Heat Wave!

On September 9, 2024September 11, 2024 By cindy knokeIn MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Sunsets257 Comments

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It’s September in SoCal,

so we’re having a heat wave.

We grabbed the family and headed to coastal Carlsbad for the week.

Life’s a beach,

and the fun doesn’t stop,

when the sun sets.

It just slows down,

and becomes more soulful.

Cheers to you from Carlsbad in September~

‘This is the Land the Sunset Washes’~

On August 21, 2024August 21, 2024 By cindy knokeIn MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Sunsets342 Comments

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At The Holler,

the surreal,

is sometimes,

real.

I photographed these unusual cloud formations last night when it was extremely hot and humid and the clouds seemed to dip from holding the weight of water.

Cheers to you from ‘the banks of the yellow sea’~

(poem attribution Emily Dickinson)

Late addition: Two brilliant bloggers identified these clouds for me as Asperitas Clouds only formally classified in 2017. Here is a reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asperitas_(cloud)

I want to recognize both of these clever bloggers and thank them sincerely for their fascinating information.

The bloggers are :

https://40thousandkm.com/ and https://lynettedartycross.com/author/lynettedartycross/

Bloggers Rock!

Chased by a Baboon & Elephant in Africa~

On December 2, 2023December 2, 2023 By cindy knokeIn Conservation, MY PHOTOGRAPHS, REVERIES, Sunsets, TRAVEL REVIEWS, Wild Life318 Comments

Oliphants River Kruger National Park.

Curious Impala.

I never posted photos of the time I was chased by a baboon in South Africa because they were terrible photos taken in poor light conditions.

It all started peacefully enough, until some people started throwing rocks at the baboons because they were raiding campsites. They were raiding campsites because the same people didn’t properly lock up their food.

We were on a safe raised viewing walkway, behind electrified fencing that looked over The Sabie River in South Africa, as dusk fell, and the situation turned south.

Jim had just walked away. I was snapping a few last sunset shots, when a large furious male baboon, leaped the fence in the tree tops, jumped onto the platform in front of me, and ran directly towards me in a rage.

I moved rapidly backwards, not wanting to turn my back and run, clicking off a few shots as I moved away. A man in an adjacent campsite saw the whole thing and was doing jumping jacks and yelling, trying to distract the baboon. You can almost make him out in the upper right of the photo. I very much appreciated this man!

If the baboon had wanted to kill me, he clearly would have. He was thankfully content to raise my blood pressure and chase me away.

We also got charged by a furious male elephant on a prior trip when our game driver pointlessly harrassed him. If you look closely at the photo, you will see a male elephant in musk. He should have been left alone. We had to jump out of the range rover, face the elephant, while the ranger drew his rifle and prepared to shoot, causing the elephant to stop his charge.

Wise elephant. Unwise human.

We have luckily never encountered any similar problems when self driving on our two trips to South Africa most likely because we always respect wild animal’s space. We spent more than an hour waiting at a reasonable distance in our car, while we respected these guy’s space. It was awesome experience and they seemed to appreciate our restraint.

The moral of this story, don’t harrass wild animals, they are bigger and stronger than you.

Cheers to you from the civilized wild ones~