What are you up to?

[snoball]

Where I live there is not much sunshine lately, but I often walk with my small grandsons by the sea or in the countryside. They have problems keeping up with me though.

Who has problems keeping up with whom?

 

[brianvds]

Seems we get a lot of earthquakes here in the last couple years we moved out here. Not huge or anything, but the ground seems to be letting off steam, so to speak. Seems more often than in LA proper, but it could be that we feel them more here since it's so much more calm in general. We also don't live too far from a military base and they sometimes test bombs/explosions, so those can rattle our windows at times and feel like little earthquakes, but there is an obvious difference. So much for "peace and quiet" in the desert (at times).

Where I live we are from tectonic plate boundaries, so around here earthquakes are rare and tend to be light - seldom more than around 3 on the Richter scale. They are usually caused by caves or old mine shafts collapsing, or minor shifts in the earth's crust.

Interesting to notice how natural disasters tend to vary from place to place. Around here, drought, flooding and lightning are about it. And of course Covid pandemics. We don't have serious earthquakes, no volcanoes and tornadoes are not extremely common either.

 

[E.J.H.]

Hot news; those earthquakes? Yup, turns out they were a precursor to an eruption, It just started about 15 minutes ago.

 

[brianvds]

Hot news; those earthquakes? Yup, turns out they were a precursor to an eruption, It just started about 15 minutes ago.

And here I thought the turning of what passes for seasons here was exciting...

Visitor to the garden a day or two ago:

It's known as a Garden commodore (Precis archesia). It was constantly opening and closing its wings, and of the bazillion photos I took, only this one came out reasonably decent. The wonders of digital photography: if you just snap enough pics, you're bound to get at least one decent one.

 

[E.J.H.]

Beautiful butterfly. We strangely had quite a few here in Northern Iceland last summer, carried here by a storm from the south, mainland Europe.

 

[brianvds]

Beautiful butterfly. We strangely had quite a few here in Northern Iceland last summer, carried here by a storm from the south, mainland Europe.

Do they survive there at all?

A little butterfly-eater visited yesterday...

 

[E.J.H.]

Sadly not. They were atalanta's (papilio atalanta).
There are some moth and butterfly species here, but rather small and dull looking.
Gorgeous lizard!

 

[brianvds]

Sadly not. They were atalanta's (papilio atalanta).
There are some moth and butterfly species here, but rather small and dull looking.
Gorgeous lizard!

Always the problem with islands: how do living things get there in the first place? The available ways put a limit on the kinds of things you get. Iceland's climate doesn't make it any easier either.

 

[Maybenartist]

Love the butterfly and Lizard.
Today was nice here, quite warm and the sea was calm almost surreal. I took a pic of one of the few butterflies around at the moment during a leisurely walk.

 

[brianvds]

Love that butterfly. They're difficult to photograph because they seldom stay still for a moment, and when they do, they tend to tent their wings so you can't see all the lovely patterns.

I haven't seen the ocean in years, and will probably never get the opportunity again. Around here, the ocean is never that calm.

On my morning walk - unfortunately only had the cell phone camera at hand:

 

[Maybenartist]

They're great pics, love how the birds line up on the lamp. This is the best time here when birds begin to build nests and lay their eggs. They flit about everywhere. Usually on my local walk there is a cacophony of birds singing. I can tell the sound of blackbirds, Robins, goldfinches and wrens. The others I'm not so sure about. I downloaded an app that has British bird sounds. However, I still can't find what most are.

 

[ntl]

Beautiful photos, all.
I'm working to get back into things, it's hit and miss. We're moving again, from Tucson AZ to Indianapolis, Indiana, now to several miles west... It's been cold for me here. The main house has generally been too cold for me to work in, so I haven't done much. In the new one I'll have a studio with a door so I can better control the temperature, and hopefully do a lot more than I have this past year. It'll be at least 6 weeks before I might have a place to work there. Recently I've been doing a few youtube wc tutorials, learning a bit about that.

 

[Maybenartist]

Beautiful photos, all.
I'm working to get back into things, it's hit and miss. We're moving again, from Tucson AZ to Indianapolis, Indiana, now to several miles west... It's been cold for me here. The main house has generally been too cold for me to work in, so I haven't done much. In the new one I'll have a studio with a door so I can better control the temperature, and hopefully do a lot more than I have this past year. It'll be at least 6 weeks before I might have a place to work there. Recently I've been doing a few youtube wc tutorials, learning a bit about that.

Good luck with the move.

 

[ntl]

Thanks, Maybenartist, I don't have to do much, Daughter and Son-in-Law are doing all the lifting and carrying. Most of this house hold is there now. The rest is waiting for floors to be finished and grandchild to finish the school year here. Floors to be finished May 9, and they'll put things in the general areas. I will have to put my stuff where I want it, and that's not at all certain yet.