🎶 Christmas Time is Here 🎶
Photographs
This morning’s partial rainbow 🌈
Dying peony flowers.
This evening was beautiful, crystal clear with hardly a breath of wind. A couple of friends dropped by to say “hello.” At sunset the conversation turned to what to do for dinner?
So while I lit a fire, everyone else got busy in the kitchen and concocted a meal from leftovers. Our dishes full, we sat round the fire eating, chatting and catching up. And there we stayed for long after our plates were empty, under a dark sky thickly dotted with stars.
A lovely, unplanned evening.
Setting the scene, from the garden.
A big “Thank you” to Andy Carolan for creating my seasonal owl avatar to take me through the holiday period…and maybe through the winter?
This is my third owl avatar. Two by Andy and one by heyheymomo.
Why owls? I lived in South Wales for just shy of two decades. While there I could hear owls calling out during the stillness of the night. Occasionally during the day I would catch a glimpse of a tawny owl sitting in a tree, or quietly in flight. On one lucky occasion I caught a tawny owl feeding its young in the hollow of an old apple tree.
Here on Maui I have seen Pueo, the short-eared owl that lives here in Hawaii.
Owls have felt like a silent presence in my life.
Lunch break at Ho’okipa Beach Park.
A wave like cloud at sunset this evening.
Aloha from Maui.
Well who would have guessed? I thought that I was a leak, but it appears that my Veggie ID is…
Broccoli.
These images are a week old. Over the course of a day these rainbows greeted me on the day after my return to Maui. Hawaii is known for its rainbows. Last Wednesday the skies over our corner of the island excelled themselves. 🌈
This morning’s rainbow 🌈
Heathrow airport on a gloomy afternoon…and a lot of aliens hovering above.
Changing tires.
Playing with the camera.
We are back in Alcácer do Sal after two nights in the Serra da Estrela, the highest mountain range in Portugal. I love the mountains and during a brief hike, looking out over these hills, I was reminded of The Black Mountains and Brecon Beacons in South Wales. I use to go hiking in those hills and lived for almost two decades looking out towards The Black Mountains. The mountains of the Serra da Estrela took me back to there.
I could sit and watch this movie all day.
I am thinking that it has been almost a decade since I have been amongst trees in autumn, and I am so appreciating it. The colours, the damp smell, the cool air. It all takes me back to what I grew up with and spent so many years around.
A calm River Sado hosts a flock of young seagulls on a Sunday morning.
I’ve now heard back from Hawaii Elections.
Your ballot has been accepted
This message is from your County Elections Division. Your 2024 General Election ballot has been received, validated, and accepted for counting. Mahalo for voting!
🇺🇸🗳️
A reading nook.
Capela de Arraiolos.
The weather was so grey this evening at sunset, that it almost looked as though it had been snowing over Alcácer. While cooler than yesterday, snow though was very definitely not in the air.
Pedro Nunes looking out over his Square in his birth place of Alcácer do Sal.
(Some of) the colours of Alcácer’s bridge by night.
The first rays of sunlight striking this morning.
The clean up, stage two. I noticed as the washing machines started turning, that another level of stress felt released from my body. Finally being able to clean the mop up towels.
Early dawn light this morning.
Caught in conversation.
Peppers for sale in Mercardo do Livramento, Setúbal.