ElfQuest Fan Art
Off Topic => Chit-Chat => Topic started by: Berit on July 05, 2015, 11:37:22 PM
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Heya! got inspired in the gallery to make this post... I'd like to see pictures of what your surroundings or home looks like! I think it would be interesting to see! I'd also be interested in seeing local wildlife and plants, since they can be very inspiring for artists!... will add some pictures about what things look like here when I can! but others, if you are interested, go on ahead!...
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Great idea! Please show us yours too, Berit.
I'll start with a picture of my beloved garden in full bloom (not my house in the background):
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o161/Matschauge/Garten_2014/P1010298_zpsvkwtyayi.jpg) (http://s120.photobucket.com/user/Matschauge/media/Garten_2014/P1010298_zpsvkwtyayi.jpg.html)
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Nice Ringelblumen, isn't it? Must have been the day after the rain. A garden of your own is something wonderful. It requires some work, though.
I wouldn't have nice things to show since I live in an apartment in a medium/large sized European town but in a radius of around 200 km there are some beautiful places that one could reach within a day.
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Yes, Ringelblumen. :) Once you have them, the return every year and tend to spread all over the place, which is fine by me. :)
I love our garden, but it is a lot of work as you say. Totally worth it, I just wish I had more time to take care of it...
But I'd still like to see your living area, why not have some city area pictures as well? There are surely several advantages to that...
As my colleague (also living in a pretty rural area) told me last week: Du lebst ja auch am oarsch der Welt!
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I think it looks very lovely there! and I will add pictures as well as soon as I get them out of the phone!... Ah! I really like that butterfly that there! must have been a nice weather! and I believe those yellow flowers are known here as Tarhakehäkukka... edible thing, but must admit that I don't like the taste, not in tea or any other place! A bit too overpowering to my liking...
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Looking forward to see your pics, Berit! I just did a wonderful long walk through the woods and took some nice pics. Some change from just our house and garden. Will also post them soon.
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(http://41.media.tumblr.com/96f004bc87ee43c24078beec05252af7/tumblr_nrtjk4zIK91rovndlo1_1280.jpg)
(http://41.media.tumblr.com/6cd6b2ba90dceee8c6b0838752218952/tumblr_nrtjntX2sS1rovndlo1_1280.jpg)
Here is few pictures I took with my phone as I was walking home. flowers were blooming and lots of interesting plants around! and that green house ain't mine!... anyway, I think wild flowers are nice to look at! if I find any meadows I'll post pictures about them as well!...
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Ohhhh! So beautiful! Nature over there is really wonderful. The lupins are still blooming? Mine finished at least a month ago! I love wild flowers as well. Just look at how rich and full everything looks!
Do you know what those big-leafed plants are called?
I hope you will post more pictures!
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Yeah! the Lupins are still blooming over here! though they will soon stop.. oh? those big plants? they are type of butterbur, petasite japonicus giganteus, I believe... during old times they were used as medicine for various diseases, most commonly, the plague... it's Finnish name actually is "Ruttojuuri" meaning plagueroot...
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Wow, thanks! I was looking for the name of that plant. In such cases the scientific names really help. It is actually called Japanese pest root in German... :D
I really wish we could go on adventures in your woods together...
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(http://40.media.tumblr.com/448760089fc6bc2a826284b5a18208f8/tumblr_nrvxtxGzn91rovndlo1_1280.jpg)
Here is something else than woods! my messy bed that was invaded by my cats! darn! I only went to get one cup of tea!... the cats here are Olga, the black one, Tuttu the grayish brown, striped one, Vivi the black and white and Lilli the one who has fallen asleep nose first!...
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And Treefox, if you ever get a chance to post pictures of how the woods and nature looks like over there... I'd be happy to see them!...
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;D You do know that the cat-filled bed looks super comfortable, right? Wow, your cats really get along, that's wonderful. Our two cats being brother and sister also get along, luckily. Being with sleeping cats always makes me fall asleep, too.
