“I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation.”

— Malcolm X

Bébé cygne sait déjà prendre des algues dans son bec en allant les chercher sous l'eau, cliquez sur la photo pour le voir.

Baby swan already knows how to take seaweed in his beak by going under water, click on the picture to see it.

===================================================

reмeмвer all тнe тнιngѕ we wanтed

now all oυr мeмorιeѕ, тнey're нaυnтed

we were alwayѕ мeanт тo ѕay goodвye

even wιтн oυr ғιѕтѕ нeld нιgн

ιт never woυld нave worĸed oυт rιgнт

we were never мeanт ғor do or dιe

=====================================================

ヅ♫♫ヅ ♫♫

already gone Sleeping at last

♫♫ヅ

Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius)

My best photos are here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/ticino-best-photos-of-southern-...

More TICINO/TESSIN Wildlife Photos (all taken in my garden in Monteggio/Ti, Switzerland): it.lacerta-bilineata.com/ramarro-occidentale-lacerta-bili...

If you're interested, you'll find a more detailed closeup here (it's the 8th photo from the top): www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...

My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (it's very brief but pretty unusual: a tiny wall lizard attacks two young great tits): www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQqkSsyrm7E

THE STORY BEHIND THE PHOTO: MY LONG AND ARDUOUS JOURNEY TO BIRD PHOTOGRAPHY

If you've set yourself the challenge of exclusively shooting the wildlife in your own back yard, you might find - as I did - that bird photography is really, really hard.

It's not that reptiles are easy to photograph either, mind - but at least the ones in my garden stay (for the most part) on the ground, and one can learn how to carefully approach them with a camera. They're also clearly egoists, which from a photographer's point of view is is a great character trait: if a lizard detects a human in its vicinity, it's only interested in saving its own skin, and it won't alarm its buddies.

But birds... oh man. Over the years, my feathered friends and I have developed a lovely routine that now defines our peaceful co-existence. As soon as I as much as open a window (let alone the door), I'm instantly greeted by an eruption of panicky fluttering and hysterical shouts from my garden: "SAVE YOUR WOMEN AND CHILDREN AND FLY FOR YOUR LIVES: THE HAIRLESS, PINK MONSTER IS COMING!!! (Yes, I speak bird, and I know that this is exactly what they are shouting 😉).

Needless to say, with the exception of the redstart I already showed here, all my efforts to get the kind of detailed shots I usually strive for with my nature photography ended in complete failure and utter disillusionment. I was ready to give up on stalking the winged misanthropes in my garden altogether, but then winter came - and changed everything.

One day this past January I observed my neighbor Signora P - a kind, elderly Italian lady - putting something on the low garden wall in front of my house. At first I thought she was just putting some treat there for her cat Romeo; the young tom patrols that wall constantly (it's his favorite spot in the garden, and during the warmer months he usually lurks in the thick foliage next to it to prey on lizards).

But once I detected a lot of movement on that wall through my window, I understood she had put a little pile of bread crumbs there; she was feeding the birds who soon arrived in flocks. This was certainly well-intended on my neighbor's part, but her noble action came with a catch, and I'm afraid quite literally.

When I took a stroll through my garden the next day I discovered a suspicious amount of feathers on the ground next to the wall. Romeo had apparently switched from his low-calorie summer diet (lizard) to more energy-rich meals consisting of "fowl" (it was winter after all, so from a nutritionist's point of view this made sense).

I would find fresh traces of Romeo's victims (mostly feathers, but also the odd wing) in my garden over the following days; so my first intuition that my neighbor was feeding her cat hadn't been that far off after all, as Romeo was now clearly being "served" fresh birds on a daily basis. And although the hungry visitors seemed to be aware of the danger and became slightly more prudent, they just couldn't resist the tasty snacks Signora P put on that wall - and neither could Romeo.

It was obvious that I had to act, but talking to my neighbor - who is as stubborn as she is kind - would have been futile, I knew that much. I pondered the matter long and hard - until a light bulb went off in my head. The idea was genius. If successful, what I had in mind would not only increase the birds' chances of surviving Romeo's appetite, but also greatly benefit my own photographic endeavors.

I started to enact my master plan the very next day by buying a giant bag of bird feed (consisting mainly of sunflower seeds) from the store. Then I dragged a huge piece of a tree trunk (approx. 120 cm in height) that we normally chop firewood on in the shed out into the garden and emptied almost half of the bag's content on top of it. Signora P's buffet for birds (and cats) was about to get some serious competition 😊.

