Tenerife part one

Guess, how many photos a person can produce during 5 week stay in Tenerife. Many... But the biggest flow was in my Instagram. Here in the blog is some more quality imagery.

 Love triangle with a view in San Andrés.

 This guy had 5 pharaoh dogs! You don't want to see the walking grounds, believe me. And no one picks up after their dogs in Tenerife. So much time spent walking and looking down at the pavement.

 If you have only been to the Southern part of the island, ferns may be the last plant on your mind. These here unfurling in the Northern part.

 Lycium intricatum, the "sea thorn" with delicate flowers.

 An amazing wall in barranco del Infierno. I found out my fear of heights is far less pronaunced than the fear of getting rocks falling on my head. 

The same gorge of Hell. There was nothing hellish about it.

 On our way to Chinamada. Lots of people were hiking on this road. Very few cars and the views were amazing.

 A lizzard! A wall in the village of Chinamada. We even spotted some geckos. But later about them.

 Dasylirion wheeleri in Puerto de la Cruz.I am guessing how old this one is.

 Love birds of the "Monkey park". I think it might be possible to film acouple of horror films here: "The attack of the guinea pigs" and "The colorful furry".

 We found this wonderful mural while entering San Andrés.

 The dramatic gates of the presidential palace in the capital. And my sis.

Our animals

 A little update on our pets. Well, the guinea pig brothers found a loving new home. We have two cats instead as you maybe know. 
Above is the couple of Java sparrows. There is also a couple of Society finches which are impossible to take photos of.

 I like to show these two girls to kids in my daughters kindergarten. They look rather horrible, these New Guinea spiky stick insects. But they are really gentle. And I think they have gotten used to us already, because they never take up the threatening posture any more.

 These here are either Vietnamese stick insects or something else very similar.  

 Our Cornish rex cats grooming each other.

 This little one here is a real fart machine. Better not to be in the vicinity when that happens!

The window light has been abandoned due to the low temperatures. I share the same need for warmth and sun with these cats.

Our new Cornish rex cat just flew in

 Hello, this is Muse (a fly-English), our new Cornish rex kitten. 5 months old. So, we have two cats now. Muse is still rather shy and is very talkative. I went to Kaunas to pick her up from Noksas cattery.

She is such a poser! 

 And here is Vambola, 7 months with an orchid.

 It's still not really possible to catch them sitting nicely together as they are not that friendly with each other yet. I keep fingers crossed!

 We also had a black 2 year old male Mustik from a shelter. I think he was the sweetest cat I have ever met. A gentle giant. Unfortunately he lives with other people now. I was so allergic to him.

Old news from Crete

I have been so busy with the new book and the new cat that I have neglected to post about my trip to Crete. I have been enjoying the views with my parents for 8 days.

Anyway, lots of photos again. 

I also did some photo hunting of the local cats.

Above-the ancient canon balls at Koules fortress in Heraklion port.

  

With mom.

The classic colors of Crete... And the beautiful bougainvillea, of course!

Sometimes one couldn't spot the goats or the sheep, but their bells were heard everywhere. Such a lovely sound. Listen to it here.

The natural sponges in a shop. I was told, the darker ones last longer...

The cacti and succulent showers were on every corner!

Even if you don't hunt for cats, they end up in the photos anyway.

I got a few pieces of the fish bone cactus (Selenicereus anthonyanus)! And I can already see the roots emerging. Yay!

And I hope you enjoy the cat portraits. Some animals were in a bit poor health and difficult to look at when having a meal. Very punctual animals, always arriving in time for breakfast and dinner.

We went up the hills to drive around the Lasithi plateau. All the towns around it were very tourist conscious :-)

I tried to persuade my parent to do some mountain climbing. We didn't go very far. I spotted a tiny tiny grey mantis and some fun looking plants. 

I think I have visited every plant shop on our way.

Somebody thought it's nice to have a Monstera deliciosa in the parking.

Crete was submerged in pink and yellow flowers of oleanders. Beautiful, but poisonous from top to root.

Cretans love their birds.And are proud to tell you they have caught the animals themselves. I have seen many Gold finches living in captivity. Some restaurants even put a cage with a canary bird on a table to entertain the dining kids.

That's not even a studio apartment cage!

Do not cross the white line! Just a street...

The beautiful Rethymno.

I wanted to hike St. Anthony gorge so much. But maybe next time, when there will be less rain. This year it was a bit of a freak spring. It rained a lot, when there should have been no rain at all.

There was a cave chapel in the beginning of the gorge. The walls were covered with wishing medal ions.

And some crevices were full of left behind crotches. All miracles?!

If you wish to see more, visit my Instagram...