I am not an early morning riser at home, but usually see the sunrise and morning light on trips. On safari in Africa, we got up before the sun rose because the animals are more active in the morning. We would be awakened around 5:30 a.m. in order to have breakfast at 6:00 before setting out on our morning game drives. The first three photos show early morning in Tanzania and Zimbabwe.
Tanzania
Hwange National Park, Zimbabwe
Wake up time!About 7 a.m.
In Israel also, we were up and out early.
Sunrise in Tiberias, Israel, taken from hotel roomOn the bus, on our way to a busy day
On a cruise on the Adriatic Sea, we visited some of Croatia’s many islands.
Near Korcula, CroatiaOn our ship, arriving at Hvar, Croatia
By 8:00 a.m., we were on Hvar Island. This photo shows Fortica Castle on the hill behind the town, my first photo on the island.
Fishing boats in shadow at 8:30 a.m., the sun shines on the town of Hvar.
The last photo I took in 2025 was of West Pond on the campus of our community. It was in a freeze-thaw sort of state, as it had been unseasonably warm a couple of days before (on Christmas), and then turned cold again. I thought it was interesting, with all the circles of more frozen areas. We’d also had a light coating of snow by then.
I took it to compare with another I had taken a few days before, when the pond was frozen over. This one I took because I liked the concentric ridges in the ice, probably also caused by levels of frozenness. (Both photos were taken from a window.) There was no snow but it was colder than the day I took the last photo.
If you notice what look like ducks in the middle of the pond, they are actually fake – they indicate where the fountains go when they are refitted in the spring, when there will be plenty of real ducks around!
Cosmic Photo Challenge this week is Scenes From an Autumn Garden. There are a lot of good gardeners in my senior community. These photos are from our community garden. Not mine, unfortunately! We have had unseasonably warm weather recently, so many flowers are still blooming!
Since there are only two days left of Becky’s Red Squares challenge, I will lump all my other reds in France in one post!
It was French night on board the MV Bizet. People were encouraged to wear what they considered to be “French clothes.” It was also a dance contest night. The French trip leaders and some crew danced to “Les Sardines.” The idea is to squish together (like packed sardines) and jump up and down like that. Then the dancers split apart and dance in a circle supposedly representing fish swimming.. Thus the dance illustrates the “life” of sardines! (See video at the end).
Passengers had done their homework and found out that black and white striped shirts were a common thing to wear in France – and this was actually true! We saw many people in the street wearing these striped shirts, something like what the “sardines” are wearing. Red scarves or a red beret complimented the black and white, (Helpfully, red berets were for sale that day on the ship!) A photo of everyone who dressed “French” isn’t available.
However, the “uniform” of the kitchen crew was white shirts with red scarves, and chef hats.
Hey, guys: thanks for all the wonderful food on board the Bizet! Two “red” examples:
We happened to run into this group of schoolkids in Rouen – their last week of school! – that was filling out a questionnaire on a field trip. French students don’t wear uniforms, but this class all wore red caps as an identifier.
Like the U.S., the French flag colors are red, white, and blue. They are proud of their colors, and this color combination was in evidence on flags, banners, signs, awnings, and even a bus. Although there were French flags flying in front of embassies and government buildings, the French do not fly flags everywhere – in front of houses, restaurants, in parks, etc. – as we do in the U.S.
Cafe awning in ParisFrench flag (alongside flag of Normandy at left) in HonfleurHop on-hop off bus in Paris
Other signs were prominently red…
A Paris awningRed awning in MontmartreShips are a common theme in towns on the coast of Normandy. I saw this sign in Honfleur.Honfleur was having a carnval (which they call “cirque”) with rides and fun stuff for kids.
On a more serious note, Rouen is the city where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. A large cross in a garden marks the spot where the stake allegedly was. Next to this garden is a modern church dedicated to the young Catholic saint.
Chapel with red candles and a sculpture of St. Joan.Stained glass windows in Joan of Arc church
The small church is shaped like a ship. (I could not make this photo into a square.)
Carrying on the ship theme, it is common for churches along the coast to display ships near the altar.
On the right, Viking ship in Rouen cathedral
In 911, the Viking leader Rollo, when his fleet arrived in what would become Normandy, expecting to rape and pillage the villages and farms along the coast, was instead met by a man named Charles the Simple, who gave him a land grant in exchange for his loyalty to Charles III of West Francia. This was important because it established Rollo as the first Duke of Normandy and prevented further Viking raids along the northern coast as the Vikings established a permanent settlement in northern France.
When we boarded our cruise ship in Paris, we were docked next to a beautiful park that a friend & I decided to explore. It was full of flowers, plants, fountains, and a weather balloon! So here are my three (actually four) photos for the Cosmic Photo Challenge: Up, Down, & Sideways at Andre Citroen Park in Paris.
UP: A weather balloon which goes up and down in the same place. Besides taking atmospheric measurements, the balloon is also for fun: buy a ticket and you can ride up and down in it!
DOWN: Daises growing next to a low wall
SIDEWAYS: A row of fountain jets that shoot up and down
Here’s another SIDEWAYS (or facing forward) just to show how pretty and unusual this park is.
Today I am featuring a gallery of red windows, doors, and facades I photographed on my recent trip to France.
ParisStained glass wwindow: Sacre Coeur Church, Montmarte – ParisSacre Coeur – MOntmartre – ParisAuvers-sur-OiseVernon Cathedral*Les AndelysMain entrance, Rouen CathedralRouen CathedralRed facade of an Asian restaurant, RouenRouen, capital city of NormandyRouenHonfleur, NormandyHonfleurHonfleur cathedralHonfleur
*Vernon Cathedral: these modern stained glass windows replaced those that were destroyed during WWII bombings. Using modern designs instead of replicating the original medieval windows is intentional: When people visit these churches, these modern replacements are a reminder of what was lost.
