A Evening Walk At La Col De La Faucille, Jura, France

It has been very hot this last week so we drove up the Jura mountains yesterday evening and went for a walk at La Col De La Faucille. It was amazingly fresh and cool. There was a pleasant breeze.




The trees are tall here and smell strongly of pine resin.











Looking out over the valleys toward the West huge stretches of sky can be seen. (As usual, click on photos to enlarge.)





At the edge of the path is an incredibly steep drop all the way to the bottom of the first valley.





We saw a very odd tree stump...



...that looked like something had melted it into some sort of wax figure or piece of coral.


There were flowers everywhere, even the dandelions had only just gone to seed up here.





There were lots of wild roses.






There were yellow, white, and lots of purple flowers.


Among the vegetation there is often a huge boulder or two here and there.








The rock formations on the Jura are very interesting.












The rock looks squished together from lots of smaller rocks and there are fissures all throughout. The color is exquisite, mixing blues and greys with reds and rusts.




We walked further along the mountain for nearly an hour when we realized it was getting rather late and we did have to walk back! The sunset was gorgeous.



The light reflecting from the tree trunks glowed pink red.


















As we walked back at a quick pace to avoid being eaten by all the insects that were gathering. I guess we looked like a great feast, and whenever we stopped we were instantly surrounded.Yes, Jazzy did come along, though she was most surprised at our late departure from home for such an outing. She's usually in bed at about this time. Here she is, with one of the flaps on her backpack cage down to keep her protected from the breeze as the sun receded.


The sky grew luminous after the sun had set.










The light reflected off a long expanse of cloud further north up the same valley.










Looking North towards the Geneva valley side of the Jura there was a huge set of clouds building up to storm proportions. During the drive back down we saw lightning flashes from this foaming mass.






As we came to the end of our walk and arrived back at our starting point, Jazzy was sleepy. You might be able to detect her phasing in and out here, it even showed up on the camera!One last glimpse back before driving back down to the other side of the Jura. We arrived home, refreshed, contented and well exercised.

Starfish Egg Tempera Painting

This week I finished an egg tempera painting of a starfish. I used a photo taken by Tony in the Maldives as reference. The painting is 7 x 9.5 inches.


Probably due to my lack of expertise in photography and setting up the correct lighting I'm never able to reproduce the full vibrancy of the colors when I photograph the paintings. Try as I might I have failed with every single photo I've taken to show the paintings on the site. Below is a photo taken with a different camera; this one is a lot darker, but it shows some of the richness of the reds and greens that occur in the original painting.

Unfortunately I'm never able to combine the richness of the colors with the brightness of the painting - one is always sacrificed for the other. Here are the two photos side by side, if you can extrapolate between the two, then, combined, they convey the overall impression.












Do you have any suggestions on how to manage both aspects in one photograph?

Jasmine Asks To Go For A Walk And To Take A Shower

Yesterday afternoon I came home to a bird, Jasmine of course, who asked to go for a walk. Jazzy said: "We're going for a walk", and she repeated this insistently. I had intended to take her for a walk that morning, but unexpectedly I had to go into town instead. It was rather late in the day, and laziness almost got the better of me, especially since it looked like it was going to rain. But Jazzy kept saying, "Do you want to go for a walk?", "We're going for a walk", "I'm going to go for a walk" until finally I knew we had to go or Jazzy would bust.

As soon as I went out of the room and came back into the living room with her travel cage and I said to her, "Ok, we'll go for a walk" Jazzy immediately replied: "Thank you!" Well! What could I say? Sometimes she blows me away with her appropriate conversation, so I said, "You're welcome." She was so excited and happy once I'd agreed.

As soon as we got outside it did start to rain. But we were going for a walk no matter what; and we kept going. Jazzy was happily saying, "We're going for a walk." While we were out we even had lightning and thunder, but this didn't phase Jazzy at all. We sat on a rock under a tree while Jazzy contentedly munched on banana and apple. She had also mentioned "some apple" before we went out - so it was clear what that meant!

When we got back home, Jasmine then said: "Do you want to go for a shower?" "I'm going to take a shower." It might be hard to believe, but she was actually asking to have a shower. She always takes a shower in the morning - this has been routine for quite some time. But recently Tony has been taking a shower when he gets back from work in the evening, and Jazzy has been accompanying him. This has evolved into her wanting to take another shower in the evening, and now, very often in the late afternoon as she waits for him to come home, she says she's going to take a shower.

