Jack’s Walk

Part of the floodplain at our park. ©voyager, all rights reserved

Can anyone tell me what the man in these photos is doing? Jack and I encountered him at our local park yesterday. He was slowly walking from one side of the creek to the other along a measuring tape laid out between the banks. He would move a step or two and stop, then fiddle with his machine and look up to the sky for a while and then fiddle with his machine again until he was satisfied with something and then he’d take another step or two and repeat the process. At the rate he was moving it would take him an hour or more to cross our wee creek. I suspect it’s related to the flooding you can see in the first photo. Two years ago they removed the concrete barriers lining the creek and naturalized the banks. It was an all summer long project and it was quite picturesque when completed. Since then, though, the area around the creek floods easily and essentially makes large areas of the park unusable.

I would have stopped to ask him what he was doing, but the children in the photo were tossing stones into the creek that kept landing close to the poor man and the 2 adults in their group let several minutes pass before stopping the action. I thought the fellow

really didn’t need anyone else annoying him. Also, I didn’t want Jack to go into the creek because the last time he did he came out smelling like a sewer. We watched for a while and finally came home with my curiosity piqued, but not satisfied. If you have a clue or a notion about this endeavor I’d sure appreciate it if you’d share.

That’s curious.©voyager, all rights reserved

 

Very curious. ©voyager, all rights reserved

What’s he looking for up there? ©voyager, all rights reserved

Dog Days

We seem to have got our summer early, although next week is supposed to cool down significantly. I am using this time to try not to melt and to gather materials for a few posts – still have the Skopje Aqueduct to present, then some things from Madrid (basically a series on fancy chandeliers), and a couple other things.

For the moment, though, I’m trying to get back into something like a routine after being sick and after the frequent travel – the good news is I have one more trip to Skopje during the second half of June, and then I get to not go anywhere for a couple of months at least. Looking forward to that, because I can’t get anything done in the summer anyway. Which seems to have arrived with a blast of hot air (30 in May, I’m sorry, too much!).

The heat also discourages Ronja from her usual energetic antics, so I got some nice poses, for your enjoyment. She’s a beauty. And she still hasn’t shed all her winter coat, no matter how much we brush her.

© rq, all rights reserved.

© rq, all rights reserved.

© rq, all rights reserved.

© rq, all rights reserved.

© rq, all rights reserved.

Jack’s Walk

©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack and I have been avoiding the park for the past few days because the city was hosting a fair to celebrate the May 2-4 long weekend and Jack doesn’t like fairs. He’s too short to see much except a sea of legs and he doesn’t like the blaring noise of the carnival rides or the sudden screams they elicit. The worst part, though, is all the smells of food that no-one offers  him.

The carnival was still packing up when we were there this morning so we wandered through what remained of the midway and Jack had a good chance to safely explore the what of it all. After that we went to visit the tulips and strolled around the duck pond. The lingering smells of fried food made our route a bit circuitous because Jack had to visit every garbage can along the way, but the sun was warm and the birds were singing and I didn’t mind at all.

[Read more…]

Jack’s Walk

The Canopy Cometh ©voyager, all rights reserved

The canopy of the forest is filling in quickly and soon all the light that’s been fueling the growth of spring flowers will turn to shade or bits of dappled sunlight. The trilliums are still blooming madly, though, and we even found a few red trilliums still hanging on. The Jack-in-the-pulpits have sprouted up all over and I can’t recall a year that there have been so many of them. They’re everywhere and some of them are huge. It seemed to take forever for spring to arrive this year, but the woodland flowers are obviously very happy with the conditions.

Open for Business. ©voyager, all rights reserved

A red trillium is a rare sight once the white trilliums bloom. ©voyager, all rights reserved

Jack-in-the-pulpits ©voyager, all rights reserved

The Art of Book Design: The life-history of British serpents and their local distribution in the British Isles

Leighton, Gerald Rowley, The life-history of British serpents and their local distribution in the British Isles. Publisher Edinburgh and London, W. Blackwood and sons, 1901.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m declaring today Snake Sunday. I’ve finally posted the story of my visit to the Reptarium and this vintage book is right on theme.

via: The Internet Archive

The Reptarium

Bella, a very friendly Rhino Iguana, ©voyager, all rights reserved

Sorry to be absent the past few days. My adventure to Michigan put me into a crash cycle and it’s been slow climbing out. I’m feeling closer to normal today, but the brain fog is being stubborn and persistent. I hope I can string together a few sentences that make sense to tell you all about my amazing experience.

Content Warning – There are photos of snakes ahead.  [Read more…]

Nature Imitates Art

Dürer’s young hare is probably one of the best known animal portraits in the world. On our recent trip to the zoo, a rabbit seemed to be imitating the famous drawing pretty well.

See for yourselves:

 

Dürer’s Young Hare.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

©Giliell, all rights reserved

 

Or maybe Dürer was just pretty good at painting hares and bunnies.