“Zen wants us to acquire an entirely new point of view whereby to look into the mysteries of life and the secrets of nature. This is because Zen has come to the definite conclusion that the ordinary logical process of reasoning is powerless to give final satisfaction to our deepest spiritual needs.”

Quote -- D.T. Suzuki

Location: D.T. Suzuki Museum (鈴木大拙館, Suzuki Daisetsu Kan), Kanazawa, Japan

Happy Tuesday ;-)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubvV498pyIM

It's funny how I find myself in love with you

If I could buy my reasoning I'd pay to lose

One half won't do

I've asked myself

How much do you commit yourself?

It's my life

Don't you forget

It's my life

It never ends

Funny how I blind myself

I never knew

If I was sometimes played upon

Afraid to lose

I'd tell myself what good do you do

Convince myself

A common site on a Midwest farm. The birds (doves) gather atop the domes on silos. Since I am not a birdbrain - I am not sure of their reasoning - but nature would say for safety or warmth.

Happy Mono Monday!

A fellow photographer and friend from the UK wanted to learn more about masking in Photoshop, and Zoom to the rescue. I started with one of my shots that never thrilled me, but thought it was a good simple shot to start with. As far as the dime a dozen shots of '55 Chevys go, IMO, it was just OK, and it's color was not my favorite. Kind of a peach color, ergo the title. I showed him the power of the new Object Selection tool in Photoshop, and if any further cleanup is required a few other tools can be used. However, typically I use the Polygonal tool for that. I went on to tell him that if you are selecting the subject (car here) but want to do something with the rest of the image, (the background) and not the subject, you must click Inverse before doing any of that. I told him that if you are going to spray out the background like above, you can pick any color you want, but a color already in the image usually works well, or as in the case here, a complimentary color. Maybe a bit of a stretch here, and being that the cars color is in the red family, the compliment of red is green, and therefore my reasoning for going with a shade of green. So, as I'm working my way through this demo process with him my original feelings about not liking the image started to change, and I actually kind of like it now. I think it's proof as to how, with a little extra play, you can turn a mediocre image into something a little more special. So, the takeaway here is don't throw in the towel on those "so so" images, there just may be hope for them.

Garden Liles 2..

There is something so visually pleasing about a lily, it is the mixture of complimentary colours that draw you in. the contrast of yellow and red. I am sure this is as intoxicating to humans as it is to bees and other pollen gatherers.

I am sure there is a solid science behind the reasoning for the many varied colours of lilies; but suffice to say they make my garden look amazing while they are in bloom and i thank God for eyes to see them with.

Please do not copy my image or use it on websites, blogs or other media without my express permission.

© NICK MUNROE (MUNROE PHOTOGRAPHY)

You can contact me

by email @

karenick23@yahoo.ca

munroephotographic@gmail.com

munroedesignsphotography@gmail.com

or on Facebook @

www.facebook.com/MunroePhotography/

On Instagram

www.instagram.com/munroe_photography1/

“Bushido is realized in the presence of death. This means choosing death whenever there is a choice between life and death. There is no other reasoning.”

― Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai

Primate DNA is only five percent different from ours. Like us, they feel jealousy, envy, love, shame, grief, depression... They are very social beings, they are sensitive and each one has a different personality, according to the experts, as happens in humans. They develop tools for specific purposes, which involves reasoning, anticipating the future and acting with the tool. They adopt orphans, which demonstrates social bonds, empathy and altruism. They have self-awareness, cooperative problem-solving and learning by example and experience, so they have symbolic capacity and a culture of their own, which they pass on from one generation to the next. Chimpanzees even surpass humans in certain memory tasks. An ape at the age of two is able to do small sums and use tools, while a two year old does not even know how to do sums or reason the why of the tool. They give pets to their children and they even learn words in sign language, being able to establish a conversation with their caregiver. They are able to teach their offspring sign language so that they can communicate with their caregivers. And so on. And they share a very important trait with humans, a trait not found in any other animal... laughter.