My reasoning was as follows: not only would the birds be lured away from the fatally low garden wall to a place where they were safe from the cat - there was nothing around that tree trunk that provided cover for a predator, and the birds had a nice 360° view around it at all times - but I was also able to photograph them while hiding in the shed.

However, in order for my plan to work there was one little extra measure I had to take, and it was one that risked lowering my own life expectancy considerably once the owner of the property - my mom - discovered it. You see, our shed is completely windowless, so if I wanted to use it as a blind, I had no choice but to cut a hole into one of its wooden walls... which I promptly did (I figured all's fair in love - and photography 😉).

Granted, I have absolutely zero carpentering skills, and it showed. That hole was an ugly mess: the shed's wall seemed to have had an encounter with Jack Nicholson's ax-wielding lunatic character from the film 'The Shining'. Needless to say, I was incredibly proud of my work (I mean, come on: there now was a hole where before there wasn't a hole, and it was big enough for the lens of my camera to peek through, so it was mission accomplished as far as I was concerned).

Now all I had to do was wait for the birds to discover the tree trunk. In the meantime I started to mentally prepare myself for the inevitable confrontation with my mom and go through possible explanations for that splintering hole in the wall (it was either gonna be a rabid woodpecker attack or an emergency rescue mission with a feeding tube for a little kid that had accidentally locked himself inside the shed - both seemed valid options, though I slightly preferred the locked-in kid due to the involved drama and heroism 😉).

A whole day went by, and not a single bird visited the sunflower seeds. I had expected that it might take a few hours until the first of the ever curious great tits or blue tits would show up, but given how tiny my garden is, an entire day seemed excessive. Then another day came and went: the birds kept flocking to the bread crumbs on the wall, and my tree trunk kept collecting dust. To add injury to insult, a few fresh feathers on the ground were proof that Romeo was still feasting.

It was incredibly frustrating: I provided my winged guests with a much better view - plus a higher chance of surviving the cuisine - than Signora P's place; I risked (almost) certain death at the hands of my own mother (OK, the act of vandalism on the shed I had committed for my own benefit, but still), yet the birds kept ignoring me.

Then, after three days, just before sunset, I spotted a single blue tit on the tree trunk picking away at the sunflower seeds.

When I got up the next morning I immediately realized that the loud noise that accompanies each and every tit activity had shifted from the wall to the shed. At last the dam had broken: there was a flurry of movement around the tree trunk, and I counted at least 5 different species of birds feasting on the sunflower seeds.

From day 4 onward my plan worked beautifully: the birds now indeed mostly ignored Romeo's "snack wall" and kept to the tree trunk. And yes, I was able to play peeping tom from behind the shed's wall and photograph them!! 😊

Thus, dear readers, I finally managed to produce some acceptable bird photos, and I had even saved my feathered friends from a deadly foe in the process. All through winter and spring I took advantage of my new bird hide, and in late May I started mixing some cherries with the sunflower seeds. The idea was to attract a Eurasian jay (Garrulus glandarius), and as you can see, it worked!

It took me almost three weeks and more than a few tricks to capture that clever fella, but given how long I've been rambling here already, that's a story for another day. As for my mom, she still doesn't know about the hole in the wall, so please don't snitch! 😉.

I hope you like the photo and wish you all a wonderful weekend! Many greetings from Switzerland, and as always: let me know what you think in the comments 🙏 😊 ❤!

P.S. if anyone has their own funny tale about the obstacles we photographers are prepared to overcome for a desired photo, please write it in the comments: I love such stories 😊

Buds already waiting for spring.

If you remember in October we (Paddington and I) visited York and in Stonegate's Original Teddy Bear Shop Paddington noticed a Lonely Bear. Paddinton wanted me to take a photo of him and Lonely Bear. The photo session ended in the train. Paddington decided that all this Bear needs is Family. Our Family!

And He had a Passport already, so there should be no obstacles to travel from one country to another

Bear's name Was Nobody is Perfect.

Born in Stockholm, Sweden. Manufactured by Bukowski Bears

Paddington claimed that this name did not suit the Bear: "All Bears are perfect. We will give him a Proper Name"

After long travelling around finally we reached our home in Latvia. Paddington introduced the new friend to the Family: "This is our new family member and from now on he will live with us."

Happy Teddy Bear Tuesday!

P.S. In the photo you see just some members of family.

In the background is Frida, a bear girl from Edinburgh. Frida is a gift from a good friend. Also in the picture there are the twin brothers Leopards. They were the first to support me when I was far away from home. In the picture you don't see Paddington's close friend Matilda, who is currently seeing a Mouse doctor.

PERKY LITTLE WARBLER,,that frequently cocks its tail up at an angle, was over the moon to see them back in late April, a image not shown before. It is a all year round resident, found mainly in the south, hope you enjoy it.

