Shadows and the shore: Cape Breton Island

In 1967, my brother joined the navy. It is purely coincidental that the Royal Canadian Navy is now celebrating its centennial in 2010.

In the 1960s, and perhaps to this day, the navy took boys from the west coast, shaved off their hair, put them in uniform, and sent them to the east coast by train. I was living with my parents in the suburbs and working in Vancouver, so I was the one who went to the train station in the city to wave goodbye to my brother.

It was also a coincidence that there was a red carpet leading out to the train. It certainly wasn't there for Clint Davies, or for any other naval recruit. (The Emperor of Ethiopia, Haile Selassie, was traveling on the same train. The carpet was for him.)

It wasn't the red carpet that caught my imagination, however. It was the train. I love trains. For almost 40 years after that day, Mom and I talked about what a thrill it would be to cross Canada by train. We intended to do it, we really did, but we kept putting it off for most of those years.

In 2007, Mother died.

This year, wearing Mom's gold watch and Mom's gold ring, I rode a Greyhound bus to Calgary and another Greyhound bus to Edmonton, Alberta, so I could board the first in a series of trains to take me to the east coast of Canada.

One of the places I visited was Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, where I rented a car in the town of Baddeck, and prepared to drive the Cabot Trail. I wanted to drive the whole trail (a long day's drive) but accepted the fact that I might not be able to do it all. I only managed to drive 100km (about 62 miles) before I had to turn back, but the pictures above will give you a glimpse into the beauty that is Canada's Cabot Trail.

Photos by Kay Davies.

Posted for the Shadow Shot Sunday meme.

Camera critters: curassows and chachalaca

I had chosen a cute little animal for Camera Critters this week, but then I came across our pictures of these birds, identified them using our book Birds of Costa Rica and had to share them.

The top photo shows a pair of Great Curassows, with the female in the small photo on the left. Her mate is in the top photo to the right. Below him is a Chachalaca (isn't that a fun name?) trying to compete with smaller, faster birds for the food put out at the Villa Decary in Costa Rica. (Note: The three small photos do not enlarge well, but the first one does.)

Photos by Richard Schear.

Posted by Kay Davies for the
CAMERA CRITTERS meme.

Sky watching, around the world

This monkey obligingly presents his silhouette against the Costa Rican sky.
 

A patch of sky, seen through the hole in the rock (roche percé) off the town of Percé, Quebec, on Canada's Gaspé Peninsula, throws light and shadows on the water.

Mountain mist mixes with air pollution to create an interesting sky above a Chinese town during our Three Gorges cruise.

From the beach in front of the Malecon, looking across the Sea of Cortez toward the shrine and lighthouse, San Felipe, Baja California Norte, Mexico.

Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies.

Posted by Kay for

Sky Watch Friday

DO IGUANAS DANCE?

Do iguanas dance

and hold their hands,

Trading kisses there

upon the sands?

Oh tell me,

do iguanas dance?

Do they, do they, do they,

do iguanas dance?

Do they, do they, do they,

do iguanas dance?

Do they, do they, do they,

do iguanas dance?

Do iguanas dance

under the moonlight?

Squeezey hugging

all through the night?

Oh baby, do iguanas dance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8o5s2U5gK8

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_You_Wanna_Dance%3F

Original lyrics
by Bobby Freeman:

Well, do ya wanna dance

and-a hold my hand

Tell me I'm your lover man

Oh baby do ya wanna dance

Well, do ya wanna dance

and make romance

Squeeze me all through the night

Oh baby do you wanna dance

Well, do you wanna dance

under the moonlight

Squeeze me all through the night

Oh baby do you wanna dance

Iguana photos by

Kay Davies and
Richard Schear

Photo of Dick and Kay...

we forget who took it
but it was on board

Royal Caribbean's

Brilliance of the Seas.