This image is dedicated to Bobby. Bobby was a chimpanzee used for decades as a laboratory animal at the Coulston Foundation in Alamogordo, New Mexico. He was born in captivity and at a very young age participated in biomedical experiments. By the age of 19, he had been anaesthetised more than 250 times and biopsied as many times. His life was spent in solitude inside a tiny metal cage. His body was bruised and scarred. In a deeply depressed state, he was incessantly self-harming, a clear sign that he intended to end his life. In 2002 he was transferred to Save the Chimps, a chimpanzee sanctuary in Louisiana, USA. Dedicated to Jeannie. Jeannie was in the service of science for nine years. At the age of six, she began her career in the pharmaceutical laboratories of Merck, Sharpe and Dohme. Shortly afterwards she was donated to the Buckshire Corporation and ended up at LEMSIP, Laboratory for Experimental Medicine and Surgery in Primates in New York at the age of 22. During that time she participated in several invasive experimental protocols including repeated vaginal douching, multiple cervical, liver and lymph node biopsies. She was infected with HIV and hepatitis C, and participated in rhinovirus vaccination protocols. She was anaesthetised more than 200 times. She died at the age of 31 at the Fauna Foundation, Canada's only primate sanctuary. Dedicated to Newt. Newt was born in 1979 at LEMSIP. At the age of four months he was sold to the Southwest National Primate Research Center in San Antonio, Texas. Newt was HIV-positive and was widely exposed to hepatitis B virus. Before he was four years old, he began intermittently self-harming. In 2003 he had his canines removed. Newt's clinical reports indicated that he had bites and lacerations on his hands, fingers, thighs, arms, legs, wrists and scrotum. A psychiatric report determined that Newt was in a profound state of insanity and derangement. He was attempting to commit suicide and end his life. This image is dedicated to all primates who have suffered psychological and physical torture, deprivation of liberty, abominable experiments and death in scientific laboratories, pharmaceutical, automobile, cosmetic, aeronautical, aerospace multinationals... and dedicated especially to Bobby, Jeannie and Newt.

The chimpanzee Mama, hours before she died and the reunion with her caretaker.

Silvio Rodríguez - Al final de este viaje / Al final de este viaje (1978)

We are the prehistory that will have the future. We are the remote annals of man. These years are the past of the sky. These years are a certain agility with which the sun draws you into the future. They are the truth or the end, they are god. We are left, those who can smile in the midst of death, in full light.

Supergrass - Tales of Endurance, Pt. 4, 5 & 6 / Road to Rouen (2005)

Making sense of what I've heard and what is on my mind.

.....

PS: When I look into the eyes of an ape, all I see in them is sadness and eyes that ask me, why, why? And I can only lower my gaze to the ground, while I shed some tears and feel a deep shame... shame of being human... a "Homo stupidus".

Aphex Twin - Stone In Focus / Selected Ambient Works II (1994)

Garden Lily..

There is something so visually pleasing about a lily, it is the mixture of complimentary colours that draw you in. the contrast of yellow and red. I am sure this is as intoxicating to humans as it is to bees and other pollen gatherers.

I am sure there is a solid science behind the reasoning for the many varied colours of lilies; but suffice to say they make my garden look amazing while they are in bloom and i thank God for eyes to see them with.

Please do not copy my image or use it on websites, blogs or other media without my express permission.

© NICK MUNROE (MUNROE PHOTOGRAPHY)

You can contact me

by email @

karenick23@yahoo.ca

munroephotographic@gmail.com

munroedesignsphotography@gmail.com

or on Facebook @

www.facebook.com/MunroePhotography/

On Instagram

www.instagram.com/munroe_photography1/

Mevlana Museum and Mosque, Konya

Who is Mevlana?

Mevlana Celaddiin-i Rumi is a 13th century Muslim saint and Anatolian mystic known throughout the world for his exquisite poems and words of wisdom, which have been translated into many languages. Rumi, as he is known in the west, is the best selling poet in USA. The United Nations declared 2007 The Year of Rumi and celebrations were held world wide.

Mevlana was a Muslim, but not an orthodox type. His doctrine advocates unlimited tolerance, positive reasoning, goodness, charity and awareness through love. To him all religions were more or less truth. Mevlana looked with the same eye on Muslim, Jew and Christian alike. His peaceful and tolerant teachings have appealed to men of all sects and creeds. In 1958, Pope John XXIII wrote a special message saying: “In the name of the Catholic World, I bow with respect before the memory of Rumi.”

Mevlana died on 17 December 1273 and was laid to rest beside his father in Konya, in present day Turkey. A splendid shrine, the Mevlana Moseleum was erected over their remains, which is now a museum and place of pilgrimage. Every year on that day, at this magnificient 13th century mausoleum we celebrate Seb-i Arus, his 'Wedding Day', together with thousands of people from all around the world.

