We had it confirmed yesterday that our dear Flickr friend, Gérard had left us. I say confirmed because I had noticed he had not reappeared as he always did and the days of his absence were increasingly disturbing. I thought about him often of late...his loyalty, consistent presence and most of all his humor. He is the only one I've ever known who I could really hear laugh when he wrote "LOL."

It's funny how this medium can actually develop what can only be defined as real friendships when one anticipates and looks forward to daily interactions and comments. I recall the shock I felt when he informed us of his condition...and clearly recall also the shock he himself felt in just those few dramatic words. I eagerly awaited his return to Flickr from his treatments and, when he did, marveled at his spirit during this impossibly difficult time.

Gérard and I shared musical tastes and frequently exchanged YouTube links we thought appropriate to an image or an expressed thought. In many ways, we were on the same "wave length" and we discussed and mourned the losses in the musical arena this year. And now he has joined them. It has indeed been a year of loss.

So adieu, mon ami. You will be missed deeply by many, as myself, who have never met or even spoken to you...a tribute indeed. Oh, and I can tell that's you captured in this image by the white head...;-)

And one more link to carry you onward...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzMl0-bhNcM

I've been informed that this is asclepias tuberosa, or butterflyweed. Many thanks, Arthur.

Brown Hare - Lepus europaeus

Norfolk

Double Click to view

The brown hare is known for its long, black-tipped ears and fast running - it can reach speeds of 45mph when evading predators. It prefers a mosaic of farmland and woodland habitats and can often be spotted in fields.

Thought to have been introduced into the UK in Roman Times (or even earlier), the brown hare is now considered naturalised. It is most common in grassland habitats and at woodland edges, favouring a mosaic of arable fields, grasses and hedgerows. It grazes on vegetation and the bark of young trees and bushes. Brown hares do not dig burrows, but shelter in 'forms', which are shallow depressions in the ground or grass; when disturbed, they can be seen bounding across the fields, using their powerful hind legs to propel them forwards, often in a zigzag pattern. Brown hares are at their most visible in early spring when the breeding season encourages fighting or 'boxing'. Females can produce three to four litters of two to four young (known as leverets) a year.

Widespread, but absent from northern Scotland and the Scottish islands, except Islay, I'm reliably informed.

Premièrement j'aimerais vous remercier toutes et tous pour vos merveilleux commentaires et favoris, ils sont très appréciés.

Duhamel, Québec, Canada

Plein cadre

Après quelques jours sans voir Peureux revenir chez après s'être fait chasser par un raton laveur ! Je voulais mettre mes mangeoires d'oiseaux en place et j'étais curieux de savoir où il était bien passé. Un ami qui savait que je faisais de la photo à 1 kilomètre de chez moi avec nous avions échangé une jasette la semaine précédente lors de marches quotidiennes et venu chez moi pour m'informer que l'ourson était rendu chez lui et se nourrissait sous ses mangeoires... Je m'y suis donc rendu pour vérifier le tout et peut-être avoir une opportunité de prendre quelques photos. L'ourson ne semblait pas du tout importuné par notre présence et après avoir fait sa sieste sur une branche de pin -blanc il est descendu manger. J'ai alors croquer quelques images du balcon de mon ami sur un fond gris de nuages et j'étais carrément à sa hauteur. Les garde-chasses en ont été informés mais j'imagine qu'en ce moment avec les routes presque toutes fermées dans mon secteur ils ne viendront pas toute suite le récupérer de plus qui c'est maman va peut-être le retrouver ! Aux dernières nouvelles il avait disparu de chez mon ami et il y est revenu hier....

Firstly I would like to thank you all for your wonderful comments and favorites, they are very appreciated.

Duhamel, Quebec, Canada

Full frame

After a few days without seeing Fearful around my house after being chased away by a raccoon! I wanted to put my bird feeders back in place and I was curious to know where he had gone. A friend who knew I was doing photography 1 kilometer, 3/4 mile away from my house which I ad exchange the week before during our daily walks came to my house to inform me that the cub was at home and was feeding under is Feeders... So I went to check him out and maybe have an opportunity to take a few pictures. The cub did not seem at be all bothered by our presence and after napping on a white pine branch he. Then I was able to take a few shot on a grey sky BG from my friend's balcony, I was at is level. The game wardens have been informed but I imagine that at this moment with all the roads almost closed in my area because of the flooding, they will not come to get Him. Again is mamma will perhaps find it by that time. At the last news he was gone for many days from my friend's house only to come back yesterday....

