have experienced some violent winds, even dust devils, and the sparks from yesterday's widespread fire on Ilalo, opposite us, must be in the air. Today, southwards, further down the valley between us and Ilalo, and on our side, is still burning now a raging fire, sending huge plumes of smoke into the evening sky. That will be a spectacle later on, in the dark. The Cumbaya/Tumbaco bomberos (fire service) have been racing along the big road along the valley, but do not seem to have the fire under control at all. Who on earth starts all these fires? Some, mostly high up on Ilalo and other mountains, are probably being deliberately set, ahead of the rains which should arrive in a week or two, in order to stimulate good grass growth for the grazing animals later. The others? Accidents? Surely not all of them! Today, when we drove out to do our shopping, there were at least 7 fires burning round about this valley, east of Quito. There is one benefit of having the skies full of smoke and the horizons full of flames at night - the rising full moon this last week was a sight to see. We lay in the hammock - John, Robbie and Maia together - as dark set in last night and waited in awe as the huge moon first brightened the dark sky and then climbed round the sides of Ilalo. What a wonder it was!

Humming birds: we cannot keep up with the demands of the humming birds these days! We have 5 feeders around the house and all are drained of their sugar solution every two or three days. I think that now, just before the rains and the subsequent  proliferation of the principle food of humming birds, insects, the birds are nesting. Their energy demands are thus high, which is why they are emptying our sugar feeders.