So, yes, she did get to go for a shower. There would have been little peace in the house otherwise - she would have kept saying it quite emphatically. And who can resist such an amazing little being when you know she really does want to do something. Whenever possible and appropriate I try to respond if she clearly wants something and it's not bad for her.

In the morning, just after she gets up she jumps into her shower routine. Often this involves standing in the hallway for a few minutes while clothes and towels are being gathered. We have two shower curtain poles stretching across the hallway and Jazzy stands on these.

In the bathroom she stands on the shower curtain rail. While I'm taking my shower she chats and runs through much of her vocabulary. It's a time to be totally silly, sing, dance and say whatever comes to mind, whether it makes any sense or not. There is also a plastic hanger arranged in different ways for her amusement. She works it free and then tosses it either into the bath or onto the floor.









When I'm done showering Jazzy takes hers. These few photos are taken with flash. I don't like to do that at all because I read in a camera manual that it can hurt pets eyes to use the flash on them. You'll see me in some of the shots almost involuntarily putting my hand in front of her face to shield her from the light.

I tell her it's her turn to take a shower and ask her to turn around on the pole and then tell her to 'up up' onto my hand. Before I put her under the water I say: "ok, are you ready, here we go", so that she knows when to expect to get wet. She really prefers that bit of notice.

After she gets her feet wet, I say: "Roll over" and she leans over knowing that I'll have my hand under her supporting her weight. She holds onto my hand with her feet, but that's a bit slippery. Then she gets a good soaking on her tummy and sides and tail.

I tell her when we're going back upright and she gets her back done more thoroughly. She allows me to move her wings very very gently and I tell her each thing I'm going to do before I do it so she knows exactly what to expect. Then she stays as long as she's happy there, getting her back soaked and the top of her head. Then when she makes moves wanting to leave, I put her back up on the railing.

Then we have a conversation about that was a "good shower" and that "Jazzy's a good girl" and such like.

After all the showering is done she goes into her living room cage to dry off a bit and to get some veggies and pellets before we all have breakfast together.

Rain Rain Rain and More Rain in the Pays de Gex, France

We've had a tremendous amount of rain these last weeks. It rains almost every day and the sun shines infrequently. This is great for air quality, but we're beginning to wonder if we'll all evolve into fish soon! The land is green, very green.





The skies are often a dull grey, floating by in an amorphous mass. But sometimes the clouds transform into masses of shapes and shades.
Every once in a while it looks as though it'll clear up and let some light comes through.


Occasionally the sky is filled with brilliant hues of pinks, purples and blues. I had never seen a sky quite like this one with such a variation in greys along with this vibrant, almost cornflower blue.

This orange-hued sky is totally dramatic, looking like a dust storm is whirling its way forward at high speed.

















This morning Jasmine and I went for a walk. Well, Jazzy was in her travel cage scrambling around the bars while I did the actual walking.

She announced every few minutes: "I'm going for a walk" a phrase she invented as I've never said to her "I'm" going for a walk, because "walks" are something we always do together. So she's always heard me say "We're going for a walk."

We have code names for different activities so Jazzy gains an awareness of how long we'll be away and if she's joining us or not. And I've often said "I'm going out" or "I'm going jogging" (which really means I'm going for a walk on my own for about an hour or so) and other things. She must have decided that saying "I'm going for a walk." was a good thing to say. And she's right!

While we were out it was sprinkling gently and the air was clean and fresh, even a bit chilly. The clouds were covering the mountains and creeping down the foothills.


Jazzy entertained herself by trying to remove the press stud on the cage backpack window flap that I'd put down in order to protect her from the breeze and getting cold.

The countryside looks a bit tropical, or at least that's what pops into my imagination.












Here and there are flower buds waiting for a bit of sun to shine before they burst out.










These cows looked perfectly posed for a group shot.

The dashing apparel of this Iris can't be subdued by the rain.
And even the puddles have interesting features and colors in them.
Jazzy also had a great time on her 'walk', and to enhance her trip she ate some of her favorite food: banana. So, while we long for some sunshine brightness, there's still a lot to enjoy when going out and about.