Month: October 2018

art, landscape, nature, photography, travel, world

Monochrome Monday 5-27

solaner
Rain over Loch Dunvegan

We got so wet – soaking wet. My trousers and my hiking shoes felt like I was coming directly out of the sea. Fortunately, I always wear hiking trousers, so the fabric was dry again after a couple of minutes (15 or so). My hiking shoes needed some more time to get dry.

Modern hiking shoes are made of special fabric to let moisture pass from the inside very easily and keep the feet dry, but work hard to not let water come in from the outside. The only weak point is the opening, where the feet are put in the shoes.

That day, the rain was so heavy, that it was able to come through my trousers and run down my legs and finally wet my shoes from the inside. The water used the opening meant to put the feet in them. That was too much for them.

After the rain, I pulled the inlay out of the shoes and dumped out the water. It’s really an unpleasant feeling when walking in soaking wet shoes. Back in my room, I removed the inlay again and stuffed toilet paper in my shoes to soak the moisture out of the material. Every now and then, I helped the toilet paper by letting a hairdryer blow warm air in the shoes.

About an hour later they were dried up completely and ready for the next trip.

Take care!

animals, bird, nature, seasons, world

Throwback Thursday: What a fall!

solaner

Usually, in fall birds migrate to the warmer south. They come in early spring and start mating, nest-building and raising their fledglings. During the mating season you can hear them singing from before sunrise ’til late night (nightingales). Some time later, you won’t hear as many birds singing anymore: everyone found a partner and both are very busy with their breeding business and feeding their fledglings. So, there’s no time (and power) for wasting time for singing. They also don’t need to attract a partner or to run rivals away anymore. So, the hot summer does not have much of bird singing (chirping of the cicadas and mosquito buzzing are the voices of summer instead). In fall, the insects die because of the much colder nights and the birds migrate to the south. So, the sounds of fall are the wind and the swirling colorful leaves.

Until mid September nature followed this general plan. The temperatures touched even the freezing point. But, in October the temperatures increased again and reached even 27°C! Wow!! A warm golden October isn’t a rare condition. But that high temperatures are kind of unique. It’s reported, that the temperatures were the highest since recording of the weather conditions. Here, we have wonderful summerly weather with drying out rivers, lakes and ponds, while other parts of Southern Europe (i.e. Mallorca and South France) are drowning and parts of Portugal are fighting against a strong hurricane.

Three years ago, we suffered from the other extreme: heavy snowfalls in October, when the trees were not prepared for carrying that extra load. While still equipped with nearly all of the leaves the snow was a heavy burden for them and many trees broke down under the weight.

As I said, the year is different. In October suddenly you could hear birds singing everywhere. It seemed like spring has already started. I guess, the remaining birds were confused by the increasing temperatures and were thinking, winter would already be over.

I also wish, winter would be over. But, unfortunately it will start soon (in about 6 weeks) and last until end of March.

Take care!

animals, culture, food, landscape, nature, photography, travel, wildlife, world

Throwback Thursday: below the sea level

solaner

You’re wondering about the title of this post? 🙂 At low tide I’m standing on the ground of the sea in Brittany and pointing my camera upwards. On this rock (and similar to the other rocks around) you can see many, many common or  blue mussels. They are eatable. Therefore they are i.e. cooked in white wine.

Take care!

art, landscape, nature, photography, travel, world

Monochrome Monday 5-23

solaner

What an amazing surf! When we got out of the cars, we ware able to see the spray. The coast is nearly 1,5 km (0.9 miles) from the parking ground. After about half an hour walk, we stood at the beach – what a panorama. Not much wind, but enormous waves and vast mountains of spray. I’ll show you some more images soon.

Stay tuned!