Walking in the Pays de Gex, France

The Pays de Gex is an extraordinarily beautiful place. Walking, almost anywhere you care to choose will lead you to something exciting to see. Even when walking the same places repeatedly there is always something new and breathtaking. On clear days it's possible to look across the valley to see the majesty of Mont Blanc.There are quaint villages nestled in the hills, visible across picturesque fields.

Large numbers of hawks have come down from the mountains to hunt among the harvested fields.





I love to hear their high pitched cries as they circle above. Jazzy (our African Grey parrot) has learned how to imitate these cries perfectly and she does them at home.

Very often their presence causes consternation among the smaller birds, who take it in turns to circle their nests in an attempt to ward off these predators.

Sometimes they circle the same area in pairs and they perform all sorts of mutual manouevres, but it's not clear to me whether they are friendly or in competition.

The public county flowerbeds are very colorful and often elaborate arrangements. Here's one out on a country road.



There are so many critters to meet out along the road - all sorts of characters. This horse has been named "Woofy" by our family, and we call the road he lives on "Woofy Way".
There are loads of pretty flowers too. Here are a pair of so-called weeds, but they sure are lovely.




The cows almost always stare and sometimes glare as you pass by. They're always accompanied by the tinkling sound of the bells hanging round their necks.














This fella, or gal, looks so cute and fuzzy.
There are so many insects - too many to count. And many of them are surprisingly beautiful and even colorful. Some aren't to my liking at all - I'm not big on being close and personal with buglife, even though I know they're vitally important to have around.Here's a bee going about his business. It's great to see bees out and about.







A horse lives in this house. We met while he was in a field close to the road when it was cooler back in the Spring. I'm actually currently working on painting his portrait. But now he's staying cool in his house as far away from the flies as he can get.
Here are some geese that were hanging out under this tractor. Just after I took this photo a couple of them went and stuck their heads in the bucket you can see on the right, splashing water everywhere and making a great honking racket.
There are huge fields of sunflowers all around the Pays de Gex, and so here and there are stray sunflowers brightening the landscape even more. This is one I found in a cleared lot - a place where very likely soon will be built a new house.




Everywhere there are amazing scenes and things to look at.

Whispering Corn Fields In Mourex, Ain, France

We went somewhere different for a picnic on Saturday; we sat amongst the corn fields. Everywhere the corn is growing tall and it's very pretty to see.

We can almost measure the passing of the summer days by their height. It's interesting to see how the corn that's planted in more shady spots grows much more slowly than those that are in direct sunlight for most of the day.

It was a beautiful day, as you can see from the sillouette of the corn against the sky.








The greens are fantastic especially in contrast with the touches of red.



Plants are fascinating - it always seems to me that if they could walk around (I guess I read "Day of the Triffids" at an impressionable age!) they would be even more spectacular.
As it is, I find them somewhat intimidating - they may not walk, but they do move. And sometimes they move a considerable distance either by growing or when they follow the movement of the sun. They do so much right before our eyes and yet we don't usually perceive them to be moving at all. And if they can do that, it makes me wonder what they do when we're not looking at all.We had a nice picnic, listening to the breeze rustling among the corn stalks - or was that the plants really whispering to one another?