And I will post pictures of our woods, soon! :)
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So, finally two pics from the woods in my area. So this basically what our landscape looks like:
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o161/Matschauge/P1030204_zpscjxww3bg.jpg) (http://s120.photobucket.com/user/Matschauge/media/P1030204_zpscjxww3bg.jpg.html)
And this at the edge of a hiking path, where we found this little fellow:
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o161/Matschauge/P1030201_zps4qyfqdsq.jpg) (http://s120.photobucket.com/user/Matschauge/media/P1030201_zps4qyfqdsq.jpg.html)
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Sorry! I haven't been active here as much as I've wanted to! but Man, Treefox! that is a nice view! looks very peaceful there (I hope it's not just looks!) haha! wonder what that wood carving is all about! nice little detail though! might I ask what are those bell shaped flowers? if you happen to know I'd be interested! I don't think we have those here in Finland... they kind of resemble the vicia cracca, but look bigger and don't have as many bells nor the similar tangling properties...
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Hmmmh... No... it can't be what I said it resembled first... oh! it is some sort of digitalis, isn't it!? must be!...
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Digitalis purpurea, I have them in my backyard every summer. :)
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What afke said! :D
I am surprised you don't have them in Finland, as I assumed they basically grow all over Europe. Their common name is "Foxglove". Love that name! In German they are named "Fingerhut" which means thimble.
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And yes, it luckily is very peaceful where I live! That's one reason why I love it there so much. The nature, while definitely touched by man, still exists and we can live with it and enjoy it every day.
If we find the time, I would like to see more of people's surroundings!
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Yeah, I don't think we have that in Finland... if we have it might be in the warmer parts of the country... always fascinated to see what nature looks like in different places! I will post some photos soon as well, as long as I can find that darn cable to get them off my phone!... winter has been pretty lame here, not even a meter of snow... makes it difficult to walk off road, more show means it gets packed and you can walk on top if without sinking in... makes me worry about the animals as well, hibernating animals depend on the snow...
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Winter without snow just sucks. Sad to hear even in Suomi country there is not enough snow.
Here it is more or less gray and somewhat rainy and partially stormy recently. I even went out jogging because it was warm enough. Snow was here only for a few days (and it made everything look magical and bright even in the night); but it was gone way too quickly.
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Over here as well, not much winter. :( I need freezing temperatures, I've noticed I function better in the cold. We've only had one week below zero, with a teeny tiny layer of... white stuff.
Sure I looove snow, but it's also the lame temperatures here that don't make it feel like winter. And winter is supposed to be my 2nd fave season (autumn is the 1st). :(
Apparently it's sweater-day today. It's too warm to wear a sweater, people. :P
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Same here! My body really missed cold winter days... had way too few of them so far.
Looking at the pictures of last winter, at least we had a couple of really nice snow days on the mountain. Nothing this year... :(
I too like winter!
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(http://41.media.tumblr.com/dd08142e7ebcd7e32b8f2c8f577ed650/tumblr_o2d17lQSNr1rovndlo1_1280.jpg)
Here is one photo I took at the dead of winter when I was returning home from nightly visit in the woods... not much snow but the sunrise looked kinda pretty, so thought you might want to see it as well!... and yeah, Winter is actually my favorite season, because
I can truly be alone in the woods, no one is there besides me so spotting animals is easier without other humans making a racket... I'm also saddened to hear winter has been a little lame everywhere... I too work better in the cold and it has been so warm that I don't need to wear any pants when I'm home! too darn warm for me!...
EDIT: sorry it looks a bit blurry, my cellphone doesn't work properly in cold...
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Oh, and forgot to ask... (or at least I think I haven't asked...) where are you from JaRf? it's nice to see people all over sharing this place! C'mon! post some pictures! I bet your city is still better than this crappy little town where I live in!... all people here are hillbillies, in the bad way!... so they throw EVERYTHING in the nature, from candy wrappings to refrigerators!... it truly pisses me off...
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(http://41.media.tumblr.com/dabb71466b7b279f94fa5e9defccd1e0/tumblr_o2d2csgFdV1rovndlo1_1280.jpg)
(http://40.media.tumblr.com/2c5bdcb84dae0f8ec12d54e73fde23a9/tumblr_o2d2csgFdV1rovndlo2_1280.jpg)
SORRY! had to butt in and post some more! (I'm kinda bored at the moment!) So this is just a comparison how the same area near by looks during summer and winter, Sadly because of the crappy winter with too little snow so it doesn't look anything impressive...
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Berit, it look gorgeous where you live. :o
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Heh! Yeah, it does! Finland is a beautiful country, but the people here are one of the worst I know! thus, avoiding human contact at all cost seems to be the main thing I do... Strange how rarely people visit the woods nowadays... I've been sending pictures of woods rather than my home, mainly because architecture at Finland is just ugly boxes where people live in! and besides... I'm more at home in the woods than inside a box...