This Image was taken at early twilight on the east side of Pt Lookout, North Stradbroke Island (or traditionally, Minjirribah), off Brisbane, Australia.

Another shot of Long Beach in the opposite direction.

The resort hotel in the right is Saigon Phu Quoc Resort.

A very long pier in the distance is for cruise ships as the Duong Dong river port is too shallow for large vessels.

Phu Quoc experienced a construction boom throughout the 2010s. In that decade, new beaches were discovered in the north, south and east of the island for large-scale construction projects.

I have not seen the new places but informed that there is a safari park, a Disneyland like resort, the longest cable car in Southeast Asia connecting the main island with an off-shore islet etc., which I personally think irrelevant in Phu Quoc.

These unique tourism sites are conceived by emerging Vietnamese entrepreneurs who probably have a different perception about tourism from mine. They, however, may be consistent with the needs of their domestic market.

Let's see how sustainable they would be in the long run.

Der Informierte...

When I informed myself what I have to see in Northern Irland I have found this hedges. A touristic hot spot for 'Game of thrones' fans, cause a lot of locations has to be found here. I saw only one of hundert films and it was... nothing for me, but this alley is magic.

Great News........ Just been informed that this photo just won second place, environment category in the Friends of the Earth, Climate Justice Photo Competition 2006 and will appear in next years calendar......needless to say I am buzzing, very happy and now off to celebrate!! Buy the calendar at www.foei.org/photo/calendar.html Paraty, Brazil.

A pair of Dark Green Fritillary Butterflies mating. The female is the one with the fully opened wings. I thought I would upload this image to show the upper side and underside of their wings.

Thanks to Tim Melling who informed us in his recent post that the scientific name has changed for this butterfly. It was up until recently Argynnis aglaja and is now Speyeria aglaja.

Many thanks to all who take the time to view, comment or fave my images.

"With sweetness unabated

Informed the hour had come

With no remiss of triumph

The autumn started home

Her home to be with Nature

As competition done

By influential kinsmen

Invited to return --"

- Emily Dickinson

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Thanks to all for 9,000.000+ views and kind comments ... !

Please don't use this image on websites, blogs or other media without my explicit permission. © All rights reserved

We are reliably informed that this slogan was invented by the late Charles Sydney Catlin (1915 - 1991) born in London, to the sound of Bow Bells.

The story goes that Charles had gone to an interview for a job at an advertising company and had shown them his portfolio, which included this saying he had made up into poster format. He was not accepted for the position. But some months later he saw his saying all over an advert on London Underground. He was to say the least very upset indeed.

Charles was rightly very proud of this now infamous advertising slogan and used his story as a message to his family to always safeguard your own work.

Needless to say this image is copyrighted.

Please find it in your hearts to help our children who are more afraid each day, this is no way for them to live their lives, ESPECIALLY in peace?? We can and must be the positive force to change things to a loving atmosphere, not one filled with hate and distrust! We are not only losing our youngsters through killing, but they are more prone to suicide these days, we have to nurture them and always be in touch with their feelings. Verbalize as much as we can, let our children know that we love them and are there to protect them, that they can come to us for anything at all. After all, it is at home where everything begins in the lives of our children, and it is our responsibility to try and be as alert as possible and keep in contact with their real feelings and fears. There are times through heart-to-heart conversations with our children we can avert a situation at school or wherever. Let us all make a concerted effort to change for the better.

Thank you for your kind visit. Have a beautiful day and spread love and kindness! ❤️❤️❤️

A friend informed me of this very rare visitor to our tiny island. I personally am not a fan of shore bird. I went and was taken aback how tiny and cute this little fellow is. Love those gorgeous eyes.

Finally satisfied with the IQ I am getting from all the effort of calibrating the 4/3 lens to the EM1.3 body. Minus 4.

