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“The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery” (Anaïs Nin)
"The most precious gift we can offer anyone is our attention. When mindfulness embraces those we love, they will bloom like flowers."
Nhat Hanh
A bull elephant stands under the shade of a tree in the midday heat of 34C during Winter at Etosha national park, Namibia...the only movement was its ears flapping to keep cool and this very slight turn of its head acknowledging that it was aware of our presence...
Breast cancer death rates declined 40% from 1989
to 2019 among women. The progress is attributed
to improvements in early detection.
This picture is dedicated to all women in Flickr please auto explore and you can save your life!
www.facebook.com/SuicidePreventionAwarenes/?rc=p
Every person on this earth is beautiful, talented and amazing.
Thank you for your kind visit. Have a wonderful and beautiful day! xo❤️ ❤️ ❤️
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 9 miles west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland. It was designed by English engineers
Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker
Construction started: 1882 Opened: 4 March 1890
Location: Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Fife
Total length: 2,467 m
Bridge type: Cantilever bridge
Longest span: 521 m
At the peak of work, about 4,600 men were employed in building the Forth Bridge. It said that 73 died during the building of the bridge,
The final rivet was hammered in by the then Prince of Wales standing on the bridge itself, in what must have been the safest working conditions anyone involved could have faced. It isn’t known if he was aware of the deaths of the men and boys doing that job, May the all Rest in Peace Amen
I tried to approach stealthily, but even though I had some foliage between us, this song sparrow knew I was there. I find that there follows a short time that, unless I move on, the bird will. This was during that window.
The first Saturday in September each year is International Vulture Awareness Day.
Vultures are an ecologically vital group of birds that face a range of threats in many areas that they occur. Populations of many species are under pressure and some species are facing extinction.
The International Vulture Awareness Day has grown from Vulture Awareness Days run by the Birds of Prey Programme of the Endangered Wildlife Trust in South Africa and the Hawk Conservancy Trust in England, who decided to work together and expand the initiative into an international event.
It is now recognised that a co-ordinated international day will publicise the conservation of vultures to a wider audience and highlight the important work being carried out by the world’s vulture conservationists.
Am I out of my head?
Am I out of my mind?
If you only knew the bad things I like
Don't think that I can explain it
What can I say, it's complicated
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 😊
My magical forest
Gives me time to think
I can go for hours and barely meet anyone
Doing my thinking
I love my dwelling upon things
Rethinking
Am I on the correct path
Do I need some corrections
Do I still have old patterns that I fall into
Thinking they are mine
Yes
There is always the old way of doing things and I can only change them if I am aware of them
Situational awareness (or lack of it, in fact) in Rome.
For an account of a few interesting days in Rome:
May 12 is ME/CFS/Fibromyalgia International Awareness Day, a day to bring attention to how ME/CFS/Fibromyalgia affects those suffering from the illness.
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a serious, long-term illness that affects many body systems. Often, people with ME/CFS may not be able to do their usual activities. People with ME/CFS have severe fatigue and sleep problems. ME/CFS may get worse after people with the illness try to do as much as they want or need to do. This symptom is known as post-exertional malaise (PEM). Other symptoms can include problems with thinking and concentrating, pain, and dizziness.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a medical condition characterised by chronic widespread pain and a heightened pain response to pressure. Other symptoms include tiredness to a degree that normal activities are affected, sleep problems and troubles with memory. Some people also report restless legs syndrome, bowel or bladder problems, numbness and tingling and sensitivity to noise, lights or temperature. Fibromyalgia is frequently associated with depression, anxiety and posttraumatic stress disorder. Other types of chronic pain are also frequently present.
Thanks for viewing 💙💜💙
Right now we are all aware of whats happening in our RL but here in SL we still want people to be aware of the dangers and ~Mikki From ~Bold Llama~ has come up with this tee for us...
Yes we can't get it here in SL but its still affecting us all in some way or another... Just be safe everyone and have some fun here in SL with the ~Stupid Cupid Hunt~ to keep your mind off everything else..
The Hunt runs from the 3rd of February until the 28th.
The Bold Llama Company Love Is In The Air Tee
7 Deadly Skin Sweetheart Apricot
Magika Hair December
Maitreya Body Tweaked by me
Lelutka Head Lilly
Props
DIVIA's Designs Christmas Village
Shot at
Background:
"Forget ME not" was created to raise awareness about M.E (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) - an extremely debilitating, life changing, complex chronic disease that has received shamefully low attention and fundings for research for decades. Patients are being disbelieved, misunderstood and dismissed. There is no treatment and no cure.
Over 20 million people across the globe are affected and in the aftermaths of COVID this number is quickly rising (many Long Covid patients end up being diagnosed with M.E).