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Wonderful photo comparison between (late?) spring and winter. It reminds me of a place I used to visit during winter holidays all my childhood. When I was grown up, I visited it for the first time in sping, without snow. And it looked totally different. But there were also all the flowers on the meadows...
Even though this might be only little snow for Suomi, I think it is still better than most places further south. I miss snow. It makes things enchanted and brightens up wintertime.
I can't judge the people in your country, Berit, but there are silly people in every country I guess.
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Oh wow, these are beautiful! Man, I love to live close to nature sooo much!
Always too many people around when I take a walk in the woods as well....
The violet willow herbs bloom in Germany in summer as well. I am very happy to have some nice specimen of them in my garden. Beautiful! And edible!
And still there's much more snow than here... at least it was cold the last couple of days.
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Took me some time to find some image hoster and make an account but hopefully it'll work.
A few impressions from around here, but already > 1 week old.
(http://i.imgur.com/MWcnfuc.jpg)
Crocus and Snowdrops
(http://i.imgur.com/cNEEYdm.jpg)
a whole meadow of Crocus
(http://i.imgur.com/GAdMNen.jpg)
Catkins
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WOW! these are week old!?! there is still snow here! amazing! (well, the snow is slowly melting away, just yesterday I had to drop it off my roof so it won't drop in my neck and kill me when I shut the door) very nice pictures! thank you so much for posting these! and Treefox, if you get the chance, grab some pictures of those Violet Willows... would be nice to see!...
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jaRf! Those are beautiful! I work in Frankfurt and live in the mountains, so I always get to the the crocus in bloom twice. I love them! A beautiful sign of Spring. Also, insects appreciate them!
Nicely taken photos as well! More!
Berit, I am hopefully finally able to post a little bit and comment again, so I will look for those pics! I am sure a have some.
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I found two pics of the willows that decided to make our garden their home:
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o161/Matschauge/P1010139_zps4mnkqh0d.jpg) (http://s120.photobucket.com/user/Matschauge/media/P1010139_zps4mnkqh0d.jpg.html)
(http://i120.photobucket.com/albums/o161/Matschauge/P1010138_zpszbilmtl1.jpg) (http://s120.photobucket.com/user/Matschauge/media/P1010138_zpszbilmtl1.jpg.html)
More to come! :D
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WOW! these are week old!?! there is still snow here! amazing! (well, the snow is slowly melting away, just yesterday I had to drop it off my roof so it won't drop in my neck and kill me when I shut the door) very nice pictures! thank you so much for posting these!
Well, time of spring depends also here. As Treefox said, in the mountains (higher, colder) spring comes later, in the lower parts of the countries and especially in towns (always a few °C warmer) it's normally earlier. And of course, there are different sorts of the same plant-species/race. Some are earlier, some blossom later.
Winters became short and soft, lately. Back in the days in the mountains you could have also snow blocking your door entrance in the morning. ;)
jaRf! Those are beautiful! I work in Frankfurt and live in the mountains, so I always get to the the crocus in bloom twice. I love them! A beautiful sign of Spring. Also, insects appreciate them!
Nicely taken photos as well! More!
Yes, some are a good opportunity for the early insects.
F.a.M. I guess? Mountains? The next "real" mountains are far away. In the northern part the highest on should be the Harz, to the south east it should be Thüringer Wald and Erzgebirge and to the south / south west you needed to travel all the way down Bavaria oder Baden-Württemberg to the mountains... that would mean you can only see your home on weekends?
These are some nice colours. Especially when the light is good, some coming from the back of the petal, shining through.
I had some problems with the white ones (snowdrops and ... uh, Märzenbecher) when the sunlight was shining on them (whiteout and not details). And I miss my old macro capable lens. I need money to get myself some more lenses for the camera. *sigh*
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Yes, it is F.a.M indeed. And sorry, maybe I should have been more specific. The "mountains" I am talking about are the Taunus mountains. They're only medium mountain range, nothing spectacular as the alps. :)
So, if I am not roaming the country on business trips I get to go home every night. :)
And I hear you about the lenses... sometimes I miss my old mechanic camera. It was so very nicely equipped with macro lens and tele lens... The pics were taken with a Panasonic compact camera. So the nice result is surprising. A neat camera, but sometimes it seems to be pure chance whether the pics turn out this nicely... ;)
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Oh! so those are called purple willows there? hahah! here they are called Horsma!... and they are EVERYWHERE during certain times and there can be big meadows full of them... also bunnies seem to like eating them a lot...
