Category: Nature

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Letters to the Universe… The After The Solstice Edition!

on June 22, 2017

Dear End Of The Week,
You are certainly coming around more quickly now. Not that I’m complaining, as I absolutely adore the weekend, but the speed of your arrival also means that your counterpart, the Beginning Of The Week, gets to arrive in quick order. Would you mind slowing down a tad so as I can keep up with events in the middle?

Dear Heat,
Here we are in Mid-Summer (or the start of Summer, depending upon your perspective) and I would just like to say how refreshing it has been today, Thursday. Gloriously cloudy with the odd sprinkling of rain, you have been more bearable than of late. Not everyone appreciates the rain or cloud-cover, but I do, and the more comfortable the temperatures are the better the Summer, in my opinion.

Dear Summer Solstice,
Today is June 22nd, which is a date you occasionally use to make your appearance known to all of us on Earth. The last time you used this date was back in 1975, the year before we had a run of hot weather similar to what we have experienced this week (according to sources). I remember the hot Summer of 1976 very well, as then, as has happened now, the roads were melting. I read you won’t be using June 22nd for another Solstice until 2203, which is rather a shame as a change is as good as a rest, but at least you are using 20th on occasion as well as the 21st. Happy Summer Solstice, by the way!

Dear Fan,
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That is all I can say. Over and over again.

Dear Blackbird,
How pleasant it was that you didn’t fly away as I walked by you earlier today. You were too busy looking for tasty morsels to notice me in your immediate area, but when you spotted me with your ringed eye you didn’t flinch. I thought a friendly ‘hello’ to you, and you carried on with your business. See – not everyone means you harm, but you are right not to trust everybody.

Dear Journalists / Newsreaders / Presenters,
I’m not very politically minded, and I’m not all that keen on you guys either, but lately you appear to me to be trying to lead the country. Regardless of your personal opinion, which shouldn’t really come across as unbiased as you are, I think you should just stick to your journaling, reading and presenting, and leave the leading to those who have been democratically elected. If change is needed it will work its way through, by those who have been selected by the population to do so. If you aren’t attempting to lead the country, then I apologise for saying otherwise, but this is what I’ve picked up from your reports. Maybe you need to be a little clearer in what you say? Just sayin’.

Dear The Word Argle-Bargle,
‘Copious but meaningless talk or writing; nonsense’; I think I may use you in my next tag line. Fitting that I discover you at this point in my weekly letters!

Dear The Word Criticaster,
There’s always one, isn’t there?

Dear Complexion,
Lovely that you appear so peachy smooth in a morning, but such a shame that you turn into a shrivelled prune by teatime. I know it’s the heat’s fault, and not yours, and I am drinking gallons of water to keep both me and you replenished, but you could help by holding up those under the eye bags a little longer. That way there would be less advertising space.

Dear Sleep,
So grateful that you haven’t been disturbed by the recent hot weather. As we have now passed the Summer Solstice, the nights are starting to get longer, so you may find your power increasing somewhat. Could I kindly request that you remember I do have to get up early most mornings, so hanging around after the alarm has gone off can be very tempting. At the weekend, you can hang around for as long as you like! Perhaps you have something to do with Letter One in today’s post? Now there’s a thought…

And to finish… Dear All,
Please remember that life is meant to be fun; well I think it is. Try to see the fun, lighter side to things and things aren’t as bad as they appear. And if they are, laugh anyway!

Thank you for reading!

P.S. Here’s an old digital painting I did of the Sun, just because:

Well, you need a bit of Sun at the Summer Solstice. (Long-time readers and visitors may recognise this image as it is one I used for my Gravatar back in the pre-history days of blogging!)

Feel GOOD!NatureThe WorldTime

Cool Rumblings

on June 21, 2017

As I type this, warm rain is cascading from thick, dark, heavy clouds that are swirling and circling above. Through the clouds – all of them – is a constant rumbling of thunder, echoing and permeating through the cover. The temperature is a lot more pleasant – and even being out in the rain is a pleasure. Mind, it usually is.

The Sun is trying to break through any gap it can find in the cloud, but I think – I hope – for tonight the clouds have it.

Cool rumblings heralding a more comfortable end to the week? Maybe.

Feel GOOD!NatureThe WorldWords

Wordle: Nature’s Fury (Entwined)

on June 18, 2017

Broken branches
Thread and wrap themselves around each other
Entwined. Entangled. Enchanted.
Where they touch,
An echo of a tempestuous past
Where apart,
Wind whistles through
And now gnaws at the lifeless bark.
But with the wheel of life
Cobwebs weave and ring
In the oddest places,
Waiting for unsuspecting victims
To fall fowl to their sticky traps
Not a word from the owner of the lair
Patiently waiting, hidden,
Within the prints
Created by Nature’s fury

Debbie’s theme for her One Word Sunday photo prompt this week is ‘Entwined’. I thought it would be fun to entwine this post with Brenda’s Sunday Whirl, and a photo I took as I was out for my scorching walk yesterday. I was also toying the the idea of creating a hybrid button, The One Word Sunday Whirl, but this turned out to be impractical as I needed two links. So, if you’d like to see more takes on both of this week’s themes, the links are in the buttons above.

