What are you up to?

[stlukesguild]

I see we're posting our "fur babies" again... so I need to participate. We have 2 pups, Raphael, who is the smaller dog... a mix of Dachshund, Jack Russell, and Chihuahua, and Pepper who is a mixed breed hound with traits from the Grayhound.

The two pups are inseparable...

Although we got Pepper first (they are both rescue dogs) Raphie is actually about 5 months older than Pepper.

For whatever reason, we have a good deal more pictures of Raphael. I think in part this is due to the fact that he almost seems to enjoy posing for photographs...

I've read that a dog's habit of grabbing a stick... or sock or slipper... when you first come home is something akin to the stimming behavior you might see in Autistic children... an action used to distract themselves when overly excited.

Raphael also tends to follow me about everywhere. When I sit down to take a break while working on a painting he'll stand in front of me until I finally let him up on my lap.

When I was forced to abandon my long-term studio and start working in a spare room at home, Raphael would repeatedly come into the room... look around trying to figure out what I was doing... and then start barking at me to stop and pay attention to him.

 

[brianvds]

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I've read that a dog's habit of grabbing a stick... or sock or slipper... when you first come home is something akin to the stimming behavior you might see in Autistic children... an action used to distract themselves when overly excited.

My landlady's one Maltese has that same thing: when she's excited, she frantically runs around looking for something to chew, and almost anything will do. And if she really cannot find something, she chews my ear.

 

[Artyczar]

Raphael looks like an excellent driver.

 

[brianvds]

Been strolling around in my local nature area again....

When people see this kind of thing they think drought, disaster, famine, little starving African kids with flies crawling over them, and so on. But no, it's a normal part of our seasonal cycles here. Our winters are bone dry - we haven't had a drop of rain since April or thereabouts, and I do not expect any until October.

Many people here find it depressing, but to me, this dry, dusty landscape has a unique charm, and I like the warm, earthy colors.

Outside of parks like this, wildfires are very common this time of year, and their aroma always reminds me of my rural youth. Like clockwork, we would get home from school only to have to go help put out a fire somewhere!

And some birdies:

Fiscal shrike:

Red-headed finch male:

Red-eyed dove:

Fiscal flycatcher on the park's fence:

Grey go-away bird in flight:

Wild canary:

Black-eyed bulbul in flight:

The park is unfortunately also home to a population of feral cats:

 

[brianvds]

On my Sunday morning walk, a sure sign of approaching spring...

 

[Mississippi Hippie]

Y’all like animal photos I have a year pass to aquarium!! Here’s some from this afternoon, I walk through the aquarium often, it is a great place, besides the lady bouncer at the entrance who demands IDs along with our passes!!

 

[brianvds]

Y’all like animal photos I have a year pass to aquarium!! Here’s some from this afternoon, I walk through the aquarium often, it is a great place, besides the lady bouncer at the entrance who demands IDs along with our passes!!
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Aquariums always have a quiet, cool, meditative feel about them. Might be nice to sit there and sketch the aquatic life.

 

[Hermes2020]

Some inhabitants of a park near my place.

 

[Artyczar]

MississippiHippie: those are gorgeous shots!!!
Hermes, love your friends at your park!

 

[Rich53]

I love the shot of the turtles racing across the log!

 

[Ellen Easton]

That goose you've posted is in much better shape than one of the geese around here. I read this morning that the people in the other little community across the highway from us lost a few chickens and the cougar took a 20 lb. goose as well. Cougars don't eat every single thing they kill. Sometimes they get goats or sheep but will leave dead or wounded poultry and people's small pets as collateral damage.

 

[Dave Woody]

I could share my pics of the worlds top motorcyclists racing at Magny Cours, France. I went by motorbike, in the saddle for many hours. This view made me pull over...I could not resist visage so pretty...

 

[Triduana]

I'm currently exploring Paris

The Olympic flame is gone but the orb is still there, not far from the Louvre

The Arc de Triomphe still carries the Paralympic symbol

Liberty

Very neat trees in the Jardin du Luxembourg

Sacre Cœur - a lot of steps but worth it

 

[Triduana]

Spent today at the Palace of Versailles - it went from sunny to torrential downpour and back very quickly!

 

[Grapes]

Triduana, oh wow!

 

[OliveOyl]

Brian, yes…I like all YOUR “brown” things and the “dry and dusty” landscape, too. Well…duh. I think the beauty in these places are usually more subtle and so can be overlooked. I know they’re not for everyone.

