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.
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. 🌈
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 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.
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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.
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.
Well we arrived in Alcácer do Sal late at night yesterday, and it turned out to be the last day of a weekend festival. Alcácer does festivals well.
Cars crawled to the venue, also on the route to our house.
The festival is the Feira Nova De Outubro 2024. I am not clear what it was celebrating, but there were markets, food stalls a plenty and music. Even well into the third and final night of the festival, it was busy.
What a difference a few thousand feet make. These photos were taken six days ago as we approached London Heathrow. The first was taken up above the clouds as the first light of dawn made an appearance.
As the plane descended into Heathrow we dropped into the cloud beneath us, and we stayed in it. The land did not come into view until a few hundred feet from touch down. It was pea soup fog until landing, and we arrived to a murky rainy day.
Thankfully the weather had brightened up since….though next week does not look so hopeful.
