Tales of Home [9]

On the subject of local woods, I went for a walk round mine (for the first time in about a year) earlier and took a few quick photos, in addition to the multitude of birds and insects I saw today, I've seen rabbits/hares/badgers/field mice/foxes there before.

Apparently we used to get deer there occasionally (I can't recall seeing one myself, though you can still spot them at a nature reserve near me sometimes anyway), and you could sometimes spot various fish in the larger of the two ponds...well until they decided to fill in the pond and pave it over with a business park about ten years ago that is (in the process they tore down a good third of the woods as well, as far as I know the woods are at least a century old).

I've lived round here all my life and until today I wasn't actually aware a colony of newts lived in the small pond...

That's no cell-phone camera!

georgous photos Malick

Oh love that Malick !!! great pics of the newts !! Sad to hear about half the woods being swallowed up. No respect for anything

Apparently the series "Heimebane" ("Home ground", I think?) is available on Amazon in the US.
If anyone is watching; that is filmed in my neck of the woods. I live a few minutes away from the stadium and I drive past it everyday on my way to work.

Watched the trailer. Not so interested in sports but if they spend some time showing more of the norscandiwegian culture and country it may be interesting.

Then I think you might find it interesting.

Okay. Trailer made it look like any old sports story. Yawn. but I guess they don't have to impress the local hobbits with how it explores local culture. do they shoot in any of your local pubs?

{{ Interesting way to drink buckie!! But he's doing it all wrong- of course its brown- you've put it in a glass - no one drinks buckie from a glass you drink from the bottle at a minimum rate of a third of a bottle a drink, thats why the bottles tinted green so you can't see what it looks like! You don't sniff it, that sort of suspicous behaviour will get you a punch to the face! and you certanly dont spit it back out until you get to the point your being violently sick! As to lowering inhibitions whilst stimulating- thats why we call it 'wreck the hoose juice!' Pains me to see buckie treated in such a way!   }}

It's good to have a very detailed tasting note from outside Scotland, since Tin bailed on her duty and Ringo wasn't told how to find it.  He didn't hate it except for the color.

{{ Its just not how you drink buckie- its not the point of it.   In all honestly I have never once in my life seen buckie drunk from a glass, never. No one who actually drinks wine from a glass would drink buckie, and those who drink buckie dont use glasses. And no wonder he doesn't like the colour, he poured it out where you can see it!   And your supposed to down it   - the whole point is it gets you totally out your nut very fast whislt filling you with caffeine so you can keep going, drink more, and smash something or someone up! Its not a table wine, its a bus shelter/doorway wine.      

And I blame Ringo for his deriliction of duty, he went to wrong places- I di dtell him, you dont get it in pubs generally (they dont like having their premises smashed up every night), dodgy off licenses on street corners, small local supermarkets- thats the ticket.}}

I seem to remember he only learned how to find it after the fact, but perhaps he had been told before and simply forgot.

Some of the photos I took the other day during a walk to some more woodland/local park near my house:

what a lovely place to walk Malick.   thanks for the photos

I hadn't been down there in a while but its always nice to visit for a stroll around, I suppose I'm quite lucky where I live, there's various woodlands and a couple of nature reserves within walking distance, we've had Herons and Kingfishers take a rest on our neighbours conservatory roof before, and there's a hedgehog nest up the road behind some flats.

You can sometimes see Deer, or sparrowhawks hunting in the early morning down at the common.


Those robins are a pain in the arse to take a photo of though  they don't sit still

Still trying to work out how that tree in the second to last photo grew like that wrapped around the other

Can't you see they're in love? Leave'em be.

I'm quite jealous of your neighborhood, Malick.

I took a walk today too, looking for stones to plug up a mouse hole.  But with fewer pedestrians and vehicle traffic around it was an excellent chance to take pictures of local murals.

I love this little community garden and the decorated wall behind it.



Once the leaves fill out on this playground it's hard to see the murals, but this is the perfect mix of greenery and view.



Right beside my apartment is an elementary school with this huge mural.  The first sample I love because this old guy with the dog lives in my building and I chat with him regularly.



I'd assume this woman is local too, though I don't know her.  Look at the creativity in this composition!

{{ Love those murals Halfy, and crackng pictures Malick, thts a nice area youve got round about you.
In similar spirit heres my latest (rather crabbit) ramble. }}

Look at all the colourful diversity ! its gorgeous ! Im a country bodkin but those murals Halfy are so vibrant ! Hands are so tricky to draw/paint, ( same as feet ) but those hands on the last pic are my fav.

Yeah, it's clear that they were done by a local true artist, not just a community group filling in a sketch. I'd love to find the story behind it.

Malick - what's the deal with that swing gate? At first blush it looks like a really clever way to only allow people, not vehicles in. Until you notice the knee-high fence beside it. Wouldn't stop anyone from tossing a bicycle over, and even a small motorbike wouldn't be much of a problem. So what are they actually trying to accomplish?

Just a bit of blossom before it all goes.  Such a gorgeous time Spring but, it never seems to last long ?

And the silence of the streets.....