Posted by Kay for

THURSDAY THEME SONG

a wonderful new meme

by Hootin' Anni

L is for our Lovely Lindy's Birthday

We don't really know when Lindy was born, we don't even know what year she was born, but we adopted her on September 16, 2009, so Sept. 16 is the day we celebrate Lindy's birthday. The veterinarian thought she was about four years old last year, so now we think she is five. Above, a yam cake decorated with red and green peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot coins, was a huge hit with Lindy. She got to eat a little bit of the yam cake, and also the rest of the vegetables. Since then, we found out she has gained weight in the past 8 months, so we won't be baking any more cakes for her.

On the left, upside down in front of the cabinet, is Lindy's old favorite toy, a squeaky cow. She was always losing it outside, so her daddy got her a squeaky bunny (you can see its four feet sticking out of her mouth). Right now, both toys are missing, so it's time to do a search of the yard.

Lindy's daddy also bought her a Kong toy, the kind we're supposed to fill with treats for her to work at getting out. She tried and she tried, but she couldn't get the pieces of dog biscuit out of the toy, so her daddy felt sorry for her, took a piece out and gave it to her. Now she doesn't want to play with her toy because nobody is helping her get the treats out!

In the top photo, you can just see part of Lindy's step-stool, a gift from her  mom early this year.   Here is a better picture of the stool, which says "Dog" on it, above a picture of a Lindy-colored puppy. She often uses her step-stool when she is getting up onto, or down from, her window seat (on the right).

Lindy's mommy posted these photos because tomorrow is
ABC Wednesday
and this week's letter is L for Lindy.
Photos by Richard Schear and Kay Davies.

My world, my neighborhood this week

Photos by Kay Davies.
Posted for
My World Tuesday

Melodious yellows, and friends, in Barcelona

Lovebirds and canaries in the Barcelona night market

Is she going to buy a budgie or a canary?

These turtles aren't showing their faces, but their shells are an interesting mix of black and gold

Bunnies in yellow boxes are so cute!

Photos by Richard Schear. Posted by Kay Davies for

MELLOW YELLOW MONDAY

Chinese shadows shot on location 2008

It wasn't easy finding shadows in smog-filled Beijing before the Olympic Games in 2008, but this carved stone lion at the entrance to the Forbidden City casts his own shade onto his chin and chest, while the tourists at left provide shade for themselves with a pastel blue umbrella. Meanwhile, my umbrella was black, and absorbed the heat horribly.

The driver of the Dragon Boat taking tourists across the lake to the Summer Palace of the Chinese Emperors is partly in the shade as he ushers his passengers onto the dock. The dragon on the prow casts a dragon shadow, too.

Special windows and skylights send shadowy filtered light down onto the warriors of China's famous Terracotta Army in Xi'An. No longer exposed to the elements as they were when first dug up in a farmer's field, the soldiers are now in a climate-controlled building so they will not deteriorate further.

This elderly lady has combined old and fairly-recent technology with her bamboo baskets on the back of her bicycle. We can see the shadows of the baskets and of her front wheel.

Although indoors and roped off to protect them from tourists, these large jade stallions seem to be outlined in gray. It's the subtle shadow they cast because of the indoor lighting.

Photos by Kay Davies and Richard Schear. Posted by Kay for

SHADOW SHOT SUNDAY

Beautiful Boobies: No Blues Today

Anyone who has read my blog this far knows I fell in love with Blue-footed Boobies when we visited the Galapagos Islands, so I promise to devote a whole Camera Critters post to Blue-foots one of these days.

Today, however, I have some wonderful shots my husband got of Red-footed Boobies and Nazca Boobies (formerly thought to be masked boobies).

After posing happily on her nest for a while, this Red-Foot thought she'd better check, just in case those Camera Folk had pulled a fast one on her. Nope, there it is, the egg, in the nest where it belongs.

This adorable Nazca Booby chick is getting hungry and looking for his mother to bring him his lunch.

Photos by Richard Schear. Posted by Kay Davies for
Camera Critters.