Thank you my friends for popping by.

I really appreciate your visits, comments & favourites.

Wishing all my Flickr friends a Happy Sunday

Thank you

💓💓💓💓💓

Today my father called to ask me if my daughter was alright after she rolled her car 4 times. What!!!!! I exclaimed, who told you that. He informed me that it was posted on my nieces Facebook page. Apparently, Facebook spits out anniversary facts along with a photo and today was the day that my daughter rolled her car 4 years ago.

As we spoke, I turned to see the perfect conditions unfolding before my very eyes, Since I have become interested in landscape photography I have waited two years for the right light, clouds and snow cover to envelope the mountain so that I could capture it in the style I’m accustomed to photographing, and finally the day had come.

This is the view of Mount Baldy which sits right behind my home and is the view that I see every day that I step into my backyard, except my view is contaminated by large power lines that spoil my vantage point. I was hoping that the tip of the peak would be in view but alas, at the last minute the clouds rolled over the top and obscured the top most portion of the mountain. Just as Ansel Adams said. “Landscape photography is the supreme test of the photographer- and often the supreme disappointment” I won’t say the I was disappointed but I am still waiting for the ultimate shot of this mountain top, and one day I will have my prize. :) Hope you like it. :)

If you have any questions about this photo or about photography in general, I will do my best to help, just post a comment or send me a Flickr mail and I will respond as quickly as possible.

Thanks for taking the time to take a look at my photos, and as always, your views, comments, faves, and support are greatly appreciated!! Have a great weekend my friends!! :)

Please do me a favor and follow me on my other social sites found below:

500px | Facebook | Flickr | Google+ | Instagram | Youtube

Tofu already informed me of the rain in the middle of the night. He came home wet, jumped onto my bed and put his paw on my face to make sure that I noticed him.

A nod to the great, RANCID!!!! It's my tribute to one of the best album's from one of the greatest PUNK bands, EVER!

*My rendition of their album, "...And Out Come The Wolves", is a tribute to the cover of the Punk band, Minor Threat's album...."Minor Threat". Now that you've been informed....listen to the damn album!!!!!

Artwork by my lover Stefan ♥

The New GA.EG Damon BENTO Mesh Head!

> Beard - Razor Blade - GA.EG Addon & Omega Applier (coming soon)

Just TP and try the free demo!

To be informed about the next releases, sales and events, simply join the GA.EG group : Join our group !

Find all the information you need on our Web Site.

This barn-like building is located on Daleside Road approaching the beautiful village of Rosedale Abbey in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park The hawthorn can be seen in flower in the background

Having talked to a gentleman who has lived in Rosedale all his life I'm informed that nobody is sure of the original use of this building as there is a small stream running through the building. Perhaps other Rosedale residents can enlighten me,

Rosedale Abbey village comprises a collection of stone houses, and public houses, St Mary & St Lawrence Church, an art gallery, tea room, a sandwich shop, glass studio, and a village green

Was informed a few days ago that the Tawny I photographed has succumbed to roadkill.

Such a sad end to this magnificent owl. R.I.P.😢

Update: Thanks to a knowledgeable local person, David James, Associate Professor at Washington State University I now have this bumblebee correctly identified. I was informed that this is the most common bumblebee in my area.

I'm not sure if I have the bee correctly identified Bombus ternarius, orange-belted bumblebee) because this species is mostly found in the northeast USA but also British Columbia which is a few hundred miles north of where I see this bumblebee every year about this time in Yakima County, Washington.

IMG_6596

I've been informed that, at over 900 years, this is one of the oldest churches in England. I had no inkling of this when I stood here to take a few pictures. A friend has suggested the church may be mentioned in The Domesday Book, but I haven't been been able to confirm this.

The View Café Bar at Winthorpe Skegness a couple of weeks ago. It was busy the weekend just past but at least a fortnight ago I could snap that spiral staircase against that featureless sky on the evening of 2022:05:14 21:28:37 using the Fujifilm x100v handheld.

