I am a native in this world And think in it as a native thinks

Thursday, May 31, 2012

More children in the village

Some of the last batch of photos from Zambia.






Monday, May 28, 2012

Holiday flashback



I am still going through Africa pictures. I've already picked out most of the good ones, but there are still a few I like that I'd overlooked.

So here's a bonus picture for the holiday weekend -- three young waterbucks in Lower Zambezi National Park peering through the grass at the interlopers. It's not super sharp, but I love those three faces behind the tall grass.


Sunday, May 27, 2012

Sunday bird blogging



A goliath heron, on an island in the Zambezi River in Zambia.

I like how his ringed green eye complements the colors of his surroundings. Otherwise, he doesn't exactly blend in.

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Saturday abstract



The play of light on my bedroom ceiling at night.

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sunday bird blogging


Helmeted guineafowl in Chobe National Park. 

They looked so odd sitting up in a tree that I had to take a picture; usually you see them in big flocks on the ground, running in panicky unison then whipping around and running in the opposite direction. They're beautiful in their ungainly, silly, wobbly way, but not creatures you expect to make it off the ground for very far or very long. 

But I imagine that in Africa every creature that can learn how to climb a tree does, no matter how foolish they might look in the process. 

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Cityscape



A stack of balconies in Midtown Manhattan.

Sunday, May 13, 2012

Sunday bird blogging


A sacred ibis, on the banks of the Chobe River in Botswana.


Saturday, May 12, 2012

Abstract




I'm not sure why I like this so much -- it's cheap composite board used to create a temporary wall around a renovation.

It's just a bunch of scraps pressed through some kind of roller that embosses a pattern into the wood. But I love the effect of the patterns on the seemingly random bits of wood.

Sunday, May 6, 2012

Sunday bird blogging


In which we acknowledge the ones that got away.

This is a paradise flycatcher, in Botswana, a bird with an unbelievably long red tail that stubbornly refused to move into better light so I could get a good clear picture of it. (And the large insect it caught for its lunch.)

The biggest disappointment was that I never got a remotely good picture of a lilac-breasted roller -- the best one is below. This is the national bird of Botswana, a combination of at least five completely unlikely colors in one bird .


Saturday, May 5, 2012

Geometries



Here's a nice geometry, downtown at One New York Plaza.

I'm still adjusting to being back so it's good to remember all the things I love about Manhattan, about New York, about home.

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The powers of the Zambezi


There was a man in northern Botswana, for instance, who was a known cattle thief; and yet while he was visiting a relative up near Kasane, he had come under the influence of a charismatic preacher and had been baptized in the waters of the Zambezi River. The change in that man had been so remarkable that there was talk of its being attributable to the special qualities of the Zambezi River. People said that as far as washing away sin was concerned, there was nothing to beat Zambezi water and that the religious zeal of those immersed in lesser waters -- the Notwane River to name just one river readily on hand for baptism ceremonies -- was far less impressive than those of Zambezi converts.
-Alexander McCall Smith
The Limpopo Academy of Private Detection: No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency



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