Mevlananın yedi öğüdü

- Cömertlik ve yardım etme konusunda akarsu gibi ol

- Şefkat ve merhamette güneş gibi ol

- Başkalarının kusurunu örtmede gece gibi ol

- Hiddet ve asabiyette ölü gibi ol

- Tevazu ve alçakgönüllükte toprak gibi ol

- Hoşgörülülükte deniz gibi ol

- Ya olduğun gibi görün, ya göründüğün gibi ol

So many feelings

end up in here

left so alone I'm with

the one I most fear

I'm sick and I'm tired

of reasoning

just want to break out

shake off this skin

I can't escape myself

All my problems

loom larger than life

I can't swallow another slice

Seems like my shadow

marks every stride

can I learn to live with

what's trapped inside

I can't escape myself

So many feelings

end up in here

left so alone I'm with

the one i most fear

I'm sick and I'm tired

of reasoning

just want to break out

kick off this skin

I can't escape myself

www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0FKEDexivA&list=RDM0FKEDexiv...

Location: Salmson Isle.

"It seemed to me an error in reasoning for a man to isolate a woman he loves from all the circumstances in which he met her and in which she lives, to try, with dogged inner concentration, to purify her of everything that is not her self, which is to say also of the story that they lived through together and that gives love its shape.

After all, what I love in a woman is not what she is in and for herself, but the side of herself she turns towards me, what she is for me. I love her as a character in our common love story. What would Hamlet be without the castle at Elsinore, without Ophelia, without all the concrete situations he goes through, what could he be without the text of his part? What would be left but an empty, dumb, illusory essence?"

Garden Lilies..

There is something so visually pleasing about a lily, it is the mixture of complimentary colours that draw you in. the contrast of yellow and red. I am sure this is as intoxicating to humans as it is to bees and other pollen gatherers.

I am sure there is a solid science behind the reasoning for the many varied colours of lilies; but suffice to say they make my garden look amazing while they are in bloom and i thank God for eyes to see them with.

Please do not copy my image or use it on websites, blogs or other media without my express permission.

© NICK MUNROE (MUNROE PHOTOGRAPHY)

You can contact me

by email @

karenick23@yahoo.ca

munroephotographic@gmail.com

munroedesignsphotography@gmail.com

or on Facebook @

www.facebook.com/MunroePhotography/

On Instagram

www.instagram.com/munroe_photography1/

Another Friday is here and we now have another fence to show you. there is a very large gap in the fence, but that just makes it easier for me to to see what is beyond the fence.

I hope everyone is well.

Getting ticked off with this Flickr SHIT! Every second or third comment today, hangs..... wait 30 good long seconds to get the "we can't post your comment window"

!!! COME ON..... Really?

I had some back and forth conversations with the flickr folks and i was fairly sarcastic. There responses were mainly that the peoples who use it wanted some changes. I did not buy that reasoning. Blah blah blah.....

At least it seems to be better.

Happy Fence Friday

... if it does not grow well, you don't blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun. You never blame the lettuce. Yet if we have problems with our friends or family, we blame the other person. But if we know how to take care of them, they will grow well, like the lettuce. Blaming has no positive effect at all, nor does trying to persuade using reason and arguments. That is my experience. No blame, no reasoning, no argument, just understanding.

-Nhat Hanh

Buffalo and Pittsburgh empties destined for loading on the former MGA's PawPaw Branch pass by the Rivesville, WV power station. The plant was built by the Monongahela Power and Railway Company in 1919, and operated until it's closure in 2012 citing environmental reasonings. So these days it just makes for a killer backdrop to take pictures with.

It would be cool to see the plant saved instead of demolished and turned into a museum... but i doubt we could get that lucky for preservation sake. Some of the patch town homes can be seen in the background next to the plant. I have tons more photos to share, so be on the lookout for near daily uploads in the near future!

Inquisitive Wood ducks (Aix sponsa) visiting very briefly. Spook easily.

As this was just at sunset, I didn't want to increase dof and lose shutter speed, but could have. Updated the camera's firmware—a distortion fix.

Please, no more suggestions unless I ask! I'm a hotheaded fading redhead and tend to take your suggestions personally, until I see the reasoning.

And, please help habitats and wildlife, now in critical need of private support for conservation. Consider any gift or donation as an investment in our planet's future.

www.nature.org/ (Nature Conservancy)

Thanks for looking!

"Whatever it is in your power to do, do with all your might. For there is no action, no reasoning, no learning, no wisdom in Sheol, where you are going.

