Pull Up A Seat At The Garden Centre

XingfuMama’s ‘Pull Up A Seat’ challenge showcases many places one can sit and rest one’s self either comfortably or sometimes not so comfortably, as is the case with this one I found at my sister’s local garden centre in South Africa.

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Just around the corner, was this cute couple all snuggled up on a tiny bench in the shade.

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If you have any photos of seats of any description which you’ve found on your travels, just click the link to be taken to XingfuMama’s challenge.

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What lurks beneath?

A clump of beautiful green water lily leaves shimmering in the sunshine looks so innocuous doesn’t it? But wait just a moment; something is lurking quietly there almost imperceptible unless one looks closely.

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Big Al is on the prowl, making not a sound as he glides along. I wonder why his teeth seem too big for his mouth and hang out at the side.

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As he comes into view, I can see the sly look in his eye as he scouts around for his prey.

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He does look rather mean and purposeful today and I’m sure he won”t go hungry for long.

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Wishing you all a happy weekend, but do be careful around water lilies. You never can be sure about what lurks beneath.

 

 

 

 

 

Two Guest Stars Plus Two Dozen Extras

The stage is set for the bird theatre show. The two guest stars are Woody wood stork and Mr GBH the great blue heron. Ms Anhinga on the right has a small suppotting role, whilst the ducks are just extras when needed and chorus-line dancers if they can get their act together in time, which at the moment doesn’t look very hopeful.

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Hope this gave you a midweek smile. Happy Wednesday everyone.

Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge: Looks Like A Face

Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge this week is ‘Looks like a face’. I immediately thought of Mr Leo lion who is always waiting on the boardwalk to greet us when we visit our local wildlife reserve. He looks kind of disappointed with his lot in life, but then I suppose we would all feel that way if we had hundreds of pairs of feet walking all over us every day of the week. Most folk wouldn’t even notice him, but I always stop and say “Hello” just to cheer him up a bit.

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This tree trunk in a park in Santiago, would also go unnoticed if someone with a sense of humour hadn’t decided to give it a rather agonized face. It reminded me of  ‘The Scream’ the iconic painting symbolising the anxiety of modern man, by Norwegian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch.

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If you want to join in Cee’s B&W Photo Challenge, just click this link.

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Pull Up A Seat: Icy and Warm

For XingfuMama’s “Pull Up A Seat Challenge” this week, I thought I show you two extremes of  seating options. This icy ‘bench’ in Antarctica was absolutely the coolest seat I ever sat upon.

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After our trip, we flew home via Palm Beach airport, where I found these hot-pink seats welcoming us back home again.

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Have a great week, and don’t forget that If you wish to showcase some of the different kinds of seating you’ve encountered at home or on your travels, you just click this link

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Friday Feathers: Mr GBH Has The Sulks

Mr. GBH usually looks super dapper and very alert, but I’m sure like all of us, he does has his off days.  I usually call them, ‘Dumpy Down Days’. Do you think he was sulking or just having a ‘Bad Feather Day’?

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“No, I’m not sulking………….Well maybe just a tiny bit.”

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend too.

Mundane Macro Monday: Just Hovering

Actually, nothing in nature is ever mundane, but some things, especially the smaller  flying insects may sometimes escape our attention. The Halloween Pennant dragonfly is one of the most prolific and colourful found here in Florida. They don’t stay still for long, so one has to be very quick.

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Wishing you all a very pleasant week.

Pull Up A Seat In Chile

In  December 2016, before joining our Seabourn Antarctic cruise to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary, we spent a couple of days in Santiago the capital city of Chile,

Parque Forestal, the city’s green lung, extends for approximately 1.5 km and is a really beautiful space to stroll around, cycle, or to just sit for a while away from the hustle and bustle. There are many trees affording much needed shade and the park is very popular with locals and tourists alike. One thing I noticed was the inordinate number of benches everywhere I looked. I’d never before been in a park with so much seating.

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Some of the benches were quite short, not quite wide enough for two people to sit side by side, probably trying to avoid this sort of thing.

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Although Santiago is the largest and most economically thriving city in Latin America, it does have a big homeless problem. Of the estimated 12,000 homeless people in Chile,  over half of that number are in Santiago and although many of them do have a job of some description, the minimum wage is so low that they can’t afford the high cost of accommodation.

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Some of these unfortunate people save money by living rough in the summer in order to be able to afford to rent somewhere for the winter when the nights can get very cold.

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So that’s my somewhat sad tale for XingfuMama’s ‘Pull Up A Seat Challenge’. If you wish to showcase some of the seating you’ve encountered at home or on your travels, just click the link.

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