The Pyrenees are gorged with rain and snowmelt this year. Flowers galore.

That lovely array of lavender, white and purple flowers on a spike, for which you offer two views, looks rather like an orchid of some sort. What is it and is it a native plant?

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

A daffodant?

Index of Frank's Diaries

as a clod.  (kudos, MAD magazine, 1959?)

Looking in the direction of morning sun thursday

well, not completely lonely

well, lonely

I did love how strong the thunderstorm just was. Wake up, please, civilization.

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin

Family members sit around playing games together in Little Rock at my younger sister's house.

My granddaughter Zora displays her personal sense of style.

My sister's kitchen was the most popular gathering place, other than in the pool.

Back at my daughter's house in Austin, Zora puts rabbit ears on Saffy.

At my dad's in Casitas Springs, CA, they're blessed with lots of birds, such as these hummingbirds.

Dad, who just turned 87, shows off their nectarines, which grow beside the house.

Next we visited my best friend's house on Whidbey Island, WA, and took some lovely walks with fantastic views.

(Husband Heinz by a big tree in the forest near the beach:)

And back home, the lovely views continued, with a huge moon just in the last week, which I captured as it advanced toward and passed behind Eagle's Nest.

And that's it for now until week after next when my mom and little sister visit from the USA.

'tis strange I should be old and neither wise nor valiant. From "The Maid's Tragedy" by Beaumont & Fletcher

1 August is the first day when fishing for shrimps is allowed, but this year it was a very weak tide, so the sea did not fully recede and people had to  go fish in a couple of feet of water instead of just being able to walk in a fe centimeters of water...

We've had unusually warm and nice weather in Normandy this year, but we did have a couple of days with rain now and then. I liked how the short shower made the inprint of the towel in the sand...

And some cat blogging - we've changed the veranda of the house, and the cats have discovered they could climb on it and walk just over our heads...


Wind power

Here are come pictures from my annual (16th year) mountain biking week mid-July, mostly in the hills of the Drôme.

One comes across interesting obstacles... these obstacles are making the famous Picodon cheese.

Typical terrain...

Sometimes it's just too steep...

"Can't be far from the turnoff now"

An abanoned village, disappearing into the forest

Mind your head

Bridge and tunnel

Logging tracks, therefore logically logging trucks

... Yes, we've arrived. Bed and board.

What is this, a walking holiday?

The source of the Drôme river. Cold and delicious.

A rare water hazard. Not enough mud this year.

A couple of passes a day...  

No comment.

We missed the Tour by a day, thankfully. Our itinerary would have been completely impossible, we went up a valley that they came down the following day.

Of course, there were fields of lavender.


_{It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II}

I bumped the diary to keep it going.

At the end of July I was in the Gotthard mountains in Switzerland. Here are some photos from around Oberalpsee (a lake 2,033 m above sea near the source of the Rhine).

The edge of the lake is visible here (also a train) as I start my climb up:

Beyond the lake, there is a wind farm c. 2,400 m above the sea:

Many small creeks gathering the meltwater cut across the grassy landscape:

A mini-lake:

Still melting snow (with peaks well above 3,000 m in the distance):

Looking down east along the upper end of the valley of the Rhine:

Looking north:

Having climbed up to 2,571 m, looking down west towards Andermatt (c. 1,200 m deeper):

Nearby, the village of Tschamut:

Near Andermatt, the famous Devil's Bridge (and two more bridges around it for the modern road and the rack railway):

_{*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.}

It is August, boiling hot, glaring sun and the queues for some attractions can be 5 hours long.  When I went in November I was able to just walk straight into the Duomo (on the left of the shot).

I just enjoyed wandering around and finding some quieter side streets to explore.

Taken on the iPhone or I would remove the electricity pylon!