Finished 27th October 2014

 500 Pieces

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Quuen Mother

Photograph by Antony Crickmay (*1937)

A jigsaw puzzle by JR Puzzles, Great Britain

Finished 25th October 2014

1000 Pieces

The old Gdansk

A Castorland jigsaw puzzle made in Poland.

Finished 21st October 2014

 

 500 Pieces (-1)

Segovia, Spain

40° 56′ N, 4° 7′ W

The Alcázar (Castle) of Segovia. Its first reverence was in the early 12th century.

 

and the Tower of the Cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

It was built  in the middle of the 16th century.

The jigsaw puzzle is made by Ravensburger in 1983.

The pictures was taken by Toni Schneiders.

Finished 19th October 2014

750 Pieces

Postcards from The Royal Academy

A jigsaw by Padblocks, UK

featuring art of these Royal Academicans

John Bellany RA(1942-2013)

Elizabeth Blackadder RA (*1931)

Peter Blake RA (*1932)

Sandra Blow RA (1925-2006)

Olwyn Bowey RA (*1936)

William Bowyer RA (*1926)

Sir Hugh Casson RA (1910-1999)

Jennifer Dickson RA (*1936)

Mary Fedden RA (1915-2012)

Frederick Gore RA (1913-2009)

Norman Hepple RA (1908-1994)

Paul Hogarth RA (1917-2001)

Bill Jacklin RA (*1943)

Sonia Lawson RA (*1934)

Sir Robin Philipson RA (1916-1992)

Philip Sutton RA (*1928)

Link to the Royal Academy of Arts, London, established 1768

Finished 16th October 2014

We 'danced' two weeks :-)

 1000 Pieces

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth th Queen Mother (1900-2002)

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, by Rita Martin

at the age of 7

 

 

Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, by Vandyck

at the age of 17

Queen Elizabeth, the King's and Emperor's Consort, by Marcus Adams

The Queen with her daughters

at the age of 41

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

 at the age of 60 (her husband died eight years before)

 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother

at the ago of 96

 

Pictures Courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery and The Times/NI Syndication

Jigsaw Puzzle by PAST TIMES, edited approx. 2000 to celebrate "A Century in Photographs"

I visited a zoo in Dortmund & really sad news updated 9th November 2015

Inspired by the marine aquarium and a wonderful weather today I decided to travel to the nearby zoo.
 51° 28′ N, 7° 28′ E
Link to the official Website (english)

Boa constrictor imperator

 Red kangaroo - Macropus rufus

Like siamese  twins: Sarus crane - Grus antigone

The lion named 'Lolek'
In may 2015 he killed his mother Moreni. She was in 'hospital' for several weeks and was taken back to the compound that day. She showed gestures of subordination but Lolek didn't accept them. He attackted her suddenly and the zookeepers weren' able to keep him away from Moreni.

 two peachicks on the roof - guess, who's living on the ground floor?

 oh yes, it's a black panther, 

and he's not amused about the neighbours 'dancing' on the roof

The great cormorant - Phalacrocorax carbo

 detailed view of a male white rhinozeros:

 and a proud mother-rhino and her calf

a calf of the giraffe - it took a while to assort all muscles and bones to nibble on the leg.

mother and calf

 pure love

This meerkat is busy watching out for enemies

 while the gang is chilling below a heating lamp... oh my!

some kind of waterbird - really exotic

time for lunch: a guanako 

Rhea  - cleaning and assorting the left wing-feathers

A male Orang Utan

yawning.......... no doubt: a predator's set of teeth

 

A Himalayan Tahr, chewing

Do you feel observed? Somehow?

A male goliath heron - Ardea goliath

 empressing?

the female heron... definetly unimpressed

Red-Billed Hornbill - Tockus erythrorhynchus

King vulture - Sarcoramphus papa

Crested Caracara - Polyborus plancus

Golden eagle - Aquila chrysaetos

what's left to do on a sunny, lazy Sunday?

Some relaxed, stress-free animals:

I hope you had fun watching :-)


***

update 9th November 2015
The zoo was in the news several times during the past year. In May, the young male lion Lolek killed his mother Moreni, in August three rare pygmy marmosets were stolen overnight. But the worst scene took place last thursday/friday, as somebody entered the zoo and obviously killed female sealion 'Holly'. Despite a nightwatch, they were able to cut a hole in the fence and hit the innocent animal. The vet could only testify death and an post-mortem examination cleared things. Somebody hit her head and she lost several teeth. Holly maybe died from the punishment or stress-related. WTF!! This really brings me to tears!!