Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2005/06/01
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]I'm driving on a back lane when around a bend in the distance I can see this chap over the hedge heading my way. My first thought was that he was a little high for a cyclist so I reasoned that he must be on horseback. Nothing unusual in that except that his movement is not consistent with a horse rider. As we close on each other the bend between us disappears and I get a good look at him as we pass. Was a time I would have just kept on going but ever mindful of the fact that I need 'fuel' for the web site I turn the car around at the first opportunity and go back, eventually pass him (he was going surprisingly fast), put some distance between us, park and then wait for him to approach. I take a shot. http://www.geebeephoto.com/Walks/Odd_day/odd_day_01.htm I resumed my journey and went back to soaking up the rustic splendour that is Northamptonshire in the month of May. Scenes more in keeping with what one expects to find in the English countryside. Rolling green hills, hedgerows in blossom giving off fine fragrances and giving added peace to the scene our farm animals grazing and lazing in the fields. A herd of cattle, a flock of sheep with this years lambs, already almost as big as their mothers, horses in a paddock, ALPACAS! I suppose they could be llamas but I'm guessing these are being bred for their fur not for their spit. http://www.geebeephoto.com/Walks/Odd_day/odd_day_02.htm Sometimes the 'typical' English countryside can turn into Alice in Wonderland before your very eyes. I'm thinking what else does Northamptonshire have to offer by way of bizarre photo opportunities. A bird as big as a Buick perhaps?..... .........Yeah right. I move over to the left, the bird follows me. I move over to the right and again the bird tracks my movements. The wings are fanned and the head pivots from the base of neck in a large circle. I am uncertain as to whether the display is to warn me off or because the ostrich fancies me. http://www.geebeephoto.com/Walks/Odd_day/odd_day_03.htm Whatever it is the display gets ever more frantic and noting the look on the birds face I decide to leave before the display reaches a climax (no pun intended). I have no wish to be attacked or, perish the thought, worse. If I am surprised to see an ostrich in Northamptonshire imagine the local fox when he sees the worlds' biggest egg. The sheer joy of it. Just before a foot, the size of a catchers' mitt, powered by the worlds' biggest drumstick hits him in the side of the head. Strange place the English countryside. http://www.geebeephoto.com/Walks/Odd_day/odd_day_04.htm The whole thing and others here: http://www.geebeephoto.com/html/words_and_pictures.html Graham http://geebeephoto.com