+++++++++++++++++++++

THANK YOU for your visit, love reading your comments, will return the visit very soon, if not already done so. God bless and stay safe.......Tomx.

Best on black

www.fluidr.com/photos/8404101/interesting

I didn't think my first shot in November would be in snow, but nature loves to throw surprises I guess. Here 5338 leads this ore train south through Culver on their way to Proctor.

♥ Credits ♥

I was attempting to photograph a group of deer when all of a sudden, they were startled by something. I didn't notice until some time later, as the sun was setting, a coyote had laid down in the grass about 50 yards from me. The coyote didn't see me so I crawled on my stomach towards it, pushing my camera as I went, running against the clock as the sun had already gone behind the trees. I got to within 30 feet of it and got some nice photos.

As the field turn to darkness, it eventually got up, had a nice long stretch and trotted into the nearby woods to start the nights hunt.

Happy weekend!

The watermill Lippholthausen (Schloßmühle Lippholthausen) in the Lippholthausen district of Lünen is a grain mill built in 1760 near the river Lippe. The watermill of the former Buddenburg noble house is a late Baroque half-timbered building, not far from the former Buddenburg Castle.

From the 14th century until 1902, the Buddenburg house was owned by the Frydag family of Buddenburg. The Frydags belong to the very old Westphalian nobles. The family is mentioned for the first time in 1198.

Around 1535, the noble family built a watermill south of Brunnenstraße and opposite Schlossallee. At the former river Henebecke a large millpond was excavated.

Afterwards, the runs of the creek Henebecke, Sadbecke, Wilbecke and Seltenbecke were diverted so that they flowed directly into the new millpond and fed it with water.

After the mill had been completed and put into operation, the farmers in the area of the thirlage "Buddenburg Mahlzwang" had to come to the castle mill to have their grain ground.

Nothing remains of the mill built at the beginning of the 16th century. However, the current mill building already has a considerable number of years on the hump: It was built in 1760 by Wessel Giesbert von Frydag.

In 1903, Haus Buddenburg and the mill were inherited by the Rüxleben family. The latter finally sold the property to the city of Lünen in 1913. Until 1930 grain was ground in the castle mill.

The old mill pond above the castle mill is no longer present, it was filled in 1938 during the construction of the Lippewerk. A loss for trippers, they could sail around on the pond with paddle boats.

Until the end of the 1970s, the House of Buddenburg, which also included the castle mill, stood in the district of Lippholthausen, now part of Lünen.

The Mühlenfreunde Lippholthausen e. V. restored and maintains the mill, which currently serves as an excursion restaurant and can also be used for weddings. It was placed under monument protection in 1985.

A fortress at the site possibly already existed during the time of the Great Moravian Empire in the 9th century. From about 1055, Znojmo Castle served as the residence of a Přemyslid principality within the Bohemian March of Moravia and a strategic important outpost near the border with the Bavarian March of Austria in the south. Few years later (1101), Luitpold of Znojmo, Duke of Moravia, established the Ducal Rotunda of the Virgin Mary and St Catherine in this castle, later depicted by unique scene of genealogy Bohemian and Moravian Dukes of the Přemyslid dynasty and the castle was conquered and devastated by Duke Vladislaus II of Bohemia in 1145.

In 1190, Duke Conrad II of Bohemia founded the Premonstratensian Louka Abbey at Znojmo, which became the settlement area of German-speaking immigrants in the course of the medieval Ostsiedlung movement. The royal city of Znojmo was founded shortly before 1226 by King Ottokar I of Bohemia on the plains in front of the reconstructed castle. The town privileges were confirmed by King Rudolf I of Germany in 1278. On 9 December 1437 the Luxembourg emperor Sigismund died at Znojmo and lay in state for three days at the St. Nicholas Church, before his mortal remains were transferred to Nagyvárad (Oradea) in Hungary.

From the 19th Century, Znojmo is best known as the site for the Armistice of Znaim concluded there on 12 July 1809 during the Battle of Znaim, after the decisive 7 days earlier Battle of Wagram, between Emperor Napoleon and the archduke Charles.

From the 20th Century, it is also the (alleged) birthplace of Leopold Loyka, the driver of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand's car when Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo during 1914, an event which triggered the First World War. After the war, it was part of Czechoslovakia, except during the Nazi German occupation between 1938 and 1945 when it was part of Reichsgau Niederdonau. The German Citizens were expelled in 1945 according to the Beneš decrees.

The birthplace of the sculptor Hugo Lederer and writer Charles Sealsfield, it also has a special co-operation relation with Harderwijk, Netherlands.

