Artyczar
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I felt that when I saw it.It encapsulates life in South Africa.
What are you up to?
- Thread starter brianvds
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That's a wonderful nest!
I was working outside most of the week, doing some botanical surveys. I got totally soaked. I really want to sketch more flowers but it was just too rainy. Here's Grass of Parnassus (one of my favourites), a pansy and some sheep's sorrel, which has one of the best leaves ever.
I was working outside most of the week, doing some botanical surveys. I got totally soaked. I really want to sketch more flowers but it was just too rainy. Here's Grass of Parnassus (one of my favourites), a pansy and some sheep's sorrel, which has one of the best leaves ever.
Artyczar
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Love those shadows and contrasts.Took a walk, saw this tree and its shadow on the wall, liked what I saw, and took a quick reference pic for a sketch...
View attachment 33045
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Love these shots, Brian. We had skinks in Texas, I saw several there and never anywhere else I've lived. I'm guessing they like it hot!
A few weeks ago, I was shooting pics of the various butterflies that were visiting my newly installed pollinator garden. I mentioned to a friend that I was watching one of them fluttering around my potted herbs - namely, the parsley, and she said to be on the lookout for little black swallowtail caterpillars. Parsley is one of their favorite host plants, apparently.
A week or so later, I saw these little buggers:
...who have now eaten their way through that plant, so I've added a new one and installed a netting so they don't get eaten.
They now look like this:
And, I added some stakes under the netting to keep it off the plants. Hopefully, they'll be happy enough in there to make their chrysalises soon, and I'll be able to see the new black swallowtails hatching out, or whatever it is they do.
Stay tuned!
A few weeks ago, I was shooting pics of the various butterflies that were visiting my newly installed pollinator garden. I mentioned to a friend that I was watching one of them fluttering around my potted herbs - namely, the parsley, and she said to be on the lookout for little black swallowtail caterpillars. Parsley is one of their favorite host plants, apparently.
A week or so later, I saw these little buggers:
...who have now eaten their way through that plant, so I've added a new one and installed a netting so they don't get eaten.
They now look like this:
And, I added some stakes under the netting to keep it off the plants. Hopefully, they'll be happy enough in there to make their chrysalises soon, and I'll be able to see the new black swallowtails hatching out, or whatever it is they do.
Stay tuned!
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I hope they make it!Wow! Terri, those are amazing. I've never seen them, let alone grow up.
brianvds
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OliveOyl
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Hi. Took Otto for a drive and Hub for a walk at the volcanoes where “Mother Earth meets Father Sky.” As the Natives say. Here, Ms. Fatso is approaching “JA” which is the babiest of the bunch.
Why it’s called that, I don’t know but the next one over is bigger and called “Black” and the one next to that is even bigger and called “Vulcan.” And so those are the “Three Sisters” which is weird because there are actually five of them. Two of them are so small, they don’t even warrant a name. Most activity was roughly 75,000 years ago, and the last “fissure eruption” was about 2,200 years ago. Although that might seem old, they’re still considered young volcanoes. They’re still hot!
Speaking of being hot…while the temp this morning was only in the 70’s at 8:30 am (in this picture), the sun is still intense enough that we ended up pretty sweaty. (I prefer not to sweat, thank you.) We were just meandering at a nice and leisurely way for about 2 miles and that’s about as far as I’ll ever walk. Because after that, my level of crankiness and whining kicks in because I’m elderly. And must rest.
Why it’s called that, I don’t know but the next one over is bigger and called “Black” and the one next to that is even bigger and called “Vulcan.” And so those are the “Three Sisters” which is weird because there are actually five of them. Two of them are so small, they don’t even warrant a name. Most activity was roughly 75,000 years ago, and the last “fissure eruption” was about 2,200 years ago. Although that might seem old, they’re still considered young volcanoes. They’re still hot!
Speaking of being hot…while the temp this morning was only in the 70’s at 8:30 am (in this picture), the sun is still intense enough that we ended up pretty sweaty. (I prefer not to sweat, thank you.) We were just meandering at a nice and leisurely way for about 2 miles and that’s about as far as I’ll ever walk. Because after that, my level of crankiness and whining kicks in because I’m elderly. And must rest.
Artyczar
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Beautiful image Kim. Love this!!!
brianvds
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And where is this? New Mexico? Arizona? Australia? I can't recognize particular bits of desert on sight.
Looks quite spectacular anyway.
OliveOyl
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Haha. You’re not keeping up with the thoughts in my head, Brian. It’s New Mexico, part of the Petroglyph National Monument (although this part doesn’t have any petroglyphs). It’s a few miles from my boring suburban house, on a mesa and the Rio Grande Volcanic rift, all inside a city called Albuquerque. You can see it (all these precise words) spread out before you when you get up toward the ridge there. And so now that you know, come visit!
brianvds
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Judged by photos and video I have seen, (and of course movies shot there), New Mexico is absolutely spectacular.
Soon as I am rich and famous (which is of course only a question of time).
At present, my most advanced traveling vehicle is a borrowed bicycle.
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Wonderful shot!
