Saturday, September 20, 2014

Potato love



 
It is easy to halve the potato where there is love.
~ Irish saying ~
 
 
 


Tuesday, August 26, 2014

A little sunshine on rainy days



Let the rain kiss you.
Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops.
Let the rain sing you a lullaby.
~ Langston Hughes ~
 
 
 
Rock Stonecrop (Sedum forsterianum)

 
 
 
 
Yellow Hawkweed (Hieracium caespitosum)


 
 
Mugwort (Tanacetum vulgare)

 
 
 
 Ragwort (Jacobaea vulgaris)

 
 
  
Sunflower (Helianthus)




 


Tuesday, July 15, 2014

European Alder Spittle Bug



Climb little spittle bug

uninterupted

 
 
Aphrophora alni
 
 
'Keep close to Nature's heart...
and break clear away, once in awhile,
and climb a mountain
or spend a week in the woods.
Wash your spirit clean.'
~ John Muir ~
 
 


Friday, July 11, 2014

What are you, yellow-bellied?

 
Sciara hemerobioides
 
 
 
 
'I say you're a bunch of gutless lily-livered, yellow-bellied eastern sissies.
All you've done since you got here was whine and complain.
Now why don't you go back and leave the west to the real men !'
 
~Bartender in Wagons East, 1994~
 
 
Wait for it on 0:54
 
 

candy stripe lavender

 
 
 
The candy stripe spider (Enoplognatha ovata) on a lavender sprig

 
 
 
I wonder if spiders get the same soothing effect lavender gives me when I smell its wonderful perfume...
 
 
 
 
 
'My dear, have some lavender,
or you'd best have a thimble full of wine
your spirits are quite down...'
~John O'Keeffe, A Beggar on Horseback ~
 
 
 

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Chuck sings



Chuck is the wild European Serin (Serinus serinus) that lives in our garden.
 
I caught him on the rare occasion that he brought his evening song in a tree close to our home, but I didn't like the result...
 
 

 
So from one rare occasion to another, I edited the picture. 
 
 
 
 
This is my favorite colour: The black outline of a tree against a deep blue evening sky...
 
 
 
 

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Photochallenge Daily Post: Contrast


'There are dark shadows on the earth,
but its lights are stronger in the contrast.'
 
~ Charles Dickens ~
 
 
A forest in Saint-Léger

 
 
 
 
If you would like to add your view on Contrast, pleas visit the Daily Post
 


Longhorn moth


 

 

If there would be a contest for the longest antennae, we might have a winner here...

 

Nemophora degeerella
 
 
 
'The antenna is a growth not always
functional in all people '

~ Mia Anderson, 'The Antenna' ~
 

 
 

 



Saturday, June 21, 2014

Photochallenge: Between

 

Gate of All Nations, Persepolis, Iran

 
 
 
 
 
 
Persia !”the current shouted, and then slowed down.
But since the paddles were lost, there was no choice but to wait...
But what for?
 
“Sometimes the current can go slow
but you'd be surprised at what flows underneath.”
the lioness whispered.
 
~ My copy of 'Creation' by Gore Vidal ~
 
 
 
The challenge this week was to capture something in the middle of two things.
If you would like to participate in the weekly photochallenge, click through to The Daily Post.
 
 
 

Itsy Bitsy

 

Welcome home!

 
 
 

I've been waiting forever it seems

 
 
 

Right here so you could see me when you unlocked the door

 
 
 
 
The beetles and flies at the sight of him fled,
And even the birds were afraid.
He had two great nippers, and eight wicked eyes;
How he ran and what leaps he made !
 
 
I and all who lived in the garden knew
That terrible spider's lair,
And told their little ones, under their breath:
'O never, O never go there!'
 
 
~ Passage from 'Spider and Wasp' by A. Vine Hall ~
 
 
 
 


Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Sky on the road

 
Keep moving forward...
 
 
 
Towards the evening sky.
 
 

 
Its beautiful colours
encouraging to continue.
 
 
 
 
Every new day holds the promise of a beautiful sunset...
 