Starting to see some Tree Buds starting to grow.

#MacroMondays

#Candle

Mikado, also known as pick-up-sticks or jackstraws, is a game of skill of European origin that, at least according to (German) Wikipedia, was already played in ancient Rome. It is named after the highest scoring stick (blue), the "Mikado", which refers to the Japanese emperor.

This is a slightly different, new type of Mikado, and its rules are simple: clear the game board without tossing the burning candle over or lighting the "active" playing candles in the process, and do it before the red candle burns down (which happens quite fast with these thin candles).

Initially, I wanted to build a much larger Mikado pile with more candles, but they kept rolling away, so I focused on creating a nice-looking pile instead.

Size info: Each candle (except the lit red one, which I cut in half) is 6 cm/2,36 inches long, so together with the negative space (I also slightly cropped the image), the width is about 2,75 inches.

HMM, Everyone!

Having never left the house you are looking for the way home.

- Nisargadatta Maharaj

youtu.be/DsEnbLoYb2M

Molly and i are making plans for Halloween . LE Fall Mammoths are out also .Think Molly already starting on costume.. Want to Breed Pandas, Bunnies,Mammoths maps.secondlife.com/sec.../Magical%20Times/157/111/22

Want a Pet ..Don't want to feed them ..ask us how : ) delilahanida inworld

Already posted in April 2010

The flowers are already beginning to wither and the leaves of the trees are changing color. Autumn is just around the corner.

Edited with Topaz Studio 2

Thank you very much for your visit and taking the time to comment! Really appreciated! 💕

A Bald Eagle screeches at a Tern that was harassing it.

It's already Monday? Where did the weekend go?

Great Horned Owlet getting some morning sunshine

Already miss you little friend

Red squirrel in my hometown park :) They already looking for a food after Winter.

The red squirrel or Eurasian red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) is a species of tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus common throughout Europe and Asia. The red squirrel is an arboreal, primarily herbivorous rodent. In Great Britain, Ireland, and in Italy numbers have decreased drastically in recent years. This decline is associated with the introduction by humans of the eastern grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) from North America. The red squirrel is found in both coniferous forest and temperate broadleaf woodlands. The squirrel makes a drey (nest) out of twigs in a branch-fork. Tree hollows and woodpecker holes are also used. Squirrels are hunted by martens and birds of prey. The red fox, cats and dogs also can prey upon the red squirrel when it is on the ground.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wiewióreczka w parku :) Sporo ich tam teraz biega szukając jedzenia.

Wiewiórka pospolita (Sciurus vulgaris) – gatunek gryzonia z rodziny wiewiórkowatych (Sciuridae). Występuje w Europie i Azji na terenach leśnych. Jest pospolita na terenie całej Polski, głównie w parkach oraz lasach liściastych. Zamieszkuje również lasy iglaste. Na Wyspach Brytyjskich oraz w północnych Włoszech wiewiórka pospolita zagrożona jest z powodu ekspansji wiewiórki szarej, inwazyjnego gatunku sprowadzonego z Ameryki Północnej. Pożywienie wiewiórki pospolitej stanowią nasiona (w tym z szyszek, bukwi, żołędzie i orzechy) i pączki drzew, grzyby, owoce, ale także owady, jaja i pisklęta. Jesienią gromadzą zapasy żywności. Wiewiórka pospolita zamieszkuje dziuple, które utyka porostami i mchami, lub gniazda ptaków, dobudowując zadaszenie lub sama buduje gniazda z gałęzi. Na wiewiórki polują kuny i ptaki drapieżne.

According to St. Maximus, this freedom of choice is already a sign of imperfection, a limitation of our true freedom. A perfect nature has no need of choice, for it knows naturally what is good. . . . Our free choice [gnōmē] indicates the imperfection of fallen nature, the loss of the divine likeness. Our nature being overclouded by sin no longer knows its true good, and usually turns to what is ‘against nature’; and so the human person is always faced with the necessity of choice; it goes forward gropingly. This hesitation in our ascent towards the good, we call ‘free will.’ The person called to union with God, called to realize by grace the perfect assimilation of its nature to the divine nature, is bound to a mutilated nature, defaced by sin and torn apart by conflicting desires. It knows and wills by means of this imperfect nature, and is in practice blind and powerless. It can no longer choose well, and too often yields to impulses of nature which has become a slave to sin. So it is, that that in us which is made in the image of God is dragged into the abyss, though always retaining its freedom of choice, and the possibility of turning anew to God.

-Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Eastern Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1976), 125–26.

Die Pfauen haben schon Frühlingsgefühle ... * The peacocks already have spring fever...

