It seems I did get a shot of the fox after all .... see if you can spot it!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Some pictures
I am just taking advantage of a fastish connection to get some pictures loaded.
a room with a view...
Taarzhout
beehives
wild narcissus
Camels
Prickly and Pricklier
This is Ruby running back to see what is taking me so long!
and I think that is all I am going to get done today!
a room with a view...
Taarzhout
beehives
wild narcissus
Camels
Prickly and Pricklier
This is Ruby running back to see what is taking me so long!
and I think that is all I am going to get done today!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
more walks
There are camels in the valley again, They seem to come in every couple of days to fill up with water from the village aqueduct and the best place for watering a herd of camels is just opposite our house. So I get a ringside view of the camels.
I am trying to post some pictures but they just seem to load and load.....and never appear
Yesterday Ruby and I walked along the aqueduct then crossed the river and climbed the main path up to Taarzhout, and then round the back of our hill home. Just as we got to near home I spotted something moving on the hillside which I thought at first was Ruby, but then since Ruby chose that moment to appear in the bushes behind me I looked again and saw it was in fact a fox. Sadly by the time I had fumbled for my camera it had disappeared, though Ruby picked up the scent and followed it up the hill into the boulders that cover the top. So I am more convinced than ever that what I saw before was a wolf. We have walked round to the same track at the back of Wolf Hill since then - this time little Snitch, who had come with us (or Itchy since she always used to visit with her brother Scratchy or Snatch) ran off up the track with absolutely no fear, though Ruby stayed close to my side till we had left that part of the hill well behind us. And Mohamed reminded me that at Taroudant Tannery they have some wolf furs for sale....
At the weekend we went over to Ait Iazza for young Soufian's circumcision party.... poor little boy. I now know why all Moroccan boys love their mummy so much - it is their dad who holds them down while they are cut!
On Friday we went on our most ambitious walk so far and managed a route that I had looked at and wondered about, coming closer to the top of the nearby ridge and also finding another hilltop building, this time made of stones...... pictures will come. I have found that like the red kasbah this building could be seen from the house - but unless you know what you are looking for it is really hard to distinguish what is a natural rock formation from what is a man-made rock structure.
This countryside is intricate and deceptive. The hills or hillocks near us appear to join together but are mostly all quite separate with little valleys in between that only appear from certain viewpoints. The hillsides are covered in argan trees that could be bush sized or tree sized... so scale and distance is always hard to judge and as I have said sometimes the rock formations appear man made when they are natural and vice-versa. I have had to learn to walk in a new way... always watching where I put my feet. A moment's distraction and you are guaranteed to stand on a wobbly stone or a patch of loose sand and end up on your backside. I am always conscious of what a particular track uphill may be like to come back down.... and on one occasion had to abandon an uphill track and slide back down it on my backside (not helped by Ruby who couldn't work out what the problem was) and find myself grading walks.. (this one for Dad, this one maybe not!). But I can't believe how lucky I am to have found such great walking countryside just outside my back door and with almost infinite variety.
Our only really miserable walk was in the pouring rain because the earth turned to sticky clay that weighed my feet down and made downhill stretches really really dodgy.... the upside of this walk was coming back along the river (starting to fill with water) and seeing how all the multi-coloured rocks actually gained more colour with the rain. I swear I saw a rock with cyan and magenta! However I then got distracted by something, slipped in the mud and hurt my hand on landing.... and am still suffering a little from that.
The cats are all fine, sometimes coming with us on walks.... and sometimes not. It is nice when they come - though a bit limiting as I don't like to take them too far out of their comfort zone.
Mohamed has finally started his university course....
and that is all the news
I am trying to post some pictures but they just seem to load and load.....and never appear
Yesterday Ruby and I walked along the aqueduct then crossed the river and climbed the main path up to Taarzhout, and then round the back of our hill home. Just as we got to near home I spotted something moving on the hillside which I thought at first was Ruby, but then since Ruby chose that moment to appear in the bushes behind me I looked again and saw it was in fact a fox. Sadly by the time I had fumbled for my camera it had disappeared, though Ruby picked up the scent and followed it up the hill into the boulders that cover the top. So I am more convinced than ever that what I saw before was a wolf. We have walked round to the same track at the back of Wolf Hill since then - this time little Snitch, who had come with us (or Itchy since she always used to visit with her brother Scratchy or Snatch) ran off up the track with absolutely no fear, though Ruby stayed close to my side till we had left that part of the hill well behind us. And Mohamed reminded me that at Taroudant Tannery they have some wolf furs for sale....
At the weekend we went over to Ait Iazza for young Soufian's circumcision party.... poor little boy. I now know why all Moroccan boys love their mummy so much - it is their dad who holds them down while they are cut!
On Friday we went on our most ambitious walk so far and managed a route that I had looked at and wondered about, coming closer to the top of the nearby ridge and also finding another hilltop building, this time made of stones...... pictures will come. I have found that like the red kasbah this building could be seen from the house - but unless you know what you are looking for it is really hard to distinguish what is a natural rock formation from what is a man-made rock structure.
This countryside is intricate and deceptive. The hills or hillocks near us appear to join together but are mostly all quite separate with little valleys in between that only appear from certain viewpoints. The hillsides are covered in argan trees that could be bush sized or tree sized... so scale and distance is always hard to judge and as I have said sometimes the rock formations appear man made when they are natural and vice-versa. I have had to learn to walk in a new way... always watching where I put my feet. A moment's distraction and you are guaranteed to stand on a wobbly stone or a patch of loose sand and end up on your backside. I am always conscious of what a particular track uphill may be like to come back down.... and on one occasion had to abandon an uphill track and slide back down it on my backside (not helped by Ruby who couldn't work out what the problem was) and find myself grading walks.. (this one for Dad, this one maybe not!). But I can't believe how lucky I am to have found such great walking countryside just outside my back door and with almost infinite variety.
Our only really miserable walk was in the pouring rain because the earth turned to sticky clay that weighed my feet down and made downhill stretches really really dodgy.... the upside of this walk was coming back along the river (starting to fill with water) and seeing how all the multi-coloured rocks actually gained more colour with the rain. I swear I saw a rock with cyan and magenta! However I then got distracted by something, slipped in the mud and hurt my hand on landing.... and am still suffering a little from that.
The cats are all fine, sometimes coming with us on walks.... and sometimes not. It is nice when they come - though a bit limiting as I don't like to take them too far out of their comfort zone.
Mohamed has finally started his university course....
and that is all the news
Friday, November 5, 2010
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