And you all have cameras? hehe! I just use my crappy cellphone to take some pictures... macro lens would be cool though...
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and Jarf... I know the snow blocking the door! when I lived further away from people, it was impossible to go anywhere because of snow at certain times... You had to get moths worth of food just in case... I never minded that... actually it was fun being alone like that... back in those days I melted snow for drinking water during winter... sadly, it's gotten so polluted now that it's not wise to drink rain/snow water...
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(http://36.media.tumblr.com/82bea7d8991d3fb3b3ca60981d01edb5/tumblr_o4f1j2zU1Z1rovndlo1_1280.jpg)
(http://36.media.tumblr.com/0f73c58a73128cb791a60685e9164d94/tumblr_o4f1j2zU1Z1rovndlo2_1280.jpg)
(http://36.media.tumblr.com/e8a945d4f2b14140c8613c7f3ec42e52/tumblr_o4f1j2zU1Z1rovndlo3_1280.jpg)
Just to show why I was so baffled that flowers bloom there already... this is the weather here today! dark and snowing! it was snowing so much that people might get lost in the forest because you can't see far in this weather...
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My camera is becoming somewhat dated but it still works. And it is an entry level DSLR. But I'm quite happy with it. It's also always a monetary question, no money, no additional lenses, no HDR sensors and so on.
Spring is coming to country here now, the weather changes quickly (typically for April in this area). I totally missed snow this year (fall last year) due to workloads. I think when snow has fallen just right now in the rural areas of a country it's probably still edible. After all it is still more or less frozen distilled water (the question is how many super volatile fine particles are in the atmosphere). In a town it quickly gathers all the dust and fumes and dirt. Your area looks good for skiing. Not too steep, not always flat, should be fun to go on a ski-hike.
It's long ago that I was in the Taunus, unlike Frankfur am Main, which I occasionally drive by (3 times per year) or change trains at the railway station. So yes, it's all relative. Does the Taunus already count as Mittelgebirge?
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As jaRf mentioned, we woke up to snow on April 1st... Wow. Just wow. Next day we had almost 20 degrees. Unbelievable.
But nice to see that you at least had some more snow, Berit.
And jaRf, official the Taunus are Mittelgebirge. Well, to me being from North Germany, they sure seems like that! ;)
If you should ever come by, let me know. We always have a nice fireplace and beverage to offer. :D
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Here spring is driving forward, today I could glance at a lot of different colors in the gardens. Tulips in red, yellow and other colors, magnolia in white and violet, small blue on the grounds and big white clouds from apple, cherries, peach, apricot and so on. Makes me forget the worries of life. And I should have taken a photo, but I guess I still have a few from last year around the same time.
I heard in Finland there are still the last pathes of snow melting. Unless you're living in higher mountain regions the only thing you see here is an occasional hail during April.
And thanks for the kind invitation. :) Occasionally I actually come by the Frankfurt am Main region on travels.
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So I don't have many pictures of my apartment, it being a city scape and all, the only pictures I have are like. Two years old? And taken when I was looking for a new roommate, lmao. I'm going to work on that. In the mean time, I have some images of where I have been working this summer, Dagali. Which is a tiny speck in the mountains, I work there as a guide on the museum. These were taken in July-August so they are already a while ago, but I hope you enjoy!
(http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz251/Yeha-Noha/bekken_zpsxguorjuz.jpg)
(http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz251/Yeha-Noha/geitrams_zpsbriv5h3s.jpg)
The girls next door to the museum!
(http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz251/Yeha-Noha/girls_zpsdymwyfv2.jpg)
And a picture of some things I did to occupy my time when there was few customers... weaving bracelets!
(http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz251/Yeha-Noha/crafting_zps3deyauyg.jpg)
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Hey Startear! Your photos aren't visible, Photobucket changed their 3rd party hosting a while back :)
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Ah, so I'm not the only one. And I already though it was due to my restrictive browser settings.
Photobucket went down the drain major style the last years. And a lot of art that was posted on the former Scrolls was linked in via photobucket.
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Yeah it's pretty awful! I used it a ton for both personal and work related projects and the way they shut down hosting on other sites was suuuuper unprofessional. I understand that storage like that is expensive, but at least give folks a bit of warning.