And hooray to Mississippi’s sea horses and slippery dicks (!), Herme at the park with his geese buds, Dave’s field of sunflowers (amazing) and….Kay in Paris! Just smiling for all the NICE things in the world.

I like this thread.
Still my favorite.

But no offense to the others….(gulp).

 

[OliveOyl]

Last week, I took a walk in one of our canyons. Some like the mountains, some like the bosque, but I think I’m starting to like the canyons best. It feels like being embraced by a huge bowl of landscape. Or something.

We have four of them over here on the westside mesa (of Albuquerque) and are all part of the Petroglyph National Monument Park. South Point is the one with the most boring name, the farthest from home (8 miles), the newest to open to the public, and the largest in size. It has 200 petroglyphs but the trail is situated a bit away from them, so they’re not as easily seen as in the other canyons. But that’s okay…I don’t always come for the “artwork.”

The start of the trail is nothing special…just an inclined dirt path where you can’t see much ahead of you except the big sky. This was looking off to one side of the path and inside the red circle is a jackrabbit! It’s about the size of a small terrier, but leaps like deer. Because we startled it, we just stood and watched it bounce on over the little hills until it disappeared from view. In the hour-long walk, this was the only “movement” we saw.

When we started at 9:30 am, the sky was cloudless, there was a faint breeze, the desert flowers were blooming, and the sun was so intense that my eyes watered. At the top of the path, you first see the edge of the Mesa Prieta (<meaning “dark”) and the dormant volcanos are about 3 miles behind it. We’re going to turn right here…

At the turn, you walk across a wash area where the canyon opens up wide and you can see the Sandia Mountains behind them. Not sure why the mountains here are so hazy every morning but by late afternoon, it burns away and the light changes which defines all their shadows, colors and shapes. By the way, Sandia means “watermelon” in Spanish and they do actually turn pink at sunset.

Anyway, the canyon trail runs alongside the mesa and we only walked down about 1.5 miles which landed us nowhere NEAR the escarpment that you see off in the distance. I haven’t been able to find out how long the trail is or where it actually ends. But because I never want to get stuck in the scary boonies, or walk beyond my elderly capacity (which is like a toddler’s), I insisted we stop at this point and backtrack.

As we meandered, I took pics of some random canyon things.

Desert Marigold is just a weed, but it’s gloriously doing it’s thing

I liked this fuzzy soft mess next to the Sand Sagebrush

Inexplicably, just an old pole wrapped with wire

Ants found a home under the Redwhisker Clammyweed (that name!)

The obligatory photo of a proud and perky prickly pear cactus

The picture below was pulled from a National Park Service bulletin which was announcing the opening of South Point. We were only ambling around the left edge of that Mesa Prieta but if we ever had the ability to walk the full length of this trail, I think it would have ended here, where the photographer took the picture. I’m guessing that where he was standing is about 3 miles away from where I took MY pictures…

Anyway, thanks for walking in the “high desert” canyon with me. Isn’t it beautifully boring?? It’s really not half as impressive as other landscapes in this state…it’s just someplace nice to walk that’s close to home. Plus, it’s always humbling to get a little dose of solitude and space and the feeling of insignificance (weirdly) makes me feel happy and free. Whee.

(good grief....sorry about the massive use of bandwidth...I'm a babbler and a rambler and a sweet talking lady, man....)

 

[Triduana]

Olive ... thanks for sharing your travels with us, such a gorgeous landscape! Redwhisker clammyweed is my new favourite plant name
Have you ever eaten prickly pear fruit? I bought one last week, wondering what to do with it!

 

[PaintBoss]

Wow, I sure do enjoy travelling the world with you people! I’m pretty much a shut in trying to get out in the world. I find it very hard even to get over the doorstep. Lately I haven’t even been able to get to the living room. So thank you for all the wonderful posts - they are so appreciated. I like when they’re long and descriptive! No fears Olive! That last picture at sunset is beautiful.
Today I’m gonna try and get dressed and with help from my husband, try to sit out on my front step. I’m not sure I’m gonna be able to do it. But that’s my aim.

 

[brianvds]

Anyway, thanks for walking in the “high desert” canyon with me. Isn’t it beautifully boring?? It’s really not half as impressive as other landscapes in this state…it’s just someplace nice to walk that’s close to home. Plus, it’s always humbling to get a little dose of solitude and space and the feeling of insignificance (weirdly) makes me feel happy and free. Whee.

(good grief....sorry about the massive use of bandwidth...I'm a babbler and a rambler and a sweet talking lady, man....)

Strikes me as quite spectacular, actually!