Jack’s Walk

Dreary November Day, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Drizzling. Dreary. Drab. In other words, the weather hasn’t changed. Jack and I decided to go to the forest hoping the canopy would help keep us dry, but too many leaves are down and there was really no protection at all. I’m normally a fairly easy-going person, but this constant damp has me feeling irritable and out of sorts. At least Jack doesn’t seem to mind and his wagging tail and happy smile sure help to make being outside passably tolerable. Still, it’s good to be home and I might just hide out here for the rest of the day.

Chameleon

From Nightjar,

rq’s triune of lizards reminded me of this very special lizard I was lucky enough to see during my summer holidays. A Mediterranean Chameleon! They are native here in Portugal but not very common and only occur along the south coast. This was only the third time I saw one and the first time I had a camera with me. I was obviously very excited, but tried to be quick in order not to disturb it too much and also to avoid calling the attention of more tourists (one never knows… chameleons move slowly and unfortunately there are many humans who can’t be trusted around defenseless animals).

The photos are wonderful, Nightjar and I’m impressed with how close you got to this wild, little fellow. I notice in the second photo that his left eye is watching you even though his right eye is facing straight ahead. That is some interesting anatomy and so are those feet. I always thought of chameleons as being arboreal with those feet being designed to cling to small branches, but I see that they do equally well on the ground. Very interesting. Thanks for sharing, Nightjar.

 

©Nightjar, all rights reserved

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Monday Mercurial

American lynx. I liked how the enclosure was styled as an “abandoned farmhouse” with lots of corners and hideouts. The lynx (what’s the plural here anyway?) were still kind enough to pose for a photo shooting.

lynx, close up

©Giliell, all rights reserved

lynx

©Giliell, all rights reserved

lynx

©Giliell, all rights reserved

lynx

©Giliell, all rights reserved

lynx

©Giliell, all rights reserved

lynx, head

©Giliell, all rights reserved

lynx, sitting

©Giliell, all rights reserved

 

Bookbinding

One of our regular readers and commenters, Anne Cranky Cat Lady, makes journals by hand and she has kindly shared her latest project with us. Every journal is unique and Anne has chosen a lively and interesting range of papers so that each one is sure to please its recipient. Thanks for sharing, Anne. Your work is inspiring and I’m sure that everyone on your list will be thrilled to receive such a beautiful gift. I’ll let Anne introduce them.

This year’s crop of gift journals are finshed. Done, done, cleaned up after, done! 

All but three which I made a few years ago were put together either last Friday or today. So you can see that they’re pretty quick. They’re made with Books by Hand kits or refill sets of boards and page blocks, assorted papers and ribbons, and, of course, lots of glue. The dimensions are small 4×4″, medium 5×7″, and large 4×8¼”.
The wood-grain one is going to Paul for our anniversary, the rest will be Christmas gifts or get stashed for later giving.

 

Small journal, open to show accordion page structure, ©Anne, Cranky Cat Lady, all rights reserved

 

Group 1 Small and Medium, ©Anne, Cranky Cat Lady, all rights reserved

Group 2 Medium and Large, ©Anne, Cranky Cat Lady, all rights reserved

Jack’s Walk

©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?

Jack’s Walk

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

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Tree Tuesday

Our tree this week is a pear tree in full fall flame from kestrel who says,

We have no idea how old this pear tree is but it’s pretty old. It does still bear fruit, but this is not a great climate for it, as there are often late frosts that kill the blossoms. Even when it does bear fruit the pears frequently drop off before they can ripen. I suppose we ought to cut it down but it’s quite lovely in the fall when the leaves change color; just recently it fired up and looks wonderful for such a very old tree. 

Old trees have a stateliness and grace and this old pear tree is putting on quite the show this year. All of the photos are bright and beautiful, but the last one of just the leaves in sunlight is gorgeous. Thanks so much for sharing, kestrel.

©kestrel, all rights reserved

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Jack’s Walk

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

Foxmom

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