It used to be the lifeguard station before turning into this charming café that looks out to the windfarms in the North Sea.. We were at the coast again at the weekend for four days child sitting Leo who at ten years old is now at the giggling stage where every thing we uttered was turned into a riddle or a “ did you know “ question every two seconds. I was treated to about a million ‘interesting’ facts that I never knew before and have forgotten already and came home completely exhausted but extremely well informed lol ;)

Discover the 'Hidden Gem' on the seafront at Winthorpe serving specialist coffees, teas, milkshake deluxe and a selection of wines, ciders and beers.

As per usual internet was okay for Jonathan on Drs.Net but Flickr just a row of black boxes instead of your wonderful inspirational photography. Catching up the best I can….Sue x

Back in the mid 1980s while driving with my father, he informed me as soon as he saw the Schlein Deli and Catering building, that it had once been a drugstore...plus his dad, my grandfather, would occasionally work there as a fill-in pharmacist back in the 1930s or early 1940s. I was stunned and immediately stopped my car and grabbed this shot. Heck I lived 3 blocks from the location and never heard a peep about this. This was/is part of the original Norhill Heights Business District (developed in the 1920s)....which I think was about one block long. Ain't family history fun!? Especially when you can take a photo to authenticate and document it. :-)

Today Three Dog Bakery operates where Schlein's was. It's a bakery for dogs. True story. :-) The barber shop closed years ago...but I took my sons there a time or two back yonder. The car wash is gone....replaced by a massive retirement home.

Scan of a 35mm photo, 12.3.1985-86.?

Jatayu Earth's Center, Kerala India.

According to the epic Ramayana, King Rama of India is married to Sita. Ravana who was King Of Sri Lanka abducted Sita to Lanka when Jatayu the name of this fallen bird tried to rescue her. Jatayu fought valiantly with Ravana, but as Jatayu was very old Ravana soon defeated him, clipping his wings, and Jatayu fell onto the rocks on this mountain. Rama and his brother Lakshmana while on the search for Sita, chanced upon the stricken and dying Jatayu, who informed them of the battle with Ravana and told them that Ravana had headed South.

It is built 1200 ft above sea level on top of the same mountain.

A dear Flickr friend informed his followers this morning that he will be taking an extended holiday (those of you who follow him know who I speak of). With his brilliant images and continual support he will be missed!

Thank you, Nathaniel Macrae, for always being a positive, encouraging presence! I'll be looking forward to the day the sun rises with your return!

No really...!

"The Maryhill Stonehenge is a replica of England's Stonehenge located in Maryhill, Washington. It was commissioned in the early twentieth century by businessman Samuel Hill and dedicated on July 4, 1918, as a memorial to those who had died in World War I. The memorial was completed in 1929. It is constructed of concrete.

The altar stone is placed to be aligned with sunrise on the summer solstice. Hill, a Quaker, informed that the original Stonehenge had been used as a sacrificial site, therefore constructed the replica as a reminder that humanity is still being sacrificed to the god of war."

Wikipedia

Quite the fascinating place. I'll post more from here soon.

Have a wonderful week!

As well as going to the boulangerie which you see in the photo, we also dropped by the Mairie (Town Hall) which was just off camera in order to sign the Book of Condolence which has been opened for Mimi, one of our neighbours who died suddenly at the weekend. The Book of Condolence is set outside the main entrance to the Mairie in a desk-type piece of furniture with a glass lid covering the book. The legs of the desk are surrounded by black velvet. If you're from the village and you die then the Mairie is informed and they prepare a Book of Condolence for each person and which people from the village who knew the deceased can come and pay their respects with a message and their name. It's a sad thing to have to do but in its way, if I may describe it as such, a charming village ritual.

Lou informed me of the rare visit of the Glossy Ibis to Sepulveda Dam. When I visited I came across a White-faced Ibis as well - the one with the pink eye mentioned by Lou !

Here's the Glossy from the same day

flic.kr/p/GRBaCs

burdock

I am informed that this is a burdock seed head. Thought I'd try this one in B&W.

