Starting this week with a quick photo I took at home earlier this month. It’s nothing complicated, just a collection of lovely flowers sitting on our kitchen island. Incidentally, the collection was large enough not to fit in either of our usual vases, so we used a water pitcher instead. The light is all natural, coming from the balcony door to the left, so shooting … Continue reading Flowers
The weather was rather miserable yesterday, for this time of year. Overcast, threatening rain all the time, and a few drops did make it down every so often. And it was that kind of rain that covers everything with a random pattern of brown dots. So not so bad really that one would give up any hope of doing anything outdoors. But enough to dissuade … Continue reading Trio of Wild Flowers
I’m starting this week with a number of photos from a recent short walk that I did with Roberta, this holiday weekend. We headed up to Dingli, one of our favourite places, for a picnic lunch and a walk about the hamlets of Santa Katerina and Lunzjata. It is clearly spring now, with wild flowers growing everywhere, and I was happy I took my macro … Continue reading Wild Flowers
The photo I’m sharing today is another from a walk I did five years ago near Bidnija. As I approached San Pawl Milqi near Burmarrad, I passed by what was clearly a vineyard. The vines were heavily pruned, and it being winter there wasn’t any foliage to show. After some rains that winter, though, the field and the surrounding countryside was carpeted in bright green … Continue reading Winter Vineyards
Over the last few weeks I have been working on the photography side of the walking book project. This involves going through my now rather extensive catalogue of photos to find those that were taken from these walks, shortlisting those that are suitable as illustrations. In some cases this has been rather straightforward, simply a matter of finding the various outings in the area and … Continue reading Abandoned Car
Yesterday I went for another walk, this time to revisit an area I had not walked in for some years. I was not anticipating much photography, as I would be passing by no chapels for my ongoing project, and I had already made photos of the main vistas. So I only took my small mirrorless camera with me. Nevertheless, I ended up taking quite a … Continue reading House On A Hill
Summer is at its tail end here, with the weather cooling down a little over the last week or so. And by cooled down I only mean that the max temperature has gone down to about 30℃ from the mid-30’s it was hovering around most of August. Which of course makes a bigger difference than one would think, particularly when out running, for instance. We … Continue reading Semprevivi
This week things conspired to keep me from blogging. Between a couple very late days at work, climbing, and a lovely evening where I had grilling duties, there wasn’t much time left for anything else. So to make up for that, today I’m sharing more than the usual single photo. This series of three photos is from my first pandemic walk back in March, soon … Continue reading Silla
Sometimes it feels like we’ve been forever in soft-lockdown. Maybe it’s just me quickly adjusting to life with less traffic and less contact with other people. At the same time it can feel like the whole change only happened yesterday, as in many ways we’re still adjusting to the consequences, particularly at work. So it feels weird to see the changes in the countryside that … Continue reading Xaħxieħ
Today’s photo, also from the series of flower photos from Wied il-Għasel last spring, shows inflorescences of the wild carrot, or Zunnarija Selvaġġa in Maltese (Daucus carota). This, too, is an indigenous plant, and commonly found in the garigue. These are really tiny flowers, but what intrigued me most, I think, is the shot of colour introduced by the deep purple anthers and reddish ovaries. … Continue reading Zunnarija Selvaġġa
This week’s flower photo, also from the spring session in Wied il-Għasel last year, shows the Hawthorn flower, known in Maltese as Żagħrun (Crataegus monogyna). It is indigenous to these islands, and can be found rather frequently. The same plant produces lovely plump red berries after flowering, that I still need to photograph. Continue reading Żagħrun
[Edited 20-Feb-2020: added a second photo.] Continuing with the series of flower photos from Wied il-Għasel last spring, this is what I believe to be the inflorescence of Silla tal-Mogħoż, or what is known in English as the pitch clover (Psoralea bituminosa). It’s a common plant, indigenous to these islands, and the Maltese name indicates its use as fodder for goats. Continue reading Silla tal-Mogħoż
Muddy Boots 