This a journey through photos post so I shall put it behind a cut.  Come in and walk a while with me.

( If there are road signs, they are few )

January is Volcano Awareness Month in Hawai'i. Did you know?

Since I'm writing a book featuring a volcanic island and--*waves at asakiyume*--I know one other person on my flist who also has a story in which a volcano plays a part, I'm going to share some related photos from our world trip ( Read more... )

Arrivalloud, pushing ( Read more... )

For the first time ever, I got to see the famed fireworks above Carcassonne on Bastille Day. It's a bit odd that it has taken me this long to see them considering Julien has family in Carcassonne and his mother lives less than an hour away. This year, with our Aussie friends over for a visit and we three Faures about to head to Egypt for 4 years, ( Read more... )

My Real and Internet Lives have coincided again, as they did with the blue trees.

I saw this fellow the other day in a side street near our apartment:


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One day, not long ago, happily minding my business on the Internet, I saw a photo of blue trees for artist Konstantin Dimopoulos' "afforestation art action."


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Several times a day, the forest echos with rifle shots.

Hunters bounce along the sandy roads in their little white Renault Expresses, often with a pack of excitable hounds just visible through the grimed windows. Even hearing the brassy peals of hunting horns, the unwary can be startled by a bullet of brown and white fur shooting out of the bracken ( Read more... )

Smell is one of the most powerful memory triggers for me (and most people, I believe). For example, the fragrance of rain soaking the parched Texas soil, dripping off creosote bush and greasewood reminds of me of a magical day when a plethora of baby frogs came out to frolic in the blessed moisture; and because I smelled this same fragrance in ( Read more... )

Last night we had a hedgehog in the little space of gravel-covered dirt that serves as our yard.  I heard a stray eating our cats' food and went down to chase it off.  At the bottom of the stairs, Mr (or Ms) Hedgehog was sitting calmly--so calmly I suspected it was dead--in front of the courtyard door.  Because it would have had to climb a whole ( Read more... )

At a local food market, pretty pink eggs, but....


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