I have further observed under the sun that

The race is not won by the swift,

Nor the battle by the valiant;

Nor is bread won by the wise,

Nor wealth by the intelligent,

Nor favor by the learned.

For the time of mischance comes to all. And a man cannot know his time. As fishes are enmeshed in a fatal net, and as birds are trapped in a snare, so men are caught at the time of calamity, when it comes upon them without warning...

If the wrath of a lord flares up against you, don't give up your post; for when wrath abates, grave offenses are pardoned"

From Middle English feith, from Old French feid, from Latin fides, faith, trust. Used in English since the 12th Century.

faith (plural faiths)

1. Mental acceptance of and confidence in a claim as truth without proof supporting the claim.

"Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld." (Hebrews 11:1)

2. A feeling or belief, that something is true, real, or will happen.

Have faith that the criminal justice system will avenge the murder.

3. A trust in the intentions or abilities of a person or object.

I have faith in the goodness of my fellow man.

Synonyms

* (feeling, without direct evidence but based on indirect evidence and experience (inductive reasoning), that something is true, real, or will happen): belief, confidence, trust

* (system of religious belief): religion

* (Belief without proof)

“Beauty has often overpowered the resolutions of the firm, and the reasonings of the wise, roused the old to sensibility, and subdued the rigorous to softness”

Samuel Johnson

Reasoning behind the photo can be found in my blog at www.fernandocoelho.photography/blog

That deep emotional conviction of the presence of a superior reasoning power, which is revealed in the incomprehensible universe, forms my idea of God.

[Albert Einstein]

IAIS 152 notches up with its 90 car train in tow after slowing down for a mile or so for a potential speed restriction if I had to guess. Made for a nice smoke show, so I appreciate it regardless of the reasoning why!

It is the end of year and time for some self-reflection before heralding a happy new year.

I understand that the question here is more specific but nonetheless, we must answer it too, beyond what is intended.

I was something yesterday, something different today and will be something else tomorrow. I am closer to death than I have ever been. I fall short of what I want to be. I am ever-changing and I hope for better. Being spiritual is to understand ones true nature. It is not the same as being religious. Above all else, I want to be more inclusive, accommodating, compassionate and fair. It is what I expect from others.

Most of us can reason. Few are consistent in what they speak at different times. Without it, we set one standards for ourselves and another for others. It engenders unfairness. It is the cornerstone of humanity. It demands an ability for consistent reasoning. I hope, I get better at it.

Who are you? I am ________ .

The Pyramid of the Sun is the third largest pyramid in the world and the entire Teotihuacan temple complex is one of the best tourist attractions in Mexico City.

The Aztecs, during their domination of Mexico, thought that only their gods could have constructed such a structure and used it as their primary temple for daily rituals and sacred sacrifices.

The Pyramid of the Sun at Teotihuacan is classified as the world’s third largest pyramid coming third to the two Egyptian pyramids of Giza. The low incline and squat structure of the Sun Temple means that the perimeter at the base of the Sun Pyramid is almost the same as the Great Pyramid of Egypt. From the summit there are wonderful views over the Avenue of the Dead, which leads to the younger Pyramid of the Moon.

It is well documented that the Aztecs used the pyramid as a site for animal and human sacrifices to their gods, but surprisingly little is known about the reasoning behind the construction by the Teotihuacans and the use of the pyramid.Πυραμίδα του Ήλιου Teotihuacan

Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2017

Reasoning behind the photo can be found in my blog at www.fernandocoelho.photography/blog

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 from 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 😊

am sooo naive !

the motto in my account: discard the blindfold ! share the good. make one or two people a tiny bit happier... or show them part of the world they don't know nor will ever get to see

now I know though, how wrong I was, how useless my photos and me ^_^ just wasting precious webspace ...

as opposed to have to pay for beeing ALLOWED to share photos, I thought them to be a present for EVERYBODY.

I recognize my error in reasoning ^_^ now

....

today I decided to stay around for a while all the same .......