During our events in May we will create awareness, break the stigma and fundraise for the "Open Medicine Foundation" who conduct research into M.E, Long Covid, Fibromyalgia and related chronic conditions. They are a registered, US based non-profit organization that has been around for over 10 years.
You can also support by wearing this blue ribbon exclusively made by Enewa, when you click the information box at the Forget ME Not sim.
Get it here in-world: Forget ME Not events place and exhibit 💙
To know more about the event and how you can raise awareness and support the cause to research and find cure for ME/CFS, link here: Facebook: forgetMEnotSL 💙Flickr group: forget ME not SL
💙 Website and donation page: Forget ME Not SL site
Just got the FTZ adaptor and trying out my old and loved Zeiss glass in the camera, the subject here is one of the most handsome perfume bottles that I´m aware of.
With this colorful photo, which was deliberately taken with this motion blur, I wish you all a wonderful Poppy-Monday and of course the rest of the week.
We can see a lot of ourselves by looking at the poppy flowers and grasses moving back and forth in the summer wind.
As a rule, we too are firmly anchored to the earth, even if only because of our personal values. Each of us has something within us that is immovable. No matter what is happening around and no matter how much the wind of life pulls and shakes us. We shape these values ourselves. Based on the experiences we have in our lives. The strongest of them usually come from our childhood.
Most of the time, these roots serve our protection and stability. With them we are able to withstand even the harshest storms, to stand against the wind or, if necessary, to bend to it at times. Thanks to the anchor, we always stay where and who we are despite everything and are able to pick ourselves up again and again.
But sometimes we realize that our values, or rather the way we weight them, prevent us from developing ourselves. That we are trying to bloom in the wrong place, so to speak. Then it is up to us (because no one else can do this for us) to change our anchor point.
The key is always to be aware or make ourselves aware of what makes us flourish and what makes us wither.
And so I wish you all a stable and at the same time dynamic week. With lots of sun and fresh wind.
Mit diesem farbenfrohen Foto, welches bewusst mit dieser Bewegungsunschärfe fotografiert wurde, wünsche ich Euch allen einen wunderschönen Mo(h)ntag und natürlich auch eine ebensolche Restwoche.
Durch den Anblick die Mohnblüten und Gräser, die sich im Sommerwind hin und her bewegen, können wir viel von uns selbst erkennen.
Auch wir stehen, in der Regel, fest verankert auf der Erde und sei es auch nur auf Grund unserer persönlichen Werte. Jeder von uns trägt etwas in sich, was unverrrückbar ist. Ganz gleich was um und herum geschieht und ganz gleich wie sehr der Wind des Lebens an uns zieht und rüttelt. Diese Werte prägen wir selbst. Und zwar auf Grund der Erfahrungen, die wir in unserem Leben machen. Wobei die stärksten davon meist aus unserer Kindheit stammen.
Meist dienen diese Wurzeln unserem Schutz und unserer Stabilität. Mit Ihnen sind wir in der Lage auch härtesten Stürmen zu trotzden, uns dem Wind entgegen zu stellen oder uns ihm, wenn erforderlich, auch zeitweise beugen. Durch den Anker bleiben wir trotz Allem immer wo und wer wir sind und sind in der Lage uns immer wieder aufzurichten.
Doch manchmal stellen wir fest, das unsere Werte oder besser gesagt die Art, wie wir sie gewichten, uns an der eigenen Entfaltung hindern. Das wir sozusagen am falschen Ort versuchen zu blühen. Dann liegt es an uns (denn kein anderer kann dies für uns tun) unseren Ankerpunkt zu verändern.
Das Entscheidende dabei ist immer, sich bewusst zu sein oder sich bewusst zu machen, was uns blühen und was uns welken lässt.
Und so wünsche ich Euch allen eine stabile und gleichzeitig dynamische Woche. Mit viel Sonne und frischen Wind.
more of this on my website at: www.shoot-to-catch.de
Maybe not everybody's cup of tea. But I was excited after I got home and found this image of the stag beetle on my SD-card. The largest insect of the Netherlands is not common. In fact I only found them a couple of times. This male with it's huge antler-like jaws looked tired after mating season was finished.
I hoped for a close up with shallow depth of field of the impressive jaws, and this is what I got.
Enjoy!
(do yourself a favour and click L for a full-screen)
*Image is under copyright by Bram de Jong. Contact me if you want to buy or use my photographs
This one was quite an ambitious attempt at processing. It took me a while as it was a dark scene. Again, like yesterday, I am not really after accuracy and was processing for taste.
Magnified view will look much better, but even it suffers to some extent, as there will simply not be enough resolution in the trees in the background and all of my processing was with the full sized original file. Once downsized much of the detail goes out the window. Having said that, I was aware of that and have posted anyways, as I like the overall scene even though it is busy, it is different than many of the shots I take at Elk Island.