Silver tops still wandering

I am still in awe of these enormous birds! As ubiquitous as the olive tree only a lot more interesting. We returned to Penah Garcia today in an attempt to stay cool. We thought we hadn’t really achieved this. That was until we set off back to our ‘home from home’ and realised the moderating influence of the lake was in fact quite marked! I nearly melted to bring you images of some of the things encountered along the way. Thanks to my chauffeur who obligingly stopped at my cries of ‘oranges’, ‘lemons’ and ‘sheep’!

The cork oak trees. The cork bark has been harvested recently from these trees as the trunk is now quite red. I had no notion about the source of cork. These trees are ‘harvested’ every 10 years or so. Me being me, I of course just did a worry and hoped very much that they don’t feel their bark being removed for our benefit. You see I do so love trees and am probably an original tree hugger! The cork trees are a protected species here. They once grew in the UK. Who knew? Every day is a school day to me.

This is alternative fauna and flora. Both thinking about a dip.

Then there is the eucolytpus tree. Plentiful here and allowed to ‘go wild’. They strip off their own bark. No idea why, maybe I should research a little more. When you get a few of them in proximity to each other you can smell their sharp aroma in the air.

Cacti are plentiful. Some are just coming into flower.

Beautiful bougainvillea. I had an Aunty who used to revere this paritcular plant/tree. She even tried to grow one in her conservatory. Living on the East Yorkshire coast meant that the poor thing stood little chance. She blamed Baby Bio!

And this! What on earth is Scots Pine doing all the way here? Guess they must have gotten onto a Ryanair cheap away day deal, liked it and stayed. Have to say, they grow their cones to a really big size in all of the sunshine. Felt compelled to collect some. Be good for one of my ‘projects’. I do so enjoy a crafting project.

These reed plants really took my eye today. They were wafting around gracefuly dancing in the gentle breeze that skimmed over the lake.

Then there was this…

Not exactly native wild life, but never the less very keen to impress with her new found skill and confidence in her swimming abilities.

Then returning to tell her number one human how it all went down. Followed by the inevitable roll resulting in wet, filthy but very happy dog.

There was a lot of stork watching as this one returns to its favourite hunting spot throughout the day.

I really did find some sheep, oranges and lemons to photograph. Quality is questionable, over exposed, ohh err Mrs, lots yet to learn about my camera.

Here are my efforts shared never the less. I will never let quality get in the way of recording a memory.

There was another moment worthy of a place in the archives.

There he goes. He loves it!

That is about it for now. We pack up tomorrow in readiness for our return journey. First stop is Porto on Sunday. This has been a lovely place and we have used our time to try and pack as much as possible into exploring. So until next time, here’s looking at you!