All my black and white shots are in this album:-

www.flickr.com/photos/101295317@N06/albums/72157659946501735

Well, once again into the unknown. We thought about staying out here, but the camps in the backcountry here sell out months in advance, and we were informed that while we were allowed to do astro photography anywhere in the park, falling asleep while doing it is strictly prohibited unless sanctioned and paid for. This is some of the most remote desert in the southwest if you get deep enough, however, given the biological soil crusts (which can actually be seen on the left hand side of the photo in the light) the more people that walk around here off trail, essentially destroy desert habitat that took ages to build. Whenever I'm walking in the back country, I'm always aware of this face, as I'm often in a sensitive habitat. The biological soil is made of #cyanobacteria and often look like areas of dirty dirt, they also include the lichens, mosses, algae, microfungi, and bacteria (some of which is seen on the rocks in the foreground). What inspired this tree to reach so far with one of it's branches is beyond me... it clearly didn't work out. But despite the failure, this tree lives on in a formidable landscape environment, through epic storms, winter snow, and searing heat.

A rusty segment on a parabolic catenary series of white-painted chains in rear carpark of a business on Kensington Road.

I had to change the title after my husband helpfully informed me that hanging chains are NOT upside down parabolas.

arch-re-review.blogspot.com/2010/09/catenary-and-parabola...

So, catenary is the root for concatenate, ie chaining together. I learned something today!

I suspect when I informed the good lady, her indoors that we were going to Corfe view for a holiday that she dreamt of a greek island odyssey! I didn't get to the location in time for a foggy sunrise, so perhaps "mist opportunity" could have been the title for this one.

WARNING. The following writing contains content, that is of an adult nature.

I am a fan of the movie Pan’s Labyrinth, and for those of you who don’t know it, here is a link to its trailer.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVZRnnVSQ8k

It is a haunting movie, that is both childlike in its fantasy, and extremely adult, in the bleakness of its reality, and a warning should be given, as the content of the movie is at times brutal. It is one of over 700 movies I watched after 9 11, as I gave up watching TV, after that event. No doubt a little inspired by Pan’s Labyrinth I started to or tried to recently, read up on Basque folk law, and disappointingly, I found not much of anything, except a description of a female deity’s influence over the weather. This lack of easily accessible recorded history of Basque folk law, seemed to me to be a shame, and as always and not surprisingly, there was a reference to the Church as to why it did not survive. Strangely it was backed up in the wiki entry, that the deities name helped acclimatized the Basque people to the church.

As the story would go, or have it, the deity and her lover would influence the weather based on their actions. And it seemed like they had the upmost power, as they influenced life and or death. They had control over water, fire, earth and the sun, which I presume would have been the main influences on man and woman, pre-Basque conversion to Christianity.

Did the Spanish experience of the Basque, effect the spread of Spanish Catholicism? Was it a contributary factor in the failure of Catholicism to extinguish tribal, native or indigenous spirituality in its entirety. Had this event in Basque country, effected the tribes and cultures of the Spanish new world? With the official university narrative, (and if you don’t know, a narrative, is a story). The story is that it was the church, as in the Catholic church, had caused as part of colonialism the genocide of indigenous religions, and or peoples. And it must be stated here, before l go on, that they did play a significant role in colonisation. And at times that colonisation was brutal. The destruction of Chthonic religions, or their history was a loss. The loss of our belief systems based on as the Greeks would say of the earth or soil. But this article or consideration is not about loss. In this extension of my diary entry, I celebrate the failure of the Catholics. Yes, I celebrate, that pretty much everywhere they went, when it came to cultural genocide, that despite the best attempts by some groups to implement the act in its totality, if there was a significant Catholic influence it had failed.

What had happened in Basque country? Why had it failed to happen in other places? What made it so that it, cultural genocide had not happened, in other societies around the world? What happened where the Church, or to be more specific Catholicism had miraculously failed to exterminate, folk law, and the indigenous spiritualities and or religions, in their entirety. Had the Basques surrendered part of themselves and effected the world? Maybe they didn’t surrender anything at all, because that does not seem like a Basque quality. Maybe the entropy of their pre-Christianity existence pushed back, on the thing that influenced them. And maybe that event had altered at least in part, that vector of change forever.

