I can attest to an owl being a very good bird to carve out of wood – you need not remove as much material from the stock to get a good likeness and you do not need extra material for beaks and long legs and such like.
There were four statutes with owl theme along the path, and they were all cuteness distilled, especially the one with two of them cuddling atop a tower.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Tree chickens!
The “private area” of the mini farm was directly opposite our caravan, and while it was protected with a reed fence, there was a tree that was higher than the fence and the tree had a ramp for the chickens. In the evening some of them enjoyed to walk up the ramp and then hop from branch to branch. I so love that chess board pattern one.
What yer lookin’ at? Never seen a bird in a tree? ©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
The city of Mataró, where the camp site is located is wedged between the sea and the mountains, like the whole region. This makes land fit for construction scarce, but also creates a special microclimate where the mountains so to speak keep the clouds from escaping, so they experience frequent thunderstorms.
Source: Google Earth
One of those hung over the mountains one night when we were having dinner at the “chiringuito”, a small beach bar/restaurant. Wonderful lightning. As soon as we got home I grabbed the camera and the tripod and went to a location where I could possibly, hopefully, finally, take some pics of lightning.
Since I had never done that nor informed myself on how to do it, I simply set the camera to 30 seconds and kept shooting, hoping that lightning would happen in that time.
And I got lucky.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
Only that while I was shooting the rain arrived and I was stranded a few 100 metres away from the caravan with the camera in the pouring rain. Since walking back was no option I decided to retreat under a tree and hold my skimpy summer dress taunt over the camera so it wouldn’t get wet. I just hope nobody took pics of the fat lady in her undies holding her dress over the camera.
Yarrow, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Yarrow grows wild around the Thames River where Jack and I took the briefest of walks today. The weather outside is oppressively humid and neither the beast nor myself do well in this kind of weather.
Click for full size.
I list you, and you’ll soon be found, One of my regiment under ground.
Click for full size.
Envy. Hendrick Goltzius, Engraving, 1593. Subject: The Seven Vices, Envy, Psychology.
This week we have a majestic Ponderosa Pine in Bismark, North Dakota sent to us by the master of Affinity, Caine. It’s an intimate portrait of a big tree with big personality and it’s a fine addition to our catalog.
Thanks Caine.
Ponderosa Pine, © Caine, all rights reserved
Ponderosa Pine, © Caine, all rights reserved
Ponderosa Pine, © Caine, all rights reserved
Ponderosa Pine, © Caine, all rights reserved
Legs. We have two of them to carry us around, and their musculature is very complex. This is due to the fact that despite appearances, only one joint – the knee – is (almost) simple flexing joint with one degree of freedom. Hip joints and ankles both have three degrees of freedom and therefore require accordingly complicated musculature to use them.
©Charly, all rights reserved. Click for full size.
Legs also have the biggest and strongest muscle in the human body – the musculus gluteus maximus. It has to be big and strong, because it is the main source of propulsion, the other muscles being more responsible for keeping balance and maneuvering.
Professor Kos remarked, in a slightly yet not entirely creepy way, how working of this muscle can be minutely observed with ease in modern times due to the fashion of young women wearing tight jeans. I admit that I like to observe the changes in curvature of such working musculus gluteus maximus, and from what I gather not only am I not alone in this, but it is not exclusive to my gender either.
However I am also aware that it is rude to stare at someone’s ass – and from what I gather ignorance of this unfortunately is almost exclusive to my gender, as demonstrated by a respectable elderly professor talking about oggling asses with lecherous grin to a bunch of students half of whom were young women quarter his age.
To stay in line with my current series, this daily bird is one of the many bird shoots from the camp site. The stable of the mini farm is home to a colony of barn swallows, which constantly frustrated me in my attempts to take pictures.
They would mostly circle the vicinity of the farm during the day, but in the evening, when the pool was closed, they would come for a drink, despite the water being slightly salty. Sorry for the poor quality. The light was low, the birds were fast and the big lense starts at a 5.6 shutter, so the ISO was pretty high.
More serial shoots below the fold
Camp sites are interesting social spaces, because for a short while they throw people together who then all have to get along with each other. For adults that may be stressful, for kids that often means new friends. Subsequently you get to know their parents and often you find out that just like the kids, you can easily pass some time with total strangers and amuse yourself over a glass of wine.
There’s nothing like ice cream. It’s not that I was unable to take a proper pic, it’s just that I don’t want to publish recognisable images of children, especially not other people’s children. ©Giliell, all rights reserved
Funny enough, this was the second time at this specific camp site that the kid and parents were on a several months long journey through parts of Europe following the birth of a child. I don’t know if this is becoming a new trend with middle class families with one main breadwinner who then takes the paid parental leave and then they all take off together.
I’m not going to have another child to find out.
Last night I was sitting behind the house with some friends, when I heard a “plonk” where no plonk should be. I looked and found the biggest caterpillar I’d ever seen. It had crawled up a grass stalk but then gravity happened and it ended up on the terrace.
Turns out it’s the mature form of the Elephant Hawk Moth which are indeed about 8 cm (3″ and a bit) long. After taking the pictures I took the hapless traveller and put it some place with more green.
Elephant Hawk Moth in training. ©Giliell,all rights reserved.
Elephant Hawk Moth in training. ©Giliell,all rights reserved.
Elephant Hawk Moth in training. © Giliell, all rights reserved.
Elephant Hawk Moth in training. © Giliell, all rights reserved.
An untaken path, ©voyager, all rights reserved
This path branches off from one of the main dirt trails that Jack and I use along the Thames River. It always looks inviting, but so far we haven’t explored it because Jack is allergic to grass. He might be just fine with it because, frankly, it looks like more weeds than grass, but I don’t want to take the chance just to satisfy my own curiosity. Maybe some day I’ll come without Jack and scope it out. I have so many questions.