Becky today featured four red paints, one of which was used to paint a room. My Reds today are a different sort of paint: the paintings by artists France is famous for!
In Paris, we visited the Orangerie, a museum which features Claude Monet’s long paintings in the watercolor series. This museum’s oblong form was conducive to displaying these large paintings in the waterlilies series. Monet made over 40 of these long format scenes of the waterlily pond on his estate in Giverny. While he used the actual pond as he painted whenever possible, because this project required creating and connecting large panels, he also painted much from memory in his studio.
Although it was awesome to view these monumental works in their entirety, I also approached the paintings to examine the details of Monet’s brush strokes and use of color.
Here are some squared details from some of the paintings in the Orangerie.
The following are larger sections or whole paintings, to give an idea of the scale of these works.
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This photo shows only about half of this paiting.
After spending some time viewing Monet’s works, I went downstairs to see what other artists’ works were on display. Each makes a generous use of red.
Amadeo Modigliani, Femme au ruban de velours (circa 1915) – this is Modigliani’s signature style of women with long faces and blank eyes.Henri Matisse, Odalisque a la culotte grise (1927)Girl With a Doll by Henri RousseauMark Rothko, Untitled (1948), produced shortly after Rothko’s transition to abstraction.
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Rousseau’s painting was displayed in this unique way, as part of a large black & white photo.
Auvers-sur-Oise, France was the last residence of the post-impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh. He spent his last 70 days here, painting everything he saw – he completed more than 70 paintings during those last days of his life! His lodgings were in Auberge Ravoux, but he did most of his painting outside – good thing, because his room on the upper floor at the back must have been quite dark!
I could not find any painting of this building, but…
Van Gogh’s room was the last one on the upper floor, which you can see here.
Here is a painting I found online that he made of his dark little room!
Auvers-sur-Oise is a short distance outside of Paris, near what is now a suburb of Paris, Conflans. Here are some more windows of this charming village.
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This building, the Auvers-sur-Oise townhall, was one of van Gogh’s subjects. He painted it more than once; one of these paintings is shown below.Downloaded from Google, original web site: tfsimon.com.
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This window with winter/holiday etchings reflects more windows from across the street (a happy photographic accident!).
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Church in Auvers-sur-Oise. Van Gogh did more than one painting of this building, the most famous of which our local guide shows us below.
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“The Pathway of the Painters” Restaurant
To end this little tour of Auvers-sur-Oise, here is van Gogh’s final resting place in the town cemetery. His brother, Theo, who supported Vincent during his artistic career, is buried alongside him.
We visited a farm near Honfleur, in the province of Normandy, called “Cinq Freres” (5 Brothers), run by five brothers, each of whom deals with a different part of the farm. Cinq Freres is best known for its Camembert cheese, and we were taken through the factory to see how the cheese was made. Afterward, we had a cheese tasting, accompanied by apple cider (with 4% alcohol – it isn’t cider in France unless it has alcohol!). The table was set with a colorful (red) tablecloth and behind it hung the flag of Normandy.
Baguette slices with slices of camembert on top.The flag of Normandy hangs behind the table.
These women are filling cups with the cheese mixture. It is made using cow’s milk from the previous day, which is mixed with an enzyme to ferment the milk into cheese.The cheese moldsThis machine puts the molds into round boxes.
In each box, the molds are wrapped in paper. The creamy filling is surrounded by a white “skin”, which you are supposed to eat – it’s actually the most nutritious part.
I bought three of these boxes, assuming that I would be able to maintain them refrigerated until I got home two days later. (That story at the end of this post).*
The Farm:
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Pregnant cows are separated from the rest of the cattle, in order to closely monitor their health during pregnancy and birth. When the calves are born, they are kept with their mothers (unlike many farms, where calves are raised for veal and are kept in small pens so their flesh remains “soft”, that is not the practice here). Calves in fact produce the enzyme used to turn the milk into cheese.The barn is quite amazing. Solar panels provide the heating for the barn – the heat comes up through the vents visible under the tractor at right. The hay is thus dried in the barn instead of being dried in the field (like you see in many farm fields) – this is healthier for the cattle, because the nutrients of the hay remain inside it, whereas when hay is dried in the sun in open fields, most of the nutrients escape. The bales can be accumulated and stored in the barn over the winter. Cinq Freres is careful to provide the best feed for their cattle and thus make premier quality camembert cheese!The farm also raises guinea fowl and chickens.Cattle being herded back to the barn. These Holsteins make the best dairy cows. Other types of cattle raised on the farm are used for meat or breeding.
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*That night, our last on the ship, the cheese was stored in the ship’s refrigerators; the next night, we stayed at a hotel near the airport, and our room had a small refrigerator where I stored the cheese. The next day, we were to fly home, so the boxes were packed in my suitcase inside a thermal bag, and the luggage would be in a cold cargo hold. Only it didn’t quite work out that way! We did board our flight as planned the next day, but when we were halfway across the Atlantic Ocean, the captain announced that the plane had not been given authorization to land in the U.S., so we had to turn around and return to Paris! That night we stayed in a hotel attached to the airport, in dinky little rooms with no amenities while our suitcases were sequestered in a warehouse at the airport for loading on the flight out the next day. Well, we did get back home the next day without incident, and the cheese really was no worse for the wear! Why did we have to turn around? The official reason given was due to “improper paperwork,” but I don’t believe that was the real reason. Another couple on our trip, who were also flying back to Chicago, but on a different airline, had their flight delayed by a day. The real reason remains a mystery!
Wanderlust & Wonderment 