My respect is just not lip service, as once, when l was presented with an extremely difficult situation, someone suggested I smells the earth, as it was. I thought they were referencing that I would be joining it soon. I doubled down, on what I presume was and ancient saying, and process, one that I presume had been tested repeatedly. One of acclimatization as to where I would hopefully rest. Like most humans one way or another do. An event, like everyone, except those that cast their bodies from the Earth into space will experience.

These considerations of death, and or genocide, led me to study it in the arts. As a result, of that intellectual journey, I found myself talking to an Australian Aboriginal woman at university, we talked about Truganini. This wonderful person informed me, that Truganini had wanted to be burnt after her death or to be cremated. We spoke a little more about her. We spoke about her corpse exhibited like a taxidermized animal, cursed to be gazed upon. We discussed the topic a little, and I expressed, that what she had asked to have done, would have been a very heavy spiritual thing to do. She would spread through the air, through the water, then back into the earth, and her entropy would affect everything. And everything would react to her entropy for ever. To me, it seemed like she would never rest, and I wept a little, in front of my new friend. I wept a little, as the thought of eternal work is not, and never should be taken lightly. I wondered, I wondered about the people who would do such a thing, and how she, Truganini would, or could, have been condemned to have her imaged used as a spectacle, for what must seem like an eternity. It appeared to me that even without burning her body, she had hexed those through her fate. A karma of sorts, not for her, but for those that did not consider her human enough to be left alone after death. All that would look at her, or upon her, would suffer a fate. She had cast a spell on those that gazed on her, to look a little into themselves, changing something in all who saw her. And despite the offer to look at her, it was a visual, I never wanted, or want to see. I said to her, my confidant of the briefest time, that “...Some things should not be looked at….”

And soon after, instead of smelling the earth, I tasted it.

Today, I was informed (by fellow old car spotter/enthusiast Jude) that this landmark car has left it's long term home and has appeared in an advert on Facebook.

Despite being ULEZ exempt, and covering tiny mileages, it probably was on borrowed time for the past decade, as this sort of car dies with it's owner

Yesterday, the informed were treated to M337's trio of classic power as they threaded their way through town in the mid afternoon hours of the day. A pair of Dash 8's led an old six-axle EMD on a picture perfect afternoon in Chicagoland. 18th Street.

located in a field near buncrana,a local informed me this was a chippy van back in the 70s,buncrana county donegal

a smoky day in August of 2017 on the King George Highway in Surrey. Ross informed me that it is no longer called that anymore, it is now King George Boulevard ? I asked where is the boulevard ? doesn't that mean a center median with greenery?

The name was changed to "King George Boulevard" in 2009 "to project an image of a modern, safe, walkable and livable City Centre community", given that portions of the corridor have had a reputation for being dangerous and having a high incidence of criminal activity.

Hmm, I think you need more than a name change. There still is a large population of homeless people in this area despite its new "Boulevard" moniker.

I grew up in this area, my grandparents lived a five minute drive from this photo's location. So much has changed for the better but so much more for the worse. Whenever we drive through I remember incidents from my childhood that happened in this area. What it has changed to is an uneasy mix of the old and the new, and I can't say I prefer either of them. The old memories have taken on a rosy hue and the new seems brash and thoughtless, a facade to hide the bleakness of many people's everyday existence.

(Everyman: ' Everyman ' portrays Everyman who is informed by Death of his approaching end. First, he is deserted by his false friends: his casual companions, his kin, and his wealth. He falls back on his Good Deeds, his Strength, his Beauty, his Intelligence, and his Knowledge. These assist him in making his Book of Accounts, but at the end, when he must go to the grave, all desert him save his Good Deeds alone. The play makes its "grim" point that we can take with us from this world nothing that we have received, only what we have given . )

Now, the woman that died today was a great wife and companion, a great and lovely mother, a great and lovely grandmother.

-----///\\------Please

----///--\\\----put this

---|||----|||---on your

---|||-- -|||---profile if

---|||-- -|||---you know

----\\\--///----someone

-----\\\///-----who is living with, survived

------///\-----or has passed away from

-----///\\\----cancer.

