FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTION - S. Africa and Malawi

This week for FRIDAY’S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS we have the letter Z Reflection and The End.  I will really miss the challenge of Teresa’s meme and it has been wonderful to be part of it and it will be sadly missed.  Below is a mother ZEBRA and her foal photographed in South Africa as is the Elephant.  The Sunset was photographed in Malawi.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTION

This week for FRIDAY’S HUNT  and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS we have the letter Y, Tree and Shadows.  We start with the black and pale YELLOW Swallowtail.

All the images were photographed when i visited Lake Malawi in October.

Early every morning I went when for a walk when I visited Lake Malawi recently and this morning I was accompanied by this dog and 

you can see both of us in the SHADOWS.

This image has both SHADOWS of not only me but also this Palm TREE and below there is also a Palm TREE but with a REFLECTION in the swimming pool.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTION - Malawi

Once again it is time for FRIDAYS’ HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS.  

The prompts are the letter X, Craft and Growing.  Now you have to be very clever and perhaps squint your eyes to be able to see the large X in the image below.  This wall made totally of empty bottles is the most original form of CRAFT I have seen in a good long while but in Malawi they make use of everything they can.  

You can see in this shot above this time they have used the bottles to make a hedge for a vegetable plat where you see some plants GROWING.

I leave you with a REFLECTION image taken at sunset at Lake Malawi.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTION

This week for FRIDAY’S HUNT  and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS 

we have the letter W, Dense and Texture. 

The image below shows a beautiful REFLECTION of this narrow boat with lots of WINDOWS, moored on the WATER by this WALKWAY.

In the next few images you can see the view photographed using a WINDOW between two WALLS  (above) and you can also see the different TEXTURE not only in the WALL but between the rough stonework and the scene beyond.

The Old Crom Castle 

Look above at the delicate texture of the flowers and grasses which are sandwiched between the rough stone TEXTURE of the WALL behind and  the uneven WALL in front of them.

Finally I leave you with the DENSE meadow of Buttercups and

the DENSE trees in the forest.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS -Malawi

This week on FRIDAY’S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS the prompts are the letter V, Wood and Festive. Below is Judith's VEGETABLE man and every week he comes and lays out what vegetables he has to offer and often when we are going through villages we are also offered various VEGETABLES to buy and you can see I managed to get a REFLECTION shot in the third image below.

V is also for VERANDA which you can see here and most of this building is made of WOOD.  The tree is of course also WOOD.

To finish with, we have a FESTIVE scene with a fireplace in my drawing room decorated with a Christmas garland and beside it is my FESTIVE Christmas tree.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS - Malawi and Costa Rica

I am linking with Friday’s Hunt and Weekend Reflections and this week the letter is U, Mosaic/collage and “I ate this”. U for UNIQUE.  Surely no one has had a Christmas on the 9 October in Malawi before?   Anyone?

  Well I decided before I left N. Ireland to take Christmas presents over for the family as I will not be seeing them at this festive time.  I had hoped that Jon, my SIL would be with us when we went to Lake Malawi and we could have had a BBQ however Jon had to go to Zambia.  I did not want to have one without him so I said to Judith when could we have it but with lots of commitments in the family the only day was the next day after this conversation.  I said I would make a desert that I know everyone would like and as Judith had a late meeting after a busy day, I also said I would make a meal with what we had available in the house.  It ended up, that it was all UNIQUE as nothing turned out to the way I had planned however it was all delicious.

I had brought 4 new Christmas decorations for them so Judith had this Baobab tree and we put them on that which decorated the table. 

This also must have been UNIQUE.   

I made Savoury Beef bake however forgot to add the special ingredients of orange juice and orange peel to it.  Then I made a dessert that I have made for years.  Raspberry Moose. Well of course we had no raspberries but the vegetable man brought strawberries that morning but then we did not have a strawberry jelly so had to use an orange one!  Beating up the jelly did not really work too well with the equipment I had and we could not get any cream anyway so had to use the squirty stuff in the tin (not keen on that myself) having said all that, it was delicious.  The family enjoyed the UNIQUENESS of everything and the Christmas presents were received with great excitement.

Above is an image of the dessert.  “I ATE THIS” dessert which turned out to UNIQUE!

These MOSAIC tiles are assembled together to make this lovely art form which has been framed and hung in a building in the grounds of the first hotel I stayed at in Costa Rica in 2016.  Below is a REFLECTION image of another part of the beautiful gardens at this same hotel.  

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

Time for FRIDAY’S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS  and this week it is the turn of the letter T, black and white and paper,  I nearly achieved them all in this first shot.  A hollowed out TREE TRUNK made into a canoe for this main to go fishing from.  It is a BLACK AND WHITE image and PAPER is from the bark of TREES but i thought that was not good enough to qualify.  There is also a REFLECTION (slight) in the water of the man and his canoe.

What is good enough to qualify is all my grandson Daniel's PAPER awards and certificates shown here on the wall and also all the PAPER books he reads piled up on the TABLE. 

