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Week 27 I'm not real happy with this one. Except that I actually had a cup like this for this week which Canada Day fell into. (I had to look up Weeks of the Year in Canada 2024 to find that out). Sorry, it's blurry, not sure why some are like that and some aren't. the 600 version view in PSP or in Windows viewer are all sharp. Go figure. It will eventually be on FB when I slowly catch up with posting there. and I should have been more dynamic with the maple leaf cutouts on the "Week Twenty Seven" and angled them a bit for more interest.

Week 27 Lilies in the sun. I took this photo while out walking – if flowers can look happy these looked very happy!

I have a nice photo of a sunset over a lake and found a song that goes with it with the word Sun in the title and the lyrics. We had another rainy Sunday, so no problem to spend some time at the pc. Because I wanted to concentrate on the sunset in the photo I used a rectangular mask (by Jessica Dunn). I used 3 different papers with blendmodes until I got something that I liked and that somewhat matched the colors in my photo. I used a journalcard but changed the top deco and in honor of todays masterclass made a rope frame. The drawing of the boat comes from Jessica Dunn as well. Fonts are Alustia for the title and Bremlin for the text of the lyrics.

I love what you did.

I'm getting a little better every day, but I'm exhausted and the heat is kicking my butt. Thank you for asking, sweet Susan. ❤️

I found another layout I did for one of my newer Bettas. This is Comanche War Bonnet. I think this was the New Kid on the Block assigment from Boot Camp Day 2. I always had good results from this design. The background is a photo of my aquarium.

Week 27. It is prooving difficult to single out a photo to showcase for this challenge. Never the less, I won't be short of photos to showcase down the road. North America sow badger with her 3 cubs. They are not closely related to the UK badger. American badgers breed between July and August. The embryos don't start to grown unitl December or February. They don't hibernate. I see their tracks in the snow throughout the long winter months. Also the UK badger is a social badger, whereas the American is solitary. Mother was keeing a close eye on me, and I wasn't going to antagonize her either, as they can be aggressive, espcially when felt threatened. Her set is impressive, just over half way up the drive, which also runs under the drive, with several entrances and exits on either side. A rare treat to see them out in daylight, as they are nocturnal.

This week no photos of flowers or plants in the rain/sun, but of the yearly fair in the middle of the village. I wanted to go and take photos in the evening too because of all the lights that come with a fair, but that didn't happen. We had company and we were invited somewhere else for dinner. When I could have gone it was pouring with rain!

The title font is Bauhaus, the art is all from a search by Google Images for the title "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash - 1972. The sheet music was treated to the cass-curved image script. This song has a calypso feel to the back beat that has always made me smile.

Michele glad to hear that but take it easy in the heat! Everything, or almost everything can wait a bit until you feel up to it. In the mean time we do our best to entertain you with all we come up with! 😉💐

Still playing with stuff from Vector workshop - Mickey at the Beach

Thank you so much Michele. How are you feeling?

Playing around and having fun with my PSP is what I do most of the time. What a cutie.

J:ust playing around. Had fun.

Nice fish; I have a few now...

Ann giving birth in a warm bath has been a practice over here too. Nowadays it isn't as populair as it once was, but it is still done!

Thanks, Suz. As you know, I advocate for big and small wild cats and these ferals seem similar. I recall reading about the Dark Ages when the bubonic plague hit and it was blamed on the street cats. Little did they know the cats were killing the actual culprits, the rats that were arriving by ship. The plague got worse when the cat population was decimated by ignorance and fear. I get defensive about blaming cats for being cats. They were revered in Egypt in ancient times and their fortunes waned when religion used fear to control the populace. Cats seem to be the first victims of a conspiracy theory!

Julie, your seahorses are surely almost mythical and this beast is also, though more on the horror side, than sweet fantasy. GAIASIA was a giant, predatory salamander from the time before the dinosaurs roamed and the earth was one big soup with one continent. Hoping the text is readable in reduced form, I took a Quick Page and turned it into a layered layout using promoted selections. I had a blank brad template and added the dragonfly art to replace a ship under sail which would indicate human habitation. Information from Wikipedia.

I've only ever had goldfish in my life, and those when I was a kid. It broke my heart then to flush them away when they were found floating on the top. I preferred cats; they seemed to last longer. Seahorses, now, are absolutely fascinating to me. Sometimes I forget they're real and think of them like I do unicorns. Sadly, they are also endangered. (What isn't anymore?) Just a simple layout to showcase a photo (Daniel Clode) from Unsplash. Most elements from Katie Pertiet Designs.

I was poking around to find any layouts I had done for my other Bettas. I found this Quick Page for my guy, Patriot, which is fitting for today, America's Independence Day, July 4.

What you are doing is incredible. we humans created the feral cat populations so we should also take care of them. And you are doing just that. I don't know of feral ones in my area, mine are all neighbour hood cats with collars or I know who owns them. So I tend to put my donation dollars to disadvantaged animals in need. It's hard to educate people that cats are not wild animals who need to roam. Nor, do I get into discussions with people like that anymore. Unless it's only to say, your cat will likely die a horrible death at the mouth of a coyote or tires of a car, can you live with that? It sounds cruel but you can't talk to people who don't want to change, and I dont need that kind of drama anymore. Thank goodness for you and animal groups that take on educating people.

My goodness, there must be loads of them, if your crew is only a small one. On average cats will kill over one hundred million birds a year in Canada. Domestic and feral cats aren't native to any ecosystem. Not only on birds but other native wildlife. It has been estimated that cats in Australia kills an average of one million birds per day. About three hundred and seventy seven million per year. Same, for the UK. The numbers are staggering world wide. Although they make wonderful pets for some people, they threaten birds and other wildlife and disrupt ecosystems. Rarely, I will get a stray tom cat from the neighbours, as they will travel long distances. I trap and dispose of them, cruel as that may sound to some. At least numbers are trying to be controlled in your area. It is a controversial issue. Here is a shot of one of my Red winged Blackbird's (male) on a cattail. I haven't noticed any fledgelings yet.

They are very aware of threats and spook at everthing! We have cats and hawks galore and the ferals were here long before I was. There are several very large colonies in the neighborhood. My little crew of 7 or 8 is just a sampling. Here's an overhead porch-cam shot of Brandy on the lower far left trying to stalk birds. She's still too young to neuter and goes around chasing squirrels, birds and bugs but is only successful with bugs, so far! 😉

I might as well post this for July 7 - Week 26. I saw this little girl near my patio and was impressed with the feather pattern and general attitude. Looked it up and discovered a juvenile female Red-Winged Blackbird. They DO have attitude and I have quite a few here at my feeders. The males clash with the Red-Bellied Woodpecker, who tends to think he alone owns the suet feeder. She stays mostly on the ground.

The UK and European badger are one of the same species. In canada they too are endangered, not through hunting or trapping so much but through loss of habitat. In the UK there is a totally different view to the badger, they have been persecuted for hundreds of years, through badger baiting as sport, which has been illegal for a long time now, but still goes on under the cover of darkness. It is barbaric. Farmers will trap and kill them as their cattle and dairy cows can contract TB. Farmer have to have their cattle tested every six months, at their own cost. Over 220,000 badgers have been culled to date, blamed for the disease. Actually the TB bacteria lives in soil and water. East Africa is the home to TB and it's human host. Yet, the badger bears the brunt of the blame for transmission. which I don't agree with.