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Ah, damn it!
What is a good alternative to photobucket?
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I use imgur, but I haven't really searched for alternatives. I wonder if one could host their photos in Google Drive or Dropbox and share their links publicly...?
Also I should probably post something here too, since we've just moved! I haven't even explored our surroundings yet, so it might be a great adventure... :D
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You CAN share links to your Dropbox and Google drive images. Not sure though if you can also embed it though, never tried it... I usually use my Livejournal scrapbook for that.
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Heya! sorry I haven't been around as much as I should! and yeah, Photobucket seriously sucks nowadays! I just post my stuff on Tumblr and copy the image address there!... and here is something I love to show you! last year I saw the smallest adder I've ever seen! it tiny! itty bitty! snek baby! that biggest part of pine bark is about the size of one euro coin... and gain, this was taken on my crappy phone so the image is blurry, sorry 'bout that!...
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/c51d8b8196913de991c21d4c02b9eb75/ccd9b1563b744c55-0d/s1280x1920/a90565b9ef50c3821b33527c8184b62dd22fe540.jpg)
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Whoops! left the image a little big! oh well! making the snek look a lot bigger than it is! hahah!...
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I want to see the tiny snek! But the picture doesn't show up for me... :(
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I see the tiny snek just fine! :love
Here are some Christmas pictures from my parents' home in Central Finland:
(https://puu.sh/Fauae/11e5e364ee.jpg)
(https://puu.sh/Fauaf/c383560da4.jpg)
(https://puu.sh/Fauag/2e3c0d5e96.jpg)
...and then one from Christmas Eve at my rental at Espoo:
(https://puu.sh/Fauah/45176cb5ad.jpg)
The winter this year has been reeeeeally bad. Despite the pictures, there hasn't been as much snow in Central Finland as there usually has been. Southern Finland has been snowless for most of the winter, and people have seen coltsfoot flowering already this month. I'm worried that the hedgehogs will wake up too early, it's been so warm out here.
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Your parents' area is so beautiful! I miss snow. :'(
My backyard looks brown and empty right now, but it actually isn't that bad. I think I need to plant some more stuff that stays green year round. Last year around this time my fence collapsed due to storm, and a lot got crushed then, or burned in the last two summers.
But when the green returns my yard is actually quite full of life. I can even recognise it on the Google satellite. :D It's like a big green bomb. Last year I saw birds I had never seen before, and some I knew but never saw irl (or that up close!). Squirrel also gets closer to the house, and it's fun to hide behind a plant on the windowsill and watch it all.
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I feel you, Afke! My garden has suffered from storms and the two summers from hell... But so far life is always returning each Spring!
Anyway, I miss winter so much! Real winter... those pictures really make long for snow, cold and long winter walks... so beautiful.
And I can see the tiny snek on my phone! It is sooo beautiful!
I am not sure I ever saw a wild snake in Germany, I sometimes see slow-worms. They really look like snakes, but are actually a kind of lizard without legs. Also super tiny!
Afke, would you like to show some pictures of your garden?
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Yes, I was thinking perhaps I could come up with a comparison picture as well. I'll check my pictures from last year, see if I can make a current one at the same angle.
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I'd love that!
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That climate catastrophy is just a nasty thing. But I remember having read about CO2 and the likes many years ago, already. I do witness the changes. In my childhood there were winters when I saw ice-flowers on the windows (okay, less good windows back then, too), but we had winters with -18 °C here. There was always snow somehow. "Mountainish" regions had snow til March, occasionally even til late April.
This year there was hardly any lasting snow in the higher regions and near none in the flat lands.
I envy the Scandinavians (Norway, Sweden, Suomi) who still have some snow at all.
I could post a similar set of images like I did 2016 here. Weather becomes more and more extreme. I hate people who tell me "yeah, but it's getting nice and warm". I hate summers which are just screaming hot. Moreover, it is not that the temperature make plants grow (and thus react CO2 to sugars and materials), it also needs light irradiation, fertile grounds and water. And water? There is drought for weeks and it all starves to brown. Then, all of a sudden the missing rain of those weeks comes down in one day and washes away the soil and makes damages...
Oh well. But this thread is also to show one's surroundings. Maybe I'll find the time to get some pictures posted here.
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I feel the same JaRf; I already didn't like summers, but am starting to dread them more and more. As does my yard.