----///--\\\---Thank you

On Dartmoor...which is really stunning and the outlying areas are dotted with some very pretty villages...but if you go "Off Piste" be sure to have an OS Map with you as road signs are very few and far between on the VERY narrow country lanes...On one occasion we were saved/helped by a local farmer when we'd just about given up hope of ever getting off Dartmoor alive...he informed us with a laugh, that he'd helped dozens of people lost on the moors to escape in the past.

I am not sure where she is off to?

With heartfelt and genuine thanks for your kind visit. Have a beautiful day, be well, keep your eyes open, appreciate the beauty surrounding you, enjoy creating, stay safe, and laugh often! ❤️❤️❤️

LIFER

Was informed of a rare woodpecker coming to drink, occasionally at the above bowl and we did not have to wait long.

Its Golden tail could not be seen but is only visible in flight. But hope you agree it's a real beauty, heavily streaked, with a barred green back. His arrival caused quite a joyful reaction even among the Gambian bird guilds.

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

THANK YOU, for your visit, keep safe and well.

God bless..............................Tomx

I am informed this gravel, dirt road goes on for aprox 53km. Evidently there is a lodge at the far end, and I was only 2km in. On the way, my teeth had chattered enough to stop here, because going on would require dental surgery.

However. the light was about to fade, and it was just about time to pack up. Another car drove by with a toy truck speeding along in front of it. The driver stopped, and she offered a friendly hello. From the drivers seat she added this was where she could drive both her car and the toy at the same time. I thought, it is REALLY time to go.

www.photographycoach.ca/

On Sunday May 12th I got informed about a transport of a DB ICE 3neo hauled by a TCS (Train Charter Services) Nez Casse (former NS 1772).

I also got informed about another Nez Casse, this time operated by RFO was also heading towards me. With this in mind I headed towards Keverdijk. After waiting for about 1 hour the RFO train had passed me. After this I had to wait yet another hour before the TCS train would pass me.

At 4:45 PM, TCS 101002 hauling DB ICE 3neo passed me heading towards Amsterdam.

*I have digitally removed 4 persons standing on top of the bunker.

When I woke up this morning I was informed of AA making a southbound run, and knowing it would be good light I threw on some clothes and rushed out. I missed them at a spot I've been wanting to get some fall color at for a while sadly, so this'll have to do for now.

I've been informed by... associates... that I haven't posted a picture of a great blue heron since September. These associates are unhappy with me and demand a new heron picture.

Here's one I saw today at Nisqually.

Stop pecking me, associates! Ouch!

NOT !!!

There’s a nice story to this one…..

I had just returned from a walk and my wife informed me this rapscallion had installed himself inside the bird feeder about 10 minutes earlier..

“They are squirrel proof: said I, ridiculously

“Not any more, Sherlock” said Julie.

I had my little camera and thought if I went and took a photo of him he would scarper, and he did, sort of, only he was fatter than when he went in and he thrust himself out through one of those little squares and got stuck, front legs, head and chest out, the rest in. We walked away and left him for 5 minutes thinking he would free himself. He didn’t he was well and truly stuck and it wasn’t doing him any good.

We decided we had to try and cut him out. There’s no way old Magoo could do the cutting, not if Mr Squirrel were to escape in one piece, so I gallantly suggested as a precaution that Julie should wear some kevlar gloves, and as she carefully tried to get the cutters to the wire Magoo bravely hid round the back and held the cage steady. It wasn’t easy, the plump little fellow was filling the square totally, and squirming in panic. She managed to cut one wire and was just manoeuvring the cutters to the wire on the other side when, quicker than a hiccup the little rascal shot his head forward and latched on to her finger with those nut crushing teeth……

The gloves held…..slowly Julie began to draw her hand back as she did so it pulled the fat little interloper through the now loosened hole until a seeming sucking motion drew his legs and tail free, at the same time he released his finger bite and fell to the ground with a resounding plop, and then ran off like a … .well, like a mad squirrel!!

I have referred to the scoundrel throughout as ‘he’ for seriously, no woman could be that stupid, and while the feeder failed to live up to its lofty claims, fortunately, the kevlar gloves took it in their stride.

Giles informed me that we had a special visitor in the forest who might want to spend some time with us...so I went to say hi. Luckily, this was a young ent so it only took 3 days!