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A Nice Walk Through The Woods

on June 17, 2017

Phew!

It’s been a warm one today. And of course, I decided to go for a walk through the woods on possibly the hottest day of the year so far. It was hot everywhere.

Out in the open:

No shade, searing heat.

Overlooking the Lake:

Not a lick of a breeze.

Further around the Lake:

Stillness everywhere.

I think I time-travelled as I walked. Found myself in what looked like the Jurassic period. Does anyone know what type of bird this is? (Apologies for the quality, but I was too far away to get a decent zoomed-in image:

Not that I’d have ventured too close to it, as it happens.

It might have been a heat mirage – but one that affected the camera on my mobile phone as well.

I noticed it looking at me. Not wanting to end up its dinner, I ran.

Yes, even in the heat. I managed to catch this photo as I did so:

Eventually, I found the track that entered the wood.

Ahead of me, I heard a cawing.

“This way. This way. Aw. Caw. This way. Look there. Look there.”

Ahead of me, a raven or crow flew at head height, flying round to make sure I was following. (S )he perched high up and looked over fixedly in one direction. What was I being showed, so I looked over in the same direction.

On a fence post, this chap was also perched:

Posing for his photograph. I took a few shots, and off he toddled into the grass beyond.

In the woods proper, it was still hot.

Even the shade had been warmed up to ‘hot’:

Although, I’m pleased to say there were some nice cooler areas:

Which enabled me to carry on with my walk.

Passed the old old tree I walked. Onward through the cooler shade.

Soon, the shade began to feel warmer again, as I was on my way out of the woods once more:

I walked passed Veronica’s Gulch:

Across the clearing:

And back to the Lake again:

Where these little critters suddenly made an appearance:

So naturally, I had to take a few shots of them also.

One in particular:

And then, it was time to make tracks back:

And have a long, very long, rest!

Did I say it was hot?

Phew!

Hope you’ve had / are having a fabulous Saturday yourself!

This has been a photo-heavy Six Word Saturday post. Visit Debbie’s site for more six worders!

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Letters to the Universe… The One Minute It’s Hot Edition!

on June 16, 2017

Dear Blogland,
Firstly, let me apologise for posting another post today. Hold on a minute! Apologise? NO! I love blogging, so it stands to reason an extra post may pop in every now and then! Obviously, I had to finish my little four-parter, which left me with two options for this post… either miss a week for the letters, or post it anyway. I chose the latter option. I hope you don’t mind.

Dear Hay Fever,
How fabulous it is to have you back! I love sneezing like I’ve never sneezed before, and with your constant nose and throat tickling you are giving me ample opportunity to do so! At least you are leaving my eyes alone for now. Time to crank up the antihistamines methinks.

Dear Gooselets All In A Row,
You water critters are having a fabulous time on the Lake this year, aren’t you? I smiled, nay beamed, when I saw you swimming in a line on the water’s surface earlier today. I may have to post a photo of you at the end of this post!

Dear White Powder,
How odd that you stayed on the road’s surface (where you had either been spilled or tipped) this morning as I parked my car, in that more than gentle breeze; yet when I returned to the car there were many particles of you all over the side of my car. Luckily you didn’t stay there too long – it’s not the weather for washing the car.

Dear Self,
How many excuses can you make for not washing your car? Powder on the road? Whatever next?

Dear Weather,
You’re teasing us all, aren’t you? One minute, it’s bright and warm (HOT!), and the next cloudy and dark as if thunder or a storm is on the way… and then you whip up a strong breeze, clear the clouds and bring out the HOT sunshine again. I don’t know whether to water the seedlings or not with your will you or won’t you rain shenanigans… so I do it anyway, and then you rain. Anyway.

Dear Dillop (Inconsiderate Road User),
I noticed you earlier, revving your engine and driving at speed up close behind me, trying to push me along. I hope you noticed that I slowed down so you could get even closer. I loved how, when the road was wide enough, you sped passed me and almost drove into the back of the other car. Learn a little patience… you’ll get to places feeling a lot better.

Dear Chili Con Carne,
My, you were hot! PHEW! Delicious, mind, so I’m not complainin’!

Dear Computer,
I wish that you, my anti-virus and internet protection software, and the WordPress API would all work smoothly together all of the time. The message ‘The Page Has Been Reset’ is getting rather tedious now. A quick restart resolves the issue, until you start playing games again. Restarting takes me away from valuable computer time (for computer, read BLOGGING) and I’m sure I could get far more done if you were accessible when I need to use you.

Dear Ankles,
I’ve just noticed how you are reacting to the heat. I don’t know why you need putting up after I’ve spent most of the day sitting down already, but I’m not going to complain. I like a good rest!

And to finish… Dear All,
Here’s hoping you are inspired to try that one thing you’ve always wanted to try, but never got around to it. Have fun! You may even like it!

Thank you for reading!

P.S. I said I would do it, so here are the gooselets, just because:

Well, they all looked so cool all in a row like that!

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