Toying was inspired by the brand new pose from Be My Mannequin? Pose Store: Something New. This particular pose was inspired by the love the creator had for those he cares about. I knew I couldn't do this one injustice by snapping just any picture. This pose is a very versatile pose and is great from any angle (seriously!). However, this is what came to mind when I was brainstorming how to portray such a wonderful creation! I know you'll love Something New as well, and you can find it in the main store on Second Life or on the marketplace!

~~~

Man's greatest question is "Where did we come from?" or any of the many variations of it. Its hard to imagine that there's not something up there spinning and weaving the universe as it sees fit; toying with it all. Is there really some magical, mystical reasoning for all this? Or are we, as a universe, just a toy for some being above?

~A stoner thought by Cormack Owle-Mysterious~

In the background is the feature known as 'Spoon Rocks'. Was constructed in the 1960's by a coal mine owner who thought he could 'bulldoze' the local council and State Government to allow a low level rail line to be built across Lake Macquarie from the Wangi Peninsula to a coastal ship loader. His apparent reasoning being that if he invested so much into the loader he couldn't be refused. He was!

I could not resist with all of the news of stores selling out of TP. Don't really understand the reasoning but it is happening everywhere.

Leeds, 2018

Reasoning behind the photo can be found in my blog at www.fernandocoelho.photography/blog

Sometimes what is seen is interpreted as an understandable form, our mind uses recognition based from the past. Sometimes it can fail leaving the viewer unable to elaborate or draw further information if only through reasoning to establish an alternative construct.

Momentary Lapse of Reason...(Pink Floyd)

Sometimes I have to try new things, go outside the comfort zone and see what I get...I got this and I am ok with it...

To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. To not dare is to lose oneself. ~Soren Kierkegaard

Baltic coast near Travemünde, Germany, 2021

Of course, levitation is utter nonsense. He is simply sitting on top of this bench just because it is dirty. Simple reasoning in a strange time :-)

PS bench wasn‘t any cleaner when we left.

Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2017

Reasoning behind the photo can be found in my blog at www.fernandocoelho.photography/blog

Lisbon, Portugal, 2017

Reasoning behind the photo can be found in my blog at www.fernandocoelho.photography/blog

“Then it happened, that while walking down a path along which ran a very clear stream”

“I suddenly felt a great desire to write a poem and I began to think how I would go about it.”

Ladies who have intelligence of love

I wish to speak to you about my lady,

not thinking to complete her litany,

but to talk in order to relieve my heart...

...Love and the gracious heart are a single thing,

as Guinizelli tells us in his poem:

one can no more be without the other

than can the reasoning mind without its reason.

Nature, when in a loving mood, creates them.

-Dante, Vita Nuova

Of all animals, ravens behave in ways most similar to humans.

Yes, YOU READ THAT CORRECTLY!

They are capable of language. They have reasoning and problem-solving skills.

They are greedy. They hoard food to provide for their future. I forget all of the clever things they do.

Their giant wingspread attracted my attention when they landed to raid my squirrels pile of non-salted peanuts. I grabbed my camera and noticed this one above in the trees watching the one on the ground trying to stuff 3 peanuts into his beak! They returned the next day, and the one next too!

Ravens are among the smartest of all birds, gaining a reputation for solving ever more complicated problems invented by ever more creative scientists. These big, sooty birds thrive among humans and in the back of beyond, stretching across the sky on easy, flowing wingbeats and filling the empty spaces with an echoing croak.

Venice

Italy, 2017

Reasoning behind the photo can be found in my blog at www.fernandocoelho.photography/blog

Den Haag, The Netherlands, 2018

Reasoning behind the photo can be found in my blog at www.fernandocoelho.photography/blog

Photo taken at Florence

The odds are stacked against our love

I'm always waking up when he is sleeping still

The catalyst

I know I plummet to the depths

With no reasoning, one reason was

The birds singing, I curled in a ball

And thought of you and all you meant

I'll compose myself, I'll get over it

Though I can't tell if this is better

To be left another lesson learned

Learned

Learned

Learned

Music Mood

♫ Daughter | Isolation ♫

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

Common Wall Lizard (Podarcis Muralis) With Prey (Vanessa Atlanta), 10-2022, Ticino, Switzerland

You can find the COLOR VERSION of the photo here: www.lacerta-bilineata.com/western-green-lizard-lacerta-bi...

My latest ANIMAL VIDEO (warning, it's a bit shocking): www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI

ABOUT THE PHOTO:

Photographing the common wall lizards in my garden is not very hard - photographing them while they are having a meal, on the other hand, very much is.

The reason for that, as I've only recently come to realize, is that the lizards in my garden are completely and utterly paranoid. Not about everything, mind; theirs is a very specific paranoia: they believe I want to steal their food.

