©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s raining again. It started yesterday afternoon just in time to spoil Halloween. Most of the little ones had parents with umbrellas and the older ones out in groups were scarce. Really, there weren’t many kids at my door. How was your Halloween? What was the best costume you saw?
This came in from Avalus several weeks ago and I suspect that this little critter may have succumbed to cooler temperatures by now. I did the google thing before I posted this and it seems that grasshoppers don’t survive winter. The adults mate in the fall, lay their eggs and then die off once this biological imperative is finished. It’s the eggs that survive winter in little curved pods that are buried underground. The pods are created by rolling spittle with dirt until it becomes a hard case and each pod contains about 20- 26 eggs. I wonder if that’s what this little grasshopper was doing? Avalus says,
This time it is a grasshopper that I found on a gravel road. I think she tried to lay eggs.
I did gently remove her from the path, when a tractor was approaching. (In fact, she climbed on my hand when I put it next to her).
It seems like an odd place to lay eggs, but I’m sure she knows what she’s doing. Thanks Avalus, for the interesting and wonderfully detailed photos.
©Avalus, all rights reserved
They’re watching me, ©voyager, all rights reserved
Happy Halloween.
We had a trick today instead of a treat. Jack didn’t have his surgery because they found enlarged lymph nodes in his rear legs which they biopsied instead. Once we have the results back in a few days we’ll see what to do next. He had blood work done less than a month ago and everything was normal so that’s good. He’s also been happy and playful so I’ll try not to worry… too much. In the meantime these are photos from Jack’s evening walk last night. This is the best dressed house in the neighborhood. Click through to see where the eyeballs lead you.
I think that vultures are very halloweeny, because hey, they literally eat the dead.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
It’s a beautiful sunny day here at last and what better thing to do with Jack than take the boy swimming. He won’t be able to swim for a few weeks because he’s having a big fatty lump removed from his right armpit tomorrow. The water level at the lake is quite low now. This is a lake created when a dam was built in the 60’s and the water level varies depending on the season. In late spring and summer the lake is full, but come autumn they let a lot of water out which creates this sandy beach. It’s lovely to walk on, but Jack doesn’t care about the beach. He just wants to swim. I’ve included a few photos of Happyjack© loving life (sometimes the bad photos are the best ones) and just for good measure I’ve added some pretty leaves in the sun. After all, it’s Tuesday and that’s the day we celebrate trees around here.
Happyjack, ©voyager, all rights reserved
It has been raining here for days and even Jack is getting fed up. He doesn’t like the drops hitting his snout and he stops often to wipe his face on my pants. How special. The water does make some things look pretty, though. So here are some leaves on a pond.
©voyager, all rights reserved
©voyager, all rights reserved
This photo is just a delight. It’s always a wonder when we can catch a glimpse of such a cautious wild creature. It came from Avalus who says,
A foxmother, that lives in an abandoned Garden just next to the house I live in. She has three cubs, but I only have this one image, as I usually meet them only when it is to dark for photos.
She has her eye on you, Avalus. Thanks for sharing.
foxmom, ©Avalus, all rights reserved
This way beckons, ©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s been a bit of a tough week for me. Partly it’s the weather. It’s been full of cold damp all week and that makes it harder for me to get out, but partly it’s because I had too much fun last weekend. It was my birthday and I was kept busy with visits to my mother and to friends and dinner out and to see the play Menopause The Musical! which was a 2 hour drive in each direction. It was all wonderful, but it was exhausting and once I get into that state it can take days to recover. It was worth it, though. Sometimes I do things knowing that I’ll pay a price. It’s like borrowing spoons from tomorrow. Many disabled people do because we still have interests and our minds and souls still need feeding. I love live theatre and I’m prepared to have a few down days if that means I can still participate. I don’t like to talk too much about my fibromyalgia. I learned that early on that no one really wants to hear you complain. It isn’t that people don’t care, it’s that there’s nothing anyone can do. A bit later on I also learned that it’s better to focus on what’s good in my life (a lot!) instead of what wrong. I don’t want to be defined by things I can’t do and I don’t want anyone’s pity. This voyager intends to have a full life and last weekend was certainly that. By tomorrow I should have a normal number of spoons again or as it feels for me, gravity will return to normal. I hope everyone has a good weekend. I intend to.
©voyager, all rights reserved
©voyager, all rights reserved
There’s lots of colour in my neighbourhood right now and it isn’t all in the trees. Some garden plants are still thriving, like my neighbour’s hollyhocks, marigolds and nasturtiums. They’re not even shaggy around the edges. The nasturtiums are one of my favorites. They’re like happy little alien ships waiting for word that it’s time to go home.
Help me, I’m melting ©voyager, all rights reserved
It’s an overcast and dreary day and cold enough that I wore my winter coat this morning. I’ve been struggling a bit in the colder weather so today I took Jack to the forest. It isn’t any warmer there, but the leaf swooshing makes me happy and so does watching Jack romp off-leash. He loves to chase the chipmunks and squirrels and because he’s slow I never worry about him actually catching something. Wait, he did catch something once. A rabbit, but Jack was laying down on his own front lawn just looking in wonder at the baby bunny when the poor thing bolted and ran straight into Jack’s mouth. Jack spat it out and the two of them sat there for a moment looking at each other before I shooed the bunny away. I swear that’s a true story.
More images from the birds of prey at Amnéville. I must say they got the optics down to a T, puuting the black guy on the white horse and the blond white woman on the black one.
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©Giliell, all rights reserved
©voyager, all rights reserved
This is a little pond that Jack and I found in the springtime. Then, it was covered in lily pads as far as the eye could see. I took a bunch of photos, but there were so many mosquitoes that I made a pretty quick get-away. It was also the middle of the day and the light was harsh so when I got home I filed the photos away under ‘go back and try again.’ I did try once a few weeks later and, if anything, there were even more mosquitoes. Then we went to the east coast and I forgot all about the place until today. The pond looks totally different at this time of year. There are only a few tattered remnants of lily pads left and the center of the pond is mostly open water which was reflecting the pretty autumn trees across the way. The sun came out long enough to light up the view and make the water blue and there was not a single mosquito to be seen or felt. I call that a successful field trip.