 
 
 

'Nothing behind me, everything ahead of me,
as is ever so on the road.'
~ Jack Kerouac, On the Road
~

 
 








Sunday, June 15, 2014

Yellow extra photochallenge

 



Un soleil, une lumière que faute de mieux, je ne puis appeler que jaune, jaune soufre pâle, citron pâle or...
Que c'est beau le jaune!'

~ Vincent Van Gogh ~

(A sun, a light that for lack of anything better, I can only call yellow, pale sulphur yellow, pale golden lemon... How lovely yellow is!)





This week's assignment on The Daily Post is to  'share a photo that has a little something extra'

The Yellow Hawkweed is beautiful on its own, but this little hoverfly proves that nature holds different shades of one colour.
 

 


Saturday, June 14, 2014

Curious Acrobat at work

 

 

Balance like an acrobat

Jump from work to play

 
 


 Some people say I'm a well-dressed rat

But I just let them say... 

 
 

 
'A well-developed sense of humor is the pole that adds balance to your steps
as you walk the tightrope of life.'

~ William A. Ward ~

 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 


 

 
 
 

 



Sunday, June 8, 2014

Photochallenge: Room ... for moor fun


 
 

There's always room for fun on the moor






'Brennan on the moor. Bold, brave and undaunted was young Brennan on the moor.'
(19th century ballad about William Brennan, an Irish highwayman)
 
~
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor.
And the highwayman came riding... riding up to the old inn-door.'
(Alfred Noyes, The Highwayman)



 
 
The daily post weekly photochallenge: 'In this week’s photo challenge, share your take on the idea of room — it could be an actual room in your house, a favorite gallery in your local museum, a cubicle at work. You could also take this challenge in a more abstract direction, and show us where you feel like you have room — or lack it.'

 



 
 
 

Friday, June 6, 2014

Tribute to Stevie, a blind Western Jackdaw

Stevie (Western Jackdaw, Corvus monedula)
 
 
 
 
Closed eyes,
Heart not beating,
But a living love.

(Avis Corea)
 
 
Rest in peace, my friend.
 


 

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Split-second Story photo Challenge


Samarkand, Uzbekistan


 

'If we all could see the world through the eyes of a child,
we would see the magic in everything.'

(Chee Vai Tang)
 
If you would like to participate in the weekly photo challenge, click through to the daily post. The challenge is to capture an image that tells a full story in a single frame.
 


Drinker Moth Caterpillar

 
'You!' said the Caterpillar contemptuously,



 
'Who are YOU?'



'So you think you're changed, do you?'

 



'One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'
 
 
'Of the mushroom!'
 
 
Quotes from the Caterpillar in 'Alice in Wonderland' by C.S. Lewis
 

The drinker moth caterpillar (Philudoria potatoria) gets its name from the habit of the caterpillar: it likes to drink dewdrops.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 




Saturday, May 24, 2014

Photo challenge

Twist

 

 

How slight a thing will disturb the equanimity of our frail minds!”

(Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist)

 

If you would like to participate in the weekly photo challenge, visit The Daily Post
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Winter Cloak Moth

 
 
Yellow woolen doublet, silver grey breeches, fur lined cloak...
 
I think Lord Moth is ready for winter.
 
 
 
 
 
 Muslin Moth - Diaphora mendica  ()
 
 
I'm currently reading the 5th book of 'A song of Ice and Fire' by George R.R. Martin.
That explains it all...


Sit upon my tail and you will travel faster...

 

 

Remember this one?



 

 

Two weeks later, he or she got a bit bolder

 
 
 

I decided to sit near the entrance of the den for some time and waited for about an hour.

 
 

When I shifted position, because my leg started to cramp, it heard me.

 
 

But soon something else caught his eye...

 
 

Maybe in a few weeks it will get even bolder, so that I can see its tail.

 
 

''Sit upon my tail and you will travel faster.'
So he sat down and the fox began to run.
And away they went over stock and stone so quick that their hair whistled in the wind.'
(Grimm Brothers, The Golden Bird)

 

 
 
 

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Raindrops

 
Perfectly still
 

this beauty likes to stay
 
 
like crystal so clear
 
 
 
and then the wind blows them away