All photos copyright 2015-2024 by Yarin Asanth. Please note the copyright. The photos are property of the photographer Gerd Michael Kozik! No further use of my photos in any form such as websites, print, commercial or private use. Do not use my photos without my express written permission !

The same procedure every year. Two applications are required to fly a drone in Thailand. A kind of driving licence or personal licence from the CAAT and a specific drone licence from the NBTC. Both applications require a lot of paperwork, forms have to be filled out and uploaded, photos with serial numbers, entry documents, an insurance confirmation, a residence address. If all goes well, the application to the CAAT has already been approved before the trip and so the application can be submitted to the NBTC with the entry stamp on the day of arrival. Ideally, processing will take less than half a day and you will then be sent a transfer order. The fee is 224 baht including bank charges. In the end, you have two certificates that allow you to fly a drone legally. I wouldn't do it without the certificates, because if the worst comes to the worst, you are covered, especially in the event of an accident.

A wonderful scenery between Ao Nang and Railay, a special the view from above!

Last night, being alone and already half asleep, my dreams of other times have appeared to me.

anscharius.com/2009/03/25/mesa-arch

This is a Picture from march 2009. After a cold night I stood up very early in the morning but when I arrived at the Mesa-Arch there were already some photographers who stood up much earlier. I still remember one of them. His name was Benedict and he was from South Korea. I enjoyed shooting this sunrise very much.

Can’t believe it’s been 5 years already since this guy found me in Lebanon, NH

Sleeping cygnet

A wheat field just a few days before harvest.

A group of flowers that are already beginning to Celebrate the Event, you can almost hear them Singing !

I’m now already for more then four month in Hamburg but didn’t shoot a lot here… I guess that’s just how it always is during a masters thesis ;) Nevertheless I enjoy shooting and being a little creative even more…

This image probably isn’t any special and I guess most of you have seen this before. But it could stand for my actual life… everything is a little different now which it’s kind of cool ;)

Jackdaw, already gathering for his nest... nicely placed by the snack bar at Bushy park... has a great hole in the tree for the two of them

As already mentioned, during my visit to Vietnam, I got up a few times shortly after 5 o'clock in the morning to capture the awakening day. Once I met a Buddhist mendicant monk who was walking in front of a blue gate in his orange robe. I thought this was worth a recording. Of course, I slipped him a few dongs. He thanked politely, walked a few steps further, then stopped again and made a gesture of praying and blessing. I related the blessing to myself and thought that it would make my day good.

Flower seed pods full of next years flowers.

already over the runway this United 737 just breaks through the fog for a 6L landing in KCLE

United

737-824SW

N78540

Abstract

Already dead and you don’t know it

You are fucked up since the day you were born

I’ll pull the trigger man, I’ll help you

Make sure the bullet has your name on it

As I already explained, I only had my zoom lens on my camera when I visited Nancy. It was therefore impossible for me most often, to my great regret, to take overall views of the monuments I saw.

Here, I fortunately found a reflective half sphere placed on the sidewalk. You could admire a reflection of the cathedral there. By taking this sphere from afar, I was able to restore with my zoom lens an original overall view of this building.

_____________________________________________

La cathédrale de Nancy en reflet

Comme je l'ai déja expliqué, je n'avais que mon objectif zoom sur mon appareil photo lorsque j'ai visité Nancy. Il m'était donc impossible le plus souvent, à mon grand regret, de prendre des vues d'ensemble des monuments que j'ai vus.

Ici, j'ai heureusement trouvé une demi sphère réfléchissante posée sur le trottoir. On pouvait y admirer un reflet de la cathédrale. En prenant cette sphère de loin, j'ai ainsi pu restituer avec mon zoom une vue d'ensemble originale de cet édifice.

_____________________________________________

Nancy - Lorraine - France

There are hundreds of these posts and all of them are decorated in some form or fashion. It was really impressive. There are tags on them but they just say, done by several groups of people. I'm not the sharpest knife in the draw but I already figured that out. Anyway, you find this place by taking Beach street. It dead ends at the pier.

I took a walk around our cabin and discovered huge mushrooms pushing up through the forest floor, and blueberries dotting the landscape. Around the edges of our local ponds, I have noticed that the grasses are beginning to have a yellow tinge to them. Fireweed flowers are nearing the top of the stalks, and tiny birds have been gorging on seeds for the past two weeks. As I observe all of these subtle changes, I can't help but think of "fall". Our weather forecast is predicting that by next week our night time temperatures will dip down into the very low forties, and that should be the end of mosquito season. We usually need to grab a jacket by mid-August, but the next 6 weeks will be truly beautiful in the far north.