Two Birds Who Need Their Five Minutes of Fame …

Suddenly, it’s almost the end of November. Suddenly, I have too many Shadows to cram into NovemberShadows. But these two demanded their five minutes of fame.

First, a fossicking godwit:

And next, a young herring gull. I hope he really is tidying the beach, and not regarding that plastic bottle top as his next meal.

Leaves and Petals?

It’s November, so leaves and petals in the UK have largely done a bunk. Still, maybe I can find a little spring and summer time cheer in the archives, and fulfill my obligations to Monochrome Madness‘ host this week, Dawn; as well as to Becky’s NovemberShadows.

The header photograph includes both: tulip leaves shafting upwards, and topped by the simple clean lines of the tulip flower.

For the rest, it’s a miscellany that took my fancy. But all are either in shadow, or casting a shadow. So first … leaves…

… and flowers…

And finally, a doughty dandelion, flourishing on a brick wall in the gardens of Beningbrough Hall, near York. How it nourished all those leaves and petals is quite beyond me.

Mysterious

Mysterious. That’s what Patti wants us to discover in this week’s Lens-Artists Photo Challenge.

I’m starting off with what I find to be one of Nature’s most mysterious offerings – here in the UK anyway. The murmuration. When hundreds upon hundreds of starlings take to the skies at dusk, weaving and turning and painting the sky in ever changing patterns. Until, quite suddenly – they stop. Until the next sundown, when this astonishing performance takes place all over again.

Landscapes can often present a mysterious face. Sunsets and sunrises can do that. As my featured photo shows. And fog. As here:

And trees. Winter trees, with their blackened branches and awkward angles, elbowing us into the mystic woodland.

What about a stag, looming enigmatically out of the shadows?

Let’s go into town. A cobbled street, the shadow of a lamp standard ….

And now to lower the tone. A toothless hag … an otherwordly face discovered in parkland in a pile of logs.

I’ll finish with my favourite mystery memory. Mists rising from our local river at dawn on May morning.

Welcome back, Patti. After an unwelcome forced absence. You’re sharing the post today with Becky and her NovemberShadows: two, to be exact.

Monday Portraits:  All About Herons

Becky’s Post yesterday made me call to mind the many shots I have of birds fossicking about in the water. Today, it’s all about the herons (and just one egret). My featured photo comes from under a bridge over the River Aire in Leeds: hence the shadow. It’s not square. But the next lot are:

For Becky’s NovemberShadows.

The Shadow of Oppression

These powerful pieces come from The Peace Museum in Salts Mill, Saltaire. Prisoner of Conscience is a three part work by Malcolm Brocklesby. This is what he says about the image above:

Then there is a second piece:

This illustrates …

The third image is simply a locked padlock, keeping a small heavy door irrevocably shut. We imagine, behind it, a prisoner the world has forgotten.

A sombre piece for an increasingly sombre world.

For Becky’s NovemberShadows.

Parc del Laberint d’Horta

Exactly two years ago, staying with Team Catalonia, I took myself off to Parc del Labirint d’Horta in the outskirts of Barcelona, and wrote about it here. I remember a balmy day, even though it was November, with tree-lined avenues casting shadows before me as I walked.

Oh, and there was a maze too. But I wrote about it in that post I’ve just mentioned.

For Becky’s NovemberShadows.

PS. I’ve just had a birthday card from WordPress. I’ve been blogging for sixteen years! Apparently. Thanks to all of you who’ve been ‘blogging pals’ for much of that time. You’re the ones who make it all such fun.

A Ghost Sign is a Shadow of its Former Self

I love a ghost sign. Advertising from way-back-when that simply took the form of the product’s name painted on the wall of a house or shop. Faded now, they’re a reminder of simpler times, and are merely a shadow of their former selves.

Non-Brits may not know that Courage is a British beer. This sign I spotted yesterday near Borough Market was sited near where the brewery began in 1787, founded by one – John Courage.

For Becky’s November Shadows.