Birds in Tahiti

They say as you get older, you get weirdly interested in birds. And I definitely am a cliche.

Where ever I go, I merrily try to get great bird shots, or shots of interesting birds.

In Moorea, I was skulking around with my camera when not on a paddleboard or in the water.

I quite liked one of the fails....

In Papeete there was much excitement at our table when a chicken strutted into the restaurant!

I even noticed birds on my book! I have no idea why I've suddenly grown so interested in them...but why fight it?

Linking with #SaturdayCritters and #GardenAffair

Tell us about...the Supernatural

I am an existentialist. I have been since before I knew what it was. As a child of 5 or 6 I'd get night panics about ceasing to exist when I died, about the world continuing on for everyone except me. I was 16 when we read Le Mur in French class and the prisoner basically vocalised all my thoughts. I was so surprised I exclaimed 'That's what I think!' (having kept it to myself at my religious school, thinking I was weird for believing it). The teacher looked at me and said kindly "There's a whole school of thought on this, it's called Existentialism". There was comfort in leaning it wasn't something crazy in me.

So I am aware there is a certain degree of cognitive dissonance in what I'm about to tell you.

I am extremely superstitious, because why push your luck? In New Caledonia a guide asked if I wanted to go into some cave. He phrased it "You can go in, if you want to?" I asked him if he was going in and he said no, it was protected by Black Magic. I declined because why ask for trouble and also a lot of warnings about caves are because bad things happen - flash floods or collapse, or getting lost. The threat of the supernatural is to keep people out for their safety. There's a logic.

With my recent health issues, while in Kyoto, I went to the Yasui Konpira-gu shrine to remove the tumours. You crawled thru the tunnel and returned, making your prayer and sticking it on the rock. I also got the little  health amulet/prayer token at the Sanjusangen Do Temple because it can't hurt. My liver issues have cleared up, and I'll find out soon enough about the tumours. (As an aside, the photos of the gardens at Sanjusangen are here and here with snow and here gleaming after the melt).

Here's were it goes off logic. I have lived in a house with a ghost. 

When we moved into our first share house, it was me and another woman and a guy. In the first few weeks, I kept thinking someone had arrived home and was standing behind me. I'd turn to ask them about their day or tell them the movie I was watching had just started or something, and there would be no one there. It wasn't scary, it was just odd. 

Then I began to get a clear image of him. He was an old man (though really probably late 60s). I could tell when it was him behind me. I didn't see him visually, but I could see him in my mind. 

After about a month, the other woman said to me "I need to tell you something but you can't make fun of me". When I agreed, she said "I think there's a ghost". I jumped in "There is a ghost!" and she got cross saying "Don't make fun of me!" I had to reassure her I wasn't. She said it wasn't there all the time (I agreed) and the cat could see it. The cat would look straight at where she felt it was.

The difference was she thought it was an old woman. I was certain it was a man. It's only just occurred to me writing this 35 years later that maybe it was a couple and a different ghost was showing itself to each of us? She felt it was a little scary whereas I felt no threat at all. I felt it was looking over us to make sure the house was in good hands. 

I'd sometimes talk to it, asking if we were meant to do something for it but of course there was never a reply, Things didn't move around, there were no eerie noises. Then one day I realised it hadn't been there for a month or so. My friend said to me out of the blue "I think the ghost has gone". So we both felt it leave around the same time too.

I know there is no logic to this story, It's just odd we both experienced it for weeks without talking about it. The guy never saw it or felt it. He thought we were making it up to scare him.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Linking with #TellUsAbout and #WeekendinB&W

The pictures are more in the #Haunted series. 

Other ghost posts are Ghost party and Ghosts but they are not about the supernatural.

Rainy Season

A month's worth of rain has been forecast for the next week. I woke this morning to the down pour and I'm already sick of it.

I had planned to walk the 6 kms to tonight's event but that's out.

As is any other outdoor exercise.

Lots of tearing around in the car and some how 'exercising' the dog indoors.

So while I sulk about the weather, here's the pics from last week's morning walk.

And a couple of the cheery graffiti that is popping up all over the inner city.

Housekeeping: I might be MIA next week until the 15th. So there is a chance I'll just extend this linky for 2 weeks. 

#Allseasons linky runs  from Thursday to Wednesday each week. 

Link one post that shows something seasonal. Traditional weather wise, a seasonal nature marker or a seasonal celebration. 

Make sure you link back to this  #AllSeasons post. 

Please comment on the post before yours and the host. Don't dump and run. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Animal Safari

 

I was on a dog walk when I saw this...

then suddenly, wild life abounded.

Sort of.

I went back a few weeks later and the bear is still there.

The ibis is not.

Sometimes there's a little magic in the mundane.

Linking with #WeekendCoffeeShare #Skywatch #GaleriaHimmelsblick #FloralFridayFoto #WildbirdWednesday #AwwMondays #NaturesNotes & #MySundaySnapshot

June Reading

Witness for the Prosecution - This came up on a few blogs so I thought I'd track it down. I have read it and seen the play so I just listened to it. It's a short 1 hour story. I really liked it, though it sort of came back to me as it went along. I think Agatha Christie was really ahead of her time in her thinking. And she was on point with this one. I also discovered Agatha Christie surfed. She was an early adopter, thought to be the first British woman to surf standing up (not 100% sure this can be proved). She tried prone surfing (lying down) in 1922 in South Africa but in Hawaii she learnt to stand up surf. She also visited Australia and New Zealand in her 'British Empire Mission', visiting Melbourne and Tasmania.

Taboo - I really enjoyed this. So much to think about. Very measured I thought, but aware of how and why things are the way they are. And what we need to work on to change. Great book.

Calypso - I normally love David Sedaris but this one felt a bit mean. Just before the end I discovered I was listening to it at .8 normal speed. The drawn out drawl disappeared and the timing and intonation was quite different, more the Sedaris I know. So I think the flippant remarks and jokes took on a nasty tone when said in this slow twang. I feel I had the wrong reaction to much of the book, though a lot is about hard ageing and suicide and very difficult dynamics, so it is also more difficult topics than his usual books. The thing I will take away is the Bulgarian saying 'May you build a house from your kidney stones.'

Beloved - I was sure I'd read this but couldn't remember it so I read it again. Bits seemed very familiar but also not familiar so I've really no idea if I read it or it's just heard it talked about so much that I knew the names and events. It's very sad and at times confronting, but I will admit also at times I drifted off and wanted it to end. But that may have been me at the time rather than a reflection of this multi-award winning book. It's very tough going. What a terrible insight into the lack of humanity in that history.

Give unto Others - we are doing a Donna Leon for bookclub. I do really enjoy her crime. Strong sense of place, usually about topical current events and an insight into the political side of Italy. This one is no different. The funniest part of this book is that it was obviously written during or just after the lockdowns. It took me a while to work out Brunetti wasn't just weirdly obsessed with masks and lockdown. So it's set in that time where we are all out and about but it was still all in our minds. When I first started reading Leon (or when she first started writing the crime books), I had just spent 2 weeks in Venice for Carnivale. I knew all the streets she mentioned and I had a strong map in my head of the places action took place. Even the outer suburbs and islands. Now I'm just the average tourist - knowing the main sights but little more. It's funny to think I've been growing up with these characters for 30 years! This is the 31st book in the series but by no means the latest. The first one was published in 1992 and I believe there's one due soon, though her 33rd book in the series came out in 2024. So she's sort of the modern day Agatha Christie, but Venice is the locked room.

What have you been reading?

Linking with #TalkaboutitTueseday #Bookdate #SundaySalon #SundayPost #StackingtheShelves #SeniorSalonPitstop