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS - Malawi

Time for FRIDAY’S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS  and this week it is the turn of the letter S, metal and mineral and I was spoiled for choice with all the S things that I seemed to have photographed when i spent 4 wonderful days on the shores of Lake Malawi.  Below are the shots I picked for today.   

Since I am a bird watcher we will start with a few birds.  On my early morning walks i always saw some birds and this bird is a newly fledged SWALLOW.

Then I spied these House SPARROWS and the one to the right is a young one.

 Now this photograph illustrates (to me) how SPECIAL these two boys are.  My grandson Daniel on the left and Ben his friend got up early on the Sunday as it was Mother’s Day.  So they carried  ? buckets of water from the lake and make these huge letters and picked leaves to decorated the sign which said, Happy Mother’s day for their Mum’s and Me also.  We were very touched.

In the grounds of the place we were staying they had a huge trampoline dug into the ground and the children loved playing and invention routines on it.  This is Annika sitting on it but do you see the huge METAL SPRINGS round the ends?  

Perhaps you can see the METAL SPRiNGS better in this shot. This shot was taken when the family bought a trampoline for their garden in Malawi and it is being moved with Annika on it from one house to their home.

Did you know that in Britain a fizzy drink is also know as a MINERAL? 

Here is Ben about to drink his MINERAL which i think was a Coke.

I am ending with the SETTING Sun going down over our infinity SWIMMING pool giving a SMASHING REFLECTION SHOT.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS - Malawi

Today I am  linking with Friday’s Hunt and Weekend Reflections and this week the letter is R, glow and vegetable.

R for ROOSTER and RED Hen and of course my 2 RED heads below!

While I was photography round their garden, Judith and Annika took a dip in the pool and you will see the REFLECTION of them in the water.

Jon, my SIL had come straight from work for this meal so he had his bike with him so when we were leaving he and Annika on the cross bar, RODE home in front of us insuring safety from the GLOW of our headlights.  It was just round the corner anyway but taken in a moving vehicle and bumpy ROAD.

There is always a debate whether a tomato is a fruit or a vegetable so the answer to the question is that a tomato is technically the fruit of the tomato plant, but it's used as a VEGETABLE in cooking.  

Above we have Brazil, Judith's VEGETABLE man in Malawi who comes to her home every week and I asked him could I take his photograph which he thought hilarious and so he presented my with a free tomato.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

I am linking with Fridays’ Hunt and Weekend Reflections and today the letter is P, surprise and looking up and all three are in the video below. 

We all had a wonderful SURPRISE 

We  all had a wonderful SURPRISEwhen we were LOOKING Up into the tall trees and spied these PRIMATES. 
 Can you see the baby Central American Spider Monkey?

 Above is a REFLECTION image at sunset.

If the video does not appear below, CLICK HERE.

Spider monkeys are almost completely arboreal, spending most of their lives in the top of the tree canopy. They are among the most agile of the PRIMATES, they walk along the upper surfaces of branches as easily as most humans walk along an even sidewalk and are able to pick things up with their tails.

Most feeding takes place during the early morning, with the remainder of the day "devoted" to rest.

Sorry I got the letter out of order however if you wish to see Q,CLICK HERE and I have a video of a very unisally bird called the Resplenent Quetzal from Cosa Rica.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

I am linking with Fridays’ Hunt and Weekend Reflections and today the letter is Q, orange and animal.  We will start with this beautiful ORANGE butterfly from Costa Rica and then the ANIMAL I am showing you is very special as anyone who goes to Costa Rica will know and want to see it.  I had the privilege of seeing it on two occasions during my trip to Costa Rica.

It is the Resplendent QUETZAL and although it was difficult to photograph, I managed a short video of it.  Look out for its very long tail.

If the video does not appear below, CLICK HERE.

This is my REFLECTION image taken in Costa Rica.

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FRIDAY'S HUNT and WEEKEND REFLECTIONS

I am linking with Fridays’ Hunt and Weekend Reflections and today the letter is O, purple, and city/town.  

I visited the CITY of Jerusalem 10 years ago and below is the 

The Dome of the Rock which is an Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the OLD City of Jerusalem.  It has been called "Jerusalem's most recognisable landmark," and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

The structure has an OCTAGONAL plan.

It was initially completed in 691 CE  and built on the site of the Roman temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which had in turn been built on the site of the Second Jewish Temple, destroyed during the Roman Siege of Jerusalem in 70 CE. The ORIGINAL dome collapsed in 1015 and was rebuilt in 1022–23. The Dome of the Rock is in its core one of the OLDEST extant works of Islamic architecture.

Its architecture and mosaics were patterned after nearby Byzantine churches and palaces, although its outside appearance has been significantly changed in the OTTOMAN period and again in the modern period, notably with the addition of the gold-plated roof, in 1959–61 and again in 1993.

 These last few images of PURPLISH flowers and a REFLECTION at the end of this post were all photographed In Israel.

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