This is obviously highly irrational on their part (I mean, everyone knows I've stopped putting snails and worms and caterpillars in my mouth at the age of two, and I rarely have a craving in that regard these days 😉 ).

And to those of you who now immediately jump to the poor lizards' defense and point out that I'm not qualified to make such a statement about their mental state as long as they haven't been properly diagnosed by a, ahm... expert (maybe a lizard psychiatrist can weigh in on the matter 😛), I say: I hear you, but I believe my reasoning is sound, and I ask you to reserve judgement until I've presented my case.

First of all, you have to understand that the lizards in my garden know me, and I know them. They're territorial animals who have a lifespan of 7-10 years, so we've encountered each other pretty much in the same spots over long stretches of time, and at this point in our relationship we're on friendly enough terms that they mostly tolerate me on "their turf" without fleeing.

There are rules of course - sudden, hectic human movements are highly frowned-upon in the lizard community - but I'm usually able to approach my reptile friends up to a distance of around 50 cm with my camera.

And being the nature nerd and animal paparazzo that I am, I have observed and shot these lizards many, many times; I've captured them up close and from every angle and in any possible situation - but in almost four decades of visiting the Podarcis muralis population in my garden I can probably count on the fingers of one hand the number of times I have been able to catch one while it was eating.

This has always struck me as peculiar; the little wannabe dinosaurs never look like they are starving (indeed, some I'd even call downright chubby - though not to their faces of course 😉 ), so they are obviously getting enough food: I just hardly ever see one "in the act" of actually gulping down its prey.

Now the few times I DID see them devour some slimy treat, their behavior towards me was rather strange. The lizard in the photo above is a good example for how every such encounter went. The fella's the current lord of the outer bathroom wall, and I spotted him with this gigantic caterpillar in his mouth - a Vanessa atlanta - in front of the bathroom window one morning as I was brushing my teeth.

As is ever the case with me on such occasions, I immediately went to grab the camera and stormed out of the house (toothpaste foam all over my mouth which must have looked as if I had rabies to anyone spotting me, but I guess by now my poor neighbors are neither surprised nor shocked anymore at any ridiculous state and/or situation they find me in when I'm trying to get a photo 😂)

Slowly and very carefully I approached the lizard. He was still in the process of adjusting the caterpillar in his mouth in order to be able to gulp it down, but the moment he saw me - and I was still at least 3 meters away - he started to retreat while immediately trying to devour the caterpillar.

For every slow step I took towards him, he retreated a little further, frantically chewing on his prize, eyes blazing at me. And it was obvious he didn't see me as a threat to his life: he saw me as competition! He had this fierce, defiant look on his face, and I thought it was very clear what he believed my intentions were: I had come to steal his caterpillar.

It wasn't an easy shot to begin with (the lizard was backlit by the bright morning sun, and the brightness was made worse because the light was reflected by the nearly white bathroom wall), so I started first to curse and then to negotiate - which is my usual go-to pattern when the objects of my photographic desire are being difficult 😜).

- Me: "😡👿💢⚡!!! Dude, I just want a photo, what's the matter with you?!"

- The lizard (telling me with his eyes): "Mine! You can't have any! Don't come any closer, rabid pink giant!"

- Me: "Come on, just a little closer so I can get more of you than a dark silhouette..."

- The lizard: "Yes, it's delicious, I know, but I ain't sharing: get your own caterpillar!"

- Me: "Slowly now, relax... Come on, you KNOW me dude, I don't mean you no harm! Just a little closer..."

- The lizard: "You're not foolin' me buster: who wouldn't want such a tasty treat for themselves: have you seen how juicy it is?"

At the two-meter mark he finally bounced, and I guess I was lucky to have gotten a usable shot at all, since none of my previous lizard-with-prey encounters had resulted in a photo (with the exception of the "cannibal incident" already mentioned elsewhere www.youtube.com/watch?v=4T2-Xszz7FI )

So, maybe after reading this strange anecdote you can appreciate why I'm so convinced now the lizards in my garden are paranoid about me wanting to steal their food.

The only explanation for this irrational fear I can come up with is that they've witnessed me feasting on sausages when I was having barbecues in the garden (I guess from a lizards' perspective, I giant bratwurst COULD look like a big, juicy worm or caterpillar... 😉 ).

Anyway, 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. This photo here was very much inspired by the works of ANNETTE FRINZL (do yourself a favor and check out her amazing photostream here: www.flickr.com/photos/168598254@N04/ ) It was Annette's incredibly versatile art that made me realize what this lizard photo needed, and although it's nowhere near as skillfully processed as her works, I just want to express my gratitude for giving me the inspiration! Cheers, Annette!! 🙏🙏🙏!!!